2012 in review

2012 held so many milestones and memories for our family, and there's no way we could possible squeeze them into one blog post! This 2012 review is conducted iPhone photo dump style; it was fun looking back.

2012 was a year of friends. Celebrating 15 years of best-friend-ship:

And creating new ones:

Our favorite (and only) nephew, Jax, turns ONE! And we got to make his rocket ship smash cake:

Both Kevin & Chelle turn 27:

A Pre-wedding vacation to FL:

The making of the bridesmaid gifts:

And bachelorette party gifts:

THE BACHELORETTE PARTY:

Getting our marriage license:

OUR WEDDING:

Trips to the farmers market:

Then quickly becoming the typical "old married couple" :) :

Picnics in the park with the family:

Matty's football games:

Weekly pregnancy chalkboards for my cutie pregnant friend!:

and our littlest sister turns EIGHTEEN!:

Looking forward to the fun 2013 brings!

Christmas decor

This morning was the morning Ive been agonizing over for a few weeks now: putting away the Christmas decorations. Before I did though, I had to snap some pics of our very minimal, last minute decor this year:

Until next year.......

2012 Iphone "dog" dump

We are THOSE dog-owners. The ones that take as many photos of our dog as you do your kids. For every 2 or 3 pictures of Herky that we sneak onto the blog, you can expect to see another 20-30 more on our phones that don't really have anywhere to be shared. Im full aware that no one wants to see the cute faces and positions our dog gets himself into on the daily, but that doesn't stop me from snapping the photos none-the-less.

SO, here is a re-cap of our favorite Herky photos of 2012 that you've never seen before. (and we promise not to inundate you with this many pictures of our furry friend for a WHOLE year)

Bacon Cornbread

Makes 1 standard loaf size

250g (8.82 ounces) bacon, diced
2.5 (625ml (21.13 fluid ounces)) cups all purpose (cake) flour
2tsp (10ml (0.34 fluid ounces)) baking powder
1tbsn (15ml (0.51 fluid ounces)) sugar
1tsp (5ml (0.17 fluid ounces)) salt
4 large eggs
1/2 cup (125ml (4.23 fluid ounces)) butter, melted
1 cup (250ml (8.45 fluid ounces)) milk
1 tin (410g (14.46 ounces)) whole corn kernels (drained)
1/2 tin (about 200g (7.05 ounces)) cream style sweetcorn
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

• Pre-heat the oven to 170°c and grease a standard size loaf tin.
• Fry the chopped bacon in a very hot pan until slightly crisp. Drain off any excess fat and set aside.
• Meanwhile, sift all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
• Beat together the eggs, butter and milk and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix well.
• Fold in the corn and bacon and pour into the prepared loaf tin. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the loaf and place into the oven.
• Bake for 60-75 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean. If the loaf is browning too fast, turn the heat down.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool down for 5 minutes before removing from pan

Recipe from: http://simply-delicious.co.za/2011/03/09/bacon-mielie-corn-bread/

Holiday Re-cap

This post is coming later than planned, but with the holiday's being so busy, this is the first chance Ive really had to take a breath it seems like!

Christmas Eve-Eve, we travelled to Kevin's grandparents to spend the afternoon and evening with them. My favorite part about going to Grandma Martha's house is looking at her Christmas village. It's impressive, and it amazes me how much time and thought she must put in to making each house, lamp-post, horse, and tree go in just the right spot.

We spent the day chatting and opening gifts, & munching on Grandma's dips, cookies, and cider.

And after dinner, there was a even time for quick naps in front of the football game

On Christmas eve, my parents came up and stayed over. After Christmas Eve service, we filled up on the traditional "xmas eve chili" that had been cooking all day in the slow cooker, along with a new recipe that turned out to be a hit: Bacon Cheddar Cornbread. We ended the night by watching Kevin's favorite Christmas movie, Christmas Vacation.

Christmas day.....well, I was hoping to get some pictures of Christmas day; however, I spent the entire day with some sort of stomach bug. I was able to make it thru breakfast at Kevin's sister's, Christmas with the whole family, and even through mom-in-laws amazing lunch. However, the rest of the day was spent being sick, and sleeping on the couch/bed until the next day! :)