Sleep over!

So tonight is the first time Brodie has had a friend spend the night. Crazy to me, but I love it. I can't believe he's that big. What a fun night. :) Actually they've been together all day. We went to the free Regal movie for kids, "Tale Of Despereaux", this morning and had lunch and playtime at "DelTaco" with his family. After lunch, I brought the boys back to our house to play. The boys played and played...they played toy story, mr. potato head, scooter races, sword fights, transformers, you name it. Come time for dinner I wanted something kid friendly, so I made homemade mac n cheese and then did some bbq chicken and green beans. The boys cleared their plates so we had ice cream for dessert. :) We even got to go outside and play for a little bit. They came in, got baths and put their pjs on. I let them watch Nemo for a bit to wind down before bed. They were just too cute. I loved hearing their conversations. They are two sweet boys and are already best buds.:)

I'm also thankful for his momma, who has become a good friend of mine and is getting baptized on Monday! :) :)

Happy Anniversary!

What a great night! Tommy and I didn't do gifts or anything for our anniversary but we wanted to plan a nice night out for us to have together. Since getting to Vegas it's been pretty crazy around here and of course being away from family, we don't get a sitter very often. So...after we put the kids to bed we had a friend from church come over and stay with the boys while we got to go out for a little bit. The first exciting part of the night for me was that we got to ride the Harley. Seriously...it's been like 2 years since I've been able to ride, due to being pregnant and all. So this was a treat. The weather couldn't have been better either.

We wanted to go to a nice romantic restaurant so we went to the "Eiffel Tower Restaurant", in Paris. (Yes, when you live in Vegas you can go anywhere in the world and it's only 10 minutes away) lol. The restaurant is like 1/2 way up the tower and our view was of the strip and the Bellagio fountains, which was perfect. Tommy ordered duck and I ordered the veal and we shared the asparagus. Wow, everything was sooo good. We finished with a chocolate soufle which was also amazing. Let me tell you...this was THE BEST meal I've ever had in my life. I could go on, but I think you get the point. lol.

We were going to go on the "ride" up to the top of the eiffel tower but we decided to wait until we had our camera with us so we could take pictures of the view. We did take the time to walk around and just hang out a bit and we walked through one of the casinos we hadn't been in yet. We went to do one of the gondola rides but it was closed when we got there. I was thankful for the time we had together and it was a great night. I loved the closeness and the night sky we enjoyed riding home on the Harley.

It was cool to celebrate our 9th anniversary here in Vegas, it's one I'll never forget. ;)

Taco Soup

I'll be trying this recipe this week. It sounds like something we would like...and I love the idea of using my crockpot more! :)

Taco Soup

--2 cans of kindey beans

--2 cans of pinto beans

--2 cans of corn

--1 large can of diced tomatoes (I have no idea why the can wasn't in this picture. I know I put it in. This is a mystery.)

--1 can tomatoes and chiles

--1 packet taco seasoning

--1 packet ranch dressing mix

--1 lb browned ground turkey or hamburger (optional.)

--shredded cheese and sour cream for embelishment

The Directions:

--brown meat if you are going to use it

--drain fat and add to crockpot stoneware insert (the meat. not the fat.)

--sprinkle seasoning packets on top of meat

--drain and rinse the beans and add

--add the ENTIRE contents of the corn and tomato cans
--stir.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5. I think the longer you cook soup, the better, so if you have the time, opt for cooking on low. Stir well, and serve with a handful of shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

(This recipe came from http://crockpot365.blogspot.com)

9 Years

Yesterday, August 5, Tommy and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. I have to say, it's been a wild ride, but I wouldn't change a thing. I was telling Tommy last night that it's funny when people say, "so where do you see yourself in 5/10 years?" If you know me, you know I'm indecisive anyway and that I am a realist so I'm focused on the here and now so I'm always like "I have no idea". Tommy, on the other hand, being the dreamer always has a huge vision of where he wants to be. So..that being said, I was thinking over the past 9 years and I'm blown away. I'm blown away at the experiences we've had together and the life changes that have happened in our lives and marriage.

So, 9 years ago we said "I do" and I moved from VA to TN, (Tommy was in the Air Force and stationed at Fort Cambell, KY) to be with the man of my dreams and start our life together. I just found a picture the other day of Tommy carrying me over the "threshold" to our new 1 bedroom apartment (after driving the 12 hours to get there). We started with nothing, but we had each other and we had God, so we felt like we had everything. I have to say, our years there were crucial and life changing for us and for our marriage. We were married in August 2001...and then September 11th happened...which changed everything. Tommy, being in the military, was soon deployed to Afghanistan that February. Whoa. Here I was, 19 years old, newly married, and now alone in a new place. I had a job and I was going to school, but that wasn't enough to keep me there. I decided to go home and be with my family while Tommy would be deployed for an unknown number of months. It ended up being 3, instead of the 6 they had anticipated. I remember those times of deployments and at times it was torturous and at the same time it also seemed to help create a foundation for our marriage that "if we can make it through this, we can make it through anything". In our time there, we found a great church, where our friends became like family and we bought our first home there, in KY, and we got our first dog, Sugar (which we still have today :) ). Tommy deployed again a year later to Iraq. This time, I stayed since we had established roots and relationships there and it had become "home". Tommy came home and bought his first Harley. (He took of advantage of the deployment situation...He came home and of course I was like "you can have anything you want!" lol). We joined a motorcycle club, which we miss to this day the experiences and relationships we had. So, we spent our first 4 1/2 years married there, at Fort Campbell (KY/TN). I had no idea how crucial this time would be for establishing the foundation for our marriage. It's amazing how close we became, having only each other, to depend on, run to, and experience life with. We made relationships there that we would have for a lifetime. What a time of learning for us!

When Tommy was discharged from the Air Force in December of 2004, we made the move back to Virginia (a U-haul, car-in tow, a truck, a motorcycle, and a dog) :). We moved back to Virginia to be apart of a church plant that our previous youth pastor was launching there. In our time there we were close to family and were able to establish relationships with old and new friends. We bought our second house, and started our family. In December 2005, I finished my bachelors degree in Business Management, from Austin Peay State University. We had our first son, Brodie, in October of 2006. In February 2007, I quit my job in banking to be a stay at home mom. Tommy changed jobs 3 times, but all in the area of training military in some area of combatives or shooting. In July, 2008, God told us to move to Las Vegas, to be apart of a church plant, to reach people far from Him. We experienced a loss like none other when we experienced the loss of our 2nd child mid pregnancy, at 17 weeks along, in November 2008. We then had our son, Tristan, in October of 2009. In May 2010 Tommy graduated from Regent University with his bachelors degree in Religious Studies and we moved our family across the country to Las Vegas to help start Verve and do a church planting "residency" for approximately 2 years.

As I look back I never could have tried to imagine all that we would have experienced and where we would be 9 years into our marriage. I'm so thankful that God blessed me with Tommy to go through this journey of life with. I can't imagine not having him by my side. He knows me like no other and loves me anyway. He loves me in ways that I feel I don't deserve. I respect and admire him more than any other man I've ever known. I'm a better me because of him. Our boys our so blessed to have a real man of God as an example to follow and to raise them to be warriors for Him. I love you Tommy and I'm thankful beyond words that for the years I've had with you and I'm excited about the years we have ahead of us, as we grow old together. :)

Man, I started this post to tell you about our night our for our anniversary, now I have to do another post to tell you about that! lol :)

My new hobby :)

Cooking! Yes...I'm currently obsessed with finding and trying new recipes. I've been scouring the internet...in the little bit of time I have here and there and you'll see I've found a few baking blogs to follow as well. I cooked dry beans for the first time the other day and they were a success. So..I got another kind to do again. I enjoy cooking and baking but it's soo hard to find the time and money to do it! Anyway, I did a few easy ones today. I made a homemade coffee cake this morning and that turned out yummy. I made a chicken quesadilla casserole for dinner (thanks Gina ;), which we liked. And then made sweet potato cookies for dessert...which didn't seem to turn out all that great. I hope to here and there post some new recipes to share with you. And don't worry, I'm a simple kind of gal with 2 little ones, so they will be easy, with not crazy ingredients, and I especially love the ones that I already have the stuff for! lol.

Here's the few I tried today!

Breakfast Cake

1/4 cup veg oil

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Combine wet, mix dry ingredients and then add to wet. Mix well. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan. Sprinkle with topping. Bake 350* 25 - 30 minutes.

Topping: combine 2 T melted butter, 2 tsp flour, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/3 cup brown sugar

This one came from www.naptimejournal.blogspot.com

Chicken Quesadilla Casserole

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken, cooked and shredded
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 Medium onion, chopped
• 1 Package flour tortillas
• 1/2 tablespoon Crushed red peppershopping list
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 3 Cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

Cook and shred chicken. Mix spices and pour over chicken and toss until evenly coated. Rub the bottom side of tortillas with a little oil and place in a baking dish. Layer 1/3 of cheese on top of the tortillas, then 1/2 of the onion, 1/2 of the tomato, 1/2 of the green pepper, and 1/2 of the shredded chicken. Place another layer of tortillas, cheese, onion, tomatoes, green peppers and chicken. Place third layer of tortillas on top and rub top side with some oil, then sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Cover and backe at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes until cheese is melted and warmed through. May remove cover last few minutes to brown cheese slightly.

(This came from www.grouprecipes.com, passed on from my friend Gina :) )

Hope you enjoy them and please share any of your favorite or new recipes with me! :)

VERVE Happs

Cool stuff happening at VERVE.

- Continuing our new series The Me I Want To Be where we're talking about HOW we grow spiritually. This week we talked about how making sacrifices plays into our spiritual growth.
- We have two Verve University courses: Verge and Verb running and people seem to be really getting a lot out of them.
- Lots of new volunteers are doing First Serves - a chance to kick the tires on a serving position in the church.
- Speaking of serving, we're getting ready for Serve Vegas, which is gonna be a cool day of serving those who serve.
- And we are getting excited for the return of our 11:35 service, August 22nd!

(From Vince's blog... www.vinceantonucci.com)

Behind the sword

Any of you who have seen Brodie recently, like in the last 6 months, know that when you think of Brodie you think of......yes, his sword. You know that if you see Brodie, he most likely has his sword stuck in the back of his shirt and sometimes in the side of his shorts. Seriously. I know some of you are laughing, but it's true. I tell people, "some kids have security blankets...our son has a security sword". :) lol. You will very rarely catch him without it. We can go in a store, and when we go back they remember him as "the kid with the sword". When we were in VA for a couple weeks, Daddy built Brodie a weapon rack by his bed. So..when he goes to bed, the sword goes in the rack and when he wakes up...you guess it...it goes back in his shirt. (this was because of the marks on the wall from sleeping with the sword). The attachment to the sword started when Brodie found Daddy's ninja turtles from when he was a little boy. Brodie immediately fell in love with these "turtles and their weapons". He began getting some of the cartoon movies and weapons. For a little while, if you were to ask him his name he would tell you "I'm Leonardo". Like seriously...this is what he told kids in his new class at church. (Of course you know Leonardo is his favorite because he's the BLUE one, which is his favorite color). So, he carries the sword in his back because that's how the ninja turtles carry their weapons. If it's not in his back it will be stuck in the side of his shorts. Or, if he is in his underwear, as he likes to be around the house, it will be stuck through his underwear. I've told him they're getting stretched out from this. He also has a bruise on his side, from carrying it this way. He doesn't even notice and says it doesn't hurt...but this is how attached he is.

I have to say, I think it's kinda cute. I'm sure some people may think I'm crazy that I allow my 3 year old to carry this around. But..I love that right now, this is who he is. He's all boy and at times he's wild and crazy but he's also caring, loving and tender-hearted, which melts my heart. I can't imagine life any other way, I love my boys. :-)