Celebrating Chase and Lizzie

My big brother, Chase, and his fiance, Lizzie, are getting married this weekend! We are all so excited to celebrate their marriage this weekend in Chattanooga. Chase proposed to her this summer when we all were in Florida and vavoom the wedding is here!

This picture is from McGuire's, one of my family's favorite restaurants in Destin.

The Thursday that we were in Florida was Lizzie's birthday. We surprised her that morning with cake and balloons which followed with Lizzie and Chase having a cake fight! Haha.

That night they got all fancied up and Chase took her to dinner then a walk on the beach where he....

popped out this rock and proposed!

It was so much fun to be able to celebrate their engagement with them. Lizzie, we are so excited to welcome you into the Larson family. We are crazy, loud, and rambunctious but there is no one better for Chase than you. I know that this weekend is going to beautiful and I cannot wait to see you as a bride! Enjoy every minute :)

Do you remember the little guy?

CABO!!!

We wrote a blog about our sweet puppy back in April but I thought that I would post some more pictures of him. No, we do not have any children. Yes, we treat our dog like our child! Cabo is the sweetest tempered puppy and has been so much fun to have join us in our adventures.

This is during Easter, right after we got Cabo.

The family!

Cabo sleeps with this frog and a bunny.

He went to Gatlinburg with us in May and he loves to swim!

We also really enjoy taking him climbing and camping with us. Cabo pretty much just digs and chews sticks the entire time.

Our good friend Trey keeps Cabo some for us when we go out of town and he took this picture while we were in Florida.

When we first got Cabo he was 5 weeks old and weighed 4 pounds. Now he is 7 months old and weighs 55 pounds! Hope you enjoyed the pictures! :)

Bluegrass Underground

Once a month the Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN host a concert called Bluegrass Underground. Nathan found cheap tickets on groupon so we went this past weekend!

At the entrance of the cave

This is the first room you walk into. There is a small pond in there. They said that the water is constantly there and has always been the same level. Isn't it nifty that they put lights up around the cave so we can see everything without headlamps? If you go on a full cave tour they do require headlamps because they just have lights that lead to the ballroom where the concert takes place.

This is a small waterfall in the cave.

This is the ballroom where the concert takes place. You can also rent it out for a wedding or party. They even had bathrooms and concessions in the cave.

Each concert there are two bands that play. Spirit Family Reunion was our favorite band of the day. They sounded like a cross of the Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show. We both really enjoyed the cave and the music!

Warrior Dash

On September 17, along with some friends, we did the Warrior Dash. It is a 3 mile race that includes 12 obstacles. We hopped over hay bales, ran over cars, climbed walls, jumped through fire, swam a mud pit, and much more! We highly suggest this race for anyone. :)

Brannie & I made some matching tee shirts.

The starting line

My (carrie) personal favorite, the mud pit!

The crew that ran together

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

My personal favorites are cookie dough and cupcakes. Some genius put a recipe online that we found to combine these two treats! I can't take the credit for this idea and there are several different variations of how to make them but the recipe that I used is from All Recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 
  
• 1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 eggs

First, make the cookie dough. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.

Next, make the cupcake batter.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled ice the cupcakes. We used dark chocolate icing and it was amazing!!!

ENJOY :)

Everybody Loves Cabo!

CABO! Where we went on our honeymoon and now the name of our new puppy!!

So Nathan and I have been wanting a dog for quite some time now but we were just waiting for the right time. Then we decided that time hit when Jeff, a guy that Nathan works with, got his family a new puppy for free. The puppies are half golden doodle and half labrador which equals precious! We gave the family that had them a call and they had 3 boys left. It was hard picking out which puppy to take home but I know that the other 2 will have great families. So we got the smallest one that also looked the most like the momma.

We knew that we wanted to name our puppy something that represented both of us. After thinking of our favorite musicians, lost characters, climbing gear, celebrities, and so on, we thought of Cabo! We both obviously enjoyed our honeymoon and always talk about wanting to go back so why not name our new puppy after the place we love so much!

On our way home we stopped by PetsMart to get Cabo some food, a crate, toys, and his lovey (his big bunny, Easter appropriate of course!).

Cabo pretty much slept all afternoon and night. Only being 5 weeks old I think he was a little in shock to be away from his brothers and mom.

We got home and introduced him to his crate then tried to play a little bit but...

He enjoyed sleeping :) He also loves his lovey! Nathan and I took turns letting him out about every 3 hours during the night and each time he was asleep on his lovey. Surprisingly he didn't cry at all throughout the night, it might have been because he was so tired so who knows what tonight will bring!

Isn't he just precious, oh yes the puppy is cute too!!!! Today he has been a lot more alert and playful and this afternoon I am taking him to the vet so let's hope for a good report! Love you Cabo!

Florida, Lake, & Some Mountain Biking!

FLORIDA

Well fellow bloggers life has been busy around the Chance home lately so I apologize for the lack of blogging! BUT it has all been a good busy and I finally am taking the time to share some pictures. About two weeks ago I went to Florida with my mom, Ashley, her friend Lacy, Mrs. Robin, Katie, and Laura. It was a great girls trip and I can't wait to go back this summer with Nathan and my family!

We arrived at the beach right before sunset and went on a walk. The beach that evening was covered in jelly fish! Thankfully by the end of the week they were gone but they were pretty cool looking while they were there.

Laura and I on our walk down the beach :)

Laura and Katie getting ready to ride the sea-doo while the rest of us hopped on the boat. We all rode out to this place in the ocean that is known for having a lot of dolphins and we got to swim with them! It was so exciting and a little intimidating swimming with those big fish!!!

One of the afternoons there was a man kite surfing so I snapped a quick picture!

It would not be a trip to Florida if we didn't eat at McQuire's Irish Pub, I have never been disappointed and I am always sickly full when we leave this place!

LAKE

Sweet Rex swimming!

I found a little turtle in the water!!

I caught 6 fish! Clay caught who knows how many and Nathan caught 16!

BIKING

This past Sunday after the lake Nathan and I went to Lock 4 in Gallatin, TN to mountain bike. It was my favorite trail I have done so far (I've only done 3, haha)

Ready to go! Nathan got some other pictures during the ride but they are on his phone.

Some other great news that I found out while I was in Florida is that I am going to be an AUNT!! My brother, Clay, and his wife, Amy, are expecting a baby! Congratulations guys!