Eat. Live. Play.: April 2012

Friday, April 27, 2012

a [love] letter

Dear Mr. Aloe Plant,

I am sorry for probably watering you enough this past year, but I thank you that you are kind to me today as you cool my burning pink skin. Thank you for your magical goo that covers my skin when I forget that at altitude skin burns quicker. I promise to keep watering you this last week we live together to thank you for your bright green leaves.

Sincerely,
the girl with the cherry skin

Cheers.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Birthdays and Tacos

April is Birthday month.

Seriously. What is up with all the freakin' birthdays in April? Is July really that sexy of a month? (Yes do the math. 9 months before April is...JULY.)

Anyways in celebration of birthdays and of the B-E-A-UTIFUL spring weather that's entered Flag (ignoring the freak snow storm in the middle and the bi-polar weather today - sun. rain. snow. snowing rain. sun. snow. rain. sun. rain...) We had an "Ultimate" Taco party at the park last weekend.

We had Green Chile Pork - recipe via my wonderful Mother-in-love - and Carne Asada -from the market on 4th Street, Black Beans - recipe also from my MiL, and all the taco fixings that you would find at a taco stand in Mexico.

minus the sketchy veggies that is. Last time we were down there, eating at a taco stand we all concluded that a Taco Party needed to happen because how easy are tacos? (and cheap too!)

And what's a party without N's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies?

I would say Nick agrees.

Also Birthday Fun Cupcakes with SPRINKLES galore! (please ignore the creepy finger in the picture that I just noticed)

Some of the guys playing Ultimate. I didn't get many of these because I wasn't about to miss the fun. I think I took these while hoping the picnic bbq grill would light itself.

I would say it was a success.

Cheers.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

what's for dinner?

Slow-Cooker Chicken!

I've been loving this recently for the nights that we have things planned in the evening so I don't have to think about what to make for us between work and whatever we have going on.

Super easy [and cheap]! Click the name for the recipe link. I forgot to take pictures of the process of mine...

Let's Eat.

Flagstaff...

So now its been 10 months since the wedding and N and I are living in Flagstaff while he finishes school. We had our last (fingers crossed) snow storm and are enjoying the warm spring, which means our road bikes need some tuning up and our mt. bikes need some love after riding through the winter streets...AND best of all ULTIMATE FRISBEE time!

Within the first week of moving to this northern land of mountains, we met an awesome group of friends who love Jesus, have a passion for praying for the city, and who LOVE ultimate frisbee. We started playing with them twice a week and it was definitely the highlight of our summer last year. Hopefully I will be posting so photos from our games this summer - that is if I remember the camera...

As many of you may know, N will be returning to the Navy after he graduates this December so Flag will be our home for only 9 more months. I guess its our preview into what it's like to build a life in a place knowing you will be leaving in not too long. We've found that the best way is to live like you're going to be there forever and not let a potential friendship pass by. Living this way we have been immensely blessed by the people in our lives up here. We will be sad to go when the time comes, but for now we're going to go play some ultimate!

p.s. we are going to be moving soon to another place in Flag that's closer to work/school so stay tuned for address updates and venting about the moving process.

cheers.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mr & Mrs...

Here is a post I started months ago that I am finally getting around to posting...I'm back for real this time. I promise.

N&K:Wedding

After going from plan A to plan Z and back again, hours of paper flower folding, and an almost crisis with our photographer (we ended up have the amazing Michelle Celentano do most of them and Megan Wantz took a few as well since she was feeling better), our wedding was more beautiful than I could have imagined or tried to plan.

[photo by Michelle Celentano]

Because of the waves that life brings, we had many versions of this day planned, however the heart of it all stayed the same. More than anything we wanted our wedding to be not only a celebration of our marriage, but of the community and family that have supported us and loved us. Because of this, the final result was even more than we could have imagined or tried to plan.

[photo by Michelle Celentano]

We did all of the details ourselves and used the gifts and talents of our friends and family to make it happen. In the end, everyone that attended took some part in the process which made it that much more special for us and our guests.

[photo by Michelle Celentano]

It really was a family day because not only are our families really good friends but our younger sisters played a major part in setting us up when we were in high school. We didn't have a traditional wedding party. Instead our match making sisters were the "Sisters of Honor" escorted by N's best friend and our youngest siblings were the flower girl and ring bearer (yes they are both high schoolers now). The older two even made a speech before we cut the cake reminding all of us that really this day was about them because they were the ones responsible for us meeting and getting married in the first place.

[photo by Michelle Celentano]

In addition to my dad walking me down the aisle, N's parents walked him down at the beginning of the ceremony and read the passage in Genesis about man leaving his family to become a new family with his wife. Our youth pastor married us because he and his wife were mentors to us both through high school and our first year of dating (our senior year).

[photo by Michelle Celentano]

Ceremony Details:
Down the Aisle: Strawberry Swing by ColdPlay
Communion Worship Song: Revelation Song by Kim Walker-Smith (sung by Miss Megan Wong & Kristen Brizendine, guitar by Kendal)
Back up as Mr. & Mrs.: Marry Me by Bruno Mars