Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Pumpkin Better Than Sex Cake

Last weekend I tried out a new recipe and it did not disappoint. I knew I wanted to make something with pumpkin but I also needed it to be semi-quick because it was a last minute dessert. I was taking it over to some family to enjoy while we all visited after my aunt passed away.  I came across this 'pumpkin better than sex cake' recipe. It. was. delicious!



Pumpkin Better Than Sex Cake
Recipe used from SomethingSwanky.com

Ingredients
•   1 box yellow cake mix
•   15 oz pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
•   1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
•   1 tbsp vegetable oil
•   8 oz tub cool whip
•   1/2 bag of Heath Bits
•   14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
•   Carmel sundae sauce

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Mix together the cake mix, the pumpkin puree (Do NOT add the other ingredients on the cake mix box), the pumpkin pie spice and the 1 tbsp of oil until a batter forms. (The original recipe did not have the oil, I added it to make it a little smoother and creamier.)
3. Pour the batter into a well greased 9x9 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Let cool completely after baking. Using the bottom of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake.
5. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the cake, aiming to fill all of the holes. Refrigerate for 60 minutes or until the sweetened condensed milk has mostly soaked into the cake.
6. Spread the cool whip over the top of the cake. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours at least or overnight is best.
7. Sprinkle on the heath bits and drizzle caramel over top to your liking and serve.
 
 
My little sister has already requested I make this for Thanksgiving, it was a hit. Enjoy!
 
 

 
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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Living Life to the Fullest Each Day - My Aunt Glenda Taught Me to Use Aqua Net

This morning we said see you later to my sweet great aunt Glenda. As our family filled in the extremely packed sanctuary this morning I looked around to see so many faces. Faces of family some I see regularly, some I hadn't seen in years and some I've never seen. There were members of her church, friends, people of the community and local school, old classmates and so many others among the family that came to celebrate Glenda's life.   

My aunt was 69 years old and never met a soul she didn't love. So you can imagine how many people were there in her honor. As I took my seat with my family I began to think. Aside of how broken my heart was to be at her funeral but also how broken it was for my own life. My precious aunt was taken to her forever home so early on and without little to no warning. She suffered from a heart attack just days before you passed from this world. She had no idea that she would spend her very last weekend on this earth with my cousin and their friends shopping. She didn't know that night when she went to bed that would be the last night she slept next to her husband of one day shy of their 50th wedding anniversary. 

With all these thoughts filling my mind as I sat there listening to many sing beautiful songs, read poems, remind all of us what an amazing woman Glenda was with stories and tributes I also thought about my day to day life as well. What am I missing out on? Why am I letting silly things allow me to hold grudges or be hurt? Life is too short y'all and I know I know everyone always says that but it IS! I don't want to be going to my forever home with broken relationships, words left unsaid or memories unfulfilled. 

I want the people in my life to know that I love them, I want grudges let go and I want to make the most memories I can each day! I'm promising to myself to just love from this day forward!  Loving everyone, always. 


Precious aunt Glenda, I will always remember your laugh, smile and warm hugs. The first lesson I remember you teaching me was to always use Aqua Net hairspray as you ran me to the local general store as a first grade little tot. I was dressed in my blue frilly dress and my hair was styled so high it could be seen in another county. You thought I needed a few more sprays before I was on the field and under all the lights for the big Berryhill homecoming that night. I was so excited as I was the flower girl for my big cousin Missy's homecoming court. I may not still use Aqua Net as you taught me but thanks for teaching me this last lesson today, I will forever remember. See you again, I love you!
 
 

 
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Thursday, October 20, 2016

Celebrating 4 Years in Cabo San Lucas

At the end of September Kyle and I headed to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to celebrate four years of marriage. We were super excited as the trip was coming at the perfect time. We were both super busy with work but knew we needed the break and definitely wanted to celebrate our anniversary. Neither of us had been to Cabo before so that made the trip even more fun. 

We got to Cabo the day before our anniversary a little before lunch time. (Side note, I surprised Kyle with first class upgrades on the trip there, it was a great way to start the vacay as he hasn't flown first class before). After checking into the resort and a quick change into our swimsuits we headed straight to the pool where we grabbed drinks and lunch at the swim-up bar. We stayed at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort after lots of research. The resort is built on the mountain so there are over 30 different buildings on the resort. The sidewalks are so steep that you have to take a golf cart around pretty much anywhere you go. At first I thought that was really going to bug me but it didn't at all and we never really had to even wait on one before they came by to pick us up. So, the first day we just lounged around the pool, got to know a few people and had dinner at the resorts buffet restaurant.

The second day was our anniversary! The resort is a timeshare resort so of course there is pressure to sit through the timeshare presentation and pressure of trying to get us to buy into a share. We were not interested at all so at first we had no desire to arrange a presentation. However, once we started talking to couples we quickly realized it would be worth it because of the incentives they gave. Kyle really wanted to play golf on their course as it was designed by Jack Nicklaus and so by us going to the presentation we got a huge discount on the golf. We signed up and a couple hours later we were done and had scheduled out the rest of the week. Afterwards we headed to the Sky Pool which was an infinity pool overlooking the ocean and resort. That evening we had dinner at the resorts 'Mexican' restaurant which I use loosely because it was not Mexican at all...Kyle got steak and I got a pork chop. 

The third day after having a nice breakfast we had an early tee-time at the golf course. I did not play but we had met a couple, Rich and Candy, and Candy was SO very nice to lend me her golfing outfit. She was not going and Kyle and was going to play with Rich while I just relaxed and rode along in the golf cart. I was required to wear a polo on the course and there was NO way I was buying an overpriced polo at the pro-shop so I was very thankful that Candy was nice enough to let me borrow hers, thanks girl! Back to golf...I knew I wanted to ride along since I was told how beautiful the course was and promised it would be a fun time. Every few holes they had 'comfort stations' where you got food and drinks, like GOOD food and drinks! It was a lot of fun hanging with the guys for the day. Side note, this was the first time (that I recall) seeing cacti in the wild so I was overly excited and the course was covered with cacti! 
After finishing the round of golf we headed back to the resort where we promptly went straight to the pool, becoming the "usual" at this point. That night we had made reservations back at the golf course steak house. The food was A-mazing! We had a very early morning the next day so we called it a night soon after dinner.  

Day four started out a dark 4:30 AM. We were going fishing! We had to catch a taxi from the resort at 5:00 AM and be at the marina by 5:30 AM. It was a little nerve wracking to trust a taxi to take us right where we needed to go but we had zero issue our whole trip with anything 'sketchy'. We headed out to the water about 6:00 AM in search of the biggest marlin ever. Kyle had just talked to guys at the resort the day before that came back with an 18 foot marlin so he had high hopes! Our fishing trip was private with just Kyle and I, the captain and the 'expert fisherman' and expected to last eight hours. We watched the sunrise, saw our resort from the ocean side and caugjt a few fish. No luck on marlin but we did catch two dorado and two other small fish. Even though Kyle didn't get his marlin we had a great time! We fished with RedRum Sportfishing and we would definitely recommend them as they were recommended to us as well. 
The rest of the day was yes, spent at the pool. That night we had the Caribbean buffet at the resort and got in bed pretty early as we were so tired from fishing and had another early morning the next day.

Day five, our last full day in Cabo and we were going to swim with the dolphins!!! This was something I was VERY excited about, Kyle not so much. Swimming with the dolphins is always something I've wanted to do. We were picked up by the company's shuttle and taken about 40 minutes away where we would meet Rosa the dolphin. Since there were no cameras allowed and the ones they took and tried to sell us, in exchange for our souls and legs, were awful! So, sadly I don't have any pictures of our swim but it was so.much.fun!
After returning to the resort, we showered and changed quickly before catching the resorts shuttle to their sister resort in downtown Cabo. We were able to shuttle over at no cost and return to our resort when we pleased. Our resort was located around the pier from the bay which made our shore way too dangerous to get into the water. We knew this when booking but I was OK with it since we could always go to the bay side. Kyle and I have never seen larger waves in our lives. They would smash right on shore and we werent even allowed closer than about 75 yards from the water. Back to shuttling...we shuttled over to Rosa resort where we headed out in search of the best street taco stand in town. After talking to several people we found what was the closest we were going to get. We both got a variety of tacos and decided they were good but not the best we've had. We were in search of stand where they shave the pork right off in front of you on the street (a germaphobe's worst nightmare) but the BEST. This stand was close but not quite there, but nonetheless it was delicious! After tacos we headed back to the sister resort and straight to the beach. I was in heaven after finally being able to get in the ocean! We spent the afternoon at the beach and their pool before heading back to our resort to get ready for dinner. 
For our last night we decided to have dinner at the steak house again because it was just that good! After checking into our flight home the next day and packing up we called it a night, feeling very blessed!

After a mad dash through DFW (thanks to a delay in Cabo)  we made our flight home with just a few minutes to spare before our plane's door was closed. Back to home to our house, fur baby and much tanner (well me anyways hehe). 

*I realize I am breaking all blogging rules and this is already incredibly long but here are 200 pictures to make it even longer. Sorry not sorry, my space here is away for me and my family to look back on memories and for me to be able to share about our life. But if you stuck through, you my friend are awesome!


They made this out of colored rice...we also received chocolate covered strawberries and champagne on our anniversary as well. 

The view from our room balcony 









 This was after dinner on our anniversary









 First view at dinner at the steak house. 







The view of our resort from the boat



This seal scared Kyle to death...he popped up out of nowhere! We loved it, neither of us had seen a seal in the wild before. 







 
 The view from our room > below is also a view of the path carts throughout the resort for the golf carts.

 Haddock knows exactly what the suitcases mean, he jumps right in reluctantly letting us leave.

And now I want to be back on the beach...ah fine, reality.


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Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Homemade Apple Peanut Butter Dog Treats

If you are new around this space then you should know that we don't have kids but we do have our fur baby, Haddock. Y'all, I can't even imagine how I am going to be when we do have kids because I'm already like "Haddock must have the best, no bad treats or food." I found myself standing in the dog treat section of Target reading the ingredients on box after box of dog treats. I refuse to feed our baby something I can't even pronounce. I know, total dog mom. Anyways, I hoped on Pinterest instead and found this great recipe for simple yet healthy treats for Had, apple peanut butter treats and they took me all of twenty minutes to make.
 
 
Homemade Apple Peanut Butter Dog Treats
Recipe used from MustLoveHome.com

Ingredients
•   4 cups oat flour, more as needed. {I made my own by grinding whole organic oats in my food processor for just about 30 seconds to make sure and leave the flour coarse}
•   1/2 cup natural peanut butter
•   2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
•   2 large eggs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Combine the oat flour, peanut butter, apple sauce and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly. If the dough is sticky add more flour until you are able to handle the dough without it sticking to your hands.
3. Transfer the dough to a flat surface and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut your shapes.
4. Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut your shapes. {I used a medium pumpkin and got about 20 treats}
5. Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper or with a baking mat.
6. Bake about 20-25 minutes until the cookies are dry and starting to brown on the edges.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. 







Haddock is loving his treats and I'm loving that I know exactly what we are giving him. I decide to make them festive as pumpkins and Haddock was thrilled to share with his cousin Sadie as an early Halloween treat! I hope your fur babies enjoy!
 
 
 
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