feels like Saturday...

[...because I'm off work, had time to spend making and eating breakfast with J, and have the rest of the day to PLAY!! ...wooohoo! :]

So... this fall I've been trying out as many pumpkin recipes as I've had time for.... because they're sooo good of course!

pumpkin muffins (the second of 2 tries:)

pumpkin pancakes... mmm!

pumpkin smoothies...

and today, inspired by Jessi C's pre-Thanksgiving post....

pumpkin french toast!!

and they were a hit! :)

I'm also glad to see that I have myself beat from last year's two treats...
*pumpkin cookies and
*pumpkin choc-chip muffins :)

Yay!!

Happy Thanksgiving-eve!! ♥

PS- In all this pumpkin-recipe-trying, I've learned it's more about the spices than the pumpkin... the spices are definitely the important part! :)

Kayla-date

Megamind :)

...in 3D :) [was really excellent!!]

she loves this card game

In a Pickle

the love notes just get better & better the older she gets...
check the note via magnets too... so sneaky! :)

Definitely a sweet way to spend a Saturday night... glad she loves us!

family visit...

I love these sweet reunions that happen every-so-often...

This weekend my dear friend & past roommate Ashlee was in town with her husband and 3 month old baby boy... 

LOVE that sweet face!!!

sweet Owen ♥

(can't leave without a group shot:)

Love those guys... glad to get to spend some time!! ♥

mini playdate..

Jill's big girls ♥

sweetness!

mom's workout is fun for everyone! ;)

Baby girl #3 was sleeping while we played... :)

Thanks for the backyard fun, friends!!

♥ ♥

How soon we forget...

While we were on the retreat just two weeks ago, I had several thoughts and ideas I was praying through.. this morning one of them came to mind, and I realized how easy it is to know what you need & want to do and never do it.... 

Why do we do that!??

Oh yeah, life is soooo busy.

90 mph.

maybe 100.

too fast!!

I need more margins!

Yesterday Mark Batterson posted these wise words...

the most important thing 2 SCHEDULE is UNSCHEDULED time. u need margins 2 dream. more margins = bigger dreams. 

Such good words.

Time to make it happen.....

Happy dreaming! ♥

irresistible revolution

This current-read is rockin my world and bursting my religious bubbles.

And I couldn't be happier about it...

I only have a minute, so I'll leave you with two quotes:

At that moment, we decided to stop complaining about the church we saw and we set our hearts on becoming the church we dreamed of. -p.64

and....

So I did a little survey, probing Christians about their (mis)conceptions of Jesus....

I asked participants who claimed to be 'strong followers of Jesus' whether Jesus spent time with the poor.

Nearly 80 percent said yes.

Later in the survey, I sneaked in another question. I asked this same group of strong followers whether they spent time with the poor, and less than 2 percent said they did.

I learned a powerful lesson: we can admire and worship Jesus without doing what he did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours.

I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor... -p.113

This one hit me, big time.

...thoughts?

5 years ago today..

On this 16th day of November in 2005, after a few brief meetings and group-gatherings, J and I had our first lunch date at Moe's! :)

Sweet memories!

We enjoyed our lunch conversation so much, we extended the date with a beach-walk at Huntington! :)

Probably one of my my favorite memories ever.

(He says I tried to hold his hand, but I assure you- although I was very eager, I was not trying to be that girl! ;)

Jeremy's twitter-take on it :) :)

3 Firsts in one recipe...

Yet another reason to love Saturdays... besides time to play on the blog, I also tend to have more time to spend in the kitchen, and I LOVE that! :)

Here's to my first Saturday go at Pumpkin Puff Pancakes...

First time using our handy egg-white separator!

Oops.. Sorry, #2, apparently I need some more practice...

First time stiffening egg whites (also difficult)

AND first time enjoying pumpkin pancakes!! Mmmm! 

Here's the recipe if you're interested :)

*the only thing I did different was added 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

(ground cloves are my favorite... I highly suggest adding them to any pumpkin recipe. period.)

Yay for seasonal cooking!! ♥

lyrics that I love...

I was listening a little more closely to this DCB song I keep posting,

and the lyrics really are amazing...
even as amazing as the video I keep imploring you to watch!

(in fact most of their songs/lyrics are!)

I won't post the whole thing..
just the must-read highlights...
(man, they get me!)

chorus-

Shine Your light so I can see You

Pull me up, I need to be near You

Hold me, I need to feel loved

Can You overcome this heart that's overcome?

and the end-verse/bridge/finale:

You sent a sign

The hint, O whisper

Human, divine

Everyone is listening

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Death laid low...

Quiet in the night is stirring

All around the rush of angels

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

O the wonder of the greatest love has come

Shine Your light so all can see it

Lifted up, 'cause the whole world needs it

Love has come, what joy to hear it

He has overcome, He has overcome

if you haven't heard it, you really must!
please. check.it.out... ♥
SMS [SHINE] VIDEO by David Crowder Band

marriage favorites...

Another post over at our Sunsets and Sushi site... about my favorite non-glamorous parts of marriedness! :)

water reflections...

Jeremy and I got to go on a high school youth group retreat this weekend... Our good friend Dave invited J. to be the guest worship leader for the weekend, and let me just say it was special; totally refreshing and inspiring and all around wonderful!! --most retreats usually are wonderful and refreshing, I guess, and this one did not disappoint!:)

So, one of my favorite parts...

Saturday while I was taking in the awesome view at Longridge, I noticed the reflecting clouds and trees on the water... wow.

We see water-reflections all the time; we know it happens; it's a fact of nature. We even know it's pretty.

But I couldn't help but think: Couldn't God have just made water, land, trees, etc. just plain useful and purposeful?!

Of course, but He didn't...

He went and added Beauty!

He made water glassy and let it reflect the trees and heavens and our faces...

Just because He's good!? 
Just for fun so we could enjoy it all the more!?

Or maybe so we'd see the abundance and unnecessarily wonderful beauty of it all and let it point us to a Creator that must be Good to paint the surrounding landscape on the water just for our pleasure!

SHINE your light [so I can see you]...

David Crowder Band - SMS [Shine]

Recently I posted a link to this masterpiece and a blog post by David Crowder.. but I found the embed code and had to post it again because it's worth a whole 'nother post and the 3 minutes and 37 seconds of run-time.

Did I mention this is a masterpiece?

Seriously.

This sweet story makes me think of so many things -deaths in particular.. deaths that led to greater life/rebirth in those affected by them. (actually the ones that immediately come to mind are two miscarriages of mommies that are dear to me and when our friends lost their 12-wk old baby girl.) pure sadness. and somehow life and goodness comes. somehow rebirth happens out of death. it's surely the strangest mystery I know!

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds... (John 12:24)

And if you like it as much as I think you will, you should also consider watching how they made it!

♥ ♥

Cereal BFFs..

The other day my co-worker friend Jen and I discovered we have the same favorite (& quite random) cereal... Golden Grahams!

So when I was stopping through Kmart last night, I couldn't resist grabbing a box...




And, in her excitement at the gift, she paid me back [& totally made my day] with this... LOL! :)

Halloween 2010

We are fortunate enough to have a small friend, Davis, with a Halloween birthday.

Even more fortunately, his parents throw great parties, and thankfully they let us come :)

Rhea, I mean Cinderella

gearing up for the big game... 

candy corn relay (& Davis the birthday boy/skeleton :)

I managed to take quite a few pictures from this sweet fiesta, so here's the link! :)

Then we headed home for chicken wings and candy with Dad, Mom, & Kayla...

love that cheetah-sister!! 

♥♥

Treasures...

After school with DaVaughn & Kayron

Got to see some of my used-to-be-kiddos from TMP today!! 

LOVE those faces and hearts!

So thankful for the afternoons and summer days and years I got to spend with them!

These guys were in SECOND grade when they were in my class at TMP... now they're in SIXTH!!

(Also thankful for DaVaughn's picture phone or this moment may have gone undocumented!!)

Celebrating Claire...

Girls' night / Scavenger Hunt Style...

Thanks to our clever friend Katie, the whole night was a sweet adventure for us as well as the birthday girl!!

She had us all over town -at all Claire's favorite stops... 

The best part, though, was not only that each spot was meaningful, but that the words and cards and gifts shared (from each of us, while smoothly worked into the night's events) were packed with meaning too... 

Love those ladies!
Thankful for BSF that brought us together. :)

All as in Also...

I love my new last name.

(and this sweet new basket from my sister in love!!)

...never realized what a tricky one it was for others to pronounce though.

Did you know that my first teaching job was as a sub for a Mrs. Alford??

Yep!

And it was a good four years before I met J. or my new family too!:)

How funny is that!?

:)

Sometimes people want to say Al-Ford...

Sure, I see where their coming from...

but alllford is so much prettier, don't cha think?

Just remember 'all as in also' and you'll get it every time! ;)

more birthday festivities...

It took us an extra week or so because of our crazy schedules, but my sweet parents in love didn't let that stop them from having us over for some birthday dinner and family time! :)

not one, but two batches of brownies! :)

(1 made w/organic sugar & the other w/honey!)

Brothers... lovin on their pup -in between rounds of Wii Bowling

And we spent the night so we didn't even have to hurry home!

Saturday we enjoyed some sweet porch-time and I talked them into letting me take their picture some more!! :)

Glad they love me because I sure do adore them! ♥

Sweet sisters...

love these little ladies... and their sweet moma Jill... 

♥