2013

Ugh, it's been almost two months since my last post...  It's seems like I've neglecting this but really I haven't!  I've been doing some hidden posts that I'll reveal here in the next month-ish.  Yay!

But for now I'd like to recap my wonderful 2012!

The year started out slow, lots of work for both the hubby and I but we had a great time this summer and fit a lot of activities in. 

 - We celebrated out 2nd wedding anniversary - and no we did not take a picture; how did that even happen?!

- We visited my sister out in Arizona and celebrated her graduation from college.

- We traveled to Texas to watch my college friend Sara get married.

© J&D Productions, LLC

 - We stopped at Ball State to watch my brother in law's baseball team. (He was a grad student for athletic training) 

...and while we were at Ball State we watched Andrew graduate with his masters degree.  We have such a smart family. =) (poor hubby stuck behind my giant heels, woops!)

- Celebrated Grand Valley by going to the Enrichment Dinner for the second year

- Re-did our office and moved it to the basement

- Went to Atlanta for a mini vacation and ate at lots of yummy restaurants, became part of dracon-con without even really knowing it and watched our first live NASCAR race.

- Celebrated our cousins wedding in the early fall.

© April Joy Galbreath

 

 

 - Hubby was promoted to Sergeant.

- Visited Art Prize in Grand Rapids.

- And finally we finished the year up by celebrating another wonderful Christmas.

We had such a blessed year full of lots of family and vacations. 

We are anxiously waiting for this coming year, for lots more family time and fun vacations.

Stuffed Peppers

Not gonna lie, I don't think this is much of a recipe because really I just took anything I had in the fridge to make this and kinda winged it but I figured if anything you can learn a little something about improvising.  Recipes for me a just a guideline but I don't follow them most of the time.  

Ingredients:  

Salt and Pepper

10 Small Peppers (I used the last of the peppers from our garden this year!)

1/4 of a large onion, chopped

1 Left Over Chicken Breast

Instant Rice

1/2 C Croutons

Chicken Stalk

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Prep the peppers by cutting the tops and emptying out the insides.

2. Make the rice according to the package directions except add half of the liquid as chicken stalk.  That will give the rice a lot more flavor.  Set aside. 

3. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces as well as one pepper and the onion. On the stove-top cook down until nice and tender. Salt and pepper as you go along.  Once it's cooked mix it with the cooked rice. 

4. Salt and pepper the inside of the peppers and spoon in the rice mixture into the pepper. Crumble the croutons in a small baggie and sprinkle on top. You might have to push down a little so they nestle into the top of the pepper. 

5. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until the peppers looked cooked through and the top of the croutons are nice and golden brown.  

I say this is a nice meal, hubby said it was a snack.  You be the judge.

Enjoy!

Fall is soooo close! I can taste it!

The air is crisp, the leaves are changing color and the fall decorations are making their rounds around the house.  Ahh... the smell of fall! I can't get enough.  

I pulled out the table goodies.

I decorated the front door.

...and I even made a yummy recipe.  Stuffed peppers! Recipe to follow shortly!
Recipe Here (Link)

Art Prize 2012

This weekend was full of lots of fun. Hubby and I spent a busy weekend with friends and family.  One of the best parts of the weekend was spending time with my sister in law Molly and Hubby.  We went downtown Grand Rapids to check out Art Prize.  There were so many people around, it was super crazy.  We got to see just a fraction of what is around the city.  We saw a massive trend of animal art and decided to do some funny picture poses. 

Hubby and Mol doing the T-Rex Pose

Mol doing the Robot Pose (ok, thats not an animal...but it was still cute)

 Horses?  Well... it was attempted at least.

Cute little penguins!

We also hosted a party this weekend for the student dispatchers that work at Jeff's Police Department.  There was major cooking and baking going on but it came out pretty close to perfect.  The only thing we forgot was napkins and I was able to get those before I left the house with the chicken fingers. We also had an assortment of dipping sauces, cinnamon sugar fruit salsa with cinnamon sugar pita chips and my recipe for mini chocolate chip cheesecakes. All in all I would say the party and the weekend as a whole was a great success!