Friday Adventures (way late)

This week's Friday Adventure post is very late, it's been a busy weekend! But here we go...

Started the morning off with some coffee and reading

I took my last final on Tuesday, so I am officially done with school!! To celebrate we had friends over last night, so a lot of the day on Friday we spent cleaning up around the house. I made sugar cookies and decided to do summery colors for the icing. The first time I tried to make cut-out sugar cookies was a big disaster, but this time went a lot better. They turned out great!

I redid our chalkboard sign since it was still from Easter. I bought colored chalk at Target a few weeks ago, so it was fun to use different colors this time.

Our peach trees are filled with peaches, so the next adventure was trying to pick as many as we could. We had to borrow a ladder to reach them, because most of the ripe ones are up really high. Kyle was climbing up in the tree while I picked up the bad ones that had fallen on the ground.

This is the bag of peaches we ended up with, probably close to 100! My adventure this week will be figuring out how to can them or make peach preserves so they aren't wasted.

We met my dad at the new Costco to buy food for the cookout. It's really nice and we got everything we needed for the party.

Kyle had a guys video game night at the church so it was just me and Bud for the night. We took a long walk around the park, we were both pretty exhausted and sweaty by the time we got home.

Kyle and I bought Buddy a new stuffed animal when were were out on Thursday and he loves it, he used it as a head rest.

It's not a very good Friday Adventure blog post, and it's pretty late, but I still wanted to post it. It was a great weekend, filled with good food, great friends, and lots of laughs! Hope yours was the same!

M

Freezer Ready Chicken Burritos

Since we moved closer to the church Kyle comes home for lunch most days, which is very nice! I started making Chicken Burritos to put in the freezer for a quick lunch for him when there aren't any leftovers to heat up. Every once in awhile I would buy some burritos on sale at Sprouts or Kroger, but even on sale they run about $2 a piece. These are much cheaper, easy to make, and quite delicious! 

Kyle's Burrito Rations

(I asked him what I should call them and that's what he gave me)

I start by getting all the ingredients out--that way I don't forget anything. I cooked four chicken breasts in the slow cooker yesterday and then shredded them so they would be ready for today. I also made a batch of rice to use. 

Ingredients: Shredded chicken, white rice (you could use brown rice), Refried beans (I used fat free), Salsa (pick your heat), Chili Powder, Cumin, Cheese, and Flour Tortillas (I used the large fajita size).

I usually do one batch at a time so that I can mix it really well. I take half the rice, one can of refried beans, about 1/2 cup of salsa, 2 cups of shredded chicken, a sprinkle of cumin, and a bigger sprinkle of chili powder and mix it all together.

This is what all the ingredients look like all mixed together. I really just guess on the amounts of the spices and the salsa. You don't want it to runny but also want it to have enough liquid that it's not dry.

Then I set up a burrito station--the filling, shredded cheese and the tortillas all ready to go.

Put the filling in the center of the tortilla, make sure to leave about an inch and a half on the edges so you can roll it up. I sprinkle some cheese over the top and then roll it up. The first time I made these I did a horrible job rolling the tortillas, but I have gotten better since then. Even if they aren't rolled great, they will still taste delicious! (they just might open up when you heat them up)

This was my best one by far, so I had to take a picture of it!

Once I'm done with all of them I put them in large plastic bags marked with what they are and the date. (Not that they ever last long enough to be concerned about the date)

With the two batches I made 34 burritos. I only bought 30 large fajita tortillas, so the last four were in smaller tortillas. 

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Ingredients

4 cups Shredded Chicken

2 cans Refried Beans

2 cups Salsa

2 tablespoons Chili Powder

1 tablespoon Cumin

30 flour large fajita tortillas (more if you use smaller ones, less if you use bigger ones)

2 cups Cheese

Directions

In a large bowl mix together the chicken, beans, salsa, chili powder, and cumin

Place some of the filling in the center of a tortilla, leaving an inch and a half on the edges so you can roll them in. Place some shredded cheese on top and roll up the tortilla. Repeat until all the tortillas are gone. 

Place the burritos in large plastic bags, and put in the freezer.

To heat up the burritos place one or two on a plate, microwave for 1 minute, flip, microwave for another minute. Kyle recommends grilling them in a skillet for a few minutes on each side in order to have a crispy outside. 

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I calculated the cost per burrito and it's about 56 cents--way cheaper than the $2 burritos from the grocery store. Plus you can control what goes in the burritos and change it up with different cheese, spices, or rice. 

Friday Adventures

After a few weeks of crazy Fridays filled with to-do lists we had a pretty relaxing and fun Friday. I've had bad allergies this week but was finally feeling better today.

I went with iced coffee this morning. Buddy joined me for my quiet time, this time sitting normally and not on my shoulder like he has been doing.

Then I decided to go to the gym and Kyle took Buddy for a walk around the park. I figured since my allergies have been so bad I probably shouldn't walk around outside for a long time.

Since I haven't been feeling that well I didn't push myself too hard but got a good workout in and lifted some weights. I am aware that my arm muscle isn't that impressive but hey it's better than it once was!

Then I ran over to Walmart, since apparently no Friday Adventure day is complete without a trip to Walmart. Actually this trip was completely unnecessary. I stopped yesterday to buy some sunscreen since we did not have any, and realized that it was expired. I mean sunscreen is good for like a year and a half and this one expired last month. So I had to go back, and the customer service lady said like two words to me while complaining to another employee about how rude customers are... I had to bite my tongue not to say anything. *end Walmart rant*

I have been wanting to lay out by the pool for quite sometime so Kyle and I loaded up our pool bag and sunscreen (that I worked hard to get) and headed to our community pool. We have two really nice pools and although they are packed in the evenings and weekends, they are empty during the day. It almost felt like we were on vacation

Yes I am aware that I have a horrible tan line on my ankles. It's from taking Buddy for walks and wearing my tennis shoes. How do you really get rid of a tan line though? It just got worse from being in the sun today. I tried self tanner on my feet for Easter and it was an epic fail so that doesn't help.

We didn't stay at the pool long cause I was quite hungry, small breakfast plus working out means one hungry Maddie (and Kyle will testify this is something you fix quickly). Since it's my birthday month I had a coupon for a free burger from Red Robin so we headed there.

It was a delicious burger, I couldn't finish it but I did eat my fair share of fries. I love Red Robin's endless fries, so dangerous.

Our waitress was super sweet and brought me an ice cream sundae for my birthday and even though I was super full I ate it. I mean who can pass up ice cream? Especially with sprinkles!

We walked around Old Navy and the new LifeWay store and then went over to the mall. We needed to get our rings inspected, it keeps our warrantee effective, so we did that.

Look at those shiny rings! They always are so sparkly after they clean them and I'm always reminded of just how excited (and surprised) I was when that sweet boy proposed to me almost four years ago.

We decided to hit up Starbuck's Happy Hour for half price Frappuccinos. I got the Caffe Espresso and Kyle got the Mocha Cookie Crumble. I always feel bad for the baristas during Happy Hour, I remember those days they are the worst, but it was nice to enjoy some fun drinks.

 

This is what I bought at Old Navy today. I needed some new shorts and I really liked the length of these, plus they were on sale! The sweatshirt is like a minty color and it's from the men's department. I always find good sweatshirts there haha.

I met up with my parents for dinner, we went to BJ's Brewhouse. I got an Asian Chicken Salad and it was delicious. I ate the whole thing and I forgot to take any pictures. We had a great time, it was so busy out at Alliance though. They keep building more and more things out there and the traffic is so bad! Dad had to stop a line of cars so that I could back out otherwise I would have been waiting until about 10pm. You're never too old to need your dad ;)

Friday Adventures!

It's been a busy weekend, which is why I haven't posted our Friday adventures until now. So here we go...

I saw my last client on Tuesday night. It's so crazy that I am almost done with grad school. However almost is the key word in that sentence. I keep thinking that I am done and I'm having a very hard time getting my work done this week. So yesterday morning I woke up and worked on one of the papers I had been putting off...

Buddy was there for moral support and my coffee was keeping me awake, as you can tell I was due for a refill by the time I took this picture.

I did take a few breaks from my paper to work on a birthday list. I can't believe I'm going to be 25 at the end of the month. As you can tell I'm having a difficult time forming a list. All I have right now is a square pan, running shoes, yoga capris, possibly a hydration backpack (although I'm still struggling with this idea) Buddy and I go on tons of walks and currently I sport an X-Box One drawstring backpack cause it's all I can find in our house. So really, I can't get much nerdier than that, right...

Last night we hosted a dinner for our graduating seniors in the student ministry, so we had to head out and buy groceries. I've talked about my struggles with Walmart before, so we went to Target first for some other things and to have a bit of fun before the craziness of Walmart. We went in with a list, and surprisingly we stuck to it pretty well. I mean, that never happens at Target!

I didn't take any pictures in Target, except for of these watermelon Oreos. WHAT? Guys, I'm going to tell you a secret, regular plain Oreos are about the best thing in the world. I remember being little and eating Oreos with my papa. He loved Oreos and he would always roll his eyes at the reduced fat ones, and say if you're going to eat an Oreo, eat a real Oreo. So I'm going to pass on his advice to you all...please just stick to the regular Oreos (or the mint ones, those are pretty good too) *end rant*

Then we headed to Walmart and it was an adventure as always. We searched and searched for Velvetta before we finally had to ask someone. The lady was actually super sweet and walked us to the aisle. It was almost enough to restore my faith in Walmart, almost but not quite.

This is our "we survived Walmart, but just barely" selfie

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting the house ready for the senior dinner. I made Chicken Enchiladas, which I blogged about here, Mexican Rice, Kyle made mashed black beans, and we had chips and queso. Then I made homemade brownies for dessert, they are the best I will have to post the recipe soon. I should've taken pictures of the table and of the food but I didn't.

Kyle and I all ready for dinner

After dinner we played Life, one of my favorite board games. Overall it was a great night! We are so excited to be able to have students over at our house and to start traditions like this one.

It was a busy Friday but that's how it goes sometimes! Two more pictures for you, neither are from Friday but they are worth the add-on.

This was from Thursday night. Buddy likes to sit on random things, like the arm of the couch, and I guess he decided to lay down from that spot. He is strange, guys, but we do love this crazy pup.

And this was from today--we took dinner over to my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and got to see our sweet little niece. I could've held her all day long, but we had to give her back ;) She is one sweet little girl!

See you next week!
M

Friday Adventures

This Friday was a bit different since In Their Shoes started tonight, our version of Disciple Now (DNOW). Kyle has been super busy all week making sure everything will be ready and that all the students have a place to stay and a leader. Friday was mostly getting our house ready for the group coming to our house.

I took Buddy for a walk in the morning. He's a pretty spoiled dog and is having a sleepover at my parents' house for the weekend.

Buddy decided to thank me for taking a walk by digging a huge hole in my garden. I was pretty upset, but thankful he didn't dig up any of my plants. The garden is actually looking pretty good.

I picked some flowers to make bouquets to put around the house for the girls weekend--I love having so many beautiful flowers in our yard!

We took a cute little family picture before Kyle headed out for the weekend--he's staying at the high school guys host home. Mostly because he does not want to stay in a house with 12 girls haha.

Buddy was clearly not up for cooperating with us, he is such a diva dog.

My dad came to pick up Buddy and we went out to lunch together. We went to the Taco Spot in Lake Worth and I had some carnitas street tacos. They were quite delicious, I took off most of the cilantro because I'm not a huge cilantro fan.

In Their Shoes has been going great, we have an awesome group of girls at our house this weekend. I'm excited to see God at work in their lives!

Since this is a short post I'll leave you with pictures of two cuties that I got to meet this week--

This is Henrietta "Etta", she is my adorable new niece!!

And this is Amos, our worship pastor's baby boy--his cheeks are too much to handle!

Hope your Friday was great!
M

Good Friday

In lieu of Friday Adventures this post about Good Friday...

"But the fact is, it was our pains he carried--our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us. We thought he brought it on himself, that God was punishing him for his own failures. But it was our sins that did that to him, that ripped and tore, and crushed him--our sins! He took the punishment, and that made us whole. Through his bruises we get healed. We're all like sheep who've wandered off and gotten lost. We've all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we've done wrong, on him, on him. He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. Justice miscarried, and he was led off--and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked, threw him in a grave with a rich man, even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true. Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it--life, life, and more life. And God's plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many "righteous ones," as he himself carries the burden of their sins. Therefore I'll reward him extravagantly--the best of everything, the highest honors--because he looked death in the face and didn't flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep."    -Isaiah 53 (MSG)

Bridal Shower

We had a bridal shower this past Sunday for my sweet friend Aarika. Aarika and Tyler are getting married in June, and we couldn't be more excited for them! I was honored to get to help put on the shower and everything turned out beautiful! We decided to go with a salad bar since it was an afternoon shower, and of course we had plenty of desserts!

The invitations were adorable and we based most of the decorations off of them. Lots of burlap, mason jars, and a little bit of lace.

The shower was at my mom's house and her pantry door is a chalkboard, which is awesome! So we taped some of their engagement pictures on the door and added a little bit of decoration around them.

The mantle turned out really cute--the cross brought a little bit of sparkle and the flowers a little bit of pink.

We printed a bunch of their engagement pictures and put them in mason jars to display them, have to give Pinterest the credit for this idea!

One big picture on the wall, took a lot of tape to get it to stay up! I love this frame, not sure where it's from my guess would be Hobby Lobby.

We put butcher paper down on the table and then labeled each of the salad bar items. It worked out really well--people knew what each thing was and clean up was super easy! We ended up having lots of toppings: Boiled Eggs, Ham, Mushrooms, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Carrots, Water Chestnuts, Cheese, Almonds, Craisins, Chick Peas, and Croutons.

Other side of the table--Dressing, Bread, Chicken Salad, and Quinoa Salad

Here's the dessert table-- Fruit, Carrot Cake Balls, Vanilla Cake Balls, Chocolate Crunch Cake Balls, Brownie Bites, and Sugar Cookies

I found a mason jar cookie cutter on ebay and my original plan was to make these for the favors, but it was too big of a job so they just ended up on the dessert table!

The favors ended up super cute, a lady that my mom works with made these delicious melt away cookies with some cream cheese frosting. Yummy!

Guest of honor's chair and place to open all of her sweet presents! (The light on the door was still upside down at this moment, Kelli saved us and fixed it before the shower started)

We played a "He Said She Said" game that we saw on Pinterest and gets played often at bridal showers. Kyle designed the paper for us and picked the answers, and he did an AWESOME job! (Had to brag on my hubby for a second)

It was such a fun shower! I am so thankful for both of these girls and all the ways they have each impacted my life over the past six and half years! (Wow that makes me feel old!) We are so excited to be part of Aarika's special day!

Special shout out to my mom and Kelli for all they did to make the shower wonderful-we couldn't have done it without them!