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Well I haven't blogged because honestly I don't feel like I've had much to say. First off I want to post a picture for my fellow blogger of something I drew!

So what do you think? is it the same bridge?

Ok so about my life... We're kind of starting to slow down a little bit. The lawn doesn't need to be mowed as often as it use to, which is a wonderful thing. However we're almost at the end of gardening and so there seems to be a bountiful supply of tomatoes for me to take care of. I canned some and made one batch of salsa. I still have a box of tomatoes in my fridge that I need to take care of but I'm kind of debating as what I should do with them. They're the grape tomatoes and so I'm not sure if I want to take the time to peel the skins off of all of them so that I can either can or make salsa with them. I'm really happy with the salsa recipe that I got from my mom though, it tastes great!

I've scrapbooked more since my last post, however, I wasn't able to upload them for some reason... I don't have the flash drive with me today or I would post. I was trying to have a book made for our anniversary of our first year together. It was a nice thought but epic fail! :( I'm still planning on making it but the program that I reallllly want costs a LOT of money so I'm debating as to what I should do!

Our Anniversary is this weekend! I can't believe a year has flown by, it has been a very good one! I look forward to the next year and all the adventures it holds! This next weekend we're taking a trip to Lancaster, PA for our anniversary! WE're pretty excited and hoping for a relaxing weekend.

My friend www.joeandbetsy.com are taking part in this food contest and the last part they had to do was a fancy dinner party! It looked like so much fun it inspired me to have a nice dinner party. SO we'll see maybe I'll do something creative again soon. I haven't done much this summer since I've been keeping busy with outside work and other things :)

Ok well I know this is a pretty boring update but I don't have my camera card here to upload pictures! :) I have some pretty cool caterpillar pictures... COMING SOON!

Have a good week everyone! Have you guys been up to anything creative or exciting lately?!!?

not much

I made this in honor of my best friend and sister on one of the most important days of my life!

I haven't done much worthy of blogging! I did go to NYC last weekend, but guess what... I think I might have taken one picture the entire time. It wasn't a sight seeing trip and it seems like normal visits miss out on the camera action. I spent most of Saturday washing windows w/ my mother-in-law and that late Saturday night we went into the city to meet up w/ friends. It wasn't as great as we thought it would be... Someone (clearing throat) wanted to go to Applebees for dinner. I laughed at them, I couldn't belieive they were in NYC and wanted to go to Applebees. But after walking down many authentic streets we came back around to Applesbees so that's where we went, unfortunately. A word of advice don't go NEAR this place in NYC. Asa and I got boneless, buffalo chicken wings, and two drinks and our bill was TWENTY EIGHT dollars! I couldn't believe it! I was already frustrated about eating there and then the bill was so Huge on top of it all! (not a very great trip into the city if you couldn't tell)

We got home Sunday night around 10:30 ish and then I started working on Monday. My week has flown by. My boss is gone for two weeks so I'm working for her. I get home make dinner and crash, I literally have no inspiration to do anything. My cucumbers and beans are piling up, that's for sure. However, on Monday I got home and my parents had mowed my entire lawn! It was such a blessing... I have the best neighbors in the world!

I have been attempting digital scrapbooking :) It's pretty fun... :) --I'm hoping to get our first year scrapbooked before my trial subscription is up :D

The longest post ever :)

Hey Everyone! I can't believe how long it's been since I've written. Today I was reading someone's blog and was inspired to write again. Our trip was long but we had a really good time. There were some stretching , there were some moments in which we had to lay down our rights and think of what God would want us to do. Our Bible study lately has been studying the Sermon on the mount. So many times we times we have read this passage however, we don't really think about what we're reading and how we can truely apply it to our lives and live it out. But the moment we start living it out 100 % we start living an abundant live and I think i got a little taste of that on the trip! It was amazing!

Since we got home from the trip we've been so busy with gardens, lawns, and harvesting our beautiful produce. We also made a quick trip to Buffalo to visit my cousins for my one cousin's graduation party. Asa so kindly let me stay longer and spend time w/ my travel buddy! We hadn't see eachother for 9 months so i'm sure you can imagine we had a lot of catching up to do. It's amazing how with some friends, even after long periods of time, you can still pick up right where you left off!!

Today I canned pickles, made refridgerator pickles and froze beans. It's soooo rewarding!!!
Following are the past few weeks in pictures, I'm sure there are some that are missing... but I can add them later! :) Enjoy===

Ready for the long trip of 21 hours one way!




First stop... Indiana... A great Sunday with friends

Traveling hand in hand <3 href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqtUnkgq5ZzyFFY-UKeNscI6AQKfBG6jhuC7nrNA5A-cgRa41LWbmmWxOGDGdTeG3rlZkVziKzMeYtmpm6-mSJOTlpRpTqF3b3zkqptZJbiIWnizzx7_qWbuPgOrmFDAM2WbhPRC4H-Bza/s1600/File0434.JPG">

Oklahoma -- another state off my list

SONIC!!!!!!!!! His brother's had never tried Sonic before!

My Sister-in law and her youngest

I love my husband <3>

Family Adventures

A new Neice ... I enjoyed spending time and getting to know my New Neice Leah

A New pet???

An excited Bride....



Our little camper for the week

back to Indiana to visit family.... and friends

My empty buckets ready for wheat

Beautiful Wheat

We made Ice cream on night and our little cousin got the special beater cause she helped me make everything.

Asa and his uncle before we left EARLY in the morning!

We got home and spent a little time until we left for our next trip to camp for the 4th of July-Then we had
Some newly wed visitors <3>

Working in the Garden

We also found a bunch of honey bees building their home in our house! We now have honey bees :) Here are pics of our friends enjoying the smalllll harvest...

We watched Asa while he worked for HOURS transfering the bees to their new home

Everyone wanted a taste!! It was sooo sweet!

The bees hard at work!

Asa in our most favorite place ... the garden!

One week our cucumbers were this small

And the next week we have a five gallon bucket FULLL of cucumbers

Our newest projects are painting glass bottles and old windows and making them into beautiful objects!! It's soo much fun!

Traveling...

We're finally off... first stop Indiana... second stop MO.... third stop Oklahoma!

I will hopefully check in ... I'll miss reading all your blogs!

Erin

Rhubarb Recipe!!!

Ok sorry it's taken me so long to post again! So much for being on top of things for posting :) Today is going to be a busy day for me! I'm planning on getting some painting accomlished in my Scrapbooking/Sewing room! I'm super excited and a little nervious that the color will be too bright! We'll just have to see. I'm paint the walls, honey tea and the trim Brilliant Oak. :) It just sounds nice doesn't it? I'll try to take pictures and post them when it's finished. It's going to be a little sad working a lone.. but I'll manage :)

Here's the Rhubarb Coffee cake recipe. I'm going to start by warning you there is a LOT of sugar in it :-/ I couldn't believe as I kept adding sugar to each part, as I made it, how much there was in it! I would also suggest you make it for a crowd becuase it doesn't taste as good after a couple days. I was actually going to ask my mom if you could cut it in half... but I forgot. So if you feel like experimenting go for it!!!

Start with making the Rhubarb filling:

-Cook on med. heat 3 cups rhubarb and 16 oz of sweetened strawberries covered for 5 minutes (I was worried about it burning but it was fine if you make sure it's not on high)

Add to mixture after 5 minutes:

2 TBS lemon juice

1 Cup Sugar

1/3 Cup Corn Starch

Cook and stir for 5 minutes until mixture is thick and bubbling. Then set it in the fridge to cool while continuing with the rest of the Cake.

Mix and cut 1 cup of Margarine or butter into :

3 Cups Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder.

Beat together Wet ingredients :

1 Cup buttermilk

2 Slightly Beaten eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet mixture and spread 1/2 the mix in a 9X13 pan. Spread cooled rhubarb mix over and put remaining batter in clumps over the top of the rhubarb. Sprinkle top with crumb mixture:

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Flour

1/4 Cup Margerine or Butter

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 - 45 minutes!

Then enjoy!!! I made mine the night before we were going to eat it and it tasted AMAZING the next day!!!

Another great rhubarb recipe is to make Rhubarb sauce! It has been an easy favorite of Asa and mine this spring. It's a great way to use up Rhubarb fast. All you do is you cut up the rhubarb into inch sized pieces (I liked mine a little longer). Then you put them in a pot with a LITTLE water and boil covered for a little bit and then uncover and boil it into a sauce.

Add the amount of sugar you want and cool. Or eat it warm over icecream. Once cool cut up oranges in it and enjoy!

It's really easy and tasty. I like it really sweet but Asa liked it sour :) I've also tried freezing it like you would Apple Sauce. I'm not sure how it turned out yet, I'll have to send it in Asa's lunch tomorrow and ask him what he thinks of it :)

Well everyone, have a great week! What are some cooking projects you've been making? Any exciting Summer plans? We're planning a trip to MO for my brother-in-law's wedding. We'll be gone for about 2 weeks!!! :-o

Hope you're enjoying the cooler weather! :)

I have it's given me a break from my even pressing job:

Erin

PS I want to post some gardening pictures soon! Our veggies are all up and look amazing! It's been fun watching them grow soooo fast!

Hello Everyone! Time for a new update....

This weekend was mothers day and we had a very relaxing day with our family, the Waltons, and out new very great friends the Easleys. Saturday though we went to a wedding and had a great time with all the people I use to work with at Garf's! It was nice being all together again!

I made this amazing Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee cake! It was soooo yummy! I started making it after 10 and it took a while to make! I was finally finished with it around 12 am. I kept telling myself that my mom would do something like this for me... SO I kept working at it ;) And it was appreciated by almost everyone! Here's a picture of it!

I thought I'd share my lilac tree picture with all of you! It's soo beautiful this year! I'm so happy with it!

Here's a picture of the black walnut trees we chopped down!

I hope you all have a good week!

Lazy blogger

I think everyone must have the same blogging illness. It seems like everyone who blogs is saying the same thing, "we just don't feel like blogging". I really haven't been in the mood to blog either. I think that most of my illness is due to lack of comments :D I'm not going to threaten to shut down my blog, and I'm not saying this to get a flood of comments. I merely want to let everyone who comments know how much they are appreciated! NOW for those of you who don't know how or simply don't comment you should realize how much I don't like stalkers ;) I do acknowledge that my blog is not as exciting as others. I'm trying to spice it up... that's why I post some interactive question at the end... but that hasn't even helped you guys come out of your shells! I will try to be a more exciting and frequent blogger!!!

Tonight i am sitting on my porch and enjoy the cool breeze blow over my sun kissed arms! I was mowing all day so it's nice for the little break! THe lawn has just been cut and there's a lilac bush just around the corner. Close your eyes and imagine the smell... it's amazing! I have been realizing more and more how thankful I am that winter is now behind us! The spring has been a very welcomed season and it makes me feel alive!

Asa and I are starting to get our garden planted. we were all ready to plant when we found out that black walnut trees are not helpful in growing gardens. In fact they kill most of the plants we are planting! So Dad took care of our problem but cutting down three trees tonight during dinner! I think he was feeling distructive!

The other weekend we went to NYC... here are some of the random pictures we took! We had such a great time... I love that city! <3

The other weekend we went to NYC...

Some kittens we found...

and then this weekend we were attacked by ants.... that's the pretty quick version of what's happening!

Goodnight all... I'll try to be better at blogging!

Erin