Fall Photos

I'm finally sharing my favorite photos from our fall photo shoot!  And as usual, Mckensie anne Photography did an AMAZING job!  Here are some of my favorites...one of them made it in our Christmas card this year!  (Get ready for picture overload.)

Ahhhh I just love them all! Now I need to decide which ones to put in frames in our house :)

Mini Caramel Apples

I'm over at Thrift for Today sharing the recipe for these mini caramel apples.  Make sure you head over there to check it out!  Trust me, you want to make these :)

I'm Done

I can't believe it is December 9 and I am saying this, but I am DONE Christmas shopping.  AND my Christmas cards are DONE and being mailed out tomorrow!  I can't believe I am done with both of these things already.  Oh, and my tree is up and decorated, and so is my house!  Sorry to brag, but seriously this never happens.  I just had to document the fact that I am done shopping so early this year, because it might be the only time this ever happens.

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All of those things might be done, but I still  have piles of laundry to do, dust bunnies rolling across my floors, and dirty dishes in my sink.  But hey, my Christmas stuff is done ;)

We finished up our Christmas shopping on Saturday after I got out of work and I even have a few gifts wrapped already.  The rest of the weekend was spent grocery shopping, watching football, and making this DELICIOUS chili.  It's the first time I've ever made chili and it was soooo good.  You can find the recipe here.  I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch this week.

That pretty much sums up my weekend.  Happy Monday!

Five on Friday

The first full week back to work after a holiday is the worst--I'm glad it's over!

Once again I'm linking up with Christina, Darci, April, and Natasha for 5 on Friday and you should too!

I'm doing something a little different for this week's Five on Friday link up...in honor of Christmas and decorating for the holidays, I'm sharing my five favorite holiday printables from my Pinterest Christmas board!

I love printables! Such an easy way to add cute decor to your home.  I'm using two different printables in our holiday decor this year (which I'll be showing you all soon).  Do you use printables?

Have a great weekend!

Bridal Bouquet Ornaments

I'm back for Wedding Wednesday!  I can't believe it's been over five months since I got married!  Time sure does fly.  Even though my wedding is over, it doesn't mean the wedding projects are.  After my wedding, my mom kept my bridal bouquet and dried the flowers for me.  I had no idea what to do with my dried bouquet, so I decided to make some ornaments for myself, my parents, and my husband's parents.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out, and I think our families liked them too.  I couldn't wait to give them to them at Christmas, so they got them at Thanksgiving :)  But they would make great Christmas presents!

Here's what you need:

Dried Flowers

Clear Glass (or plastic) Ornaments (got mine from Hobby Lobby for 50% off)

Alphabet and Number Stickers

Take the top off the ornament and carefully slide your petals in, one by one.  I thought this would be difficult, but my petals were actually soft, not hard and brittle like I thought they would be.  I didn't have any problems with them breaking  when I carefully folded them to stick them in the ornament.

Once you have your ornament as full as you want it, put your top back on and decide what you want written on your ornament.  I put our names on one side and our wedding date on the other, using the alphabet and number stickers.

You could even add a cute ribbon to the top, but I decided not to do that on ours.  I love having another keep sake from our wedding, something that we can put on our Christmas tree for years to come!  I'm also glad I was able to make some of these for our families, so they can enjoy them too.

What do you think?  Have you done any fun wedding projects AFTER the wedding was over?

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was as good as mine!  I headed to my parents on Thanksgiving day to enjoy meal one of three for the day.  My family and Kevin's family live about an hour away from us, and they got a lot of snow through out the day--it was so pretty!  We enjoyed three meals that days (my parents, Kevin's dad's, Kevin's mom's) and were totally stuffed!

Kevin's mom's was the last meal of the day, and that's where all of the dogs were.  Admiral (our dog), Nugget & Nera (Kevin's brother's dogs), and Callie & Diego (Kevin's mom's dogs).  While Kevin's mom was putting away all the leftovers, the dogs were hoping that some would get dropped on the floor for them!

My mom and I decided to go Black Friday shopping on Thursday night.  This was the first year we've ever gone out on Thursday night, we usually always wait until Friday morning.  We headed out around 10:30 p.m. and went to Target, Old Navy, Kohls, Younkers, Sears, Victoria's Secret, and JC Penny.  We really didn't have any issues at any of the stores.  There were barely even any lines at the check outs!  I got a few things for myself and a few Christmas presents, so I felt like it was pretty successful.

We got home at around 3:00 a.m. and went straight to bed.  When we got up on Friday, we looked at the ads again and decided we wanted to go to a few more places.  So we got ready and headed back out around 10:30 a.m.  We went to K-Mart (awful) and Meijer.  We picked up a few more things before heading home.  

I came home late Friday afternoon so I could get some things done at home...like put up our Christmas tree and decorations!  I got the tree up and decorated and decorated the house.  I'm really happy with how it looks this year and I can't wait to share it all, but here's a sneak peak for now!

Sunday was spent doing laundry, cleaning, and watching football.  I did make some yummy breakfast muffins using Katie's recipe and they turned out delicious! And healthy, even better!  I filled mine with eggs, sausage, green pepper, and onion.

I'm not looking forward to actually working a full five days this week, but I know that Christmas break will be here before I know it!  Happy Monday :)

Cinnamon Apple Chips

I saw this recipe for Cinnamon Apple Chips on Katie's blog a few weeks ago and decided I needed to try them.  So last night, I did!

I finally opened the food processor that we got as a wedding gift and used it to slice my apples.  

First of all, I was AMAZED at how fast this thing sliced an apple.  Like literally two seconds.  It doesn't take much to amaze me, obviously.  

These cinnamon apple chips are super easy to make:

• Thinly slice your apples (and remove the core).
• Put a sheet of wax paper on a cookie tray.
• Lay your sliced apples on the wax paper and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon (less is more with the cinnamon).
• Bake for 50-60 minutes around 200 degrees, then flip them over and bake for another 50-60 minutes.
• Then let them cool a little and enjoy!  

I put them in a bowl when they were done, and I had to eat one every time I walked by! An easy, tasty little treat to enjoy during this holiday weekend.

Ready to stick in the oven.

Backed and ready to eat!

I hope you have a GREAT Thanksgiving and get to spend time with those you love...and maybe score some good Black Friday deals :)