Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Blog Updates..

You'll notice some changes around here...I wanted to organize my blog a little bit more and highlight some information.   Hope you like the new look!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Ooey Gooey S'mores Cookies!

Your mouth is watering already, isn't it? 

Last week I was browsing cookie recipes because my friend Karen and I were going to bake cookies at the Ronald McDonald House and stumbled upon this piece of Heaven... 

[Side note - the Ronald McDonald House wants it to feel like home for the families who are staying there, so every single day volunteers bake cookies at a scheduled time so that the scent fills up the house] Well since the weekday time slot is 10am, I am not able to go since I'm at work.  The weekend time slot is 1pm, and sadly amazingly the weekend opportunities fill up months in advance.  I think I signed up for this time back in October!  I am looking forward to Wednesday because the November calendar opens and I'm hoping to snag up a spot! 

We made these at the house yesterday and they turned out great!

Here's the recipe so you can whip up a batch of your own:


Ooey Gooey S'mores Cookies 
THE INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (7 full graham cracker sheets)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Mini Hershey’s Kisses (or chocolate chips/chunks)
1 cup Jet Puffed Mallow Bits
Gooey Smores Cookies 
THE PROCESS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.
Meanwhile, use a food processor or blender to crush 7 graham cracker sheets into 3/4 cup fine crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. Add the chocolate and marshmallows and stir to combine.
Place 1.5 tablespoon sized scoops of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.
Makes 2 dozen cookies. 
For more on this recipe and some wonderful others, visit Kevin and Amanda Recipes & Home Site


Totally go with the cinnamon graham crackers, as Amanda recommends in the original recipe.  They make all the difference.  I used regular dark chocolate chips because I couldn't find the mini Hershey kisses.  The little Jet Puff Mallow Bits may take a couple of stores to find.  They did not have them at Food Lion, but I found them at Walmart.

Good luck & let me know how it goes :)


Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Anniversary Trip Surprise

I love surprises...so of course whenever we plan a vacation I like to surprise Jake with something for the trip.  Here is this years:

Celebrity Softball Challenge Tickets
Celebrity Softball Game tickets!
Now, if you know anything about my husband, you know about his love for Baseball & Softball.  While looking into events for the weekend of our trip, I found out about this fun charity event.  Celebrities--country artists, Tennessee Titans NFL players, actors/actresses, etc--participate in this fun softball game where they are split up into two teams to scrimmage and raise money for City of Hope, a charity that raises money to find cures and better treatments for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases.

The event typically happens in conjunction with the CMA festival, and this year it's on that Saturday  morning.  I got us tickets, and they came in the mail a couple days ago.  I saw the envelope so I gave it to Jake and said "Oh look, this came for you."   He was a little confused, but so excited when he realized what it was!

Here are some pictures from past years.  Some of the past players have been Carrie Underwood, Jake Owen, Brantley Gilbert, Scotty McCreary, Vince Gill, Chuck Wicks, Sara Darling, Dierks Bentley, Julianne Hough, Randy Houser, Montgomery Gentry, and lots more..

 
 
 
 
Getting excited!!!  44 days til our trip :)
 
  

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Pretty Petunia

Happy belated Earth Day, yall!
No, I did not plant a tree.  As we have discussed before, this girl does not have a green thumb.  I try.  I really do did.  Remember Easter Weekend last year?  But never the less, things just don't tend to pan out well.  I still like to plant flowers every spring, but they just never quite make it back on their own the following year. 

I need to go browse around, but this year I'm thinking maybe some of these:

Pentas "Butterfly Bush"
Petunias
...Who knows what will happen!  Maybe if we don't end up with other plans, it could be my little project this weekend :)


 

Friday, April 19, 2013

TGIF

 
 
What are your weekend plans?  We were supposed to be going out of town for the day to a softball tournament tomorrow, but that was cancelled so now we will hopefully be catching up on stuff around the house and having a relaxing weekend here.  I'm looking forward to some Come See Me events. 
 

 
We are going to the BBQ cookoff and possibly staying for the fireworks. 
 
What are yall looking forward to this weekend?


 

Friday, April 12, 2013

Bowling Finale

Here's a picture from our final week at the bowling league!

Braxton, Gretchen, Me, Jake, Brandy, Adam

We had such a great time doing this league.  We were excited to get our custom balls last night, and we are already trying to figure out which summer league we can join. 


Thursday, April 11, 2013

The Finale!

All good things must come to an end....like our bowling league :(   Tonight is our last night, but the exciting thing is that we get our bowling balls tonight!!   
This picture even looks like my ball, how cool is that ?!
              

 But, not to fear.  There are a few more leagues starting up for Summer that we are looking into joining. 


Hopefully we send tonight out with a bang!


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Booked our Trip!

Sooooo excited for June! 
 
I booked our trip today and I cannot wait...we're doing 4days/3nights in Nashville:
 
 
 
 
and it just so happens [by COMPLETE and amazing coincidence] that that weekend is....
 
The Line-Up:
Gary Allen
Dierks Bentley
Luke Bryan
Eric Church
Kelly Clarkson
Florida Georgia Line
Hunter Hayes
Lady Antebellum
Miranda Lambert
Little Big Town
Jake Owen
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift
The Band Perry
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
& last but not least...
Zac Brown Band

 
& with a line-up like that, of course we had to get tickets!
 
The countdown begins....65 days!!!!!