Food {Post One}

My sister over at Simple Inspirations has a series going on called try something new where every week she makes a new recipe. I'd really like to get on board and do something like that, too but {1} It would require I learn to follow recipes and {2}I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet :P
I have been reading a book about keeping your pantry stocked with the "essentials" and how that will make it easy to throw together new dinners but I have a lot of work to do on my pantry. Currently I shop week to week and hope to get things that make meals; I rarely even have an idea of the weeks "meal plan" when I shop :/ Here's to hoping I do better!
Anyways, last night I made this dinner and took a few pictures to share. It was something new and it was quick, easy, and yummy :)

I started with some chicken breast I had cooked in the crock pot on Monday and then I fried up some bacon pieces, added some mayo and canned jalapeno's. I also had a loaf of Jalapeno Cheddar bread left over from market to make the sandwiches out of.

These are a few of the seasonings I threw into the mix. Oh and a splash of apple cider vinegar.

After I mixed that up, sliced some cheddar, I assembled them on my griddle. They were getting crispy on the other side but the filling was still kind of cold so I threw them in the microwave. Walla. Dinner! :D It was a little spicy but pretty yummy. 

What Defines You?

Last night I finished reading Whipping Boy The Forty-Year Search For My Twelve-Year-Old Bully by Allen Kurzweil. I was left in a state of deep thought, consideration, and ultimately disappointment.
The whole book centers on, exactly as the title indicates, Allen's obsession with finding Cesar, a boy who was in his life for not even a whole year. Allen spent his sixth grade year at Aiglon, a boarding school in Villars Switzerland and in that amount of time Allen says of Cesar "[He] entered my life and reshaped it forever."
Now, I was never bullied so maybe I have no right to pen my thoughts and conclusion of Allen's life but I did read his book and feel the need to share my opinion on not only Allen's view of his life but my own as well.
Through out the book and all the way to the end Allen blames (and credits) Cesar for making him into the person he is today.
I find that shallow. 
He let the events of sixth grade define who he grew up to be. It defined who he was as a husband, a father, a friend, professional, and a writer.
Looking back in my life I can admit to a time that I did the same. I may not have dealt with bullying but I did go through some trials and for a couple years after that time I let it define me. 
I struggled with self worth, I hated life, I hated myself, I wished I was never born, I cut, I convinced myself to be suicidal. Then one day, I'm not even sure when, I finally admitted to myself what was truly happening. Daily I was choosing self pity over God's grace and the life He had given me. I didn't really want to admit it but the truth was that I was deciding which parts of my life were allowed to shape me. I chose only the times I had been hurt, scarred, and at my lowest and let them run my life. I was choosing the life of self pity and essentially creating the identity I wanted. 
I say all that to point out our motto shouldn't be:

We Are Defined By What Has Happened To Us 

rather 

We Are What We Allow To Define Us 

Join me in breaking away from letting negative events in our lives define who we will become and choose rather to be who we want to be, be who Christ wants us to be. Be alive and full of love, full of joy, full of all things honorable. Grow throughout life and don't simply let your life be "reshaped" "forever" due to a few, or even many, low points of life. Let us be the generation that stops blaming our past for everything today; lets be stronger than circumstances!

Two Years Together

It was two years ago today that I said yes to the best adventure of my life ^_^

At the top of Mt. Elbert, highest 14er in Colorado, surrounded by some of my closest friends, Wesley asked me to join him on the adventure of our lifetime.

I know I've ranted about time, and how people say it "flies" but in my case it doesn't seem to be. Last night as Wesley and I discussed the last two years of our lives it was hard to believe it has been only that; two years. I truly feel like I've lived and loved a life time's worth since he's been by my side. We've had so many adventures since we became engaged and then married. We have the most perfect, beautiful baby who is in and of herself our best adventure yet.

Words can't describe the love our little family holds, nor can they come close to touching the wonders of how God has blessed our relationship; from the years of friendship to these two years as a couple. Oh how I love to be a part of this story He has written <3


Here are a few pictures of us taken while in CO