Wedding Pictures (warning: lots of pics!) 🌻💙💛

Hello Dear Friends 💗

Happy TGIF to you!! I'm headed to work at the hospice house today, but I got my wedding photos back from the photographer recently and they're so fun. She has such an artistic eye and does a dreamy storybook kind of quality to her pics. There are so many! I'm still downloading them. But I thought I'd at least share some with you today since I can do that quickly. I will work on the Paris and QM 2 post over the weekend. 

There are so many pics that I tried to truly just chose ones you didn't already see from the friends and family pics I already shared. And they're are so many not needed to share, like at the reception are so many people pics you wouldn't know. But I did be sure to include the funny cake down the dress moment from the reception that I shared in the wedding story post I did back in September. How a piece  of cake went down my dress and Matt went to get it with his mouth and I said "no, my parents are watching!" and my kids yelled: "who cares about your parents your kids are watching!" Lol😂 I about died it was so funny. 

But my favorite ones are at the end of just Matt and I by the water. I love them - they're so storybook dreamy in how they turned out.  💝

I hope you enjoy! 

Blessings on your weekend ahead. Stay cozy and have fun!!

And they lived Happily Ever After...

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce with a Kick

 

Hello Friends💗

Happy Thursday to you!  

I apologize I haven't gotten to my Paris and Queen Mary 2 post yet, but I haven't had as much time to work on it yet. I'm hoping to get it posted tomorrow or this weekend. Since I have less time today, I thought I'd stick with my Thursday theme of cooking, baking or crafting. Today it'll be a slow cooker recipe. 

There was a blog I followed by Laurie at Heritage Schoolhouse, but she doesn't blog anymore and is now on instagram. She always had lots of fun recipes and I saved several of them. I finally made this one last week and it was so good! A spaghetti sauce you let simmer all day in your slow cooker. The kick added is from red pepper flakes and I made sure I didn't make it too spicy. You could definitely make this to your own taste. I added just enough to give a kick and be extra warming. I omitted the mushrooms, as Matt & I both don't care for them. It was wonderful the way I made it...but next time I may add some green pepper in place of the mushrooms. We had ours over healthy noodles (we get them at Costco), a nice salad on the side, and a little piece of fresh beer bread I had made. I definitely recommend giving this one a try! 

I had browned Italian sausage and some ground beef with the onions and garlic. Again, I skipped the mushrooms and next time I think I'll saute green pepper in. Then topped with the other ingredients. I halved the recipe as it was only Matt & I, but we liked it so much - next time I'll make a full amount and freeze some. 

This is with everything mixed in and ready to slow cook for the day. 

😋

Here's the recipe with Laurie's title for it:

If you give it a try please enjoy! 

xoxo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and happy Monday Friends ~

And happy November! I know I'm a broken record, but I can't believe how rapidly this year is flying by. Here we are only one month away from the Christmas season. Wowzers! Being gone so much makes it harder for my brain to compute what time of the year it actually is. But my planner sure had cute scenes in it as I opened to this new month:

So many seem to want to skip over this month. I hear young people say "forget Thanksgiving" - just focus on Christmas now. But I really love this month. It's a time of preparing, anticipating, and most of all being thankful and reflective on so many gifts. It's not to say that having some of Christmas in your heart is a bad thing during this month. I'm already listening to Christmas music as it's my fave and 1 month isn't long enough - I need 2 months to really enjoy. 😉 And I may even decorate outside earlier this year to avoid doing it in the snow. And maybe put up my trees even if I don't decorate them yet. Thanksgiving is so late this year - so I think it's just being smart. 

I just mean not to skip Thanksgiving all together. The time for gathering with loved ones. Eating the best meal of the year (and leftovers!) and sharing our thankful hearts. That shouldn't be missed. 🙏🏻🍂

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We took a visit a few hours away to see my son Aaron and his sweet Jill. We went to a Wild hockey game, ate great meals, played games at their cute apartment, they belatedly celebrated mine and Matt's October bdays, and we just had a great catch up in general. Their place is so nice and right along the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities area of MN. They're loving it and doing so well! 

Matt and I stayed at a hotel in the Mall of America. We did some Christmas shopping and probably walked 4 miles over the course of the weekend. It was so much fun! 

This week I will do a post or 2 (depending on length) of our recent Europe trip and being on the Queen Mary 2. I will share info and pics. So stay tuned!

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

fasting for a labs appointment so no coffee either :(

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

labs appt, MD appt, errands later in the week & groceries, work on putting away summer and Fall decorations outside, clear off the deck for winter, clean out the dryer vent from outside (Matt does each year), home projects, hospice work

THINKING ABOUT:  

I'm so glad Matt and I went and voted early last week. I have a feeling it's going to be crazy tomorrow! 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

It's warm and cozy. It's been gray and rainy all morning. I have a fire going in the fireplace and I'm listening to Amy Grant holiday radio on my Alexa echo show. Sipping pumpkin spice Republic of Tea and listening to Bubba purr next to me. Pure contentment ☺️

CURRENTLY READING

 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab 

*I have a confession to make: i forgot my kindle on the plane from the Europe trip, and didn't remember until it was too late. 🙈 When Matt and I were shopping this weekend we got each other some Christmas gifts. He got me an ipad mini and I'm just loving it! And the nice thing is I have the kindle app on there and can still finish my book!! 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Dancing with the Stars,  Survivor,  Great British Bake Off, Jeopardy, Golden Bachelorette, Ghosts, Shark Tank, Grey's Anatomy, Love is Blind, cooking shows, Walking Dead catch up

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - leftover ham & scalloped potatoes, spinach salad with veggies, dried apple, cheese crisps and raspberry walnut vinaigrette 

TUESDAY -  tacos we didn't make last week

WEDNESDAY - pork chops, roasted veggies with balsamic glaze

THURSDAY - keto breakfast sandwiches, fruit, fun coffees

FRIDAY -  out for dinner with my Bro & SIL

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

read, play with new ipad & pen doing a new game on there, crafting

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

Some hockey pics and I took a few of some of Aaron & Jill's apartment:

crossing the mighty Mississippi

that pathway out their window, goes right down to the Mississippi River and those trees are along it - so you're seeing the river in that pic even though I didn't get a good shot out the window

a few pics in the MOA:

some northwoods moments - it looks like November!:

even frost on the ground one morning

sleepy Ruby and a little color out our bedroom yet

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflicts all over the world and anyone living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain, fear, loneliness etc ... that God bring them comfort and peace. For peace throughout the election ahead. 

For Christ's Light and Love to cast out the darkness everywhere and help the world find its way. 🙏🏻

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Amen to that! Blessings to you Friends. I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.