Apple Cider Doughnut Cake

 This is delicious! There are so many ways to serve it (all listed in the recipe), but the best way is to serve it WARM.  

Enjoy!

Patty

Korean Beef Bowl

This was a yummy way to celebrate the feast of St. Andrew Kim Taegon.  His feast day was today.  St. Andrew Kim was the first, Korean-born priest and was a martyr as well.  

 You can add a fried egg on top as well.

Here's a copy of this easy recipe.

St. Andrew Kim, pray for us!

Patty

September Smorgasbord 2021

 The days are fleeting!  My kids are growing up (quickly).  I had the opportunity to hang out with these young adults for a Sunday.  They tolerated me ;)

Emma and I drove down to visit Sarah, her roomate, and Emma's boyfriend.  First up was Mass followed by a delicious lunch.  Afterward, we took some paddle boards out on a lake near Sarah's college.  

We hiked to a lovely waterfall!  It was just so beautiful and we enjoyed cooling off inside of it.  

The day ended with some coffee and dessert and then it was on the road for Emma and I.  I've recently found a list of waterfalls in Texas that are "must sees".  I think my 2021 bucket list is forming ;)

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I have more time on my hands this year basically homeschooling just Cecelia.  To keep busy, I am taking on some home facelift projects in hopes of completing them all by next November (the wedding).  

First up was the laundry room.

Before~

It's been years since I painted this room and boy did it need an update!

After ~

Here's another view looking in from down the hallway.

I already had the paint from another project.  When I looked into wall cabinets to replace the shelves, I thought they were too costly.  I decided to go with baskets for storage and found these at Home Goods.  (I love Home Goods!) The print and the little wreathe came from Hobby Lobby.  

Man! I am so pleased with how this looks!

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Our Little Flowers Girls Club is meeting once again.  Yay!  We have had two meetings this month.

I took on the first meeting.  The girls learned about St. Catherine of Siena, the virtue of faith, and the flower was the sunflower.  I taught this once before back here, so I just repeated adding on a second art project.

They had a second meeting last week taught by another mom in the group.  It was such a sweet lesson, too.  The girls studied St. Monica, the virtue of hope, and the flower was ivy.  

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Clementine's best friend is moving (very far) away.  Accepting the notion has been hard on my girl. They had their last play date, one I was dreading.  I had prayed that God would put the right words of wisdom and comfort onto my heart.  These moments are so difficult.

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David and I took our belated 25th anniversary trip this month.  We had such a lovely time.  And when I say we, I mean our tag-along ;)

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Finally, birthday season has begun in our house.  Miss Mabel turned 17 recently!  

This energetic, creative, and adventurous girl is 17 and her father and I can hardly believe it.  We are so grateful to God that he has entrusted her to us to guide, nurture, and love her into adulthood.  Happy birthday sweet girl! xoxo

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It's almost officially fall and our kitchen has been smelling so good!  We've been trying out some new recipes in the kitchen and look forward to posting them soon.  Until then, have a peaceful and blessed Sunday evening!

Patty

World's Best Pumpkin Bread Recipe

 I tried this new recipe recently and the family LOVED it!!  It made two loaves, so this is nice if you want to freeze a loaf.  I just took a photo of the recipe and attached it since I'm short on time.

Enjoy!!

PS ~ I added some mini chocolate morsels for some extra love!

Patty

2020 RV Trip to Southwest Texas - Part 2

 Continuing on with this epic trip from Part 1...

We planned this RV trip back in February and were so excited to show the kids the incredible and diverse beauty of Southwest Texas.  

Our adventures continued on day 4 with a girls' day trip to see some fun sites!  And hiking!  The kids went hiking every. single. day. 

Day 4: 

Prada Marfa in Marfa, Texas

They call this art!  A fake store, on a deserted highway, in the desert.  Yup, those are real Prada (right-footed) shoes and Prada bags.  Of course they're behind the bullet proof glass.  The Simpson's helped make this famous as well as Beyonce.  Who would have thought?

Border Patrol Blimp near Marfa, TX

Giant (the movie) movie set near Marfa, Texas

The movie starred Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, and Rock Hudson.

Base camp at Davis Mountains State Park

Day 5:

Big Bend Ranch State Park in Presidio, Texas.

"Welcome to the other side of nowhere."  

Yup. 

THIS! This was the highlight of the trip.  Three young adults and I took the 1.5 hour drive down to Presidio, Texas where we entered the state park from the west.  We took the scenic highway route across the bottom of the park, along the Rio Grande, the border.  That route had us exit out on the east side in Lajitas, Texas.

The movie, Boyhood, was shot here at these Hoodoos rock formation.  (We didn't know that until just recently LOL)

We had a total of six gallons of water between the four of us, food, and a full tank of gas.  The website says it is the largest Texas state park with 311,000 acres of steep mountains, deep canyons, and breathtaking views.  You can go river rafting or horseback riding with guided tours.  It's all primitive campsites.  

The highway runs along the river through the mountains and canyons.  No photo captures the magnitude of the beauty of this park.  

The above building is a remains of an old movie set.  The Streets of Laredo was filmed here.

I've always been a sucker for a western that shows the Rio Grande, and as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to go down to the Rio Grande and throw a rock into Mexico.  

Terlingua Ghost Town in Terlingua, Texas

Day 6 :

We packed up and started back for the DFW area.  We needed to break it up into two days so we stopped over night at Abilene State Park in Abilene, Texas.

Day 7:

We arrived safely back home from this most "epic road trip" as I quote the kids.  One truly cannot fathom just how big the state of Texas is until you travel it.  I mean really travel it.  The diverse regions (seven in all) contain so much beauty.  We all agreed that you cannot see what we saw and not believe in God.  

We're incredibly grateful to have experienced this with the kids and our friends.  It has definitely been a great summer with the camper, one that we fully aware of and do not take for granted.

Until the next time...

 

Patty

2020 RV Trip to Southwest Texas - Part 1

 Five years ago, David and I spent a wonderful anniversary out in the Davis Mountains (Southwest TX).  Here and here are details from that trip.  We had stayed in the unique Indian Lodge and enjoyed the geography so much that we knew we'd be bringing our kids back to see the breathtaking and diverse land features.  Fast forward five years and we traveled with our camper and our children except our oldest.  (She was missed as she packed up for an early departure back to college.)  

We also traveled with our close friends.  The plans for this trip started back in the winter and we were grateful they weren't cancelled due to the virus.  Here we go...

Day 1:  

National WASP WWII Museum in Sweetwater, TX.  (Such a fascinating history!!)

Monahans Sandhills State Park in Monahans, TX

Day 2 :

Historic San Solomon Springs in Balmorhea, Texas (The state park was closed due to renovations but we were still able to stop and put our feet into the springs that flow through the dessert town.)

Davis Mountains State Park in Fort Davis, Texas (This was our base camp for the next four nights.)

Day 3:

McDonald Observatory 

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Marfa Lights in Marfa, Texas

Since there was so much jammed into this road trip, I'll break this into two separate posts.  Oh my gosh, y'all!  There's so much more to come!

Part 2 2020 RV Trip to Southwest Texas

Patty