Our Honeymoon: The New York Chapter

We’re home from our honeymoon!!!  Well, we’ve actually been home for a week and a half now, but we’ve been so busy catching up on things at our business and at home (laundry anyone?) that I have unfortunately been neglecting my blog and my dear readers!  Plus, I had to edit all our honeymoon photos! Do you know how long that takes!?  Fear not!  I am back, and ready to get blogging again!

I’m happy to report that our kitty, Lacey, is back to her old self!  Phillip and Jenni did a wonderful job taking care of her while we were gone, and Steve and I are so grateful!

As most of you know, Steve and I got married last month….actually a month ago, today!  July 16, 2011.  It was the wedding I’ve always dreamed of, and I promise I will share pictures as soon as my sister in law (and photographer) Stacey gives them to me.  In the mean time, you can run over to her blog (just click on her name in the previous sentence) to see a sneak peek of our wedding photos.  It’s a big sneak peak….over 100 photos worth!  She is too good to me!

For our honeymoon, we went on a Caribbean cruise through Princess Cruise Lines.  It was wonderful!  I did get a little queezy the second night on the ship, but after that (and some Dramamine), I was completely fine.  Our cruise left out of Brooklyn, NY, and Steve and I made the LONG drive from Tennessee a couple days before so we could explore a little bit of New York City.

We had our first New York lunch at Smith & Wollensky’s Grill, and shared a $38.50 Filet Mignon (not including sides).  We went with a hashbrown type of potato side ($11.00) and bottled water (who knows how much that was) because when he asked if we wanted tap water I wasn’t sure of the quality of NYC tap water, so I went with the safest option.

Here’s our yummy lunch.  Those potatoes were to die for!

I told them it was our honeymoon, and they gave us each a free glass of wine.  How nice! (That was our only freebie on the entire trip from throwing the “honeymoon” word out there)

This is where we stayed in NYC (thanks Mom and Dad!), although getting here was an ordeal!  Our navigation took us to 3rd Ave. in Brooklyn instead of 3rd Ave. in New York City even though we CLEARLY told it that we wanted the 3rd Ave. in New York City!  That was an hour detour with New York traffic, and getting lost about 3 times.

Our cab ride to Times Square.  Pretty sure we could have walked faster, but we’re not used to all the walking.  Whenever we asked someone how far something was, they always gave us time in walking minutes.  Oh, Central Park is about a 20 minute walk, Times Square is a 15 minute walk.  Distance people!  I want to know distance!

After our $12 cab ride, we ended up here, in Times Square.  Which is a lot narrower than I imagined from seeing it on TV.  I was thinking it was a big square (hence the name Times Square), but it’s really a skinny rectangle, that feels a lot skinnier when there are tall buildings closing in on you from every side.

What did we do in Times Square, you ask?  Well, take a double decker bus tour, of course!  It’s the touristy thing to do, and we were tourists.

Holy cow there are a lot of pedestrians in NY!  And everyone is so fit!  I wonder why?  Could it be the fact that they all walk several miles a day?  Hmmm….I may be onto something here.

Oh look, there’s the Empire State Building.  Sleepless In Seattle, An Affair To Remember, where Kendra and Hank got engaged……ok forget that last one. 🙂

Here’s a lovely black and white for you, from the bottom looking up.

I’ve always loved this building whenever I see it in movies.  The main one that comes to mind is You’ve Got Mail.

Here’s the new Freedom Tower being built where the World Trade Center used to stand.  It’s going to be 1,776 feet high, standing for the year in which America won it’s freedom, 1776.

Whenever I see the Waldorf Astoria, I always think of the movie Serendipity.  So I just had to take a photo.  It was fairly close to the hotel where we stayed.

Rockefeller Center, home of 30 Rock.  I wanted desperately to go to the top, but it was like $28 a person, plus it was an hour wait.  We decided not to do it, but if we ever come back to NYC, that’s definitely going to be on my list of things to do!

Isn’t he cute standing in front of Rockefeller Center?

Here’s our hotel room at the Courtyard Marriott in NYC.  A lot smaller (and more expensive) than the one in Hagerstown, MD where we stayed the day before we arrived in NY.  But I guess you pay for the location rather than the room size in NYC.

This was our hotel room in Hagerstown at the Springfield Suites Marriott.  Don’t let this picture fool you…..

This whole living room area….

and whirlpool tub were also in the room.  As compared to the NY room, which was only what you saw in the picture, plus a small bathroom. 🙂  You know what they say….location, location, location!

Here was our view from our hotel room on the 19th floor of the Courtyard Marriott.

Did I mention the driving in New York?  CRAZY!!!!  We were almost side swiped by a bus 2 minutes after we came through the Holland Tunnel!  Seriously!  We were sitting at a stop light in our own lane, when a bus pulls beside us.  When the light turns green the bus pulled right into our lane while we were sitting there!!  Steve was wondering if he was going to need to use his horn while driving in NY, and let me tell you……he used it!  Any closer and the bus would have hit us.  It was literally right on top of us!  I honestly don’t know how we got out of there without several dents and scratches on our Jeep.  Lets just say you have to be a very defensive driver in NY.

Saw this sign on the way to the boat dock and thought it was funny.  The other side of the building had a sign, as well, that said: “If you don’t like gay marriage, don’t get gay married.”  What does that have to do with storage?

New York was a very beautiful city, but I think the only reason I would ever come back would be to go shopping.  Otherwise, it’s just too stressful!  And I definitely wouldn’t come back with my own car!  Walking or taxis for me!  I don’t want to chance my car getting scratch, dented, bumped, or smashed.  I think I had white knuckles the entire time Steve was trying to squeeze his way through all the traffic and chaos.

The next post will be all about our cruise ship, the Caribbean Princess.  So yay!  You have that to look forward to!

Butterflies, Flowers, and Lacey

Steve and I are leaving for our honeymoon today!  We’re driving up to New York (yes, driving) and spending a couple days walking around Manhattan and seeing the sights.  Then on Thursday, our 9-day Caribbean Cruise leaves from Brooklyn!!  We’ve never been gone for this long, so it’s been quite the ordeal trying to pack everything we need and get the house and animals ready for our friends Phillip and Jenni to house sit for us.  Part of getting the house ready was mowing the lawn yesterday afternoon.  I’m always the designated poop cleaner upper (yay me!), and I always clean up the dog poop in the backyard right before Steve mows so that he won’t be driving over, chopping up, and spreading dog poop everywhere.  I know.  It’s gross.  But I’m just keeping it real!

Anyway, yesterday when I was doing this lovely chore, I noticed what I thought was a piece of paper in the grass.  So I went over to pick it up, and saw that it was actually a beautiful butterfly!

It was sitting so still that I thought it was dead.  But I gave it a little nudge, and it moved a little bit.  So, hoping that it would continue to stay still for at least a few minutes more, I ran inside to grab my camera and was able to get this beautiful shot.  Then I realized that Steve would be mowing here in a few minutes, so I tried picking it up to set it on a flower, but it started hopping around and I could barely hold onto it.  Finally, once I got it into my hands, it flew away over our neighbor’s roof.  I’m glad I was able to snap a picture when I did.  I’ve never seen a butterfly like this before.  It’s belly was pure white and fluffy like a cotton ball.  Steve said he thinks it was a moth, but to me, moths are ugly and butterflies are pretty, so I’m going to stick with thinking it was a butterfly.

Since I was already outside with my camera, I thought it would probably be a good idea to take a picture of one of my rose bushes to prove that I actually do have somewhat of a green thumb!  Here is a plant that I haven’t killed, everyone!!  There’s hope for me yet!

Now onto the main reason for this blog post.  My baby girl, Lacey, is at the vet right now.  She had been throwing up all night and this morning, and really hadn’t moved from the same spot she was laying last night.  Whenever I feed the kitties she is always the first one to the food, and if we’re not careful to separate the kitties when they eat, she would eat all three helpings.  But this morning, when I went to feed them, she just laid there and wasn’t even interested.  I put some food right in front of her face and she just sniffed it and put her head down.  This has never happened before!  None of our kitties have ever turned down a meal (well except Fancy when she’s being picky), and none of our cats have ever been sick either.  I’m not sure if she ate something she shouldn’t have, or if she got sick some other way, but I just can’t be excited for our honeymoon until I know she’s going to be ok.  It’s horrible timing, but I’m glad we noticed this before we left today, and were able to get her to the vet before Phillip and Jenni started house sitting.  She’s only been sick since last night, so hopefully the vet will be able to figure out what’s wrong with her and fix her up good as new.

When I called the vet at 7:15 this morning, they said they didn’t have an opening until 10am, and we were supposed to leave for New York at noon, so they let me bring her in at 7:45am, and they said they’d try to squeeze her in between patients to try to get her out of there earlier.  Normally I would definitely stay with her while she was being examined, but we still have a little bit of packing to do, and I need to do a few more things around the house, so reluctantly I left her with the vet, and they said they would call me when they have an update.

So please pray for our little kitty Lacey.  She’s normally our most energetic cat, and it makes me so sad to see her in pain and not herself.  I hope we can find out what is causing this very soon.  I’ll post an update when I know more.  Thanks for your prayers!

Update:  Lacey is home from the vet.  He thinks it’s probably something she ate because she had a lot of blood and fat in her stool.  She’s still not eating or drinking but the vet gave some intravenous fluids to help with dehydration.  We were sent home with 2 different medications for her to control diarrhea.  Doctor said she will probably be feeling better by tomorrow.  Keep praying!

Update #2:  Praise the Lord!  Lacey is back to her old spunky self!  Jenni and Phillip did an amazing job taking care of her while we were gone on our honeymoon, and by the time we came back, it was as if she had never been sick.  They did have to take her in to the vet while we were gone because she wasn’t getting better after 2 days on the medicine, so they did an x-ray on her to make sure she hadn’t swallowed a foreign body that was lodged in her intestines.  Luckily the x-ray came back clean, and within another couple days, her energy level picked up.  Thank you to those of you who prayed for her!  I don’t know what I would have done if we came home and she was no longer with us.  And a special thank you to Phillip and Jenni for taking such good care of our baby (and other babies) while we were gone! 🙂

Table Assignment Cookies

As some of you know, I took on the huge task of making the table assignments for my wedding reception.  They weren’t just table assignments, they were chocolate chip cookies decorated in the shape of wedding cakes with everyone’s name and table number piped onto them.  And I had to make 75 of them.  It was no small task, and the only excuse I can give as to why I procrastinated so long was that I didn’t know how long they would stay fresh after I made them, and I didn’t want people to have to eat stale cookies.

Another issue I ended up running into was how to make chocolate chip cookies that wouldn’t spread out excessively during baking.  If you’ve ever made chocolate chip cookies, you know that you can just put a glob of dough onto a cookie sheet, and when it’s done baking it will be completely spread out and flat.  Well, I didn’t want that to happen with my cookies, because I really wanted them to maintain their wedding cake shape.  I went through about 3 recipes before I found one that wouldn’t spread while baking but still tasted good.  When Steve was taste testing the cookies, he immediately spit out the first batch, it was that nasty.  Ha! Luckily the 3rd time was the charm.

I ended up staying awake until 3:30am the night before my wedding so that I could finish the cookies and not have to work on them the DAY of my wedding!  Luckily I had my friend (and bridesmaid) Tiffany staying at my house, and she was such a big help.

I started out by adding a cup of butter, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and 1/3 cup of granulated sugar to my mixing bowl.

I blended the butter and sugar until thoroughly combined and creamy, then added one egg yolk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Then, I mixed all that together until it was thoroughly combined.

Here is where the dough really starts to take it’s shape.  I sifted about 2 cups of flour into the bowl (one cup at a time) and mixed until it had the consistency I wanted.  I could tell it was pretty much ready when the dough started getting dry enough to where it was scraping the sides completely clean as it was being mixed.  See how there is barely any dough residue on the walls of the bowl?

I poured a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the dough and mixed on the lowest setting on my mixer.  I didn’t want to break up the chocolate chips too much.

Here is the trick to making chocolate chip cookies that won’t spread out.  Freeze the dough for about 5-10 minutes before rolling it out.  Then when you cut out your cookies with a cookie cutter, they won’t fall apart on you when you’re trying to lift them onto the cookie sheet.  You might notice the dough starting to get too soft after a few minutes of rolling it out and messing with it, and if that happens you can just stick it back in the freezer for a couple minutes to firm up again.

I rolled the chilled dough out between two sheets of parchment paper so that I wouldn’t have to mess with flour everywhere.  It actually worked really well.

Once you have your dough rolled out to the correct thickness (I think I rolled mine to about 1/4 an inch or so), take your cookie cutter and start cutting away!  I normally cut all my shapes and then peel away the outer edges, instead of trying to remove the cut out cookie from the rest of the dough.

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper (this also helps them not to spread too much) and chill the raw cut out cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes before placing them in the oven.  You want them very cold and firm before you bake them.  This is the main thing that helps them keep their shape.

Bake the chilled cookies at 350° for 10-12 min.  I baked mine for 10 min because I didn’t want them to get too brown and crunchy.

Once your cookies have cooled, it’s time to decorate!  You can find instructions on making Royal Icing here.

I outlined each of the 75 cookies and let them dry overnight.  You really only need to let them dry for about an hour or so, but it was about 3:20am on Wednesday night and I decided that I was done with cookies for the night.  You can see how I had to “glue” one of the cookies back together on the left side of the above picture.  If a cookie ever breaks on you, it’s very easy to glue it back together with some Royal Icing, and then when you finish decorating the cookie, you can’t even tell that it was ever broken.

Once the outlines are dry, you can thin the rest of your icing to a syrup consistency and flood your cookies.  I pour the thinned icing into a plastic squeeze bottle to make it easier to spread onto the cookie.  You will probably need to use a toothpick to make sure the icing gets into all the corners.

Steve even helped with one or two cookies!

Here’s what the cookies will look like once they are completely flooded.  I love this method, because you can get such a nice smooth surface to decorate.

After we had flooded all 75 cookies, I needed to make some more Royal Icing so we could go back over top with lavender and write the names and table numbers, and add some decorative dots around the edges.

Tiffany was a little too generous putting the icing in the piping bag, and she had to squeeze about half of it out.

Writing the names was definitely the most tedious part!  My hand was starting to hurt after only a few names.

Tiffany did a great job putting lavender dots all around each cookie.  That might have been even more tedious than the names!

It was 3:30am when we finally finished.  Oh, and I didn’t even mention that I had to paint that Thank You sign at the bottom of the picture.  On the other side of the sign it says “Just Married”.  My sister in law and photographer, Stacey Pentland, had us hold up the signs in our wedding attire so that our thank you cards could have that picture on them, and so we could have another picture of us holding the Just Married sign.

All in all, I’m glad I did the cookies.  Everyone seemed to love them, and it was a nice personalized touch to our wedding.

Kitty Photo Shoot

So I was uploading some photos that have been on my camera for a while, when I look over to my left, and my cats are all gazing out the window to a beautiful sunny day.  I couldn’t help myself.  I had to start snapping pictures with my Sigma 30mm lens.  Love that lens!  It takes the best pictures ever!  I don’t use it as often as I should because it has no zoom, so it’s really only good for photos where you can move your body quickly to zoom in and out as needed.  Which, for me, means that I mainly only use it for portraits or close ups of objects or food.  That being said, here are some of the photos I took of our kitties today.  Hope you like them!

Oh, and if you like what you see……I’m available to take pictures for you too!  Well, as long as you’re in the Nashville area that is. 🙂  Or in CA when I happen to be visiting.  Since I’m just starting out, I can offer you beautiful pictures at next to nothing!

Lacey has such beautiful eyes.

I love this one because the green from the grass is reflecting off of her blue eyes, so it looks like her eyes are green toward the top and blue at the bottom.  Such an awesome effect.

Lacey is my little poser.  The other two kitties don’t cooperate with me very well and get annoyed if I have my camera in their faces for too long.

Finally got Lazarus to look at me.  I had my aperture set so low that only his nose is in focus and the rest is out of focus.  For those of you who don’t know many photography terms, aperture has to do with how much of the picture you want in focus.  The higher the aperture, the more in focus the entire picture will be.  As you can see with this photo, I had my aperture set very low so even though his eyes are only a fraction of an inch further back than his nose, they are still slightly out of focus.  If I had focused on his eyes, then his nose would slightly be out of focus.  Hope that makes sense.

BIG yawn!  See how Lazarus’ upper canine tooth is not very sharp?  I’ve always wondered how that happened.

Such a handsome boy.

Fancy wanted to get in on the picture taking action…..or so I like to believe.  She is the least photogenic out of all three cats.  She hates having her picture taken, and never looks at me when I want her to, but I find ways to make her do it anyway. 🙂

All three kitties looking out the window.  Of course Lazarus has to ruin the picture by turning his back to me.

Fancy is beautiful when she finally lets me take her picture!  She has such pretty eyes, and they reflect the green grass so well.

Hello pretty girl.

It’s like she knows she’s having her picture taken.  “Here, Mom.  This is my good side, and I’ll even gaze upwards for you so that my eyes are looking into the light.”

Seriously.  Have you ever seen a more photogenic cat?  Of course, I’m a little biased since I’ve raised her since she was 8 weeks old.  And now she’s already 4 years old!  Where has the time gone?

When my parents were here, my dad was playing with the kitties by shining the light that was reflecting off his watch onto the walls.  The above and following pictures were captured during that time.

What are you looking at?

Oh, you’ve got your camera out?  Okay!  Let me just lay right here and pose for you!

Fancy is staring at the light on the wall across the room.  She pounced right after I took this photo.

Here’s Lacey, copying Fancy’s last pose.  And oh look, my parents made it into the photo!  Ironic since they were actually in the room while I was taking these pictures. 🙂

Ok, I’m open for business!!!  Great photography at a very cheap price, or maybe even free if you’re lucky!  I need to expand my portfolio!  I can only take so many pictures of animals before it starts getting redundant.

My Bridal Shower

As many of you know, Steve’s and my wedding was here in Tennessee, which means that almost our entire guest list either had to fly or drive really far to get here.  That being said, I knew I wanted everyone to be able to participate in my bridal shower as well, so I had Elizabeth plan it for the Thursday evening before the wedding so that most people coming from out of town would already be here.  It worked out wonderfully.  Almost everyone (except a few people who were coming in late Thursday night or Friday) was able to attend.

We had a wonderful turnout, and I think between 20-25 ladies showered me with love.

Luckily we had enough chairs for everyone to sit down.  That was one of our main concerns….but we were able to bring in some chairs from our kitchen table and place them against the walls and such to make more seating.

My mom gave a wonderful devotional about being a great wife and loving and respecting your husband.

Love my mom!

Then it was time for presents!!  (Side note:  See that “s M j” on the mantle?  I painted that for the wedding and then forgot to set it out on one of the display tables.  Oh well, it still looks cute in my house)

Yay!  My cupcake carrier!!  Now I have more of an excuse to make delicious cupcakes because I’ll have a method of transportation to bring them to other peoples houses so they don’t end up in my belly!

I got many other wonderful gifts, like this beautiful wedding photo album.  But I won’t bore you with all the present opening pictures.  It might  get kinda redundant.

My friend (and former next door neighbor) Connie came with her bouncing baby girl, Camryn.

What a beautiful baby girl!  And look at those deep blue eyes!!

Well you can forget what I said about the present opening pictures.  I just remembered that my good camera battery died half way through, and my friend and bridesmaid, Tiffany, got my other point and shoot camera and finished taking pictures.  So I guess you’ll just have to deal with more present pictures! 🙂  Connie made this beautiful card for me.  It has cut outs of our wedding invitation and the picture we sent with our invitations.  Very creative!

I just like this picture because I look really tan. 🙂  Those days at the tanning salon really paid off!  No bride wants to blend into her wedding dress, and I most definitely would if I didn’t have a little help from some artificial sun.  Yes, I faked and baked and I’m not ashamed!!!

And this is the face I made when I opened Elizabeth’s gift.  A camera bag!!!  Up until this point, every time I wanted to take my camera somewhere I’ve had to just carry it in my hands or try not to ruin it by carrying it in my purse.  This was a much needed and appreciated gift.

And to top it all off, she had it embroidered with my Southern Daisy logo.  Amazing!

What’s a bridal shower without some kitchen towels and oven mits?!

Steve’s mom, Toli, gave us some cute kitchen towels and oven mits with puppy dogs on them.

This is when I realized that this gift from Cheryl McAdams wasn’t just a pretty picture frame, but that it was pictures of buildings and architecture that actually spelled out my new last name, McVey!!  What an amazing and unique gift!  It is now hanging above our pantry.

Elizabeth was there to help me write down all my gifts so that I wouldn’t forget a single thank you card.

It was a wonderful shower, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.  Elizabeth did a great job planning it, and my mom was wonderful in helping her out and making some of the food.  Oh man, I just realized that we didn’t get any pictures of Elizabeth’s beautiful cake that she made, but just know that it was a gorgeous strawberry cake with white sides and a beautiful pink flowered top.  And we can’t forget that delicious punch!

Lingerie Party (Sorry guys)

Well, it’s finally the end of two very busy weeks.  The stress joy of the wedding is over, all of our out of town guests have gone home, and now Steve and I can just look forward to our honeymoon on Tuesday.  We thoroughly enjoyed having all our family and friends come all the way to Tennessee for our wedding, and especially having my parents stay with us for an extra 5 days, but it is kinda nice having our house to ourselves again, and letting everything fall back to it’s normal pace.

So I’m going to start this series of wedding blog posts with my lingerie party.  My wonderful best friend and matron of honor, Elizabeth, planned two amazing showers for me (lingerie and bridal) with wonderful food, friends & family, decorations, and (of course) dessert!

Here is the beautiful table setting I saw as I walked in the door to my lingerie party.

Look at these awesome cookies!!!!  Some are bras with necklaces and others are undies!!! (Again, sorry guys.)

She also had some beautiful mini cupcakes with pink roses on top.

Yummy chocolate covered strawberries….I had a few of these.  Well, actually I had a few of everything.

And these awesome “bra” cupcakes.  I didn’t see it at first, but if you look at 2 cupcakes together they look like a bra!  You’ll see it better in a later photo.

Our friend Jen made this incredible chicken fettuccine bow-tie pasta with sun-dried tomatoes.  I die!  I had 3 helpings of this, I think.

And who can forget the delicious sherbet punch!!!  Mmmmm.  My mouth is watering right now for this stuff!

Alright, Elizabeth, you convinced me.  I’ll have a mimosa too. 🙂

After eating (and drinking) all those delicious treats, we played bridal themed Pictionary. (That looks weird….is that spelled correctly?)

Jenni was the best one at Pictionary  because she is a teacher and is used to writing or drawing on large marker boards.

We had a fun time guessing all the drawings.  And when we ran out of the papers that tell you what to draw, we started making up our own things.

Then it was time for presents!!  (Guys may want to stop reading at this point.)

New lingerie is always super fun!  Actually, new anything is always super fun.  Unless it’s a new mosquito bite, or a new speeding ticket, or a new drool spot on your wall (I get that last one a lot).

And I got some CUTE stuff!

Elizabeth gave me some very risque lingerie…..so be glad that this picture is small enough to where you can’t really see the pictures on the front of those boxes.  Awkward!

Here’s a better view of those “bra” cupcakes.  What a cute idea!  Thank you, Elizabeth, for such a wonderful lingerie party!  Steve I really appreciates it!

 

Mexican Beef Stew

I don’t think there is a more easy meal to prepare than one that is cooked in a Crock Pot.  All you have to do is toss the ingredients in the pot, set the timer, and fahgettaboudit.  This Mexican Beef Stew was one such meal!  I love that I can have dinner waiting for us when we get home, instead of having to go through the ordeal of deciding what to make and making sure that I have all the ingredients I need.  Steve and I bought ingredients for a weeks worth of Crock Pot dinners.  Oh, and did I mention that since we had spent over $500 at Kroger last month, we got 60 cents off per gallon when we filled up the gas tank this morning!  We ended up paying only $2.75 per gallon!!!  Oh yes….that’s right!!!

Now, back to the stew.  Here’s what you’ll need:

  • 1 1/2 lbs beef for stew, cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, coarsely chopped
  • 1 can (15 oz) pinto beans, mostly drained
  • 1 can (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
  • 1 can Campbell’s® Condensed Beef Consomme´
  • 1 cup chunky salsa (I used Pace® Chunky Salsa)
  • 2 tbsp chili powder 
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic, minced

Start by cutting the beef into 1 inch cubes.  You can also buy stew meat that is already cubed if your grocery store provides that.

Thoroughly coat the meat in flour….no we’re not making chicken fried steak!

Throw the flour-coated meat into a skillet over medium-high heat, and cook until browned.

Chop up your onion.  I only used half an onion, but you can use a whole one if it would make you happier.  I’ve never been a real onion fan.  Unless of course it’s in the form of an onion ring!

Once your meat is browned, throw it into your Crock Pot (or slow cooker if you prefer).

Toss in the onion.

Next comes the beans!  I drained almost all of the liquid out of the can before dumping it in.

Drain the canned corn, and add it to the pot.  It looks like a lot, but once it all gets mixed around it will look more evenly distributed.

I had never cooked with Beef Consomme´ before this recipe, and didn’t really even know what it was.  It looks and smells like a very concentrated beef broth, in case you’re like me and have never cooked with it before.

Pour the beef consomme´ into the pot.

Next, pour a cup of chunky salsa into the pot.  I used Pace® Chunky Salsa, but you can use whatever brand you want.  I don’t know if fresh salsa would work well in this recipe, but if you want to try it out with fresh salsa, let me know how it turns out!

Finally, add the chili powder, ground cumin, and garlic powder (or minced garlic if you decided to use that).

Give it all a good stir, and set your temperature to low, and cook for 8-10 hours.  If you don’t have 8-10 hours to wait, you can also cook it on high for 4-5 hours.

Here’s what the stew will look like after 8 hours of cooking.  Yum! Yum!  I love that the house smells so good when we walk through the door after a long day at work.  So nice to come home and have dinner ready!

Pour several big ladle fulls of stew into your favorite bowl and enjoy!  I know this isn’t exactly a “summer” dinner, but crank that A/C up and you’ll be in the mood for hot stew in no time! 🙂

 

Please Pray For Cassidy

Recently I learned some devastating news about one of our family friends.  Cassidy Clark is a 7 year old girl who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 3.  She was diagnosed only three weeks after her mother, Myndi, died after a long battle with cancer.  Cassidy has had three bone marrow transplants, and each time her cancer has returned.  This time, it has returned with a vengeance.  The doctors have only given her 3 months to live, but said that it could just be a matter of weeks.  There is no treatment they can give her since the leukemia is so aggressive this time.  Please lift her and her family up in prayer.  She has two older sisters, McKenzie and Savannah, and they are taking it quite hard.  All three sisters are very close.  Her father, Chad, and step-mom Jenn have been through so much over the past few years, and they need God’s loving arms to wrap around them in peace and comfort.  Here is the letter they wrote to their friends on facebook:

Dear Praying Friends,

I want to praise God for His goodness to our family.  It is so easy to see all of the ways He shows His love to us.  We serve a wonderful SAVIOR.  We understand that every thing that God allows to happen in our lives is molding us into the people He wants us to be and that NOTHING happens that separates God’s Glory from our good. 

It is with those thoughts in mind, I want to inform everyone of the test results we received on Friday.  Cassidy’s nurse practitioner, Kim, who we’ve become very close with during our time at St. Jude, called yesterday to tell us that the leukemia is indeed back.  Cassidy has completely lost the graft from her third transplant and her original bone marrow has taken over.  The team at St Jude met to discuss treatment options and have none to offer. There is nothing that they have not tried and each relapse has resulted in a stronger, more resistant leukemia. We felt we had to ask how much time they were thinking we had left and were shocked at how little time they predict.  Kim said it might be three months, but we’re probably talking weeks.  Once a leukemia patient converts back to the original marrow, a “snow ball” effect takes place.  Cassidy has already passed that point.

As we continue to pray for HEALING, we do understand that, sometimes, that is not GOD’S PLAN.  Chad and I have cried our hearts out to God to heal Cassidy, but if HE CHOOSES not to, we have PEACE that He knows what is best for Cassidy and for each of us.  Words cannot convey the peace He has already given.  I feel as though He has wrapped me in His arms and is constantly whispering in my ear that He is with us.  We are resting in Him.

Recently, we’ve had a few conversations with Cassidy regarding HEAVEN.  Last night, Chad asked her if the leukemia was back and there was no cure, would she want to take chemotherapy again to make her live a little longer and she said, “Daddy, Pleeeaase let me go to Heaven and don’t make me take the pill.”  She is not afraid of death in any way and is even excited to see her Savior face to face.  She talks about getting a “nunicorn” in heaven and wants to name him, “NUNA.”  She talks about eating as much fruit as she wants from the Tree of Life talked about in the Bible.  She talks about seeing her first mommy and hopes that at least one of the babies that Myndi miscarried is a boy because she’s always wanted a brother.

Please do not stop praying for us.  We plan to tell the girls shortly after I finish this update.  We pray for God’s peace to surround our home as we say these difficult words. 

Ever thankful for your continued prayers,

The Clarks

Cassidy and her sisters were going to be my flower girl and junior bridesmaids, but due to this horrible turn of events, they will not be able to make it.  My lack of a flower girl will be explained in my wedding program, and we will take a moment during the ceremony to honor this wonderful little girl who has more strength in her little body than I can even imagine.

 

Franklin Wedding: The Reception

So I’ve done posts on getting ready, pre-ceremony photos, the ceremony, and now I’m going to conclude this 4 post series with the RECEPTION PHOTOS!!!!!

Here’s Rustin, waiting for the marriage license to be signed.  You can see the minister signing it in the background.

For some reason, I didn’t have to sign the marriage license as a witness.  Only Eli, the best man signed it.  That was a little disappointing. 😦

Elizabeth, Steve, and I are looking at the guest book.  They had cute pictures in there from throughout their relationship.  They even had a screen shot of Rustin’s text message, asking Elizabeth to marry him.  That’s right…….a text message!

Yay!  They’re officially married!!!

Ok, is this not the funniest cake topper you’ve ever seen??  Hilarious!

Beautiful bridesmaids…..if I do say so myself.  🙂

Krista and Steve (one of the many).  Such a cute couple!

Here are some attempts at our jumping picture.

Traditional wedding photo.

The groomsmen with the bride.  Look at my little cutie there in the front!

Bridesmaids with the groom.

Steve and me with our best friends, Elizabeth and Rustin!  Just you wait, in a few years we’re going to have another picture together with the addition of a bunch of little kids.  🙂

Capturing a private moment.

Love this photo!

My pretty gerbera daisy bouquet.  My favorite flowers!  Oh, and my pink sandals that Elizabeth gave to all the bridesmaids to wear at the reception.

Time for the first dance as husband and wife.

Time to cut the cake!

That cake topper was really stuck on there!

Well, in case you can’t tell….and because my “camera man” didn’t get a picture quick enough….instead of feeding each other the cake, Rustin and Elizabeth so graciously decided to smash the cake in mine and the best man’s faces.  Sooooooooo thoughtful!!!  And look, they think they’re SO funny!  Well just you wait little missy.  You’re in my wedding in less than a month!

But I was a good sport about it.  Even though Rustin completely chucked the cake at me like he was throwing a fast ball!

We’re still friends! 🙂

Thanks for the help, guys!

I had some trouble getting it out of my eyelashes, so Jen helped me.

All better!

Bouquet time!!  I only had a month and a half left where I can participate in this!

She had to do it twice because both times, she threw it WAY to far!  Sarah (in the purple) ended up catching it.

Garter time!  Oh Elizabeth, so naughty!

Rob, Sarah’s boyfriend ended up catching the garter.  How perfect!

Here’s a close up of my hairdo.  🙂

And, all of a sudden it’s dark!  There was about a 2 hour span where I didn’t have my camera with me for some reason.  Oh I know, it was because I was dancing!!  And the ring bearer wouldn’t let me stop dancing, or dance with anyone but him.  I was his prisoner!!

Somehow, all the guys ended up in the pool at the end of the night…..in their tuxes!!!

Even the ring bearer jumped in!

Here is my Steve’s graceful entrance into the pool!

Yah!  We’re so cool!!

Oh honey, you’re still a little kid at heart!  The girls ended up jumping in a little later….but not in our dresses, of course.  Wendie (Rustin’s mom) provided us with some bathing suits. 🙂  It was a very fun night!  A night that I hope we will never forget!

 

Franklin Wedding: The Ceremony

It’s wedding ceremony time!  I gave my camera to our friend Steve (all 3 bridesmaids have hubbies named Steve) and told him to take as many pictures as he wanted.  Well, he sure didn’t disappoint!!!  I had over 600 pictures from that day.  I’m still not finished editing them all, but here are a few from Elizabeth and Rustin’s wedding ceremony.

Here’s Rustin dancing down the aisle.  I think it caught everyone by surprise.

If you look closely, you can see Steve and me peeking over the fence in the background.

Then everyone danced down the aisle, one by one.

Here’s one of the other Steve’s.

Jr. Bridesmaid, Rachel.

It’s my honey bunny’s turn!

He really got into it.

Here’s Jen!

I don’t remember this groomsman’s name, but he threw candy into the audience!

It’s my turn!

Don’t ask what I’m doing…..a pirouette maybe?

I’m such an embarrassment!  Don’t ever ask me to dance down an aisle again!

Best man, Eli.

Ryan ran down the aisle and did a quick spin at the end.  🙂  Such a good sport.

Sam skipped down the aisle, with her poofy dress bouncing along with her.  So cute.

Here comes the bride!!!  She didn’t dance.  It’s kinda hard to dance to a wedding march.

Such a beautiful bride!

Rustin looks like he went into military mode.  He was so serious at the first part of the ceremony.  He finally let loose a little during the vows.

“Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

I love this look they gave each other.  It was the first time Rustin smiled since he saw her walk down the aisle.

And…..back to being serious.

Look at her pretty tea length dress.  Perfect for an outdoor spring wedding!  And of course it lets her show off those hot pink pumps!

Reading the vows.  Rustin made his into a rap song….or was it just supposed to be a poem?  I couldn’t tell.

One of Elizabeth’s vows was to watch one sports game with him per week without falling asleep. 🙂

She also vowed to cook dinner for him once a week….and Elizabeth HATES to cook.  So that was a big one!

I love a wedding where the bride cries. 🙂

And also when she laughs!

Rustin’s parents’ backyard made a beautiful wedding venue.

I’m handing her Rustin’s ring.  I also got to hold her bouquet…which made me happy. 🙂

The exchanging of rings.

I now pronounce you husband and wife!!!

Kiss the bride!!!!

He picked her up in a big whoosh of white dress, and carried her down the aisle.

And then we all followed.  By the by….look how awkward I look next to the best man.  I’m what…..6 inches taller than him, at least?!

Then we all stood around outside the gate for several minutes before someone told us what we were supposed to be doing. 🙂

All in all, it was a lovely, and sometimes corny ceremony.  I don’t think I could have imagined it any other way.