My How Time Flies!

I can't believe June is already half way over! It seems that we've been so busy. This week is another "Sneak Peek Week", but before I start that I want to post some pictures from the first half of the month!

Braxton loves to push the vacuum around.

Checking things out

Time to take a break and text some friends :)

Grandma W came for a visit!

Trying a s'mores for the first time!

We made a quick trip to Oak Harbor =)

Enduring the cold wind at City Beach

The *BEST* coffee ever!!!

We had lunch with Nicki for her birthday

Stopping to smell the roses...or in this case...pansies. =)

Did some fishing

Deb and the kids came to visit! Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the kids...sorry Selma and James!

Sisters

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister! ;) I can't believe you're 20!! As the years pass, our age difference seems to vanish. You are truly one of my best friends! I love you to pieces!

Is it a Brownie or a Cookie?

*Edit ~ I forgot to mention that we didn't have plain yogurt like the recipe called for, but I substituted sour cream and they turned out just fine. In fact, we didn't even have enough sour cream so I used a combination of sour cream and milk!*

I love looking at food blogs. Recently I came across a new one called Macaroni & Cheesecake.  So far I've tried her Hamburger Buns, Pop-Tarts, and now these Chocolate Fudge Cookies. Everything has been so good! I just made these cookies and Wow! It's a cookie, but it tastes like a brownie. The outside it kinda crispy, but the inside it chewy and even a little gooey. Yum! But don't take my word for it...try them yourself!

Photo from Macaroni & Cheesecake

A Sneak Peek: Memorial Day Weekend

Since I didn't post Friday or Saturday, I'll go ahead and give you the whole weekend since we had some very special visitors!

Friday:

I watched Braxton all day and even had the adventure of going to the store with him! It wasn't the first time, but I definitely learned a valuable lesson...even if you think he should be fine in the short amount of time you expect to be in there, be prepared with a drink and snacks! :D

I don't have a total number of the souls saved in Juarez, but it was 150-200! Praise God! He is definitely working in Mexico!

Olivia & I made homemade pop-tarts. They're nothing like store bought, but they're really good! 

Nicki & Alyssa came to visit for the weekend!

Saturday:

We went on outreach in Winthrop. 

The four of us girls went out to lunch...it was really good! We spent the afternoon/evening playing games, watched a movie, and just enjoyed each others' company. 

Playing one of our favorite games - Sorry Card Revenge - while Nicki was napping. ;)

I won!!

Josh came home! Because of flight delays he didn't get in till midnight, which meant he didn't get home until 3. Bleh! Poor guy had to wait around in the airport for hours while feeling horribly sick from food poisoning the day before. Thankfully he's on his way to feeling better!

Sunday:

At church we had a surprise visit from the Dolans! It's always nice to see familiar faces!

The Majors came over for dinner (pizza!), we played games and also got to see pictures and hear about Josh's trip! God is certainly working and moving in Mexico!

Monday:

We played more games! Can you tell we like games?? Sorry Card Revenge and Phase 10 are two of our favorites!

The girls left today. :( We had such a wonderful time with them! I can't wait till we get to see them again! 

It was nice weather-wise, but as the afternoon went on it started getting gloomy with rain off-and-on and thunder in the distance. 

In between rain showers we were able to get our garden planted! We have pumpkins, eggplant, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe,  corn, onions, carrots, radishes, lettuce and green beans. We already have some tomatoes, peppers and strawberries planted and growing, and hope to get some spinach, peas and maybe even a blueberry bush or something like that too. Next weekend we'll be getting a rhubarb plant from my grandma which I'm really looking forward to! Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp...Mmmm!

A Sneak Peek: Thursday

Watched Braxton today. Since I've been watching him I've been trying to teach him how to say 'please' in sign language. Well today he did it! Yay!

There's this show on Netflix called Pantry Raid. Have you heard of it? It's about a chef that goes into someone's home and makes a meal out of whatever they have in their pantry. It's pretty neat to see what he comes up with. Anyways, yesterday my mom told me that she wanted me to do that today. Figure out something from what we have in our pantry to make for dinner, and it couldn't be anything on our menu for the week. So, I looked at what we had and believe it or not my inspiration came from a packet of lipton onion soup mix. Lol. I made burgers, fries and apple upside down biscuits for dessert. I mixed the lipton onion soup mix with the hamburger meat and then we had the usual toppings (I sauteed the onions...they're so much better that way!).  I made homemade hamburger buns for the first time, and they were delicious!  

Sorry, I don't have a Juarez update for you tonight.

A Sneak Peek: Wednesday

Today found us outside doing more weeding. Just about the time we decided to call it a day it started raining. Good timing! It's been raining off and on ever since.

I successfully made a batch of cinnabun popcorn! My inspiration came from Our Best Bites. Since I was having trouble doing their microwave version of caramel, I decided to make our recipe for caramel plus make the necessary changes to make it cinnabun popcorn. Mmmm....it's so good!

Have you ever done this? Brown Paper Bag Popcorn. It works really well! You won't find me cooking popcorn over the stove anymore. This is quick and the cleanup is a cinch!

Put 1/4 cup popcorn kernels in lunch sack.

Fold the top down twice and tape it shut, keeping the bag flat just like you would regular microwave popcorn.

Pop it in the microwave and put it in for however long you normally cook your popcorn. Do this step two times. You should get about 12 cups of popped corn. Then put it in a big bowl.

In a saucepan, combine 1 cup brown sugar, 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup corn syrup, and 1/2 cup butter. 

Bring to a boil and let it boil for 5 minutes. No matter how much it goes against every bone in your body, don't stir it while it's boiling. After you 5 minutes is up, add 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar & a pinch of salt.

Pour it over the popcorn and stir, stir, stir. You're going to stir for a while trying to evenly cover the popcorn. 

Spread out on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Pop in a 200 degree preheated oven for 1 hour.

After it comes out of the oven and has cooled a bit it's time for the almond bark. Melt 2 squares of almond bark. I've done the sprinkling with a fork method, but found that I like putting the melted bark in a ziploc bag, snip the tip and pipe it on. Otherwise you tend to get big clumps of the bark.

This is the best part of the whole process....eat it! Your taste buds will thank you. =)

Juarez Outreach Update: Between Monday & Tuesday there have been 67 souls saved!

A Sneak Peek: Tuesday

Today was more cleaning, plus some yard work. We have so many plants around here it hard to keep up with everything!

I've started giving my mom piano lessons, and today was her second lesson. She's doing really well, and is top of her class! Never mind the fact that she's my only student. ;-)

I recently saw a recipe for cinnabun popcorn that looks so good! The recipe has you make the caramel in the microwave and I just can't seem to get it right. Last week I didn't cook it long enough, and today I burnt it. Tomorrow I'm going to give it another shot using our tried and true caramel corn recipe, while make the minor tweaks that make it 'cinnabun' popcorn. Hopefully I'll have good news to report. :)

We had another prayer meeting tonight. Report from yesterday: 33 saved! Praise the Lord!

This video was on the msn homepage today and is so cute! I had to share it!

A Sneak Peek: Monday

Today started in the wee hours of the morning with a dog sitting next to my bed trying to get my attention. That's what he usually does when he needs to go to the bathroom, but when I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 5-ish I told him to go back to bed. He did...for a minute...and then he was right back next to my bed whining and bumping the bed trying to get my attention. Ahhh the joys of a puppy. Why can't they stay in bed until I'm ready to get up? Max used to...sometimes stay in bed even after I got up. =)  Bless the person who came up with kennels because it allows the rest of the household to get a few more hours of sleep without having to constantly make sure the dogs aren't getting into something they shouldn't. It was a lesson quickly learned...a couple of hole-y socks later.

We worked out this morning! Yes, you read right! With the exception of a few days, we've been pretty faithful with it! 

We did some deep cleaning. It's not always an enjoyable job, but the end result is so worth it!

I watched Braxton for about 30 minutes in the window of time between his grandma going to work and his mom getting off work. I always enjoy watching him even if it is for a short amount of time. 

We had a prayer meeting tonight for the Juarez Project. We'll be getting together each night this week to pray for this outreach. Again, I ask that you join us as we pray for safety and growth in the lives of the men involved, and for souls to be saved as a result of their efforts.

A Sneak Peek: Sunday

Today we started a 3 week series in Sunday School on "How To Behave In Church."

Be glad 

(Psalm 122:1 - I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.) 

and sit still.

(Psalm 46:10 - Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.)

We need to prepare our hearts so that we may get the most out of what the Lord has for us. We need to Respect, Reverence & Awe the things of the Lord.

Brother Majors gave an illustration for the "sit still" point that was so good. He said we can liken our lives to a lake. Just like when the wind is blowing and creating ripples on the water, the storms of life can create "ripples" in our life and create unrest.  When the lake is perfectly still you see the reflection of creation, and when our lives are still and at peace people see the reflection of our Creator. 

It's been rainy here this weekend and cold downstairs so I decided to build a fire today to warm things up a bit.  There wasn't any kindling because we haven't had a fire in a while, so I decided to make some myself. Can't be that hard can it? Maybe if you're used to chopping wood. =) It took me a while to cut up one piece of wood and all the while I was having visions of 'Loves Enduring Promise' where the guy swung an ax into his leg. *shiver* 

Josh is in El Paso, TX this week. He flew over yesterday to help out with the Juarez Outreach. Monday through Friday a group of men will be going into Juarez, Mexico to hand out John & Romans and holding afternoon services (they also had an evening service tonight). Please be in prayer for the safety of all those involved because Juarez is known as "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones." Please pray that those who would seek to do harm would be blinded to their efforts, and that hearts would be open to the Gospel.

Blessed

That's what I've been.
The Lord continues to provide for my needs in ways I never even imagined.
He uses others to be a channel of blessing.
He never ceases to amaze me.

Genesis 18:14 ~ "Is any thing too hard for the LORD?..."


Philippians 4:19 ~ "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."


Psalm 28:6 ~ "Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications."

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!

Teamwork

Thought I'd share some Charlie & Gauge cuteness!

Dynamic Duo

There are some things in life that are meant to be together...cranberries & oranges are one of them.

Normally I make Cranberry Orange Scones, but I thought I'd try a muffin recipe and I hit the jackpot! These muffins are SO delicious! If you have the ingredients you need to go make these right now. If you don't, you need to go get the ingredients so you can make them. =)

Cranberry Orange Muffins

2 cups of flour

1 cup of sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp orange rind

3/4 cup of fresh orange juice

1 cup of dried cranberries

1/4 cup of canola

1 large egg

Coarse raw sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Place the dried cranberries and the freshly squeezed orange juice in a small sauce pan and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes. This helps plump up the dried cranberries.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and orange rind together until well mixed. In a separate bowl, add the orange juice, cranberries, canola oil, and egg and mix together. Pour this mixture into the dry mixture and stir until combined.

Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle a bit of course raw sugar on each muffin top. Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for a few minutes. Enjoy.

Happy Mothers Day!

A Virtuous Woman

Who can find a virtuous woman,

For her price is far above rubies;

With his heart her husband trusts her,

And her children bring her joy.

*Chorus* 

They will rise up,

And call her blessed;

They will thank her for understanding.

Many daughters have done wisely,

But she excels them all.

They will rise up,

And call her blessed;

They will praise her for all her wisdom.

Many daughters have done wisely,

But she excels them all.

In her heart is nothing but kindness;

On her lips are blessing and goodness.

She is gentle, kind, and tender;

All her family sing her praise.

*Chorus*

Worldly favor surely passing;

Outward beauty quickly will vanish,

But the wife with inward beauty

Is a jewel beyond compare.

*Chorus*

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.  She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." ~ Proverbs 31:10-12

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday to the best mom a girl could ask for!

You are such a blessing to me! You are such an example to me of what a woman/Christian/wife/mother/friend (and more!) should be. I love that we get to spend so much time together! I love you!!

A Sneak Peek: Saturday

Today was a day for yard work. The strawberry bed has been neglected for a year at least, so hopefully now that we got the bed cleaned up and more plants in there we'll harvest lots of strawberries! We also cleaned out more raised beds getting them ready to plant. Word has it you're not supposed to plant until the snow melts off certain mountains...so far they still have snow on them.

I did not work out today (gasp!), but that's only because I plan on taking the weekends off. I'm not opposed to going on a walk or something like that...I just don't plan on doing my regular workout.

I got a FREE full-size Suave product! A little bit ago they had this quiz you could do to see if you could tell the difference between Suave products and salon products. If you got so many right, you got a coupon for a free full-size bottle. Score!

Saturday has been nominated as my dad's day to cook. ;) He made Pioneer Woman's Chicken Fried Steak and it was delicious!

Maggie & I just finished a game of Scrabble that took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. and a day. I am happy to report that I won! It was a close game...6 points difference!

Now I need to go make Cranberry Orange Scones for tomorrow. Yum! 

I hope you all had a great weekend, and have a wonderful day in the Lord's house tomorrow!

A Sneak Peek: Friday

Not much to report from Friday. 

I worked out...day 3! I wasn't feeling well that morning, so it wasn't until later on in the evening that Maggie & I exercised. It was a bit chilly downstairs so we had a fire going, and I tell you what...working out with a fire going is not easy. ;)

I watched some clips from the Royal Wedding. I love how they still use carriages, the women wear hats, etc. Speaking of hats...did you see the Princes cousin's hat? Light pink with a ridiculous bow?! Haha It reminds of something that would come out of a Dr. Suess book! I guess it's to each his own when it comes to fashion.

Yesterday was a big day for Omak. McDonalds reopened after being closed for almost a year. =) Last July they had a kitchen fire and while they were closed they took the opportunity to remodel and 'modernize' it. It looks really nice from the outside! I used to not be a fan of McDonalds, but it's growing on me...especially when you don't have very many options. It was definitely a hopping place yesterday. Someone (I won't mention any names) had the idea to go there for dinner, so Josh & I waited in line for half an hour! The line was backed up all the way to the road and into the turning lane! Crazy!

A Sneak Peek: Thursday

This morning I spent my time with the Lord out on the swing. It was a bit chilly, but it's so peaceful out there if you can get past the dogs chasing each other and fighting over a toy. :)  I really wish I took a picture because it was really pretty out.  Oh well...another time!

I worked out! That makes two days in a row! Woot woot!

Braxton came over today. Seems like he's talking and doing more things each day. :) He's been able to go up the stairs for a while, and now can go down the stairs 99% of the time. He had a bit of a tumble down the stairs today, but thank the Lord I was there to catch him. He's also able to open the door to the deck which probably isn't the best thing. :)

It was hailing for a little bit this afternoon! It melted almost immediately, but it was crazy!

I don't think I've ever played Scrabble until last night and I really enjoyed it. I think I'll be going through a Scrabble phase. Haha.  We don't have a Scrabble board, but I think we're going to have to change that! 

We had church tonight. Tiffany & Braxton came...yay!

A Sneak Peek: Wednesday

Maggie & I worked out this morning. This is something that I REALLY need to get into the habit of doing. Good habits are hard to form. Is it just me or does it seem like when you're starting to get into the habit of it somethings happens that totally throws you off kilter? I guess I need to learn to jump right back in. 

We went into town today to do a few things and I saw this when we were in Walmart. Seriously? I mean no disrespect to the royal family, and I probably would watch the wedding if we had cable...but a mini wedding cake??? Come on...

Now I'm off to catch up on some e-mails and have some Easter candy..errr...uummm...carrot sticks. =)

A Sneak Peek: Tuesday

We didn't do anything terribly exciting today. 

We did, however, put the swing together!

I made Tostadas for dinner. I love anything taco...taco salad, tostadas, taco pizza, reg tacos...mmmm!  Tostadas are so easy and quick too. Just layer all of your favorite taco fixings on the tostada - refried beans, beef, sour cream, lettuce, tomato, cheese - whatever sounds good to you. We put black beans in our beef mixture which is always yummy. Sometimes we'll make chicken tacos and add guacamole to the toppings. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE guacamole?! 

I'm linking up to Erica's Tasty Tuesday.

A Sneak Peak: Monday

My parents, Maggie & I took a trip to Wenatchee. Yay for shopping! Our main purpose in going was to find a patio swing, but of course we had to look at other things too! My dad was such a good sport about it too! We were getting ready to leave and he asked us if we wanted to stop at the mall first! Yes please!

We did find a swing, and I can't wait to get it put together! We had one at our other house, and I just loved sitting out there feeling the warmth of the sun and listening to the sounds of nature, reading a book, talking to whoever was out there with you, or maybe even taking nap. It's so peaceful!

There was a hurricane simulator at the entrance of the mall, so Maggie and I decided to give it a try! It got up to 80 mph! It sure was windy!

Oh, and no trip to Wenatchee is complete without making a stop at Sonic! Yum!

A Sneak Peak: Resurrection Sunday

We are surrounded by bunnies, eggs, etc at this time of year, but what do any of these things have to do with the true meaning of Easter, or as we like to refer to it...Resurrection Sunday. It's easy to get caught up in the things the world promotes as the meaning of "Easter", and I'm not here to say these things are wrong but we must always keep our focus on the true meaning - Christ's Resurrection! I'm so thankful for my salvation and the fact that Christ died on the cross for my sins, but I find myself even more thankful for the fact that He rose again! If He didn't then my life would be in vain. Everything I live for would be a joke. As I've heard it put before "Christ would be another dead founder of another dead religion."

1 Corinthians 15:14 - And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

But He's not dead. He is RISEN! Praise God!!

Luke 24:1-6 - Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: ...

We had a great Resurrection Sunday as we sang praises to God, were blessed from the preaching of His Word, fellowshipped with fellow believers and had our first Lord's Table as a church.

After church we came home and while some took naps others stayed up chatting. That evening we went to the Majors for dinner and played games!

Here is one of the songs we sang on Sunday. Go to Maggie's blog to watch the other one!

Tasty Tuesday?

Tonight I made Chicken Pad Thai for dinner. Unfortunately it wasn't very tasty. Normally I really enjoy Pad Thai, but this recipe just wasn't very good. :(

I'm linking up to Erica's Tasty Tuesday.

Because of Calvary

Maggie & I sang a special this past Sunday.

I've just recently picked my flute back up again. Unfortunately I'm kinda squeaky in the video, but the more I play the better it'll get. I'm really surprised how fast it's all coming back to me though...it's only the Lord! This was also the first time Maggie sang while playing the piano! =)

We also had another baptism! Meet Kimmie! We met her when BBC came over here this past summer for the campout/outreach.  She already had a testimony of salvation, and then this past Sunday she followed the Lord in baptism...which also made her a member of the church. Our little church is growing slowly but surely!