Weddings.......

We went to a lovely outdoor, Fall wedding last night for friends. Instead of a unity candle they had a beautiful engraved glass jar with hearts and their wedding date engraved on it, and two jars on either side of it. One with red sand, and one with black sand.(Their wedding colors) As they poured the sand into one jar the Pastor gave a lovely talk about how only this couple can make this one design and how God designs marriage to be this way. Two people coming together to make one beautiful design! It was really touching and a neat idea!

Cakes!

I was lucky enough to be asked to make a Pool Party Birthday cake for two friends this past weekend, so I made the exact same cake for both! It was at our new YMCA and it was so much fun! I had fun making the cake. I got the idea online for the Teddy bear cookies wearing bathing suits! that was fun and the lifesaver life preservers! A gum stick diving board, a candy necklace pool rope and I tucked a few of the Teddy bear cookies into gummy lifesavers so they looked like they were floating. I had blue glitter to top it off and it was SO much fun!! If you click on the photo you can look up close at the little Teddy bear swimmers! haha

See you at the Pole!

See you at the Pole! Wednesday morning, the 24th.If your school takes part in See you at the Pole I encourage you to get up early and go with your kids to pray for their school! Praying for our schools is so important, and stepping out in public is such a great thing to teach our kids!! So set your alarm early grab a coffee to go and we'll CYA AT THE POLE!

Soar on Wings!

I was reading in my devotions this week out of a book called Power of a Positive Mom and this verse was in there:

Isa. 40:28-31

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and the young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

This excited me because I feel like I grow weary so often, not always just physically but emotionally too and when I read "his understanding no one can fathom" touched my heart because sometimes I don't understand things that happen but HE does! I'm learning lately God has BIG things for us but sometimes we don't ask, we don't have time to expect great things or we don't believe He has great things for us! So GET EXCITED and pray something crazy......there might be things for you that you couldn't have imagined He had in store for you!!! (This is my front porch, the mums this yr. at our local farmer's market are beautiful! it's just down the street from us so we are enjoying goodies from there daily! Mike and the girls got me a beautiful white mum yesterday there!)

FALLING FOR FALL!!

It's happening.....I'm falling for Fall! I'm thinking Fall decorations, Charlie Brown holiday specials, acorns raining on our roof, crisp air, tasty apples dipped in caramel, turkey dinner cravings abound, quiet nights curled up with a book, hot bubble baths, hot cookies out of the oven, crunchy walks in the leaves with cool breezes, and there's nothing like Fall sunshine on your face .......ahhh can you feel it??

Sunporch!

IF I HAD A HAMMER....our Sun porch project is done! Mike did a great job, and he built the lockers for me from a picture off a website! He's very handy and I love them! the color is a brownish taupe, we liked it so much we plan to use it to paint our house this Fall!( the next project that needs doing!)ha I hope to find some really cool things to put on top of the lockers and a picture to hang out over the counter, but for now it will just look clean! I'll put some Fall decorations up but I HAVE to wait until it's the first day of Fall at least, can't do it before then! Hope you all have a great week!!!

Fall foods!

I Love Fall foods, thought you would enjoy this recipe! I had a photo of it, but somehow my darling hubby deleted it! so I'll get a photo next time! haha

Pan Roasted Chicken and Fall Vegetables

Preheat oven to 425.

Takes about 20 mins. to prep, due to chopping!

10-12 small red potatoes (or any kind you like, adjust the amount to this) Cut in 1 inch cubes with skin on

1 Large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

2 Med. sized onions, cubed

2 Apples (any kind or a large pear), cored and cubed skins on

3-4 Carrots, peeled and sliced in 1/4 " slices

When butternut squash is in season, this is yummy cubed in it, but omit the carrot to make space! 1 C. squash

5-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in 2" wide fat strips(or buy the chicken tenders and it's done for you! you need about a dozen of the tenders)

1 C. seasoned bread crumbs

4 T. Olive Oil divided

2 cloves garlic

1 t. dried Rosemary, crushed and divided

Wash and prepare veggies, place in large bowl. Pour 2 T. of olive oil over, put in 1 clove garlic, and 1/2 t. Rosemary. Toss and pour in large baking pan, I use a Lasagna dish that's a bit bigger than a 9x13. Place foil over and place in oven.

Mix 1 C. bread crumbs with 2 T. olive oil, 1 clove garlic, and 1/2 t. Rosemary in a med. sized deep bowl. Place chicken strips in the breadcrumb mixture all at once and toss until coated with fork. Pull veggies out of the oven, and place breaded chicken strips over the veggies, sprinkle remaining crumbs over exposed veggies.

Bake 45 mins. covered with foil. Remove foil for the last 15 mins. Check veggies for doneness, at the 45 min. mark, if they are a bit hard yet, bake 10 more mins. with foil on.

Served with biscuits and honey makes a great Fall meal!

This dish is even better leftover! You can omit any veggies that you wish or add any, you'll get a feel for the amount that fits in your pan, if you end up with an overflowing pan of veggies just put some in a smaller baking dish for leftovers.

This is a pampered chef recipe I adapted, the original called for summer veggies, red onion, zhuc. or whatever you'd want!

Fall wardrobe!

I'm SOOO tired of shorts and capris.......I'm ready for Fall clothes! there was a hint of Fall in the air today! soon enough we'll be wearing jeans. Aren't jeans the greatest? they cover all the things you want to cover, and hold in "some" of the areas you want to hold in? haha I could live in jeans and a t shirt or sweatshirt everyday! and I do most days! I know my sister in law would agree, she's a bluejean lover like me! haha

We are getting into the swing of things around here........I'm about ready to fall over by 8:30 at night. These early mornings are starting to kick in. Won't take long for my internal clock to start working right!! Hope you are all settling in and enjoying the end of summer and beginning of Fall soon! We are sure enjoying some late summer veggies from the Farmer's market! mmm Have a craving for some squash soon! yumm!! Enjoy!

What a fun day back...no one could sleep last night and everyone was up and at em no problems! NOW........I'M BEAT! haha Hope all of you that went back to school had a GREAT day too!! G'night!