My Latest Project

  Life has been crazy and hectic, as I'm sure it has been for more people.  God has been teaching and molding, life has continued to move quickly, change has happened....
  I have finally gotten out of the "I'm so sick I can't function" stage of pregnancy.  Slowly my energy returns and with it the urgency of wanting to get things done better this baby gets here.  :)  So, I have slowly begun to work on projects I have been wanting to do for a while.
  The latest one is this earring rack...

  I love the way it turned out.  Layton helped me put it together using precut frame pieces from Hobby Lobby, Gorilla glue, and chicken wire from Home Depot.  It was super easy and then I painted it and distressed it with an ink pad.  :)
  Not a huge or glorious project, but it is a small step to getting everything done before June!  Only 20 weeks till this baby gets here and I am going to be as ready as I can be.  ;)

Hinkle Colorado Vacation

  Catch-up post number 1.
  We went to CO with Holly, Larry, and Chewy back in August.  It was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed getting away.  Though it was a lot of car time since we went to 3 different destinations.
  There was lot so laughter and talk, games and hiking, telling each other not to panic while in the mountains and telling Chewy to scoot over!  :)  Coffee, sights, and fresh air.
  Our first stop was to see Kim and her family.  She was a high school friend of Holly's and they hadn't seen each other in 23 years!  We stayed with their family in Denver and got to go up to Estes Park.  It was a lot of fun getting to know new people and see new places.  :)

  This is Kim's family.  The girls were so sweet!  They adopted these two girls and then have three grown kids of their own.  :)

  We stopped at the cutest little coffee shop on the way up the mountain.  But sadly we found out a couple weeks after we got home that it is no longer there, due to the big flood that went through Estes.

  We stopped half way up the mountain and did some hiking and enjoyed the fresh air and time out of the car!  We had been in the car for 14 hours the day before this, so stretching our legs was a much needed experience.  :)

Oh the love!  ;)

Beautiful, beautiful!!!

We made it up the mountain safe and sound.  It was super cold at the top so we didn't stay up for too long.  :)  And then it was quite an adventure getting back down the mountain and out of Estes due to a bike race that was taking place that day.

  Next stop in our trip was to see Holly's mom and her husband Ed.  We enjoyed our time with them and it was a little more relaxed which was nice.  We played games, went to coffee, walked the dogs, and went ATVing in the mountains.  Lots and lots of fun!

  Playing dominos.  We were all laughing so hard that I couldn't get a good picture.  =P

Attempting to get the second four wheeler out of the truck without unhooking the trailer.  They got it, but I was quite nervous the whole time.

Half way up this mountain...  We stopped at this beautiful waterfall and an abandoned gold mine close by.  Needless to say... the boys did get gold fever.  You will see more of that later on.

  And our last stop of the trip was to see Holly's dad and his wife Wina.  They were super sweet the whole time we were there.  Continually try to give us anything and everything we wanted.  While we were there the guys went dirt biking, we went hiking in the mountains and had a picnic lunch, had dinner with Holly's brother Rick, and went tubbing down the river one day.  Lots of fun and we enjoyed all the sunshine.  :)

The waterfall we hiked to when we were up in the mountains. Absolutely beautiful!

My beautiful mother-in-law.  :)

The guys with gold fever.  They panned and panned and panned.  I thought they would never quite so we could get to Rick's in time for dinner.  ;)

And this is from the day we went tubbing.  It was beautiful weather and the water was perfect.

  The next day we headed home.  We had a wonderful time but were definitely ready to get back to Texas and all we had left there.  It was a really long ride home, but we worth the trip.  :)  Next time maybe we can make this trip while it is snowing...  :)

Birthday Blessings

  I know, it really has been forever.  But I have to admit... updating my blog has been nowhere near number 1 on my priority list.  Between still getting settled in from the move, not having internet for quite a while, and then finding out that baby Hink is on the way, and all the sickness that has come with that news, I have not even thought about the blog until last week.
  So now, I am going to attempt to do better.  I have quite a few "catch-up" posts to do, but those will come later.  :)

  On with life... my birthday was this past week.  The big 21!!!  I was absolutely pampered all day.  :)  My husband made breakfast for me that morning and then we acted like we had never grown up by playing the wii for a little while.  After that the real celebrating began...

  First stop was a lunch date at Cheddar's.  Definitely one of my all time favorite restaurants.  :)  This is the onion ring appetizer... it is huge so don't expect to be hungry after eating these.  ;)

  And my sweet husband let me get a Dr. Pepper for my birthday!!!  I have decided to do one a month... and maybe one day I will give them up for good.

  Then it was movie date to go see the new Thor movie!  It was really good and we both enjoyed ourselves.  A very fun day out, but it definitely wore me out.  :)  I came home and crashed out on the couch.
  On top of all the wonderful things my husband did, I got many encouraging texts, facebook posts, and phone calls throughout the day.  I am one very blessed lady!!!

~Enjoy your weekend!  And the beautiful weather outside!!!

Pallet, Signs and Paint

  Okay. Here it is... The latest project. :)

  I really enjoyed working on this one and I had been looking forward to it for quite a while.

  Layton helped out a little. ;) He tore the pallet apart, cut the wood for me, and made sure I didn't mess it up while putting it together. :)

  And I took it from there... The sanding, painting, and hanging. So are you ready to see it?

  I worked on it for an evening and a day... It really didn't take very long at all and I absolutely love how it turned out.  So in case you want to do this sign or something like this, here is what I did step by step.

  First Layton brought home a pallet from work... He broke down the pallet so that I had 5 boards. I knew what size I wanted and just got enough boards to make the size. If you didn't have a pallet I would buy fence slats. He cut the length down to what I wanted. My sign was 16x20.

  Then I sanded each board down a little, just so that you wouldn't get any splinters by working with the wood. I wanted my wood very rustic, do I didn't sand much. I left all the nail holes and dents in the wood because I like what they add. :)

  Then come painting... I painted each slat with 1 coat of paint/primer. Make sure you get in all the crevices. I thought about sanding mine a little after this to make it even more rustic, but decided against it.  Then we bought baskets and 3/8 in. screws and put the boards together. At that point you should have this....

  Make sure you decide what side of the slat you want in front! These brackets were my favorite, but you could use hinges too.

  After that things get time consuming. ;) You either need a cricut or some stencils for this next part. I used my cricut to cut out my letters in the size I needed. I also used two different fonts, but you wouldn't have to. After that you place them in the board and see if you need to make any changes. At this point you should have this...

At this point I made sure I liked the spacing between the lines and all of that. Then I took a pen (you could use a pencil) and outlined the letters. This takes a while since the wood is so ruff. After that you start filling in all your letters with a very small paint brush. I bought the sample size paints at home depot. Sometimes you can find these on sale for 50 cents, but they might not be the color you like. I put the coats of orange on and one coat of charcoal grey. The nice thing about doing a rustic sign is you can't rally mess this part up... If you're painting isn't perfect it just adds more character. ;)

  And here it is, all hanging and beautiful. :)  I used the teeth hangers, but you could do wire too.  I love how it looks next to our wedding pictures. 

  So there you have it. A homemade sign that you couldn't buy that cheap! Change it up, make it your own, that's the fun in it. :)

~ God bless and happy crafting!

Torchy's Tacos

  So, this will be short and sweet... if you have not been to Torchy's Tacos then you must go this week!  haha...
  Layton and I journeyed there on a close friends suggestion.  We went with some friends of ours and everyone loved it.  It can be a little pricey for tacos, but for a fun date it is great.  :)

   Layton being silly.  :)  He was serious about his tacos.  I can't remember all the tacos we all tried, but our friend Andy tried a fried avocado taco and said it was great.

  These are my tacos... I had a sausage taco and a pulled brisket taco.  They were both amazing and the sauces they give you are out of this world.  :)
  Also, before you get out of your chair and run over to Torchy's... Remember to order their wonderful queso.  They make it with guacamole in the middle and a little of Torcy's special sauce over the top.  A most if you are to go!
  Please comment any fun restaurants you enjoy in the fort worth, arlington area.  We are always up for trying something new!

Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins

  So, I just HAD to share this recipe. It was so very yummy and I felt like it was different than anything else I make (which is important these days because I feel like I am making the same things over and over again).
  I got the recipe off of pinterest... Layton lived it. Though weird to the wise: it was really spicy, so if you want it calmed down a bit add less chilies. :)

Doesn't it look so amazing?!  I was so happy to find the recipe because it fits our food restrictions. :)
  So, for the recipe...

Chipotle Chicken Sweet Potato Skins

3 medium sweet potatoes
3/4 lb. chicken
1/4 c. olive oil
2T. lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 whole chipotle peppers
1t. oregano
1t. cumin
2t. Chili powder
Salt & Pepper
2 c. Spinach
5 oz. Monterey cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash potatoes, prick all over and place in oven for approximately 1 hour, our until cooked through.
Place chicken on baking dish and rub with oil, salt and pepper. Bake 25 minutes in oven. Allow to choo and then shred.
Cut sweet potatoes in half and cool 5-10 minutes.
Combine olive oil, lime, garlic, peppers and spices together in medium bowl. Set aside.
Wilt Spinach in small sauce pan and combine with chicken.
Turn oven to 400 degrees. Scrap some flesh out of potatoes. Brush with a little chipotle sauce and bake 10 minutes, until slightly crisp.
Mix Sauce with chicken and spinach. Fill skins with mixture and then top with shredded cheese. Put bake in oven until cheese melts.

And there you have it! They were wonderful. Layton really enjoyed. :) Definitely a good fall dish.

Smoked Brisket and Flowers

  So, ever since Layton and I got married he has been anxious to start becoming a whiz at the grill.  He comes from a family of grillers and was ready to know if he had the touch.

  Well, at our apartment we only had a little tiny charcoal grill, definitely not smoking material.  =P  Then when we knew we would be moving he told me that he really wanted to look into getting a charcoal grill/smoker.  Well, as it turns out, the guy that lived there before us left his old grill and it had a smoker box underneath.  We were super blessed and excited.  :)  It isn't the best grill out there, but you can't beat free.

  So, after taking a few weeks to get settled in I bought a brisket and we started planning.  ;)  Last Saturday he started the grill up early and prepped the meat.  It smelled SO good!  It smoked for 5 hours and then cooked in the oven for 2.  Believe me when I say that those last two hours were not easy to sit through.

  We decided to go pretty traditional and had garlic mashed potatoes and roasted brussell sprouts.

  It was some seriously good food.  :)  Layton says the meat was a tad dry, but I think it was good and not at all bad for his first try.

  Soon he wants to try smoking some stuffed jalapenos.  I cannot wait for that experiment!  ;)

 On a slightly deferent note, Layton brought home flowers the other day.  :)  It always makes my day when he does so.  Those "Just Because" flowers will get you every time. <3

~God bless and a wonderful week to you all!