Back To The Temple and Back In Time

So in June Spencer and I decided to head to historic Nauvoo (where early Mormons settled before they trekked west) before their big pageant started and it got crazy busy. So we woke up early on a Saturday morning and headed off. Nauvoo is just over 2 hours away, but that's only because the roads to get there all look like this:

There are no main roads that go straight there, just a lot of back highways, otherwise it would only take about an hour. But we were very excited to come around a corner and see the temple!

After a great session at the temple (it felt like it had been forever since we'd been!) we took a few pictures...

We took about 10 before we got the whole
temple in the background and then Spencer
BLINKED!

And then we changed and went to get lunch

And of course dessert. I LOVE fudge (I think I get it from my mother) and so Spencer and I decided to indulge in some of the sweet goodness.

See? It's a commandment.

For the record, we didn't just chow on it like
it looks, this is purely for picture sake

We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the recreated homes and shops like the bakery, the blacksmith, the boot maker, the printing press, the brickyard, and others. It is such a fun place, with demonstrations and souvenirs that you can take home with you.

After we saw what we could, we headed over to Carthage, where the first LDS prophet Joseph Smith was martyred. The Carthage Jail site is beautiful and peaceful and was the perfect end to our day. We had both been there before, but it is so cool to see things and experience them together.

I love Carthage, there is such a spirit there and I'm so glad we went. Our last stop before we headed home was a surprisingly delicious Mexican place called El Camino that the missionaries in Carthage suggested to us. Who knew? Good Mexican in Illinois.

Self? Great day.

I'm In Lurv

Friday morning before Spencer went to work he informed me that that day was Christmas. Christmas? Christmas means presents, right?!

Oh boy does this man love me.

I'm in lurv.

Can I Have One?

So remember how I said our ward is so awesome? So our Bishop and his wife have this awesome cabin about an hour from Jacksonville and they offered to let us use it for a weekend. Um, YES!

Their place is awesome. It sits right on the bank of the lake and it is BEAUTIFUL.

 The first night we decided to take the paddle boat up and down the lake. We were the first one's to use the boat this year so it took some work cleaning it off and getting it down to the water, but we finally "shoved off".

Oh man, everyone should get a chance to sit out in the middle of a lake at sunset. It was so beautiful, so serene. I love being outside and feeling that reconnection to nature and life. It is always such a blessing to feel that peace, like Heavenly Father is gently reminding me how much he loves me with the beauty that I'm surrounded by.

My "artistic" shots.

I love this man, he makes me so incredibly happy and I loved being there with him.

The next day was actually kind of overcast, so we spent the the day switching off between playing games, eating food, and playing in the water. And Spencer mowed the lawn, we told the Drakes we would as payment for letting us stay.

We decided to go fishing before we left for home. The lake was brimming and we had seen fish jumping out of the water like crazy all day. We both snagged several fish, but I was the only one who actually pulled anything out of the water.

Nasty looking thing, huh? We guessed it was a gar, and after getting home and looking it up I think we were right. It actually broke my line and flopped back into the water when I tried to hold it up for a picture (we were planning on throwing it back anyways) but it was very exciting. We're guessing he was about 18-20 inches long. And there was definitely a loud embarrassing shriek when I realized that I had him.

Bye Fishie

It was an AMAZING weekend and we loved the chance to "get away". THANK YOU DRAKES!

Wings and Things

Ok, so I'm bored. Like, ALL the time. Well, at least during the day. Spencer has to take the car so I'm at home all day, and we live kind of outside of town so it's tricky to get just about anywhere.

I love food. I mean really LOVE food. I love making it, I love eating it, and I love trying new things.

So what do I do with all my bored time? I look at food. Pinterest (my love and my enemy), food blogs, the Food Network...they fill much of my time. Unlike a lot of people, however, I actually like to try the things that I've found. Some of them totally fail, but I have found some AMAZING recipes that I love including the best cupcakes I've ever eaten, a great pork chop recipe that Spencer loves, and a recipe I would like to share with you today: Baked Brown Sugar Chicken Wings.

So turns out Spencer didn't think these would be any good, because he'd never heard of anyone making wings at home. Bah, I would show him. We LOVED them! They are delicious and so juicy and tender, not nearly as sweet as the title might sound, but savory and yummy...sigh, I crave them as I type. So I thought I would share the recipe, in case anyone would like to share in the goodness.

Baked Brown Sugar Chicken Wings

• 2 pounds chicken wings
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. In a large bowl, combine the wings, olive oil, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
Place the wings onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, using tongs to turn half-way through.
 If you want it had ingredients for a yummy dipping sauce too. We didn't make it, but I want to someday.

• 1/3 cup roasted red pepper, chopped
• 2 ounces goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

 Combine and chill until ready to serve.

The only issue was the seasonings didn't stay on the wings as well as I'd like, so I'll be playing with that a little bit the next time we make them. But they are good. Oh, so very, very good.

Pardon my crazy :)

We're Crazy

We bought...

The entire set of Living Scriptures dvds. All 75 of them.

I love them, but are we crazy?

Probably.

Memory Lane

On our way back from Columbus we drove through Centerville, where Spencer graduated high school and often considers his home town (Air Force brat, he lived in 8 different states growing up).

We stopped by both houses that he lived in there

And by his old high school

We even got to stop by and see the Izu's, old friends of his and even took a short detour to the pool with them. It was a nice nostalgic afternoon for Spencer and I'm so glad we made the trip!