THE tree

We've been decorating ALL night... and I thought I'd share our efforts. :)

recognize this one, AJ?

hehehe....


who wouldn't want this kitten for Christmas? :)




goodnight!!

recipes & babies...

Two things that don't really go together, but they are the two things that have been on my mind the most lately. Babies. Between all of the new babies and pregnant ladies I know... wow. I'm going to go out of my mind. Seriously, EVERYONE is pregnant. Not that I'm complaining... I'm privileged to see such miracles happen! It's just been A LOT lately. It's contagious. :) Let's see.... I've counted 6 women I know personally, not to mention all of the friends of friends!! Congrats to all of my wonderful friends who have little ones on the way for me to spoil. :)

And recipes.... Thanksgiving was wonderful, we spent it with Ryan's family (and my sister-in-law Amy's family... oh she is 6 months pregnant, too, don't forget it). I love having a big extended family. I made some desserts for the occasion, including the wonderful applesauce cake I recently promised to share... here goes!

APPLESAUCE CAKE
Ingredients:
1/2 unpeeled apple, cored and cut into thin slices
1 T lemon juice
1 1/2 C flour
2/3 C sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C unsweetened applesauce
1/4 C vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 T apple jelly

-Preheat oven to 350°.
-Combine apple slices and lemon juice in a small bowl.
-Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
-In separate bowl combine applesauce, oil, and vanilla.
-Pour applesauce mixture over flour mixture.
-Stir mixture until a batter forms.

-Grease 3 4" springform pans (I used 1 like 8" pan and it worked fine, just needed to be cooked longer, I had to test it every like 5 min, it took like 15 min longer).
-Divide mixture among pans.
-Arrange apple slices in a ring on top of the batter.
-Bake 15-20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
-Cool 5 minutes and loosen from pans, slide onto a cooling rack.
-Spread apple jelly over the top.

Very simple, but yummy! I actually made it twice so far, the second time (for Thanksgiving) I doubled the recipe and used a 10" pan (or something) and had to cook it A LOT longer, but it worked! And I didn't screw it up! AND it was yummy! I thought I'd also share this incredible spinach & artichoke dip I made for a party a few weeks ago... it's so delicious, and the best part is that it's from "Cooking Light" so it's not SUPER bad for you, too! I'll link it HERE if you want to check out the nutrition facts... here's how you do it...

HOT SPINACH & ARTICHOKE DIP
Ingredients:
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1 (13.5-ounce) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups)

-Preheat oven to 350°.
-Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and next 6 ingredients (2 tablespoons Parmesan through spinach) in a large bowl, and stir until well-blended.
-Spoon mixture into a 1 1/2-quart baking dish.
-Sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmesan.
-Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with tortilla chips.

Yield: 5 1/2 cups (serving size: 1/4 cup dip and about 6 chips)


ENJOY!

splash

Today was not really a good day. Actually, it was a fairly good day until about 2:30 pm... I decided to use the bathroom... and, my worst fear happened. Plop! I always carry my cell phone in my back pocket, and I am always so careful to make sure I either put my phone on the counter or at least take it out of my pocket. I was so mad, I felt so stupid. I quickly grabbed it out of the toilet (no, I had not peed yet! hehe) and took it apart, dried it, and let it dry all afternoon. Broken. The buttons would not work at all. I was so sad, I LOVED my phone! It's such good quality, the best and most easy to understand phone I've ever had... and it's pink! So I told the woman I work for, she gave me sympathy, laughed, and proceeded to offer her old cell phone to me... it's the same phone as mine, except it's black. Oh, did I mention practically brand new? She used it for a few months before she switched providers. Sweet! It was so sweet of her and took a HUGE weight off my shoulders after feeling so bad about the whole situation. We went to Sprint tonight and the guy switched the phone over AND the numbers in literally 30 seconds! Whew. I'm a lucky girl. So feel free to call me now. ;)

weddings, weddings

This weekend was amazing! Oh, despite the fact that we spent 20+ hours in the car. Ohhh... I got my butt kicked at the gym on Thursday, I was soooo stiff getting out of the car when we would stop. And this is what we had to drive through when we went through PA.... not fun.

The wedding was gorgeous and so laid back and fun. The reception was actually in the atrium of the church, it was short but they had an "afterparty" at this restaurant/club place afterward for us out-of-towners. Another good friend and his wife also attended, it was so good to see him and reconnect (AJ- it was Tim, remember him?). I didn't get many great shots of the couple, but here's Nicole, Ryan, and me chillin afterward....




I just love weddings.... but I do admit I'm glad I never have to get married again. ;) Off to watch the finale of the Bachelor, ha!!

on the road again

Tomorrow morning (ummm 5am to be exact, thank you husband) we are packing up and taking off to Chicago. Taking off figuratively... we are actually driving.... 10 (or so) hours.... We actually love taking long road trips together, it's fun to chat and sing to cds and stuff. It's about all we can do, since my body suddenly decided to, after about 23 years of life, make my stomach freak out if I so much as read one paragraph in a magazine while riding in a car. I used to read in the car as if my life depended on it, now notsomuch. Anyway, one of my longtime friends is getting married in Chicago on Saturday, and she's marrying one of the guys from the band Superchick. Pretty sweet. I'm so excited!


I'll leave you with a random thought... some of my new favorites!

























holiday Method handwash in cinnamon bark and peppermint vanilla
















a must try.... Orbit maui melon mint.... wow!
















have a great weekend, all!

MIA

No, I'm not dead. I feel like I've been in a funk the past few weeks.... well, rather, I know I've been. This week is better. I'm feeling more positive and, well, happy. This past weekend was really fun... on Friday night Ryan, my parents and I went to a "tasting" at Hurd Orchards, the place where we go apple picking every year. I had never done anything like that, it was really fun and a cool experience. Plus they gave us all of the recipes of all of the different foods that were served that evening, and the applesauce cake they served was TO DIE FOR. I will be sure to share the recipe soon. Seriously, I had like 4 pieces (they were small, hehe). I even had my dad and Ryan bring me a piece so I didn't look like a freak and a pig. We also had a fall harvest party on Saturday night for our small group from church. It was super fun, and I can't tell you how good it feels to finally feel part of a church again. Ryan and I haven't been able to find that in the 6/7 years we've been out of our parents' homes and "on our own." We've wanted it for so long, and we are so excited to be involved and connected in a church that we feel welcomed in and feel like we fit into. Trust me, we've sampled MANY, MANY in this area... it almost seemed hopeless for awhile. Yet, God knew what He was doing... He tends to do that. :) Anyway, I've been feeling like I'm coming down with something these past few days... I slept from 10:30 pm to 10:30 am last night and this morning, luckily I didn't have to go into work until 12 today! I'd better go rest up some more and keep trying to fend off all of the sickness the kids keep bringing home from school.... if I could only get off the couch and get Calla to stop walking on the keyboard.... :)

more pretties

This past week has been pretty busy for us... we were able to hang out with the Kellers, Stevenses, Morgans, & Johnsons all in a matter of 5 days! Fun. Mom and dad came out today to deliver curtains and give us a surprise early Christmas present!

the living room curtains...

the flash makes them seem really shiny, but they aren't. they are BEAUTIFUL!

our Christmas present...


I love this table... mom refinished it. It's a piece we can definitely use forever, in any house.

They also brought us curtains for the bathroom... mom was kind enough to make them even though we were in agreement that I was going to make them all, under her instruction, of course. Thanks, momma! :)



Oh, and Halloween! Yeah. I was soooooo excited to have trick or treaters for the first time, and I was convinced that we were going to have tons of kids come to the house. We live in a pretty busy area with lots of sidewalks, so it seemed like a no-brainer. We even invited Rob and (PREGNANT-- YAAAYYYYY) Kerry over to "help," hehe.

We had TWO kids stop by. Now we have 4 huge bags of candy sitting around, begging to be eaten. Bummer.