Hello old friend.

So, I haven't done this for probably a year or close to. Holy cow. So many of my old posts talk about how I am going to work on updating this better and what not. Looks like I am there again on trying this whole blogging thing again. :) Well, since I last updated, I have moved home, done a ton with my photography, traveled, started working for the school district, done a lot of crafting and of course, watched my all time favorite team win the Super Bowl and I have had some trials with the Lord. The last one happens a lot, but I am alright with that because I always come out loving the Lord so much more than I ever thought I would. Right now, my family and I are going through a pretty deep valley of trust. I am not going to go into details, but we are going through that and I know that the end results are going to be us stomping on Satan and coming out on top with the Lord standing right there with us. Well, other than that, my life is pretty rocking right now. I love my job and I am so blessed to have it. I am very glad I am no longer in retail and dealing with angry guests practically everyday. I do miss my co-workers and Manhattan, but I am so blessed by my current co-workers now! I haven't had a single day of work where I don't want to go in. I go in every morning excited to see what the day holds. Each person I work with brings me joy and I just am blessed to have received this job. :) This last Sunday was the Super Bowl and our family is definitely still on cloud nine because the one and only Seattle Seahawks won!! It was amazing. This year was one of the most fun years of football. I was able to go to a game in Seattle with my mom, sister and my cousin, Brian. It was amazing! We are still shocked that our team won. It is a great feeling and it will definitely take a while to sink in. :) Well, the perks of working for the school district is having snow days when Kansas decides to give Newton about a foot of snow! No complaints here! I have been able to use the first snow day as a laundry/clean/craft day. It has been wonderful. Full of hulu, movies and crafting, and of course eating the leftover Super Bowl treats! Today, I made a craft I am super proud of! I got two old movie reels for my birthday from my friend, Tarrah, and I didn't really know what to do with them, so I looked on Pinterest (of course) and there was nothing! I saw a table or a light fixture you could use them for, but I already have made a table, and I am not in need of a light (also didn't want to have to go out and buy stuff for it) So, I decided to dig into my brain and see if I could make them frames! Sure enough! I painted them a deep purple, got some of my favorite pictures, grabbed some double sided tape and went to work. They make awesome frames!! (I put some pictures down below.) I promise I am going to try to get better at this! It is kind of like a therapy session for me, so maybe I will work on it!! Sorry for the randomness of this post! Thanks for sticking with me if you did! :) I will probably add another post of some more of my favorite crafts later, but right now, I am hitting the hay! Gotta get up bright and early for a snow day tomorrow! Ok, maybe not, but oh well. ;) I hope everyone has a safe and warm Wednesday! 

“Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”
-Deuteronmy 31:6

Oh so soon.

Welp, It is officially that time of my life. Everything is changing. Some good and some bad. In a week, things will start getting real for me, at least I think... My roomie Sam is moving to Illinois. I am so excited for her, but also very sad! When she is gone, I know that things are really going to start sinking in and I am going to realize what I am going to miss! For those of you who don't know (for the few that probably read this) I moved my moving date from August to June. June 8th to be exact. Holy stress batman, right? Well, yes, and no. I am so excited to move home. I have really been having AWESOME quiet times recently and I am really finding an odd peace within me about moving. There are quite a few people that I am going to miss so much, and I have also realized that it isn't as many as I thought it would be. I have really been evaluating the relationships that I have with people and I have realized that I don't have as many close people here anymore. I have a handful of amazing co-workers, and a few families here that I am really the closest to. My other heart friends are spread out everywhere and it is great. :) There are some awesome opportunities waiting for me when I am in Newton, and I am so excited to push on throughout the struggles of moving homes, moving jobs, moving BACK in with my mom (love you, mom!), pursuing photography even stronger thanks to some great people, leaving a place that I have called home for the last 5 years and leaving some amazing people. One of the families that I think I will miss the most though, is the precious Sapp family. I know that I have talked about them so so many times, but I do have to say, I don't know if they will ever understand the impact that they have had on my life. I have been at the lowest points and they have been there for me every time that has happened. Nate and Erika have blessed me with the opportunity to babysit their amazing girls since the end of my freshman year here. I have loved watching these girls blossom into great little treasures of our Lord. I love their curiosity for life and for God and they have taught me so much that they don't even realize. I know that I am moving and I am crushed that I won't be able to be as close to them, or even be in little Hunter's life as well, but being only an hour and forty five minutes away helps. :) I will definitely shed a tear when I have to say goodbye to them. I also have to say thank you to the amazing family that has opened up their basement to three (now two) crazy girls and being a second family to us. The Classen family is one of the most inspirational, caring families that I think I have ever met. They are so loving and you can tell that they genuinely love. That is becoming more rare in people nowadays, and it is comforting to call their basement home. Their 3 kids have blessed me also. The laughter that they bring always lights up my day when I walk in that door no matter what mood I am in. Whether it is me coming back from a great weekend at home and missing peeps from there already or coming home from a poopy day at work, I can usually count on them to bring a smile on my face. :) More tears will come from that. Well, talking about telling the people I love in Manhattan goodbye is not fun, so, moving on! I am very excited to see where God takes me in the job market too. I might be transferring to Menards and look for a job then in Newton so I don't have to drive, but I am also excited to see what he does with my photography business. One of the amazing families in Newton is really determined in seeing my photography succeed and that in itself is uber encouraging and I cannot wait to make my business even bigger and hopefully reach more people! That is just one of the many reasons home is getting more excited. I will write more about that later. This blog post is already long enough. ;) So, for the next month I will be trying my hardest to just cherish what I have here and now and try not to focus on home. That will be hard, but I am going to try! I know. I am being a little bit dramatic, but that is how I do, so whatever. :) 

Sam and I threw a pizza party/movie night for the Classen kiddos and the Sapp kiddos the other night and I wanted to share some of the precious pictures! :) 

Me and all of the wonderful children. :)

Ahh. My girls.

Best of friends!

Love these children with all of my heart!

:) :) :)

Oh what a little heart breaker!

These children bless me. So much.

Best friends!

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

-Jeremiah 29:11

Favorite verse ever and definitely helpful for the next month. :)

Simply Delicious :)

So, in the whole trek of trying to lose some pounds, I have been trying to find some good, cheap and easy recipes and I have found some flops, but I did find this one that was phenomenal! They are Philly Cheese steak stuffed green peppers. I mean, you can't really go wrong with that can you? Well, I just needed to share the recipe because of how delicious they were! So, here you go! Recipe and Link below!

Ingredients:

Slice peppers in half and get rid of all the guts 

Slice the mushrooms and onions and combine them 

 Cut the roast beef into thin little slices

Saute the mushrooms and onions, add salt and pepper, cook for about 30ish minutes

 Yum!

 Put a piece of provolone in each of the peppers

Then, add the roast beef to the saute mixture. Leave on for about 5 minutes 

 Then, fill each pepper with the deliciousness until they are practically overflowing

 Then top with another piece of provolone!

Stick it in the oven for about 15 minutes, and enjoy!

 Oh my. They are just delightful.

INGREDIENTS

8 oz. Thinly Sliced Roast Beef

8 Slices Provolone Cheese

2 Large Green Bell Peppers

1 Medium Sweet Onion

6 oz. Baby Bella Mushrooms

2 Tbs. Butter

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 Tbs. Garlic - Minced

Salt and Pepper - to taste

DIRECTIONS

Slice peppers in half lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds.

Slice onions and mushrooms.  Saute over medium heat with butter, olive oil, minced garlic and a little salt and pepper.  Saute until onions and mushroom are nice and caramelized.  About 25-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400*

Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion/mushroom mixture.  Allow to cook 5-10 minutes

Line the inside of each pepper with a slice of provolone cheese. 

Fill each pepper with meat mixture until they are nearly overflowing.

Top each pepper with another slice of provolone cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown. 

Serve and Enjoy!!

http://peaceloveandlowcarb.blogspot.com/2012/06/philly-cheesesteak-stuffed-peppers.html#.URSJ-r-wtLU

Moscato cupcakes!!

I am cleaning out the pictures on my computer and I forgot that this last summer, my friend Marisa and I made these delicious Moscato cupcakes! I had a gift card, so I bought some moscato and we went to it! :)

What you will need! :)

The recipe and the ingredients :)

Combine the first ingredients and sift:

Add the eggs!

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just blended!

Fill the cups about 3/4 full and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes (We did about 17ish)

Ingredients for frosting:

Combine and mix until it is soft and smooth. We added a little more moscato to make it a little smoother!

While you are waiting, enjoy some delicious Moscato :)

Annnnd maybe a lunchable. You have to be classy! ;)
 

Let them cool, and frost!


Yum! They are so good! Enjoy!!


We might have to make these again. Hmmm.



Link to the Recipe!

SUTTER HOME MOSCATO VANILLA CUPCAKES

-2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

-1 tsp. baking soda

-3/4 tsp. salt

-1 1/4 cups sugar

-1 cup oil

-1/3 cup Sutter Home Moscato

-3/4 cup buttermilk

-2 large eggs

-1 tsp. white vinegar

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 cupcake pans with liners. Combine first 4 ingredients and sift. Combine next 5 ingredients and mix until blended. Mix wet ingredients into dry and mix until just blended. Scoop into prepared cupcake page, filling each 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until done. Should make 12-18 cupcakes.

SUTTER HOME MOSCATO VANILLA FROSTING

-4 oz. cream cheese – room temperature

-4 oz. butter – room temperature

-2 tbsp. Sutter Home Moscato

-1/2 tsp. vanilla

-2 cups powdered sugar

Combine cream cheese and butter, mixing well. Add Moscato and vanilla, mix together. Add powdered sugar and whip until smooth and light. Frost your cooled cupcakes.

Time to move on

So, I mentioned this in my last blog post, but the last couple weeks, it is something that has been crowding my mind and my prayers. I think about it constantly and I really don't like it consuming my thoughts so much! The thing I am talking about is relationships. I feel like I talk about this a lot, but I just kind of want to talk it out and then be done with it. :) So, recently A LOT of my friends around my age have been getting engaged, married and having kids. Holy moly. I have really only ever been on one date in my whole life. So, saying that and seeing them is super hard for me. I am so excited for them and I love they they have found that one that God has planned for them, but I have found myself a little bitter on the inside. I hate doing this. I need to be excited for them 100%. So, the last couple of weeks, I have been praying a lot more about my future husband. I have been trying to pray about where he is, when I will meet him and just for him day to day that God blesses him. I have no idea who this guy is, but I can tell you that I am so excited. I have also made it a point to make it stop consuming my every thought. I can't let it do that because then I start thinking about myself and why I don't have a boyfriend and that leads to my past of absolutely NO self confidence and then that makes me feel like poop. So, I am kind of changing a couple things at the beginning of the new year. I am trying to lose weight and make myself healthier and I am also trying to be super duper patient with God on the guy subject. I am trying to make myself get over the fact that I don't have one. I am happy right now, and as much as I would absolutely love to be in a relationship, I need to stop hanging on to those thoughts and realize that I am blessed with a great life. :) I have also realized that I am very picky with the guy that I want. First and foremost, he NEEDS to yearn for the Lord. I need someone that will challenge me and grow with me in my relationship with God. That thing and then some other things have thrown up a red flag and let me know that I am picky. I am ok with that though. I don't want to just settle with a guy. Like the title says, it is time to move on. I am going to continue to pray for this wonderful guy I will someday have (hopefully) and if not, I am going to pray that God gives me peace to understand that I might not ever get that guy. The praying is hopefully will be all. I don't want to continue to cloud my thoughts with guys and thoughts of relationships. I am young, I still have a while. :) So, I am anxious to see what happens this year. 2013 will be a good year. A year full of change and growing up, but it will be good. So, sorry for spilling my guts out again. :) I guess it happens when I open this tab! I do feel better!

"Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations."

~Deuteronomy 7:9

Let's try this again.

So, I realized as I was trying to log on, that you can't update this if you don't have a password. Now I remember why I haven't updated since August. Holy Moly. Well, I am taking this time right now, to kind of start over. I realize that I always feel a little better after I write a blog post, so here goes nothing. Since my last post, my life has been crazy. I have moved, changed departments at work, gained two amazing roommates, The Wildcats won the Big 12 title because we are just that awesome, just previously lost one of those roommates because of Graduation, My photography business has grown, I have fallen away from my faith more than I would have liked to, I have made some decisions and might possibly start changing churches, finding that I am nothing without the Lord and I seriously could not live life with out him, I have made some future plans that are going to change my life, had some heartbreaks and lastly (at least what I can think of) I have had some wonderful times of laughter. 

Yeah, sorry for a long post. :)

So, as I read over that list, I feel as if I should talk through some things, so bear with me, if you don't want to read this, you can just leave! It really would not hurt my feelings. :) haha

Ok. Here we go!

So, when I say I fell away from my faith, I guess I didn't fall really far, but I still fell and I hated who I was becoming. For me, not being in Challenge has actually been harder than I thought it would be. I guess I had a secret accountability built into myself when I was leading worship, meeting with Erika every week and going to a bible study every week. I would make time for a quiet time with the Lord, and I would do things that started to just come second nature to me, like being a selfless person and learning scripture, etc. I also lost a huge community(aka support). I know that most of them are still here, but I feel as if I am looked at differently, and treated differently or just not talked to by some people that I thought I used to be really close with because I didn't go to challenge this last semester because of a class. That really hurt too. I guess I don't understand that, but I feel as if it really shouldn't be like that. Same with some of the people at my church. I know I still have a few really good heart friends, but it is hard to not have that huge community of believers around me to help me. :) Past addictions came out of me, I was becoming more selfish with my earthly possessions and the littlest things were getting me really upset and I knew that when that happened, it was time to change. So, recently I have really been trying to make time for the Lord in my life. Not so much that I am becoming a bible pusher, but just enough to get me back to where my life was when I was in the word almost everyday, or where I would be leading worship and really find ways to connect that way. Ways I am changing? Well, I am trying even harder to listen to what he is telling me and not just going with what I want for myself, getting back in to quiet times, and I have recently been going to a new church that I have fallen in love with. My roommate who just moved out went there so I thought I would try it out and I really really like it! So, we will see if that is the permanent one for me, or not :)

Future?

I mean, of course God is STILL testing patience with me in the fact that I still have no boyfriend. Never have. Which at this time in life where my friends and I are in that group whose time it is to get engaged, married and have babies, that is hard. I have really only ever been on one date in my life and to look around and see my friends getting engaged and seeing them get married just weighs on me, but I am joyful at the same time because I am so excited to see who God has for me. I do want a boyfriend, but God is having me wait, so we will see when that Man comes! BUT, the big thing I was talking about is that in August, I am officially moving back to Newton. It is so bittersweet, because I truly love Manhattan, but I really feel like God is calling me back to Newton. After 5 years up here, it is a second home, and I am leaving so many things, so I am going to really treat these last 9 months that I have up here like gold. :) Clearly it isn't that far away so I am not leaving it for good. I have such a wonderful calling there, as far as my photography business, so I am excited to see where that leads also! So, in August, I will be moving away from the beautiful city of Manhappiness and moving back to the wonderful city of Newton. :) So much sadness and so much excitement all in one!

And as far as some other things, I am reading over that list again and realized that I am blessed. I know I end up saying that a lot, but really I am. I know that my life isn't perfect. It really is far from perfect, but I know that i am blessed. I have two AMAZING women as roommates (which one moved out, but thanks to technology we can still talk), I have a wonderful job, that yes it is hard, but I love it. I have a wonderful mom and sister who I can talk to them about anything, or we can be down each others throats and fight like every other family, but we are still the best of friends and always end with laughter. I have wonderful wonderful wonderful friends here that I can just talk to, or laugh with, or craft with and be myself with. I live in a great house with the most precious, caring, loving family that I have ever met upstairs that will do anything for you, I have wonderful families in my life (like the Sapps, the Classens, the Montanos, and the Geracis). I look at my life, and I know that people don't have that and I am just blessed. With the things that have been going on in the world earlier, just tell those loved ones how much you love them and squeeze them a little tighter, it is hard, but we never know when our last days on this earth will be!

Well, that is all for now. I am hoping to keep up with blogging better than I have been! It is good for my heart. So, thank you for sticking with me if you did and I promise that every post from now on will not be this long! :)

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own. Listen to God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he's the one who will keep you on track. Don't assume you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own give him the first and the best.:

-Proverbs 3:5-7

I promise I am here! :)

Hello! So, yes. I didn't blog the whole entire summer. Holy moly. I am awesome. Ok, maybe lame, but to each his own. ;) This summer was full of ups and downs (like always), work, moving, work, going home, coming back, work, moving, and some more work. :) Right now, I am in the process of moving into the Claussens basement and so far, I am loving it. The Claussens are a phenomenal family and I can already feel that living with them will help my faith grow. :D Super excited for that. I will put pictures up as soon as I am done unpacking and I will put some updates of the summer, but now, it is off to finish unpacking! (I hope!)