October: in Pictures

With fall in full speed, October has been it's usual, busy, self. The weather is getting colder and I havent had to run the air conditioner for the last week and a half! Saving some of that $$$$ before we have to turn on the heat for winter. Everyone's fall festivals are in full swing and people want to be outside enjoying the weather change. Here's some of our October  highlights:

              

I flew out to surprise visit my mom for her birthday, October 2nd. My step-dad helped organize it and picked me up from the airport so she didnt know I was there. Happy '39th', momma :)

My husband and I paid off both of our car loans! We are officially debt free! 

Spent a weekend at my in-laws house, and the boys played with a tennis ball in the road with Bailey, the dog.

The egg toss at Pleasant Grove's Sunday Funday on October 11th. Noah and Kourtney won! 

Micah lead the band in some worship songs

My husband and his dad tried their hands at being lumberjacks :)

 We visited the St. Louis art museum for the first time, to fulfill a project for one of Micah's classes October 17th

We carved pumpkins! Also on October 17th. And I made Chili to go along with pumpkin carving. 

Mine and Micah's finished products

All of the pumpkins: Mine, Micah, Noah, and Kourntey

I made my first pumpkin pie! Apparently it was good. 

Someone destroyed my pumpkin by the following morning, and stole the tealights out of all 4 pumpkins, October 18th. 

One of my pictures got chosen as a label for Jones Soda! 

We went to a Halloween party as Cosmo and Wanda- October 24

And dressed Atti up like a lobster :) 

Throughout the back half of October, I have been fighting some sort of unknown allergy that has made me break out in hives and swell. Mainly in my hands, but has also spread to my feet, face, ears, and sides. I had been seen by doctors twice since it started appearing around October 12th

October 28th I ended up at the hospital on my way to anaphylactic shock. I was dizzy, my throat was swelling, my whole body was swollen for that matter, and the right side of my body ached like it had been run over by a car. I am now the owner of 2 epiPens, and I see an allergist November 4th to begin trying to figure out what is doing this to me. Without the steroids and antihistamines that the hospital gave me, I go right back to swelling up, so whatever I'm allergic to is not leaving my system. 

Throughout all of this, I have still been cleared to run the half marathon I have been working so hard to train for, as long as I carry an epi pen with me. The race is tomorrow, my clothes are layed out, and I'm ready to go. 

I'm more worried about this Monday and Tuesday than I am about the race. The doctor has told me I have to be off of all medications 3 days prior to seeing the Allergist, so the tests can be accurate. Last time I quit taking (ran out) the temporary- fix steroid they gave me, I ended up having an anaphylactic reaction. I'm terrified to go off of them again. The last few mornings I have woken up and my hands had already started to itch and swell up again in my sleep, because it was time to take medicine again. Here's to hoping we can find some answers soon! Also here's hoping I do alright in the race tomorrow and don't have to find out how an epiPen actually works...

Anyways, Happy Halloween 🎃🎃🎃

And I'm looking forward to November! Birthdays, (hopefully) finding out what is wrong with me, Thanksgiving, and some more fun activities are planned :) should be an exciting rest of 2015! 

Recipe Box: Chicken and Dumpling Casserole & 4 ingredient Apple Crisp

I'm....baaaaack!! And writing down more recipes for my online recipe box! Both of these recipes have come from my grandmother's recipe box (literally, a cardboard box that has things written all over it)


What's for dinner tonight? Well, let's get to it.

I can't cook without my cooking buddy! ..Ok, so he is just begging for me to give him some shredded cheese.. But eh, he keeps me company with his persistence.

Chicken and Dumpling Casserole:

3 chicken breasts
2 cups chicken broth
2-3 Tbsp. Butter
1 C flour
1 C milk
1 can of Cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp. Salt & pepper to taste

I put around 4-5 cups of water in my cooking pot and one chicken boullion cube. Add the chicken (frozen or thawed- either one, it doesn't matter). Let it boil for around 30-45 min until the chicken is soft and can be shredded easily.

Shred the chicken and put in the bottom of the baking dish. I also put a dash of onion flakes and put a few extra teaspoons of butter as well :) 

While chicken is cooking, melt the butter and add in the milk and flour. When combined, pour over the chicken

Using the same bowl as your biscuit mixture, add the chicken broth (I just used that I cooked the chicken in originally) and add the soup and your salt and pepper

Bake at 350° for around 45 min. or until the top starts to brown

That's it! Let it cool and eat it! 

While the casserole is cooking, it's a great time to make dessert, so:

Apple Crisp:

6-10 Apples

1/4 cup (half stick) Butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour 

This is an apple peeler/slicer that also takes out the cores. All in one! I LOVE mine. If you don't have one, get one. This one came from Pampered Chef and it also works on other fruits as well. I use mine for apples and peaches. Makes it soo easy! 

Anyways...peel and cut 6-8 apples

You want to fill the baking dish about half-way, so if your apples are small like mine, you'll end up peeling 10-12 apples.

Once you've got your apples peeled and sliced..

Cream together the butter and brown sugar

Add in the flour. You want this mixture to be crumbly when you are done, so you might have to add a little bit more flour or sugar

Pour over the top and bake at 350° for about half an hour (30-35 min). 

That's it! You've got an easy weeknight dinner 

:) 

The St. Louis Art Museum

After a long week at work, I sure do look forward to Friday nights. Whether it is sitting at home actually watching TV, or going out and exploring someplace I've never been, I always love the weekends. And this one was no different.

My husband is taking an art class this semester to satisfy a fine arts credit requirement. Not that we hate art, we just aren't art-sy people. My husband can draw, and I can be creative when it comes to making things. ( like teaching myself to crochet or decorating my home. ) Were we really looking forward to going to an art museum? No. But, As you can read below, I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed this museum.

Neither one of us had ever been to the St. Louis Art Museum, but a project in my husbands art class required us go and find a piece of art that "spoke to him" and record how it made him feel, what drew him to this particular piece, etc. It could be any art piece, from any published artist, but you had to see it in person. We chose the St. Louis Art Museum because:

1. It was only about 35 min away from us
2. It has free admission!
3. It is open until 9pm on Friday!


First impressions, its huge! And the museum map smelled good. I like the smell of printed paper :) fun fact about me. This museum has three floors of various art!

I found out the 'security-guard' way that there are lines on the floor you aren't supposed to cross and get too close to the art...but the lady in the painting didn't even warn me about it. Geez. Rude. 

Here are my interpretations of floor 2 (the main floor) exhibits. Most of this floor is European and Asian Art and Contemporary Art. 

Here we see..... a chair you can't sit in. 

The paint sample wall from a home improvement store

Kindergarten scribbles

"Shhhh! This one is speaking to him!"

I actually really like this one. This Japanese rice paper drawing is interesting. I don't know all the technical terms on how to describe it. I just like it. 

Micah found a painting that he liked, and took notes on it. After we wandered around the massive main level, we went up to the third floor, where they had Native American, Alaskan Inuit, and some American (founding fathers) art. As well as some church art from the middle ages. 

This thing caught my attention in the Native American exhibit. 

Because everyone needs a beaded goat purse! I would rock this purse if I lived 500 years ago. 

This...fish man clock. 

I thought this fireplace tile was pretty 

I actually LOVED the Art Museum's building. Look at it! This is an exhibit up on the third story, and it is so well done! And clean! And quiet, it was really great. 

The view of the main story from the third story. See what I mean? Absolutely Beautiful building/architecture. 

Museum selfie :) 

From the third floor we took the elevator down to the first floor, which housed the south/central american art. The Mayans,  Aztecs, etc. As well as some 'period rooms' which were set up like rooms out of the 1700's, a section of weapons and armour, and then some decade art, with sections dedicated to the furniture and apparel of the 1960's, and 70's. That's right, disco is in a museum...where it belongs. 

I thought this was cool. The calligraphy is beautiful! 

I liked this because it seemed like it was a toy, a dollhouse with little dolls in it for a child to play with. 

Well...you can't be serious ALL the time...

To Narnia!!!! But really, the wood on this wardrobe is beautiful! 

One of the 'period' rooms, typical of the royalty of the 1670's according to the sign I read.  

We stayed, wandering around this massive museum for about an hour and a half, which for us is a long time to spend in any museum. Im not one for paintings, but once we got into the exhibits with actual artifacts, that interests me. I love seeing tools, weapons, furniture, and other everyday life things from times past. 

I'm glad we explored the St. Louis Art Museum. It's worth mentioning, too, that they have gardens and a sculpture park as well- but we didn't get to see those because we were there after dark. So if you go during the day, you can explore those as well! And I recommend it. At the hefy price of FREE, you can spend an entire morning or afternoon wandering around this place. I also think the museum has an active schedule, with special events going on each month of the year. 

After the museum, we had a delicious dinner at Outback Steakhouse and left there stuffed to the brim. 

It was a great date night :)