My Omaha Shower

I was recently blessed with a personal shower here in Omaha. It was so great to have some quality "girl time" with my friends. Of course, we had tons and tons of food - lol! I do have priorities! :) And, since it was a "Girls" shower - almost everything was *pink!*

Here's the first half of our food:



Here's the second half:


Our Menu:
Bruschetta
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Spinach Artichoke Dip
Fresh Fruit Salad
Cookies
Mini Hot Pink Cupcakes
Sprinkles Coconut Cupcakes (recipe below)
Pink Lemonade
Iced Raspberry Tea
Assorted of Hot Herbal Teas

Here's a picture of my beautiful pregnant friend Heidi:


Here I am trying to hold back my excitement - I never thought I could get so excited about dishes! Lol!! :)



Coconut Cupcakes
From Sprinkles Pastry Chef Candace Nelson
(Yes, the rumors you've heard about that place are true - these cupcakes are amazing!!)

2 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup whole milk
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon coconut extract
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
2 large egg whites, plus 1 whole large egg

Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line two greased standard muffin pans with cupcake liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, combine the milk and extracts. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites and the egg and mix until they are combined. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until it is combined. Gradually drizzle in all the milk mixture. Add the remaining dry mixture and mix carefully until just combined. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake cups (they should be two-thirds full) and bake about 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cake springs back when pressed lightly and an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool. Makes 18-20.


Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cold cream cheese
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 cup sweetened coconut shavings

In the bowl of an electric mixer, slowly mix the cream cheese, butter and salt until fluffy and combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Mix in the extracts until incorporated and the frosting is smooth. Frost each cooled cupcake with about 2 tablespoons of frosting and immediately top with 1 teaspoon of sweetened coconut shavings. Makes about 2 1/2 cups

My Weekend Home!! Yay!

I spent the weekend at home (Oklahoma) and I had the most wonderful time! I had been feeling a bit homesick and this visit really helped! It was so great to be able to spend time with my friends! Here are some pictures of my trip home:

My friend James and I happen to be flying in to OKC's airport at the same time so he met me at my gate! :) My best friend, Christina, picked me up and then we all met up at Iron Star for lunch. I love Iron Star and I miss it soooo much! Lunch was great and we all had soooo much fun!

That night, Christina and I met up with some of our friends from High School and my cousin April at Lakeside Restaurant at Lake Hefner.



Since Valerie highly recommended the oyster nachos, I *had* to try them! They are delicious and now, I highly recommend them!!! :)


Here's 1/4 of the Liberty '99 Class - lol!


The next day Christina and I had the opportunity to see some random animals. Here she is holding a baby crocodile. Very interesting experience! We also saw a massive turtle trying to escape from the bed of a truck - like I said, it was interesting.


That night some of the girls went out to Sushi Neko. I love, LOVE that place!! I really miss it!!!


Sunday morning, Christina and I went to my Church in Norman. It was so wonderful! I know everyone loves their "home" church but, I really love mine. After church, we met up with Brian and went to brunch at Seven47. Seven47 is my favorite brunch spot in Norman! Their beignetsaren't quite as good as Cafe DuMonde but they are still very tasty!


After brunch we were off to my shower. Here's a picture of the awesome food!

How cute are these cookies?!?!

Linda is the gorgeous lady with me in this picture that hosted my shower.

I had such a great weekend! Although, I think I might be more homesick now.

Luau! -- Our Couples Shower

A couple weeks ago our friends Lindsay and Jeremy threw Kevin and I a Hawaiian Luau Shower. It was so much fun. We relaxed with our friends and ate a ton of wonderful food - it was perfect! Lindsay and Jeremy did an amazing job! Kevin and I can't wait to throw them a shower!

Our Menu:
Grilled Hawaiian Pizza

Pasta Salad

Spring Rolls with Teriyaki Dipping Sauce

Old Bay Crab Dip

Guacamole

Toasted Sweet Rolls

Tropical Fruit Skewers

Paula Deen's Stuffed Strawberries

Margarita Cupcakes

Dessert Pizza

Engagement Retreat

Kevin and I just returned from our Engaged Encounter Retreat. We had such a wonderful time that we found it hard to leave. Our retreat was held in a VERY rural area, the grounds very much reminded me of the ranch where I grew up. Since the retreat center's focus is on reflection and study we were without cell phones (not that we would have converge anyway),TV, Internet, and radio; at first I was worried to be without these things but, after just a short time I had a huge realization that I could soooooo live without them.

Our retreat was absolute bliss. The facility was absolutely gorgeous and coupled with the fact that it was just saturated in prayer made the atmosphere indescribably relaxing and perfect for spiritual growth. Our group discussed a wide range of topics but, I think the most important is that marriage is truly a vocation; and, when Kevin and I marry we will be joining a union to each other and God. Even though this topic wasn't anything new I was learning, the way the material was presented spoke directly to my heart.

Kevin and I are such a close couple. We are truly each other's best friend. Because I do feel that I've been called to be Kevin's wife and because our love has truly transformed my heart - I've never felt more like the person God intended me to be (I hope that statement made sense). Even though we grow closer each day I couldn't have imagine how much closer we would grow over this weekend.

Here are some pictures of the weekend:

We when got home Sunday night we were still in full relaxation mode. What could be more relaxing than a glass of lemonade on a hot summer day??? So, I decided to make some :)

Ingredients:

4 cups water

2 cups sugar

2 cups fresh lemon juice

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

Lots of Ice

Whole strawberries for garnish

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon juice, stir and remove from the heat. Let cool completely. In a blender, puree the pint of strawberries and add to the pitcher with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and refrigerate until well chilled.

Engagement Pictures

We had the best time taking these pictures! We went to an AWESOME park, Mahoney State Park, and just played around. Our photographer was able to capture some wonderful moments.

Playin' around



Kevin really wanted to take some pictures by this split rail fence....not really sure why. It kinda reminds me of the ranch I grew up on though. :)

This picture is on the peir by the duck pond. We were going to get on the paddle boats but, our photographer wasn't sure about getting in the pond to take pictures - lol! :)

We took this picture on the bridge. The funny thing is that our photographer was on the other side of the pond and took this from a pretty far distance. Kevin and I were just talking and playing around - we had no idea he had taken this picture.

I thought this picture was pretty neat.