settling in

well, 

it's just over half way through September and we are finally starting to settle from our move

i'm so excited to share our new little space with you

whether that's through my feeble attempts at home decor

(seriously, not my forte)

or through the little things we'll be doing around here:

cooking

mothering

exploring

living

i've not taken my "fancy camera" out of it's case since we moved

except to second shoot that wedding i mentioned last post

but i have taken a few snapshots on my phone

so without further a do, here's a glimpse at what life's been like the past couple weeks:

(if you follow me on instagram, you've already seen these, so this is for the rest of you!)

our new view

books unpacked = a morning with dr seuss!

produce bought!  another "milestone"!

gotta take a break from unpacking...beach day!  (and beach hair  ;) )

girlies painting in the backyard = unpacking in peace

whoops, guess i got too into unpacking - girlie got into my mascara while i wasn't looking

rainy day people watching...another distraction while mama unpacks

finally starting to cook meals in our new home!!!

(this would be Sheena's recipe - I just used sheep feta instead of goat cheese)

...and that about wraps it up

happy weekend, folks!

coconut cranberry orange muffins {paleo}

i've made these muffins a couple times in the past

and they've always been a hit

so it was no surprise that i decided to whip up a batch (or two!)

in an attempt to have something healthy to just "grab n go" 

while getting over our jetlag / battling hangry attacks earlier this week

i was a bit surprised, however, at how many people asked for the recipe

after i posted a picture of the finished product on my instagram and facebook

(plus a few who tasted them and really liked them!)

so this is for you, folks...and so that i don't have to google the recipe every time i want to make them too ;)

coconut cranberry orange muffins

grain / gluten / dairy / refined sugar free

wet ingredients:

6 tbsp coconut oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp pure vanilla

zest of 2 oranges 

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

(i used pink naval oranges)

dry ingredients:

1 1/2 cups almond meal

1/4 cup + 2 tbsp coconut flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

"final" ingredients:
1 cup frozen unsweetened cranberries

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

unsweetened shredded coconut (optional - for topping)

instructions:

- place coconut oil in a small saucepan and melt over medium / medium low heat (remove from heat once melted through).  meanwhile, whisk your eggs in a large bowl and combine with the rest of your wet ingredients; don't forget to add your oil once it's melted!

- in a smaller bowl, measure out and mix your dry ingredients together*

- add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until well combined then fold in your final ingredients

- preheat your oven to 350* F (325* F if using a convection oven)

- while your oven is preheating, line a muffin tin with some baking cups (i like to make or use store-bought parchment paper cups...it kills me when i lose half my muffin to the wrapper!)

- fill each cup about 3/4 of the way up; you should use up about half your batter (the recipe makes 2 dozen muffins)

- sprinkle some unsweetened shredded coconut on top if desired (optional)

- pop in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes (about 20 for a convection oven), or until your muffin tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean. after taking them out of the oven, leave them in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack

- enjoy!

p.s.  this is one of those rare cases where i stick fairly close to the original recipe,

so this is our version, but if you follow the link to the original, i'm sure they'll taste just as good

also, i'm thinking of making another batch (they went quick!), but ran out of cranberries

i do, however, have frozen raspberries and lemons...may just have to try that tweak and see which we like better!

*p.p.s. i got the girlies to dump and mix the measured out dry ingredients in a bowl - makes for a fun toddler activity, plus they get really excited to try foods that they "helped" make...as you can probably tell from the pictures.  just a tip for you other mamas out there!

little moments

if you follow me on instagram, 

you'll know that i've been using the hashtag #almostfloridagram over the past couple of days

in order to document the moments leading up to our family vacation in florida

there's a small (ok, maybe not so small) part of me 

that is super sad that i take most of my pictures are on my phone these days, 

because with two toddlers, my "fancy" camera just doesn't come out as often as i'd like it to

on the other hand, 

i'm so thankful for my phone's picture-taking capabilities

because fancy or not, i've forever captured these moments that are so dear to me

like the fact that my girlies LOVE banana / plantain chips right now, 

(so we packed some for a travel snack)

the flip-flops they picked out all by themselves just for our trip,

a snippet from our last breakfast at home - a sweet, surprisingly calm time with my girlies

the last BC sunset before we took off:

it stopped me for a minute in the middle of the packing chaos

and reminded me to reflect on and be thankful for the beautiful place we get to call home, 

the chaos, our family that we get to go visit and the beach house we get to enjoy with said family

the good coffee i shared with my love as we kicked off our 17+ hour trek,

my girlies, being their goofy selves during our layover in Charlotte

these are the moments, the everyday, "boring" moments, that i want to remember
they are the reason i take photos
fancy camera or otherwise,
so that one day, i can look back at my photos and relive details of my life
and enjoy the big picture as well as the little moments that helped build it.

p.s. i've already started posting pictures of our time here in florida (#floridagram2014) 
if i have time, i'll try and share some of those on here, 
but if you want to make sure you see 'em,
hop on over and follow me on instagram!

st patrick's day green x2

yesterday was st. patrick's day

which has always seemed to be an interesting 'holiday' to me

some people seem to go all out - green hair, green clothes, big green themed party...

and others...not so much

my family never really celebrated it growing up

in fact, i remember going to school those first couple years after moving to the states

and thinking what a coincidence it was that nearly every once in my class wore green on the same day 

what are the odds? i would think to myself

and why are these green-clad classmates of mine pinching those of us who didn't get the memo?

i eventually figured out what was going on

and started wearing something green on the day, just for fun

but that's about as much as i participate...and my family thinks i'm strange for even doing that!

ironically, i had a green smoothie for breakfast today

and thought to myself: 

darn - shoulda thought of this yesterday, then i could have put a st. patty's day post on the blog!

but then i figured, why not share it a day late - it's what all the cool kids are doing, right?

...ok, maybe not, but it's what i'm doing

i should note that i was feeling pretty lazy when i made this

which means this recipe is as simple as it gets:

3 ingredients, 1 step - easy, peasy

lazy day hemp protein green smoothie

ingredients:

- 1/2 to 3/4 cup mighty mango naked juice

(maybe this is cheating, but it was in my fridge so i used it!)

- 1 big fistful of organic baby spinach

- 2 tbsp raw shelled hemp seeds

(you could probably bump this up to 3 if you want, i only did 2 because i had some coconut coffee already and i figured the fat from that would fill me up a little bit)

directions:

- blend ingredients together and pour into a glass

oh, and if you want to see even more green, 

check out this picture from a recent newborn session i did with my sweet niece:

(more images here, if you're interested)

a pinch of weekending, a dash of parenting, a heap of grace and a grain-free pizookie!

hi friends!

how was your weekend?

my big event was hosting a "welcome baby!" party for my two week old niece on saturday

which meant a quick coffee with friends then a bunch of errand running on friday

followed by some great napping (on the girls' part anyway)

we kicked off saturday pretty early by bundling everybody up and heading to the beach

on a cold, windy, snow-in-the-forcast morning

because i'm crazy and my family loves me enough to play along

well, that and i had to pick up some macaroons for the party later that day 

(which were amazing, by the way!

if you're local, you have to pop by Spiritual Ingredients Bakery on East Beach and give 'em a try!) 

sadly, i was too busy playing hostess to get any pictures of said macaroons

or anything at the party, actually

but i did snap this shot from our beach outing:

there's so much i love about this picture, my heart is filled everytime i look at it

my best friend + my girlies + the ocean + early mornings = the stuff my dreams are made of!

i love that they were willing to come along and turn an errand into a family adventure

and i love having moments like this to flip back to on my phone

(technology these days can be such a blessing sometimes, can i get an amen?)

especially on the not-so-splendid days...like sunday

sunday actually wasn't all-bad, 

it was just heavy on the parenting-two-year-olds-is-exhausting/frustrating/sanctifying scale!

i'm learning that i'm much less patient than i thought i was

but i'm working on that

because grouchy mama isn't someone i like to be

and i'm pretty sure it isn't someone the girlies want me to be either

sometime in the afternoon i looked up from whatever i was doing at the kitchen sink,

saw one of my 50 promises and decided it was time to choose a better attitude

because seeking righteousness doesn't always come easy, but the reward is totally worth it

i know that in my head, but sometimes my heart forgets

later that night we had family over for a games / dessert night which was super fun

i tried my hand at a grain-free pizookie for us to enjoy

there was hot coffee for the girls and fancy beer for the boys

all of which was wonderful

but long after the coffee had grown cold, the pizookie was reduced to crumbs

and the game had been played (twice!)

 came my favorite part of the night:

we sat there, chatting away, 

sharing funny stories and insights,

learning about each other - our struggles, our loves, our plans...

i soaked up every minute of building community and deepening relationships,

beaming on the inside and thinking myself

"this here is evidence of grace, and i am so thankful for it."

so there you have it - my weekend in a bit more than a nutshell...

oh, and before i sign off, here's that pizookie recipe

this was the original recipe, below is my tweaked version! 

Paleo[ish] Pizookie

(grain free, dairy free and honey sweetened)

Ingredients:
1 cup almond meal / flour
2/3 cup cashew meal / flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup chocolate chips1 egg, at room temperature
(my free-range, local eggs tend to be bigger than "regular" eggs. if you're using the latter, use a jumbo or extra large.  also, the easiest way to bring an egg to room temp is to stick it in a bowl or cup of room temp water for 10 minutes or so)
1/3 cup organic honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Directions:
- melt your coconut oil in a small pan on medium heat then remove set aside once it's melted


- meanwhile, combine your dry ingredients (almond meal through to sea salt) in a large bowl and mix using a fork


- stir in chocolate chips


- in a separate, smaller bowl, beat your egg then add the rest of the wet ingredients (honey, coconut oil, vanilla)
note: make sure the coconut oil is not hot enough to start cooking your egg! 


- add the wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until just combined


- chill dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes


- once you're ready to bake the pizookie, preheat your oven to 350* F and turn the dough out into a greased 12" cast iron pan (i used bacon grease!).  

- press the dough into the pan evenly (it's totally normal for your dough to be quite a bit  thicker than typical cookie dough), give it a good sprinkle of sea salt then pop it into the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and your pizookie is a nice golden brown.  


cut like you would a pizza and enjoy...but watch out for those hot chocolate chips!

Christmas Traditions

are there certain things that your family does every year during the Christmas season?
growing up, we didn't have many Christmas traditions

but the few we did have are so special to me

if you follow me on instagram, you saw this post last week:

my mom has been baking up a storm lately
she's made a little of this, and a little of that
but mostly she's made batch after batch of these, using my Grandma's secret recipe:

aren't they gorgeous?

they're an Egyptian cookie called "Kahk"

(always a fun word to try and teach someone ;) )

and they don't tend to last long around here...

i've never had the chance to try my hand at making them
(my mom's copy of the recipe is in Arabic - darn, should have paid more attention in Arabic class!)
but i do know that they use up an awful lot of ghee,
they make the house smell amazing,
and they take me back to Christmases past and growing up
most of all, they bring back so many wonderful memories of my grandma

she was an amazing woman, a prayer warrior and the most selfless person i've ever known,
she was also probably the most sarcastic person i've met- the woman was hilarious!
she lost her battle with cancer years ago, but i feel lucky and blessed to have grown up with her around
i'm thrilled that she's pain-free and with Jesus now
and i love thinking back to all those happy times watching her bake and laugh and enjoy life with us

who would have thought that something as simple as Christmas baking could mean so much?
i certainly didn't think much of it growing up
(well, i looked forward to the end product of all that baking, but that was about it!)
but in hindsight, i realize that family traditions mean so much more than simply doing the same things
year after year

so i did some research this weekend,
and made note of some ideas for traditions we can start with the girlies
most will have to wait till next year,
either because it's too late in the season
or because they're just a tad too young to understand / enjoy them this time around

here's what we've already done / started doing this weekend (with our now almost 2 year olds):
- sing Christmas carols together
- give them new Christmas jams on Christmas Eve,
so they can wear them that night and while opening presents the next morning
- baked some awesome ninjabread men
(recipe and pictures coming soon!)
- continued our celebration of Advent at church

and just like that, we've made a step towards creating our own traditions
i'm super excited to make more with my little family
and am really looking forward to being able to explain to them the real meaning of Christmas next year
of Jesus' birth and what that means and why it is such a joyful occasion

i hope you're enjoying the season and feeling festive today,
feel free to share your Christmas traditions in the comments
(or any good ideas for two year olds! ;) )

on going paleo / primal + a handful of recipes (part 2)

hello friends,
happy friday!
what are you up to today?
i spent a couple hours on the phone this morning
tracking down wayward Christmas deliveries,
got creative trying to feed my suddenly-uninterested-in-food toddlers
(anyone else deal with this?  i'd love any ideas / suggestions!)
and spent the entire morning ignoring the to-do list / chores in order to read and play and snuggle
since i gotta make up for all i'm gonna miss tonight
when we leave the girlies with grandma in order to go to Daniel's work party

speaking of which, i have to be ready pretty soon,
and instead i'm sitting on the couch in my jams
hair up in a bun
and not even a hint of makeup on

but yesterday, i listed some grain / gluten free and nutritious meal ideas
and promised to come back with more today,
so this will be short and to the point
(i didn't want to let you down!)

anyway, i hope you give some of them a try - let me know if you do, i'd love to hear your thoughts!

turkey-wich + raw veg

looking for a quick paleo-ish snack / light lunch?  look no further!  i had some cooked and sliced turkey breast in the fridge so i made a cheese "sandwich" using my turkey slices as bread (you could sub the cheese out for some other filling if you don't do dairy) then chopped up some cucumber on the side (carrots or other veggies that don't require cooking would be an easy add-on too)

blueberry scuffins... 'nuff said! 

homemade paleo granola (lots of recipes online...i'm still perfecting mine, but when i do, i'll be sure to share it!) + coconut milk + frozen wild / organic berries (since mid-december isn't really berry season around here)

gluten free "mac n cheese" 

baked spaghetti squash topped with a parmesan and romano blend...it's even the same color as KD, (but way healthier, obviously)!

thanksgiving leftover bowl

another "empty out the fridge" dish - chopped up cooked ham (nitrite free) and peas over a bed of baked spaghetti squash then topped with a guac "sauce" (you can add some parm/romano blend for extra zest)

and that's a wrap!

hope you all have an awesome weekend

on going paleo / primal + a handful of recipes (part 1)

a couple of months ago,
i decided to go paleo / primal for a few weeks
in an effort to try and heal certain issues i've been having with my body

i went in cold turkey
and suffered from some serious "carb flu"
(which i didn't even know existed before!)
but once i got through about a week of that...i actually felt better!

all of a sudden,
i didn't have to eat every 2-3 hours in order to avoid melting down
i didn't go to bed every night with an upset tummy
my energy and blood sugar levels "magically" evened out
my hair got thicker
my skin became less dry
etc

now, i've never been much of a bandwagon jumper,
but i was sold!
i've always eaten pretty well,
but drastically cutting back on grain and sugar
then focusing on eating high quality protein, as many vegetables as i could fit in + healthy fats instead
had made a HUGE difference in my overall well being

but let's be honest, here:  i'm not always great at sticking to it
in fact, i tend to be an all or nothing type of person
so in order to help myself not let this new way of eating take over / stress me out,
i aim for the 80/20 rule
which means that i try and stick to it 80% of the time
and not worry about it the rest of the time
(although sometimes, it's more like 50/50 - hah!  ...moderation, right? ;) )

at any rate, the toughest part of this whole shift
was coming up with grain free, nutrient dense meal ideas,
especially for breakfast
so i thought i'd share some ideas that worked for me
in case you wanted to give it a try!
(or if you just want some delicious / easy / quick / healthy meal ideas)

**note:  having recently spent a lot of time researching meal ideas, i know it can be overwhelming to sort through a sea of recipes, so i decided to split this post into two parts - come by tomorrow for another batch of meal ideas!**

sweet potato hash

shred up sweet potato and fry it up in some bacon grease...i try to avoid constantly stirring so that it gets a bit of that charred flavor to it - delish!  serve with a side of high quality protein (free range / local eggs, nitrite free bacon & nitrite free smokies with no mystery ingredients added are some of my favorites)

eggs + veg

sometimes, i stuff my eggs with vegetables, sometimes i just plop them on top of or beside them.  if i feel like living it up a bit, i sometimes add a bit of goat brie to my eggs + veg...amaze-balls!
also, this is a great way of using up leftover veggies kicking around in the fridge

paleo shepard's pie

speaking of leftovers, this was one of those "lets throw whatever's in the fridge together" meals that worked out just right:  leftover steamed cauliflower + leftover gaps friendly gravy ( both from our thanksgiving menu) + leftover seasoned grass-fed ground beef (from taco night).  just heat and mix everything together for a delicious shepard's pie-ish bowl of comfort

breakfast bowl

this one was inspired by my sister's favorite breakfast, except i subbed out the hash brown base she usually uses with cubed and pan fried acorn squash.  add some eggs, chopped green onions, plus a sprinkling of mozz and you are set!  oh, and s+p, to taste

enjoy!

thankful round up

(source)

so, thanksgiving came late this year
and even later, is this thanksgiving related post
it's been a long week - deadlines, sick kiddos, Christmas shopping, personal struggles, etc
but despite all the delay, i wanted to share one last thanksgiving post
before moving on to more Christmas-y things
deal?

alright, so the first thing i wanted to share was our thanksgiving meal
this year, i made everything but the turkey (thanks mom!),
as well as some dirty rice and a couple pumpkin pies (thanks to my brother and sister in law)

given all the gluten-free / non-inflammatory food research i've done recently,
my portion of the meal was made a little differently this year
so this is what our final menu looked like:

i tried to choose menu items that were gluten / grain free and nutrient dense,
but not sacrifice on taste for my guinea pigs' --i mean, guests' sake
...aaaand most of the recipes were ones i'd never made before
needless to say, i was a bit nervous about how everything would turn out
but you know what?
the dishes worked out so well, and i was super proud to serve the meal to my family!


here are links to some of my favorites + any tweaks i made / comments:
roasted carrot mash
(roasted the carrots in avocado oil instead and subbed out the butter/ghee at the end for coconut oil)
gaps friendly gravy
(i NEVER caramelize anything [too much effort - hah] but this recipe, was worth it...and may have changed my mind on caramelizing!)
coconut "cornbread" muffins
(i totally over baked these + greased instead of lined the muffin tin, and undergreased at that so they came out dark and stuck-on...and they were still gobbled up!)
mulled apple cider
(k, to be honest, i originally made this just to make the house smell amazing, and it totally worked...with the added bonus of being super delicious!  
i cut the recipe in half, replaced the cinnamon sticks with 1 tsp ground cinnamon, and used 1 tsp cloves + 1 tsp allspice for my mulling spices)


alrightee, now that you've gotten a run-down of our meal,
how about a wrap up of my #novemberthanks?

1. for my man, who, despite the cold and fog, skipped out on watching his football to take me and the girls to the beach + a coffee shop breakfast date, complete with bird chasing.

2. to live in a country where i can enjoy the great outdoors and take photos in it, thanks in part to our veterans and their families who have given up so much to keep it that way.

3. for pretty packaging...and the chocolate that it holds

4. for homemade granola + the clear pictures that i can now get on my phone thanks to my hubs fixing it (along with all kinds of other things) for me, and with a smile on his face too!

5. for getting to live out dreams, like my sister and i having kids that would grow up together and be the best of friends - i'd say we're off to a great start

6. for the warmth and shelter of our home and vehicles, especially when the elements aren't so pretty

7. for nourishing food, and how it can help heal our bodies

8. for sunshine, and simple pleasures like trying out new coffeeshops

9. for skillet suppers...'nuf said

10. for mercies that are new every morning

11. for the beautiful seascape we have here on the pacific northwest

12. for coconut "cornbread" muffins, which are evidence of grace in a grain-free life!

13. for found baby dolls and favorite toys

14. for turkey, obviously the kiddos in my life, good food, the anticipation of a big family dinner and Jesus, the source of our joy, who makes all these things possible

and so, with hearts FULL of thanks, we move on to the Christmas season!

my week + a thanksgiving leftovers makeover

happy thursday, guys!

so much has happened this week that i've been wanting to share

we've had my sister and nephew staying with us 

which has been fun, but super crazy

three toddlers under one roof, ahhhhh!

plus the girlies have been up to all kinds of shenanigans

but that's a full blog post all on it's own

i've been so distracted, that i even made myself a green tea latte one morning

...only to realize i'd already poured myself a cup of coffee! 

we also celebrated canadian thanksgiving not once, but twice!

on sunday, my mom made her famous turkey plus all the fixings

for friends who don't have immediate family around to celebrate

then on monday, we celebrated with our family:

my brother-in-law and his wife came over

(and brought some super yummy dishes to round out our meal!)

my sister made a killer butternut squash soup

my dad's cousin brought fancy wine complete with a pretty label 

(i'm often see interesting wine labels and wish i could justify buying a bottle of something i can't drink...

does that make me weird? am i the only one?)

and daniel was in charge of cooking a huge ham

that turned out so well 

(i'm convinced it's because we splurged on the most unprocessed of a ham we could get our hands on)

as if all that wasn't enough, i made a garlic rosemary cheese bread, roasted balsamic veggies 

and a chocolate + coffee self saucing cake for dessert

needless to say, there was no shortage of food

and now we've got leftovers coming out of our ears

which isn't entirely a bad thing - i love leftovers

but sometimes, we get a bit sick of the same meal over and over and over again

so i threw a bunch of our leftovers together

and made a turkey pot pie

i usually skip the bread-y topping and replace it with herbed scones or drop biscuits 

but the recipe i used for that part was a total flop this time around

(...we jokingly called them soap scones, for reals)

but the rest of the pot pie turned out pretty good, 

so i thought i'd share the recipe with you

(sans soap scone topping - let me know if you try it with a different topping and find a keeper!)

turkey pot pie {filling}

(aka thanksgiving leftovers reincarnated)

ingredients:

 3-4 tablespoons butter (i used grassfed)

2 1/4 cup yellow onion, diced small

2 cups carrots, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup flour (i used white whole wheat)

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (preferably homemade!)

2 cups frozen peas

sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

4 cups shredded leftover turkey** 

1/3 cup dried oregano (TJ's has a great organic one!)

- preheat oven to 350*

- in a large saucepan melt butter over medium high then add onions and carrots and cook until onions are translucent (i used leftover steamed carrots, so i added them in after the onions softened)

- add garlic and cook for about a minute or so (you'll start to smell all that garlicly goodness)

- add flour and stir so that your veggies are evenly coated

- start adding your broth gradually, stirring the entire time in order to avoid clumps

- bring your mixture to a boil then turn your heat down and simmer until it's thickened up a bit, usually 5-10 minutes

 - add the peas, s + p, chicken and oregano (in that order)

- pour mixture into a 3 quart baking dish (mine was 9.5 x 13.5 and 2 inches deep)

- pop in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes.  if i'm going to make a biscuit or scone topping, i'll pull it out at some point in those 45 minutes and plop the dough right on top of the filling (since scones/drop biscuits generally take less than 45 minutes to bake...if you are having a hard time envisioning what this part should look like, just do an image search for "drop biscuit pot pie") otherwise, just enjoy without topping - which is what we did, and it was delicious...or you could serve it over some rice! 

**i've also made this recipe with leftover chicken in the past, with great results...on that note, i've also used veggies like broccoli, celery, mushrooms etc to replace / top up the carrots and peas - use whatever you've got on had, this is a great recipe for that!

enjoy!

insta-update

hey y'all - i'm back!

lots has happened since i last wrote a blog post

if you follow me on instagram, you'll have an idea of what we've been up to

if not, allow me to fill you in:

- we went on a fabulous three week family vacation

- i drank a lot of tea (green tea, sweet tea, oolong tea - you name it, i've probably had it!)

- we spent a week and a half on the beach and adjusted pretty well to island life:

sipping morning coffee / reading on the porch, watching for dolphins, sun kissed skin, searching for pretty shells and hermit crabs, family photos, fresh seafood, gorgeous sunrises, laughing babies, roadside snow cones, big family meals, window shopping around town, etc

- after the beach, we flew to North Carolina for a week with our family there, including time on the lake with Daniel's parents plus a road trip to spend some time on the farm with our extended family there (who graciously took the time to host / attend a big, delicious family dinner while we were there)

- came home and were absolutely shocked at how cold it had gotten while we were gone...then promptly caught a cold to make it feel that much more winter-y  ;)

- ate lots of wholesome foods and veggies to try and beat said cold (and maybe shed some of those pounds we tend to put on while on vacation!)

- hosted a gender reveal party for my sister's baby (it's a girl!!!)

- spent as much time as we could outdoors, enjoying the beautiful colors of fall

***

we're still not unpacked,
but i think we're almost done with this cold

which makes me a very happy camper
anyway, now that you're all caught up on what we've been up to,
what have you been up to?  feel free to share in the comments!  :)

weekend tidbits

i woke up this morning and thought to myself, 

"how on earth is it monday?"

i mean, most weekends fly by, 

but this one was crammed with so much, 

it left me wondering which way was up

we hit up a friend's garage sale

and welcomed a new vintage camera to our collection

plus we scored a giant bag of super cute "big girl" clothes for the girlies

we visited with family who just came back from holidays, 

and hosted a huge family dinner that night, 

complete with baseball steak, bacon wrapped scallops and shrimp

(go big or go home, right?)

we watched star wars, episode 2 

(this is my first time watching the series, 

we've been going through them, one by one, over the past couple of weeks after the girls go to bed

i had no choice in the matter - apparently it's an important step in my pop culture education!)

i edited a whackload of pictures, 

while listening to this fun song

...over and over and over again

then we topped it all off by going to a long-time friend's wedding yesterday

and as i sat there, enjoying the beautiful details that she thoughtfully put together for her special day

i realized that it was exactly six years ago, to the day,

that the bride and i were sitting in a starbucks, sipping on our coffees,

killing time between a mutual friend's wedding ceremony and reception

we talked about our own future weddings,

and wondered who we'd end up marrying, 

when we'd be engaged,

and what our special day would look like someday

and now, here we are - all "grown up" and married

i just couldn't help but think of the Lord's goodness and faithfulness

and how He's got such great things planned for us

how He demonstrates His love and provision

with each day that unfolds in our lives, 

in the little things as well as the big things

there's evidence of grace everywhere!

i was just so encouraged by that thought,

that i just had to share with you guys.

i hope it leaves you feeling blessed and grateful

as we kick off the week

p.s. congrats, #dallasandmeray!