Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

So Sunday evening, I decided to try my hand at sugar cookies for the first time by myself. I used a sour cream recipe that I found in a magazine. I got to also use for the first time our three cookie cutters from Japan! A small airplane, star, and heart :o)

The fun part....

They turned out great! Soft and just right. After baking all of them, I made frosting too! Even though I made only half of the recipe, I still baked about 4 dozen cookies. We decided to take some to work this morning and froze some to take on our trip to Waco this weekend. I miss the times of making these cookies with my sisters or friends or cousins for Christmas or Valentines Day. fun memories! If you were here, I would share some :o)

Enjoyment of Creativity

Josh and I found this wild crazy looking weed (I guess) while walking on campus. It was purple with bright green balls on the end. The weed or flower reminds me of how God is the God and Creator of variety. He never is bored with Creation. Each morning's sunrise and each day's sunset is new and different. Look at the variety of wild flowers, birds, fish, weather and clouds, landscape (mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, canyons, oceans...). As God, He never changes, but He loves such a vast range of beauty.

I've enjoyed trying out new cookie recipes recently. This one is Chewy Oatmeal Mini Reeces cookies - On the back of the mini reeces bag; however, I have learned that if you place the cookie sheet on the level above the middle rack in the oven, they turn out more chewy. Plus, they only need to cook for 9 minutes and be left on the sheet to cool for about 10 minutes before placing on cooling rack. We loved them! I made them the last night Josh had to study for his 3 written tests to become an A&P mechanic. Our other favorite type is andes mint cookies - you can buy the bag of flavored chips and use the recipe on the back. For main dishes, another new favorite is making lasagne styled chicken enchilades. Instead of individually wrapping the mixture inside of the tortillas, you can rip the tortillas in half and form layers of tortillas and chicken mixture with cheese. So it ends up looking like lasagne in a 9x13 pan but tastes like enchilades! If you want more details on these recipes, please leave a comment.

2 Saturdays ago, I decided to take a break and make some hemp jewelry - anklet and bracelet. I used to do this all the time in high school, but really haven't since going to college. I finally decided to make some time for these creative activities that I love getting to do. If you would like me to make you something, let me know :o)

Some other favorites, I used to watch the show Sue Thomas F.B. Eye - my Aunt Deb introduced me to the show a while back. I never had TV at college and still don't at our apartment. I don't really miss it. Luckily though, I looked on YouTube and found episodes of this favorite show. If you haven't seen an episode - look it up. The animal channel may be showing it currently on TV....but it has great values, good characters, humor, no bad language or sex scenes or nudity. Yet it makes you still laugh and fall in love with the characters and want to fight beside them to solve the case. The main character (Sue Thomas) is actually deaf, but reads lips and can talk like normal. She helps the FBI get on the inside by reading the bad guy's lips....if it was out on DVD, I would buy it!

Another past time favorite was reading novels before college :o) I'm finally finding some time to enjoy a good book again. Currently, I am reading Three by Ted Dekker. If you haven't read one of Ted Dekker's books - DO! By the end of the first chapter, you are tied into the plot! And it just keeps getting deeper and deeper! He's a great author and uses stories to reveal God's truth.

May: We're Alumni!

After graduation, Josh's parents took us out to the Olive Garden! Our favorite :o) And then we showed everyone were Josh works out in the country. (the pic above) He helped build the stone walls behind us as well as the steps leading to the patio in front of us. Most Saturdays, he comes out here to mow the lawn and do other projects for the Wilsons (who own the land).

Sunday morning, we had pastries and breakfast at the Butcher Shop. Mom enjoyed coming here with me before our wedding. We also bought our wedding cake from here.

And to increase my baking skills, mom helped me make my first braided loaf! yummy! As you can see, most of it was gone within 1 day! And, by the way, Mom went with me to get a haircut! I like haircuts :o)

January: God Continues to Shower His Mercy in the New Year

We sent letters out to update friends and family as well as to ask for support with an upcoming missions trip: JAPAN. ??? That's what we said, when a friend asked if we would think about coming on a trip to Japan for Spring Break. We were like....we don't have the money...we were just blessed by people giving us many gifts for our wedding (how can we aske the same people for more support)....its a busy time of year....BUT, we were willing to go and knew that God would provide the money if this was a part of His plan. So we sent out the letters in faith, believing in God's plan.

While Josh was away for a flight physical for the Marines, Kristi stayed with me and we got to bake an apple tart. Super good. I'd say we are quite the cooks. Kristi has been one of my close friends since freshman year and we hope to stay in touch :o)

For my LAST semester, I got to do a 60 hour practicum at two different sites: The Presbyterian Children's Homes and Services and VOW/Twogether in Texas. The first site, I observed a social worker during home visits where she assessed familes; the second site, I observed various couple sessions for the purpose of teaching people better tools to improve marriages in the state of Texas. Both experiences gave me great insights into marriage, parenting, as well as working with people.

December: #2 Celebration!

The sisters....I loved hanging out with Kimber. The first picture is taken of us after going on a walk near their friends' home. Notice the magnificent mountain in the background! Talk about a nice view in the backyard!

One of my favorite things that we got to do was bake! We baked cinnamon rolls, pumpkin roll (above), apple pie (below), layered salad, mashed potatoes, ham, red hot jello, cheese ball...Oh, the men were quite content! and happy!

Josh and Ben also enjoyed doing the manly activities of hiking in -20 degrees F weather, organizing the garage, and setting up the ping-pong table which we had a huge tournament with - lots of fun! Christmas was a very blessed time and we can't wait to go back :o)