They can't all be winners

Pinterest has inspired me to cook {well really bake}more. An endless amount of recipes are at my fingertips and I have made it a goal to start trying these recipes instead of carrying them around in a folder.

I made Pink Lemonade Pound Cake. This was a miss, it was really lemony and too sweet for my taste. Some of the problems I ran into were user error, my pan was not the size they recommend using so it spilled over in the oven {good thing I had a tray under the pan just in case :)} and one side was more done then the other....so with a combination of those things, the cake was just not as good as I thought it would be.

Since I knew the Pink Lemonade Cake was not going to work, I needed a back-up plan to take to Kyle's parents house. We had an awesome meal on New Year's Eve and I wanted to take something that looked somewhat presentable :) I made these Strawberry Cream Cheese Croissants. They are good and easy but not my favorite fruity dessert I have made. I will probably not make them again but I'm glad I had an excuse to try them.

It is known around our house that Kyle is the better cook. He can add spices to any dish and make it delicious. I get overwhelmed by all the spices when I see a recipe that I usually stay away and the dishes I make are usually plain. Kyle likes to experiment with cooking and I am a stick-to-the-recipe type of girl. That being said I made Baked Ziti and LOVED it. One of the best things I have made in a long time :) The recipe was simple with not too many ingredients. Whenever I make dinner Kyle will humor me by trying it but this time I knew he liked it because he had leftover {he rarely eats leftovers where I could eat them all the time}.

I can't always make desserts or dinners that will turn out great but that won't stop me from trying new recipes {sorry Kyle} :)

Reflecting

I wanted to look back and reflect on some of the things the Lord has done in our life this year. I am not always good at remembering things and always have to write it down or I will forget. Here are some of the things the Lord has provided for us/has helped us get through when they were really tough and some of the joyful moments he has given us.

-Kyle and I both finished school. I have my Bachelor's and Kyle finished paramedic school
-We celebrated one year of marriage
-I have had 4 interviews for different jobs this past year {no new job yet, but I know the Lord has something great for me} and Kyle is in the interviewing process to work at a fire department he would LOVE to work for.
-Leading YL at Taylor
-Building relationship with our friends at Taylor and having a great team for support
-Taking a much needed vacation to Carolina Beach {Hurricane Irene couldn't keep us away and the Lord made everything work out for us to have a great trip!}
-Getting to spend time with our families
-Kyle and I have learned more about each other, what we want our marriage to be, and things we want to work on {and having sweet reminders of our love along the way}
-Having Bentley provide us with constant entertainment and to keep us working on our patience :)
-Clinging to God's word when times have felt hard and overwhelming

Here is the verse we are taking into 2012:

Psalm 111:7 "The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy"

Merry Christmas

Have a Merry Christmas! We are going to be filled to the brim with joy celebrating our Saviors' birth and a spending time with some of the people we love the most :)

Keeping with the Tradition

One of Kyle's favorite memories is cutting down a Christmas tree and then watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation {and quoting the entire movie} with his family. This year the weather did not allow us to go with Kyle's entire family {dang the rain}, so we decided to wait another week and get our Christmas tree last weekend. We took Bentley along for his first Christmas tree experience...let's just say he loved it and it was really fun to take him along.

Bentley was too excited to sit for a photo

On our way to get the tree

This picture is priceless...Bentley was taking it all in :)

Here is the winner :)

Kenny says it best

Have you heard this song? Kenny Chesney is singing what I want for Christmas {if money was not a factor}. I would love to go to a tropical location when the weather here is snowy, cold, and bitter. "I looove the sun" {that was for you Leah} and not having pale white skin is a plus too :) . Since a beach vacation will not be happening this year, I will just have to listen to this song and imagine I am at the beach :)

{source}

"Take me to the Islands put my feet in the sand,

rockin' to and fro with the rhythm of the ocean,
singin Silent Night with the palm trees ablowin'.."

A Christmas First

I saw all these cute ideas on Pinterest and knew I wanted to have some of the besties over for a gingerbread house making party. Not as many people could come as I would have hoped but it still was a great time with friends, laughing at our not so pinterest looking houses, and eating sweet treats {except for the icing that came in the kit :)} The kit we got had five small houses which was the perfect size to decorate in my opinion and we all had our own house :)

Our table setup

{inspiration}

I love that someone came up with a cute way to dress up a paper plate

{inspiration}

{recipe, recipe}

{recipe}

My house. These houses were so tiny it was hard to decorate the sides, so the roof got the most attention for my house.

Carrie's house...this one gave us a lot of laughs throughout the night. Her icing was really runny so by the time she was done it looked like a bloody gingerbread house. But the sprinkles on the roof give it the feel of not so creepy, right?

Eric's house, please note the little trees on his roof he made. We were all impressed with this gingerbread house making skills.

Tiff's house. Tiff had lots of fun eating the icing while making her house :) Sadly this cute house fell apart when she was leaving my house

I'm really glad I got to do this and I'm sure next year pinterest will inspire me to throw another party :)

It's that time of year...

It's time for family Christmas cards! Kyle's family always does photo Christmas cards and it is a tradition that we have been doing with our small family. About a month ago we got our pictures taken at Mt Echo park. I saw a deal on cincysavers.com for one hour of photography for $25, I did not want to pass up this deal so I bought one for me and Carrie so that we could get pictures taken by a pro this year. For our photo session I wanted pictures of Kyle and I celebrating our one year but also some with Bentley for Christmas cards and for the house. I won't mention the photographer because Carrie and I both were not really satisfied with our pictures. The positives are that we did not have to pay a lot, he gave us all the pictures that he took, he let me use all the props that I had brought, and edited some of them. The negatives were it took three weeks to get our pictures back, I thought his attire for the session was not professional {he showed up in sweat pants and a t-shirt}, and the photos were okay. It was cool to try out a photographer that was really reasonable but I will probably not pay to get our pictures taken again for a Christmas card :)

Here are some of the good ones...most of the pictures with props were inspired by pinterest.

{inspiration}

We love playing with our pup!

{inspiration}

{inspiration}

Here are some of the ones that were not so flattering/hard to have a dog in your picture when all he wants to do is chase squirrels/weird posing/bad ones

Hear no evil, see no evil?...not really sure why we look like this :)

Kyle and I are not good with the serious look

Awkward hand holding

The photographer had kyle act like he was posing...I told him we were celebrating one year of marriage

Again..we are not the type of people that can pull off a "look deeply into ones another eyes" photo

Weird posing

 

"Gently" wanting Bentley to look a certain way :)

Here is the one that will be coming to your mailbox soon

{inspired}