My little boy is growing up.

So, I am the eldest child in my family. My baby siblings will always be just that --babies to me. It was a very odd experience today taking my younger brother's (Logan's) SENIOR pictures. are you kidding me? When did this happen? When did he grow seven inches taller than me? When did he start growing a scruffy beard? When did he begin to be a man? I must have missed it all, but he's still my baby brother.

Anyways, I had a blast with him today. He is hilarious. I have a bunch of silly pictures of his random acts throughout the day, and it still makes me chuckle. Here are a few of my faves.

Isn't he a stud muffin? I like to think so. Anyways, I have many many more amazing pictures of this good lookin kid that are incredible. Just not edited yet. I'll probably post more later. I love him so much.

50 days vs. 50 years

My grandparents have been married for 50 whole years. That is a lot of years. To celebrate, they made the trip from Madison, WI to the good ol' Lafayette, IN yesterday. After working our little buns off, Curt and I picked them up and went out to dinner, just the four of us. We went to a wonderful Italian place called Spageddies. Not gonna lie, it was ten times better than Olive Garden--no offense to anyone. We talked about everything. They told us how they met, which was during a bio class --while dissecting insects and things of that sort. A perfect place to spark interest. They told us about how they were introduced to the church, which was a very amazing story. One of the elect, I tell ya. All in all, we talked for about an hour and a half and I loved every minute of it. It is amazing how much they have been through and all they know. Not to mention how funny they are! We came back to our apartment after and showed them around. They were so shocked how big it was (which made me feel pretty dang good). They can think that all they want!
They are amazing people and I am so lucky to have them as grandparents. They absolutely adore Curt --who wouldn't? They have given him the "stamp of approval" and think the world of him.
My grandpa actually recently had brain surgery. You wouldn't be able to tell from the picture and how he acts, but a few months ago he had a egg sized tumor in his brain be removed. It was a scary time, but here he is-alive and well! I love him so much.


Words of Wisdom:
Cherish the time you have with your family.

Welcome to the Ymca...

Jadyn: Probably one of my favorites. She is so sweet and nice ALL the time. She loves playing cops and robbers and getting an underdog on the swings.

This is Dylan. He is adorable and pretty dang smart. He just needs a little help once in a while to focus.

This is Kendall. She is crazy and I absolutely love her. We play Memory, and she always wins.

This is Payten and Ron. Payten has down syndrome. She loves to play Sorry everyday. She LOVES Hannah Montana and sings for us all the time. Ron is hilarious and goofy. He says the funniest things. Yesterday he told me that I was pretty cute. I pretended I didn't hear it.

Kerrigan is super hyper. You wouldn't expect it from this teeny girl, but once you get to know her, she wants to play school all day long.

This is Hannah, one of my awesome co-workers. The kids absolutely love her.

What should be in the Operah Cookbook

Lemon Pepper Chicken 

with a side of Seasoned Collard Greens

 aka. deliciousness.

So here's how you do it.

What you need:

• Thawed chicken
• rice
• Lemon Pepper Marinade
• Collard Greens
• Oil/bacon fat
• salt
• rolls (from our wedding)

Directions:

• Begin cooking one cup of rice
• Cut chicken into thin slices
• Let chicken marinate in Lemon Pepper marinade for 15 minutes
• After, oil a pan and set on medium heat
• Add chicken and cook until all pink is gone
• wash and chop collard green 
• after the bacon grease has heated up, add the collard green

TADA! that is it. so simple and SO delicious. Curt and I kept speculating how wonderful it is and how well the collard greens and lemon pepper go together. Seriously, it is the perfect mix.

Mystery Solved.

I work at the YMCA. It is definitely fun. Always something to laugh at. Anyways, getting off topic. I was leaving work one fine evening. It was dark and late, around ten o'clock. I am headin out for the night, and the lot is almost completely empty. I go to where I usually park my car. Except, my car wasn't there. I was super confused. I didn't park anywhere else did I? No. I look around and see my silver Honda Accord across the entire parking lot. I walk over to my car.

Did it roll across three rows?
No, couldn't be. My parking brake was pulled tight. Someone must have pushed my car. Some little punk kids. That was my obvious conclusion.

ONE WEEK LATER.

Mary Lou (one of my co-workers) thought she was funny. She told everyone someone hit her car. My Dad (also my boss), runs out to see what happens. A couple moments later...they asked me to come see what happened.

My stomach sank.

I come out to find my car inches away from Mary Lou's car. INCHES. And she was parked on the OTHER side of the lot. So maybe somebody didn't push my car across the lot this time. Maybe my car actually did roll down the entire parking lot with the brake on. Weird.


But nonetheless, the mystery is solved.

Words of Wisdom:
If you drive a stick, and are on a slight hill, perhaps maybe park at the bottom of the hill. Or, the big news to me, park in first gear.

Crunch.Crunch.

This morning Curt made me toast. It reminded us of this scene:

Now we can say Halloween is partially complete.

 I am not sure if you knew this, but there has been a FIRE BAN in IN. super lame. Because of this, we had to cancel our much anticipated camping trip. even more lame. But our fall break weekend still turned out well. Our plan B was to carve pumpkins! Yes, it's only the first week of October, but we thought it would be appropriate. The festivities included apples (yum), with caramel dip (yummm), more caramel candies, chocolate milk (apparently the official drink of Halloween-says the label), pumpkins, pumpkin seeds, Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack (wonderful), and good people (below).


Curt and I happened to browse the internet for ideas of what to carve exactly. Brooke and Phil had not. They definitely didn't know where to begin. This was their list of ideas:

• dead cat
• bat carrying a dead cat
• a catbat
• monster of some sort
• something terrifying

The list continued. for quite some time. But it was extremely humorous. Finally they decided upon something grand. 

 Curt, being the manly man he is, was in charge of the cutting and dissecting of our lovely pumpkin. He is very good, let me tell you. He cut with such precision and detail. Amazing.

 After the final product.


It was very abstract. And definitely took a minute to see, because of their amazing craftsmanship and talent of course.

CatBat

 Beware of the Bat carrying the DEAD CAT. It's mind bobbling! Terrifying.

Jack Skellington

And this, we reveal to you as our creation!




JACK SKELLINGTON.

Not so terrifying, but definitely cute and halloweeny.

 Now our home looks very festive.

hallway decor

 We have new friends.

playing with our pumpkin friends.

Jefferey.

AND my sister and I made Jefferey, our newest friend. We love him dearly. We thought long and hard about Jefferey. We knew he would be sweet and slightly nerdy. We also didn't have any white, so we used fabric for his teeth, and buttons for his braces! It was so fun.



Words of Wisdom:

With my experiences with Jack and Jefferey-I have come to the conclusion that painting pumpkins are so much easier than carving. No offense Jack.

I used to think I was an artist.

Until today.

I was shown this website, a little sketical at first. The title of the article being:

She’s just 8, yet she’s painted art worth $250,000 

 How on Earth could an 8 year old girl sell a painting--that she made--for that much money? I was intrigued. 

Then I was bewildered. Amazed. Bewildered again. 

This child is a prodigy. I envy her. I yearn for the abilities that she was given from birth! I'll tell you a little about her. And you too will be amazed. This little girl, Autumn de Forest,  first painted when she was in her fives. No-not her forties or fifties- in her FIVES. She asked to paint for fun. A normal kid thing to do. Her father gave her a paint brush, some wood stain, and a piece of wood. She turned it into this abstract masterpiece! Who knew? Her parents then started taking her seriously. They bought her professional paint and canvases. 

She now paints on canvas 4 ft by 6 ft. She is approximately 4'2" tall. She needs a later to paint the entire canvas. The crazy thing is, she has never taken lessons! Are you kidding me?? Am I in school for nothing?? I should stay home and paint like Autumn, maybe then would I become an artist. I like that idea. 

Here are a few of her paintings:

She is incredible. A god given talent to this little girl. She paints with emotions years beyond her age. She paints with skill many never achieve.

article on autumn

Oprah, I never knew you cooked.

 

This was probably one of the biggest impulse buys we have made. We were doing our usual grocery shopping: Chocolate milk, cereal, skim milk, and bananas. This trip to Payless was no ordinary trip. This time we fell upon the Reduced Price Book Section. The first book I saw was this intriguing cookbook. Oprah cook? BAH! The back cover is quite humorous. Well, we opened the book and to our surprise the recipes looked spectacular! Scrumptious! Yummilicious! And it wasn't just a few recipes that looked good, they all did. Let me find you some examples:

Not sure-looks amazing.

 

Chicken Scaloppini

We considered it for quite some time. Because in all reality, we rarely use cook books. We tend to throw random spices into a pot and hope for the best. But this is a new life for us, starting from the moment we purchased The Oprah Magazine Cookbook.I vow to follow these recipes as best I can. And I am documenting this so that all shall know our knew goal: We will cook AT LEAST one new recipes from this wonderful book a week. Shouldn't be too hard right?

Today are new recipe will be the Egg Salad with Tarragon Mustard. Starting simple. Namely because this is one of the few recipes that we have MOST of the ingredients. We will definitely have to alter our shopping list now. Wish us luck!

Egg Salad with Tarragon Mustard

Ingredients

6 large eggs
1/3 cup mayo
2 tsp. Tarragon or Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 small shallot
1 cellery stalk, finely chopped
1 tbsp. capers
1 tbsp. chopped tresh tarragon
1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

1. Bring medium sauce pan filled with 3/4 water to boil. Add eggs and cook for 9 minutes. Carefully pour hot water and rinse eggs with cold running water. Peel eggs and roughly chop.

2. Meanwqhile, in a large bowl, combine mayo, mustard, salt, pepper. Add remaining ingedients. Fold eggs in.

The crazy things you can do with Pumpkin.

 

 

Pumpkin Pancakes

Serves 4
Prepare 1 cup dry pancake mix according to the package directions.
Whisk in 1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree.

 

Pumpkin Milk Shake

Makes 1 milk shake
Blend until smooth 1 cup vanilla ice cream, 1/4 cup milk, 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin puree, 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg.

 

Pumpkin Whipped Cream

Makes 2 cups
Beat together 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, and 1 tablespoon canned pumpkin puree until soft peaks form.

 Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients:

4 cups water
1 (15-ounce) can canned crushed tomatoes
1 (15-ounce) kidney beans, drained
1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup uncooked bulgur
1 cup chopped Serrano chili pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a large saucepan, stir well to combine, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to medium-low and simmer, covered, 35 minutes. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Fudge

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
½ cup pureed cooked pumpkin
½ cup evaporated milk
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ cup butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
¼ teaspoon cornstarch

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, pumpkin, milk, and spice in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water, or until reaches 236°F. Remove from heat

2. Add the nuts, butter, and vanilla; beat until mixture is creamy.

3. Pour into a buttered plate and allow to cool. Cut into small chunks and serve.

The wonders of Chicago unleashed.

Curt and I are busy people. We have no time to spare, this is no joke. Despite this, we were able to set an entire day aside for THE TEMPLE. yaaaay. our favorite. It took a daunting 3 hours to get there, mixed in with a TON of traffic -- but it was all worth it for the Lord.
Upon arriving at the temple, two great things happened.
One. Dear family friends (the Zhuels) were down at the Chicago Temple at the same time. The reason for this was because their beautiful daughter, Emily, was able to be sealed to her husband and daughter! AHHH. I cannot tell you how happy I was! They looked sop happy. Barb Zhuel, Emily's mother, has been in my life since I was about 13 years old. She is the sweetest woman I will ever know. I love her. Emily is a few years older than I and was always my Young Women's camp counselor. She is great. So being there, at the very moment they happened to be leaving their sealing, was incredible. Such a blessing. God loves us so much.
Two. Callie (the woman who I wrote a blog about earlier) also entered the temple for her first time! What a glorious day. She was able to do baptisms for the dead and we were so so so SO happy for her. This is another big step closer to our Heavenly Father which opens a door to his everlasting love.

And on top of that, the temple was wonderful for us as a couple. It was my third time and our first time as a couple, on our own. I felt the spirit so strongly. It was incredible.

But wait, there is more. We ended our wonderful evening with one of Curt's favorite restaurants...Portillos! (I have to point out it took us a good fifteen minutes to find the place. Curt knew the general area, but not quite how to get there. Finally, we stopped for directions and made it there before we starved to death.) It was my first time and I loved it! They had pasta and chicago style sandwiches and dogs. Lovely. Delicious. Scrumptious. My stomach was very happy. And the experience was heightened with the presence of two of our dear silly friends, Jamesy Wamesy and Sheree(ka). They are great. love them.

So, next time you are in Chi town-find one of many portillos and go there. You will not regret it. map of Portillos
And to find the one near the Chicago Temple...It is here. Portillos----8832 W Dempster St, Niles, IL

Tell me...

Clifford the Big Red Dawg.

Curt and I were asked to help out at an elementary book fair. It was seriously crazy. Kids were every where and every single one of them wanted their face panted and Clifford the Big Red dog ears. Curt was in charge of those doggy ears, thank goodness. That was definitely the hot spot of the night.
When the face painting booth started slowin down I had time to be a little creeper. I don't think the parents liked it too much, but the kids were so cute. I couldn't help myself. I can't wait (maybe I can a little) until we have our own kids and can take millions of pictures of.

This is David. He is adorable.

All 4 One Reppin it.

Curt and I have been singing this for the past twenty minutes and were found great enjoyment in the video.

trees are beauitful.

In my AD class, we are working with positive and negative spaces. My inspiration has been trees.

Actual Project. We were asked to manipulate the positive

space to create a reversal with the negative space.

                       

                             inspiration

 

 

 

 

                          

                   wall mural. love.

Echo in the Darkness.

I am not quite sure how Francine Rivers does it. She continues the beautiful and rich story of Hadassah with new experiences and challenges she and others go through. I absolutely love these novels. They are incredibly uplifting and inspirational. It's kind of weird, but I find myself going throughout the day saying "What would Hadassah do in the situation"! Yes. Weird. But that is how powerful Rivers creates her characters. You begin to see as they do, you begin to feel as though Hadassah is a real individual, you begin to feel as though you yourself is Hadassah. Incredible. 
But I promise you once you start reading these books, you will not be able to put them down. Curt started getting jealous of these books, I was reading them so much! I am a little hesitant to read the next book because Hadassah isn't the main character of the story. But I am still intrigued and can't wait to begin the third and final book.