Sunday, April 28, 2013

Whirlwind Weekend

We got to have another visit with our potential birth parents this weekend. We left on Thursday after work to head over to Spokane. I even got to go to a doctor's appointment and hear her heart beat!!! I met with the doctor who will deliver the baby and they were very happy for Thomas and myself. After the appointment we went back to the birth dad's home and got to meet more of the family.

After our visit we went out to lunch with the birth parents to Chili's (would you believe that it was my first time ever at a Chili's?). The food was delish an we had a great time getting to know each other better. 

I am so excited but super nervous at the same time for all of this to happen. I can't wait to see and meet our little girl. We are less than one month away!!

♥ Ashley

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Help Thomas and Ashley Adopt!!

I mentioned on here a few weeks ago that we have set up a Facebook Page about our Adoption.  You can see it here: Help Thomas and Ashley Adopt . Like it, join it have your friends like it.  If there is one thing that we have learned throughout our adoption journey is that there is a cost to it.  And these costs differ on the type of adoption you are doing, the agency you go through, and all the legal fees and travel fees that are a part of the overall cost.



We LOVE our agency and I would love to refer you if you feel called to adopt.  They are AMAZING!  All in all our adoption will cost us around $25,000.  That is a lot of money.  We have a good amount saved up and our families are willing to help us out a bit as well.  All the rest that we are unable to come up with will have to go on credit cards and if we are lucky we will be able to get a personal loan to help out with the costs - that will hopefully have a lower interest rate than our credit cards.  We know that having children is an expense and the adoption costs are just the TIP of the Iceberg.  If you feel inclined or called to help us out with these costs we would be forever grateful for your generous donation and assistance to helping us start our family through adoption.  

I know that the blogging community is a great place and I feel so blessed to be a part of it.  I love all 45 of my beautiful followers and even those who are not "official" followers I love you too!!  Thank you for all of your support and kind comments you have thrown my way!! I appreciate each and everyone of you!!

If you feel called to donate just leave a comment in the comment section with your email and I will send you our PayPal information.

I am also thinking about doing a "clean out my closet" sale and all proceeds from that will also go to help cover our adoption costs.

Thank you all!!

♥ Ashley

PS. Adoption updates are coming on their way!!!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Getting it Together

I have noticed that my blogging posts have diminished over the year.  It has nothing to do with blogging - let me tell you that!  I love to blog and it fills a need in my life.  So then, why have I been absent?  All I can come up with for you is an Excuse.  I don't like excuses - but here I am giving you one.  Since I lost my job last year I had to turn in my beloved MacBook since it belonged to the district.  Which means that I am computer-less at home.  Well that is not completely true.  I do have a Dell laptop that is from 2005.  It is SUPER slow and annoys the heck outta me.  My old cell phone was a Rumor from 2008 the green one...I loved it.  But it was time for an upgrade (back in October) and since the iPhone 5 was coming out they had great deals - free upgrade to an iPhone 4 or $50 or an iPhone 4S.  So I forked over the $50 and got the 4S.  I adore it but, I am having a hard time getting my photos and navigating blogger on it.  Its a work in progress.  So that my friends is why I haven't been posting very much.

I am still here.  And I did get a new job and I love it!! And I hope to soon get back into the blogging....anyone know how to clear out my Dell to help it run faster?????

♥ Ashley


Friday, April 5, 2013

Facebook Page

I started a facebook page about our adoption.  Please feel free to check it out, read it, like it, and/or donate!!

Help Thomas and Ashley Adopt




Thanks all!!

♥ Ashley

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

[recipe] Lemon Blueberry Cake

I am the "dessert" girl in the hubster's family.  I love it, because I like to bake and then share it so we don't end up eating all of it.

Last year I made an Applesauce Cake from my childhood. 
This year I wanted to try something new and more "Eastery-colored"
Also I thought it would be fun to try a Pinterest recipe.
I found the Lemon Blueberry Marble Cake and thought I would give it a go!

 Ingredients:

  • 2 sticks butter, room temperature
  • 2 C granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp grated lemon zest (I zested a whole lemon)
  • 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract (I used the juice of a whole lemon)
  • 7 egg whites
  • 3 C cake flour (I used AP Flour)
  • 4 tsp baking power
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/4 C whole milk
  • 1 13 oz. jar blueberry jam with lemon juice
  •  1 pint of fresh blueberries

  • Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Grease and flour 3 eight inch cake pans and line bottom with wax paper.
  • Cream together butter, sugar, lemon zest and lemon extract until fluffy.
  • Add in the egg whites gradually, a couple at a time. Beat well between additions and scrape down sides of bowl.
  • Mix together in another bowl the flour, baking powder and salt.
  • Alternating flour and milk, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture. Beat on medium speed for one minute to eliminate any lumps.
  • Set aside 1 cup of batter in a small bowl.
  • With the remaining batter I added some blue food coloring to give it that Easter look, then divide the remaining blue batter between the three cake pans, smooth top with spatula.
  • Add 2 1/2 Tbsp jam to the reserved batter and mix well. I probably used more.
  • Drizzle by the teaspoon over the batter in the pans.
  • Use a wooden skewer to swirl the blueberry mixture into the lemon batter without mixing it in. Then divide the fresh blueberries among all three cake pans and sprinkle them on top!
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and cake pulls away from the sides.s
  • Let cool for 10-15 minutes and remove from pan onto a wire rack. Cool completely.

  • For the frosting I had some left over Honey Frosting that I had chilling in the freezer so I thawed it, added quite a bit more powdered sugar and the juice of one lemon.
    To build the cake, put down the first layer and then spread 1/2 of the remaining blueberry jam over the top, place the next layer of cake and spread the rest of the jam and top with the final layer of cake.  Let sit or cool in the fridge for about 30min then coat with your frosting. Top with some more lemon zest!  YUM

    I loved this cake and it was a fun surprise for the little nieces when we cut into it as they were not expecting to see a BLUE cake!!

    If I were to make this again I would add MORE lemon or try the extract like the recipe says.  It was a little bit of a dry dense cake - probably because I used AP flour instead of cake flour.

    It was great though don't get me wrong - we all loved it!

    linked to Tasty Tuesdays

    ♥ Ashley