Sneak Preview.......

......of one of the MANY graduation party pictures snapped yesterday. Since boys usually stand about 10 ft. away from each other when in pictures, I told these guys to act like they "liked" each other. Thus the hugging all around. L to R: David, Steven (hey brother!), Austin (giving me, um, what do you call that look?), and Tim.

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I'll see you tomorrow with lots more pictures! It was a total blast! Have a good Sunday!

Sugar Cookie Mix Banana Bread.

Happy Friday everyone! It is a beautiful summer day and I am looking forward to heading out with my family for dinner and to the theater. So this is going to be a quick post.

We had some very ripe bananas on the counter that needed to be used up so I took my banana recipe and tweaked it. Instead of adding a chocolate cake mix I added a sugar cookie mix and some milk. Yum, the sugar cookie mix adds a wonderful flavor. This makes lots of batter so I would suggest not pouring it all into the 13x9 inch pan. Maybe make some cupcakes with the rest. I made the mistake of using all the batter in the pan and it takes forever to bake and turns overcooked slighty.

Sugar Cookie Mix Banana Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. vanilla
3 medium bananas, ripe and smashed
5 tbsp. sour cream
1 (17.5 oz) sugar cookie mix
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 in pan (and a muffin pan). Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt together and add to creamed mixture. Add vanilla, bananas, sour cream, and cookie mix. Mix very well. Pour into greased baking pan and muffin tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until ready.

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Graduation party date has been set. Invitations have been mailed. Decorations, food, and all the fun stuff is coming now. Choices.

This is the picture we used for the invitations....maybe it is just me but I do not really care for this picture of myself. But since the world doesn't revolve around me (what?!) I didn't say anything. And knowing myself, I always critque pictures of people way too much...so ignore me.

Enjoy a beautiful weekend! Busy weekend ahead, picture time for us 6 kids and my Senior Pics tomorrow! See you with some more yummy food soon!

My First Photography Session.

I love photography. I love snapping pictures of people. I love capturing people smiling. Laughing. Being Serious. Their mood.
I had my first oppertunity to have a photo shoot last Saturday. My friend Katie needed her Senior pictures taken, and I offered to take them. I shot her pictures at a gorgeous park and downtown. The day couldn't have been any nicer. And it always is helpful when your model is beautiful.

My buddy Morgan ran this photo thru PhotoShop, isn't this stunning?

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2 of my buddies and I are having our graduation party together. Here is a sneak preview of some graduation invatation pictures......

(L to R: Priscilla, Lena, & Katie)

Strawberry And Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Good Sunday everyone! Hope you had a great weekend with good weather. I can't believe this but it is snowing right now. It may be April 5th but that doesn't make any difference to the

snow coming. I am itiching for some spring weather, we have been getting tastes of it here and there.

I am super excited about this weekend, because the new Hannah Montana movie is coming out! My friend Amanda and I are going to see it, my other friends are anti-Hannah Montana so I can't take them. I have been waiting for this for a long time, can't wait to finally see it.

I took our muffin recipe we use and decided to use strawberries and chocolate chips together instead of blueberries. It was delicious. The strawberries make the muffins moist and the chocolate chips add that sweet taste you need. My family loved these and so did my friend. These can't be overbaked because the muffin will lose its moist flavor, which maked this muffin superb.

Strawberry And Chocolate Chip Muffins
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup or oil

2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped

1 cup chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 400F. Grease muffin pans. In large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, eggs and oil. Mix until flour is not visible. Make sure there are lumps in the batter. Do not over beat. Add strawberries and chocolate chips. Bake for 20 minutes or until top springs back and is golden brown. Yield: 2 dozen jumbo muffins.

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I have the best friends. I am also blessed to have friends that love God. Friends that make me want to pursue more after God.

This is my friend Katie. We are both Seniors this year. We laugh a lot when we are together. Katie is full of energy but says it best with this statement, "I could never be a Emo, I am too happy". When we first started attending the church we now go to, Katie made me feel very welcome and like I had always known her. In the time I've known her, she is the kind of person you love being around. She is also my snowboarding buddy.

Here's to a great rest of your Sunday night and I'll see you with a another post soon!