Pinning for Spring

Spring is just around the corner and evenings are about to get longer (since yesterday was Daylight Savings Time)!!!

I have been addicted to Pinterest lately, esp the Gardening section.

Here are some of my fave pins that are getting me so excited about Spring and Flowers!

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Is this making you excited for Spring?  What plans do you have for your garden this year??

♥ Ashley

[recipe] Avgolemono Soup

Last week I started up Soup Sundays again.  I made delicious Sausage Lentil soup.  This past Sunday I made an Avgolemono which is a Greek soup that has Lemon, Chicken and Rice.  I got my recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart.  It was the cover soup for the January 2013 magazine.  I was so excited to find a recipe for it because this is one of my favorite kinds of soup.  I remember getting it at this cute Greek restaurant on "The Ave" in Seattle in the U-District.

  (maybe not the best picture...but at least its mine!)

For the Spatchcocked Chicken:

  

Ingredients

• 1 whole 4-pound chicken
• 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 lemons, thinly sliced, divided
• 6 small shallots (6 ounces), peeled and quartered lengthwise

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken, breast side down, on a work surface. Starting at thigh end, cut along 1 side of backbone with kitchen shears. Turn chicken around; cut along other side. Discard backbone or save for stock. Flip chicken, and open it like a book. Press firmly on breastbone to flatten.
   
2. Rub chicken with 1 tablespoon oil, and season with 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Brush 1 tablespoon oil in the center of a rimmed baking sheet slightly larger than the size of the chicken, and place half the lemon slices in a single layer on top of oil. Place chicken, skin side up, on lemons. Beginning at the neck end of breast, carefully loosen skin from flesh of breast and thighs with your fingers. Slide remaining lemon slices under skin in a single layer.
   
3. Roast chicken 20 minutes. Toss shallots with remaining teaspoon oil, and scatter around chicken. Continue to roast chicken until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of breast reaches 165 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes more.
   
4. Transfer chicken to a carving board, and let rest 10 minutes. Cut chicken into 8 pieces, and serve with roasted lemons, shallots, and pan juices. If using chicken for soup and salad, let chicken cool completely. Remove and discard skin, lemon under skin, and bones, and shred meat into bite-size pieces. Chicken, roasted lemons, shallots, and pan juices can be refrigerated up to 2 days. Store meat and pan juices in separate containers; lemons and shallots can be stored together.
   

 

For the Soup:

**Note: For a thicker, richer broth that's more in the style of Avgolemono soup, simply whisk together two large egg yolks and the juice of one lemon. Stir the mixture into the soup just before serving.**

Ingredients

• 1 cup long-grain white rice
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 2 cups shredded chicken from Roast Spatchcocked Lemon Chicken
• Roast lemons, shallots, and pan juices from Roast Spatchcocked Lemon Chicken
• Coarsely chopped fresh dill, for garnish

Directions

1. Bring rice, water, lemon zest, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir once, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer until rice is cooked and water evaporates, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.
   
2. Bring stock to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in rice, chicken, lemons, shallots, and pan juices, and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper.
   
3. Divide soup among 4 to 6 bowls, and season with lemon juice and dill.
   
   
   
   
   Hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do!!
   
   
   Linked to: What I Whipped Up Wednesdays  and Tasty Tuesdays
   
   
   
   
   ♥ Ashley

Weekend Update

What a wonderful 3 day weekend.  Lets re-cap the past couple of weeks though first...then we will get onto the weekend.

On January 28th I posted THIS and to update from there:  It turned out to be another ectopic pregnancy.  I had to go into the doctor and get an injection of cancer medication to expel the pregnancy.  8 days later I got another blood draw and it showed that my numbers actually went UP!!! So I needed to go in again to get ANOTHER shot.  Looks like this one is working and we have hopefully avoided surgery. (though I am thinking I might go in for selective surgery to just remove my right tube as that I am now at a 60% chance of it happening again!)

On top of that fiasco I was also subjected to "The Plague" ok so I may be joking a little but I got that sore throat with a deep bronchial cough and congestion in my nose like crazy.  Last week I was living off of tea with honey and THESE I love them! I am just now starting to feel much better.







 Onto this past weekend.

On Friday I was craving Fish and Chips. More on that in a bit.

Saturday morning we had our weekend date and stopped at our local Starbucks for some coffee and pastries "for here".  I had a Vanilla Spice Latte.  He had a Blonde Roast with room.  I had a warmed Cinnamon Roll and he had an everything bagel with cream cheese.  YUMMM!!

On Saturday for lunch we went to Katie Downs for my craving and it was delicious.  Hubby and I shared a two piece "cod and chips" and a "prawn and chips" I think I am addicted to tarter sauce.  Also on Saturday we stopped by one of my favorites grocery strores The Metropolitan Market and took a look around.  I got some delicious chocolate for something I made yesterday.

On Sunday we made a stop down at Watson's Greenhouse to pick up a few things...tickets to the Northwest Flower and Garden Show (last years post) and a soup mix (Sausage and Lentil) to start up my Soup Sunday's again.  We got a free bag of daffodil bulbs with purchase!!



I love this soup, we have had it before.  I also like how it all comes in a package: all you need to add is Sausage, Beef Broth and Veggies - I added in a zucchini, yellow squash and some kale (kale is my new addiction). It turned out so good and it makes a TON...we have lunch for the week!!

Then on Monday morning we stopped over at the in-laws for some coffee and I made some fresh Beignets (french doughnuts from a mix you get at Cost Plus) with the nieces.

For dessert last night I made something that the hubster has been pining for for forever, a Chocolate Souffle.  I got the recipe from HERE.  And it was so good!! a lot of work but delicious!!!


How was your weekend?

Did you do anything fun??

Linked To: Tasty Tuesdays and What I Whipped Up Wednesdays

♥ Ashley

Saving my throat

well I think I got hit with the plague along with a lot of other people out there in the blogosphere.  I have my trusty companion: Hot Water, Lemon and Honey.  I have a sore throat and a deep bronchial cough.  And I am super tired...but this is doing the trick here at work!!

What are your tricks of the trade when you come down with something?

♥ Ashley

Getting Started...

I had so much fun planning my wedding over 4 years ago.  Has it really been more than four years since that special day?? OMG it has.  I was a lucky bride, I had 20 months to plan my wedding. Even though Pinterest was not available back then our wedding turned out fabulous.  I still have my wedding binder and our day was distinctly US.

Party planning is so fun.  I cannot wait until we are placed with a baby and our adoption comes through, that means I can start planning for the Adoption Finalization Party, and then all the subsequent Birthday parties and We Got You Day parties.  Is it weird that I also want to help out with planning my own baby shower?  No, I don't think so!

Anyways, I am hoping that some of you out there who read this blog (if anyone does) can help me out a little bit.  I really want to get into Party Planning, whether it be for weddings or any kind of party.  But I have absolutely NO IDEA as to how to go about doing that.  Eventually I would love to have my own party planning business, but first I would like to start off with a company or an individual who would like to take on an assistant so that I can learn the ropes and make connections.

Do you know anyone?  Can you refer me?  Do you want ME to help plan your next event?  If so please comment and leave your email address and I will get back to you!!!

Thanks!!

♥ Ashley

Welp...

Every now and then I get really annoyed with people, our society, FB and Pinterest.  Okay okay not with Pinterest as a whole but with all those pins about announcing your pregnancy.  Its no secret here on this blog that I suffer infertility problems.  But seeing how big of a deal people make it to just announce that they got pregnant (probably on their first try) is just devastating to me and makes me feel like this big huge failure. While I love the idea of announcing in a big way it just pulls at my heartstrings and reminds me of how far behind (my) schedule I really am.

Now don't get me wrong, I am truly excited and happy for those who can and do get pregnant but I still feel a little, ok A LOT, jealous of them.

You might be asking, now why is she ranting about pregnancy and such?  We had a big week this past week.  I was feeling just fine on Monday and Tuesday.  But then around 9:00 on Tuesday night, I was sitting on the couch watching "The Big Bang Theory" when I got these intense, severe, constant pain in my lower right abdominal area (think my right fallopian tube).  I have felt this pain before back in 2010 when I suffered from an ectopic pregnancy, but there was NO WAY that it was happening again.  I told Thomas that I needed to go to bed and lay down and could he please bring me some pain meds.  It wasn't more than 10 minutes after taking the pills that I was in the bathroom puking.  And then I was crying because it reminded me of last time this happened I was with my mom, I miss her so much.  I told Thomas that we might need to go to the ER, because I was pretty sure this was another ectopic, I have no idea how it could be, but what is the other explanation?  We called his mom to let her know that we might be going to the hospital that night, and then had her call Thomas' brother's girlfriend (who is an ER nurse) we gave her the symptoms and she gave us some advice.  Then I called the emergency line for my OBGYN and talked to the Dr. on call.  We were advised to take a pregnancy test.  If the pain continued we should go to the ER as I am at risk of an ectopic pregnancy, otherwise wait until morning and call during office hours.

I had to call my administrator to let them know what was going on and that I would not be able to go in to work the following day.  Thomas got back with the pregnancy test but I was unable to take it due to no fluids in my body.  Then just as quickly as the pain came on the pain went away.  Woke up in the morning to take the test.  Never in my life did I think I would be so disappointed and upset to see a positive on that little stick.  How could I be pregnant?  I am only 15 days into my cycle!!  Long story short we had to go in for blood tests and ultrasounds.  I had fluid (blood) in my pelvic region. a couple of cysts on my left ovary, a small one on my right and an inflamed right fallopian tube.  My blood work came back with counts high enough to guesstimate that I was 6 weeks pregnant.  I needed to repeat my bloodwork two days later to see what was happening.

On Friday my count decreased by about half, indicating that I was miscarrying.  I have felt some discomfort since Tuesday, missing my mom a lot, getting a lot of comfort from friends and family, and feelings of sadness but also hope.  We a hoping that this is just a normal miscarriage and that I am not at risk for another fallopian rupture requiring surgery.  I find great satisfaction in the fact that we were able to get pregnant all on our own.

The thing that really bothers me is how much we (women) hold in and keep to ourselves.  I did not know that so many women in my life we also struggling with getting pregnant, or having miscarriages.  Why do we choose to fight this battle on our own?  We can receive so much more by sharing with others and getting comfort knowing that we are not alone or the only ones going through this!  Please do me a favor.  Talk about it.  Share about it.  Don't hold it in.  You will find so much more healing if you share.  Your disappointment in others will not be as great if you just share what is going on.

Our Lord works in mysterious ways but he works for our good.  I have faith in his plan.  I know that he is good.

Please share!

♥ Ashley

[recipe] White Chicken Enchiladas

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As I have mentioned on here before, New Years Day is enchilada day at our house, I love it because it keeps me in the kitchen while the games are going on (yes I would rather be in the kitchen than watching the games on tv - guilty!)

I usually make my momala's recipe but thought I would change it up a bit and tried a new recipe (we actually had three different types on enchiladas; my momala's, these, and my MIL's), I was hoping to try out a white chicken recipe and thought I would just take a look through some of those cookbooks I have sitting on the shelf and came across a recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  These were delicious but oh so time consuming.

For some reason I cannot find the recipe in the book online so I will do my best from memory and then change it once I get home and can actually look at the book.

Ingredients:

3 Bell Peppers (green, yellow, orange)

2 Serrano chiles

2 jalepenos

1 onion

3 cups shredded cooked chicken

sour cream

chicken broth

butter

flour

salt & pepper

spices

3 1/2 cups Jack Cheese - shredded

tortillas

Directions:

1. Over the flame of a gas burner, on the BBQ or in the Broiler scald and blacken the Bell Peppers and Serrano Chiles, then place into a large plastic bag and let sweat/steam for 30 minutes.  Then take off the skin and dice, set aside

2. Dice up the raw onion and jalepenos and then saute in 1 T oil over medium heat until softened.  Add in the half of the diced peppers and chiles.

3. Add in the butter to melt then the flour stir to combine and cook the flour for 1 minute.  Then add in the chicken broth and sauce should thicken.  Add in the sour cream and 1 1/2 cups Jack Cheese.

4. With the shredded chicken add in the remaining half of peppers and chiles and 1 cup of Jack Cheese.

5.  Heat up the tortillas and prepare baking dish with cooking spray.  Assemble the enchiladas with a bit of the chicken mixture in a tortilla and then wrap up and place in baking dish.

6. Once all the enchiladas are assembled pour over the cream sauce, top with remaining cheese and bake in a 350 oven for about 35 minutes or until bubbling.

7. Serve with additional sour cream, cilantro, guacamole, and any other toppings you like.

Linked to Tasty Tuesdays

enjoy!

♥ Ashley

12 Days of Christmas

Last year I was really interested in finding out about the 12 Days of Christmas Song  I had a friend on Facebook that was posting about the "meanings" of each day so I thought I would do some research and found this website that had a devotional to go along with each of the days. The 12 Days of Christmas start on Christmas Day (December 25th) and go through to January 5th (the 12th Day) and then you celebrate Epiphany on January 6th.

I was hoping to do this again but since I was unable to access the internet on my laptop I had to wait until I came back to work.  So instead of doing the separate posts like I did last year, I will just do one big post.

First Day:  A Partridge in a Pear Tree, represents Jesus Christ the Son of God

Second Day: Two Turtle Doves, represent the Old and New Testaments in the Bible

Third Day: Three French Hens, represent the 3 Theological Values; Faith, Hope and Love

Fourth Day: Four Calling Birds, represent the 4 Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Fifth Day: Five Gold Rings, represent the Torah (first five books of the Bible), Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy

Sixth Day: Six Geese A-Laying, represent the 6 days of creation confessing the God is the creator

Seventh Day: Seven Swans A-Swimming, representing the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit; Prophecy, Ministry, Teaching, Exhortation, Giving, Leading, and Compassion

Eighth Day: Eight Maids A-Milking, represent the Beatitudes; Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, those who Mourn, the Meek, those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, the Merciful, the Pure in Heart, the Peacemakers, and those who are Persecuted for Righteousness' sake.

Ninth Day: Nine Ladies Dancing, represents the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit; Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Generosity, Kindness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.

Tenth Day: Ten Lords A-Leaping, representing the 10 Commandments; You shall have no other gods before me, Do not make an idol, Do not take God's name in vain, Remember the Sabbath Day, Honor your father and mother, Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not covet.


Eleventh Day: Eleven Pipers Piping, represents the eleven Faithful Apostles; Simon Peter,  Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James bar Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas bar James. (Luke 6:14-16). The list does not include the twelfth disciple, Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus to the religious leaders and the Romans.

Twelfth Day: Twelve Drummers Drumming, represents The Twelve points of doctrine in the Apostles' Creed 1) I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. 2) I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. 3) He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. 4) He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell [the grave]. 5) On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 6) He will come again to judge the living and the dead. 7) I believe in the Holy Spirit, 8) the holy catholic Church, 9) the communion of saints, 10) the forgiveness of sins, 11) the resurrection of the body, 12) and life everlasting.

Epiphany: January 6th.


Click on the link to the website above and you will be able to navigate to the devotionals for these...Sorry again that I was unable to post these when I was hoping to.

♥ Ashley

[recipe] Rosemary Cranberry Spread

I mentioned that I served this delicious dip/spread at my Ladies Christmas Tea.  I found it on Pinterest and it was SO easy and SO good.  Here is the LINK to the original post.









Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 tablespoons dried sweetened cranberries
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
• fresh cracked pepper and kosher salt 

Directions:

1. Place all cream cheese into a bowl and using a spoon, fold in all ingredients until well combined.
2. Serve along side crackers or toasted baguette slices, (I served mine with Parmesan Butterhorns)

Hope you enjoy! Let me know how you liked this recipe!

Linked to: Tasty Tuesdays and What I Whipped UpWednesdays


♥ Ashley

Happy New Year

Still working on getting my bloody pictures on this here blog.  I had to go back to work today, something about Christmas Break being over and the kids are going to show up or something like that.  I will say that it is nice to get back to a schedule of some sorts. 

Hubby and I had a wonderful time spending the Christmas holiday together (though he had to return to work last Thursday - haha).  We really didn't do too much, mostly stayed at home and enjoyed each other.  We (I mean I) did do some shopping after Christmas and got some great things!  Mostly stuff I didn't actually need need but needed if you know what I mean. 

Anyways here's what we did:

Hosted Christmas Eve with his family at our house - delicious Prime Rib!
Spent Christmas morning leisurely together opening gifts, just the two of us (for the first time and hopefully the last time it will be just the two of us)
Went out to dinner at a restaurant with my immediate family on Christmas Day (our first without my mom)
Day after Christmas Shopping (scored BIG at Old Navy on a sweater and some cardigans and Kohls)
Going out to lunch to celebrate Christmas with my moms side of the family - oh the entitlement some old people feel they have.
More after Christmas Shopping (or browsing)
Evening in at home and going to bed at 10:30 on NYE
3rd Annual Enchilada New Years Day and Rose Bowl Game watching at our house
Attempting to DIY my pantry doors into a magnetic chalkboard -FYI didn't work need to come up with an alternative plan

Recipe for the Enchiladas HERE as well as my NY Resolution for 2012.  I think that I did a fairly good job at keeping my pushups plan.  Although there were some days (ok maybe weeks, possibly a month or two?) that I failed but overall I would say that I did see improvement.  While 65 was A LOT to do at one time, by the end the first 30 were pretty easy to do. 

My resolutions this year are hopefully ones that I can uphold.  I am going to do my same plan but with jumping jacks instead of the pushups.  I am also hoping to use less paper towels at home.  I think that I can do this and hopefully letting you all know what they are will help me to keep them.

What are some of your resolutions??

♥ Ashley

Ladies Christmas Tea Party

Alright it's been a little while since I have posted. I wish I could say that I have a good reason but I really don't. Except for the fact that I really don't like posting from my phone, which is what I am doing now since my computer wo t let me connect to the wifi at Starbucks. So here I am. Happy Mew Year. I had so many plans of posts to do during my Christmas break but that obviously didn't happen.

So let me get a little bit organized here  let me tell you about my Ladies Christmas Tea I hosted and I will share some pictures soon. Once I can get them off my computer.

Every December I host a holiday open house Tea Party for Ladies only. I love it because it gives me real incentive to get my house all decorated for the season. Not like I need much encouragement but anything helps, right?

I had a lovely time with several friends attending as well as some co workers including my boss. It was nice to have an assortment of guests and to enjoy and celebrate the holiday season. My best friend came home from Thailand just before Thanksgiving so it was so special to have her there as well. She arrived early to help me set up and so we could have a chance to catch up.

We had lots of goodies to eat and of course we had tea. I got to use my glass snack plates and glasses.

Here is the menu:

Sweets; rolo stuffed sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, peanut butter balls, and Linzer cookies
Savory; cucumber sandwiches, tomato sandwiches, rosemary cranberry cream cheese spread, crackers and butterhorns.

Hopefully pics will be up soon!!

♥ Ashley

[Picture Thursday] Christmas Card 2012

(this is the instagramified photo - that wouldn't print for some reason)

Good Tidings from the Parsons Farm!

Many things have happened over this last year and we appreciate the Lord’s hand over us through it t

It is with a bit of annoyance that we share with you that once again Ashley was on the job hunt yet again at the close of the school year in June. She made the plunge and is working part time at a private school, Cascade Christian, teaching Health and PE at the High School level.  It is with great pleasure that we share with you that Thomas is still teaching and the head of the Social Studies Department at WAHS!!  He is still coaching both Boys and Girls tennis at ARHS.

We have decided that we are going to adopt!  We have chosen an agency based in Spokane, finished all the paperwork and our home study, and are looking to adopt an infant (newborn-3 months old) from a birth mother living within driving distance to Spokane.  There are two possibilities when adopting from this agency: we can be placed with a birth mother who is pregnant and then get the baby once born, or we could get a phone call from the agency letting us know that there is a baby ready for us to pick up.  It is an exciting time and we have been working hard on setting up a gender neutral nursery.  Last November (2011) we hosted Thanksgiving at our house with Ashley’s family, it was so fun to be able to have her mom at our house for a holiday.  Then we were able to spend Christmas at Ashley’s parent’s house with her mom.  We lost Susan to brain cancer on March 9^th.  We miss her dearly but are reminded of her constantly through memories that pop up.  We are just thankful for the time we were blessed with Susan and having her in our life.  We find peace in knowing that she is pain-free and partying it up in Heaven with Jesus.

Ashley still enjoys blogging “Life on the Parsons Farm” and shopping at “Junk Shows”.  Thomas loves fishing any chance he gets and of course his Seattle Sounders.  We went camping again for our 4^th Anniversary, this time it was a much better experience; going to Ellensburg and camping on grass – we might make a camper out of Ashley yet!!  The chickens are doing very well in their new home; we have seen a huge increase in their egg production in the winter (good for selling!!).  We took a trip up to Monroe to get a large free standing hay manger for the horses and they love it, but they knock it over trying to get the hay that falls underneath.  We acquired Paladin (Susan’s miniature horse) in January and he fits right in with the goats, they were a little unsure of him at first.  He loves all the space and the ability to graze all day and he spends much of his time staring at the chickens.  We have also added Gwenivere (Susan’s cockatiel) to our menagerie.  Cooper loves to cuddle and Sakari still dreams of snow every day!  The garden produced a bounty of tomatoes, beans and peas that we enjoyed and shared with friends and family.  We built a compost bin this year and are making additions to it weekly, can’t wait to add it in to our garden in the spring!

We wish you the happiest of days during this holiday season and into the New Year!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We pray that 2013 brings you many blessings.

Love, Thomas and Ashley Parsons

Jazz, Paladin, Gwenivere, Rags, Cooper, Sakari, Penelope, Annabelle, and the Chicks.

Stay updated throughout the year by becoming a follower on our blog: www.atparsons.blogspot.com

[recipe] Pinspired Cookies

I am hosting my annual Ladies Holiday Tea this weekend so I am getting prepared for it with all my baking.  I have been really into Pinterest lately and I was inspired by an idea I found on in.  I am making the Rolo Stuffed Sugar Cookies/Snikerdoodles.  While they are not complete yet I have started so I thought I would share.

Melt In Your Mouth Sugar Cookies



Ingredients:

• 1/2
  cup butter, softened
• 1/2
  cup shortening
• 2
  cups sugar
• 1
  teaspoon baking soda
• 1
  teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8
  teaspoon salt
• 3
  egg yolks
• 1/2
  teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4
  cups all-purpose flour
  Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat mixture until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. 
  
  

  2. Divide dough into Tablespoon portions and wrap around a rolo. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

  
  

  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are set; do not let edges brown. Cool cookies for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
  YUM!
  Linked to: Tasty Tuesdays and What I Whipped Up Wednesdays 
  ♥ Ashley 

Happy Engagementiversary!!!

Six years ago today, the love of my life made an announcement to our parents professing his love for me, proceeded to get down on one knee and ask me to be his wife!!  I love you more than anything Thomas!!!!  I am so happy that I said yes (after my mom answered for me of course!!)

This day also holds a bittersweet memory.  It is the day we officially lost our first baby in 2010.  I believe that many good things will happen on this day and we have much to celebrate.

♥ Ashley

Christmas Garland DIY

Well a few things have happened since my last post.  My students set up an instagram account for me and have since then have posted a few pics for me, you can look me up "lifeonthefarm". I also learned that sometimes my keyboard on my phone gives me a shortcut hash tag so I don't have to search for it.

Back to the point. I was looking at Natasha's blog and she is working with a group of bloggers setting up a number of Christmas linky parties with a variety of features. Today is a Christmas DIY. So I decided I would join in. I made this garland today when I got home from work. I have been thinking about doing it but Natasha got my rear in gear. Thanks girl!!

All right. So this is my handmade pompon garland. I used white yarn, red/white bakers twine, a ruler, scissors and my fingers for this project. First I made 10 white yarn pompons by wrapping the yarn around three of my fingers and then tying them off in the middle with another small piece of yarn. 

 Once I got all of those "buns" as my husband called them done I then worked on my bakers twine ones. For these I used both the yarn and the twine together as I wrapped them around my fingers and then tied them off with a bit of yarn. I made three of this kind. 

Then I needed to come up with a pattern of which to create my garland.  I decided two white, one  twine, three white, one twine, three white, one twine and finished it off with two more white.  I spaced them apart by 6" using my ruler. I tied the long garland string of white yarn to the pins by the tails of the yarn I used to tie the off with.
Once all the little "buns" we're tied up to the string I used my scissors to cut the loops creating these adorable little poms. 

I hung my garland on my mirror above my fireplace in the living room. 

I love it and I hope you do too. 

Linked To: What I Whipped Up Wednesday  and  Hi Sugarplum!
and It's a pom-pom Party at JR!

♥ Ashley