Sunsets

sun-set
noun

1.     the setting or descent of the sun below the horizon in the evening.
2.     the time when the sun sets.
3.     the daily disappearance of the sun below the horizon in the west as a result of Earth's rotation.

Sunsets are one of my favorite things of summer and fall. The way the Lord creatively paints the sky in breathtakingly beautiful colors is always different and new every time. It seriously stirs my affections for Christ and makes me stand in awe of what His mighty hand can do and create. Every time I am lucky enough to see one of His gorgeous sunset displays, I try to capture as much of the beauty as I can. I like to look at the photos, especially in winter when beautiful sunsets are few and far between. Every time I look at the photos, I'm in awe all over again and the pictures don't even do the sunsets justice! Here are some sunsets I was lucky enough to capture this past summer and fall. May they stir your affections for Christ the same way they stir mine. 

In Vadnais Heights, MN at one of Andrew's softball games earlier in summer. No filter 

Up north in Deerwood, MN. Instagram filter

Up north in Deerwood, MN. No filter

Up North in Nashwauk, MN for a friend's funeral. No filter

Up north in Deerwood, MN. No filter

In Hawaii at Ko'Olina Beach when I took a trip there in May.

In Hills, MN at a friend's wedding. Filter

Up north in Deerwood, MN. No filter

In Hills, MN at a friend's wedding. Purple filter

In Edwards, IL at Kickapoo Creek Winery at a friend's wedding. No filter

In Minneapolis, MN at Lake Harriet. No filter

In Minneapolis, MN out a random apartment window while we were cleaning in our building. No filter

In St. Paul, MN at the MN State Fair round 3. Filter

In St. Paul, MN at the MN State Fair round 2. No Filter

This ladies and gents is my all time favorite sunset EVER! I had to save the best for last. Taken in Little Canada, MN at one of Andrew's softball games in early summer. The sky seriously looked like a rainbow. It was beautiful! No filter

Fall Crafts

This is what I've been doing in what little spare time I've had this fall. I've noticed that I've been so excited to create things that I've started multiple projects and only finished one so far. Oh well, I have the whole winter ahead of me right?

Scarf I taught myself how to knit. Still a work in progress, but very excited to finish and wear!

The beginnings of my fall garland

The fall garland that I made

Another fall garland

I started a quilt with all my scrap fabrics I've accumulated over the years 

All my pieces laid out before piecing blocks together

One of the blocks before being sewn together. The quilt is still a work in progress. I'm in the middle of sewing all the blocks together.

What kind of crafts do you like to do in the fall/winter? If you don't do crafts, what do you like to do to keep yourself busy and shake the winter blues?

Grand Ole Creamery

I have not forgotten about my ice cream quest. No worries, we (hopefully) still have a bit before winter comes! I was able to cross Grand Ole Creamery off my list of nine best ice cream shops in the Twin Cities. I crossed off HomeTown Creamery here, Conny's Creamy Cone here, and Sebastian Joe's here.

1. Adele's Frozen Custard in Excelsior
2. Conny's Creamy Cone in St. Paul
3. Edina Creamery in Edina
4. Grand Ole Creamery in St. Paul
5. HomeTown Creamery in North St. Paul
6. Izzy's Ice Cream in St. Paul
7. Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis
8. Sebastian Joe's in Minneapolis
9. Crema Cafe in Minneapolis

On Sunday evening the Stokes ladies (Andrew's mom, sister, grandma, cousin, and sister-in-law) got together to get some ice cream. We visited the Grand Ole Creamery off of Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis. It is a cute little shop that you might miss driving by unless you were looking for it. The one in St. Paul is located on Grand Avenue and has been serving ice cream for over 25 years. The Grand Ole Creamery serves over 200 flavors of award-winning, freshly made ice cream (of course not at the same time) that is free of chemical additives. They are best known for their Black Hills Gold ice cream (caramel ice cream, Oreos and praline pecans). If you want to splurge try a hand-rolled malted waffle cone that has a   whopper in the bottom of each cone.

I tried the Black Hills Gold, Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet, Birthday Cake, and Snickers ice cream. All were very good (especially Black Hills Gold), but since it was a cooler fall night I was in the mood for something fall-ish. I ended up choosing a scoop of apple pie ice cream in a sugar cone. It was fantastic. I don't like apple pie, but the ice cream was delicious and hit the spot. Also, their one scoop of ice cream was actually two scoops. They make sure to fill the cone with ice cream, then they give you a generous one scoop on top of that. It was definitely worth the money.

I am slightly partial to Grand Ole Creamery because Andrew took me there on our very first date we ever went on (I remember thinking it was the best ice cream in Minneapolis then). But, I'd still have to say that Sebastian Joe's is in the lead and Grand Ole Creamery is a close second (especially with the apple pie ice cream!). It was a lovely evening with the Stokes women though. Where is your favorite place to get ice cream? Have you visited any of the places on my list?

Fall Cooking

Since fall is here I've been dying to get in the kitchen and cook some yummy food! However, with my new job and nannying two days a week I've been working around 45-50 hours a week. That doesn't leave a lot of time for cooking - especially when I get home around 6pm or later. I've really been wanting to try out some recipes in my crock pot, but I don't really have any besides pulled pork. You can only make pulled pork so many times before you get sick of it. The other day as I was searching the web I came across some easy crock pot recipes that you make ahead of time, put in a freezer bag, and freeze until you make them. All you have to do is unthaw them in the fridge for 24 hours before putting them in the crock pot. I made three of the recipes in under 30 minutes. They were so easy to do! I made french dip sandwiches, hearty beef stew, and cilantro lime chicken. If you are interested in trying the recipes yourself, here's what you do:

Lay out your gallon size freezer bags and label them. Put the date on the bag too so you know when you prepared the meals:

 French Dip Sandwiches

Ingredients:

2-3 lb chuck roast

2 cans beef consommé (right next to the soups and beef broth)

6-8 hoagie buns

Directions:

Put the chuck roast in the freezer bag. Pour the cans of beef consommé over the meat and freeze.

When ready to cook:
Remove from the freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook in a crock pot on LOW for 8-11 hours (or HIGH for 5-7 hours). Remove the roast from the slow cooker and save the extra juice for dipping. With two forks, shred roast and serve meat on buns.

Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients:
1 lb beef stew cubes
4 carrots, sliced (I used a can of carrots)
4 red potatoes, cut into large cubes
1 package dry onion soup mix
2 cans 98% fat-free cream of mushroom soup
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (10 oz) package frozen green peas

Directions:
Put all ingredients in a freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

When ready to cook:

Remove from freezer and thaw in the fridge for 24 hours. Cook in a crock pot on LOW for 7-10 hours (or HIGH for 5-6).

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
Juice from 2 limes
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

When ready to cook:
Remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). Serve with tortillas and toppings such as sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and cheese.

Let me know how your recipes turn out and what you think!

A Fall Walk

Today I decided to take little Leo out for a lovely fall walk. After all, it truly looks like fall outside now with the bright leaves on the trees and some fallen on the ground. You never know how long you exactly have to enjoy this part of the season before everything turns dead and gray. The temperature read a warm 76 degrees and sunny today. I thought we should take advantage of one of the last beautiful days of fall before the weather quickly changes to be a bit chillier and in the 50's tomorrow. I quickly strapped Leo into his stroller and we were off. I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the beautiful canopy of color that surrounded us as we walked down the quiet streets of his Minneapolis neighborhood. I love everything about the contrast of the dark trunks against the vibrant orange, pink, and yellow leaves. I tend to favor the orangish, pinkish colors. They are the prettiest in my mind. As we walked along I took in the musical sound of fallen, dried up leaves crunching beneath my feet and the stroller wheels. I have been dying to hear that sound since last fall. As we turned onto a new street a slight breeze picked up and showered us with dead leaves not strong enough to hold on any longer. It looked like we were in a storm of colorful leaves as they danced around us in the wind on their way to the ground. I loved every minute of it. It was magical and it gave me a feeling deep inside that only fall can give you. I don't exactly know how to exactly explain this happy feeling, but it is wonderful. My senses were alert and I could not get enough of the fall beauty all around me. I could have walked for hours if Leo hadn't interrupted my thoughts with his tired cries. As we slowly walked back to his house for a nap, I couldn't help but whisper to the trees as I tried to soak it all in, "Hang on to those leaves a little longer. They are beautiful!"

The sun peeking through the leaves

I love the contrast with this one

Lovely contrast of textures and color

Pumpkin Muffins

These are one of my absolute favorite fall treats! With the cooler weather we've been having, I've been dying to make some kind of comfort food or some kind of fall treat. Why not just make my favorite fall pumpkin muffins? I hung out with a good friend, Sarah, on Friday night and we were able to enjoy these yummy muffins together. It's a super easy recipe and they turn out so well every time! Here's what you do:

Gather all of the ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix (do not follow directions on back of box)

1 15oz can of pumpkin

1 bag of mini chocolate chips

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Foil muffin liners

Ingredients

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and place your tinfoil muffin liners in your muffin pan. (I swear you need the tinfoil muffin liners. I tried to use the regular ones one time and it was a disaster.)

Mix all of the ingredients:

Mix together the whole box of cake mix, whole can of pumpkin, and the whole bag of chocolate chips in a medium size bowl. The original recipe that I got for these muffins had just these ingredients, but I've found that it enhances the fall taste if you add in some cinnamon and nutmeg. You can add as much or as little as you'd like. 

Yummy!

Once everything is evenly mixed together, fill the muffin liners evenly with the mix and place the pan in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Sometimes it's hard to tell if these are done or not since the toothpick method doesn't work. Since there are no eggs it's ok to eat them with a little gooeyness in the middle. Fifteen minutes should cook them through though.

Almost done!

Once they are done, take them out and let them cool for a few minutes and enjoy them while they're warm! I make these multiple times in fall because they are the perfect fix for a fall treat craving. Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy!

A Look Into Our Fall

God has really been stretching me and my husband lately. All of the plans we had for ourselves for the fall, were not the plans the Lord had for us. We had a really busy summer with our apartment management job, and we both feel that the season of being an apartment manager is coming to a close. The Lord has made it clear though that we are not finished there, so we will patiently wait on Him.

Andrew spent the summer washing and staining decks for his uncle's company, Deck Works, and doing maintenance in our apartment building. He spent the evenings after a long days work in the sun and heat, applying to schools around the city and suburbs to be a teacher for any open position in the fall. I spent the summer nannying little Leo and up-keeping our apartment building and doing apartment management duties. We both spent the summer waiting for Andrew to get a job so we could look at apartments to rent in whatever area he got placed. I waited to find another job for the fall (aside from watching Leo two days a week) in whatever area we moved to… We are still waiting.

The Lord clearly has a different plan for us this fall. Andrew is still applying like mad to schools that have last minute openings or long term sub positions. He is also set to be a sub in 6 or 8 different districts around the cities and suburbs. I am continuing to watch Leo two days a week and work the other days at Salon Centric in Richfield. We are both still managing the apartment too. Thankfully that has died down quite a bit for the fall. We currently have no openings and there hasn't been a huge need for maintenance (thank you Jesus).

We are just waiting on the Lord in this season of our lives, and will continue to wait on Him for whatever he has planned for us in the future. Part of me feels unsettled and part of me wants to skip ahead to the day where we (Lord willing) have a house, job security, and maybe a baby on the way. But, another part of me feels contentment and such peace in this season, and I know that is coming from the Lord. I don't feel the financial stress like I know I usually would with Andrew's job uncertainty, and life as it is now is sort of an adventure. We never know what's going to happen next and that's very exciting in a way.

I just pray that the Lord continues to give us patience during this season. We have a lot to be thankful for:

each other

two functional cars

a place to live rent free

food in our cupboards

supportive family and friends

clothes in our closet

new grace and mercies every day

a faithful God

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. -Proverbs 3:5-6

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. -Jeremiah 29:11

I Can't Wait

I can't wait for…

cooler weather and crisp air so I can wear jeans, sweatshirts, flannel and scarves.

apple orchards during beautiful fall days.

hearty soups and savory casseroles for dinner.

colorful leaves all around me and leaves that crunch below my feet as I take a lovely fall walk. 

warm drinks such as hot chocolate and pumpkin spice cappuccinos.

bonfires, smores, and late nights under the stars.

hayrides, fall festivals, and football games.

soft, cozy yarn and knitting needles making beautiful creations.

baked goods and caramels.

the excitement of pumpkin patches and corn mazes.

curling up with a good book and cozy blanket on a rainy day.

feeling like a kid again raking leaves into big piles only to jump into them and watch the colors fly.

picking out the perfect pumpkin to carve.  

nesting, craft projects and getting our home ready for winter.

Just thinking of all these things that come with fall gives me warm, fuzzy feelings inside. Yes.

I can't wait for…

autumn.