Valentine's Day

This year all I really wanted was quality time for Valentine's Day. Trevor is right at his busiest time during busy season so he gets home after I've already fallen asleep and I'm usually gone in the mornings before he wakes up - occasionally he wakes up to have breakfast with me. So we celebrated Valentine's twice this weekend. 

On Friday night we had a night in!

We grilled some Omaha steaks we got from a friend - Thanks Katy!! along with asparagus and veggie kabobs (onions, bell peppers, zucchini and squash). Delic!!!

And then we ended the night with my yummy Oreo cheesecake!! *Cheesecake Factory's got nothing on me!*

On Saturday Trevor had to work for 10 hours so I hung out with this guy...

Then when Trevor got off work we got all dressed up and headed to Mahogany. 

We have only eaten there once for one of Trevor's work events and I couldn't get over how amazing their salmon was, so Trevor decided to splurge on me for V-day and take me back!! As I expected, it was AMAZING!! 

So all in all I got exactly what I wanted for Valentine's Day- some QT! 😘

On Sunday, Trevor again had to work 10 hours, so I got up and made him sour cream pancakes! If you have not tried these, you are missing out!!! We won't eat a normal pancake again...they are that good!! Recipe here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2013/04/edna-maes-sour-cream-pancakes/

That evening I got to do something really exciting!! I will now be singing praise and worship at the lifechurch in BA and I could not be more excited!! Sunday evening was my first time and I had such an amazing experience! It was truly uplifting to be a part of it and it was an honor to work with such talented people!! I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity! 

-thanks for the photo Rhett!!!

I hope everyone had an amazing Valentine's Day weekend. I know it is just a corny little holiday, but I think it is a great reminder to love. Whether it be a spouse, fiancé, boyfriend/girlfriend, friend, neighbor, coworker...who ever we interact with. God calls us to love - Him, your neighbors, your enemies - more than you love yourself. And those small special things we do on Valentine's Day to show love, well those are things that we should do every day! I think it is just a great reminder to put others before ourselves and to show random acts of loving kindness!

The man replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbours as much as you love yourself.’ ” (Luke 10:27)

God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. (Galatians 5:22, 23)

Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. Love each other as brothers and sisters and honour others more than you do yourself. (Romans 12:9, 10)

Yummy OREO Cheesecake

Trevor's favorite dessert is cheesecake, so I have been wanting to make him one! He really isn't a dessert person, but I secretly know he can't pass up a good cheesecake. 

I wanted to do an Oreo one so I just started googling recipes. Some sounded really complicated, so honestly I chose the one that looked easy! Some of the reviews said to add a couple ingredients, so I took all the reviews into considerations and here is what I did:

Ingredients:

36 Oreos

3 tbs butter, melted

3 packages cream cheese (8 oz each)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla

3 eggs 

Optional: 2 oz chocolate chips & 1/3 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place 20 cookies in a resealable bag. Flatten bag and get out all the air. Finely crush the Oreos. I used a rolling bin and slightly beat them. Place in bowl and add melted butter. Mix together. Place the Oreos in the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and press firmly. 

2. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, heavy cream, and vanilla in a mixer until well blended. Add eggs one at a time. Crush up 10 Oreos and gently stir those into the batter. Pour over prepared crust. Crush up the remaining 6 Oreos and sprinkle those on the top.

Optional: I melted the chocolate chips and mixed it with the heavy cream and put it in a zip lock bag. I snipped a corner of the ziplock back and made designes on the top of the cheesecake with the chocolate. I'm no professional cake maker, so my design was nothing special, but it added a little flavor, so I liked it. 

3. Bake 40-45 min or until center is almost set. (I baked mine about 50 minutes and I should have pulled it out of the oven a little earlier!) Cool. Refrigerate for 3 hours! Then ENJOY!!

This was my first time ever making a cheesecake and Trevor loved it!!! So I'd say it was a success!! It was delicious if I do say so myself! 

 

HAPPY BAKING!!!

Best Valentine's Day Present Ever!!

Although Winston turned 5 in December, today is our 5 year anniversary with him (I find any reason to celebrate!) Ever since I can remember I wanted a little puppy. We had a cocker spaniel growing up and eventually we got a dachshund when I was in middle school but they were always outside dogs (my mom grew up on a farm and would never let a dog inside!) So I always wanted a small inside puppy! I have always loved puppies! Trevor wasn't so fond of foofoo dogs and basically told me he would never get one...until one day! We were at my big's house and her room mate had a Yorkie Poo. Trevor mentioned that he actually thought that dog was pretty cool...so I knew right then that I could talk him into a Yorkie Poo. I started searching and to be completely honest, I'm not sure how long I looked for the perfect one, but around Christmas I saw this picture...

This was the photo posted online and I knew he HAD to be mine!!! His little pre-name was Elvis (if you know me, you know I'm in love with Elvis Presley) and he was wrapped in an OSU blanket. It was fate! When Trevor saw this he knew he was in trouble! 

He asked my family if they wanted to help purchase him for my 21st birthday, but they all told him he was crazy and said no to helping out! (Like I said, they aren't really dog people...however, fast forward a year and they LOVE him!! They would actually get mad if I didn't bring him home with me when I visited them from college). Trevor decided to get him for me anyway as a Valentine's Day/21st Birthday Present. 

Trevor and I went to see the puppies in person and I just knew I had to have the one I fell in love with through a computer screen. Trevor and I had planned to go and pick him up on Valentine's Day (in 2009) but Trevor had other plans! He got him on the 13th with a friend and surprised me!!! My roommate and I went to get ice cream and when we got home Trevor was in our house holding this sweet puppy! I was sooooo excited!! At the time I was debating between the names Winston and Otto (Otto was my first choice, but Trevor really like Winston-which actually started off as a joke.) But that night as I was watching tv he curled up next to a bunch of children's books in my room (I was an elementary edu major and was working on a children's book project) and he just looked so cute and nerdy, I knew Winston was the perfect name for him! 

Winston was really the first gift that Trevor got me that symbolized us having a future because although Winston was a gift to me, he has always been "our dog."

He really is the sweetest puppy and the best cuddle bug!

 

Now you know a little bit more about our family! ;)

I hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow! ❤️

Love Story

Who doesn’t LOVE to think about their LOVE STORY around Valentine’s Day? I saw a post similar to this and thought it was cute, so here goes mine! :)

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

 

HIGH SCHOOL SWEET HEARTS!! We started dating our junior year of high school on December 8th 2004! We are going on our 10th year together!

 

 

 

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

 

In a nutshell, our best friends at the time were dating and set us up on a date + we had our DECA class together junior year. We had one of the most interesting and expensive first dates!

 

 

3. If married, how long have you been married?

 

Two and a half years filled with love and laughter!

 

 

4. If you are married, where did you get married? Big or small wedding?

 

We got married at Loughridge in Tulsa, OK. We had about 200 people attend and it was the best day of my life!

 

 

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another?

 

I honestly don't have one for Trevor, but Trevor calls me J or Jilly Bean.

 

 

 

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

 

1. He will do whatever he can to make me happy.

 

2. He is my best friend. He has been there for me during the highest highs and the lowest lows and he still continues to encourage me, support me and most importantly LOVE me!

 

3. He is such a hard worker and will do anything to support our family.

 

 

7. Tell us how he proposed?

 

We were in Dallas at Trevor's fraternity (Phi Delt) formal. We were all dressed up and ready to head down to the dinner and when we stopped back by the room to grab a couple things there were tea light candles all over our room with 100 reasons why he loved me scattered all over the room. It was so sweet and thoughtful!

 

 

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

 

Based on our proposal, I'm sure you can guess that one...definitely a strawberries, champagne and rose petals guy. He loves to set the mood and make it special. (Our proposal included all 3 of those things :))

 

 

 

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

 

Although I love relaxing on the couch watching a movie, I love the sunset dinner on the beach scenario. Actually, that was my wedding present from Trevor. On our honeymoon we got to have a romantic dinner on the beach with our own personal butler and a rose petal walk way!

 

 

 

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

 

I want to go on a 2 week (or longer) vacation to Europe and travel all over! We talk about it all the time, I'm sure we will make it happen in the next few years!

 

 

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

 

We are going to have dinner together at Mahogany's. YUM

 

 

 

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

 

We actually already gave each other our gifts (surprise surprise). We just got some things we needed for the house. I got Trevor a broiler pan and he got me glass Tupperware and the new Pioneer Woman cookbook.

 

 

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

 

Do things that your spouse likes to do, even if you wouldn't normally choose to do it. For one, you get to see your spouse doing something he/she loves and two, you might really enjoy it! Plus, you are making unforgettable memories together!

 

 

14.  Show us a picture of what love means to you.

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day! <3

Vintage O & The Superbowl

This weekend we had lots of fun things planned! On Friday we had our neighbors over and cooked a great meal and played some Uno - yeah, I feel old admitting that!

On Saturday Trevor had to work in the morning til about 4 then we were headed to Vintage O-State Alumni Event! Trevor somehow got 4 tickets to go to the event so we asked some friends to join- thanks for coming Katie and Andrew! We might have been the youngest people there, but we had a great time! They had a few silent auctions that we thought about bidding on, but nothing stood out to us and then they had a real auction, but there were some high rollers there that we couldn't compete with!

I even got to cross something off my bucket list...getting a picture with Pistol Pete!!

 

And of course we had to take advantage of the photo booth!

No one was ready for the first one...

This one is my fav!

 

We literally were the last ones at the event - then we went and gambled lost all our money a little bit...We went back to Katie and Andrew's and hung out after the event and ended up staying up until 4 am! I can't tell you the last time I was awake that late!

The next morning we woke up to SNOW! I couldn't believe it! I heard there was a chance of snow, but I really didn't think we would get much. 

The dogs obviously LOVED it:

 

That afternoon we went to church and then to Reasor's to pick up the ingredients for our Superbowl festivities!

We decided to make Jalapeno Poppers and Stuffed Mushrooms...they both turned out fantastic!

 

My amazing husband helped me get things ready!...

Poppers before they went into the oven - I use the pioneer woman's recipe for these... and my favorite part is putting apricot jelly on them! Yum! ;) recipe **I add green onion and shredded cheese to the cream cheese!

Mushrooms!! Short Version - get 2 lbs of mushrooms and they are stuffed with 8 oz cream cheese, 1 lb sausage, 1/4 onion (chopped finely), 2 celery stalks (chopped finely), and 1/4 of a can of chopped black olives. Bake for 30 min on 350.
You won't be disappointed, they are delicious!! Thanks Vanessa for the recipe!

We decided to make Superbowl Squares and place our bets....Congratulations Samy and Brandon for winning them ALL!!! We decided they needed the money with baby Quinn coming soon! :)

Here is a picture of the amazing food!

 

We had a great time hanging out with our friends and watching the game. To be honest, the commercials didn't wow me, but I do have one favorite!! (I bet you can guess which one that was!)



That adorable puppy reminds me so much of Whiskey! :)

 

Now off to a week of more SNOW! I can't believe we have another snow day today - oh the life of being a teacher! We will be teaching until July at this rate...so I'm going to enjoy my day while I can!

HAPPY SNOWDAY!