Father, forgive me for what I am about to do...

First time licking the beater...

'Nuff said.

I conquered my fear!

What I'm getting ready to tell you is a big deal!

For real.

About 5 years ago, I baked a nice loaf of banana bread. As you know, in order to make the bread, you have to mash those bananas up pretty mushy, and in doing so they began to have an aroma... usually it's a great smell, but this day it kinda stuck with me. Later on that night, I began to not feel well. Uggg... I REALLY didn't feel well! All I kept thinking about were those stupid mashed bananas, mashing, mashing, smelling banana-y, mashing, and smelling banana-y. I couldn't get that smell out of my nose. It was the middle of the night and I tried to cup my hands around my nose, smell other things, but nothing would get rid of that smell!

In the end, I lost my dinner.

Not fun at all.

So, ever since then, I have not been able to eat bananas, anything banana, and especially not bake banana bread! (Can you imagine how hard it was for me feeding a baby bananas for the first time... not for the baby, but for me!)

Yesterday I had 3 very ripe bananas, so I mustered up all the courage within me and decided to conquer my fear! And.........

I did it!

Not only did I do it, but I took the bread to a meeting I had last night and got a compliment on it... actually several compliments on it! So, in celebration of my "conquering my fear" feat, I will include the recipe.

This is a Martha Stewart recipe, however, I added chocolate chips instead of the nuts:

Banana Bread (makes 1 loaf)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (which is 3 bananas)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.

Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

College girlfriends reunion

The past 3 days have been so much fun!! Three of my college friends from OBU and I have been planning to get together for nearly a year and the time finally came.. I'm sad it's over! Tiffany has been overseas with her husband and little girl for 2 years as missionaries, and the 4 of us haven't all been together since college, so it was time to get together! We got to meet each other's kids and spend time talking, eating and laughing! It was awesome!

Here's a pic of all of us and our kids:
(from left to right)
Tiffany and Adelynn Grace (the only girl of the group), me and my 2, Callie and her son Carter, and Corrie and her son Caleb. By the way, this was a FEAT to take this pic. I really should post the pics that didn't make the cut... the kids screaming, us making faces to get them to smile... I think we were all sweating by the time this pic was over! ha!



This is Adelynn. She is so cute and petite! She is almost 11 months old and such a sweetie. Tiffany and Matt are on furlough and will be serving in Europe starting in March as longterm missionaries. I'm SO glad we all got to see Tiff before she heads out ... who knows when we will get to see her again! :(


Of course, here are my 2. Pax actually did great the whole time everyone was here! He didn't cry much and took pretty good naps! I was so grateful. Bennett, on the other hand, wasn't so excited about all the kids playing with his toys. We had several "moments" when I had to remind him that we love everyone and share our toys. It didn't so much work most of the time... now I got a good idea of how he might act in the church nursery. Whew! We've got a lot of training ahead of us! I'm hoping that having our 2 so close together, they'll learn to play together early on... man, sharing is a hard concept for kids!!!


This is cutie Carter. He's almost 3 and so talkative and smart! Carter was the "big kid" of the group. Callie and Philip just moved to Colorado a few months ago and I'm so sad they're gone. I didn't see Cal too often since they were in Edmond, but it was still nice knowing they were just a short drive away. On the other hand, it's nice knowing someone in Colorado... free place to stay!! :)


This is little Caleb. He's 14 months old and wants to walk so bad, but hasn't quite mastered it yet. He loved playing with all the other kids and LOVES his milk! ha! Corrie and Kyle live in Enid. I hope Kyle finds a job in Tulsa someday and they can move here!!


Bennett and Caleb playing


Sweet Adelynn kissing Pax's head ... awww!


Wow, Bennett was actually letting the other kids play with his table! :)


I think this pic of Bennett makes him look like Phil.

Tiff and Corrie took the kids on a wagon ride.

I think this is so cute!

Visiting over dinner while the kids played

Oh, how cute! Buddies Carter and Bennett. It was SO fun to see all our kids playing together and remembering the times that we shared together pre-kids.

God has blessed my life with friends who knew me years ago, and even though we haven't seen each other in so long, we were able to pick right back up where we left off! It was so refreshing to have girl time and to watch the kids that God has blessed us with playing together, too! I love you girls and can't wait til we get together again!

Our little Lion and Lobster

Good thing our kids don't understand Halloween yet, because they would have been disappointed with our plans this year! We had planned to get them dressed up and take them to our church's Fall Festival. Well, that didn't happen!

We've had the wallpaper in our kitchen torn off for, ohhh, 2 months! Having a newborn really puts a damper on weekend home improvement plans, so we haven't been productive enough to get the painting project done. I've got some college friends coming into town next week, so that was my motivation to get our butts in gear! So, we stayed around the house and worked on the kitchen.

That didn't stop us from dressing up the kids to see my family who came by!

Bennett, the Lion... this costume was worn by me when I was little! It was so cute seeing Bennett wear it!




And Pax was the Lobster that Bennett was last year ... (I should have given Henry's costume back to him last year, but I still had it! So I took advantage... thanks Val!)


By the way, do you see the little tooth that has popped up on my 3 month old!!!! Crazy!

(This is Bennett as the Lobster last year...)

They would NOT pose for the camera together... Bennett was in a "mood", so this was the best shot of them I got.

Auntie Jordan and Uncle Matthew got their pic with the kids, even though Phil and I didn't! Ha! :)

Aunt Ass-y, Cousin Jaye, Bennett and Connor