Pinterest Finds

I have FINALLY started making things that I have found on Pinterest. Now they are all food related, and hopefully this summer some of the decorating inspiration will come into play when I have more time. Here are some of the great recipes I've found on Pinterest.

Salmon in spicy garlic tomato sauce

Crock pot buffalo chicken sliders

Cookie dough bites

Smores treat

Lemon blueberry cheesecake cookies

Sweet and spicy honey grilled shrimp

Mini corn dog muffins

Turkey cranberry monte cristo

Pepperoni pizza monkey bread

No bake Oreo dessert

Ginger cilantro tilapia

Lots of the recipes were used in making Superbowl Sunday a success and many became life group treats!

Love

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Happy Valentines Day!

From Fan to Follower

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. ²⁵ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
²⁷ “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:23-27

Last Friday Drew gave me the honor of baptizing him in front of the church. Drew went from a fan of Christ to a follower, showing that he's not on the sidelines, but he's in the game! Our pastor had given a sermon about going public and baptism and welcomed anyone to come up to the front and be baptized. Needless to say I was a little emotional, but it was so worth it and it has been one of the most amazing experiences I have had with my husband. Drew grew up Presbyterian and was sprinkled as a baby, but since we are not at a Presbyterian church he felt the spirit convicting him and Drew went all in. Thanks to our great life group we got pictures to document the occasion!




Drew, I am so proud of your devotion to Christ and your desire to lead our family.

A Family Christmas

I thought I would FINALLY post about our Family Christmas...We celebrated with our families early, because Drew and I would be on our anniversary trip for Christmas.

My table all set up for Christmas dinner

I made my delicious meatballs again, I think this will be a Christmas Eve dinner tradition.

My brother and I have a joke about me eating his Doritos so I thought what a great gift! We also got him a A&M key chain and house key since he started driving this year.

Drew got a scarf and some clothes...he's looking snazzy

Buttercup likes to help open the presents and destroy the wrapping paper.

Look at his nice bright head light! Yay for stocking stuffers

Buttercup was not the biggest fan

The next night we headed over to the Gardner's to celebrate Christmas with Drew's family.
Brandon and Ashlyn

Ashlyn had a great time passing presents out to everyone

This child is obsessed with Hello Kitty, "My kitties" it's only fitting that she gets some PJ's to go with her obsession

Dan got the new Galaxy tablet...he cheated and peeked early :/

Brandon and Kristi

Ben and Mikaela

Ashlyn with her favorite gift of the night, after she opened this one she was done opening presents because she just wanted to play. She loved the doll house from Grandma and Grandpa

Giving Gracie some hugs, she loves this dog

I told you, hello kitty is the way to this girls heart.

This was her favorite toy (from uncle Drew and aunt Jenn) UNTIL the doll house was opened (those sneaky grandparents). It a little game where the dog asks for a color or a shape and you have to feed him the correct one (yeah for educational presents from the teacher)

Merry Christmas from the Gardners!

5th Anniversary Trip Part 4: Las Vegas

For the last leg of our trip Drew and I headed to Nevada (the silver state) to see Las Vegas...we got in around mid night and the lights were amazing (both first timers here). We stayed at the New York New York for night one, and I loved it. I really enjoyed the changing scenery and feels of New York.

The Strip. I loved all the bright lights. Drew and I are not gamblers, but I want to go again to see more shows and just explore more!

Early the first morning in Vegas we headed to the local airpoirt to hop on a helicopter and view the Grand Canyon (it was Drew's big surprise for me). I was a little apprehensive being the motion sick person that I am, but it was smooth sailing (flying).

We flew over and saw the Hoover Dam, but we never got around to seeing it in person.

Then we flew into the Grand Canyon, (a 3-4 hour drive that took 45 minutes).

We landed down in the canyon and enjoyed a tasty breakfast and champagne

It was absolutely beautiful, such a grand surprise

That afternoon we got back to the strip and explored the world literally, we saw Paris, Venice, Egypt, and Rome

Our second night we stayed at the Venician/Palazzo, here is a view of the beautiful suit.

That night we went and saw the Phantom of the Opera...AH-Mazing. The Venician has a theater that they built (4o Million) specifically for Phantom. It was beautiful!

Music and performances just have a way to my heart and I was in tears by the end of the show it was that good. The two of us by te fountain at the end.
We had a wonderful 5th anniversary and trip to go with it. I look forward to many more years to come and wonderful trips as well.

5th Anniversary Trip Part 3: San Francisco

From Napa, Drew and I headed south to San Francisco...Here is the view on our drive in

Hello San Francisco! Drew and I got in a little late, we headed over the Fisherman's Wharf and got chowder in a bread bowl, yum!

Merry Christmas Eve, why not spend it in prison?

The Rock, such a cool tour. While we were there an old inmate came in and shared his story of living on the Rock.

Behind bars, what can I say, I'm a trouble maker.

From Alcatraz we decided to explore downtown, the famous steep Lombard street.

We had a tasty lunch in China Town, the restaurant came highly recommended.

We then proceeded to Little Italy for dessert

That evening we crossed the golden gate to head into Sausalito for dinner (great seafood dinner), but we made a pit stop first.

Welcome to the Muir woods

Only the trunk of a thousand year old tree...they put date markers on the tree like the revolutionary war, civil war ect.

Beautiful woods, I really like this picture

Inside a tree, sorry for the cat eyes

Welcome to the Red Wood Forest, Christmas day was our last day in California and we headed out to see the red woods on our way out of town.

Those suckers are big!

The trunk of one of those big boys, this tree isn't as old as the one I posted above.

Half way down to see the General Sherman, the largest tree in the world. Drew with his Christmas tree.

The base of the General Sherman, we learned that the park rangers do controlled fires in the forest, because the fires are how the trees germinate. When wild fires come through most of the red woods survive because their bark is so thick.

Inside a fallen tree, some red woods are so big that cars can drive through them.

Good bye red woods, good bye California!