Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween from our little Bumble Bee!

Hope your holiday was full of tricks and treats!

(I'm so lame!)

But really, its one of my favorite holidays (my list keeps getting longer) so I hope that you enjoyed it and had more than enough sugar!

I know we did!

Happy Halloween!!

Bicycle, Bicycle

Today was the youth group bike ride.

Which means that my bike got to see sunlight for the 2nd time this year. 

Yay!

In the past, we have gone on bike trails that are paved, slightly hilly, and pretty easy.

Today though - it was more like mountain biking.

I endured sand.

Multiple tree roots that tried to take my life.

Lots of rocks and low hanging tree branches.

And one extremely steep hill...which I totally conquered by the way!

It was a scary, but such a great time with some of the youth, elementary kids, and parents!

Maybe I'll try to get my bike out a little more often.

Fridays are my Favorites

Yes.

I realize that it is not Friday. 

I'm not that crazy...yet.

I'm just a few days behind in my blog posts.

I love Fridays. 

Who doesn't?

Speaking of...is everyone over Rebecca Black?

I still love it.

And occasionally play the song on youtube.

I have finally gotten to the point that I don't instantly start singing it every time someone says the word "Friday" though.

So that's progress.

Anyway, Michael and I both had the entire day with nothing to do last Friday and it was the best day.

We went grocery shopping.

Lunch at Wendy's (best fast food burger place, ever! I will debate anyone who disagrees)

And then I spent the rest of the day with this book.

If you don't already have this cookbook...you should go right now and get it.

Run!

Its amazing!

I had already planned on making her pan-fried pork chops and macaroni and cheese (per Michael's request) but I was bored and wanted a cake, so I made her chocolate sheet cake.

So easy!

So delicious!

After we both ate a piece I realized just how much cake it was and took the rest to the youth devotional on Sunday.

It would have taken us 2 weeks to eat the entire cake.

It took the youth group about 2 minutes.

Here is the rest of the meal.

Home cooking at its best!

All the recipes (minus the rolls) can be found on her website.

 The best thing about (most) of her recipes is that all the ingredients are things you already have in your pantry.

Makes cooking so much easier!

Costume Controversy

Halloween is one week from today!

It must have snuck up on me because I feel completely unprepared.

We aren't having our annual youth group Halloween party (sad, I know)

but we are having the kids wear costumes to the Bible study that night, and I will be passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, and I will be decorating.

The trouble is:

Michael and I don't have costumes.

We love Halloween.

We have had some pretty awesome costumes in the past.

Halloween 2006

Halloween 2008

Halloween 2009

Halloween 2010

Even Buster dressed up last year!

Its my year to pick what we dress up as, and I've got nothing.

Originally, I wanted to be Kate and William, also known as, the Royals.

However, I don't really want to wear my wedding dress (or even try squeezing into it)

So that's kind of out.

Other than that, I am out of ideas.

I need your help!

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

National Conference

It seems like forever ago that I went to Fort Worth for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy National Conference.

It was only a month, but it seems like last year.

I have been waiting to post about it until I got the pictures.

Since I didn't take the pictures, I had to wait a little longer than I usually like to.

But beggars can't be choosers.

So, without further ado, here they are!

 The girls in this photo are some of my best friends in the program with me.

We all stayed together for the weekend and I had such a blast with them!

We laughed so much, it was ridiculous.

And I am so glad that we were able to get to know each other better and become even better friends before 2 of them graduate in May :(

The guy on the left is one of our professors, and the one on the right is a 2nd year with us.

A big group of UHCL students outside one of the workshops at the conference.

My table at our program dinner at Esperanzas. 

My bill was less than $2.

Awesome!

FTSA Board 2011-2012!

We are pretty much rockstars and had the best booth at the showcase.

You can't even see our program poster, all the swag we gave out, or the video of our program.

It was seriously the best.

All us girls after dinner in downtown on the last night of the conference.

Other than just having a great time with the people in my program, I was able to learn so much at the conference. 

I went to so many incredible workshops, heard wonderful speakers, and came home with a better idea of what I want to do in my future.

The last day of the conference I went to a Premarital Counseling workshop and LOVED IT!

Completely!

I already told Michael that I get to do the premarital counseling with anyone that wants him to marry them.

 (That is the weirdest sounding sentence, but you know what I mean...I hope)

The conference also made me even more ready to finish school so I can start seeing real clients and doing what I love.

Tea Time

Typically, wedding season goes right along with Summer.

However, it seems that I am in the middle of wedding season right now,

and I am loving it.

Yesterday I got to go to a tea party celebrating my friend Meagan's engagement.

Her family goes to our church and she is one of my newest and best friends.

I felt so honored to be invited to her engagement party.

And am so thankful for the beautiful friend and support that she is to me. 

Meagan and I at the party

Her grandmothers threw her the engagement tea and it was pretty much the most adorable party I have ever been to!

So much fun.

So many laughs.

(My cheeks were killing me from smiling so much.)

And so much love for Meagan from so many wonderful women.

Hats weren't mandatory, but encouraged, and it made the party so fancy.

Beautiful Bride-to-be

Best Friend Sarah (Sawah)

The girls at our table

Tell me that isn't the cutest ever!

Such ladies

So blessed by these girls!

He Loves Me - He Loves Me Not

I had such a great time at the party, and am so glad that Meagan and I have become such good friends in the short time we've known each other.

I am continually amazed at the way that God blesses me with such incredible women to lean on, share with, laugh with, and surround myself with. 

He knows just what I need and is always there to provide!

Thanks for including me in such a special occasion Meagan!!

Love you so much!

No Place Like Home for a Date Night

What do you do on a Friday night when you want to go on a date, but all you really want to do is watch the last 5 episodes of Prison Break?

Easy.

You bring the the date to your living room!

I had a crazy idea while driving home from Clear Lake last night that Michael and I should build a fort in the living room.

You know, the kind you used to make with the baby sitter when you were little.

The kind where you drag all the pillows, blankets, and sheets you can find, pile them across random pieces of furniture, and ta-da!

You have a fort.

Michael was not as excited about the idea as me, but I was determined, and he ended up loving it!

 Even Buster had a great time in the fort!

 It took a little effort, but what great date doesn't?

Plus, there is no other place that you could lay on a floor of pillows, wear your pajamas, and watch the show of your choice at the time of your choice.

There's no place like home. ;)

Me and My Dog

I was just talking with some friends about our dogs and I realized that I haven't posted about Buster in a long time.

He's still here.

Living life, and being super spoiled all the time.

Here he is when we first got him, over a year ago.

Back in the day when his name was Koodle.

(Michael hated him, if

 Buster loves to sleep on big piles.

Towels.

Blankets.

Pillows.

Anything soft and tall.

 He loves to ride in the car. 

Or drive, whichever. (I promise the car was parked and turned off)

 He's really good on long road trips

and sometimes likes to cuddle.

(Car may not have been parked and turned off for this one)

 He is super cute after a hair cut!

We absolutely love him and couldn't have asked for a better dog.

Other perks:

- He doesn't shed

- He was house trained when we adopted him

What more can you ask for?

Happy Friday!

We're going on a walk now.

Happy Birthday KK!

Happy Birthday to one of my very best friends, Kelsey!!

A little bit about her:

- Youth Minister

- Aunt

- Missionary/part Zambian

- DI-VA!

- Grown-up

- Lover of pearls and boots and nail polish

- OU fan...to the max

- Encourager

- Servant

- Emailer

- Hilarious, always

- Great Friend

Hope your birthday is so wonderful Kelsey! Come visit me!

Fun with Fall

Last night Michael and I hosted a dinner for the young couples in our congregation.

We are so excited about the recent growth in this area of our church, and love spending time with this wonderful group of couples. 

Since we don't have many fun dinner parties at our home, I took this as an opportunity to use some of the ideas I have found on Pinterest lately. 

This year, I have decided to save on decorating time and pass by Halloween, which only lasts one month, and go with Fall, that lasts two months.

That's street smarts.

Or house smarts.

Something like that.

Anyways, first I made a wreath that I showed you all here.

Here are some other decorations that I added for the dinner.

Acorns from our front yard in a mason jar

Fall Candy!

Table, with scrapbook pages as placemats

This made our house smell SO GOOD!

 After everyone left and the party was over, I used the table decorations on our mantel. 

What can I say, I'm a recycler now.

It only took one strand of leaves, a few small pumpkins, and some acorns to make our house feel about 20 degrees cooler.

Now if only the weather would cooperate.

I Made It

I made it through the first week of October!

Hallelujah, that's over!

Now I can breath a live life for a couple weeks.

Unfortunately, Michael and I have already found the way to occupy all of our free time.

Thank you Netflix for giving us access to another show series we don't really need to watch.

Its called Prison Break.

 It is so good.

So suspenseful.

A little far fetched.

But so great!

I love it because Michael and I finally have a show to watch together.

Believe it or not, he was not a fan of Secret Life, or Mad Men, or Beautiful People, pretty much anything else I have watched on Netflix.

He loves this though.

But really, these brothers are incredible.

There's a little romance (not enough in my opinion but what can you expect when its a show about convicts)

And there is some crazy artwork.

Watch it.

You won't regret it.

And I'll try to have a little more of a life now that I'm free from presentations.