Christmas

Again I'm still a little behind with sharing holiday pictures, but this is the last of them and then it's time to more forward with 2014. Haha!

This year we had 4 Christmas' you could say. We did Christmas Eve at our place with my sister and brother, Christmas day we went to Shane's family and that evening to my Grandma's and on New Year's Day my mom, sister and brother came over to do Christmas with my mom. We had a good Christmas this year and enjoyed all the family time we got.

Christmas Eve at our place:

We got Kasey a Vera Bradley purse and coin purse.

We got Brandon new shoes.

I made Kasey, Brandon and my mom each a memory frame for Grandpa. I made myself one too and it's already hanging up in the hallway. :)

Had to get a group picture!

Christmas at Shane's Dad house:

Sydney and the book we got her.

Erica was so excited we got her a Hello Kitty purse, she LOVES Hello Kitty. :)

We got Paige a personalized art set with paints, crayons, colored pencils etc...and her name was on the front of it.

Shane and I

Christmas at Grandma's:

Family pictures. I get one of these every year! :)

Heather, Me, Kasey & Brandon

 Me and Lexan. He's getting so big!

 Landon just hanging out. Isn't he the cutest!

 He was passed out cold and look he is posing for the camera already! :)

I didn't get pictures with the Christmas with my mom but it was a good year!

Looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for us!

 

Thanksgiving

I know Thanksgiving was a little while ago, but I never got around to sharing pictures from it. So, here we are January 6th and I'm going to share them. Haha!

We hosted Thanksgiving for the 2nd year at our house for Shane's side of the family. It turned out wonderful again and I look forward to doing again next  this year. :) This year we had 3 new family members join us and we couldn't have been happier to welcome them to KS and share a wonderful day together.

Isn't the veggie tray cute they made it look like a Turkey, so festive I love it!

All the yummy food! I just love Thanksgiving and the delicious food!

We had to have 2 tables for all the food. Haha!

This year we moved the dining room table into our Pub area so we could all sit together. We also had to have a kid table with adding 3 more people this year, but it all turned out great!

It was actually pretty nice weather outside this year again. I decided I wanted to take some family pictures this year so I could hang more pictures in our gallery hallway I have been working.

This is Shannon (Shane's Brother), Stefanie (Sister-In-Law), Sydney and Paige! I love this picture of them.

All us pretty ladies. :)

All the handsome guys. They are a little out numbered by all us girls. Haha!

Nieces & Nephew, aren't they so cute!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had lots of yummy food.

After we finished with Shane's family we had to head out to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving with my family.



Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

Another yummy recipe added to our cookbook!! I love chicken noodle soup so I was very excited to make homemade and try it, it turned out very good! Looking forward to making this again!



Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts

5 medium carrots, peeled and chopped (1 3/4 cups)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

4 stalks celery, chopped (1 1/4 cups)

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (3 - 15 oz. cans)

1 cup water

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed

1/4 tsp. celery seed, finely crushed

2 bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 cups uncooked wide egg noodles

3 1/2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Saltine crackers or Parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Directions:

1.      To a slow cooker, add chicken (un-cut), diced carrots, onion, celery, and garlic. Drizzle olive oil over top then add in chicken broth, water, thyme, rosemary, celery seed, bay leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook on low heat 6 - 7 hours.

2.      Remove cooked chicken and allow to rest 10 minutes, then dice into bite size pieces. Meanwhile, add egg noodles and parsley to slow cooker. Increase temperature to high, cover and cook 10 minutes longer (or until noodles are tender). Stir in lemon juice and toss in cooked, diced chicken. Serve warm with saltine crackers or top with Parmesan cheese if desired.

3.      I just crushed the rosemary in the palm of my hand then for the celery seed, I placed it in a Ziploc bag and crushed it with the flat side of a meat mallet.

 

Happy 2014 Everyone!!!

I hope everyone is having a fun and safe time celebrating the new year! Goodbye 2013 and Welcome 2014. Shane and I stayed in and celebrated together like we normally do. :)



Oreo Cookie Fudge

This fudge is SO GOOD!! It's a must try if you like fudge

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar

3/4 cup butter or margarine (1 1/2 sticks)

5 oz. can of evaporated milk

12 oz. package milk chocolate chips

7 oz. marshmallow crème

1 tsp. Vanilla

12 Oreo cookies, broken into 6 pieces

8 Oreo cookies, finely crushed

Directions:

1.      Line a 9x9 inch square pan with foil, spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray

2.      Break your 12 Oreo cookies by hand. I broke each cookie into about 6 pieces. Set them aside. Finely chop the other 8 Oreo cookies. A food processor works great. Chop it with the Oreo filling-this will keep it moist.

3.      In a large saucepan bring the sugar, butter and evaporated milk to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 4 minutes or until 234 degrees Fahrenheit on your candy thermometer. Stir it the whole time!

4.      Remove from heat and add vanilla, chocolate chips, crushed Oreo crumbs, and marshmallow crème. Stir until well blended and chocolate chips are melted.

5.      Pour into prepared pan and smooth stop with spatula. sprinkle broken Oreos on top. Use hand or spatula to push Oreos gently into fudge.

6.      Cover and chill for at least one hour until firm. Store in fridge in airtight container for up to 3 days

 

 



2013 In Review....

It's time again to say goody to another year gone. This year seemed to just fly by! 2013 had it's good times and bad times like every year does I'm sure. Let's look back and see some highlights from my year....

I sprained my ankle pretty bad. But it's pretty much back to normal now.

I had a great 29th Birthday Luau.

We broke the World Record for Largest Pub Crawl for CFC.

My Grandpa passed on Sept 4th. :(

We celebrated our 3 year Anniversary.

My mom was diagnosed with COPD.

We went to Cabo, MX again for the 3rd.

I got a new tattoo in memory of my Grandpa.

I upgraded my DLSR camera.

We added a shed to our backyard.

Now it's time to see what 2014 holds for us!!

I haven't set any goals for 2014, not sure if I will or just play to day by day and see what comes of it.....

Photo Shoot: Thanksgiving/Christmas Celebration

A little over a month ago a friends mom asked if I could shoot their Thanksgiving/Christmas family celebration. The celebration was a little over an hour from me so I had to get up early and head out for a day of photo shooting. My friend that I did this for her family I have known her since middle school and she currently lives in Florida, so it was nice getting to spend sometime with her and seeing her be with her family. I had a good time at the celebration and got lots of pictures.

To see more from this shoot, please visit my Facebook Page.