All Sorts of Celebrations

Well goodness, where do I begin?

Rebekah & Andrew's wedding was just gorgeous! She was a truly majestic and blushing bride. She had a massive smile on her face the entire day. The ceremony took place in a beautiful church adorned with some floral arrangements, candles, and white and pink tulle. Simply beautiful!

The reception took place on a family friend's ranch property, which was absolutely stunning. They had a big white tent beautifully decorated next to an antique green barn. We were surrounded by 400 ish of their friends and family members!

God's hand was completely in the ceremony and reception for there was a fabulous cloud cover over the sky which cooled the temperature down from the projected 100+ degrees. I didn't even sweat! ;) The couple was absolutely extravagant as they drove a way in Andrew's highly decorated car! So much fun!

Jordan's 21st birthday was first celebrated back in Texas before the wedding with my parents. We went out to eat at Macaroni Grill with my parents, Greg, Tyler, and Hayley. (Sheila was already in Kansas for the wedding) It was delightful. We came home and opened his "Texas" themed presents and finished off the night by hot tubbing!

His second celebration took place in Wichita on his actual birthday where we went to Abuelos mexican restaurant with the family. It was fabulous! They had some really good chips and dips. We got three different types of dip including "Queso Diablo," "Chile con Queso," and "Avocado Cream." They were excellent!

Thunder & Juno cuddled up in the car

My parents picked us in in Kansas on July 4th, along with the two dogs, and then we all headed  north to Iowa. We got in to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the small town of Dayton at about 8:30 pm. My uncle Jim, Uncle Steve, Aunt Kathy, and Cousin Joey were all there when we arrived so we got to visit for a while!  I took Jordan on a tour around Dayton on Tuesday, which took all of 5 minutes. He got to see a lot of my grandparent's previous homes in Dayton - as they have moved 51 times in 56 years of marriage. I have only been alive for 5 of the various moves! They have slowed down in the past 21 years. We even stopped in at the local Casey's, which might possibly one of my favorite things about Iowa. They have great donuts and fabulous pizza! We had the pizza for lunch one day; including my favorite Taco pizza!

Taco Pizza - Baked with refried beans, salsa, beef, and Casey's pizza cheese. After baking, it's topped with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and Doritos nacho chips. 

Grandma and Grandpa had a good portion of the family over plus some friends in honor of Grandpa's 80th birthday. There were about 30 of us there. We had some great fried chicken and pork loin. (Papa doesn't eat chicken or turkey...) We had a blast. It was great for Jordan to be able to actually meet and converse with my family since he only briefly met them at our wedding events.

This is 1977 John Deer 8430 in incredible condition

Jordan had a real Iowan experience as he got to explore the family farms. Two of my uncles are farmers in Iowa! Uncle Randy and Aunt Cindy live just outside of Dayton on a farm surrounded by corn fields. Jordan's grandpa, Dean, had an old farmhouse and farm land but he never really got to see it in true working condition so this was a special treat for Jordan. Uncle Randy took him through all his barns and showed off his countless number of tractors. Jordan drove two different ones around the property!

One of Randy's barns

The next day we got to see Uncle Steve and Aunt Kathy's farm land in Eldora, Iowa. They live in the town of Eldora but have farm land just outside the city. My Uncle Steve just recently bought some new property that we hadn't seen yet so it was a treat to be able to explore with him. The new property has a farmhouse, several barns for livestock and tractors, and a little workshop. Steve is also in the cattle business; he just got his registered brand under "Balvanz Cattle." We got to see the pastures that his cows live on and his other properties that he has.

We also stayed around for the Hardin County parade that is in Eldora. Steve was the Grand Marshall this year so all the family met up to watch! There were several tractors, horses, and floats in the parade. Candy, ice pops, and frisbees were thrown!

Llama getting a bath

The next night we went back to Eldora for the Eldora Rodeo and fair. It was a quaint rodeo but it was super fun! We walked around the fairgrounds and checked out all the animals submitted for showing. There were cows, pigs, llamas, bunnies, chickens, ducks, calfs, goats, and sheep. My cousin's daughter Drue showed a lamb in the fair whose name is "Teddi."

We ate fair food for dinner. I had a chicken kabob with funnel cake fries. Mom, Dad, Kathy, and Steve grilled pork loin sandwiches. Jordan had a turkey leg! He was craving it all day - we were lucky that they had it! Then we settled down into our seats for the big rodeo show. It was super fun! There was calf roping, wild horse riding, and bull riding!

One of the most exciting parts about the night is that Libby & Isaac drove in to Eldora to watch the rodeo with us! They live just over an hour outside of Eldora so it was a huge blessing to be able to see their wonderful faces for the evening! I was super excited to be able to catch up with Lib while Jordan and Isaac conversed the entire night!

We then headed home to Texas the next morning with a thirteen hour drive. It's always good to go and always good to come back. 

A Quilt or Two

I realize that my posts have been kind of sporadic throughout the summer, probably because of how busy my summer is.

I've already posted on how much we've been traveling, which continues this week as we head to Wichita for Rebekah & Andrew's wedding then even more north on the Fourth to Iowa to celebrate my grandpa John's 80th birthday! Likewise, my family has a ton of birthday's during the summer too! Mom's birthday was last week, Jordan's is on Sunday (July 3rd), Dad's birthday is on the 13th, and mine is on the 19th. My best friend Aly's birthday is the 14th of July and there are at least four other birthday's of importance during this month too! As you can imagine, we are eating a ton through all this traveling and birthday celebrating. I don't think I've been actually hungry yet!

Needless to say, I am not neglecting my little blog on purpose. I actually miss it! I've been really busy on four projects since my last crafty post.

I completed my first project on my new sewing machine (a while ago) which was a duffel bag.

I painted a picture of Thunder on canvas to go with the portrait of Juno I already did. This portrait was my mom's birthday present from me. She was absolutely thrilled. She is waiting on the custom frame to be able to hang it up next to Juno's painting (I'll post a picture of him in his frame once she gets it!).

I've sewn TWO quilts on my sewing machine! Both were inspired by Patchwork magazine. The magazine is full of project ideas from slippers to pet beds and key chains to kitchen towels!

One quilt I did for Jordan's 21st birthday. I know - a quilt in the middle of summer for his 21st birthday? Yep, I didn't really think about the quilt in the summer part but everyone else is getting him fun stuff for his 21st so needless to say, I don't need to. :) The second, I sewed for myself because I am the blanket queen. I have way to many blankets already so let me just add another... well I suppose I'm adding two since Jordan and I live together ;)

Jordan's quilt is a patchwork quilt inspired by a "work shirt" or a flannel shirt. I used three shades of blue fabrics, a light gray, white, and a red fabric. I backed it with a light blue soft and cuddly fabric that they use for baby blankets. We like soft things!

I am super excited about his quilt... it was a lot of work cutting out the strips and sewing them together but it was totally worth it. I'm pleased with the way it came out! He absolutely loved it too! He opened it on Thursday night when we celebrated his birthday out with my parents.

For my quilt, I just went to Jo-Ann's and picked out pretty much all fabrics in various shades of pinks and browns I could find. This quilt was so much easier than Jordan's because the strips were of equal size and bigger! There was no tedious work for mine. His was definitely done out of love.

Voila! First few sewing projects complete!

Surprises within House Sitting

Jordan and I are house sitting for a week and half for one of my mom's great friends, Becky. I must not forget to mention that Becky's Scottie, Lucy, is Juno and Thunder's best friend! Anyways, we've been house sitting since last wednesday and it's been quite fun!

Becky and her family live in Jordan's parents neighborhood which has been ultimately convenient. Since we have been able to run over there to already borrow a hot glue gun and some underwear for Jordan (he conveniently left half of his stash in Virginia).

Jordan and I are staying in the master bedroom which granted us a huge surprise when we found out not only do that have a sleep number bed but it is also a massager and the head and feet of the bed lift up! It was crazy! We played with the controls for the bed for a good half hour.

I made us dinner at the house on the first night which was interesting since I had no idea where any of the kitchen utilities are. It was like I was playing hide and seek with the kitchen drawers. Very frustrating, slightly entertaining and surprising.

Lucy & Juno

Lucy has been a blast! She absolutely loves people and is a big sweetheart. Jordan has affectionately nick-named her "Goose." He doesn't just say the word either, he hollers it like "GOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!!" It is quite entertaining to Lucy and I. She is a little bit hefty for a small dog, weighing in at 32 pounds! Which Jordan and I discovered yesterday that Lucy and I together exactly equal Jordan's weight! Surprise! Which could be slightly mortifying since my husband only weighs 32 pounds more than me while being 9 inches taller but since he doesn't have an ounce of fat on his body, I'm okay with that. In fact when Jordan stops working out (even for a couple of days), he looses weight unlike the rest of the human population.

The best part about house sitting so far is the fact that I was able to get so much done to pull off a SURPRISE birthday party for my mom's fabulous 50th birthday!! The party was Friday night and there were about 40 people in attendance. The surprise went off perfectly. She had absolutely no idea! :)

We had Babe's fried chicken and a two layer Nothing Bundt Cake for dessert. Pretty much the two best things on the planet. Best fried chicken ever and the moistest cake you could ever put in your mouth! Sheila, Jordan, Tyler, and Hayley helped set up the party! Sheila was also the photographer for the night. I made all the decorations myself, which I was ultimately pleased with. Failed to get photos though!  I made a "Happy Fabulous 50th Birthday" sign out of sparkly green cardstock letters sewn together. I made the fluffy tissue paper balls out of green, black/white, and white tissue paper and they turned out to be just darling. I also, by inspiration, created a collage of black and white photos of my mom in the shape of a big 50. The last little piece of decor I did was make an "over the hill" birthday ribbon for my mom to wear out of supplies found at Michael's.

my inspiration.

I had a blast doing all the decorations myself. Everyone complemented the decor, which just thrilled me! Thank you pinterest for giving me all the ideas! (follow me here)

Sheila, Julie, and Jan threw my mom a surprise birthday tea party yesterday which she was ultimately surprised again! Who would have thought that they would have two surprise parties in one year? She was thrilled again! The party was absolutely beautiful. The decor was like a little tea room and 'high tea' was served among 15 beautiful women! Thank you ladies for loving and celebrating my fabulous mother!

I hope y'all have had a few wonderful surprises this week! 

Father's Day Fiasco

Happy Father's Day!! 

The most thanks and honor to my incredible dad who has taught me as many life lessons as there are stars in the sky. From riding a bike to learning to fear the Lord,  from laughing and giggling to crying and compassionate, from finding out who Santa really was to discovering who my Savior is, from having dreams to being dedicated to accomplish them: my dad has helped me through it all! What a blessing he has been and still is. He is my number one fan! I, being his only child, am his number one fan back! He leads such a loving and generous life to all those within his reach. I love you Dad! Thanks to the waterfall of blessings you have placed in my life.

My newest addition of a father, Greg, my father-in-law has been just as splendid to his two boys as my father to me! How grateful I am to have a father-in-law that loves the Lord fervently and is completely dedicated to his family. Greg has been a wonderful example to his sons about how to truly love your wife, love your children, love your God, and love your life! I have been so blessed to have Greg in my life as a my father in law for the past year and as tremendous friend for the past six years! Thank you for all the love, passion, and laughter that you share on daily basis! Love you!

Now to move past the sentiments, I found the most incredible recipe for pancakes that I knew I had to make for my dad for Father's Day breakfast. We really celebrated Father's day breakfast on the 12th since Jordan had his tournament today but the gifts were saved for the real day ;) 

The ultimate pancake recipe: Cinnamon Roll Pancakes. 

Are you asking, where does the fiasco of Father's Day come into play? Right here. Yep at the recipe. Okay, perhaps it's not the recipe but its the chef? Not sure. However, the splendid pictures that the RecipeGirl shared of her pancakes did not quite exemplify my pancakes.

Issues with the cinnamon roll pancakes:

1. Recipe only calls for 4 pancakes. Big problem. It is definitely necessary to make more than 4 pancakes
2. Only double the pancake batter if you double the recipe - you'll have more than enough cinnamon batter and cream cheese icing on the single recipe.
3. The cinnamon batter does not easily pour into that beautiful swirly shape - I utilized the shape of 'chunks'
4. Once you flip the pancakes to the side that had the cinnamon poured on, the cinnamon mixture melts and creates craters in the pancakes... I solved this issue by pouring more pancake batter over top of the added cinnamon mixture.
5. one last additional note: USE A NON-STICK SKILLET!!!

first catastrophe not using non-stick skillet and not cooking enough. yikes!

My version of swirls... :)

So my pancakes, as previously said, did not turn out like the ones from the pictures but once they were cooked - they were sure delicious!! They did get that caramelized look and taste that the pictures show (just not as pretty). The cream cheese frosting in place of syrup was incredible!! My dad thought they tasted divine and didn't even complain that they didn't look like cinnamon rolls ;)

If you are up for a little bit of a MESS but for some FABULOUS TASTING PANCAKES than GO FOR IT!! :)

Our plans for the rest of Father's Day is to soak up the sun rays while floating and grilling by the pool! Enjoy spending time with your dad if you are able to. :)