Ben & Stella's Wedding Day Photos!

I took a few wedding day pictures while we were waiting on the ceremony to start. I love the pure JOY in Benny's face. He is so happy and simply enjoying every moment of his special day. I also loved, loved, loved my Mama's dress. She was beautiful! 

Love my Benny! 

 Our Family - {it was a slight challenge to get even the majority of people to look in the same direction!}

 

 please disregard the sweat pour off our faces;

It was so dang hot on the dance floor

 It was such a great day! 

a reason to smile on Father's Day

Today, instead of being sad that my sweet Daddy is in Heaven, I am rejoicing in the fact that I know what it means to have truly know the love of my earthly Father for 24 years! While that is not long enough in my book, it is so, so much more than many people get for lots of different reasons.

There is not a single day of my life that I don't remember my Daddy telling me he loved me. What I wouldn't give to take back all the times that I said, "yeah, yeah Dad, love you too" without really understanding just how special those words were.

My sweet Mama sent my brother and me an email this morning reminding us of all the reason's to continue celebrating Father's Day, and to enjoy the many wonderful memories. Here is just a little part of her email that I wanted to share:

He listened, he was patience, he was ALWAYS there when u needed him (even if you didn't think you did), his focus was always on you both to what could he do for you, he was always dependable and a great provider, he had a gr8 laugh, and made the best cinnamon toast ever! He loved loved loved his family and was so proud of you both.

This is why I am grateful for my Daddy, and this is why I smile today :)

my mama is way more creative than she gives herself credit for.

We just got back from Ben & Stella's wedding weekend, and 5 days of relaxing at the beach. Its always hard to come back to the reality of daily life, but also nice to get back to our bed and our new home!

I promise that house pictures are coming soon, but first I have to share all the details from the wedding and our little family vacation. {Be patient, bear with me, I know your on the edge of your seat wondering just how tacky our wall paper truly is.  I am simply sparing you the desire to high-tail it to Waynesboro as fast as you can and start ripping down the hideousness that is our kitchen}

Okay, now back to my Mama's creative & crafty side - she planned one heck of a rehearsal dinner party! Here are several pictures from the celebration of my little brother and new sister.

 Mom had a table set up with people to leave wisdom and wishes for a happy marriage for Ben and Stella. She plans to put all the cards in an album with photos from the night!

 I thought these vases were BEAUTIFUL! 

 The table decorations! They were perfect and gave just enough color to the tables. Mom also had engagement photos of Ben & Stella and a few cute baby pictures :)

 We had the Rehearsal Dinner at Zen in downtown Greenville. It was such a neat, laid back place, and was within walking distance of our hotels. 

 We had a Low Country Boil for dinner - it was delicious! 

Our sweet cousins! Wil was one of Ben's groomsmen - It is always wonderful to have time with them!

 Greensboro friends! Blessed to have several "2nd Families"

 Mom did a great job picking out the Groom's cake! It was a huge tiger paw with #78!  

 I love this one! Its a classic Ben face!

 This is my favorite picture from the whole evening. I love the joy on their faces! Charles is Ben's best friend from High School - they have been there for each other through so much. 

It was a fun, relaxed night and one things for sure: my Mom can plan a great party! A few pictures of the wedding day to come..

Lots of Big News for the Hawkins...

Nope... no baby! And I am a blogging slacker... but in my defense our lives have been super crazy, and we have been without internet because we moved to our NEW HOME!!

 We are so excited! I have lots more pictures of the inside to share. Its far from my style or really any style remotely related to 2011, but I think that is partially why I am so in love with it. It is a canvas for some major creativity {and lots of wall paper pulling!}.

We are headed to South Carolina this weekend for Ben & Stella's Wedding. Can't believe my little brother is getting married. Makes me feel too old, or that he is too young, or that life is flying by wayyyy too fast {or all 3!}.

More pictures of the house to come! 

A fun weekend with Lisa Joy!

I have this really fun, sweet, and super creative friend Lisa Joy. We have been friends since High school an its always fun when we have time to get together and catch up in real life {and not only through our blogs!}

She is very talented and has, along with her handy husband, Logan, completely remodeled their old bungalow themselves. You should most definitely check out her blog and her fun DIY projects!

Also, check out the great photos she took from our day hiking crabtree falls a few weekends ago! It was a blast and such a beautiful spring day spent with friends!

Lime Chicken & Orzo Salad

yes, another recipe...
but is delicious, & simple, & healthy, so at least take a look :)
i've been cooking a lot recently...Jay has even been doing some grilling now that the weather is warming up and its been fun!
I found the recipe in southern living a just tweaked it a little.

What you'll need:
1 Lime
Chicken Tenders  

5 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 minced Garlic Gloves

2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

Grate the zest from lime to equal 1 tsp. Cut lime in half & squeeze juice. Save a little bit of lime juice for the pasta sauce {about a 1 tablespoon}. Combine zest, lime juice, 4 Tbsp Oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Marinate Chicken for 10 minutes and promptly hand to your hunk of a husband to grill for you. Or be a real woman to do it yourself. Both get the job done. 

Now for the Orzo Salad:

1 Cup Uncooked Orzo Pasta

3 Tbsp Red wine Vinegar -- {this stuff is amazing! Buy it and use it often!}

2 Tbsp Honey Dijon Mustard 

1 Med. Red Bell Pepper, Chopped

1 Med. sized Cucumber, peeled & Diced

1/2 tsp dried Dill

Prepare pasta according to box directions. Combine vinegar, mustard, remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil, Dill, & juice from the little bit of left over lime juice. Toss Orzo, Bell Pepper, and cucumber in vinegar mix. 

Its so yummy and very light!

On a side note, remember I mentioned how Jay has been grilling a lot recently? Well we decided to grill hamburgers one night last week. It was fairly late, probably 8:30ish {which is a normal time for us to eat because we own a chick-fil-a which equals never eating meals at the designated "normal times" and I've come to terms with the fact that we simply eat when hungry and just forget looking a a clock} Anyway, it was late and Jay was grilling hamburgers and it began to POUR down rain so I quickly threw Jay an umbrella and naturally stayed inside to snap this photo of my sweet husband finishing our dinner in the rain. {the photo doesn't do justice to the rain, but just take my word for it... it was raining. hard.}

While I was busy photographing Jay stuck in the rain sweet bella decided it was the perfect time to escape and run like a wild woman all over the back yard and return soaking wet & muddy & very, very gross. I did not photograph this because I finally decided it was a good time to join my husband outside and get wet chasing her down. Her hiney was immediately thrown into the bath tub and we ate cold hamburgers at around 9:30 {so basically we learned that Chick-fil-A is not the sle source of our eating dinner at un-naturally awful times of the night}

On that note, Happy Mother's Day to my sweet Mama, and all you mamas out there! 

Greek Chicken Pitas from Mrs. Lang!

• My dear, sweet, best friend for life, just got married and now she is Mrs. Lang, and now she has delicious recipes she has been sharing with me and I am totally loving it! She emailed me a recipe for these greek chicken pitas last week and Jay and I totally ate it all up (literally!). Hope you enjoy!

First I made the yogurt sauce. My home-girl Kate Lang just bought tzatziki sauce which I was planning to do until I woke up to the reality of the fact that we live in Waynesboro where the man at the grocery store informed me that he has never heard of anything like that in his entire life. So I moved on made my own sauce and it turned out pretty good! 

3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon dried Dill (fresh would be excellent I am sure)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika

Combine yogurt, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, dill, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon paprika in a bowl; cover and chill.

• 3 (4-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 Teaspoons Olive Oil

Sprinkle chicken with oregano, pepper, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon paprika. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat; add chicken, and cook 5 minutes on each side or until done. Transfer chicken to a plate; cover and keep warm. 

• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 1/3 cups shredded iceberg lettuce
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 4 (6-inch) pitas, warmed
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese

Add onion to pan and cook 7 minutes or until browned; stir frequently. Cut chicken into 1/4-inch-thick slices and return to pan with onion. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Cook 2 to 3 minutes.

• Arrange lettuce and tomato evenly over pitas; Cover with chicken and drizzle each with yogurt sauce. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Enjoy!

Hope Y'all have a great spring weekend! 

Easy Beer Cheese Bread

I don't love the taste of alcohol, but I LOVE cooking with it! This bread recipe is very easy, very yummy, and quick when you need a homemade addition to dinner.

1 Tbl Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Yellow Onion, chopped
1/4 Tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 Garlic Clove, minced
3 Cups Flour
3 Tbl Sugar
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded
1 Bottle Lager Beer (12 oz)
2 Tbl Melted Butter, divided

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium low heat. Add onion to pan and cook until browned (10 - 15 minutes). Stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic and pepper. Cook 1 minute.

While onion is cooking, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Make a well in the center. Add onion mix, cheese, and beer. Stir just until completely moist. Pour into a 9 x 5 loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 Tbl melted butter over batter. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Drizzle remaining 1 Tbl melted butter over loaf and bake for an additional 20 minutes until golden brown. 

Enjoy! 

Our First {and maybe only} 80's Dinner Party...

This past weekend, Jay and I went to an 80's Murder Mystery Dinner Party with our sunday school class at church. It was so fun to everyone's wacky and totally hip 80's get-ups!

Don't get too scared by the below pictures, although I think our neighbor was a little confused when we came out wearing this strange attire. Its not everyday you are watering your flowers and you see your neighbor getting into a car to leave their house with a teased side ponytail and a very loud, bright pink blazer. Jay and I decided to avoid eye contact and move along instead of try to explain the choice of our wardrobe.

We all had fun play-on-words names too. I was a soap opera star named Clara Seal {like the face wash Clearasil} and Jay was a Contractor named Bill DeHause {like Build A House}. There was Sandi Shorts, Barbie Dahl, Barrie M. Deepe, Crystal Ball, Tim Burr, Em Burr, Herb Evore, Angela Deff {Angel of Death}, Kelly Bluebook, Ray Beaze, Robyn Banks, and Archie Bisphop just to name a few! 

We laughed a lot and had fun getting to know some more people in our new church! 

Kate & Jeff Lang

  Kate is married! She is now MRS. LANG!! 

She has been for a couple weeks now... I am just a slack blogger and haven't made the time to sit down and go through my photos from the wonderful weekend. 

These photos were taken by kate's dear high school friend Angelique - Such pure joy in their faces!

I didn't have my camera with me for much of this special weekend because I decided to enjoy the moments with my best friend - sister and my "second family", but I did take a few and there are a couple of my favorites. 

In the past couple of weeks Jay and I have talked about how fun Kate & Jeff's wedding was, and we decided that it was so very fun because Kate and Jeff Lang are so perfect together. They Love Jesus and they love life and they love each other. They care about those around them and they want to make a positive impact. It makes me smile to think about all the many, many things that Kate and I have done together in our lives, and the ways that we have walked through life together. I love Jeff as Kate's husband and I am excited for all the ways that they are going to make this world a better place together!