Family
Sketching in Pencil
We all start with a blank canvas. A canvas to dream, to create, to design, to draft, to envision, and to develop. A clean slate. A fresh start. A beginning. But it doesn’t take us long to mark that canvas up. To put lines, arrows, patterns, and circles. To leave dots, smears, specks, and marks. To make choices, decisions, impressions, and traces. To impact, influence, determine, and affect. One by one, the marks play into who you are, they determine who you are becoming, and they leave lasting transformations.
We all make marks with each thing we say, action we take, or thing we do. How we make our marks is the important part. Are we so set and confident in our own ways that we sketch in pen and take the control in our own hands? Do we sketch in pen or in pencil? Do we sketch, create and make marks with pencil so that we can develop our canvas with open hands? By doing this, we let the Lord come into our pencil sketches. We let Him come in with permanence and pen. We let him come in with beauty and color. He is creating a masterpiece. You see, the canvas of our life is His creation. It is His artwork. And as we make choices and steps forward and make our pencil sketches, the Lord is over us and in control making a beautiful piece of art.
We do have the choice to draw in pen ourselves. But all we end up doing with that is making permanent marks that may not be the best patterns for our life. When we do this, we hold God at a distance, and we take away from the best work that God intends for us. When we think we know …
Read MoreRoasted Cauliflower and Broccoli-Shwarma Style with Spicy Tahini Sauce
We are practicing physical distancing during this COVID-19 crisis so I am spending my evenings trying new healthy recipes with the ingredients I have on hand. We are trying to utilize this time to develop healthy habits, get fresh air and exercise every day and eat super nutritious food (a mostly plant based diet). This recipe was shared with me from one of my hiking buddies. I tweaked it a bit and adjusted some of the seasonings. The night I made this I also tried a new recipe for Baked Falafels and made a batch of Tabooleh. In the picture at the end of this post you will see the plate full of food I served my husband while he was working his evening clinic shift from home. Hope you enjoy this as much as my husband and I did.
Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli-Shwarma Style
1 head of Cauliflower, cut into florets
1 head of Broccoli, cut into florets
¼ cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon sumac or zaatar or harissa
2 cloves garlic pressed
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon seasoned pepper
- Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli-Shwarma Style
- 1 head of Cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1 head of Broccoli, cut into florets
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon sumac or zaatar or harissa
- 2 cloves garlic pressed
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon seasoned pepper
- Heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Cut up cauliflower and broccoli.
- Mix all other
Israel Adventures: Ein Gedi
The bucket list adventures keep on coming from Isreal!
Today we hiked to the top waterfall in Ein Gedi, the oasis where David hid in caves from King Saul who was chasing him to kill him because David had become more popular with the people. This is referenced in the Bible in 1 Samuel 24:1-22.
Ein Gedi is located at the edge of the Dead Sea. It is the only natural fresh water oasis near this desolate below-sea-level area surrounding the Dead Sea, also inspiring the poetry of Song of Solomon, Song 1:14.
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Hiking Masada
Today’s bucket list adventure was hiking Masada, Hebrew for “fortress,” and one of Israel’s most popular tourist attractions.
It is possible that Masada is the place David took refuge from Saul and where he wrote some of his Psalms.
Herod the Great built himself two large palaces here between 37 and 31 BCE. According to Josephus, Herod had two great fears: one, to be deposed by the Jewish people, and two, the fear of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. This fortress, Masala, was one of his escape places.
You can walk the 911 foot trail to the top, and we are so glad we did. It took 52 minute to climb and the top has incredible views of the Dead Sea. We drank 8 bottles of water!
Signing off for now from Israel,
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Supporting Our Local Pumpkin Patch
Our favorite pumpkin patch is a family owned farm out in wine country. We love going every year to take a few of the same fun photos to compare as the kids grow. We’ve been going for at least 5 years!
It is really fun to go to this local pumpkin farm to support the family who owns it and run into lots of friendly faces of people we know. We actually decided not to meet any friends on this trip so our family could explore and play at our own pace. Each of the girls got a set amount of tickets and chose a couple activities each. There are lots of activities and even food trucks and a winery up the hill from the farm.
This year I let the girls decide what they wanted to do. They chose between the petting zoo, pony rides, and carnival games. At the end we celebrated awesome parent teacher conference with ice cream from their ice cream truck.
We almost didn’t go this year, but thanks to the Bestie Fall Bucket List Challenge, I knew that this was a memory I didn’t want to pass up! I’m so grateful for this challenge and the reminder to get out and make memories!
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Trunk or Treat
One of our favorite events of the year is our local Girl Scout Trunk-or-Treat. We love walking around the trunks with our troop and supporting all the local girls and families that make the event possible. It is a great way to do something fun as a troop and also to be a part of the Girl Scout community!
I love seeing everyone in their costumes. Even the adults get dressed up. Some of the troops even have theme costumes!! I admire those leaders because that is a lot of organization.
The trunks are FABULOUS. Everyone goes all out and most trunks are interactive with games or photo opps. There was a trunk playing music to dance to, a trunk where girls to try out a lasso, a slime trunk, and one of our favorites – the Star Wars trunk!
I sure wish these cool Halloween events had been around when I was a kid! But I’m glad that I can experience all the fun with my girls and our friends and their families!
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InstantPot Apple Butter-Finding a FAST and EASY way to make Apple Butter
If you have followed our blog for any time at all you know I am PASSIONATE about giving homemade gifts and one of my favorite holiday gifts to give is Apple Butter. I love spending a whole day with one of my dear friends, Sally…but this year we are both busy with our wonderful grandkids. Today I tried making a batch of apple butter in my InstantPot and it was FAST, EASY and DELICIOUS. Not that fast an easy can ever take the place of a fun day with my friend BUT for this year it is a nice alternative.
10-12 large apples (5 pounds)
¾ cup Trader Joes Spiced Apple Cider
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
One of the BEST things about this recipe is you DO NOT HAVE TO PEEL the apples.
Get out your InstantPot and cut large apples into 4 pieces leaving the peel on but discarding the core. Place all apples into InstantPot. Pour in apple cider and add brown sugar, spices and salt. Save th lemon juice until after the apples are cooked.
Put top on InstantPot with vent closed. Set on Manual for 15 minutes. When finished, let naturally vent for 15 minutes and then release the rest of the steam. While apples are cooking make sure to sterilize your jars and tops. When apples are finished, open the top and use an immersion blender to grind up the skins and pulverize the apples. Ladel the apple butter into jars and seal. If you do not seal in the hot apple butter, you must refrigerate and use within 10 days. Once sealed the apple butter will last for months. You can also freeze the apple butter if you can not …
Ice Cream-Trying a New Flavor at a New Ice Cream Parlor
One of my favorite desserts is ICE CREAM! So this BUCKET LIST item was so much fun to carry out. Trying a new flavor sounds easy, BUT we decided to carry out this BUCKET LIST item at a new Ice Cream Parlor in Folsom, called Handles. As you can see in the pictures….there were so many options of flavors I had never tried, it was really hard to decide what flavor to try. I sampled coffee chocolate chip, pumpkin cheesecake, graham central station, pumpkin ripple and chocoholic chunk. I went with a WINNER-Chocoholic Chunk and it was AMAZING!!! I can’t wait to go back to try another new flavor. Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, I will treat you to some of our fun pictures.
What fun tradition do you like to share with your family and friends? Mine is trying new ice cream parlors. Come along and join me next time, because ice cream shared with loved ones makes it taste SO MUCH BETTER!
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BOO!
Have you ever Boo’d a friend?
It is SO MUCH FUN. We LOVE putting together baskets for our friends and surprising them with goodies. It is such a fun way to spread Halloween cheer and do something kind for others. I really love watching my girls get so excited to give.
If you don’t know what it means to BOO someone, it is really simple and fun. You put together a bag or basket for a neighbor or friend. Depending on the person you pick items like activities, coloring books, treats or snacks, etc. We were able to make our baskets with things we found in the Target dollar bin (the dollar store is a great place to look too) and spent around $6 per bag. Leaving the bag is a secret. So knock on your friend’s door then get ready to run or drive away!
Do you BOO your friends? Do you have something you like to do for others in the Fall season?…
Read MoreHalloween Party Time
One of the activities we chose for our Fall Bucket List was a no-brainer – to go to as many Halloween dress up parties as possible!!
You can imagine our excitement when a party opportunity came up at Girl Scouts. I signed the girls up immediately and I’m so glad I did. These girls love to party and make new friends. Did I mention this was also a drop off event so the hubby and I had 2 full hours ALONE?!!! Worth it!!
Now, back to the party. This was the girls first opportunity to dress in their Hogwarts costumes and they looked adorable. We have been listening to all the Harry Potter books on Audible in the car and I am thrilled to have 3 super fans to share in my love of all things HP. (We are currently on Book 6!)
They have all sorts of fun accessories, but we decided to leave those at home for this event so they had hands free to dance, eat, and play at the event. The girls have a great assortment of Harry Potter gear, so they wore their favorite shirts and their HP Vans.
The girls had a blast and even won a costume contest with the other Girl Scouts dressed as Harry Potter!
What Halloween parties do you have planned?
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