Our Refuge group at church (college and 20 somethings) went on a retreat this weekend to Hemlock Hills in Gatlinburg, TN. We stayed in huge cabins that had queen size bunk beds and very luxurious accommodations. On Saturday we had quite a bit of free time so a group of us went out hiking. It was a ton of fun walking alongside a “creek” and heading up towards a few small waterfalls. Here are some pictures from the weekend.
Soon to come… pictures of our veggies =)
My sister’s husband Aaron deployed yesterday for a twelve month Tour of Duty in Afghanistan. Just sending out all the love and support to those who serve and those who serve back home as their support team. Please remember to be diligent in prayer for those who serve our country and fight for our freedom every day. Love yall!
So lately things have been a little crazy for no reason in particular other than life in general. Recently the girls and boys here got together separately (boys at our house and girls at a friend Sara’s house). The boys got to grill and watch some of the basketball games going on and the girls learned how to crochet and got a chance to have “adult conversation” as our friend Jess (with two kids under three) calls it. Here are some pictures to keep yall up to speed:
The hat that mike is wearing is my first go round. I wasn’t sure how to finish it off so I just started a new hat (the one Avi has on). Both are really big so I’m still learning how to make them normal head size. It has been a lot of fun for sure. I’m going to start one like the one Mike has on again now that I’m a little better and hopefully it will work out great.
Below are just some picture of Avi playing at the park with her friends there. She loves going and is quite a maniac. At the house she is calm (most of the time) and really laid back and just likes to snuggle but at the park she’s CRAZY!
ENJOY =)
So a good friend of mine is getting married and we are planning a shower for her. She loves cheesecake so my job was to make the mini cheesecakes. I HAD to try to make them before I took them to the shower incase they didn’t turn out… I know… I was being sacrificial for a friend!
Good thing I tried them… b/c I put them in paper mini cupcake wrapper things and the paper gets a little buttery and it doesn’t look super appetizing, so I’ll have to get the aluminum foil kind. But the filling turned out amazing!
Below is the recipe I used (I used a 1/2 batch and it made almost 40 mini cheesecakes). I baked the crust just a little and then while its cooling, I made the filling. I put the filling in a Ziplock and cut the corner (it will be runny so be careful) and piped it into each little cup. I baked them at about 350 for maybe 15 minutes or until just before they cracked. Then pull them out and let them cool and then refrigerate to finalize the cooling. ENJOY!
When I make them for the shower, I’ll put a little raspberry topping one some and others will have a little chocolate drizzle =) Can’t wait!! They look something like this:
New York Style Cheesecake
Ingredients:
| 15 graham crackers, crushed 2 tablespoons butter, melted | (all ingredients MUST BE at room temperature) 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese 1 1/2 cups white sugar 3/4 cup milk 4 eggs 1 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (use less) Dash of lemon juice |
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch springform pan. Wrap with aluminum foil (about 3 layers) to protect crust from the water bath.
2. In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with melted butter. Press onto bottom of springform pan. Bake for a few minutes until just before it starts to brown. Let cool completely.
3. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, and let cake cool in oven with the door closed for 5 to 6 hours; this prevents cracking. Chill in refrigerator until serving.
5. Before serving run a knife around the outside of the cake to allow it to pull away from the sides cleanly.
Those were the first words out of our instructors mouth last night in Spin Class. It was our first Spin class ever (and yes for some crazy reason it was my idea!). When they talk about “climbing” its just doing sets that make you feel like you’re climbing a hill. Talk about feeling the burn!
WE SURVIVED!! and Mike still loves me!
It was a whole lot of fun except for the fact that by the time Mike and I got there, the only bikes left were ones that faced the whole rest of the group. They must have added a few more bikes in the room and that was the only place they would fit! I think we’ll plan on doing it next week but for sure will be changing the positioning on the bikes some… my butt is sooo sore from the seat (and yes everything else is sore from the workout!)
here is a link to the room of torture The Rush 24/7 (then click on the picture in the bottom left)
this must be an old “tour” because there are more bikes in there and if you see the clock on the wall to the right, we were down there further to the right in the front on the floor facing towards all the other bikes… the one positive was that our bikes looked out into the gym where people were doing abs and rock wall climbing and stuff like that so it kept my mind occupied. ENJOY =)
