Colorado Week 7

This week has been CRAZY. We graduate two weeks from tomorrow (woo!) so everything seems to be a bit crammed. Not only do we have a lot of events to help with / attend, we're also trying to spend a lot of time together. I'm gonna miss all these people so much!

So pictures from this week are kind of random...

We got more snow:

We made loads and loads of No-Bake Cookies:

Walked at sunrise:

 Road in a crammed car to the nearby neighbors' house (it was cold... haha):

More photo shoots:

 I found an icicle...

... and rabbit tracks (at least, that's what I think they are...):

Had a ridiculous hair day...

...and another one:

Tried some new clothes/color combos...

... and new coffee combos:

Drove the manly car (again):

 Wore pink shoes:

And lastly, drove to Boulder with my lovely roommate!

This week has definitely been an adventure...

Soon, I hope to update ya'll on the rich stuff I've been learning here,

instead of just a bunch of random pictures.

I don't like simply posting shallow things.

But have patience.

It's coming.

Inevitably.

Because, I'm a writer. 

Who's about to graduate from a inspirational-to-the-max Bible school.

So.

Ya'll will probably hear plenty ;)

Hope ya'lls weekend is off to a fantastic start!

Love, Casey

Style{in} Skirts : Double the Fun

So Melissa and I decided to do a double post! Made the photoshoot way more fun;)

Flower/headband: Street Vendor

Scarf: Wal-Mart

Shirt: Borrowed

Skirt: Hand-me-down

Shoes -Wal-Mart

Shirt: Rue21 (?)

Vest: Old Navy (clearance!)

Skirt: Hand-me-down

Shoes: DSW

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Hope ya'll have had a fantastic week!

I must apologize, my contributions to this site lately have been less than fascinating.

However, my time here at Ellerslie has almost ended, so I'm doing my best to focus.

I'll be home soon!

Love, Casey

Game Food : By Rob Flora

Note from Casey: This is one of my all-time FAVORITE foods EVER. Totally worth trying, in and out of football season. :)

Two of my favorite things to do are watch football and eat game food!  What is game food you ask?  Well it’s whatever you want it to be.  Some of my favorites are wings, buffalo chicken dip, and spinach artichoke dip!  So I though I’d share one of Casey's favorites with you guys.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

1 - 16oz can of artichoke hearts

1 - 10oz package or frozen spinach (I only use half the package, it’s green and I’m a guy, so green stuff is yucky!)

1/2 cup of sour cream (non of that low fat junk!)

1/2 cup of mayonnaise (once again full fat baby!)

1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese (we like to call it “farmer john” cheese)

2 minced garlic cloves (sometimes I like to put in 3, love me some garlic)

1 - pinch of salt

1 - pinch of black pepper

Directions:

Drain the juice from the artichokes and chop the mess out of them.  One of those hand choppers is perfect.  Nuke the spinach in the microwave for about a minute and then break off half (unless you are making this for a bunch of spinach loving people, I for one am not) save the other half for something else.  Make sure to squeeze the excess liquid from the spinach, too much spinach juice makes for loose dip. Add the sour cream,mayo, garlic, parm cheese, salt, and pepper.  Mix it all together and bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

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I'm Rob, Casey's favorite uncle. I am a devoted Christian, husband to my bride of 15 years, father & school principal to four brilliant homeschoolers. Following my full time job at home with my family, I am a 9-5er computer network engineer, but my love is photography. I shoot as much and as often as I can as a part-time side business with hopes of, one day, making it a full time reality.

Gluten Free Cookin' : By Mother Dearest

Today I wanted to share with you 2 cookbooks that I really have enjoyed using in this last year and a half adventure of being gluten free in our home. 

Now here is my disclaimer… I don’t know much about this! The recipes/cookbooks that I like may not be the healthiest that there ever was, but they work for us. My children do not have Celiac's Disease, so we do not have to worry about cross-contamination and all the other very specific needs of that disease. 

So with that said, here are the 2 cookbooks that I wanted to share with you.

The first is Free For All Cooking by Jules Shepard. I also buy her flour mix. I have found her flour mix to be versatile and very convenient. I first started  on this journey, mixing all of my own flours and it was very time consuming for me. With 10 kiddos, I need quick and convenient, yet homemade at the same time (come on…Sandra Lee has made a whole empire out of that attitude). 

There are so many recipes that I haven’t tried in here yet…but there are a few that I really like. The pancake recipe is what I use for all of our pancakes and waffles. Yummy. Her zuchinni bread recipe is really good. She even has a reipe for homemade poptarts. Tried those! Pretty time consuming but my son really liked them.

Now, talk about convenient… The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten Free  by Anne Byrn is my next one. I always have Gluten free cake mixes in my pantry. ALWAYS! So far, I have found them to be the cheapest on Amazon on their  Subscribe and Save program. Through that program, I have the cake mixes delivered every other month right to my door. From coffee cakes to bundt cakes, I can throw something together in a matter of moments. We all know how it feels when someone invites you over at the spur of the moment and you want to bring something. This book has saved me many times in just that circumstance…

Just for the record, she has  a regular Cake mix Doctor cookbook too.  Give it a try… gluten free or not, you can’t go wrong with these cake mix cookbooks.

Have a great day!

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Carrie Heard is a fantastic mother of ten kids (as of now;) that range from the ages of 18 and  6 months. She homeschools, cooks, cleans, and does all the practical things a mom should do, but balances the loving and disciplinary work extraordinarily well.

She loves trying new styles, thrifting, and decorating her home tastefully on a budget.

Bottom line, she's fantastic.

Best. Mom. Ever.

Colorado Week 6

Hey ya'll! Ready for a really quick summary?:)

Ellerslie Games (we came in second! So close!):

I drank coffee with chicas:

 Chick-fil-A (at last!):

 A photo shoot...

 ... or two...

 Ate popcorn (I was soooo happy):

 Hung out with these crazies:

 Rocked the sweater+belt combo:

 ... and the scarf+clashing-striped-socks combo...

 Washed dishes:

 Actually did my hair:

 Drove a manly car:

 Indulged in emotional cravings:

 And, lastly, flipped out because it snowed again... :)

Hope ya'll have a lovely weekend:)

Love, Casey