Welcome Home Taylor

Sister Sleepover

This past Saturday night, David was out of town so I had myself a little sister sleepover at the apartment. My sisters Amanda, Madie, and Riley came over and we had ourselves a little party. We started the night out with delicious dinner (that Amanda only liked a little and Riley didn't like at all, but I sure did!), then we watched the Roger & Hammerstein's Cinderella, while muching on s'mores dip (I'll post the recipe later this week). The following morning I made cinnamon pancakes with cream cheese frosting and took a long walk around my neighborhood. It was so much fun and just what I needed!

Sammy also enjoyed the party!

Riley had never seen this version of Cinderella, and she loved dancing to the ballroom scene. It was adorable.

Even after a long night of rest, Madie was still a little sleepy the next day. ;)

Cinnamon pancakes! My favorite. Just add a teaspoon of cinnamon to this basic recipe.

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

A Quick Trip

Over the weekend, my mom and I made a very quick (one-night) trip up to Traverse City to see my grandmas and my Aunt and cousins. Two short days is just never enough time to squeeze in enough laughter and hearing stories about my grandmas' lives and how they grew up. We had a spectacular couple of days though! Once we arrived, we headed off to a near-by farmer's market to stretch our legs and buy some cherries and mint brownies, because why not? We had a wonderful time walking around downtown and on the beach for a bit before heading back to the house to have the most delicious grilled turkey I have ever had. And yes, it was the only grilled turkey I've ever had, but it was wonderful none the less. We stayed up until midnight giggling and telling stories!

My grandmas have the most beautiful garden! The daisies that they have are absolutely gorgeous!

I love this picture of my mom, aunt, and grandma. They're the sweetest people I know!

The next day, we spent a long morning talking and relaxing around the house before we drove off to eat lunch. My grandmas brought us to this awesome place right on the water (I actually forgot what it was called though!) and I ordered the best turkey sandwich with bacon and cherry chutney on cherry wheat bread. There's no pictures of it though because it was just that good.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!  xoxo

Amanda's Wedding Shower

Amanda's shower was this past Saturday and it went beautifully! We had it outdoors at a local Metropark and we honestly could not have asked for better weather. It wasn't too hot with a gentle breeze keeping it just cool enough without having it be windy. We played a few fun games such as homemade madlibs, which were hilarious, and a game calle "He-said, She-said," (hint: Riley won that one). One of the best things that I think we did was to have everyone bring their girls unwrapped sot hat we didn't have to spend a lot of time on that. Amanda just did a quick read-through of what everyone brought her and who it was from, which only last 10 minutes or so. We brought in a taco bar and then had donuts and homemade, honeycomb-shaped cookies for dessert. For favors, Amanda and her fiance's aunt made homemade beeswax chapsticks with their own label on them, some honey sticks, beautiful tea, and some cute little taffy pieces in a paper bag that were handstamped by Amanda. I can't say it enough, it turned out great!

^ We kept the desserts under some pink tulle so that we didn't have to worry about bugs

^^ We also made giant Jenga which some people had a blast playing.

The photos from here on down, were all taken by my sister's very talented soon-to-be mother-in-law, Cindy. If you're on the east side of Michigan, and need a photographer, definitely ask her!

Cute photo, right?

Too bad this one showcases us wayyy better.

The happy, weird couple.

xoxo

p.s. Don't forget to sign up for our giveaway!

another very good Sunday

^^Put Riley in a pair of sunglasses and she just starts throwin' gang signs!

Yesterday I headed out to a park for the day with David, my three sisters, Amanda's fiance, and my dad and step-mom. It was absolutely perfect outside and we thouroughly enjoyed every second of the sunshine. We packed some lunch things up for roasted tomato BLT's (I'll share the recipe soon!), so delicous salsa and bean salad my step-mom, Susie, made and some other things to keep us snacking throughout the day. After lunch I head to the splash park with Susie and Riley so that the little Weasel could cool down. My sister, Madison and her friend went for a long paddleboat ride and the rest of the crew hung out by our stuff and played frisbee. After hours spent in the sun, we headed back to my parent's house for some grilled yumminess. We were all pretty dang exhausted at the end of the day, but it was the absolute best kind of exhaustion. Riley decided to take a few photos with my camera as well, so here they are below. They're pretty good, aren't they?!

^^^ She said "act like you're the happiest," so I tried just for her! Also, you can see how burnt my shoulders got in this picture! I used to never burn, but alas, age has caught up with me a tad.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are hopefully enjoying your extra day off! ;)

 

xoxo

Taylor

the best sunday

Yesterday was so unbelievably awesome! To celebrate Mother's Day, my sister and my momma came over to my house for some french toast and sausage. Then, we headed out to the antique show that David and my brother were working at this weekend and spent hours walking around and enjoying the most beautiful day that Michigan has seen so far this year. Afterward, we headed out to get some frozen custard and then back to my place for some naps (well, my mom and sister napped and I worked on a project). We met up at my mom's house for dinner with family and had a wonderful night talking and laughing and pushing the dogs out of our faces (they're very loving animals, you know). We also celebrated my mom's birthday (which is Wednesday) with a giant plate of cannolis! David wished my a happy mother's day since I'm a cat mom. haha! I hope everyone enjoyed their Sunday and hopefully were able to spend it with their mother's or othe women in their lives that they love and adore!

xoxo

Easter celebrations

This year's Easter was wonderful! David and I woke up pretty early and I had him look for his Easter basket with some Reese's eggs, Milano cookies, and an awesome new lunchbox (I bought myself a matching one too, hehe!). I also made up a little basket for the kitties with treats and some sushi toys that are adorable. We went over to my mom's house and had a delicious brunch and I passed out cards with candy on them and candy-filled eggs for my siblings. My step-dad, Randy, hid eggs all over the yard for all of "the kids" (and of the 9 of us, only 2 are under twenty and not by much). It was a blast! David and I headed over to his parent's house and I left him there to go see my dad's side of the family for the rest of the night. I love holidays! How was yours?

p.s. Typepad has been down for the past couple of days so if you tried getting to my site and received some sort of error message, that's why. I apologize!

frozen yogurt with momma

Thanks for being patient with me this week! I've been pretty exhausted lately between work and school. Today I had mouth surgery done, so I'm taking a little rest. Everything went great and I'm feeling good! Last night, my mom took me out for frozen yogurt because she's awesome and sweet and I was really nervous and we needed to hang out. We had a lot of fun together eating delicious frozen yogurt and driving around afterward just talking. She also took me to my appointment today and then came home to hang out and watch Frozen. She the best.

Now I'm gonna go pass out while David makes dinner for us (soup, because he's sweet).

xoxo

Christmas

These are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas celebrations. The Sunday before we celebrated with my mom's side of the family. On Christmas Eve we headed over to my dad's for a quiet (NOT!) dinner, sibling gift trading, and a Christmas story reading by my dad. On the day of, we headed over to my dad's bright and early to open gifts with our younger sisters and my dad and step-mom. Afterward, I headed home to get ready, then David, my sister (she was pretty bored) and I headed out to see David's family for a few hours. We ended the night at my mom's house and the next day joined up with my dad's entire family (it's a big family!). All-in-all, it was a blast. I wish I could have spent more time with each person, but that's usually how the holidays go. I think I'm kind of glad they're over though and I can finally relax into our new place and enjoy things before classes start back up.

How was your Christmas?

xoxo

a new member to the clan

Yesterday we picked up a new member for our family. It was an early Christmas gift for my mama (and Newton). He doesn't have a name just yet, but we're thinking of Kepler, to keep with the famous scientist theme of our dog names (Newton). He fits right in so far, hopping on the couch and rolling over on his back to get belly rubs and cuddles. I even laid right on top of him, which is what I do to Newton, and he was definitely a-okay with that! I love him so much already!

xoxo

cowboy cookies 2.0

In my family, we've been making these cookies -- which we refer to as Cowboy Cookies, but are really just oatmeal chocolate chip cookies -- for generations. My great-grandmother made this recipe and had originally named them Rob Roy cookies, who I believe is some sort of folk hero/outlaw. Eventually, no one really knew who that was so the name was changed to just Cowboy Cookies. The recipe was passed down from my great-grandmother, to my grandmother, to my mother and my aunts, and now myself. These were (and still are) our favorite cookies growing up as a kid and it was such a treat when they were made, which was usually around holidays since 1. my mom was a single mom raising three kids and only had time to pop in some toll house ready-made dough and 2. she also hates baking.

The other day, I had made these just for the heck of it and because I found the recipe laying around and I couldn't help but notice how...boring they were. I'm sure if I had said that outloud, my siblings would have slapped me in the face. So, I decided to switch up the recipe the next night by just browning the butter and getting rid of an egg white. The recipe changed a lot with only those two little things! My brother still loves the original better for nostalgia purposes, but he also really liked the one I made. However, my sister refuses to even try them because she believes I shouldn't tamper with such things. My grandma is on my side though and when I told her what I did, she fully supported me switching up the recipe a bit and told me of all the times she has herself. Although, I might just stick with the original for holiday get-togethers, I really did have fun experimenting with an old family favorite.

the original Cowboy Cookie recipe:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups quick oats
12 oz. package of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixer (or by hand, which is how it was done until my generation) cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Slowly mix in flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Regardless of if you were using a mixer or not, with a wooden spoon, mix in oats and chocolate chips. Place dollops (overflowing Tablespoon size) of dough onto cookie sheets, two or more inches apart. Make for 9-11 minutes.

 

Cowboy Cookies 2.0

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups quick oats
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a small pot over medium-low heat, melt butter and continue cooking until browned and smelling nutty. It browns quickly so be careful or it will burn. In a stand mixer (or by hand) mix together the browned butter and both sugars. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.

In a seperate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly combine the flour mixture with the butter mixture until just combined. By hand, with a wooden spoon, mix in the quick oats and chocolate chips. Place overflowing tablespoon-sized dollops on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes.

 

Enjoy!

xoxo