Totally worth it

Recently, I have been turned on to the great phenomenon of freezing fruit, when you have them in abundance. We live all around orchards, so when harvest time comes for the fruit the prices go way down. {Or, if you are blessed like we were this year, have several friends with peach trees and receive tons of peaches for fuh-ree!} 

When we froze many bags of peaches several months ago, we had one {or two} very peachy days, but it's totally worth all the effort. (You can see the post after those 'peachy days' here >>>> Peaches, peaches, and more peaches )

Freezing fruit = Money & Time Saved

And tonight, we are reaping the rewards of all that hard work!

{Peach Almond Crisp Recipe}

Have you ever totally misread something?

This morning Julian walked in with this shirt on...

As I looked at his shirt, I was wondering what it meant..."Touch like Daddy"??

"Ok", I thought to myself, it has a toy truck on it. It has to be something relating to that.  

I then began to try and mix up the words in my head, maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Daddy Like Touch....No, too weird

Like Touch Daddy...Again, weird

Daddy Touch Like....Definitely not

I spent several different parts of my morning, trying to figure out what his shirt was all about.

Then, it was like a light bulb moment came on or maybe the heavens were shining down on his shirt.

Ohhhh....that's a 'G'! Tough like Daddy...now that makes sense.

--I have come to two possibilities that might explain this mornings confusion--

A) I need my eyes checked

B) I need to go back to bed

Most likely it's the latter..



Awkward & Awesome Thursday

{Awkward}

-- Spilling Julian's lunch all over the floor

-- Peppermint soap to wash off eye make-up is not a good idea. Just take my word for it.

-- A 1 1/2 yr old telling you to "Shhhhh", after you cough.

-- Laptop privacy sweater.... 'nough said.

{Awesome}

-- Phone chats with cousins

-- Loving church family

-- Scarf and sweater season.... love it!

-- Leaves changing colors

-- God's unwavering/unconditional love (the perfect Model for Christians)

Cupcake Challenge: The winner is.....

{If you missed the cupcake challenge post, you will definitely want to go check it out before proceeding! Here's the link -- Cupcake Fever}  

Kali made a yummy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake

I made a Mocha Toffee Carmel Cupcake

The faithful judges--minus our Pastor who came down sick last minute.

Cody and Melissa took their job very seriously.... :)

You see, it's very difficult to judge a cupcake challenge. Oh, the burdens we have to bear.....

Alright, no more waiting!

And the winner is.....

*drum roll please*

MOCHA TOFFEE CARMEL CUPCAKE!!!

Whoop Whoop! I won!! 

They were both so yummy! In the end, all it came down to was more of the judges preferring the mocha toffee flavor combo.

This was a lot of fun for Kali and I to do, we are already looking forward to our next bake-off! 

Until next time.... 



Jury Duty

I've known people who are just searching any way to get out of jury duty when they are summoned, making it out to be something horrible. (Of course, I understand if you have a truly horrible case.) Others who want to be called so badly, but never have had the privilege of being called.

Did you notice I said 'privilege' just now? ^^

I was one who thought it would be fun to be called!

My wish came true, I was summoned for jury duty about a month ago. I went into court last week, to see if I would be picked to be part of the jury. Out of about 50 or so people, I was one of the 12 (with one alternate) that were picked to be on the jury, by the attorneys.

Can I be honest with you?!

After hearing the charges that this man was facing, before I was even selected -- 1st degree attempted murder, 2nd degree assault, and felony harassment-- my heart literally dropped. I got anxious and was wondering how gross and yucky this might be, attempted MURDER! Yet, God gave me peace through the selection process and didn't urge me to say anything about my little amount of fear.

As I said above, I was selected to be a part of the jury. I knew that being selected, God had a specific reason for me being there.

After going through this entire process of it all, I can say with certainty, this has been one of the most interesting/mentally draining/awesome/wonderful things that I have been blessed to be apart of.

I spent a week with 12 other people, hearing the ins and outs of this particular case (which was NOT gross, btw!). Everyone, from the fellow jurors, judge, bailiff...., were so nice and it was great to be able to come together for this purpose.

I just don't even know how to accurately describe it.

It's a great sense of responsibility and prayers going up that God would give wisdom to see the truth, with the deliberation process. Which the deliberation process actually took 10 + hours, for us.

The process in and of itself is so fascinating and helps you understand everything so much better.

As someone who has done this, I would highly encourage anyone to take their chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves. I would, without a doubt, do it again.

If nothing else, you can appreciate the fact that everyone has to stand for you when you enter the room :)

So please, don't try to squeeze out of it next time you are called. If you have an open mind, you will enjoy it as much as I did!

Cupcake fever

My family and I really enjoy the show "DC Cupcakes" on Netflix. Ever heard of it?

It's about two sisters who ditch their corporate jobs and start a cupcake bakery together in DC. They make so many delicious looking cupcakes that it basically makes you gain 5 lbs just watching the show.

Looking at all these cupcakes has given me a 'cupcake fever' and it must be cured by the only way I know possible. 

Make cupcakes

A week ago, I made some really delicious eggnog cupcakes for a fellowship at church. Both eggnog lovers and eggnog haters loved these! Eggnog.spices.cream.cheese.frosting. Can I get an amen?!

{Recipe found here}

We watched an episode where the sisters had a cupcake bake-off, letting others judge whose cupcake was the best. This sparked an idea in me, since I am now looking for any excuse to make cupcakes.

Me + Kali = Cupcake Bake-Off

Rules:

You are not allowed to use a tried and true recipe, both using new recipes

NO box cake mix

Judges are not allowed to know who made what cupcake, to ensure no bias decisions

We have friends coming over later this week for this cupcake bake-off, to be our judges. This will be deliciously interesting.

Be sure to check back later this week to see the results and what cupcakes we made!

'May the cupcakes be with you.'

That's a little plug-in for all you Star Wars fans.  

Happy Birthday Dad!!

 

We celebrated my Dad's birthday on Saturday! I am so blessed!

 

We were able to Skype with the newlyweds too!!

 



Tastes like the Holidays

My day started verrrry early this morning...*yawwwn* 

A hot cup of an eggnog chai latte was just what was needed and it helped wake me up. :) {That, and a very happy/giggly little boy!}



Happy Wednesday everyone!