Pies in a Jar!

A few weeks ago, I went with our youth group's youth council to plan out our next year. One of the discussions we had was about fundraisers for our mission trip next Summer. In the past, we have sold cookie dough and coffee around Thanksgiving and Christmas time, but wanted to try something different this year. We discussed making and selling frozen pies for people to use around the holidays and that is when I remembered hearing about Pies in a Jar from Our Best Bites. I mentioned this to the youth and they thought it sounded fun.

So since I am home on a Saturday for the first time in 6 weeks, I decided I should test out some recipes to see how it all works!

I started with all of the necessary ingredients:

I made the Pie Crust. Then I cleaned, pitted, peeled, cut and diced all the fruit and made the fruit filling for Apple, Cherry, and Peach pie

Then came the fun task of filling the pies with the crust and filling

And topping them... I used 2 normal round toppers, crumb topping for 2, and I made a mini lattice pattern on one of the Apple Pies

Now they are stored safely in the freezer to bake at a later date:

And just because I'm all about the honesty and I always say how messy I am when I bake, I thought you might like to see what my kitchen looked like right before I put the pies in the freezer:

And I couldn't resist showing off one of the pies and my adorable apron that sweet Erin gave to me last fall:

I am so excited to dig into these pies one day soon!

Craziness and Clutter

So this summer has been a little busy with trips and activities and as a result my apartment has gotten a little out of control. So I had planned to spend my next free weekend (which I believe is on the 28th) doing some major cleaning and organizing.

One of the tasks for this weekend was going to be cleaning out my closet. I have so many clothes that I don't wear and it's become even more of an issue as some of my clothes no longer even fit. I have been excited about this task, but also a little anxious.

Well tonight I've been home doing laundry and getting ready for a retreat this weekend... and when I went to hang up my clean clothes I realized I was out of hangers! So I started by just folding up some of my shirts that I could... but then I thought about all of the clothes that are hanging up that I don't wear, so I took on the closet cleaning task a little early.

Here is a little peak of my evening:

...before...

What all I got rid of because it no longer fits...

And after:

(I know these clothes look very squished together... but that's how close all the clothes were before, so I felt it was the only fair representation)

Um yeah... I decided it was a good thing that I'm not planning to change jobs anytime soon because I have absolutely no dress pants or skirts... at all. The only pants I have that fit are my capri's and my jeans that I just bought last week.

It feels a little crazy, but so good. I have now officially lost 40 pounds since last fall and I have never felt better. I still have about 10 more that I would like to lose to be at my ultimate goal, but just seeing the difference tonight was huge.

I also went through a little moment of anxiety as I looked at the pile that no longer fits. Do I keep it stored away in case I gain weight again? Do I get rid of it and hope for the best? It's a little scary... but I think it's all going to get donated.

So that was my adventure for the evening. And after an hour and a half of trying on all of my clothes, I am absolutely exhausted! But so glad to feel a little de-cluttered

Girls' Weekend

I got to spend this past weekend with 2 of my very best friends! Both of these beautiful ladies are friends from Baylor and it was great getting to catch up with them. Nicki is in San Antonio for a couple of weeks visiting family, so Erin and I decided to drive down for a weekend with her.

It was such a great (but short) time with these wonderful girls! I loved it all. Late Night Talks, Early Morning Walks, Breakfast Tacos, Shopping, Dinner Downtown, Margaritas and Chips & Salsa, and lots of great conversation!!

I am so blessed to have both of these amazing girls in my life and am glad our friendships have grown even since our time in college.

It was a great and busy weekend. And today's drive home was kind of a beating... so now it is time for bed! (I know, pathetically early...)

Orlando Vacation

I spent all of last week in Orlando for a family reunion of sorts. My cousin Christy and her family are currently stationed in Japan for 4 years, so they took a 3 week trip to the states to see everyone. Since my Aunt's 60th birthday is this week (today actually!) we decided to take advantage of them being in town to all meet up for a fun trip!

We spent 3 days at Disney and it was so fun getting to see it through the eyes of the kids (my cousins' kids). Our first day was at Magic Kingdom where we:

Rode Rides

Waited in lots of lines

and ate lunch with the characters from Winnie the Pooh

Our trip also included lots of good food! Here is the only picture of all of us taken during the week (my cousin Rian was sick on matching shirt day at Epcot):

and just in case you are wondering... the wait time for a party of 17 at Olive Garden is an hour and a half, even at 9:00 at night

One of the coolest parts of the trip came on Thursday. My sister-in-law Aja and I dragged my brother to Universal Studios to see the new Magical World of Harry Potter! It was such a neat exhibit even though it was super crowded! They recreated all of the stores from the books and had a couple of rides--one that went through the Castle where you got to see all of the classrooms, and one that was riding with the dragons. I know we are huge dorks, but we LOVED it. We even got to have some frozen Butterbeer. It was so hot, but a fun day.

We also spent lots of time relaxing by the pool, eating (I think I mentioned that already?), watching movies, and hanging out. It was a great week with my family!