Magical.

Due to the last post I wrote about last weekend that got erased..........(I almost started throwing things....).... this one might be rather short.

I will go as far to say that I have the BEST friends and family. Every day I'm reminded how blessed and lucky I am to be surrounded by such incredible people.

With that said........this weekend at home was magical. Magical literally being the understatement of the century. My whole family combined with Mitch's whole family in one house for a three day weekend? Wild. We were literally soaking in our family from morning until night for a whole weekend..... people sleeping on every square inch of the floor in the house......pretty much on top of each other...... just kidding. But seriously, it was something like that.

Our lives were changed when we took our huge house full to Grimaldi's Pizza and experienced heaven....or the closest thing to it on this earth. We went hiking and danced in the SUN (YES, I said SUN... it's been a foreign concept to those of us up north whom the sun has found obsolete) and rode the tandem bike till our legs were about to fall off. We took a break from Pat's traditional Acai berry breakfast smoothies and temporarily made the switch to Mitch's moms orange julius..... and oh boy it was a hit (of course... they're to die for). We all sat around the kitchen in our pajamas till 11 AM and ate from nice china (classy reindeer cups for the orange julius) and had good quality conversation. When you combine the two families, you get grade A humor. Wouldn't trade it for anything.

Anyways. Bridal Shower #2 was the cherry, sprinkles, peanuts, and hot fudge on top of a perfect weekend. It was SO beautiful, I am soooo very grateful for all who's hard work and love went into that thing....it was amazing. And the FOOD!!! Don't even get me started. I'm not even embarrassed to admit that not even one ounce of guilt came over me as I went to town on the four tables of scrumpt deliciousness. I'm going to be forever searching for a recipe to even SLIGHTLY imitate the orange dreamsicle cupcake and raspberry swirl bread. To die for. I need to get acquainted with whoever made all of that food....because they are holding back secrets that could possibly bring peace to this chaotic world.

Here are some pics from the beautiful day. The boys were out golfing. We told them to take pictures but.....they weren't interested. The only thing they were interested in was making it to the shower after it ended to eat left overs. I don't blame them....























And yes....... that is an apple cinnamon sugar cider slice of scrumpt heaven that you are currently drooling over in the last picture. Or maybe that's just me....

I am so so so so grateful for everybody who has been involved in this wedding process. It has been a blind journey for sure, but I have loved every second of the celebrations and the stressful days too. I know that in 15 days, and when all of this is over, I'll be wishing I would have written every day of my engagement down....so much has gone on and so much has changed, when someone finally catches up with time and finds out where it goes, let me know.

Stop it right now.

This is just not okay. For those of you that know me, know that I would die for anything cranberry. It's the cranberry and turkey sandwiches that are pretty much on my daily dietary menu but, anything cranberry.....I seriously go weak at the knees. Another two of my favorites are anything pumpkin and pancakes of course. Like nothing beats a good stack of pancakes on an early morning, or after church before you go into your sunday hibernation. So when you put cranberries, pumpkin and pancakes together.....its seriously a dangerous combination. Sounds like a heart attack right? It even LOOKS like a heart attack but I start salivating every time I even look at the picture. This chick is brilliant.

So hear ya go, hope you all aren't working on your LGN like me.

Pumpkin-Cranberry Pancakes adapted fromHERE

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• 1 and 1/2 cup flour
• 3 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 and 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/4-1/2 cup dried cranberries (as much or as little as you like)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (optional)
• cinnamon syrup (optional)

In a small pan toast the pecans over medium heat until they release a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and butter. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Add in the pumpkin puree and the sugars, stirring until combined.

Heat a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the upside of the pancake batter with dried cranberries, cook until the underside is golden brown. Carefully flip the pancake and cook til golden.

Serve with butter, warm cinnamon syrup and toasted nuts.

Makes about 15 pancakes.

Cinnamon Syrup from Monica H

(serves 3-4)

• 1/2 cup pancake or maple syrup
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. butter

In a small bowl or measuring cup, heat syrup in the microwave. Add cinnamon, stir til fully combined. Add butter and allow to melt. Stir. Serve. Syrup will thicken as it cools.

Don't be mad mom.

25 days. Till the best day ever. These days I'm literally finding the most random activities to keep me busy. April was a busy month. School, work, two bridal showers, and a fun pre-wedding photo shoot with Faun. Love her. But now that May has come, I'm literally doing nothing except waiting for May 28th to roll around. I guess this would be the perfect time to exercise my bad procrastination habits and turn them into something other than this repulsive burden...... and yes..... the ridiculous amount of boxes, gift wrap and candles covering the counter and the laundry all over the floor and the kitchen table permit me to use 'repulsive burden' as a proper description of my procrastination habit. I'm not ashamed though... sometimes Modern Family and my sweet Jack seem more appealing than organizing and cleaning our new home. I love our new home. It's not a home.... more like a cute little apartment but boy do I love it. It's a little boring these days and the nights are lonely but... Mitch says I shouldn't think about getting used to that.......HELLO! Because I'm getting married in 25 days! I love change, and I'm about to get a whole lot more of that in my life. I'm prepared though. Real prepared.

Good thing my mom doesn't have a blog, because she'd be real mad at me for posting this picture, but we just got a batch of these cute pictures back and I had to share one. I was way too excited. This barely reveals anything. Just look at all that happiness in my eyes. You can totally tell how excited I am to get married in 25 days. I'm just enthralled out of my mind.

Last weekend was magical. I will post more about it and pictures soon! :)