Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplins

I had a request to blog the recipe for crock pot chicken and dumplings.  I got it from the Crock Pot Girls on facebook.  A really cool page where they post recipes for slow cookin' meals complete with shopping list and video!  I was not able to take pictures of how ours turned out because I just didn't think about it.  It turned out well.  


Here is the recipe courtesy of the Crock Pot Girls:
4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of butter
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of celery soup
3 1/2 cups of chicken broth
1 onion, finely diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrots, diced
Chicken boullion seasoning or cube
salt & pepper


For the dumplings I used the recipe on the Bisquick box, they used 1 (10 oz) package of refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces (which I will try next time).


Add all the ingredients (minus the dumplings) into the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.
After 8 hours is up, add the dumplings and let it sit for an hour/hour and a half until the dumplings aren't doughy anymore.  


Click here for their video complete with recipe.


Just an FYI, Spence and I decided we did not need to add salt to our portions because that made it too salty. 


Let me know if any of you try it and alter the recipe at all.  :)  


-AP

New Place, New Projects

It has been a LONG time since I've even been on this blog.  For those of you who didn't know, Spence and I are back in Los Angeles in a new apartment.  Once we get things settled and in it's spot, I will post some pictures.

To keep me busy I decided to make some wall decorations to cover the empty walls.  Here is the first one.

Before:

 After.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; 

and the wisdom to know the difference."

Mod Podge is AWESOME!!!

Anyways, I plan to blog more.  But for now, I leave you with this cuteness.

He has learned how to pose for the camera.  Such a smart pup.

-April

Road Trip From LA to Atlanta!

Since about November we have know moving to Atlanta for 4 months for Spencer to work on a TV show was a possibility.  We found out he for sure got the job on Monday, January 24, packed up, said goodbye to our friends and hit the road around 3:30 am Sunday, January 30.  We made it to El Paso around 4-5ish and stayed the night there.  Then we left around 5am with the plan of staying the night with Spencer's brother Chad and his wife Carla, but on the way we heard about a big ice storm coming!  So we ate dinner and headed to Mansfield.  But of course Carla got a picture of us before we left.

 About 2 hours after we arrived in Mansfield, the ice came in and stayed around for 4 days!  We had fun watching movies, HGTV, CSI, and sliding around outside on the ice.

 Me and Baxter

Brandon

After we left Mansfield for Tyler to stay the night on Friday (around 1:00pm, thinking the ice on the highways would be melted) we made it past 635 on I20 and the highway turned into a BIG sheet of ice.  For some reason our car could NOT catch any friction like the other cars so we were stuck there (in the left lane) from 4:00 to 6:00.  By 6 the wrecker we had called around 5:30ish got there.  By this time more and more people were slipping and sliding past us.  We were supposed to meet Spencer's dad in Tyler but we all ended up staying in a hotel in Terrell that night...good choice.  Some visuals for you :)  The pictures are kind of blurry because it was SO cold and I was shivering!

 We helped create this traffic.

 YAY Tow Truck!!

The next day we hung around Terrell until noon, ate and were hoping the rest of our trip to Atlanta would be smooth sailing...and Thank the Lord it WAS!  We got to stop in Tuscaloosa, AL to see Marland, Denise, Ginny, Marissa and Cindy (my cousins).  We ate a quick and yummy Arby's meal and then finished the rest of our trip.  We arrived in Atlanta around 2:30am.  We will be staying with Spencer's mom for 4 months.

Thank goodness we are finally done with this trip!  The final mile count:

Love and Miss :)

New Friends and New Places

Hello All!

Finding a church home was one thing about moving out to LA I was worried about.  Spencer had visited a church called Reality LA before I moved out here and he liked it.  Then I visited...it was VERY different from Mansfield CoC.  But it has been growing on me.  Especially since we have joined what they call Community Group which is a bible study.  They have them all over Los Angeles.  We have both been making some friends and it is making being out here in LA feel more like home.  I have discovered that California does have some friendly people!

Today one of my new friends, Annie, took me hiking.  She went easy on me seeing as how I am VERY out of shape.  But I think I did alright.  I have a goal set to hike up this really tough part of the mountain one day, and I will do it!  We went to Runyon Canyon and it is what Annie said is "THE Hill" of the famous hill you hear about when referring to LA.  You can see all of Los Angeles from where we were (pretty much) and it was very cool! We ended the morning with a coffee (well, she had coffee and I had a lemonade) at Aroma which is a very cute coffee place.

My new friend Annie.  The little white strip WAY back there

is the Hollywood sign.

The other side of the view...I think Beverly Hills is somewhere down there.

Yay new friends!

Love and Miss Yall!

Our First Christmas Card

For our first Christmas Card we wanted to do something fun and different.  I think we achieved that goal!

It all started because I wanted to make a "sand"man, and then the ideas between us kept growing and ^that is what we came up with!

Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE!

Hello all!

I just wanted to share our Christmas decorations with you guys!  There isn't much but it will do!

Here is the $20 6ft tree we got at Walgreens!   We also 

got the blue lights there too! 

We went on Black Friday with coupons to Micahel's and

 got the big bow on top, and the 6 big poinsettia flowers.  It was 

a lot cheaper than doing ornaments.  We did revieve an "Our First Christmas"ornament as a wedding gift from Christy Harris :)and it is hanging in the living room!

 Then we have the white lights hanging around the living room.

Those will stay up all year round :)

Not much, but it works just fine in our little apartment!  

Love and Miss.

PS.  If you haven't heard of www.grooveshark.com, you should check it out.  It is kind of like pandora.com, but you can type in any song you want to hear and listen to it!  Pretty Cool.

Ronald McDonald House Holiday Party

Yesterday, December 5th was the Annual RMH Holiday Party and I got to help out!  I also brought Spencer with me.  I was not sure what to expect because I had never been to anything like this before.  We got there at 9am to help set up.  Then we we put in charge of making popcorn.  No, we were not given the bags you put in a microwave, push numbers and then open the bag.  We made it with a mini movie popcorn maker!  Figuring out how to work it was fun! (haha) but luckily someone was there to help.

We were next to the Hot Dog stand!

We couldn't keep up with everyone!  Each batch made about 4-5 bags, but there was a big demand for our, and I quote, "Greatest popcorn in the WORLD!"  But we got the hang out it...you could say we are professional popcorn makers now.  :)
There were a LOT more people there than I had ever imagined.  Even Ronald McDonald showed up!  They got to make ginger bread houses (with really awesome decorations), crafts, get their face painter, balloon animals, etc.  It was awesome to be apart of something for the residents (past and present) of the RMH.  And each kid who was there got a gift.  They were all walking around with these really big white boxes but I have no idea what was in them, probably something awesome.  And then siblings I believe got a goodie bag.  And they have legit stuff in them.  ;)

Thanksgiving Time

Spencer and I were very blessed this year on Thanksgiving with lots of friends and LOTS more food. On Wednesday we spent the day with Spencer's friends.  There was a TON of food and it was all delicious (thanks Mallory).  After we ate many games were played.  Apples to Apples, Settlers of Catan, Pass the Popcorn and many more.  Very fun time!

Thursday Spencer, Nate and I spent Thanksgiving with my good ol' friend Cory and his friends in Malibu!  Cory cooked all of the food and let me just say I was very impressed!  He did a great job!  Then we watched the Cowboys lose badly, catch back up, win for a little bit, then lose.  That was a great time also!

But Thanksgiving in California did not really feel completely like Thanksgiving to me for a couple of reasons.
Reason # 1:

This is a picture of part of the drive on the way to Malibu, that is something you don't experience in Texas EVER!  The weather was so perfect and that is something I am not used to on Thanksgiving.  

Reason # 2:

My family wasn't there, but I did get to Skype with them.  

Reason # 3:

I missed out on a good nap.  But it was great to relax with friends.

To finish out Thanksgiving and to officially start the Christmas season, Nate, Joe Bou, Spencer and I watched Elf.  My favorite Christmas movie of all time!   

Happy Christmas Season Everyone!!

President George W. Bush on Jay Leno

I found out George Bush was going to be on Jay Leno and immediately went online and requested tickets for that day.  The next morning I got the email that we get to go!!  YAY!  So we got there about 2ish hours early and waited in line in our Texas gear (I wore my Rangers jersey and Spencer had on a longhorns shirt).  We were towards the back half of the middle of the line but were excited about being there anyways.  After we went through security we were in holding and then finally got to go in.  As we went in you have to hand your ticket to a lady and she will tell you to go straight or go upstairs.  We were told to go straight along with another couple (who were on their honeymoon) and wait for a section with 4 seats to open.  They told us to go in and what do ya know, we got sat in the FRONT ROW!!!  IT WAS AWESOME!!  We were also seen on TV as seen below :

(courtesy of Carly Skinner.)

We are the ones in the red and green ;)
Cameras weren't allowed in the studio but I imagine I would have taken a picture that looks like this:

George Bush is a great guy with an awesome sense of humor who can make fun of himself and admit his mistakes, whether or not you agree with his politics or not.

Love and miss you all!! :)

Mr. H Came to Visit!

I wanted to catch up on my blogs before I get too far behind.  Happy Thanksgiving!

A couple weeks ago Spencer's dad came to visit us!  It was a short visit but it was a good one.  We took a visit to Yogurtland, Spencer and Mr. H went to see the Bat Cave from the TV show while I volunteered at RMH.  The best part was MINI GOLF!!  They have a sweet place that cost $6 and really cool courses.  Here are a few pictures.

Mr. H trying to mess me up!

We're GIANTS!

This bunny let us get really close to it!

Good times with Mr. H!  

Blogs to come: Jay Leno

                        Thanksgiving

                        Christmas Decorations

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Sickness, Pumpkin Carvings and the Ronald McDonald House.

Hello all!

It has been a while.  I would like to tell you about my exciting Glee moment.  Every now and then Glee will post on Facebook about a midnight screening of the coming up episode.  The first 150 people who email a certain email gets to go.  I got in!  It was the Rocky Horror Picture Show episode so it was a big deal (to everyone else but seeing as how I never saw that movie I was just excited about the Glee part).  But to make a long story short, the day we were supposed to go Spencer and I both got colds.  OH WELL!  Costumes were encouraged and I had NO idea what to do with that anyways.  It was fun to watch it when it aired in my regular clothes. haha

So Spence and I spent the weekend watching movies and drinking Nyquil (the recommended amount of course) :).  Monday we felt better and got to go to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin with some friends. But we ended up getting them at a grocery store because they were too expensive ($25 too expensive).  Here are some pictures of the gang and the finished pumpkins!

Spencer's is on the far left and mine is of course the TEXAS RANGER "T"!!

Joe Bou took this lovely picture.

Spencer's pumpkin on the way home.

 Spence and I with our pumpkins!!

I started volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House and I looove it!  It is such a great environment and everyone is so nice.  It is great to hear the parents talk about how blessed they are to have the RMH and I get to be a part in making it possible and that is a great feeling.  I go Tuesday's and Friday's noon-4.  It is a great experience.

Spencer's Dad is coming Nov 1st!!

His Mom, Chad and Carla are coming Dec 23 for Christmas!!

And in about 60 days we get to come to Texas for a week to celebrate Christmas and Audrey's wedding!  YAAAAAYYYY!!  Can't wait to see everyone...and Lucy!!

Love and miss everyone!  :)

Lucy Girl

Well, not too many exciting things to report from this past week.  I do have an interview to volunteer at Ronald McDonald House tomorrow.  :)  Yesterday Spence and I went to see Life As We Know It...so cute, go see it.

One thing I really miss is having a dog...especially my three crazy dogs back in Texas.  Lucy is my puppy specifically and I was looking through the pictures on my phone the other day and found all these pictures of her sleeping in some funny, unusual positions.  I thought I would share.  :)  ENJOY! (Just a warning, there is a lot :)

She woke up and caught me 

Sleeping with her mouth open: 

Side 1: 

Side 2: 

I found these too, just thought they were cute enough to share :)

Her first car ride, this is when we picked her up 

 Guess she wanted to go shopping

 I was looking for her to put in her bed before I went to 

school one day and this is where I found her.  Guess she didn't 

want me to go.

 Her snuggie (It's actuall my Mom's, she is in the arm...she did this all by herself!)

 In her winter sweater 

She either sits when she eats...

Or squats.

   Just chillin.

 They were waiting for us to put the dirty dishes in so they could

"help clean".

Miss my Lucy girl! 

Love and miss you all!