Duck Pond

The weather here has been AMAZING. I wish Texas were like this everyday! Oh well...at least I get about 1 week out of the year with perfect weather. We went to a Duck pond in Bedford a few weeks ago with Gwen and Adam. We had so much fun. I guess these ducks are so used to getting lots of bread, they pretty much just walk right up to you and take it out of you hand.



Ok, so I have some pictures I need to fix... but here is Noah feeding the duck...look how close the ducks get! It's crazy!

WHAT??? It's My 100th Post???

So one of the reasons I have not blogged in awhile is because I thought that I had to do something really cool for my 100th post. See, I have read all these really fun blogs where they have some giveaway and have a big hoopla... But you know what?? I don't have that many readers. I decided that I can just dedicate my 100th post to a little blurb about my 100th post.

I want to thank all my dedicated readers for all the comments you have left telling me such wonderful things. I want to thank my family for supporting me in this endeavor. I also want to thank my camera for capturing some fabulous memories and also to friends for inviting us to things to make this blog a little bit more interesting. I couldn't have done it without you all....

Ok, that is my speech. I'm just practicing for when I one day win an Academy Award or something. (When I was a little girl, for Christmas I really REALLY wanted an Agent. I never got one. So, it's my blog and I will pretend it is my speach for some amazing award.)

Yes, I'm a dork and I do realize this. Thank you.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies

Ok...so really, if you are craving something rich, chocolaty and so very Martha...then you may want to make some of these. Really...they are good.

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies

8 oz. semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 TBS unsalted butter
2/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 lg. eggs
3/4 c. packed light-brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pkg. semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until almost melted; do not overheat. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Drop heaping TBS of dough 2-3 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12-15 minutes. Cool on sheets 10 minutes; with a thin metal spatula, transfer to racks to cool completely.
***Don't worry if the batter seems thin. It should look more like brownie batter than cookie dough.
Keep in airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.

Creamy Chicken

This has officially been dubbed Ben's favorite meal. It was so good. The sauce was absolutely to DIE FOR! The picture truely does not do this justice, for one thing it would not turn the right way, but it also looks kinda drab. But just know it tastes DELISH with some hot rolls, salad and rice. The recipe came from LuAnn Carver, who goes to church with me. Hope you enjoy!

Creamy Chicken in the Crockpot

4 chicken breasts or 10 tenders
1 env. Italian salad dressing mix
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup

Put chicken in crockpot. Add remaining ingredients. Mix lightly. Cook on LOW for about 4-6 hours. Serve over rice.

Male Bonding Trip...

Back in July Ben, my Dad, Eric (older bro) and Curt (younger bro) went on a 3 day-2 night, 22 mile (yes, TWENTY TWO miles) backpacking trip in the San Jacinto Mountains, outside of Palm Springs, CA. This picture is Day 1...entering the park. You can see the Mountain Peak they were going to climb in the background.

Ben and some beautiful scenery.
This is Curt and my Dad purifying some drinking water they found out of a stream.
Camp...Night 1. This site is called Skunk Cabbage. There were 2, 2-man tents. I think they all did rock-paper-scissors to see who would end up with the snorers...notice how far apart they put the tents:)
This is "dessert"...mixed berry cobbler. Most of the food they ate was dehydrated and packaged...you know, just add water. I think they pretty much starved themselves and ate beef jerky and gatorade. Can't say I blame them. I hear the chicken enchiladas were so gross that no creature would go near it.
This is Night 2 after they hiked 10 miles. (Day 1 they hiked 5 miles and day 2 was 10 miles). This day everything was up hill, so they were worn out. Through out the day, they were always worried about water...they had to try and listen and hope and pray that the water would be where the map said it was...sometimes the creeks would be dry and they would have to go searching for water. Thank goodness they didn't have to drink their urine or anything! I know they were close!

This is Day 3. This cabin is at the base of San Jacinto Peak. It was built in the early 1900's for those hikers who needed to rest before they went to the peak. The altitude is so high and the air is so thin that people would need to rest in the cabin before they went on.


Inside the cabin you could find all sorts of medical supplies and food as well as a log-in book and some bunk beds. People left stuff for those who ran out of supplies and were in need. This is Curt climbing up to the Peak.
This is the highest point of the Peak...Mission Completion! Way to go boys!! The top of the peak is just under 11,000 ft.

Ben and Curt at the top of the Peak.

Ben looking down at the desert below. "I'm King of the World!!" Can't wait for the next boys out...they plan on doing this every other year...next time Chile? Colorado? Washington? Appalachian Trail?

Oh Butterfly, Where Art Thou??

Last Friday Noah and I were trying to find things to do (we have a short window frame since Caden gets out of school at 11am). He found a Popsicle holder and got so excited! This is our little conversation:
N: Mom! Look what I found! I have to go find a butterfly!
M: What? Why a butterfly (a little confused since it is what you freeze popsicle's in)
N: We have to give it a bath! Come on! Let's go!

So, we filled it up with water and went looking for a butterfly...
Here he is looking up at the tree, hoping there was one there...
Looking in the bushes...still no luck. I felt bad...how do you tell your 3 year old that it's really hard to find a butterfly when it is 1) 90 degrees outside 2) They are kinda hard to catch 3) It will not want us to give it a bath. So we just looked around for a good 40 minutes and he gave up and we went inside. He is such a sweet boy and very imaginative!

Banana Cream Supreme

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! We spent it purging our house of junk and painting Ben's brother, Jon and wife, Wendy's house. It looks amazing!

Anyway...here is a recipe I tried for book club. I think it turned out REALLY good. It really reminded me of Marie Calendar's Banana Cream Pie (which is my favorite!). It was very creamy and rich. The best part is there is no oven time required! I love that part the best. I was a little nervous reading the recipe and seeing how much sour cream was in there...but relax, give it a try, you will not be disappointed. Also, it is a Pampered Chef recipe, so you know it will be good!

Banana Cream Supreme

16 (2 1/2") graham cracker squares (approx. 1 1/4 c. crushed)
1/4 c. butter or margarine, melted
3 TBS sugar
1 (12 oz.) container frozen shipped topping, thawed
1 (8 oz.) container sour cream
1 (3.4 oz.) box vanilla INSTANT pudding
3 medium bananas, sliced
2 TBS pecan halves, grated (I did not do this, I used graham cracker crumbs)

Finely crush graham crackers in large resealable plastic bag; place in bowl. Add butter and sugar; mix well. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of a Springform Pan.
In bowl, whisk whipped topping and sour cream until blended. Add pudding mix; whisk until mixture is well blended and smooth. Spread half of the filling over crust. Slice bananas and arrange over filling. Spread remaining filling over bananas.
Grate pecans over top (or graham cracker crumbs). Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
Run a knife around sides of dessert; release collar from pan and carefully remove. Cut into wedges. Garnish each serving with a strawberry fan, if desired.

Chocolate Eclair

For Daring Bakers this month we made these yummy Chocolate Eclairs by Pierre Hermes. They were really good. The Pate a Choux was a little too eggy for me though. Also,when they came out of the oven they kind of collapsed a bit. Not as big and puffy compared to some of the other Pate a Choux's that I have made. All in all, they were still pretty good and I had fun making them. Instead of the chocolate pastry cream, I opted to a plain vanilla pastry cream which was really good. Sorry I don't have too many pictures of these bad boys...I'm still practicing and trying to figure out the perfect lighting to take pictures of food! Does anybody have any tips??? Kellie?? Mitzi? Jenny?

If you want the recipe, you can go to Meeta's or Tony's blog for the recipe. It's a really long recipe with lots and lots of crazy steps that could probably have been left out...

Houston Reception

Here are a few pictures of the Houston Reception for my brother Curt and his wife, Whitney. My Mom and I had so much fun with all the details and getting it all put together. I am patiently waiting to get the other pictures. My camera of course died after I took 3 pictures. So this is all I have! This is the candy buffet. When I found out Curt got engaged, this was the first thing that was decided. I thought it was so fun! The candy is Strawberry Whoppers, Cookies and Cream Kisses, Hershy Nuggets (which were wrapped in cute paper with their monogram), White Chocolate Covered Pretzels and Midnight Blue and Aqua Jelly Bellies.
This was the center piece. Real simple.
This is just a close up of the flowers.

I'll be posting the other pictures....hopefully tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies

I have been reading this really fun book series by JoAnne Fluke. These books are a murder mystery about a girl who owns a cookie shop and she keeps finding people dead and tries to solve their murder. Anyway, the author talks about all these yummy cookies and includes them in her books! I tried these, and they were so YUMMY! There are corn flakes in them to give and extra crunch. One of my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies now! Hope you enjoy them as well as the book series. The first book is called "The Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder."

Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies

1 c. butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 beaten eggs (just whip with a fork)
2 1/2 c. flour
2 c. crushed corn flakes (just crush with your hands)
2 c. chocolate chips

Melt butter, add the sugars and stir. Add soda, salt, vanilla and beaten eggs. Mix well. Then add flour and stir in. Add crushed corn flakes and chocolate chips and mix it all thoroughly.

Form dough into walnut-sized balls with your fingers and place on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet. Press them down with a floured or greased fork in a crisscross pattern (can't say I did this!).

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack until completely cool. (The rack is important, it makes them crisp!)

Welcome to Texas!

***UPDATE: I totally forgot to add where the tins idea came from: Dannie's Designs and you can buy the tins here!

My brothers new in-laws were coming to Texas for the Houston Reception and we wanted to give them a little welcome bag...we put some fun Texas stuff in there, lots of snacks, chocolate, as well as a list of hot spots in Houston that they could visit and eat. Here are the tins I made.
They are just Hershey Nuggets wrapped in cute paper.
Also we wrapped matching paper on the water bottles and added a little "to go" Crystal Light flavoring.
Here is the final product. We got this idea from my sister-in-law, Ainsley. When her and Josh got married, we had a bag waiting in our hotel room. We loved it and thought it was so nice to have. We had maps to get us everywhere...loved it. Thanks for the inspiration Ainsley!

First Day of Kindergarten!

Yesterday (Aug. 25) was Caden's first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe that he is old enough to go! I can't believe I'm old enough to have a kindergartner! He was pretty excited to go...I think he had mixed emotions. But he did it! He went and he had a great day!
Here he is in his class...looks a little nervous uh? I was so proud of him! Just so you know...I didn't cry...just teared up a bit. But hey...it's only from 8am-11am. Yes...3 hours. So I will be fine!

The Seattle Reception

The reception was the following day, after the wedding. It was at Whitney's parents home. It was beautiful! Couldn't ask for better weather! This is a cute picture of Ben and I.
My niece Taylor...I think she looks like a little fairy princess. Isn't she adorable?
I think this backdrop they had was amazing. Very clever. Loved all the lanterns.
A better picture of everything. Their colors were midnight blue and a turquoise green/blue color. The colors were so stunning together.
The cake.
The candy buffet.
Taylor and I.

Curt and Whitney.
My Dad, Mom and Eric.
Myself and Nana (my mom's mom)
Grandma, Summer and Grandpa (my Dad's parents)
Ben and I.
Eating the Cake! They totally behaved themselves...no smearing cake in the others face or anything. I was impressed!

Ben and Curt...acting, well...like themselves:)