PUMPKIN!

I love you, pumpkin, oh yes I do!

It's true. I love almost anything pumpkin. Pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin scones. Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin ice cream. Pumpkin bread...

Last night I tried my hand, for the first time, at baking pumpkin bread from scratch. I scoured the internet looking for the most moist, flavorful pumpkin bread out there. And holy smokes, did I find a recipe to absolutely die for! I found it on the Pioneer Woman's website, but made it slightly my own in the process. http://thepioneerwoman.com/ 

I was pretty sure I found the recipe before I even put the bread in the oven. The smell of the batter was one of the most incredible, cozy, fall smells you could possibly imagine! And much to my delight, when I took my first bight it truly was the best pumpkin treat I have ever tasted. Super moist and fluffy.

I hope you enjoy this fall treat as much as our family does!

Ingredients:

3 c sugar

3 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 TBS baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

t tsp cinnamon 

4 eggs

1 can pumpkin (15 oz)

1 c apple sauce

1 c water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all wet ingredients (eggs, pumpkin, apple sauce and water). Sift all dry ingredients together in separate bowl. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet mixture.

Mix well in mixer until batter is smooth. This is when the amazing smells will start wafting through the air. 

Grease three loaf pans. Yes, you will need three pans, it really does make that much. If you are young and recently married like me and have not acquired three loaf pans yet, cake pans work perfectly. I had two pumpkin bread cakes and one real loaf of pumpkin bread. :) Make sure you pour equal amounts of batter in each pan no matter what pans you are using. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. You'll know it's ready to come out of the oven when the top of the loaf starts to crack and a toothpick or knife comes out of the center of the loaf clean.

Let the loaves cool for five minutes before popping the loaves out of the pans. At this point, the original recipe recommended wrapping the loaves tightly in foil and letting them cool the rest of the way. Now, I wrapped two of the loaves in foil, but Jake and I couldn't wait to test out the new recipe an dove right in and started eating the first loaf while it was still warm. YUMMY! We have not made it to the other loaves yet, but I will absolutely let you know how the foil wrapped loaves turned out. 

Double the Football Experience

I know this post is slightly delayed, but the story is just too great to pass up. You all know of my absolute LOVE of Oklahoma football, so there really was no choice in the matter...I had share this story with you.

The Red River Rivalry took place this past weekend in Dallas, Texas, as it always does. A battle this old and great must always be played on neutral ground. I am soo happy to tell all of you that my beloved Sooners did not disappoint! The final score: 28-20 OU.

Yes, it's Thursday morning and I am still relishing in this great victory! But now that you have that news I will press on to the story of last Saturday...

It actually began last Friday night when Jake's brother, Luke, and his friend Grayson came to visit. Jake and I love having visitors, but sometimes it gets a little dicey around here since we all thoroughly enjoy college football...and each of us our own team. So, four different teams and last weekend two battling each other, Navy versus Air Force.

We concocted a fantastic plan. Since we only had one tv in our apartment and Navy v Air Force was beginning only one our before my beloved Sooners took on those longhorns, we decided it would be cheaper to purchase another tv on craigslist than to go somewhere that would show both games. Jake set to work on finding the best deal he possibly could.

Within about 45 minutes we found our new tv. We were all ecstatic and so very pleased with ourselves for being so thrifty. Anxiously waiting for the day of rivalries to come we went to bed.

The next morning we woke up and Jake and I went to go get the tv. It was not the most beautiful of tvs, but it would serve the purpose. We brought it home and hooked  it up. A sigh of relief was heard from each of us when it worked! We synced up our new universal remote, also purchased that morning, and we were ready to go!

As kickoff approached for the Red River Rivalry, I moved into the next room with our new tv. My heart was starting to beat slightly more quickly. The announcers were talking about the upcoming rivalry game and how it was going to be a great game...and then it was game time!

My heart stopped and then started beating about a million times a minute. The channel started broadcasting another game, not my Sooners as I was expecting. I ran and got our listing of channels and started flipping through all the sports channels, but alas my Sooners were no where to be found. Then everyone in the house started looking. People were looking up schedules online, others were flipping channels on both tvs, but still the Sooners were no where to be found.

Finally, I remembered my dear friend, Melanie, had sent me a link to watch OU games online, since they are not shown on a regular basis in NC. Thankfully I only missed the first minutes of the rivalry and was delighted to see my team claim victory in 2010.

So after all of our hard work, we only used our one tv...the one we already had and the new tv sat dim and unused.  And that is the story of our second tv, which is now going to be sold once again on craigslist!

Oooorahhh!

I beg your pardon for the significant amount of time that has lapsed between my last post and now! I was knocked out last week by some sort of flu/cold nastiness. We don't have our couch yet, sooo I resorted to piling pillows up on an air mattress in our living room in order to watch tv. Good times, good times! But, I survived and am ready to share our fun stories with you once again!

When I married Jake, I knew I was marrying into the Marine Corps family. I guess I didn't quite understand all that went into being a Marine wife. My general thoughts were lots of uniforms, deployments and many moves. So one of the things that I never would have thought would become part of my life, haircuts. I mean, obviously, their hair has to be short. And I knew from when Jake and I were dating he had to get a hair cut once a week, but I just thought it was one of those things they had to do while they were in training. But, nope! Please keep reading...

I am two weeks strong a homegrown barber. Who would have thought? In a quest to be more frugal and to spend more time with each other on the weekend I, Kelsey, have started cutting Jake's hair. Ahh! It is nerve racking! Marines have to have a fresh haircut every week. And not just any old trim! They have to have a "0" for most of the cut. And for those of you out there, who like me, are not aware, that is straight clipper on the noggin! Gulp.

My first week I was seriously petrified! I was so scared that 1) I was going to cut Jake, 2) give him a hair cut that would take weeks to recover from and 3) people would make fun of his horrific new do. Thankfully, somehow I managed to successfully give him a high and tight with a fade. He was a great teacher....he literally walked me through it as I was cutting his hair. Jake is a man of GREAT faith!

So here are some photos of the most recent cut! Happy Clippings to you all!

From the front! (Isn't he handsome?!?)

Side numero 1.

Back!

Side dos.