Weekend Adventures

I love the weekends! Don't misunderstand, I really enjoy my job but I also really enjoy the weekend. Lately, the weekends have been quite busy but in a good way. This weekend started off by Trevor and I having our date night. We enjoyed a drive on the Parkway, dinner, and some shopping. Oh, yeah, we even watched a movie.... shew...that's a lot for one night. Anyway, the highlight of our weekend was traveling on Saturday to see our nephew play football. He is quite the little football player and we were so glad we were able to spend some time with him and the rest of the family.

                                                                    the "game" face




Oh, I almost forgot to mention that his team won their game and are going to the championship.

This weekend also consisted of more cooking with apples. I was finally able to make applesauce and I was surprised at how well it turned out. I was afraid I might not have the right kind of apples but I used golden delicious and it worked fine. And actually, it was very easy... which makes me happy :) ! So here's how I made it...


First, I sliced and peeled about 10 medium sized apples.

Then, I tossed them into a pot with about a cup and a half of water on medium heat for about 35-40 min.  After the apples had cooked up I added, (I'm not really sure on this part because I was guessing), about a 1/2 C. to 3/4C. of sugar and a few dashes of cinnamon....  because my man likes cinnamon applesauce. Then I used my Kitchen Aid to blend it all together.

I completely let it cool before I put it in the refrigerator. I was really surprised at the taste! It was really good.

Here are the other two apple recipes that I made last week:

Apple Bread

3C. chopped, pared apples                                                   
3C. flour                                                                                 
1 tsp cloves or nutmeg (I used both)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 C. sugar                                                                         
1 1/4 C. veg. oil                                                                        
4 eggs, beaten
1T  vanilla
2tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients  and beat on low speed for 1 min. Beat on medium speed for 1 min. Pour into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Cool  for 10min.

Apple Crumb Pie

4 C. sliced apples                                    
1/2  C. melted butter                                
2/3C. sugar                                                    
2T flour                                                            
3/4 tsp cinnamon                                            
1/4 tsp nutmeg                                               
1-9' unbaked pastry shell

 TOPPING:

1/2C. flour

1/4 C. brown sugar

1/4C butter

Pour melted butter over sliced apples and soak a few minutes. Combine sugar, flour and spices. Remove apples from butter ( reserve any that is left and use in topping). Coat apples with sugar mixture, pour into pastry shell. Combine topping ingredients and crumble over apples. Bake 400 degrees for 40-45 min. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Have a blessed week!

Apples and Pumpkins and Happy Birthday!

This past weekend, as a b-day present, Trevor took me to the Apple Barn to pick apples. When we got there, we found out it was the last wekend of the season and most of the apples that were left were higher up in the tree. No problem for us, we just grabbed one of the step ladders and picked the best apples we could reach.

We picked Rome, Winesap, and Golden Delicious and enjoyed eating a few along the way. We ended up picking 24lbs of apples.

From the Apple Barn, we went to Ikenberry's fall festival. We bought a pumpkin and mini hay bales and finished our time out by eating at the Three Little Pigs. Yumo!

When we came home, I decorated my front porch and began coming up with plans for cooking all those apples! I ended up baking two loaves of apple bread and an apple crumb pie.

I hope to make applesauce, fried apples, and applebutter. We shall see...
I'll share the recipes on my next post and let ya know how it goes. It was a GrEAt weekend!!

Fall Fun

In  case anyone missed it.... it's officially FALL!! As of last Friday, the fall season has begun and if you have read any of my other posts you'll know how much I LOVE fall. To celebrate the beginning of this fav season, this past weekend I traveled to my parent's house for a little visit. I left Friday right after work and came back Saturday evening. It was a short trip but loaded with fun.

My whole reason for this trip was to go to the Burke's Garden Festival with my mom (my dad tagged along this year too). This festival is small but encompasses many of my favorite things. We started off our day at a little Presbyterian church. They had baked goods, canned vegetables, and yard sale items.  From there we went to more yard sales that were located close to the house. Finally, we headed across the mountain into the "Garden" (as it's known). We were able to check out local produce, canned goods, baked goods, crafts, and more yard sale items. And of course lots of pumpkins and gourds.

We had so much fun. And to me, the day was perfect. 

Ok, so I didn't get any pics of the actual festival because the beautiful scenery was too distracting.

After the festivial, we went back to the house to make grape jelly. My parent's grape vine was full of grapes this year and so I wanted to learn how to make jelly. Mom and I had a great time together in the kitchen... as always.  As this was my first time, I realized I had the easy job. My mom had juiced the grapes before I came which made the rest of the job much easier.

We made seven and a half pints of grape jelly. Of course, I had to quickly try some leftovers on toasted bread.... and it is delicious!

So, as I traveled home Saturday evening (listening to the VaTech game) my heart was full and my car was full of all of the goodies I was brining home.  I'm so thankful for family and the fact that I was able to learn something new this weekend! I pray that God will continue to help me be content with the simple things in life.... because more than anything, all I need is Him!

Happy Fall!!

Goodbye Summer + 11 year Anniversary

The past few weeks have just flown by.  Every year I look forward to summer break and every year summer break seems to come and go with a blink of an eye. But I must admit, I'm a fall gal. I just adore the fall season. Everything about it just makes me smile! Anyway, more on that later. As I'm facing my last week of freedom before I go back to work, I've been trying to savor every moment and working around my house finishing up projects and organizing to help things run more smoothly during the school year. I've also been working in my classroom decorating and planning. I'm really excited about the school year and looking forward to what God has planned.

Well, on another note, a few weeks ago on Aug. 5, my husband and I celebrated our 11year anniversary... of which I can't believe we've been married this long. I must say it's been a great journey so far and I'm looking forward to the next 11 years! This year we decided to stay closer to home and take a few days to do some fun things and just be together. Our first day together we decided to go on a hike. It was such a beautiful hike!  We didn't want to carry our camera so these pics are all taken with our cell phone... so they may be a little blurry.

                          Ok, so I had to be a little goofy along the way... or "nerdy".

We also went to the movies to see Captain America, ate at a couple favorite restaurants... Tokyo Express and Red Lobster, and enjoyed relaxing around the house. It was a great refreshing time... oh yeah, and I made Trevor look at all of our scrapbooks.He was SO thrilled.... LOL!

Where Have I Been?!

Ok, school's been out since the first of June and two months later I'm blogging again! I had originally planned to be a little more consistent this summer with blogging but it seems I've been a little occupied and busy... I guess you could say the lazy days of summer have taken over.  So I guess I'll take a few minutes and catch you up on what we've been doing.

Well, I ended another school year  the first week of June and said good- bye to another group of sweet second graders. Usually the week after the school year is over, my honey does something for me. This year, to celebrate, he took me to  The Peaks of Otter for a restful day of reading and relaxing. Then of course we had to eat! Then I started my job with the fair... busy, busy for a couple of weeks. Then we've spent time with family.....

Family Reunion

                                Some of my cousins that I had not seen a couple of years.

                               My cousin, Jennifer, who was the flower girl in my wedding!! She's all grown up now. I feel old!


We also hosted a get together for our church choir at our house. We had lots of great food and fellowship.

I also finished painting my kitchen and Trevor and I have had lots of "fun Fridays" together. My mom came for a day  visit and I took her to the White Oak Tea Tavern... a great place.  We had a great day of shopping and just being together. Then this past week, Trevor was on a mission trip all week so...... I traveled to my parents house to spend a few days with them and boy did we have fun! My mom and I did some shopping and cooking.

She taught me a new recipe.... Southwestern Chicken and black bean dish. It was so delicious.

We read a few books...

                                 Yeah, notice the cookbooks... we love to cook together!

My dad had taken the day off and we traveled to the Virginia Highlands Festival and we were able to eat lunch with my brother. It was such an great day.

Then we checked out White's Mill and mercantile.

                      This was the neatest little store... just my style... country as can be!

                                     This is a pic of the countryside by my parent's church.


It was such a great little trip... lots of memories! I want to always make sure I soak up all the time I am able to get with my family.

Well, it's been a busy summer and the one good thing is... it's not over yet! I have a about four weeks until I go back to work.... YEAH! So I'm gonna keep having fun and making lots of memories!!!

The blessing of summer. God is good!!

My Amazing Husband

Since this is Valentine's week and because I want to share this with you, about two weeks ago my husband had the privilege of being ordained at our church. It was an amazing, and humbling experience for him and I can't tell you how proud of him I am!

Since we've been married (10 years), he has been involved in ministry in some way. He's been paid staff for about 7 of those years. I must tell you that when we met in college, it was his heart for ministry and serving God that was so attractive to me. Of course his looks also helped in that as well !!;) I can't express into words how over these past years he has lead us and been sensitive to God's voice in many tough situations. I'm so thankful to where God has taken my husband and I'm looking forward to many more amazing things God is going to do with him. And, I'm excited that God allowed me to join him on this journey. God is faithful.

           

                                          Trevor's grandmother   
                                                                

                                          Our church staff

 

                                           Trevor's extended family
                                            

                                           Mary Ann's parents

Trevor's parents

We were so blessed to have family be with us for this special occasion.

Now we're looking forward to the future for what God has in store!

Have a blessed week!