Recipes, Basketball, and the weekend

Last night I decided to try out a few new recipes for dinner and dessert! 

We'll start with dessert. Earlier this week, Brad and I were watching "Psych" in this particular episode Shawn and Gus go to a cinnamon festival and have cinnamon pie. Brad instantly said "That sounds so good!" and googled the recipe. It seemed easy (and was) so I picked up the very few ingredients we don't normally have in the house and made it for him. 

Let me tell ya! This pie is easy and delicious. And it's a guarantee you'll have 95% of the ingredients in your home already! So here is the recipe!

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch salt

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups milk

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

and here is what you do!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Add the beaten egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix well then add milk.

Pour mixture into an unbaked 9 inch pie crust (glass pie plate is best).

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes. 

Let cool and serve.

(Refrigerate leftovers)

I put Cool Whip on mine and had a tall glass of almond milk! It was delicious!

Now going back for our supper! We had tomato and pesto chicken! So, so yummy!

Here is what you need.

8 ounces penne pasta

3 cups small fresh broccoli

1 tablespoon olive oil

2-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cubed)

1 can tomato sauce

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1/3 cup refrigerated basil pesto

Here is what you'll do.

Cook pasta according to package directions (without salt), adding broccoli in last 2 minutes cook time.

Heat oil in pan and brown both sides of chicken breasts. Add undrained diced tomatoes and tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Let simmer for 8 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center.

Add greek yogurt to sauce in skillet and stir. Stir in pesto and let simmer 2 minutes to thicken.

Drain pasta and broccoli, add to skillet and mix with sauce. 

You will enjoy this so much!!!! It's so yummy!

Brad and I had a quiet night in and enjoyed the Ides of March.

{via}

We were both really impressed with the screenplay of this movie. It was very well written! I do recommend this movie!

This morning we got up early and went to see Dylon play a basketball game! Their team lost (26-8) but the children on her team just loved to be on the court. Every time they made a basket you would have thought they won the game! I love the innocence of 7 year old basketball. Win or lose they are happy! :)

Maddox and I at Dylon's game.

We went by their house to play a few rounds of Just Dance and then ran some errands! We've had a wonderful relaxing weekend!!! 

And tonight we're having more good food! Chicken and dumplins! :)

Redecorating Madness

After Christmas I realized that I was SO bored with how our house was decorated. And so I used most of my Christmas money redecorating and/or adding new things to switch everything up.

I really wish we could do something different in our living room but that's pretty impossible. Mainly because it is one of those living rooms that can't really be done more than one way. And we have a 400lb entertainment center that is not fun to move. :) *I might be exaggerating*

So after Christmas I bought a new alternative down comforter and duvet cover. I don't have pictures of this but I love the way our bed looks now! We also switched from black sheets to white sheets after I found a ginormous hole in our fitted sheet! I just love the way this has turned out. Around Christmas we added some more furniture to our room. A new wardrobe and a cubby hole stand for our TV. (LOVE) Maybe I should get pictures of these.

My biggest project was my dining room.

Here is our dining room before:

I was never quite fond of this but I could never decide on what to do with it!

And then apparently a decorating bug bit me after Christmas and I completely re-did everything about this room! Please ignore the high quality pics from my iPhone. ha!

I got this mirror from TJ Maxx! I instantly fell in love and knew I could not pass it up!

I also got this floral arrangement from TJ Maxx, along with the basket thing they are in.

I added orange candles to the sconces to match the roses in the centerpiece.

I bought this painting at Kirkland's! I knew it'd be a perfect fit in our dining room!

The table runner is from TJ Maxx and the frames are from Target.

We took the bench away from the table and put it under the painting on the wall. We like the look of the four chairs better than the four chairs and a bench.

We've also added some canvases and are in the process of ordering more! ha!

This is on top of our new wardrobe in our bedroom. It's a 16x20 from EasyCanvasPrints.com.

I added this canvas to our living room wall. It's a photo Brad had taken. I had it printed for Christmas. It's also a 16x20 from EasyCanvasPrints.com.

Also to clear up a few things.

This picture is NOT an announcement or hint to anything happening with me. I am not with child. Unless I am and I don't know it. ;) Anyway! When we posed for the picture Jillian put her hand on my belly (we have no idea why) and Lindsey said it looked like she was touching my baby belly so we made a joke out of it and took this picture! :)

BUT! In case you missed it on Twitter and I hinted to it on here in my 2011 review, my sister-in-law and her husband (Brittany and Scott) are having a baby!!!! :) She's due July 3!! YAY!!!

Have a wonderful day!!



Jillian's Visit

Friday night, Lindsey (private blog) came to my house and we went up to see a bunch of our friends for a Girls' Night Out!

I was so excited because Jillian (affectionately known as "Manina") was coming down for a friend's birthday and had the night free so we were able to get together for dinner! I got together several of the ladies from Twitter and we all had a wonderful time.

We ate at the same restaurant we went to when Lauren was in town. Again! It was so yummy!!!

Front: Lindsey, Katie, Jillian, Taylor, and Lauren

Back: Lindsey, Brittany, Me, Rachel, Kim, and Tara

We ended up having a great time with everyone! I'd say tonight was a success. :)

2012 intentions...

**My friend, Leslie, used the phrase "intentions" instead of "resolutions" and I thought it was a great idea! So I borrowed it. And I'm giving her proper credit. :)**

***Right now thousands of college students are in Atlanta joining in worship with some of today's biggest Christian leaders (Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Andy Stanley, Francis Chan, Louie Giglio and more!) and because they are so kind to share with the rest of us jump over to http://live.268generation.com/ to watch LIVE! You won't regret it.***

First, let's round up what last year's goals were.

1. Stop drinking Coca Cola. This one was difficult. I stopped and started a few times. But as of right now I'm 4 weeks Coca Cola free! Yay!

2. Participate in Project 365. I did this for the first two weeks then realized that my life is so boring. With no kids I didn't have anything to take a picture of everyday! ha!

3. Read one book a month. I read 14 books last year! And I read 9 before March. I'm setting a higher goal for this year.

4. Grow closer to my husband and the Lord as a couple. This definitely happened. But it's hard to report on such things. Ya know?

5. Paint the front bedroom. My in-laws did that for us while we were on our anniversary trip.

6. Get stuff on our walls. Mission accomplished!

NOW! On to what my intentions are this year!

1. Be a better housewife. Clearly, I'll still work. But I got really lazy on the wife front this past year. Brad did the majority of our cooking and did almost ALL of the kitchen cleaning. Bad, Whitney!

2. Keep our house clean 100% of the time. We're the worst about throwing stuff down on the table or back of the chair and not picking it up for weeks days. So my goal is to pick up every day. Morning or night. If it's out, pick it up.

3. Read 20 books. As I've already said I read 14 last year. I could have read 20 (especially since I read 9 before March), but I got lazy after I hit my goal and didn't read very much. So I'm setting a greater goal for myself.

4. Continue to work on friendships. New and old.

5. Continue to grow in my faith. That one needs to be worked on every day, every year.

And I have a few private ones that I've asked Brad to keep me accountable for. :)

I'm impressed if you're still reading. ha!

2011 in review

This year has been crazy! It's been good, bad, and everything in between.

About a year ago I wrote about 2010, now I'm going to share with you what we've been up to in 2011!

January

Brad's grandparents celebrated 60 years of marriage! So exciting for them!!

The Razorbacks went to the Sugar Bowl! We lost the game, but going to a BCS bowl is huge!

I got to meet up with sweet Jenna and her boys for a wonderful lunch date.

It snowed. A lot. We were home at least one day a week in the month of January alone.

February

It snowed even more. One day we got 7 inches of snow. We spent a lot of time at home again, this month.

I also got to spend some time with some wonderful ladies at Kelly's surprise baby shower for Hollis!

The last day of February I met up with Jenna and Sara for a fun day with their kiddos! Yay for sweet friends.

March

Brad and I celebrated one year of marriage on the 20th with a trip to Oklahoma City. I feel so blessed to have him as my husband and I'm glad that I am married to him. 

I vlogged for the first time. It was so awkward. ha!

April

We got together as a family to celebrate Rachel's 19th birthday and we also celebrated my mother-in-law being breast cancer free that same day by wearing pink (or white).

I went one day without shoes. 

Our friends got engaged! And I had the pleasure of shooting their proposal!

We also had crazy weather near the end of April. Floods, tornadoes, and hail.

May

Brad turned 32! :)

Leah, Niki, and I went to Dallas for the Dallas Blogger Meetup.

I vlogged for a second time! It was still awkward.

I posted my behind the scenes. 

June

Brad and I ventured to Children's Camp for the first week in June.

I only posted one, pictureless, post in the month of June.

July

The Casey Anthony madness happened.

Brittany (my SIL) turned 27!

We had VBS at our church!

I also got to meet up with Niki and her husband, Tyler, for lunch one day!

August

Brad started a new job as an 8th grade English teacher.

We met our friends the McPhates (and they've become some of our best friends).

We put our house up on the market!

September

I turned 24! (I'll give you a minute to scroll back up to May and calculate our age difference. ;)

Niki came to town to celebrate my birthday!!! 

Hog Football kicked off!

Niki and the McPhates gave me Razorback themed gifts. An awesome painting and a ticket to the Auburn/Arkansas game.

October

I went with Sarah and JR to the Razorback game (my first one of the year).

JR turned 24! And we celebrated with a yummy dinner and some pie!

We had our Fall Festival at church.

And one of the best things all month, Lauren came to visit!!!! :) We met up with several ladies for lunch and dinner! We had a wonderful weekend.

November

I got glasses!

We were able to go to our second Hog game! (v. South Carolina)

We welcomed a new puppy to the family, his name is Gizmo.

We took our 3rd annual family pictures.

December

Our family received some wonderful news!!!

We celebrated a special Christmas with both our families.

We were both blessed with vacations during the holiday and have spent a wonderful time together.

Christmas Card Carousel

I love giving and receiving Christmas cards!! Going to the mailbox every day in December makes me smile! :)

This year I'm linking up at my friend Faith's blog! She is one of my favorite people and I'm excited to share our card with you all!

Last year, was our first year to send out Christmas cards. I used Shutterfly last year and decided to use them again this year! I am always pleased with the quality of their cards. So sturdy and everything just turns out great!

I laughed earlier because Megan said something about cards going in the trash at the end of the season. I'll be honest. If you send me a card I'll keep it. I have a box with all the cards we received last year and I'll add this years cards to it as well. I just love the memories!

Now to our card! We have 11 more waiting to be addressed and sent out! So I'm sorry if you haven't received yours yet and you're getting it spoiled here on the internets.

Merry Christmas y'all!

{back: "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:4-7}

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It's no secret that I love Christmas. I've been listening to Christmas music since October 25th! (Don't laugh!)

Last year we put our tree up pretty early in November! But this year we had to wait just a little bit later because of scheduling conflicts! We put it up the Saturday before Thanksgiving! I love having it up! 

Thanksgiving, I woke up and Brad was on the couch saying he felt cruddy and didn't want to go to Thanksgiving but I could go without him. I'm not a big fan of leaving him behind. Especially on the holidays. So I decided I wouldn't go either! And then he started feeling better so we ended up going! YAY! :)

We took some pictures in front of our tree with Gizmo. He's so good to stay still!

Except when he wants to lick me!

After we snapped the pictures we went to Brad's aunt and uncle's house! We had one of the best lunches ever! I love Thanksgiving food! I cannot get enough!

Brad's uncle, aunt, mom and dad.

Brad and Josh.

Rachel and I.

Granny and Grandpa!

Brad, me, Rachel, and Josh.

We had to leave there pretty early and head to my great-uncle and great-aunt's house! Again we ate more food.. I thought I was going to explode!!!!

We came home that night and rested up for the big game.

Friday, we went to breakfast with some friends then went to my aunt's to watch the game. I was so sad we lost but LSU is obviously the #1 team in the country and deserved that win!! I love being in such a competitive conference!! SEC! SEC! SEC!

Saturday was our last Thanksgiving. We always have the Molder Thanksgiving the Saturday after to make sure everyone is able to be there. We enjoyed seeing everyone and had spaghetti! A Molder family recipe aka the best spaghetti to ever exist. ;)

I also snapped this cute picture of our pup!

Sunday was very laid back. We just had church then spent the rest of the day resting!! I took some pictures of our Christmas decorations to share with y'all! Hope you enjoy!

Hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!:)