Fun Fall Treats and Recipes

Don't you just love fall? The cool, but not too cold, weather. The colorful trees. Fun holiday gatherings with friends and family. There are so many things to look forward to in fall! The only thing not so fun are the extra calories from all of the good food! Note to self: hit the treadmill tomorrow! haha.

Bryan and I hosted a few friends last night and I had the pleasure in making a few fall treats for them. They were a huge hit, so I thought I'd share the recipes!

Pumpkin Dip

I love this recipe for it's simplicity and light fresh taste! It only requires 3 ingredients! Yes, I said 3. I found it on my favorite website ever, Pinterest, and then my mother-in-law made a suggestion to alter one of the ingredients and she was totally right! Anyways, here it is:

1 can of pure pumpkin (15 oz.)

1 container of Cool Whip

1 package of cheesecake JELLO pudding

Mix all the ingredients together and whala! You have a delicious, light and fluffy pumpkin dip.

For presentation I carved out a pumpkin and used it as my bowl for the dip. 

I provided apple slices and Nilla wafers for dipping.

It was delicious!

Spinach Artichoke Dip 

This one is also a huge hit and I apologize in advance, because I do a lot of it to taste so it takes a little experimenting. I found this recipe on the food network website and then altered to make it my own.

I also use my dip sized crockpot. I love it! When preparing for a party, there is nothing better than being able to just throw all the ingredients into a crockpot and let it cook! It saves so much time in the kitchen and did I mention it's delicious?

1 package of frozen spinach (defrost, but don't drain)

1 jar of artichoke hearts (with juice)

1 package of cream cheese (8oz.)

2/3 cup of sour cream (I don't measure this out, I buy an 8 oz. container of sour cream and use all but approximately 1/3)

1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella (I don't measure this, I buy a 16 oz. package and use most)

1/2-1 cup of parmesan cheese

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 dashes of cayenne pepper

1-2 dashes of crushed red pepper

1/4 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce

Put all of these ingredients together in the crockpot and let it cook for 2 hours. In the process of cooking, stir occasionally and cook to taste! I used multigrain scoops tortilla chips for dipping.

Bryan and I had a great time preparing yummy fall treats for our friends and we even had some costume fun to add to the festivities. Our theme was '80s!

Bryan aka Mr.T

 

Gotta love me some 80s fashion!

Oh and look who joined us for some fun! This is Dottie Fox. She's the newest member of our group. Isn't she beautiful?!

My dog, Tiger, the superhero!

It's been a couple days now that we've been living with plastic covered floors! Yesterday when I got home, I rolled up the ones Tiger had pooped on and threw them out and replaced them. I promptly noticed that he was feeling even worse than before. He was moping, not really wanting to move. He felt very unsettled and couldn't lay in one place for very long. He wouldn't eat ANYTHING. I even tried making his favorites tuna fish and edamame...nothing. I cried and told Bryan I didn't want him to die, but if he was then I wanted him to know I loved him. So I laid on the floor with him and held him. Would blow dry him off every time he went outside and got wet in the rain, the whole nine yards. I made Bryan get out his stethoscope and take his heart rate. I'm quite the worrier. haha

Then all of a sudden at 11 p.m., after trying to coax him to eat ALL night, he went over to his food and ate all of the boiled chicken I set out, the tuna fish, AND his treat! I couldn't believe it! However, he was still pretty mopey.

We went to bed unsure of what the morning would bring us.

Bryan woke up first and tried to get Tiger out of bed to go to the bathroom, but Tiger was not wanting to get out of bed. I told Bryan to let him be, that he probably wasn't feeling well. A couple hours later, I woke up and he jumped out of bed, wagging his tail and went outside. I could immediately tell he was more chipper! I made him his boiled chicken and he gobbled it up! He did poop and pee in a couple of spots, but no where near as bad as it has been and it's gaining consistency. (Thank God for the plastic I laid down!)

As Bryan and I are cutting away the plastic that has poop or pee on it, Tiger goes over to his toys and starts playing! He does this thing where he wrestles with his toys and whips them around. He will even throw it over his head for himself to fetch. You can tell he's been an only child for the last 15 years, lol. When we let him outside, he started running after and barking at the dogs that were walking by. As I'm sending a friendly, apologetic wave to the neighbor walking his dog, I said to Bryan, "Well, I think he's feeling better!"

As we are watching him do this, we are in disbelief. After last night, we did not think this was going to get better this time. Bryan said, "He's a miracle dog!" He's totally right! Every time we think, okay this is it....Tiger turns around and proves himself to be the superhero dog!

I'm still going to keep the plastic down for a little while to be safe, but I sure am glad to see my happy, playful Tiger feeling so much better! Oh and note to self, I discovered that Walmart's plastic tablecloths are cheaper than the Dollar Store. Walmart has them for 97 cents. Every penny counts! Oh and somehow my mom was able to score some free plastic from Lowe's, that was even better!

Superhero Tiger getting his toys out of his dog house

Owning a pet = Parenthood Training

After my last post I am overwhelmed by the love and kindness from so many of my readers. Some of you shared your personal stories of miracles and provided me with encouragement, others dropped a note just to say “I’m praying for you”, and others still may have not said anything but I certainly just feel an overwhelming sense of God in my day-to-day. So thank you for those of you who have been praying for us!

Matthew 18:19-20 

¹⁹ “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

This was the first scripture I had ever memorized, because my Grandma would constantly say this whenever we would come together to pray. We would petition to God using this scripture. So again thank you to those of you who are praying for us for God is surely amidst them all.

In my last post, I shared how I was feeling like God was calling me to grow in love during this time of waiting. Not just loving when it was easy, but loving through being patient, kind, slow to anger, etc. Well I don’t know about you, but when God calls me to grow…it’s not always the easiest thing to do, because He usually does so through trying experiences that test you in many ways. This brings me to my post title: Tiger, my 15 year old miniature poodle. Tiger is the best dog ever; you would never know  he’s 15, considering how playful, smart, well-behaved and active he is. Everyone that meets little Tiger is amazed that he is 15 because minus the gray hair and the loss of hearing, he acts like a puppy. 

Isn't he cute?!

He’s not the dog who has regular accidents in the house unless there’s something wrong, so you can imagine Bryan’s surprise when he woke up on Tuesday morning to splatters of diarrhea in 3 spots in our living room. He spent allllll morning scrubbing the carpet clean. Then Tiger seemed fine! Fast forward to Wednesday evening when we got home from work, POOP! Diarrhea EVERYWHERE! Beware: pictures below. Every dark spot is poop. The white powdery stuff is baking soda that I put down from the first round, only for him to poop on top of it.

Each dark spot is...you guessed it...poop.

 Oh man God, you are surely giving me some practice in parenting. God is SURELY trying to grow my patience, kindness, being slow to anger, and putting myself last because I can confidently say in that moment each of those was truly being tested! I knew he was sick so of course I felt extremely bad, but the last thing I wanted to do that day after a long day of work was scrub every inch of my carpet…literally. I'm sure parents find themselves in these predicaments all the time. That night we put in a call to Stanley Steamer, because my carpet certainly was a victim to my dog’s sickness. A special thanks to my mom for helping us through this week's dilemma. A mom never stops being a mom! Before going to bed I laid down plastic, blankets, towels…anything just in case the blowout would happen again before the cleaners came. Sure enough, it did. More poop in multiple locations; at least this time it was on plastic and washable towels and blankets. Stanley Steamers came, cleaned the carpets and deodorized them, THANK GOD! Upon their departure, I promptly took Tiger to the vet. Turns out he has colitis (inflammation of the colon), which they think is from something he ate. Somehow, I have no idea how, he must’ve got into (or was given by some knucklehead) something fried, greasy, or spicy. We hosted a birthday party last weekend and served chicken parmesan, pasta, and meatballs. The vet said any one of those things would be enough to tear him up for a little bit. We were given some Imodium, an antibiotic, and instructed to feed him boiled chicken and rice until the diarrhea goes away. So now we’re in the waiting game and PRAYING for it to be over soon. Sick doggies are no fun! In the meantime, after I paid to have clean carpets, I went to the Dollar Store and got tons of plastic tablecloths. I spread them out all over the room so that if there are more accidents, I can just roll up the tablecloth and throw it away!

No more scrubbing carpet…I hope. Anyways, talk about God trying to grow me in these areas! If this isn’t a trying and growing experience for preparation of parenthood, then I don’t know what is! Haha. I’m thankful for God’s presence in my life and even though I’ve been stressed beyond belief, I know that His gracious hand is in it and He will support me through it! Owning a pet feels like having a child in so many ways, doesn't it? I wouldn't change it for the world, because I sure do love my Tiger and dread the day he passes. Until we have our babies, Tiger is our baby. One day I will be glad for the parenthood training, because I'm sure being a parent will bring about all kinds of messiness and more poop stories!

Love Dare

Bryan and I have started a new couples’ devotional to help focus our bible study time together. It’s titled Love Dare and it actually stems from the movie Fireproof, which we used to watch often during our courtship. For one of our past Valentine’s Days, two years ago I believe, he bought me this devotional and said this is for when we’re married. :) I just loved it. It made my heart fill with joy to know that I had a man that loved God, wanted Him to be the foundation of our marriage relationship & our future family and also that he was going to be my spiritual leader. To now see it in action is truly a blessing. I feel God’s love and guidance through my marriage and it’s such a wonderful, exciting, joyful, and inspiring feeling. 

This theme of God’s love never failing has been on repeat in my life. It has been resurfacing itself everywhere I turn. In bible study a couple weeks ago, we were discussing 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In that discussion my friend mentioned that a good way to look at 1 Corinthians 13 is to replace “Love” or “it” with your name. I didn’t do it in that moment, but it stuck with me. 

As I was driving to church the other week the song “Your Love Never Fails” sung by Jesus Culture came on the radio and literally brought tears to my eyes. The lyrics talk about how God is always there, He always loves, always doing everything to the good of those who love Him! I have been relentlessly praying for God to bless us with a child. We’ve had our share of peaks and valleys when it comes to this and it turns out that getting pregnant is not as easy as they make it sound on TV/movies. In the midst of feeling that despair, I hear that song on the radio. Then I get to church and I heard it again! Then I decided to go to a prayer night at my aunt’s church to receive prayer and that song came on as background music just before I was going to receive prayer! Wow, I heard God in that moment. He was reminding me that His love never fails and that all things will work together for my good. One of the lyrics to the song says, “There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning…” This reminded me that this time isn’t going to last forever. I may feel anguish for the struggles we’ve had in conceiving, but in God’s timing joy will come in the morning. We will conceive and this struggle will be something of the past; we will experience the joy after the pain.  

Isn’t God’s love amazing?!

Now this brings me back to Love Dare. This past week’s study, challenge, and prayer that the book has us doing together is asking God to teach us what real love is and help us to love each other in that way. Then, get this, the book instructed us to read 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 and replace the words “love” and “it”. This time I was hearing God loud and clear. We went ahead and did it and Bryan just said “wow”. My thoughts were saying the same thing. How perfect is God’s love and imperfect is ours, but yet we’re perfected through God’s love. Wow.

You’re probably seeing my theme, but not really understanding what it all means. What is God trying to show me? I wondered the same thing for a while and I’m not sure I could even vocalize it until now. God wants me to know that He loves me and He hears my prayers. He has it all figured out and it will all come together in His perfect timing. Until then, I need to focus on what I can focus on. I think he’s trying to have me focus on loving like He does. Certainly this is a characteristic that is mandatory of parents and I’m sure is challenging in parenthood. Not that parents don’t always love their kids, because they certainly do, but 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 goes further than that! Like the parts about patience, not being easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs, not be self-seeking, not be envious, or boastful---Wow! I don’t know about you all, but I am certainly not a pro at all of this! However, I can see that all of these characteristics are so important to have as a husband/wife and a parent. 

Well God, I hear you. Not in an audible voice booming down from the heavens, but in my heart and my life I just feel you moving. Thank you for revealing yourself to me. I see the areas where you desire for me to grow, so that Bryan and I can be the best parents we can be. More importantly, so that we can show Christ-like love to our children and disciple them to love you like we do.

If you feel compelled, feel free to pray for us. If anyone desires prayer in return, please let me know. I would love to pray for you too!

Check out this song! It has been such an inspiration to me lately.

Man of a Thousand Hobbies

My husband is a man of at least one thousand hobbies. Whenever I turn around, I think he acquires another hobby. He has more energy than any person I know and somehow finds time to participate in each hobby he has. As much as I tease him about this characteristic, it is also a characteristic that I know will make him an amazing dad one day. He is the epitome of  a "jack of all trades". Bryan's hobbies range on quite a broad spectrum: exercising, running, bicycling, motorcycles, guns, hunting, fishing, golf, cooking, computers, gaming, making wine, guitar, making music, and his latest...home brewing. Here's Bryan enjoying a few of his many hobbies.

Bryan after getting 2nd place in a 5k

Bryan on his Suzuki

Shooting at the Cabin

Enjoying one of his many tech gadgets

Bicycling

and Cooking one of his many delicious recipes

Keeping up with all of these hobbies can sometimes make my head spin! I do my best to keep up and to encourage his endeavors, which brings me to what I came home to today...home brewing in action.

I couldn't even begin to describe to you the process of what the heck he was doing, but he was pretty excited about it and whenever he tells another guy about it, a very enthralled discussion is sure to follow. The talk of hops, cascades, fermenting, and siphoning is far over my head.

I suppose a part of me is a little jealous of his many hobbies and all that he's really good at! I mean I have SOME hobbies like reading, shopping, taking pictures (even though I don't know how to be artistic with it, I just like to), decorating, and now blogging! And as far as his one thousand, I do try to participate in most of Bryan's hobbies which is fun for us both.

Do any of you ladies out there have any fun hobbies that you recommend? Or does anyone have husbands/boyfriends that are men of a thousand hobbies like mine?

I know one thing for sure, Bryan has opened my eyes to so many wonderful and exciting things. Life with my hubby is never a dull one! Just one of the thousands of reasons I love him so much! :)

Us after running a 5k together :)

Being a Hostess of the Mostess

Party, Party, Party! Birthday parties, Holiday parties, Dinner dates, Social Gatherings, Book Club, Bible Study...these are just a few of the hosting opportunities we have on a regular basis. Bryan and I love to host. We enjoy bringing people into our home and eating good food, spending time with people, and Bryan loves serving up his latest concoction from his home brewery or his homemade wine. We hosted my Grandma and Dad's birthday party last night, so this is my reflection and also my preparation for our next big event: hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner!

 I am truly blessed, because I would like to think that I've learned a few good tips from the best of the best when it comes to hostessing. First, my mother. My mom has held all the family parties and thrown many parties for my friends and I growing up. She is known in our family for being the hostest of the mostest. Every one who has attended one of her parties would say she always has the best! If she is throwing the party, then you know the food will be plentiful and there will be fun for all. Some of my favorites are the bonfire party she threw for one of my birthdays in highschool. We had a bonfire, lots of food, and my dad got out some minibikes and let people ride them (until one of my friends wrecked one). It was awesome. Or the time when I was in college and my mom had totally fooled me with a surprise birthday party; she loves surprise parties. Or our last joint birthday party where she took stock of all of our favorite foods and was able to represent every one of them! haha. It was great. My mom is always working so hard to take care of her guests and make sure everyone is comfortable, having fun, and nice and full!

Second, my mother-in-law, Roseanne, is also a wonderful hostess. She's extremely efficient! She plans out her menu well in advanced. She makes what she can ahead of time. She will always make sure that the food is ready to go on time. This is probably why Bryan gets so frustrated with me when I'm running late (which is embarrassingly often), because he grew up with a mom who is habitually on time if not early. My mother-in-law also has the superhero ability to have her house party ready at all times in that it is always spick and span! I REALLY try to live this out, but let's get real folks...most of us have to do some special party cleaning, right? Since she does all of her planning and is so efficient, she's really able to relax and have fun with everyone at the party.

                                                                 
Last but not least, my other mother-in-law, Karen, is a wonderful hostess. For those of you who don't know, Bryan has 3 siblings and then 5 step-siblings. Most of them are married, some of them have kids, and then there are boyfriends/girlfriends. The point being is that our family is HUGE! Karen is able to cool, calm, and collectively organize and pull off many family events. It is so much fun to be a part of a family with so many of us around the same age. Karen is quite the multi-tasker and such a hard worker.

All of these women are amazing to me. I am so blessed to have grown up with such an amazing mom, who taught me so many things. Now, God continues to bless me with more strong, hospitable, and loving women. The only lesson I can gather from that is that God desires me to have these qualities too! He certainly has provided me many examples!

Now that you know where I'm coming from, let me leave you with a few Hostess of the Mostess tips of my own:

1. Plan ahead! For everything! Let your guests know well in advanced of when the party is, even if it's immediate family. They have lives too ya know. Plan your menu, your cleaning schedule, you name it- plan it! It'll make for a less stressful day.

2. Let people know how they can help! I'm not always super good at this one, because sometimes I try to be superwoman (and I'm obviously not) but often times people are happy to help! So let them!

3. Try to make what you can ahead of time and store in fridge AND plan out your serving dishes too! Have them cleaned out and ready to use, so that you don't have to take too much time plating foods.

4. Don't forget about the kids! I have a box of kids books at my house, because I love books and I'm super excited to have kids one day (hopefully soon). Until then, they're great for entertaining the little ones.  Small toys or coloring books etc. can be picked up at the dollar store too!

5. Don't stress out! Your guests will have more fun, if you're having fun! Be hospitable, be loving, be kind. Proverbs 31 talks about this type of woman. I would say God desires us to be a hard-working, hospitable, kind, and loving hostess of the mostest.

Your turn! Do any of you out there have any fabulous tips to pulling off a successful event that you host?

Our latest home project: Living/Dining Room

Home projects bring about a multitude of emotions: dread for the manual labor, excitement for a new look, and joy to see your ideas come to life. For me it's definitely all of the above. Bryan and I have been staring at some stark white walls for far too long and finally we had had enough! So I set out for Sherwin Williams and rounded up all the swatches. I narrowed it down and then went back to Sherwin Williams for samples. Most people I would say buy 1 or 2 samples of the colors that they're pretty sure about, but just want to double check. Oh no, not me... I bought 6 samples to start, but by time I bought the actual paint it ended up being 7 samples. My walls were essentially "polka dotted" with splotches of different potential colors for a good week and everyday I would stare at them and analyze and then ask Bryan daily which ones he liked best. That was probably a little annoying, huh? haha

 

 Finally, I took the plunge with some encouragement from the nice ladies at Sherwin Williams. I decided on Kilim Beige for the walls and Tea Chest for the highlight wall. With the help from dad, and working tirelessly day to night for one weekend, we were able to get it all done! Well...I may have captured a picture of a nap there in between. ;) I couldn't resist taking this pic when I saw him snoozing in the plastic covered couch. 

Drumroll please...WE DID IT and we love it!!! A drastic and warm change from the stark white! We also decided that the manual labor wasn't so bad. We're getting kind of good at this whole painting thing. :)

I wouldn't say I'm a complete perfectionist, but I suppose I have some perfectionist tendencies because that blank spot between the TV and the peaked ceiling was driving me crazy! So I was on a mission. My missions usually start with Pinterest and there I discovered this great company called Dali Decals that creates beautiful wall decals that are great quality. Check out their website! They have super cute decals for kids' bedrooms; I can't wait to decorate our kiddies bedrooms. :) I purchased a large script "D" in matte beige for that blank space that was staring at me. It was super easy to do and it looks so cool!

 

Our living room is finally complete! 

 Our dining room and living room are connected, so we revamped in there too! We added a new painting from Garden Ridge in Columbus, OH that I bought when I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law and some new curtains (JCPenney) and curtain rod (Sears $14! aka great deal)!

Tips for myself (for next time) and for anyone else out there listening: 
1. Plan ahead! Choose a date (or days) that you will complete your project and notify the people that you need to help you accomplish this goal! This really helped us prepare ourselves and the people we needed too!
2. Don't be afraid of buying 7 samples! Colors look so different on the paint store swatches in the store due to the fluorescent lighting. Also, it's nice to see the color on YOUR wall against YOUR furniture! It helps.
3. If you see a color you like somewhere, for example a friend's house- ask them what color and where they got it! That's actually how we found one of our colors! I had thought I had picked my colors and then the day before I went to go buy paint we were at our good friends house, The Bails, for bible study and when I saw their walls it clicked that it would work for our home too!
4. Throw something in the crockpot to have ready to eat for your workers! I made a big pot of chili. It was delicious.
5. Don't be afraid of color. If you're going to paint, you might as well make it count! I'm always scared to paint darker colors, but Bryan loves them so he helps me take those plunges. Every single time, he's right!

Welcome to Sitting in a Tree!

Welcome to my blog: Sitting in a Tree! Many of you, if not all, are wondering what in the heck is this title of hers. Well concern yourselves no longer my friends. The title stems from an old playground song that I’m sure all of us have sang before running around teasing our classmates. Let me jog your memory: “Bryan and Cherish sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage!” As a 2^nd grader this playground song was mortifying, wasn’t it! As an adult, having lived through most of this rhyme, I find it to be wonderfully true. Our playground song is almost complete! We are waiting on God’s wonderful blessing of a child; whenever He is ready, we’re ready! The first half, however, is all true. Bryan and I met 3 years ago, fell in love instantaneously, had a wonderful wedding last July and now one year (plus some) later we are happier than ever! Ironically enough, I don’t think we’ve actually ever sat in a tree before (note to self: add to to-do list). Living life with your best friend that’s also your husband is truly fantastic! This blog will be a little bit of everything (us, God, food, home projects, teaching, books, movies, fun experiences, not so fun experiences etc.). To put it simply: our life and all we encounter!

As I continue down this journey, I encourage you all to comment on my posts! One of the primary findings of my master’s thesis (way back when) is that writers are given purpose and enjoyment when they know that someone is reading their writing! The people that make up an audience mean the world to a writer and I would love to hear from mine. :)

Side note: Did you know that in Spain children would sing "debajo de un árbol" or under a tree instead of sitting in one? In Germany children would sing that the couple was sitting in the snow for rhyming purposes. (Wikipedia) I must say sitting in a tree sounds the most adventurous! What do you think?

P.S. Shout out to my friend Lauren who inspired, assisted, and encouraged me to start this blog! She also designed my blog and made it look pretty; isn’t it awesome?! I seriously teared up when I first saw it and stared at it for at least 10 minutes; she was able to capture my taste and personality PERFECTLY! She has a blog too about her and her wonderful family AND since she’s so beautifully creative you can purchase her illustrations or personalized drawings as well!  Check out her blog here and her art work here. Thank you, Lauren!!!