Spicy Food Mood Creations

So today I have been in a spicy food mood. And the main focus of my spicy food day dreams was a wonderful twist on an already delicious treat that was introduced to us a few weeks ago at a friends house. I have shared our taste for the Pioneer Woman's "Jalapeno Thingies." And while at our friends' home for dinner one day, they served these delicious little treats, slightly altered. The cream cheese, we originally thought, was a roasted red bell pepper cream cheese. Later (today for that matter), we realized that it had been a sun dried tomato cream cheese. Either way it was delicious. 

Having been desiring these for several days, and reaching the point of "must have or I might cry" today, I decided to take a swing at it. Thanks has to go out here to my wonderful husband for making the run to the store for me... twice. And shortly after he arrived home from the store, I received word about the mix up in the cream cheese additive. But already having the red pepper, I went ahead with that instead. And the product was wonderful! The whole family loved it, including both kiddos! (The cream cheese, not the jalapenos.)


Here is the recipe:
Roast one red bell pepper.
Remove skins and innards
Place in blending device of choice
Add about 3/4 tsp of minced garlic
And 12oz cream cheese
Blend and enjoy


We used a lot of cream cheese because I didn't anticipate how much the pepper would water it down. So we started with 8oz and then wound up adding more to get a more creamy spread.

We filled 10 jalapenos (halved), wrapped them in bacon, ran them through with a toothpick, and baked them at 375 for about 25-30 minutes.

While they were getting amazingly delicious, Jim, Daelynn, and I snacked on part of the remaining "dip" with crackers and tortilla chips. Blake even got to sample some, and loved it. Jim has decided it should become an addition to my recipe book, both as a dip and for the jalapenos, and has already named several upcoming events where it could be included.

As for the jalapenos: wonderful! Not one survived to become a 'leftover.' And truthfully, I think Jim only had a few of them. They really hit the spot for my spicy craving. I would have posted an image... but none survived long enough for me to think of taking a picture either. But, if you make your own you will get a first hand look at them. ;)

I Am Thankful

What a wonderful year it has been! New job, new state, new baby, new home - all of it wonderful! And today we got to celebrate Thanksgiving together, in our new home, with both our babies, in the wonderful state of Tennessee. Blessings all! 

We had hoped to have some family over, but that wasn't able to happen. Hopefully we will be able to visit with our family another time soon. We also received a couple invitations to spend the holiday with friends. But we chose a calm quiet holiday together. It was a wonderful day!

I started cooking a little after 7... and finished as we sat down to eat. I love cooking, so it is always such a fun holiday for me! 

 And I had so much "help" in the kitchen this year :)

My little veggie tray sampler...  I am talking about Daelynn here, not the tray, lol. 

She loves to play with and eat olives. Before long she had eaten almost half of them!

Including some of Mommy's

Mommy's best little helpers

They were both eager to get to be the sweet potato taste testers.

This creamy goodness was a last minute addition, and a big hit. 

Case in point.

However, after a while, the thrill of helping in the kitchen wears off. But toys cannot hold them away from the wonderful smells and anticipation of all the yummy food. So then there is the waiting...

But, the waiting eventually pays off, and the pay off is delicious!

We ate at noon mainly because of the kids' nap schedule. Plus, why wait for good food. ;)

We had a ton of food! Partially due to the anticipation of guests, and partially because its Thanksgiving! We had both a ham and a turkey, and all the trimmings. 

And tons of food means tons of leftovers and leftover related meals. Yum! I am most excited about ham and bean soup and creamy turkey enchiladas. :)

A few hours after our Thanksgiving dinner... lunch... we had some pie for dinner... dessert. Jim also got to enjoy one of the Sam Adams seasonal brews for his after dessert... dessert. 

Yes chocolate beer. And he really enjoyed it. It is a fantastic "dessert beer." 

A wonderful, warm, fun and food filled day. So much to be thankful for today and every day. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, whether it was a calm, quiet day with just a few close people, or a loud, busy day spent with many friends and loved ones. What a treasure, the ones we love. 

Our new home!

Hard to believe we are homeowners! And still very difficult to believe that we own such an amazing house! We have been so blessed we are just left in awe. Blessed in our home, our family, our new community, our friends, our lives.


Haven't taken a ton of "just the house" type pictures, but we have a lot of photos of us living in it. We have not yet put up photos or decorations, still working on that.

Our house from the street.

Us in front of the house at the final walk through.

Its a dark picture, but this is Blake's room.

Daelynn's room. We moved it around a bit after this picture.

See, we put the crib against this wall. :)
And Blake is working on pulling himself up to standing. 

Blake at the kitchen table enjoying the foggy morning.

It gets foggy most mornings lately with the cooler Fall temps

The kitchen table and most of the living room.

The kids enjoy the new house. :)  They play in the living room a lot.

Daelynn helps me keep it tidy and likes to help decorate and re-organize.

Blake working out in the guest bedroom / workout room.

One of the kids' favorite rooms: the play room!

We spend a lot of time in here.

A lot of time.

There is more to a home than just a house. We live in a wonderful neighborhood, in a wonderful community. Somewhere we can feel safe and enjoy doing things.

There is so little traffic in our neighborhood, and it
is such a family friendly place, we get to go for walks!

And there is a park right in the middle of our neighborhood!

I love this picture!

Daelynn's favorite thing to do at the park is swing.

And the community is small and has community events often.
Last weekend we went to the Spring Hill Country Ham Festival.
It was chilly, but we had fun.

Daelynn really loved the petting zoo.

 We love our new home! And we are so thankful to be in a home of our own!

A wonderful weekend!

I know this post is a little late, seeing as it is almost next weekend. But my life is full of... well, life! And it keeps me very busy most of the time.

Last weekend, even though Jim did have to work a bit, was such a great weekend. We were determined to make the most of it. And I think we accomplished that. All thanks to my amazing husband Jim.

 He worked all night Friday night, after working all day Friday. Got home at about 6am, as the rest of us were getting up for the day. And rather than crawl into bed, for some much deserved and needed sleep, my sweet husband helped get the kids up and fed. Then took us all to the park!

She loves the park!

Blake watching Daddy and Daelynn play,
and enjoying the sunshine and fresh air

Jim taking Daelynn down the slide

Daelynn likes the big kid swings

But she doesn't mind being in the little kid swings
so she can swing with her Bubba

They both loved their time at the park!

It was a lot of fun for us all, and the fresh air and sunshine was so nice. We got there early enough that the park was nearly empty, and it was a good temperature outside. Jim and Daelynn got to enjoy climbing all the equipment too. :) They are pretty sweet together.

After the park we headed to the mall. Daelynn grew out of her sandles and needed a new pair. Most places already have all their fall inventory out, so we knew we had to go to the mall to get her some. We don't venture to the mall often, and almost never on a Saturday. But we were there early enough to go in right after opening and avoided the worst of the crowds. Off to Payless we went. Daelynn enjoyed picking out a new pair of shoes, and was so proud of her new shoes that she carried the box around all through the store! It was so precious.

Enjoying shoe shopping already.

Her new shoes.

Our last stop was, of course, Mall Pretzels! Its kind of a tradition in our family that a trip to the mall is never complete without those delicious soft pretzels. Daelynn was finally big enough to get one all to herself! She was so excited! She nearly finished the whole pretzel, and Daddy helped her finish off the rest.

After the mall, we headed home, and just took it easy the rest of the day. It was an early bed time for all of us that night. Which worked out well, because we all woke up refreshed and in good moods Sunday morning.

Daelynn was helping mommy get ready before church, and I could
 not resist this sweet picture of her up on her tip toes. She was
trying to find my brush to play with.

We had a wonderful time at church. A great service. Great fellowship. It was so nice to have everyone back from vacations and other various things. Our church was full and joyful and loud. It was wonderful!

Sleeping in the car after church.
And while Jim ran into the store for treats!

Jim has been working nearly every Saturday due to storms, and it can get weary after a while. And we really get to missing him too. So he put a lot of effort into making this weekend into a great one, and it had been a wonderful weekend. Then on the way home from church, we decided to put a little extra icing on the cake, and took a dear friend's advice (thank you Tam), and splurged a bit on some yummy treats for the family.

Ice cream and root beer floats! Yummy!

It did add a bit more 'sweetness' to our already lovely weekend. I am so thankful for my husband, a real man of God, who sacrifices himself for his family every day. Despite his very busy work schedule, and even large lapses in sleep, he still makes it very clear what his priorities are. His family. :) We are so blessed to have him.

Goodbye Grumpy Gardener

When starting something new, it is good to hope for great things. But it may become a problem if we allow ourselves to have very specific and over-the-top expectations. While living in Wyoming, Jim worked for a contractor. In short, this means that he was out of town for work a lot. Most of the first three years of our lives together he was gone at least four days a week. Jim often says, and I concur, that contract work "is a single man's job." Many couples face limited time together, in many trades: contract, military, trucking, etc. Some it strengthens, some it breaks, but its hard on them all.

When we decided to start a family we began eagerly awaiting a time when we could go to a company that worked locally only, and Jim could see his family every day. It took a while, longer then we expected. First waiting for him to complete his apprenticeship, then waiting on a company to accept his application. And in that time we dreamed and planned for 'what it was going to be like, there, where the grass is greener.' Then we moved here, to the beautiful state of Tennessee, and a local company. Our "grass is greener" scenario came true! But wait a minute... "I thought there wasn't going to be much overtime."... dandelion. "I thought you were going to be home like clockwork every day at the same time."... crab grass. "I thought everything was going to be easier."... ivy. "I thought", I thought", "I thought" ... thistle! "I thought we were moving to the magical land of unicorns and leprechauns and all our dreams were going to come true!" ... ok, not quite. But, you get my point.

A beautiful lawn requires something of us; our effort, thought, time, attention. It doesn't just happen. It also requires a realistic viewpoint. If you go out expecting perfection, all you will notice are flaws. 

I was focused on every shortcoming of my "utopian" fantasy. I had not completely lost sight of my blessings, but I certainly had been overlooking a lot of them. And instead of realizing I needed to adjust what I was doing, I just waited around for the weeds to pull themselves. "I shouldn't have to pull them because they weren't supposed to be here." Ha! The only true flaw was my own selfish attitude and unrealistic point of view. Every lawn will get weeds, but that doesn't mean it can't be green and beautiful. If your lawn is full of weeds, maybe you should begin by pruning your attitude. (Thank you for bearing with my lawn analogy.)

Jim has worked a lot of overtime since we have been here. Far more than we ever imagined. But all for a purpose. If he hadn't, we wouldn't be in the process of buying a house. Wouldn't have the ability to move to a better area. Wouldn't have made such a dent in our debt. And I'm sure there are many more reasons than those I know about right now. And Jim is home so much more than he used to be. I pray I never lose sight of that again, and that I always remember to be thankful for that gift. 

I have a clearer view of our lives now. It truly is beautiful here. I love all the trees and rolling hills. Jim has a steady job, with great job security. In this economy that is better than gold. We have a wonderful marriage. We have two amazing, healthy children that bring us so much joy every day. We have everything we need and then some. We are blessed with a wonderful and loving extended family. We are part of an amazing church family. Jim and I are both able to be in the vocations we love. And there are so many, many more. If I had listed them all I would have written a book no one would really care to read. 

A blessed life indeed!

Life on Earth will never be perfect. But when we approach it with a thankful heart, remembering our many blessings, we can enjoy "the good life" every day.

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

The Case of the Missing Blogs

I had initially been on the fence about weather I should start a new blog or try to salvage the last one. The last one having been started a few years ago and then left neglected after about a year of use. In order to help me make a decision I attempted to log into said blog to assess its condition. But, no surprise, after so much time I could not remember the password. After trying about 8 different ones, I attempted to retrieve it via e-mail. But quickly found that plan foiled as well. It was attached to an e-mail address that had been hacked into causing me to have to delete it several months ago. And if there was a phone number on the account it would have done me no good because Jim and I both had our numbers changed within the last couple of months as well, getting local numbers as ours were from Wyoming and we now live in Tennessee. I went back and attempted a few more passwords, but no luck. After all that, the message was resoundingly clear: "Start fresh!" So here I am.

Now the post title is "missing blogs" not blog. That was not a typo. Though the other blog isn't technically missing, but the e-mail and password are. Jim and I had a separate blog, not related to daily life, and anonymous. It was just something fun to help keep us accountable for our health and fitness. And after creating it our computer just kept us logged in. I don't recommend taking that route at all! When it finally did log us out I not only couldn't remember the password, but we created a new e-mail specifically for the account, and I cannot remember the e-mail either. I am sure we wrote it down somewhere, and I may find it some day. But I was not successful tonight. I am hoping the future finds us able to reconnect with that one. The other, mentioned in the paragraph above, I am not very grieved to lose.

I am taking all the proper precautions this time. I have filed the information for this blog in 3 different locations. If I lose this one I will take it as a sign that I may just not be meant to be a blogger.

What I thought was going to be a relatively easy task of posting a new blog post has turned into quite a time consuming adventure. Here I am, nearly an two hours after my first attempt to find my old blog. And this is not at all the post I had intended to make. But I have found that what I plan and what actually occurs are rarely ever similar. And as much as I initially fight it (spending an over an hour singlemindedly trying to log into a blog I wasn't even sure I wanted) I have found that when I let go of my plan, and embrace what I am being led into, it will be a good thing or good things will come from it. Like this fresh start at blogging. Or, a much better example, my plan to move to Montana and attend MSU Bozeman as a biology major. Before I was able to gain residency, to attend at a price I could afford, the economy slumped and I was one of many laid off my job. I fought it hard. I searched for another job, fought and fought to be able to stay and stick to My plan. Having to move back into my parents house was NOT part of my plan. But that is what happened. And very shortly after moving back, I met Jim. It was then that I started to learn that My plan will never be as good as God's plan. I still often fight it at first, but it is slowly getting easier to let go and trust in Him.

Tonight I am thankful for my new blog and for my loving husband and our two beautiful children.


"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11