Perfect celebration

You know those times that you feel like you need to just unwind, breathe, and spend some quality time with your spouse?  Some days I will have just spent time with Ben but immediately say to him "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever."  It's just that quality "us" time that I crave.  That's what hit me last week after Ben has been out of town so much for work lately and I had a lot of things going on.... I had forgotten and then realized that Ben had the day off for Good Friday & we headed straight for the beach Thursday night.  

A candlelit dinner on the porch, 2 bottles of red wine, and lots and lots of good quality conversation with my hubby.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  

Friday my sisters, brother in law, and the babies, Bennett & Emory, came down and joined us for the rest of the weekend.  We did Easter things that I didn't even grow up doing (at least not that I remember)... dyeing eggs, Easter egg hunts... it was a fun day.  

 my boys

 could anything be any cuter?

Sunday we went to our wonderful, moving Easter church service with my whole family.  I love how the same message for Easter manages to be portrayed in a different way every year that impacts you like it should.   Afterward, we went to Ben's parent's house for lunch, Easter baskets, and visiting with all the family (including all 3 of Ben's grandparents).  

The other precious princess cutie in pink, Leigh, who now has soft curls in the back of her blonde hair.  

 playing with the puzzle of her name we gave her for Christmas

Our Easter family celebration both at the beach and at home were perfect & relaxing. 

He is Risen!  


{yes, I realize this is baby overload, and they aren't even mine.... what can I say, I'm a very proud Aunie}

Mr. & Mrs. Brian James Register

In a 6 month period of time, Ben's 3 best friends from Jacksonville, FL have all gotten married.  October, February, and now April... so obviously we have had Wedding Overload, and it's been fun.  

Brian and Gracie dated all through college just like Ben & I did, and we all became very close.  They have also spent the last 3 years coming to Mullet Toss with us every spring.  This is how they became friends with Austin & Stephanie and so they rode with us to Jacksonville on Thursday night for the wedding weekend festivities!  

Friday while the boys were golfing, Stephanie & I enjoyed lunch, margaritas, and purchasing a few bottles of SkinnyGirl Margaritas to take back home since Mobile doesn't sell them!  

Rehearsal Dinner Friday night was at the Yacht Club

After that we went to a country bar called Maverick's.... a place where you seriously must know the line dance to every song that comes on or you will get shooed off the dance floor looking like a fool.... so the only song we were able to dance to was the electric slide... such beginners we were! But it was fun people watching!

Saturday was a sunny beautiful day so we laid out by the hotel pool before the wedding! Everything was beautiful & joyous!

Brian & Gracie were beaming with happiness & their wedding reception was so much fun! 

Ben gave a rousing performance at the wedding.... he and another groomsman (who was playing the guitar) sang "Marry Me" by Train to the Bride & Groom... It was both touching & hilarious, as Ben has never performed publicly before and they added a fun twist to it.... But Ben forbids me to put the video online *tear*  I thought it was awesome

We had SUCH a fun weekend and can't wait to see them next weekend for Mullet Toss 2K11 (oh yes, they say that the weekend after they get back from their honeymoon, they are in fact coming to see us for the 4th annual event... can't wait!).   Congratulations Register & Gracie!! We love y'all & wish you much happiness!  

Easter is coming

This means flowers are in full bloom.... indoors & out...

Easter decorations are all over the house...

and I've been Spring clothes shopping we are loving it.  

Aren't you?

Em-Bop

Sunday was a very special day!  My nearly 7 month old niece, Emory Ruth, was Baptized before our whole family, the Dauphin Way Church family, and God.  

I am so incredibly proud of the family my older sister has created & so happy to be a part of their lives.  

After church, Natalie through a luncheon for the family back at her house.  I was blown away at how incredibly beautiful the lunch table was decorated.  With all the fine china, silver, crystal, flowers, lanterns, & personalization.... it was PERFECT!

Everyone gobbled up the Corn dip & Italian dip appetizers I made, while Natalie and my mom prepared our delicious lunch of shrimp & grits!  

The cupcakes & cake pops were made by BitterSweets Cupcakery, a baker I discovered through my friend Kristi the week of the Baptism & I recommended her to my sister.  The butter cream & red velvet were SO delicious! 

All of them family was there (minus Hollis) & so in love with sweet beautiful Emory.

It's quite the difficult task to get a picture with both the kiddos! 

 photo courtesy of Natalie

The precious babe napped through the majority of the day honoring her.... 

 ... as did Ben & I after we got home and watched the Masters.  

Date night for sushi with hubby, yard work, laying pine straw, more sushi with friends, and a movie rounded out our wonderful weekend!   

and just as I did with Bennett's Baptism post, I leave you with this prayer for Emory:

'Lord, surround this child with goodness,

lead her in your light each day;

Help her walk the path You've chosen,

guide her steps along the way...

Teach her, Lord, to trust your wisdom with a faith from up above;

Keep her from all harm,

and bless her always with your grace and love'

let's get cookin'

I have always had a passion for food & a good family meal.  I grew up not going to restaurants on weeknights or much at all (except for vacations & special occasions) and having home cooked meals at home every night!  When I lived at home, my mom cooked us breakfast in the mornings, packed my lunch for school, and cooked a gourmet meal for the family every night.  I would say that in this sense, I was spoiled. :)  Now, when it's time for a family birthday or get together, we are a lot more likely to meet at my parents house than go out to a restaurant.  

I am also not picky at all.  We always tried different foods, were exposed to variant flavors, and tried to eat healthily.  I can remember tasting cows tongue in New York, Escargot in New Orleans, and most recently some sort of Livers in Spain (Ben's family was nowhere near ordering that dish)... For a while now, I have said that the only foods I don't like are peanuts, coffee, and yellow mustard.  While those are all 3 very popular items, they are really the main things I don't so much care for.  I'm willing to try anything!  

My mom has an extremely massive cookbook collection and cooked a lot of our meals from Cooking Light.  She has also helped compile & print 2 different cookbooks.  One for a medical society and the other is the "Setzler Family Cookbook." Most of our favorite family recipes are in there, and cooked frequently, and I also got a subscription to Cooking Light when I was in college.  Through the years my collection of recipes has grown as well, but I don't like to keep the whole magazine once I have cooked from it.  Instead, I ripped out the recipes I like and throw the magazine away.  Now, with the popularity of the internet, many recipes I get from blogs, emails, or websites, I print out to cook from.  My stack of pages became too much and every time I tried to find a particular recipe, I had to search through hundreds of pages to find THAT one.  

My mom had a similar problem, and several months ago she came up with a solution to the disorganized stack of paper.  Being an organizational freak, in turn, this week I followed suit and copied her idea.  

My very own binder cookbook:

The process was actually pretty easy and not as time consuming as I thought it would be.  Here is a cell phone picture of the process of separating all the different kinds of recipes into individual stacks (basics like chicken, pork, beef, appetizers, desserts, etc)

Then I found a "D ring" binder that I wasn't using in our office.  I purchased 24 extra large color coded dividers and a package of 200 sheet protectors.  Off to work I went... Putting all the recipes in the plastic sheet protectors behind the individual categories (in alphabetical order of course)... 

I printed the category labels and a cute little title page with a fun font and a cupcake I found from "Fonts for Peas".

It's quite thick but really easy to use!  I have already cooked from it this week, quickly finding what I needed from the "fish," "sides," and "sauces" tabs. 

Whether it's fun recipes I haven't tried yet but want to soon, ripped from an old Cooking Light cookbook...

Or recipes my sister has shared on her blog and I printed out, even with calories per serving already figured out! 

Everything is in there and so easy to find!  I went through a cooking lull for a while there, but the past 2 weeks I have been cooking more regularly.  I think this new book is going to help make it easier as well!  Ben will thank me :)

Happy Cooking!