Disney on Ice

This year, Laekyn and I got to experience Disney on Ice for the first time. Kasey was so excited to purchase tickets and take us. We kept it a secret from Laekyn until we literally sat down in front of the ice. She was so excited and surprised! We sat rink-side and was amazed at the entire show. Such a fun experience and we're definitely making it a tradition to attend each year. I recorded clips from the show on my phone and posted them on my You Tube channel. You can view the clips by clicking here. Laekyn also got a snow cone that was in a fairy cup, she slurped it down!

If you haven't been, I highly recommend going!

Me as a mentor

I was incredibly honored that a high school senior asked me to be their mentor for their senior project. Being a mentor included being interviewed, providing hands-on type "training", being available for questions and spending 8 hours with the senior. It was a lot of fun working with her and I wanted to share some photos taken of Kasey, Laekyn and myself during our session together.

These photos were taken by, Halie  - enjoy!

Back at it... hopefully!

It's been awhile since I've sat down and had the opportunity to write. For some reason, my schedule seems to stay on go and yet I continue to add more to it. Sometimes I think I just need to learn to say, no! Ha. It's alright though, I enjoy my life and everyone in it so there definitely aren't any complaints.

Kasey wrote the most sweetest blog to me for our 10 month anniversary. Here we are now a month later, celebrating our 11 month anniversay. Where has this time gone? It seems just like yesterday when I pulled in his mom's driveway for the first time and saw his handsome face in person for the first time since we were kids. Our relationship has grown stronger each and ever minute since. I am so incredibly thankful to have him in mine and Laekyn's life. This is only the beginning :)

So I know you'd probably rather hear everything we've been up to instead of all that mushy stuff about our relationship so I'll get right on it. In October, we joined a small group at Church and have really enjoyed it when we've been able to attend. This time of year is horrible for us, we're always battling some kinda sickness. I've had a number of photo sessions (a charity golf tournament, wedding, two birthday parties, Halloween community event and a portrait session). It's been a busy time behind the lens and on my editing screen. Laekyn's cheerleading season came to an end, a couple games and her first ever cheer exhibition.

 I cannot describe enough how proud I was of her and the way she went out there and did amazing. She flew in a stunt and was all smiles! The clip of her stunting is here, just click on the link and it'll take you to my You Tube channel. In the pyramid, she's the flyer in the right group. Proud mommy moment! In October, I also began my listening of Christmas music. Some people think I'm crazy for how early I start but I just love it. Kasey surprised me with a new Christmas CD, too. We also visited pumpkin patches and I got to experience parent/teacher conferences for the first time. In Kindergarten they didn't do them at her school but I was super proud of the things her teacher had to say about my little mini. Towards the end of October we attended fall festivals and went Trunk or Treating! Laekyn dressed up as a 3D Nemo this year, Kasey was a crayon box and I was a pink crayon. Kasey and I also went to a Halloween party at the home of our small group leaders. We had a ball! In the picture, the little dalmation is my neice Riley. Precious!

As you can tell, we've been our typical on-the-go-selves. My goal is to get back to writing blogs more often, we'll see how that goes. Thanks for always being faithful in reading our posts, happy Friday!

Happy 10 Months to my beautiful baby

This is a blog gift and shout out to my much better half, my beautiful Hollie Bennett. Happy 10 month Anniversary gorgeous, I love you so very much. It seems like only yesterday when your beautiful eyes, smile, and face greeted me in my Mom's driveway for the first time in a long time, and man oh man was I hooked. My life instantly changed for the much better when those beautiful eyes entered my world. I knew from that very day, that if you would have me Hollie, I would love you forever and ever. Just think of what we have already accompolished together, we began our journey together as a long distance couple. Us starting that way didn't exactly tip the cards in our favor as far as having a long and lasting relationship, as the stress and strain of a long distance relationship, no one should have to go through. But we not only lasted, we grew closer the whole time. The minute I finally got to see your beautiful face, I knew that wherever you were at, that is where I wanted to be. I will never ever forget how hard it was to have to leave you and to see you cry everytime I had to hop on a plane back to Missouri, I can still see your eyes full of tears and your face getting red from trying not to cry and show emotions. I still tear up thinking about the sadness in my stomach and heart having to let you go and out of my arms. I vow to never let that happen again. To this day, I can't stand the Kansas City Airport and those stupid glass walls that seperates the lobby from the gates,as it always reminds me of  us watching each other tear up and cry waiting for you to leave and talking on the phone. But I also want to thank you for loving me and sticking with me through all the long distance hardships and sadness, because the good times greatly outweight the bad times. I am so glad you believed me and trusted in me, when I told you. "Baby, I am moving back to NC, it is only a matter of time". You are my world baby, and now look at us, we spend each and every day together. Those beautiful eyes that I use to lay down and dream about are now also there when I open my eyes each day. That beautiful smile that I use to see only on my computer screen, or phone, I get to see every single day. Your beautiful and sweet voice, and your amazing southern accent still makes me smile and melts my heart. Hearing you tell me you love me, and when you call me baby, still gives me chills and makes me fall in love with you all over again. We have no doubt had our share of ups and downs as most couples have, but through thick and thin, there has never been any doubt in my mind that you are my soul mate and together we can conquer the world. We have experienced some growing pains and made some adjustments with us living together and going from not seeing each other very much, to seeing each other every single day. But each day, my love for you grows even stronger, and our relationship continues to flourish and we grow closer. I don't know where I would be without you. So I want to say thanks to you Hollie Bennett. Thanks for loving me, thanks for making me a better person, thanks for pretending to like the Huskers just because you know how important they are to me. Thanks for giving me your heart, and finally lowering your walls for me to climb ;). Thank you Ms. Hollie, for being my baby, the reason I smile, and the reason I am so excited for our future and our journey.

I Love you Baby to the moon and back, Happy Anniversary, and I can't wait to see what the rest of our chapters bring.

Your mess, your baby, and your man

Kasey <3

Crock pot Beer Chicken

I am so anxious to get this post finished with and published. The recipe I'm about to share with you is by far one of my favorite things I've cooked and I must say, it's finger lickin' good!!

I am a tad bit addicted to Pinterest and finding new things to make, new ways to organize and new recipes to try. Today, I was looking forward to the recipe I found for crock pot beer chicken. At first glance, I had all the ingredients that it called for but when it came time to putting them into the crock pot, I realized I didn't. That's when I had to be creative. I set out to try a recipe I found on Pinterest and instead created my own recipe and my goodness is it delicious! The flavor in the chicken was amazing and it was probably the most tender, fall apart chicken I've ever made.

Ingredients:
6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 can of your favorite beer
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp lemon juice

1 tbsp lemon pepper rub

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook for 6-7 hours. Yup, that's it!

Easy enough, right? For the specific ingredients I used, the total calories for 1 chicken breast was only 120 calories, not too shabby. I served the chicken over herb and butter rice with a side of carrots and side of french style green beans. I calculated the calories in the rice, carrots and green beans separately. Take a look at some pictures I took on my phone, below..

While the chicken was in the crock pot (excuse the poor lighting).. 

An up-close view of the chicken over rice  

...prior to being gobbled up

Well, now that I've shared my new recipe I hope that your family enjoys it as much as mine did tonight. I look forward to trying more recipes and maybe coming up with some more on my own.

Thanks for reading, have a good evening!

Hollie

On the go!

The title couldn't fit our crazy schedule any better. It always feels like we constantly are 'on the go' but yet, we've learned to adapt to that as being our normal. Between us both having full time jobs, Laekyn being in first grade, homework, cheer leading practice twice a week, game every Saturday, volunteering at the field, birthday parties, Church, school, photo sessions, editing sessions.. not to mention the everyday parenting duties. It just seems like we keep a busy and full schedule. Very rarely do we ever get to sleep in so when we do, we take full advantage of it. Take this morning for example, we laid there and just enjoyed the feeling of not having to jump up to the sound of an alarm. The morning was so relaxing I even posted that it was Saturday. What in the world was I thinking, it was clearly Sunday. My mind had just rested much more than it's used to obviously.

This weekend was no different. Friday night, we had Laekyn's friend Zoe over for a sleepover. We took the girls to the fair and had a ball. Much to our surprise, they weren't so tired when we got back and it was after midnight before they finally stopped talking and giggling and got some shut eye. Saturday morning Laekyn had a game so we went to that and then afterwards, we had a birthday party to attend to. The birthday party was fun, the kids really enjoyed making sand art! There are photos posted on my Facebook if you're interested in seeing them. Saturday evening we drove out to the mountains to visit Kasey's dad and his family. We enjoyed some smoked chicken and typical country sides (green beans, mashed taters, mac 'n cheese and slaw) and after dark we made s'mores by the bonfire. Had a wonderful time!

Today, we slept in so late that by the time we got up and moving it was time to head out. We missed Church and was supposed to be at my dad's by 1. Well, we didn't get there until 1:30 but regardless, we had fun. We ate delicious home cooked chicken wings, celery and carrots and was supposed to watch the Dallas game. The gals ended up in the kitchen just a talkin' while the boys were in the living room watching the game. It's great to catch up! Although I missed watching it, they won and I was still stoked. Once it got dark, we started a bonfire and made some s'mores. For some reason I like making them but I'm not a huge fan of eating them. I guess it's the marshmallows. I've always liked them in my cocoa but that's about it.

All in all, it's been a busy weekend like I stated earlier but it's been spent with some of our family and friends. That's how it's supposed to be. Oh!! I almost forgot. I also got interviewed tonight for a senior project. I was asked to be a mentor to one of my little sister's friends, such an honor! :) Another exciting thing about this weekend is that today is mine and Kasey's 9 month anniversary. Crazy how time flies.

Fall has officially begun and I couldn't be more thrilled with where I'm at in life. I know we don't make much time to blog but we're going to attempt blogging more so stick with us. Thanks for the love so far! Hope your week starts out wonderfully. Good night, y'all!

Lasagna Roll-ups

Yet again, here's another Pinterest inspired post.. lasagna roll-ups. The actual pin called for a slightly different recipe but I used the idea and made it into my own. I am also watching calories so the preparation was a tad different than the original pin. I will post both so you can do what works best for you but I highly recommend this recipe for a yummy dinner or ever pot luck surprise. It is mighty tasty!

The recipe I originally pinned was found here, I won't copy and paste it all here since you can easily click the link and view it from the original site. Below is what I used and did:

Ingredients (per every 2.5 lasagna noodles):
1/4 cup lean ground beef
1/4 cup pasta sauce
1/4 cup ricota cheese
1/4 mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

First, cook your noodles. While your noodles are cooking, brown the ground beef (could also use ground turkey if you'd prefer) and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While the noodles and ground beef are cooking, mix your cheese together so it's in a spreadable texture. Once the noodles are finished, drain and blot to get any excess water off of them. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet. Once your meat is drained, mix it with the sauce. On the lasagna noodles, spread a layer of your cheese mixture and top with a layer of your meat mixture. Then, roll the noodle up and place in a baking dish. Size would depend on how many lasagna rolls you're making. Once you have all the roll ups in the baking dish, take the remaining cheese mixture and add a layer to the top of each roll up. On top of that, add a layer of the remaining meat mixture. On the top, I also added an extra sprinkling of mozzarella cheese with a couple dashes of parmesan cheese. The amount is based on personal preference. Put dish into the oven for 35 minutes or until cheese on the top has a good baked appearance. Remove and let cool for 2 minutes to allow the sauce to thicken. Then, serve and enjoy!

It was a hit at my house and I'm sure it will be at yours! As always, thanks for following.