Happy Day Blessings to Precious Husband

We are in Prescott doing a quick celebration for our 27th wedding anniversary.

Stopped at Salvation Army thrift store and bought two bags of books.  Some people would laugh at the way we celebrate and what makes us happy but hey, this is US and we love being US.

Came up here specifically to have dinner at Murphy's and we were not disappointed - yummy yum for sure!

I am married to the most wonderful man in the world and I truly am treated like a queen by this man.

Thank you Honey - I love you!

Waiting

Last year I had alysum sprouting up all over my yard and the flower beds where the seeds were originally intended were over-flowing with flowers.  As I pulled out the old flowers lots of seeds would fall to the ground promising hope of new flowers next season.

Soon all the flowers in the yard had been cleaned up and recently I began to look around and wondered what happened to my alysum?  There was not a sign of new plants coming up.  No green buds pushing through the brown earth nor through the gravel where it had been before.

I started to wonder and doubt about the return of my little white flowers and was quite disappointed actually but then just a few days ago . . .  Sure enough there were the familiar green sprouts and soon after the little white flowers began to appear.  My flowers that remind me so much of my little grandmother are starting to appear once again in my yard - to my delight.

God promises us that when we plant seeds in lives of others around us they will produce fruit but sometimes we have to be patient in our waiting.  It is discouraging at times and we wonder if our words or deeds of love will produce a harvest.  Be assured that we only have to do the planting God will see to the rest and He will be faithful to His Word.

Today I am thankful for a faithful God.

 

Wordless Wednesday - Double Feature

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday - Banana Cupcakes

TLC #2 enjoying his dad's birthday cupcakes.

Recently I had some very ripe bananas that in fact most people would have thrown away but I used them to make these cupcakes.  Wow, were they ever good.  Makes me wonder if it was not due to the fact that the bananas were soooo ripe that maybe that intensified the flavor.  They were quite the hit for sure.

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

    •    2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
    •    1 teaspoon baking soda
    •    1/4 teaspoon salt
    •    3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter softened
    •    1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
    •    3 eggs
    •    1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
    •    2 ripe bananas mashed
    •    3/4 cup sour cream

Makes: About 18 standard cupcakes.

Preheat oven 350°F. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Add eggs, vanilla and banana; mix well. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream; blend thoroughly but do not overmix. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on rack; remove and cool completely before decorating.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
    •    1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), room temperature
    •    8 oz of Philly cream cheese (1 package), room temperature
    •    2 - 3 cups of powdered sugar
    •    1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 With an electric mixer, mix the butter and cream cheese together, about 3 minutes on medium speed until very smooth.
2 Add the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness and thickness.

Check out Lisa's blog for more Tasty Tuesday links.

Family

 

Celebrating our son-in-loves' birthday

I went upstairs to get the camera to take pictures of the grandkids with frosting all over their faces of course.  As I came down the stairs I could not help snapping this picture and thinking to myself, "this is what it is all about - family!"