Enjoy Your Turkey! We're Lovin' Our HAM!

...Gratitude...

Today my heart is full of JOY! True JOY! I feel so much GRATITUDE for my FATHER IN HEAVEN, and for my SAVIOR. I wish I could express in more words the MIRACLES that Erick and I have seen in our lives. Today I guess, is just a day I have reflected on those MIRACLES and I know more than ever, that the LORD has a PLAN for our lives, and that our lives are in HIS HANDS when we live righteously. The LORD has answered many of our PRAYERS and in every TENDER and SWEET way, I feel so THANKFUL.

Recipes

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade

2 chicken bouillon cubes

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)

1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

For the pastry:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

Ingredients

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

12 vanilla wafers

1 (21-ounce) can blueberry filling, or other pie filling

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place a paper cupcake liner in each cup of a muffin pan.

Beat cream cheese with a handheld electric mixer until fluffy. Add sugar and vanilla, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Place a vanilla wafer, flat side down, in each muffin cup. Spoon cream cheese mixture over wafers. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow tarts to cool completely. Serve with blueberry filling on top, or pie filling of your choice.

...LIFE....

I LOVE LIFE! Yes, I love the life I live, but I'm talking about LIFE the CEREAL! I am a cereal fanatic! I eat at least two bowls of cereal a day. It makes me happy. My new favorite favorite favorite cereal is LIFE: Maple and Brown Sugar. Give it a try! It rocks!

It's so Mmmmm Mmmmmm GOOD!

...Baking...

I love cooking, baking, and trying fun new recipes. These are two recipes I recently tried and just loved! The Pot Pie was especially fun because of the Holiday Season. Sometimes its just all about the comfort foods!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

Chicken Pot Pie

YUM!

Guess who's ticklish?

Happy Halloween!

This year for Halloween Erick and I were 70s/hippies and Cooper was a darling little turtle! Our motto was "save the turtles", instead of save the whales. Here's a few fun pics from our ward Trunk or Treat.

ADOPTION

As you can see I have been busy updating all the fun we have had in the last few weeks. But this post is one I have been waiting to write for months now! Erick and I are finally :OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: ! We are certified to :ADOPT: and our profile is up on :PARENTPROFILES.COM: ! We both can hardly believe the : PROMPTINGS : FEELINGS : PRAYERS : AND MIRACLES : that have brought us to this point.

I am usually all about the pics on my blog and very rarely do I stop and write my feelings or journal about an event. But my heart is full and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Since Erick and I got married we knew we would most likely never bare our own children. From the beginning we were so excited about adoption and knew it would be part of our lives. Because getting pregnant is one of the best treatments for endometriosis, which I have severely, we pursued fertility treatments. Long story short, after lots and lots of prayers and miracles, Cooper came to us through InVitro. We felt so blessed to have a child and love him more than anything! He has been the joy of our lives!

When I was about 4 months pregnant Erick and I both had very personal and amazing feelings about adoption. We discussed that we hadn't even had Cooper yet, but could not deny the feelings that we needed to start the adoption process NOW. So we did! We got all our paperwork done pronto, and received the go ahead through LDS Family Services that after Cooper was born, we could post our profile on parentprofiles.com.

So today we are official! We are so excited we can hardly stand it. We can't wait for our little family to grow and even more so are just waiting to see what the Lord has in store for us.

Something very special and not something we have told many people, is that after we found out we were prego, we ended up back in the doctor's office worried we were miscarrying. Come to find out that we had been pregnant with twins. That day, almost a year ago, we lost one of our little babies, but were fortunate enough to keep Cooper. We can't help but feel there is a sweet little spirit trying to get to our family. One way or another we know it will work out!

The Lord has shown His Hand in our lives so many times. We have seen many miracles! Miracles when Erick was injured in Iraq and lost his foot, miracles with my health, miracles getting pregnant, and miracles getting Cooper here healthy and strong. We have no doubt that ADOPTION will be yet another miracle in our lives.

We'll keep you posted! And we invite you to help us spread the word and share with friends and family our excitement about going forth with adoption.

Old Stomping Grounds and Family Fun!

While in UT we also had the chance to see Erick's fam and run around our old college stomping grounds.

Andy and Katie had us all over for a fabulous Sunday Picnic on their amazing new patio. We had so much fun playing with grandbabies too!

Later Erick and his Papa took a hike up Saddle Rock. What an amazing view of the whole valley!

Couldn't resist running up to the USU Campus and walking down memory lane where Erick and I met, dated, got married, and finished both our degrees. Talk about memories here! Eek took lots of pics of me and Coop on Old Main Hill. We had so much fun!

Ashley, we wish you lived by us! You are the best little baby sitter evah!

What a bunch of HUNKS!

This moment was priceless!

And so was this one!

Erick is always the giant TOY and MAIN ATTRACTION for the grandkids. I love that I married a big KID!

Little Allie and Cooper....just weeks apart!

Congrats Linds!

Congrats to Linds and Kev-O! Their little baby boy Logan is almost here! A few weeks ago I had the chance to go to Utah and celebrate this little miracle with all my fam. for Lindsey's BABY SHOWER. Linds and Kevin we know you have been waiting so long for this and we are just so happy for you!

Our sis MEGAN did all the planning for this fun event. From decorations to a fabulous menu, she rocked it! Megs.....you planned the perfect party! It all turned out so darling!

Hope you all enjoy a PLETHERA of pics!

Play Time With Daddy!

Every day Erick comes home and has playtime with Cooper. No one can make Coop laugh and coo like Dad! Isn't he cute!

YUM!

Hey Cooper! What's for Dinner????

PIZZA?!?!?! Pizza that Daddy cooked on the GRILL?

YAY! You like that idea? Sounds Yummy Huh!

Mmmmm! It was YUMMY! Thanks Dad!

: A Few More of My Favorites :