4 Years Ago

 While cleaning I came across a disc that pictures from my wedding shower were on. It doesn't feel like much time has passed, but so much has changed since then. 

Enjoy!

Debbi and Misti. This was the first time I met Misti. The Wiggins were new to our church from Chicago.

Alicia (my MOH) and her Mom Charlene

Me and my Mother-in-law Charla

Alicia, our mothers, and I

Maggie (bridesmaid, and childhood friend), our moms, and I

Opening gifts

Abbie (my sister) Maddi, and Jordan

The Food!

She was so little!

The decor

More Food!

Christmas is Just Around the Corner

 As I am sitting here looking at a few things on my computer, I am reminded that I need to get with it and get some things done for our impending next few hectic weeks. We will be gone next week, the next weekend, and the weekend after that. We are looking forward to it, and it will be a nice break from the day to day stuff.

 We are also looking forward to our anniversary. I am still in shock that we have been married 4 years, and that we have a beautiful little girl to celebrate with us. We will be heading up to a friends cabin in green valley lake, and honestly, Jon and I couldn't be more excited! 

 Then shortly after we get home, we will be experiencing Adah's first Halloween! She will be a cute little Poo Bear! I am planning on taking pictures before then, so I will post them. We will be going to our church's hallelujah night. We are excited about that because Adah's cousin will be joining us.

 The next weekend, we will be going to our first married couples retreat. Our first year of marriage, we couldn't afford it, and the next year, it was a cruise, and we couldn't afford it again, then they didn't have it one year, so now, after 4 years of being married, we are finally going! Because Adah is still so young, and still breast feeding, she will go with us. It will be a nice weekend in Irvine!

 The weekend after that, we are attending our dear friends Randall, and Kristi's wedding. We have been friends with them since before they were dating, and are excited to spend a weekend in Dana Point for the wedding!

 Then, we are just about into the holidays. I can't even believe that. This will be Adah's first holiday season, and I want to soak it up with her. I hope Jon is prepared, because we are going to pull out all the stops for her. Mission Inn, Disneyland, lights at Chino, and all of the great movie's that come with Christmas. We are so excited!

New Blog

I have recently been enjoying making Adah's headbands, I love going and getting different material for them. If anyone is interested in them please let me know! I have set up a blog with the different ones I have made thus far.

bandsbyme.blogspot.com

This Looks Way Too Good!

 Oddly enough the only thing I miss about not having cable is the Food Network. As I was looking at the many wonderful recipes they have I found one I am going to have to try. It would have been tonight's dinner if I hadn't have just found it at 4:45, and didn't have din din in the crock pot.

Maybe I will try it tomorrow night for dinner.

Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon

• 1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage
• 4 cloves garlic, cracked and chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
• 4 to 6 sprigs sage leaves, cut into chiffonade, about 2 tablespoons
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock, canned or paper container
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup (3 turns around the pan) heavy cream
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ground or freshly grated
• Coarse salt and black pepper
• 1 pound penne rigate, cooked to al dente
• Romano or Parmigiano, for grating
• Pumpernickel or whole grain bread, as an accompaniment

Directions

Spinach Salad with Apple and Red Onion, as an accompaniment, recipe follows

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate. Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.

Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes. Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble. Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream. Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.

Serve pumpkin sausage pasta with pumpernickel or whole grain bread and Spinach Salad with Apple and Red Onion.

 Spinach Salad with Apple and Red Onion

• 1 pound triple-washed spinach, de-stemmed
• 1 small Golden Delicious apple, quartered, cored, and sliced
• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (a couple of splashes) apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon grain mustard
• 1 tablespoon (a good drizzle) honey
• Coarse salt and black pepper

Place spinach, apple, and onion in a salad bowl. Place oil, vinegar, mustard and honey in a small plastic container and fit lid on container. Shake dressing to combine, 1 minute. Pour dressing over salad, toss, and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Yield: 4 servings

Autmn Organization

One thing I love about Fall is it motivates me to clean and organize the house before the holidays, and that is exactly what I'm doing! I am not by nature an organized person. My mom is probably laughing really hard right now. But with the baby, and not having a ton of time to devote to cleaning the house, my goal is to have a home for everything, so when I pick things up while cleaning there is no guessing where it goes. I am also going through and organizing the house to prepare for a yard sale that I'm planning on having. I started in the living room with a hope chest, I have gone through the rooms and closets, and all I have left is the kitchen and office. Those are two biggies by themselves. 

 I have been wanting to organize the pantry since we moved in, but haven't a clue how or where to start. So I researched online different ways to organize the pantry. I know I'm a nerd. A little google goes a long way! It's not a big space so I needed to make the space functional, and something I would keep up. So I have a category for each shelf. I started with my pad of paper and a pen. I numbered each shelf 1-8.

Shelf 1   Baking

Shelf 2  Breakfast

Shelf 3  Snacks

Shelf 4  Beverages

Shelf 5  Spices (On a separate page I listed all the spices I have)

Shelf 6  Bread (I put the peanut butter and Honey on this shelf for Jon)

Shelf 7  Rice and Grains

Shelf 8  Misc.

 I also did this because I was sick thinking I was out of something and realizing I already have 3 of them. Case and point, I discovered 7 boxes of the flavor packets for bottles of water.

 I did it shelf by shelf. I didn't want to pull everything out and Adah wake up midway, and have everything all over. I was able to finish it in about 2 hours, with the help of Jon and my sister who take great care of Adah.

 My next project is to go through and organize all the cabinets in the kitchen. It is going to be a big job, but I'm feeling momentum so I am going to try to keep that going!

Before

My "Map" if you will.

My list of spices

 In my quest, I discovered 7 boxed of the water flavor mixes!

Acts 28 Remake

Here is a video that Jon and some of the other Jr. High counselors did for Wednesday Night study.