Plan-a-header and first thanksgiving treat!

I'm a plan-a-header.

Someone who plans way in advance for no reason but to just have it planned out.

So Sunday night I decided to plan our Spring Break trip! (That's just 4 months in advance, not so bad!)

I was cleaning up the dinning room and took a glance at our new wooden map. Just a few days ago I filled in the places we have been together and though we have been a couple places together,  I knew I wanted to go more places! So as I stood there staring at this map I got to thinking when the right time would be for our next trip as husband and wife and where that would be...

I knew from past talks that Cain would love to make a trip to Washington DC to see all the memorials and to visit the White House. Although I have been there with my family I would love to go back because I don't remember it all and there were things we didn't see in our trip there I'm sure.

But ...I really would love to go to New York and visit Times Square. So why not put both on the "Places to go" list I thought!

I sat down and started planning!

Once Cain made it home I had it all sorted out and gave him the ideas and he loved it :)

So I think we've found our next road trip! For those who know me, know I love saving for things. If I don't have something in mind that I want to save for, I will spend money randomly. I have to have a goal, a set thing to save for. Now that I have something else to save for it makes me really excited for the trip to be here!

Right now I have been saving for Cain's new big TV ! Every penny has been set aside and put into his TV fund. I've never seen someone so excited about a larger screen. It must be a guy thing? Haha

Thanksgiving is coming, but not soon enough! I can't wait to spend it with family and some good quality food!

But before Thanksgiving is here and before Cain goes into battle for his larger screen, we have to get through the next couple of days of work and school.

Let's just say I'm truly thankful for this Thanksgiving break. We need some relaxing and family time!

I will be posting our thanksgiving meals after this holiday is over!

Last year I believe my goal was to stay grain free and of course only eat real food for thanksgiving! But I love to set new goals so this year I will be grain free, along with eating all whole foods and going to stick with only a little organic honey and maple syrup! (Meaning no other type of sugar!)

This is huge for me! I have been without any sugar (Unless coming from little starch such as a sweet potato) for almost 3 months now!

So organic honey and maple syrup is a special treat that I will enjoy with my pumpkin pie this year!

But that will be it! Everything else will be real organic food with no processed crap!

Here is a peek into something yummy I will be eating for thanksgiving! I just made these today and yes I did taste test :p These came from Healthful Pursuit! She is crazy good at what she does. These are called "Sugar-Free Coconut Almond Bark"

Check out this recipe and more HERE !

Against all grains but not Pumpkin Pie

I was never a big pumpkin pie girl growing up. Maybe because I ate so much gravy and rolls I didn't save more room for the dessert? But a couple months ago I was getting excited for thanksgiving because I had found a new treat, pumpkin! I even made a pie a month ago to test and see how well I could make one! So with thanksgiving coming I was dreaming about pumpkin pie. 

Like I said in one of my last post, Wednesday before Thanksgiving I woke up sick. I ended up not having time to make my healthy pumpkin pie before leaving to Cain's dads. So thanksgiving came and no pumpkin pie for me :( but don't feel to sorry... I had many other healthy treats to make thanksgiving special ;) 

So this morning I was feeling much better, and had the house to myself. Not knowing what to do, I thought of food of course lol and that pumpkin pie I missed out on! So I got my camera out and that can of pumpkin and went to town! 

Here's how it went ... 

I needed something to munch on while I got everything together! And to help stop myself from eating the pumpkin filling! This was left over from thanksgiving dinner, my mom made a killer sweet potato casserole! Grain free, no refine sugar! It was to die for. 

I needed my tunes to set the mood, thank you pandora for bringing me the holiday spirt into the kitchen!

Against all grains has been a website I find myself visiting more and more. Danielle has great taste in food, and her recipes are easy to follow! I gave my mom her book a couple months ago as a gift for doing so well with her weigh loss and eating healthier! But what she didn't know was I just REALLY wanted the book too ;) I think I might use it more then her, but oh well. It can stay with her when I move out. So without even looking at Pinterest for a good healthy pumpkin pie recipe I went straight to against all grains, and there I found a perfect one.

She calls for pecans for the crust. Pecans aren't my favorite nut but they sure do taste good in everything I put them in! I was so excited about the crust and I hadn't even tasted it yet! While measuring out what I needed I thought how pretty these nuts are. So fall, so thanksgiving, so autumn.

"I must do something else with them!" And so I did. Photo shoot time! I've been wanting to photograph my ring for awhile, outside of just phone pics. But since I haven't gotten it resized yet I have been waiting. But I thought this would be perfect! So pretty! I love my ring :)

 1 cup of pecans and a pinch of a diamond ring ;)

On to baking! This recipe is so easy, and I got to use my food processor! Oh how I love that thing. Cain did good by eying it out at Goodwill this summer. For only $20 too! He's awesome.

So you need to processor a 3/4 cup of pecans until it's like a flour type feel, then add in almond flour, coconut butter, honey, vanilla, 1 egg, salt, cinnamon and ginger.

 I spy with my little eye, a diamond ring. Do you spy it too?! 

I love to watch a mix of things mold into something so yummy! Yes I tasted the dough, duh! I also stopped to stare at the ring. Might be making a habit of putting it in my pictures :/ opps.

Next was the pie filling! Here's the low down: 

2 cups pumpkin puree

1/2 almond milk

3 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon clove

1/2 cup of honey

(It called for cardamom and lemon zest. I had neither)

I ALWAYS lick the spoon!

Ahhh, the sight of something baking in the oven. So pretty! And guess what?! It turned out AMAZING! After chilling it for the afternoon, before the Notre Dame game came on Cain and my parents enjoyed a piece with me :) They all gave me thumps up! 

I love baking, and eating. I enjoy seeing others enjoy what I make. For sure gives me a little skip in the step. I hope to keep trying new ways of making things a little healthier and better to eat. It's my goal to show that healthy things can still taste amazing :) Well off to church! And then later this afternoon we are going to go visit two little hole and the wall sleeping spots... aka, a house to rent! Wish us luck, hopefully one of them will be perfect! And allow our sweet puppy. 

And Here is the link to the full recipe! Try it out! It doesn't have to be thanksgiving to enjoy some pumpkin treats! Or try one of her other great eats! 

Lanette

Thanksgiving and more giving

How was everyone's thanksgiving?! Lot's of food and family time I hope! Ours turn out pretty awesome, minus my, just in time for the holiday's, sickness. But even that couldn't stop me from feeling truly thankful this year!

Wednesday morning I woke up not feeling to well, Cain was off to work for a few hours and while I got things ready for a trip to Ohio I started feeling more and more light headed and ill.

 By the time Cain got home I was ready to hit the hay and sleep until thanksgiving! But sadly that wasn't in my cards! We said our goodbyes to Nova and drove to Ohio. Determined I would have a happy holiday I smiled through the pain of my headache! We had a great night with Cain's family (which we always do!) the kids are always so excited to see us,........... well okay, maybe just Cain, but I like to think they are excited to see me too :p What's not to love about Cain is something I tend to say often, because it's just a true statement. EVERYONE loves Cain. He is so fun to be around, and he loves his family more then anything. So I can't blame his siblings for wanting to see him more then me! 

Wednesday night I had a fever, but luckily I am marrying a sweetheart who took time to make sure I had medicated to help ease the pain. By 2:00am the fever was breaking and after tossing and turning for awhile I got a couple hours of sleep. But HEY it was THANKSGIVING so I woke up my smile from isn't frowning place and was ready for the day.

(My "holy cow I'm getting married" ring shot)

We got to see Cain's Grandma Ruth, Aunt Roda (And Hope, her kitty), his Uncle Steve, Aunt Kate, brother Derrek, Cat, his sister Christine and her boyfriend Ty!

Talk about everyone getting together for the holidays! It was awesome to have everyone there in one place. His Grandma Ruth is on my list of all time favorite people. She is so straight forward and to the point. I love her honestly, yet loving heart she has with it. When ever she tells a story or gives advise I start to catch myself taking notes in my head lol it's odd I know.  Aunt Roda is a hoot to be around, try not laughing at one of her comments or jokes, it's impossible I swear!

Here is Scott (Cain's dad) reading off our "thankful leafs" from the tree. Wanna guess what mine was?! Well I'll just tell you ;)

"Thankful to become a future Grogg"

hehe. Me a Grogg, yup so happening!

Cain made the three hour drive from his Dad's to my family's house in two. Yes, I'll say it again if you didn't think you read that right. Cain made the three hour drive from his Dad's too my family's house in two. Yes two hours. I was very impressed and a little scared. But thankful. It was wonderful to see my family. I can be gone a day, and it feels like years. I missed helping my mom get everything ready for thanksgiving ... but was okay with just having everything prepared for me! ;p

Emma made her first day-bew at our house Thursday. As much as we loved seeing Derek and Lana, Emmie stole the show. It was my paw-paw's and Nova's first time meeting our sweet baby girl. Both did well by not getting to close lol my Grandpa said he was to old to be holding something that small. Nova wasn't to sure about her smell lol

My Grandpa, Mom, sister and niece! 

It was a great night. But our thanksgiving wasn't over yet. We had one more thing to take care of on Friday. You see, people are so giving to us... we wanted to give back this year.

Grandma Smith has been cooking on a one heater stove top for a while now. Even though most people would complain all day about that and throw a fit (someone like me!) she hasn't. She still makes everyone a big breakfast anytime she gets the chance. She just does everything with one little heater on the stove. Only a great grandma could pull something like that off!

Well last week our Church gave each family $50 to give to someone in need this Thanksgiving.  We could give the money to anyone we felt needed it. We couldn't just go give someone $50 bucks in cash though, we had to go meet that person's need. And we could have done a lot with that money, there was endless ways to spend it. But only one way hit both our hearts, we knew what we needed to do. No one is more deserving then our grandparents. Those two are the most loving, giving, hard working and honest people you'll meet. We got ahold of the rest of the family and everyone wanted to help us out in giving them this gift. It's nice to see the willingness to help our family.

Cain found a stove at Lowe's he thought grandma would love, we loaded it up Friday after he got off work and headed over to their home. With the help of Toni and Matt, by getting them out of the house we were able to take the one heater working, gross and falling apart stove out and replace it with the beautiful new one! All in under a hour by the way haha.

We got a call later that night from grandma. I won't say her age because she would probably hurt me, but she told us she has NEVER had a new stove before. I can say I have never had a new stove before but I'm 22, I've got many chances for that. But through her life she has never gotten the chance to have a new stove. But she can't say that anymore! And she better be making us breakfast soon with all 4 heaters WORKING!

New stove!

Yes, I was sick though all of that time. But nothings a better medices then making people happy! Toni was so sweet yesterday, I talked to her for a short time at Lowe's and she asked if I was sick. How could she tell over the phone I thought? I was sure doing a good job faking my "I'm perfectly healthy and alive right now" sound, so I thought. Haha she's a mom she knows everything though. So after we had loaded the oven and were driving, Toni called Cain and after awhile he smiled and looked at me. I guess she had told him everything he needed to do to help me out with my sickness. What a great mother in law I have. So that night Cain brought me home a couple CVS bags filled with different ways to help me sleep and get better. I would like to thank Cain for the restful night and a morning without a stuffed up noes and dry throat but I think Toni deserves that praise ;) Haha.

I am sooooo much better today! Feeling a bit more like a human (I was thinking I was becoming a zombie for awhile) and my appetite is back!

Even though thanksgiving is over, I still count my blessings. Life has so much to offer you if you just embrace the hard times and learn from your mistakes. There is always love around, you've just got to be open to it.

Family is so important to both Cain and I, and I feel more blessed now then ever to have them all apart of our life. We couldn't ask for a better support team.

~Psalms 118:1

Lanette

What's better then MY DAY?!

I love sharing good news! It's just as fun as christmas or a birthday. Sharing news about Cain's achievements will always be more exciting to me then my birthday. And believe me I LOVE my birthday, it's MY DAY. But what's better then MY DAY is seeing Cain's dreams come true one step at a time reaching his goals.

So what's the exciting news? Oh yeah I'm getting to that hold on! Cain was accepted into the Nursing program at St. Francis! Which means he is one step closer to becoming a nurse, going active in the Army then one day becoming a PA in the Army!

When he got the call he put the guy on speaker phone so I could hear the news with him. We both giggled after, saying "what if he had said no, we both would have just looked at each other with blank stares" But nope we smiled and I nodded saying "I knew it" I held back tears. He makes me so proud!

To some these things might be little steps, and hey maybe it is in the scheme of life. But in our life we value every achievement, every "one step closer" moment. Nothing will be "oh it's no big deal" At least to me. Because I see how hard Cain works everyday to reach his goals. It's a big deal.

We are still looking for a place for Cain to rent this coming January, now that he is for sure going to St. Francis. So after Thanksgiving fun ends we are back on that, full focus!

And following up on the house hunt, you see that nose? No not Cain's. The other one with whiskers! Yeah Nova's. She is the reason this house hunt as turned out the way it has. For some odd reason unknown to man kind people think that a dog like Nova (Collie/Husky) Is not a dog to have while renting. WELL! I have news for those lovely land lords, if you'll let a dirty Cat crap in your house but won't let our dog in and she won't crap in your house... You're retarded. Enough said. Done. over it! 

:P

Today we had big plans with Graci to go to the Mall and ride the merry go round. But got a call asking if I could come into the court house and do a last minute photo shoot. I hated to cancel our plans but both Graci and Cain said it was alright.

I swear Graci is perfect. This outfit says everything.

Life is good, no matter what happens that might bring you down. Don't forget about the blessings you still have. Like Cain and Graci, my biggest blessings. I love those two.

Tomorrow we are driving to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving morning/afternoon with Scott, Ruthie and the kids! We always enjoy our time there visiting. Bring on the happy thanksgiving festivals!

Lanette

Cheering him on

How excited is everyone that Thanksgiving is next week?! I am very excited about spending time with family. The only thing I'm not excited about is the FOOD! Not because I'm afraid I will eat to much, but not enough! I know, this is odd because that's complete opposite of everyone else. I just feel really strongly on processed foods, GMO's, and non organic foods. This is a life style I live, and want to carry through the rest of my life, but if people around me don't think the same it leaves me with, well not many choices! So the hunt in on for things I can make and take to all our thanksgiving parties! It's worth the preparation to stay healthy!

This is the first year Landon will not be here for Thanksgiving and I am really sad about it. I can't wait until my whole family is back together again, even if it's for a short time. There is just something about having everyone together that brings joy to the day. Sitting around laughing about the "old days" and of course the future!

Thinking about the future, Cain got some AWESOME news the other night from St. Francis! He not only got accepted ... (no surprise, he is great) but got a nice scholarship to go with it! I loved seeing how happy he was about the hard work he has already put in at Ball State paying off. Even though he is a semester behind due to Basic/AIT he won't let that keep him from just working harder and faster to get back to where he needs to be. We are just so excited to see what's in store for us the next 3 years. I know with Cain, we will go far. He is a great leader and I trust him fully. I'm the girl with the pomps pomps coming up with new cheers everyday for Cain ;)

Work has slowed down big time, and I am enjoying the time with Cain planning our big day! Next on the list of things to do is dress shop! It's a nice feeling to know whatever dress I decide Cain will love. I just have to find one I love and we will be set!

More on that to come!

Lanette

Start of November

Happy November! I have been looking forward to this month for a few reasons! And they are...

A) I am going to be Aunt!
B) It's Cain and I's Anniversary month
C) Work slows down
D) I can go back to working out full time
E) I can do my vegan Thanksgiving meal!

Okay so yes I am going to be a first time aunt! WHAT?! Can this be? And it's coming sooner then I thought! Tomorrow is the big day! Unless Lana starts to go into labor, like now! Which would be fine with me. Besides the fact Cain is at drill this weekend so I would hate for him to not be around! I keep everyone posted on how lana is and of course Emma Grace :)

Cain and I have big plans for our anniversary! Well I guess to some other people it wouldn't be that big, but we are planning on going ice skating like we did last year. We think it would be nice to do the same thing every year, or until we have a wedding anniversary :)

Work hasn't slowed down quite yet, actually it's doing the opposite :/ I have THREE sessions today. And then a couple this week, and next weekend! After that though I think it will slow down and then I have to wait for the snow to come, and then pictures should pick back up!

While work was slower this summer I was able to do my normal working out, I enjoy going to the gym and having some time to myself, or better yet some time just with Cain! But once pictures start up I have to put that on the back burner to stay ahead on pictures and editing. It sucks because I feel so much better when working out, so around this time I'm stress from working and don't get to take it out on anything! So once this week is over it's back in the game with running! My goal is to do 40 miles this month, and step it up in December with 50 or 60 :)

Oh and yes it's turkey month! For everyone else that is. I have never been a big turkey or ham lover. I like the dinner rolls and gravy to much to have room for meat! This past year has been a big change in my daily diet and I have cut out most all meat, besides salmon. I do have that probably once a month. I don't eat any processed food, and cut out dairy because it upsets my stomach to much. The last thing I have cut is gluten. And no it's not because I have a gluten seneitvity I am just concerned with the affect it has on your body and health. Do the search and you might think the same :)

So I decided I will make me a vegan/gain free thanksgiving meal for me and to share with my family. I realized I am going to have to make some yummy dishes if I am going to want to also eat at Cain's side of the families thanksgiving! They always have such yummy other foods that I might want to sneak a bite of theirs if I'm not prepared! ;)

Well I'm off to do my first photo shoot of the day. It's a Senior, family, then engagement session tonight!

Let's DO THIS!

Lanette