Christmas Fun

I always had a real Christmas tree growing up, but when I went off to college I started using an artificial tree. I've been missing that "real tree" smell...if you haven't given it a chance then I think you should try it out one year. Hal has never experienced the "real tree" smell and all its fun either, so this year we decided to change it up a bit and go to a Christmas Tree Farm. I googled tree farms around here and one absolutely stood out. This place is an absolute must. The place is called Pine Hill Farms and the people there made it a wonderful experience. It is located in Tarrant, AL and it only took us maybe 30 minutes to get there from our place. You get off the Walker Chapel exit (65 north near Gardendale) and it is just a few miles off the exit. Once you get there, you can choose pre-cut trees or cut down your own tree there on the farm (they supply the saw). The pre-cut trees are more expensive. We walked around on the farm and found a beautiful tree to cut down. Once the tree is cut down, then a guy will take it over to this machine that will shake all the squirrels out for you :) and then they put it through another machine thing that wraps it up for you. They even tie it to your car for you!! What GREAT service!! And...I left out the best part. We took a little wagon ride to see real reindeer...Hal and I named one of the reindeer, Olive (Olive, the other reindeer :). They also gave us some hot apple cider to enjoy while we were there. A man there walked us around their workshop where you can pay a little extra to have your tree, wreath, or garland flocked. This is where it looks like the tree has been out in the snow. If you get a flocked tree, they put it in a special bag so the white snow will not fall off. A few other "extras" you can get done in the workshop are... they can put a tree stand on the tree, I saw several ladies putting lights on several trees before wrapping them up to go, and they said they will decorate your tree for you and deliver it. Now, I think the last one is no fun at all but it is an option. They also have a gift shop there that is FULL of ornaments and other Christmas decorations. Like I said, this place is a must! Everyone was so nice and helpful. This definitely got me in the Christmas spirit. Pictures below :)

Driving to the Tree Farm

This is the exit ( if going north, take a right)

there are plenty of signs to follow

great service just waiting on us :)

I'm so bad at making choices

Hal, that will not fit in our house

riding around to look at the trees and reindeer

I think I like this one :)

It looks short in this picture but it is over 6 feet tall...that's tall to me

just doing our thing

making sure they get everything out of the tree

wrapping the tree

seriously, these guys were the best

happy customers!!

we made it and the tree stand works!!

very happy...now I need to decorate! (I will have to post about that later)

Just a few fun pictures

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Yes...it's worth blogging about!

So, my favorite dish at Macaroni Grill is Pasta Milano. One day I came home and my husband was cooking supper and it smelled SO GOOD! He would not let me go in the kitchen to see what he was making. When it was time for dinner, I took one bite and I knew immediately what I was eating...PASTA MILANO! At first, I thought he went and bought it and then warmed it up, BUT NO...he made it from scratch. Well, we made it yesterday for our core group and it was definitely a hit. Everyone wanted the receipe, so here you go. The only warning I have is that the clean up is not so much fun. We used four different pans, but I promise you it is worth it. Hope you enjoy!

Pasta Milano

Ingredients:

*1 quart heavy cream, 1 garlic head, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 cup cheese

*Chicken (1 lb- chopped up), 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper

*4 tablespoon butter, 1 1/2 cups sun dried tomatos, 1 lb mushrooms sliced

*Bow tie pasta

*Parsley and Parmesean Cheese (sprinkle on top after it is on the plate :)

1. Put heavy cream, garlic head, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese in processor. Place in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Place chicken in a skilet and sprinke with the garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook completly

3. Saute mushrooms and sun dried tomatos in butter until soft.

4. Cook pasta 8-10 minutes

5. Mix in chicken, mushrooms, sun dried tomatos, and pasta into the heavy cream mixture.

6. Sprinkle parsley and parmesean cheese on top once on plate.

ENJOY

Are there any nice black dining room tables out there???

I seriously have been looking for almost 2 years now. When we moved in our house we decided we would take our time to find a good, long lasting table for the dining room. We also said we would wait and save up (we were on a Dave Ramsey kick) and not just put one on a credit card. It is definitely not a need, but I would LOVE to have one and our dining room is still empty. Anyway, this Christmas Hal and I decided we would buy the dining room table and chairs and then a little something for each other. I have in my head what I want and it is a black, eloquent, romantic looking table. :) I seriously did not think that would be hard to find...think again! I LOVE the double pedestal style. I have googled and have been to every furniture store around here, AND I have not found what is in my head. Now you may think... then that they just don't make it, but that is not true. Over a year ago when we were not ready to purchase I saw this table in a Pottery Barn magazine that was absolutely beautiful and out of the world expensive! Even if I could find that table again (but I have not had any luck), we would not be purchasing that table any time soon. So, back to the drawing board. Last week, I went to the Alabama Furniture Market in Calera and looked through their catalogs. I found this BEAUTIFUL table that checked off all the things on my list....but did it??? I almost overlooked a ( I think) pretty big part. Their catalog showed all the up close details that I fell in love with. I mean this table has the little details everywhere...on the chairs, on the double pedestals, lining the table...it is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Then in the corner of the catalog this very small picture shows an eagle's eye view that just shows the top of the table and what in the world....the top is brown. The whole table is absolutely everything I wanted and then it threw me for a loop with that small tiny picture. I almost didn't see it. This is the only table I have been able to find. I know that sounds crazy and unbelivable, but there are seriously not any black tables out there. My next question is WHY??? So, now I don't know what to do. Hal says get the table. I'm posting a picture of the table. Also, here is the link to the table and you can zoom in to see the details. Tell me what you think.

http://www.americandrew.com/index.asp?CollId=707&pg=search

Click on Trestle table and then click on view digital catalog. Then you can zoom in.

For The Love....of all my blogging haters

Okay...okay....No I did not just go to Aruba last week. I hit a slump. I guess you can say it was a big blogging slump. You can thank this blog to Hal Craig, Mike Mullen, Cameron Penter, Justin Hardy, and Shaun Cosby. That's right ....the husbands!! Today after church, a few couples went to grab a bite to eat and the guys started giving me a really hard time about not blogging anymore. So, here I am. I'm blogging and I'm even going to include some pictures of us at lunch today. Enjoy! Oh and P.S. I already know what my next blog will be about, so get excited....I'm back!

Justin getting some practice!

Colton is sneaking some drink!

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya...

Well, in Aruba at the Soprano's Piano Bar when requested to play this song this is how they sing it through the first time... Aruba, Aruba ooo I wanna take ya to Aruba, Aruba come on pretty mama . Aruba, Aruba baby why don't we go... alright, alright, I think you get the picture.

Hal and I went to Aruba on June 9th for the week and we enjoyed every relaxing minute of it! I"ll try to give some of the highlights of our trip...hope you enjoy!

It really all started on June 8th with a day layover in Miami. Now Hal, ended up getting us a night at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. I will definitely recommend this place to anyone in the Miami area. We had plans to go to the south beach and see what that was all about, but after seeing this place, we decided to just hang out around the resort. We did venture off for dinner and ate at Texas de Brazil. Now, let me just say this place just started off the "I'm gonna gain some weight on this trip" experience. If you have never been to one of these restaurants...it will make you sick ...in the best food you will ever have and lots of it kinda way. We were wanting to take a picture of us and had flashbacks from our honeymoon or any other trip that it is just us, you know where Hal just holds the camera out and we hope that we are both in the picture. So...we asked our cab driver to take a picture of us and lets just say we voted to take the pictures our self next time. I'll let you see the cab driver picture...just like their driving - INSANELY HORRIBLE!

Oh...no it is not your eyes. The guy kept stepping back more and more. I seriously thought he was about to steal our camera. Anywho, it is us...we think :)

Next day...we head off to Aruba. We stayed at the Aruba Marriott Resort. It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was so nice the entire trip. We had lots of fun and made lots of memories. Here are a few that stand out:

Memory #1. Hanging out with my best friend in Aruba. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures :)

Memory #2. We headed straight to the pool as soon as we got there. The pool was very nice ...waterfalls, swim up bar, hot tub...and then out of no where IGUANAS! What! I first saw the tail and let me just say they look a lot like snakes at first. I about lost it! I did eventually get use to them and I will say they were kinda nice..I guess. They loved just hanging out by the pool and eating food that people dropped. Some people were even brave enough to feed these things and they would walk right up to them and eat the food right out of their hands. NOT me! Here are a few pictures of our poolside friends.

Memory #3. The views at dinner: Every night we would have reservations at 6:30 for dinner where ever we went. This gave you time to get settled to enjoy the AMAZING sunset! This was a great treat. Here are a few pictures of dinner time in Aruba.

The first 2 pictures are from our dinner at La Trattoria El Faro Blanco. It is located near the California Lighthouse.

The next two pictures are taken from a restaurant called Simply Fish that was at our resort. The tables are on the sand and every seat is facing the ocean....BEAUTIFUL!

Memory #4-part A. The water activities (snorkeling): One day we took a little adventure on the Jolly Pirate. Hal wasn't too sure with the name and all (he said it sounded cheesy), but I was super pumped! We ended up having a blast. We jumped on a pirate ship with lots of other friends we did not know beforehand and set sail. They took us to three different spots to snorkel. We had so much fun. The first spot was not too deep (I mean you could see the bottom and Hal was able to swim down and pick things up). It was very pretty, but the next spot NOT SO MUCH! The second place they took us was over 400 feet deep and they advised everyone to wear a life vest..do you think Hal listened..NO! Mr. "I grew up in the Marshall Islands and have done this my whole life" was completely fine. Now...Hal jumped right in, but I eased my way in the water. OH, I left off a small detail..we were at the Caribbeans largest shipwreck!!! I mean, it kinda freaked me out when we pulled up and part of the SHIP was sticking out of the water and let me remind you the water was over 400 feet deep! Anyway, Hal jumped in ...I eased in ...and then Hal looked under the water first. His head popped up and he said Maghan, I'm not going to lie this is kinda scary. I was scared to even look, but I finally got up the nerve and FOR THE LOVE...it was like something I saw on the Titanic. SCARY!! Meanwhile, Hal got over his fear obviously because he is off like a fish swimming this way and that. I just tried to keep my mind off of what was below and keep up with him. Thankfully, we did not stay there long. Our next stop was lovely....you could see the bottom again and I felt safe. At this stop you got to sail off the ship on a rope swing into the water. That was SO MUCH FUN...probably my favorite part. After hanging out there for a while, we headed back to shore. The Jolly Pirate Ship is a MUST if you are ever in Aruba...just stay on the ship at stop 2! Pictures below :)

Memory #4-part b: water activities (parasailing): On another day we decided to go parasailing. I have done this before but I think I was like 14 and it was in Florida. Back then you would start standing on the beach and you would land on the beach...it was a little tricky. Anywho, in Aruba it was another adventure! First, this guy would come pick us up in a boat off the beach. He then would take us to another boat that is already out in the ocean and that was where the parasailing would take place. Now, real quick we need to go back to the first guy that picked us up. He was acting more like a taxi from the main boat to different resorts, and so why would I expect anything else but INSANELY HORRIBLE driving (ON water). I mentally was preparing myself for how I would try to not die if we crashed. It was water and I saw myself just trying to dive in if we started to flip. I mean, I grew up on water (Smith Lake) and you know I have probably gone too fast a time or two but I have NEVER experienced anything like this. I was truly scared for mine and Hal's life, the other people and boats we were weaving through to get to the main boat, and heck I guess the driver's life too! I'm back home writing this blog, so we know it all turned out okay. Back to the parasail... it was super fun. If you have never parasailed before then I again would recommend it. The only thing I didn't like was they told me and Hal that we had to go at different times. I would have been nice to go together, but I definitely was not going to disagree with them, so there you go...we went parasailing. Hal and I both took the water camera up with us and we were up there for about 10 minutes each. I'll show both of our pictures below. Just shows how guys and girls think differently...well, maybe it is just my husband. The first two pictures are going up from the boat and then to show you how far up we were. The third picture is the one I took while I was up there and then the last picture is what Hal took. Enjoy :)

Memory #5- Random pictures....just having some fun and enjoying our stay!

Well, hope you enjoyed our trip to Aruba...we sure did! Now if anyone asked me what I was doing on June 25th...I was busy writing this LONG blog. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Schools Out For Summer...

Yes..I'm going on week 2 and I only have one post to show for it. I really enjoyed my first week off. I picked up a new hobby...running. Now, I am no where near running a marathon and it wasn't anything I planned, it just happened. Last Monday, I went for a walk and while I was out I got the urge to start running. I really need to lose some weight and I didn't really feel like the walking was helping me, so I stepped it up. Now, to the end of the our neighborhood and back is 2 miles. I would run as far as I could and then walk a little and then run again. I'm proud to say that I did this everyday except for Sunday. Hal and I had a guest staying with us then and after our company left it started raining, so I took that as a sign that I needed a day of rest :) Well, I didn't run yesterday, but I did walk with Hal in the neighborhood. I think I need new shoes! Since I've never really been a runner, I have never really had the need for good running shoes. Just got my good ole New Balances and lately I have noticed that the lower front part of my legs have started hurting :( WHAT! That is why I just walked yesterday and will run not as much today. My goal this week is to find a good pair of running shoes. SO ... if I have any running friends out there, will you please help a girl out. I'm up for suggestions. I kinda look forward to running now...don't know where that came from but I do. Well...I don't know if I can truly say that I really enjoy it while I'm running but right before and right after I do, so we will say overall I look forward to it. I really like that I have seen a few pounds go...I really like that and that really motivates me. We'll see if I can keep it up throughout the summer...I think I can.

Now, with the rest of my time I have decorated my whole house... in my mind. I know exactly where I'm getting all the furniture and accessories I feel like we 'need' for our house. I think this is where Hal gets a little nervous (summer= time to shop). Sunday night I took him around to see some of the things I had picked out while he was in California. Now, when I say I got that piece for the foyer ...he will know exactly what I'm talking about. :) I have a feeling I might be asked to go to California with him next time. At least I didn't buy everything I saw this week so I think I was good. I do have BIG plans though.

Keeping God in the Small Stuff

Okay...so if you know me at all then you know that I love looking at the clouds. Well, actually during the day it is the clouds and at night it is the stars:) Something about it is so comforting to me and in my eyes you can't look at it and Not be thankful to God for all that He has blessed you with. So, every morning I read a daily devotional from the book Keeping God in the Small Stuff and this was today's reading. I hope you enjoy...I went for a walk to take it all in.

may 27: The Beauty of Creation (When you see a beautiful painting, you compliment the artist. So, when you experience the beauty in nature, praise the Creator.)

Our world is filled with beauty, but usually we are too busy to notice. An early morning routine forces us to miss the sunrise, and we're engulfed with activities into the evening so we don't enjoy the sunset. Maybe your daily commute takes you past majestic scenery- but you never notice because you're too upset by the driver that cut in front of you.
Imagine that you attended an art exhibition featuring incredible paintings by a local artist. If you blasted through the gallery without looking at the paintings, you would insult the artist, and you would be depriving yourself of the beauty on display.
And so it is with the world around you. God is the Master Artist Who creatively designed the beauty in nature. Don't rush through His gallery. Stop long enough to enjoy the splendor of the earth. And compliment Him on His artistry.

*The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Psalm 19:1