Pumpkin Pie Bites

*Update: I did not win. Rude!
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While we have pumpkins on the mind, I thought I'd try my hand at these adorable guys tonight. I had been wanting to try the mini pumpkin pie recipe for a couple weeks but didn't have the right occasion to do so. That is until the Iron Chef competition was announced for our United Way campaign week. Judging is tomorrow at 11 am. Keep your fingers crossed. *smile.
Tom chose to decorate with stripes...
While I attempted faces using a toothpick.
I have no idea how she got hers to look so perfect, but I still think they're darling. Sunken or not.

And the winner is...

Scott!
For the record, his pumpkin turned out VERY well and below is proof.

I'm glad it wasn't me carving out all of those branches and letters. I suppose he's not an architect for nothin'.

Hay Rides & Pumpkins

Our nephew Jacob (one of five nephews) is such a ham. He's always cracking me up, especially now that he's talking in complete sentences (kind of) and clearly demonstrating his cheerful/high-spirited personality (except when he's being...well...22 months.) At the same time, he's super sweet and I love me a good Jacob squeeze and kiss.

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We laugh a lot when we're together.

He even does pilates.

"Up."

"Down."

He loves games, including "Where is Jacob?" (pause) "There he is!"And most recently, he loves tractors (among many other new things.)

I love living only 20 minutes from him and my brother and sister-in-law. Take for instance this past Saturday - we met at a local nursery to check out their fall festivities. They had big and little tractors, pumpkins, a hay ride, low scare "haunted houses" for the adults, and mini donuts. We had a great time!
The 3-D glasses rocked.

Scott & Jacob decided to forgo this particular haunted house. And it's a good thing b/c despite being "low scare," it had some spine-chilling moments. As you can see, Tom and Nikki were very, very scared.Again...very, very scary.
Our smiling faces are only cover-ups for how very, very scared we were by the mummy behind my shoulder. The hay ride was fun!And there were perfectly sized straw bales for some Aunt Sarah picture time.

After all of that, we went back to Scott & Nikki's for some yummy pizza and pumpkin carving. I hadn't carved a pumpkin in.....a very long time so it was quite fun. I don't want to sound conceited, but I was secretly very impressed with my pumpkin carving skills. (Never mind that the top tree branches were literally hanging on by a thread.) My howling wolves even had shaggy fur. I was that good. Tom's was also very dramatic and eerie.
Scott chose a rather ambitious design and wasn't able to finish before we had to leave. I'm sure he stayed up well into the night to complete it though *smile. And I'm sure it looks awesome! Did I mention that our pumpkins were HUGE?! Scott and Nikki picked them up for $5 each at their local farmers market. What a steal.
What a fun afternoon/evening with fun peeps. I will accept the snow and cold much better now that I got in a hay ride and pumpkin carving. Maybe.

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I'd also like to give a shout out to my fellow ISU Cyclone fans for our awesome win against Nebraska on Saturday. GO STATE!

Fall Favorite

Tom and I have already made this apple crisp recipe three times this fall. Who knew it was so easy?! And oh so yummy. We are very speedy now and can whip it out in about 20 minutes. Lightening fast really. Well look at that, I just happen to have a picture of my trusty Betty Crocker recipe... My father is an expert apple crisp maker and loves his handy peeler/corer/slicer device. He found one for us and I would suggest you go buy one right. now. Do people really stand there and peel and core and slice by hand? I know of one person who still does this (my brother) but I think I have him convinced to go buy one of these instead. It takes Tom about 15 seconds per apple. Unbelievable.
Most ingredients I'm guessing you already have on hand: sugar, flour, brown sugar, oats, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and of course apples.
After you have peeled/cored/sliced approximately 8-10 apples, sprinkle 4-6 T of sugar on top and stir to coat. My dad does a combination of sugar, cinnamon and flour (to reduce juice) but I didn't learn this trick until it was too late. Betty should change her recipe. I could eat the entire pan of sugar coated apples just like this...
But I love me some crisp topping so I'll go ahead with the next steps: measure out the necessary dry ingredients.
Add the butter.
Mix. Mix. Mix.
Until it's resembles "coarse crumbles."
Sprinkle on top of your delicious sugar-coated apples.
Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes or until browned. Serve with all natural vanilla ice cream and you have yourself a definite crowd pleaser. If you know me, you know I'm a huge fan of warm with cold desserts (cookies, brownies, cobblers, etc.) This apple crisp is a fall favorite in our house.

Today is All I Have

Back in August we went to church with my sister-in-law, Trisha. Tom's parents were in town for the weekend so the five of us went to the Saturday evening service. I was looking forward to good music (our small church is getting there) and an uplifting message. So imagine my surprise when the message topic turned out to be on grief.

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"Oh, perfect timing," I said to myself as thoughts of the accident quickly consumed my mind. "Here I am with the in-laws at a new church and I'm going to be a crying mess."

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Well indeed I got more than good music and an uplifting message. I've wanted to recap what I learned and felt that day but kept avoiding reviewing the message b/c sometimes it just plain bites to be reminded of what/who is gone and why you know anything about grief in the first place. I've been processing and thinking about it ever since. The whole situation reiterates how God knows exactly what we need to hear and when we need to hear it...

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The message started off being about the summer movie hit "Up." The pastor took us through the story of this old grumpy guy named Carl. Not always grumpy, Carl deeply loved his wife and they shared some very happy and some very sad times together. "Up" is about Carl's process of learning to live again after Ellie dies.

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"OK, this will be cute," I thought.

"I mean it is a cartoon and all...it can't go too deep."

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And then the pastor threw out a quote by Alan Sachs - "Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives." As I took that in, he went on to give examples of how cruel life can be sometimes. He talked about how sometimes life throws us punches and we start just going through the motions; not fully alive b/c of something we've lost.

House

Health

Job

Marriage

Someone

A dream

Faith in God

Carl holds tightly to every little thing that says "Ellie." He doesn't want to let go of anything that represents her or their life together. The defining moment in the movie comes when he has to make a decision about letting go of some things from his past. As the lump formed in my throat and my thoughts raced from one thing to another to another, the pastor asked us "Carl's" how we are dealing with our loss -- in my case the death of a friend.

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"Well...

Crying. A lot.

Talking to close friends.

Journaling.

Lots of quiet time.

Lots of prayer," I thought.

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He went on to talk about David in 2 Samuel 12. David's baby dies. (We won't get in to all the details leading up to this point.) And told us that there is something to learn from David's way of expressing his grief.

1. He didn't repress it. He openly weeps, facing the pain.

2. He didn't go in to isolation. He needed support.

3. He didn't needlessly hang on. He faced reality.

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As I fought the tears that inevitably made their way down my cheeks,

I heard the pastor say...

"Yesterday is gone. Doesn't matter how tightly we hang on to yesterday or how much we think about what happened or how much we've lost - I can't change it. Tomorrow is uncertain. Today is all I have. As long as I'm trying to hold on to and relive yesterday, I won't see today as a gift."

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4. He didn't give up on God. Despite his pain and sorrow, David went on to write Psalm 34: 17 & 18: The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

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I know David's way isn't for everyone but it definitely gave me some things to think about. Is it easier said than done? Absolutely. If I'm having a bad day, I force myself to think about the glory of Heaven and all that is waiting. It comforts me to know my loved ones are there. I picture them and try to wrap my mind around what they're doing at this. very. moment. I wish I knew but I know my time will come. My salvation isn't something I take lightly especially when the reality is that today is all I have. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and we can't do anything about the past. It's this day and this moment that matter. It's been a trying process of getting back on my feet since Shannon's accident. I've become well aware that time is fleeting and if one good thing has happened within me since he met Jesus, it's the fact that I daily anticipate my own reunion with my Savior. I am far from making the most of every moment and living like each day is my last, but in the midst of my failures, I know his grace covers me. I wish I didn't know the ache and feeling of losing someone I loved or having friends and family members struggle with their own grief. But I do and even still, I don't just want to go through the motions. I want to see today as a gift. And my deepest prayer for others in a season of loss is that they too would eventually see today as a gift.

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The pastor ended the message having us all answer the question: "what do I have left?" So many things would be on my list but to start...

#1. My husband

#2. Today

Ending prayer: God, would you rescue me b/c I don't want to go through the motions for another day. Heal me. Put the broken pieces together again and give me a reason to live. We thank you for this day that you have made and pray you'd do a work of redemption in us. Amen.

Big Girl Bike

I was pretty pumped when Tom surprised me with a shiny new Trek 3900 mountain bike for my birthday last month. As the picture below clearly demonstrates, I graduated to a new level in the bike department. Tom's dad had so nicely bought Ms. Pink Thang for me for $25 last year and while we had a few good trips together, I always felt like a 12 year old. I suppose feeling young again isn't always a bad thing. *smile. Now that I have a big girl bike, Tom and I have had a blast with our new hobby and exploring cool trails around Woodbury. I compare it to downhill skiing in a way -- it's thrilling and an awesome workout. And there's just something about being in the woods that deepens my love for the beautiful outdoors.
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Upgrade? I think so.

Here we are this past Sunday before our approximate 6 to 7 mile trek through the beautiful 2,000 acre Lebanon Hills in Apply Valley. I had many "I wish I had my camera!" moments during our two hour ride as I attempted to keep my eyes on the road and take in the picturesque scenery that surrounded us. Of course this picture makes it look like niiiice, flat, unhindered ground. Do not be deceived! There were plenty of roots, rocks, sharp turns and steady inclines.Hey, Tom!I think I totally would have won the award for best dressed mountain biker. *smile. Tom and I both had several layers of socks, pants and shirts on for fear of freezing out in the woods in our fabulous fall turned winter weather. I supposed I'd rather be too hot than too cold but I could have definitely gone without the hand warmers. Now I know...This section was hilarious. I'm sure we'll nail it next time. Not.
Are you kidding me? I think I was laughing too much to even seriously attempt it.What a fun afternoon with new friends! I met Jessica at the blog event last Friday and we discovered that our husbands both work at Securian. Small world. She and her husband, Terry, (both far right) live in Inver Grove Heights with their daughter. Terry's brother and another Securian employee/friend of Terry's joined in on the Lebanon Hills excursion as well. I'm so thankful they invited us b/c we had an absolute blast.

Did I mention I'm a huge fan of my new bike? Well, I am. *smile.

Morning view

Is it me or does snow on October 10th just seem a tad out of place? I had heard a rumor of snow showers but I just could not bring myself to believe them...until I woke up this morning and saw this view out our kitchen patio doors. October 10th! I guess we do live in Minnesota but c'mon!Unfortunately this weather altered our state park hike and winery visit plans to celebrate our anniversary. Instead I did some early (very early) Christmas shopping, laundry, house cleaning and am soon headed to the gym.

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Before I go, I must share pictures from last night. Tom so willingly accompanied me to the lovely Mudd Lake Furniture to meet some new blog friends. Jennifer from MckMama (one of my favorite blogs!) hosted the fall event. We had a great time getting to know people and enjoying fabulous food and drink in beautiful Watertown, MN.Jennifer was just as nice and genuine and adorable as she is on her blog. What a woman! Tom found himself the perfect chair.

Kelli, Chris Ann, Mela, Jennifer, Jessica & me. So great to meet all of them and many other women (and a few husbands and some very cute babies)! I only wish we had taken a group picture - there had to have been over 50 people there.