New Post...

To post or not to post? That is the question. I really need to get better at this. Things are well. Wondering what to write...
Update on kids...growing WAY too fast.
Update on me...growing in God's grace WAY too slow. ;) Okay...maybe I'm better than I give myself credit.
Update on hubby...good, praying for God's direction on some things
Update on life...great. We have a lot going on right now so need to make sure we are walking in the center of God's will and not getting side tracked with things that don't matter.

so there...there's an update. How'd I do?

Lemon Cheesecake!!!! YUM-O!

Several years ago my friend, Kristi, kept talking about this lemon cheesecake she made. Typically for our anniversary, Scott & I share will eat cheesecake. It's a flash back to our wedding when we ordered a strawberry cheesecake for his grooms cake, however he got to eat NONE of it. Nada, zip, zilch. So I thought long ago that I'd try to make up for that. I order a cake from Kristi (she's a professional baker :) and OH MY!!! This was THE best cheesecake we had ever eaten in our life! Kristi has made us some pretty awesome cheesecakes, chocolate chip cookie dough, white chocolate/macadamia nut, peanut butter and jelly...but the lemon is the BEST. A few years back Kristi shared the recipe with some of her friends...and I happened to be on the list of lucky recipients. So here's the lemon cheesecake recipe...

Sunsational Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons butter, melted

Combine all the above 3 ingredients; press into the bottom of your springform pan. Bake 325 degrees for 10 minutes.

Then...

3 - 8 oz packages cream cheese

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs (1 seperated)

Combine all ingredients (except for the eggs), mixing at medium speed until well blended. Add three eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in remaining egg white; reserve yolk for glaze. Pour over crust. Bake at 450 degrees, 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees; continue baking 3o minutes. (for a moist cheesecake, put a small ovensafe dish of water on the bottom rack of your oven).

Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing spring form rim.











The Glaze...


3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 lemon juice


Combine sugar and cornstarch in saucepan; stir in water and juice. Cook, stirring constantly, until clear and thickened. Beat reserved egg yolk in small bowl.







Add small amount of hot mixture to yolk. Return to mixture in saucepan; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool slightly. Spoon over cheesecake; chill. Garnish with lemon slices, lime slices, or fresh mint, if desired.


10-12 servings

I took pictures for you while I made the cheesecake...now go get busy and tell me how much you like it! :)

Kayla :)

I love my job!

I love getting to be a photographer. This is a cute R&C. They are getting married this summer and this was their engagement shoot. So cute. And the best part was we just totally stumbled (thanks God) onto this really old plant warehouse. The texture was amazing! Here's one of my favs from their shoot today.

So here's a glimpse of my day...

Get up ...go to church (still feeling distant & confused)

Kade goes to lunch & movies with small group

We go to lunch with N&H (chinese...yummy!)

Come home, nap for 25 minutes.

Photoshoot starts @ 3

Take great shots of R&C for 2.5 hrs.

Come home, fam is in the backyard playing soccer

Work

Kids make nachos for dinner

Eat dinner, visit

play 3 rounds of banangrams & another word game (don't remember the name)

kiss children goodnight

edit photoshoot

kiss husband goodnight

edit photoshoot

check facebook

check twopeas

decide to blog

play 1 game of spider solitaire while the pic uploads

and here we are...

just about time to go to bed.

I had some good time with God this morning. I have been thinking about marriage. I think I married our church but our church didn't marry me. I made a long term commitment to the organization, but the organization didn't make one back. So it kind of makes me think about things from a couple of different angles.

1) people will always let you down, but Jesus won't. Make commitments with Him, have grace & forgiveness for his people.

2) Should I really have made that kind of commitment...is my loyalty causing disobedience?

3) What responsibility do "we" as the "church" have towards members. We spend lots of time "inviting new folks" to come to church with us, but what about the "old folks" with whom we've spent years serving alongside. What responsibility do we have towards them when they are feeling discomfort within our church family. If we really are family, then we can't just let them walk away without wanting to know why and without extending love to them. Yet in the church, we act as if we are a corporate environment sometimes. New "employees" (young new SS class new members) replacing old "employees" (faithful servant old members).

I think that Jesus would want us to be open in our communications and grace-filled with each other. So I am still left wondering about my responsibiilty in all this. I have been wounded, i need to forgive. i was committed, but feel as if i am to move on, which conflicts with my sense of loyalty. I will walk away and others will never know nor admit their own wrong. Is this mine to justify? Do I want to be right or righteous...a question I continue to wrestle with oh Lord. Clarify for me PLEASE!!!

G'night.

K

See, I suck at blogging!

I keep trying to be a better blogger and I guess actually living life gets in the way sometimes. Well here we are in December and I posted nothing for November. I am busy with photoshoots and designing Christmas cards for the remainder of the month. So probably not much going to happen here until the new year.

So living life today went something like this...

Homeschooled children

edited a photo shoot

ordered some return address labels for a friends cmas cards

Went to get hair cut & colored

Came home, precious girl from my youth bible study came over...we discussed life, her upcoming marriage, the honeymoon, designed her program and made a batch of cookies and pumpkin butter

took kids to soccer game

cheered my head off (we won by 2 points)

chit chatted after the game

scott took us all to dinner to chinese buffet

ate way too much

talked to friend ginny on the way home...won't be able to see her while she's in town

called hairdresser...my hair is red...help

made appointment with hairdresser for tomorrow am to fix

talked to my precious daughter in the car on way home (boys rode with scott)

walked in the door, finished editing pics for one client

checked two peas

kissed children goodnight

worked

kissed husband goodnight

still working

decided to update our blog

and...here we are.

This Thanksgiving we spent in Arkansas and we loved it! We were able to eat dinner outside on Thanksgiving day. What a special treat. Here's our Thanksgiving picnic:

Time for School Pictures

I did a photoshoot today (well actually, retakes) from a local homeschool group. The kids are pretty funny and we had some great outtakes. My kids wanted to go with me, so we loaded everyone up and off we went. Kade was a great photographers assistant. He even...read his science & geography books during our down time!!! Yes you heard me right, all on his own!!! Ahhh... makes this mama very proud.

School went well today. Although N&H are still having comprehension issues. I sooooo wish that I could have read to them when they were little. I know the issues will eventually be overcome...but oh the process is painful sometimes. God, please give me the peace & patience I need to encourage them.

We are going to finish cleaning out my grandmothers storage unit on Saturday. We tried doing it this summer, however 120 degrees inside a metal building full of dusty, dirty stuff pretty much discourages you from pressing on! So we decided to wait until the weather was cooler.... and here it is. So off we go. Not looking forward to the process but am looking forward to getting it finished and off the list.

I am still in jelly making mode! Made some strawberry for Christmas gifts the other day. Fun! And that's about it. Need to get off to post-processing the school shots.

Kayla :)

Think of yourself surrounded by tiny seahorses...

I just purchased these studio lights and I had the whole thing set up in my living room when my cousin and her husband, Chris came over. We were going to see a comedien, Tim Hawkins, (check out his site http://www.timhawkins.net/) when we decided to snap a few. This is soooo 80's and reminds of the scene in Napoleon Dynamite where Deb is telling Uncle Rico to imagine himself weightless, surrounded by tiny seahorses. Pretty darn funny. I could not stop laughing!

Made more jelly today! Strawberry, yum! Mine & DD's favorite! We did school, Kade had a friend over to work on report about San Antonio, and Nathan & Hannah played spy! Pretty great day. I made some great Mexican Lasagne for dinner. Yum-O. I need to get working on these shower invites I am supposed to do...better get a move on.

TTFN,

Kayla :)

Look what I did today!!!

I made grape jelly! My sweet husband asked me last night to make some grape jelly. Let me take you back a little bit....

My friend Elisabeth's in-laws had an incredible amount of wild blackberries growing on their farm. Being the kind friend that she is, she called and asked if we wanted to go blackberry picking with them. Being the fruit-loving friend I am, I said, "yes". In the process of picking (we picked for 3 Fridays in a row) she tells me that she made blackberry jam. The conversation ensues, she tries desperately to communicate what she did EXACTLY, but being the visually geared person that I am I had to SEE it done. So we plan a jelly making day.

Jelly making day arrives, I bring every canning item I own to her house including a bag of strawberries, some fresh peaches and of course, blackberries. She whips out her superior canning making tools in addition to her blackberries and away we go! This was WAYYYY easy, but like I said, I just had to SEE it done. When we got done I felt as if we had conquered

Domesticland and I had been annointed queen. I was so excited to bring home that batch of jams for my man! Scott did not disappoint...he was just as excited to receive the gift of my jam.

So I am thinking what other fruit do I have. The next day, I make peach. A week or so after that, I make some more strawberry and a blend of black/blue & raspberry.

I CAN NOT stop. Last week I find a recipe for Pumpkin Butter and I am on it! My friend Elisabeth (the one who started this craziness) emails me and says she has an abundance of pears and do I want to come over and make pear butter!!! Uhhhh....YES!!! So next week we have a pear butter date!

Last night, we are driving home from Arkansas and Scott & I are talking about stuff. I tell him what a joy it is to make jelly for him. I know he really enjoys it and considers himself somewhat of a jelly connoseuir (sp?). He tells me that he is enjoying all of the flavors that I am making and we both agree we like eating jelly that does not contain corn syrup & high fructose corn syrup. So I asked him, "What flavor do you want me to make next?" He said, "I really miss Grandma's grape & apple butter. Can you make those?" I said, "Sure."

So after school today, eating lunch with Scott & errands, I head home to get my jelly-making skills on! Just as I finished putting the lid on the last jar...the UPS delivered the cute labels I had designed and had printed. So, I had to promptly adorn all of my jars with cute labels! As we get closer to Christmas, I will continue to make more jelly to give to family & friends as gifts, hence the need for the cute, new labels. Anyway, Scott gets home and I show him his gift. Being a man whose love language is "acts of service" he truly appreciates this. My love language is gifts so this is a great compromise...I get to make him a gift that I know he will enjoy and he receives the gift of my service...so all is good. I give Scott a taste of this grape concoction and he says Mmmmm, mmmm, mmm, that is really good. It tastes just like Granny's. And gives me his beautiful blue-eyed, happy dimple smile. This comment of course makes me tear up, as this truly is one of the greatest compliments he could have given me. And then we commence to hug while we gaze upon our jelly wonderland. Life is good!