…daniel and april

…daniel and april

Thursday, November 17, 2011

ONE WEEK!!!

In ONE WEEK from today I will be here...
watching this...
I am SOOOO EXCITED!!  Jana and I (and our wonderful husbands) are going as chaperons (we call ourselves the SHOPerons) with the Homewood High School Marching Band!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we are in NYC Daniel and I will celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary on Tuesday, November 22nd. 
Here are some pictures from our wedding day...
so handsome :) 

 seeing each other for the first time... I will never forget this moment
 Outside of our beautiful church
Another moment I will never forget...
my sweet daddy walking me down the aisle
 First Dance...

 

 I am very blessed to have spent the last 3 years married to my best friend and look forward to spending many many more with him. He is loving, caring, patient, giving, supportive, and makes me laugh everyday. I am so thankful for him and that I have someone to share all of my dreams and adventures with.  

and thanks to him...and his early anniversary gift to me... I will have these to wear in New York!!!
in the tan color :) :) 

*sigh* i.love.them.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups

I made these Peanut Butter Brownie Cups last week and they were amazing!! 

Ingredients
 After you make the brownies in mini muffin tins...hopefully the center will fall in while they are cooling, but if not then just press down in the center with the back of a teaspoon. 
 After you melt some peanut butter, put a little spoonful in the center of each brownie.
 Sprinkle some chocolate chips and peanut butter chips on top of the peanut butter


Ingredients:
1 box of your favorite brownie mix
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease about 40 mini-muffin cups.

Prepare boxed brownie mix as directed. Spoon batter evenly into muffin cups (about 1 heaping teaspoon). Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into center comes out slightly wet. After brownies are out of the oven, wait for centers to fall. This will happen upon cooling. If not then tap the centers with the back of a teaspoon to make a hole for the peanut butter.

Place peanut butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds then stir. While brownies are still warm spoon about half a teaspoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie. Top with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Cool completely in pan.

Enjoy!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Allie and Wesley's Engagement Party

Two weekends ago we celebrated Allie (Daniel's sister) and Wesley's Engagement!!

The McKinney's and Burkett's (minus James, Wesley's little brother)



The Happy Couple :) 
 Mexican themed party... it was so fun!

Loved this! 

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Yummy.

Here are some things that I have made lately and loved!

This is a weight watcher recipe - Pecan crusted Chicken
Dip the chicken in nonfat buttermilk and roll in breadcrumbs and pecans
It was a delicious, fast and easy dinner!

SO... I have found my new favorite thing in life!!  CROCK POT BAGS! We LOVE the crock pot and I would cook in it every day...but I hate cleaning it out. So we discovered these bags and once you are done, just pick up the bag and throw it away...*sigh* so wonderful!


One of our favorite things to eat lately has been a wedge salad... we had one the other night with grilled salmon :)  We use the Publix Creamy Parmesan dressing instead of blue cheese dressing and it's amazing!

Made these cream cheese sausage balls from  http://www.plainchicken.com/ blog and they were amazing! 

Enjoy.
And go purchase those crock pot bags!!!! They will change your life :)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Candy Corn Halloween decoration

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted a new Halloween decoration for my front door. I have seen so many of those really cute burlap decorations out in stores but knew the husband would not be happy if I bought one :) So I decided to make one and thought the candy corn would be the easiest!
I really love how the final product turned out!!

Cut out a candy corn shape from burlap... I laid 2 pieces of burlap on top of each other so I had 2 separate ones. Then paint the burlap - both pieces so the front and back will be painted (after I painted it I realized spray paint might have been a better idea)

I put some light orange polka dots in the middle section

Then write/paint Happy Halloween or whatever you would like on the candy corn
~I wrote mine with black paint pen then went over it with paint
Then I took the other burlap piece that was painted but not written on and hot glued it to the back (so when we are inside we see a painted candy corn)
I sprayed mine with an acrylic weather proof spray to keep it protected.
I decided to hang mine with wire...it went through the burlap really easy 

Final Product!! 

Happy Halloween :)

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pinterest Ideas...

I LOVE FALL!!!! The leaves turning colors, the weather is amazing, football season, the start to so many great holidays, mine and Daniel's wedding anniversary! I am obsessed with this time of year. Well...as it turns out...I'm also obsessed with Pinterest. I did several things this fall/Halloween that I found on pinterest. Here are some of them!


Pumpkins on candlesticks...love this!


Stacked pumpkins :) 




In case you did not gather... I really like pumpkins :) 

Monday, October 17, 2011

Weekend with Evan

Last weekend we kept our nephew Evan... we love spending time with him!  He will be 2 in December and is at such a fun age right now!
We went to the park on Sunday and here are some pictures from our visit. It is obvious from these pics that he LOVES the slides :)






love.him.to.death.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Dream Lake Weekend!

I'm Back!! I have been so busy the past couple of weeks and not had any time to blog, but...our middle school football season is over and we have a break til basketball season!! *sigh*

My mom's side of the family just bought a place called Dream Lake that is located in Livingston, AL. It is a Lodge where you go to fish, hunt, and enjoy the gorgeous views! My younger brother Brad is managing the property and living there. A few weekends ago we went to Dream Lake to help him move into the house where he will be living. We painted his room, unpacked the kitchen, watched the Bama game, and found out the sex of Justin and Melinda's 2nd little baby! :) It was a great weekend with the whole family! Here is the website if you know anyone interested in fishing or hunting...
http://www.dreamlakelodge.com/
Brad's work area

Brad's house

We were just sitting on the porch watching the deer across the lake....

The sun setting over the lake... beautiful! I could get used to that view from my living room every night.

At halftime of the Bama game we cut Justin and Melinda's cake... it was so exciting!! They found out the night before with her mom and Evan so they let me and Brad cut the cake :) :)


IT'S A BOY!!!!  We were all sooooo excited!!!

Our family feels so blessed that we are going to have another little baby boy :)

The living room in Brad's house... LOVE all the windows!