Busy, Fun Weekend

This past weekend was a busy one for us.  Our small group from church was coming over on Sunday, so that meant I was busy getting the house and food ready on Saturday.

On Saturday at 4 we had a wedding to attend. A young couple from our church was getting married.

It was held at this old furniture factory which has been renovated and is now a venue space.

The ceremony was in the upper level, which was beautiful with the beams and exposed bricks.  Both the bride and groom grew up in our church, so lots of people we knew were there.

The reception was held on the main floor of that building.  Here people are starting to gather after the ceremony.
We had a wonderful meal, and lots of fun!

Sunday we had church in the morning, then our small group friends came for lunch. We hurried home after church to get lunch ready. There are 10 of us in the group and we take turns going to each others houses.  I meant to get a picture of the group and in the busyness, I forgot.
We always have a good time of discussion and fellowship.  They left around 3.
Then we headed back to church.  There was an ice cream social going on.

Tables were set up on the lawn and under the drop off.  There were ice cream sundaes, banana splits and root beer float.
It was such a nice day after a week of very high temps.  It was 84 with a nice breeze and everyone was enjoying sitting around and chatting.

Here's Bob helping clean up when it was all done.  It was time to go home, have supper and relax after 2 busy days!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Todays recipe is an appetizer I made for the bridal shower we had last week.  The hardest thing in making these is coring out the tomatoes, the rest is quick and easy.  These look nice and were very good!

BLT Bites

20-30 cherry tomatoes
6 ounces fried, crumbled bacon
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup finely chopped green onions
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Cut a thin slice off the top of the cherry tomatoes. Scoop out the pulp and place upside down on paper towels to drain excess juice.
Stir together the bacon, mayonnaise, green onions and parmesan cheese.
Place in large plastic bag, cut a small corner off to form an opening at the tip and pipe into the cherry tomatoes.
Refrigerate for several hours before serving.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Squirrel Acrobatics

I've shared with you before some pictures of wildlife outside our windows at work.  In the last few weeks we've had groundhogs, bunnies, orioles, deer - and squirrels!

We have a few bird feeders and recently the squirrels discovered them and I got some funny pictures of one of them getting a little meal.

"Are you looking at me?"

Shower Time!

My youngest niece, Shaelyn who is my sister Terri's daughter, is getting married this Fall. We had a family bridal shower for her on Saturday at our house.

Shaelyn's fiance's name is Jonny, he and his family live in Indiana.  His mom, 3 sisters and 2 grandma's drove up here for the shower.
We had the shower in the family room in our basement.  Here's a few photos from that evening.

Here's a little decoration on the gift table.

Here's our food table with a big balloon arch over it.  My daughter Laura did the balloons and they really looked cute.
We had chicken salad croissants, chips, spinach salad, stuffed tomatoes, chocolate dipped strawberries, punch and cake.  It was all good!

Here's the whole gang!

My sister Cheri planned a fun game involving cake testing. She got these different flavored cupcakes, split our group into teams and put blindfolds on everyone. They tried to come up with the flavor of the cake which our guests said was not easy when you didn't see the cake.  The team with the most right won.  Our flavors were german chocolate, key lime, apple crisp, peanut butter cup, cookie dough and strawberry cheesecake.

Time to open gifts!  Here's our bride-to-be with her sister Kaitlyn.

And here's Shaelyn with the cake.

We had a fun evening and enjoyed getting to know Jonny's family.

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Here's another new recipe I think you will like.  It a crock pot recipe, that you just dump the ingredients in and let it cook.
You can serve this over tortilla chips or rice.  We had it both ways, but it was definitely easier to eat over rice.  It was tasty both ways though!

Fiesta Chicken

3 chicken breasts
1 packet ranch seasoning
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can Rotel
1 can corn, not drained
8 ounces cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Place all ingredients except the cheddar cheese in the crockpot.  Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours.  Shred chicken and stir in cheddar cheese.
Serve over rice or tortilla chips.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Celebrate!

Sunday was Bob's birthday, so Laura, Heather and families came over and we also celebrated Father's Day.

We started with a yummy supper of sliders, mac and cheese, veggies and strawberries.

I thought Alaina and Laura looked cute sitting together so I snapped this Mother/Daughter shot.

Then there were some gifts to open.  This t-shirt says:
"Grandpa - Here to help my grandchildren get into mischief they haven't thought of yet".   So true!

Look at these cards - handmade by Alaina and Ruby.  Those cards are the best!

They agreed to come out for some photos.  They say Grandma is always taking pictures!

We got one of Grandpa and the grands too.

After some playing outside, some playing inside and enjoying cheesecake made by Laura, the girls decided to hang out on the porch.

Soon it was time for them to go home. 
Bob said he had the perfect birthday!

A foggy drive

One day last week, it was quite foggy as I left for work.  I snapped a few pictures along the way because there is just something about a foggy morning!

On the corner of our street

The fog continues as I drive down some dirt roads.

No one else seemed to be out that morning.

Then, just like that it was nearly gone, with just a little showing in the sun shining through the trees.

How about you? Do you like a foggy morning as much as I do?
 

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

Guess what's just coming into season here?  Rhubarb!  I really like rhubarb but for some reason it doesn't want to grow on our property.  A friend's grandson has a vegetable stand and was selling some, so I bought a bunch to make this recipe.  It's a Rhubarb coffee cake, one of Bob's favorite recipes.  This recipe stirs up quickly; chopping the rhubarb is the hardest thing about making it.  The cake is so good, it's moist and full of flavor!  It doesn't last long because it's so moist, but Bob is always willing to eat extra "so it doesn't go bad".  :)
I've shared this one before but it's been awhile.  If you have rhubarb, give this a try.  I guarantee you'll like it!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 heaping cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rhubarb, cut thinly
1/2 package strawberry jello
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together oil, sugar and egg. Add milk then stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in rhubarb. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Sprinkle the 1/2 package of jello over top and swirl through batter with a knife.
Mix together the 1/2 cup sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle over the batter.
Bake for 40 minutes or until cake tests done.
Serve topped with whipped topping.

Wordless Wednesday

 

A Day in my Life - June

Happy June! School is nearly done for the year here, the sun is shining and everything is growing.  It's a lovely time of year!
Here's how I spent the first day of the month.

Because it was Saturday, I got to sleep in and got up shortly after 8. I got ready and started a load of laundry.

Then I had my usual breakfast, 2 boiled eggs!

Bob was out working on his flower beds, so I wandered out there and we walked around the yard a bit.

Then it was time to get some things done.  On Saturday, I usually make something to put in the crock pot, so dinner is ready when we get home from church.  We usually some sort of buns or sandwiches for supper, so I get something ready for that too.
I made Caprese Chicken in the crockpot and then corned beef filling for buns for supper.

I had lunch plans with a friend so drove about 30 minutes to meet up with her.

Here's my friend Ginger.  We had a nice time catching up and had a good lunch.

It was a pretty day and I took the back roads home.  I saw this cool, old car along the way.

This cute little place sells decorative items for your home.  It's on a farm and is run by a mom and daughter.  However, it looks like they were working on it and there were very few items, so I left empty handed.

It always refreshes me to drive out in the country and see the fields and farms.

Soon I was home and finished the laundry I had started earlier.  I cleaned up the kitchen, ran the dishwasher and did a little laundry.

The weather had changed and it started raining. The little boy in the landscaping was getting a bit wet!

Soon, it was a downpour.

About 5:30 we were on the road, it was still raining.

We met friends at a local Mexican restaurant, had a great supper and a good time.

We got home a little after 8 and had a quiet rest of the night.
A good day to start the month!

Meijer Gardens

You may remember this post I did after we visited Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park after Christmas.  Aaron and Laura gave us a membership for Christmas so we can go whenever we like.  That's a good thing because it's 158 acres, 30 acres of that is a Sculpture park, there's a conservatory and several different types of gardens.
Bob and I went this past week and spent several hours wandering around a few of them.

There is a large enclosed entry with openings giving you a glimpse of the gardens awaiting you.

There is a very large room when you first enter that has these sculptures on each wall.  You can see the size in comparison to the benches.  The look of the sculptures changes as you walk from side to side.

After walking through the building, which is very large and always has different exhibits going on, you enter the gardens at the back of this conservatory.

Here's the conservatory from a different angle.

There's a large children's garden that we've gone through before but didn't this time.  It's full of fun things, like water features, animal sculptures, things that make music and fun plants.

We walked to the Woodland Garden, which is interesting for us because we have so much shade in our yard, and Bob loves to look for new things to add at home.

There are paths to follow and they've built boardwalks over uneven places going through the woods which make it easier to walk.

And tucked into the gardens are so many sculptures, big and small.

After the woodland garden, we walked the boardwalk to the pond.

Along this walk, there are sculptures too.

In this one, there are 3 frog sculptures going up the hillside.

It was such a nice day, and we loved walking around, seeing all the beauty God put around us.

Next time we go, we hope to spend time in the Japanese gardens, so I'll have more to share later.