Summer 2015

I've started this blog post numerous times, but each and EVERY time I get so caught up in looking at the pictures and reminiscing about our wonderful summer my blog post never comes to fruition. It really was so much fun! We went out a few weeks early(before the wedding), giving us time to visit with family and enjoy the scenery.


There were a few items of business we had to attend to before the wedding ie: marriage license, receiving shipments of dress, shoes, as well as a few other accessories. So, we took what free time we had to enjoy a few local activities and take in our beautiful surroundings.

There is really no place as beautiful as the Pacific Northwest. Casey and I both love Oregon. It's always so incredibly hard to leave. The weather was perfect, and we had lots of time to enjoy so many fun activities with family.

Thanks to facebook, I even managed to arrange a short visit with a few friends while we were there. It was so fun to be able to spend some time with these ladies. There's nothing that takes the place of friends in your youth! They will always hold a special place in my heart! I wish our visits could be more frequent.

I have a cookbook someone gave us for our wedding titled, "A Taste of Oregon" - There are so many tastes of Oregon that you cannot find anywhere else. I grew up feasting on fresh seafood(crab, tuna, fresh fish, ect...), deer meat, berries galore, and the very best pastries. We would pick blackberries every year. They are everywhere, and the taste is so much sweeter than I've found anywhere else. We found a bunch one night after dinner in the parking lot where we ate. It was divine! Marion-berries are a must if you go to Oregon. A cross between two different varieties of blackberries, and the taste is out of this world!! I think I had Marionberry pie, milkshake, candy, and anything else I could find! Our taste buds were in Heaven!

Before the wedding we were also able to take a trip over to Casey's childhood home/farm. They had 55 acres where they raised turkeys, as well as a few sheep.

And we made a quick visit to Grandpa Ritz's grave. The cemetery is in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The view is amazing. Oregon is so beautiful! Did I say that already?!

Knowing my love of capturing moments, Casey (mostly as a joke) had purchased a selfie stick for me to take along. We had so much fun using it. It was the best vacation accessory, and everyone(well mostly everyone) enjoyed using it.

ok, maybe it was mostly me that enjoyed using it and torturing others with it, right Darin?!
We headed up to Portland for the big day. Casey & I were married in the Portland Oregon Temple, and Alex's parents were also married in the Portland temple, so it was something that Kaitlyn and Alex had also planned for. Twenty four years later(almost to the day) we were celebrating our daughter's marriage in the same place ours had begun. It was definitely a full circle moment.

There were lots of beautiful pictures taken by my wonderful Sister-in-law Darci. We are so thankful for the beautiful photos we now have to remember this perfect day forever!

Kaitlyn had three special friends from Georgia that flew out to Oregon to share in this special day! It was so wonderful to have them there. I love each of these girls. They have spent time in our home over the years, and they are so much fun and have been such a blessing to kaitlyn. Good friends are truly one of the best gifts that we can have in this life!

We also had some very special friends come to the wedding. Bart & Amber were Kailtyn & Alex's(as well as Cody's) youth group leaders in church. They will always hold a very special place in our hearts, as they were some of the very best. I cannot put into words the value that good leaders hold. They weren't just leaders, they were the best examples and became good friends to our children at a time in their lives when it matters the most. I will be forever grateful to them for their positive influence they had in the lives of our children. We love you Bart & Amber!

Another participant in our wedding day festivities as well as our trip out west was Elder Ritz(currently serving his mission in Canada). We wanted him to be a part of all of our festivities, even though he wasn't there in person - we knew he would be there in spirit. So, we created a visual reminder for us to take along with us to Oregon. Alex was the creative one who thought of our hashtag #codyonastick. We took him everywhere, and had a lot of people say how much they enjoyed seeing Cody on our adventures out west. Here are just a few:

I made about 50 of these and took almost all of them to Oregon. We came home with a few and brought them to the Athens reception. Cody also had a good time making the rounds with everyone here:

He even had one of his friends take a #codyonastick with him to get his missionary pictures taken!

Casey thought I just needed to make one for everyone to pass around. I don't think it would've lasted. I'm glad everyone had so much fun with #codyonastick. We love and miss our missionary!

We had a wonderful summer! We enjoyed every single moment we had with family we don't get to see all that often and scenery that we miss almost as much. Oregon is home, and we miss it. We discussed purchasing a summer home out there. Wishful thinking - Casey and I will continue to dream!

Thanks for the memories Summer 2015!!

Summer Wedding

We had a wedding this summer! It was beautiful!! I'm trying hard to get it all together! It's a slow process, but soon enough I'll post an update!

We spent 3 weeks on the Oregon Coast and loved it!

The coastal air is one of my very favorites - There's no place like home!!

Banana Mini Muffin Recipe

I really love bananas, but they seem to morph into the over ripe category faster than they are eaten around here. I've made banana bread, but it's not really a favorite. Muffins also have been tried, but they aren't all that popular either, so I found a recipe on recipe.com that looked really good and decided to make them into mini muffins. They were a hit! They have a crispy crust that makes them irresistible. In fact, I cannot keep them in the house more than 24 hours. It has become a family favorite, especially for Ryan - so I thought I'd share...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

**They are also really good if you freeze them. Everyone here loves them as a frozen treat as well! Enjoy!!**

Here is the link to the recipe - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/banana-crumb-muffins/

Wedding Favor

There is a lot involved in planning a wedding/reception. If you look on Pinterest you are quickly inundated with ideas that overwhelm the average person...that's me. I'm not a wedding planner. I've come to realize how limited my resources(ideas) really are in the last few weeks. We are somewhat in the final stretch of getting things finalized, and making favors is one of those items on the "to do" list. These just might be my favorite - our way of including Cody in the celebration! #codyonastick

Wedding Planning

We are planning a wedding over here folks! We have a busy summer ahead of us. Kaitlyn & Alex will be getting married at the end of July. We've had a short amount of time to plan a lot of exciting activities, and we are looking forward to all of the fun festivities to come! Invitations are forthcoming - Love these two!

Graduation and Such...

It was a busy week around here. Kaitlyn graduated from the University of Georgia - Yay!! She had her Art graduation on Wednesday that we all attended, followed by a delicious dinner. The overall UGA graduation ceremony was Friday, which we skipped - super long and super crowded, so she opted out of that one but it was a great week filled with lots of fun and celebration. Andy graduated this past October with his Bachelor's degree as well, but with Casey's accident and everything that followed we didn't have a chance to celebrate, so we took this past weekend to party with both graduates. The weather was amazing and we enjoyed great food, great company, and lots of pictures!!

Alex also came home from his 2 year church mission in Paraguay!

He joined in on some of the weekend festivities - So good to see him!

Josh's birthday is coming up, so we decided to have a small celebration while everyone was here as well - Such a cutie!

We also took some selfies

And last but certainly not least, it was Mother's Day weekend - which meant we got to skype with our missionary in Canada!

He is doing so good and enjoying his time in each area he is called to serve. He sounds like a true frenchman. We love and miss our Cody, but we sure do enjoy his weekly updates and are thankful for his example as he continues to work hard as a missionary. And because it was Mother's Day, I knabbed a selfie with our missionary!! ---Happy Mother's Day to me!!

It really was a perfect weekend! Can we have a do-over?!