Housewarming Party

Happy Friday friends!  The first weekend in June, we hosted a Housewarming Party at our new house.  It was great motivation to get projects done, and it was a lot of fun to have the opportunity to celebrate our first home with so many friends and family.  We each invited our co-workers as well as friends and the whole family. We had a full house, and it was wonderful to get to use the house to host people we love just as we envisioned when we bought it. 

Because who doesn't love details, here is the spread!

Mom came over early (with perfect mirrors that were a last-minute find for our bathroom in tow as I shared in the last post) to help make a few little flower arrangements and put the finishing touches on things.  Fresh flowers just make my heart happy!  For the record, JW thought we were ridiculous for doing flowers, but they add so much, don't they?

I love to look back at party menus for inspiration, so here's what we served:

Drinks- Peach Tea, Red Sangria, White Wine, Beer, and Water

Food- Guacamole, Salsa, Fruit, Artichoke Dip, Texas Caviar, and Baked Crescent Roll Brie with Blackberry Preserves

Dessert- Southern Chess Squares, Brownies, and Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Of course, I put some recipes at the end of the post for you!

We had such a great time.  It feels good that our house is feeling like home and we have been able to use it to entertain and make memories with friends and family.  Here are some of those recipes I promised.  Enjoy!

Texas Caviar

Ingredients:

•  2 (15.8 ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained
•  1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, drained
•  1 (15 ounce) can of chickpeas, drained
•  1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn, thawed
•  2 fresh medium jalapenos, stemmed, seeded and minced
•  1 small red onion, diced
•  1 green bell pepper, diced
•  1 red bell pepper, diced
•  1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
•  6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
•  6 tablespoons olive oil
•  1/2 teaspoon salt
•  1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
•  1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
•  1 teaspoon dried oregano
•  1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl; cover and refrigerate 2 hours or up to 2 days.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed before serving.

Baked Crescent Roll Brie with Blackberry Preserves

Ingredients:

• 1 can crescent rolls
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup blackberry preserves (or any other preserves you'd prefer)
• chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
• 8 oz. block of brie cheese

Directions:
Unroll the crescent rolls all in one piece on a baking sheet.  Press together the perforations to form one piece of dough with no breaks or tears.  Place block of brie in the center.  Spread the preserves on top of brie so that it runs over the sides and sprinkle with either pecans or walnuts.  Fold the edges of the crescent roll up over the top so that the brie is covered.  Pinch together the dough to seal.  Place in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for 15-20  minutes until the crescent roll shell is golden brown.  Serve warm with crackers.

Mom's Famous Artichoke Dip

This is a recipe my mom started making several years ago.  It's always a raving success and people always want the recipe.  I think almost every woman in our family has it in her repertoire now.

Ingredients:

•  8 oz. can artichoke hearts, chopped
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 8 oz. block of cream cheese, softened

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and then spread in a shallow ceramic dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, until browned around the edges.  We always serve warm with Wheat Thins.

Southern Chess Squares

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 3 eggs
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 4 cups (1 lb) powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees and spray a 9×13 dish with cooking spray.  Mix cake mix, melted butter, pecans, and one egg to a soft dough.  Press into the bottom of the pan.  Mix powdered sugar, softened cream cheese and remaining two eggs until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.  Pour on top of crust.  Bake at 300 for 40-50 minutes until top is golden brown.

Where did March go?

Hi faithful blog readers... if you exist anymore.  It's been over a month since my last post!  I hate that, but we've been staying pretty busy.  So, here's my attempt to capture what's been going on.

We moved!  At the end of February, we were so blessed to have the help of friends and family to move us a few blocks down the street to our new house.  Moving is A LOT of work! I didn't do a great job getting a picture of our whole crew, but here are a few.

Jenn came down to help us on the first weekend we had the house.  Adam let us borrow his truck and we made a big dent in getting stuff taken down to the new house.  She was a huge help!

JW and Dakota making a trip.  

We had some great friends and parents help us make the big move the following weekend, and by the end of Saturday, February 25th we had everything in!

I mentioned how much we didn't like the indoor-looking palm tree plants that were planted in the front and back beds, so our moms pulled them right up and put them on the curb.  Love it! :)

Joey's dad came over the next weekend and helped us install cabinet hardware, add towel bars and toilet paper holders in the bathrooms, install smoke detectors, outdoor light fixtures, and hang curtains and things on the walls.  He was a huge help and we learned a lot from working with him.  He's moved a bunch of times so had a lot of helpful tips.

One weekend in March, I baked some small loaves of banana bread and we took them around to meet our new neighbors.  We have enjoyed getting to know them so far!

Since moving in, we've had some issues preventing us from doing laundry...  

 We had to have an electrician come out to install a new outlet for our dryer to be hooked up.  We realized when we tried to hook it up for the first time that there was only a gas dryer hookup and not a large enough outlet for an electric dryer.  That got fixed finally last week, but we've since discovered that there is something wrong with the drain that discharges the dirty water from the washing machine.  Our garage flooded this weekend when we tried to use it. I haven't been particularly thankful our washer and dryer were in the garage until this happened.  Oh home ownership!  We did a few loads of underwear and other necessities at my parents' over a week ago, and our fingers are crossed that the plumber coming tomorrow can get us up and running  pronto!

We did some fun stuff in the month of March too that was unrelated to the house or moving. 

We celebrated my dad's birthday with family dinner and a mini bundt cake tower for dessert.

Taylor came in town for a weekend from Lubbock.  It was fun to hang out with him and to go watch part of Hunter's baseball tournament together.

 Our Harley girl turned 3!

We took Hunter and a friend on a tour of Minute Maid park as a gift we gave him for his birthday.  They were cute and we had fun spending the morning with them.

We saw Tim McGraw at the rodeo with some sweet new friends from church.  The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo is a pretty big deal and a lot of fun.  We grew up going every year, but hadn't been in years.  It was a blast!  

 JW also started playing in a men's baseball league with Adam.  They had a scrimmage a couple of weeks ago that Nana and Papa came to watch with me.  I hadn't watched JW play since high school.  I still have a crush on my man in his baseball pants.  It will be fun to go to games this spring.

We sure haven't sat still much over the last month since we moved, but we are loving our new home and are so thankful.  There are a lot of projects, but we've come to learn that home ownership involves a lot of work to get settled but is very rewarding.  Here's to hoping I can do a better job updating more consistently in April!  Thanks for sticking around!

Celebrating a Quarter of a Century

Last weekend I celebrated my 25th birthday, and as my dad put it, I am now a quarter of a century old.  Wow, that sounds old!  On Friday, JW told me he wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate.  We had things planned with family on Saturday and Sunday, so we were going to go out to dinner just the two of us... or so I thought!  Just before we were about to leave, there was a knock at our door.  JW looked at me and said, "Who's that?"  I didn't know, so we went to the door and when we opened it, look who I found...  Shay Bear flew in from Dallas to surprise me for my birthday!

Turns out, he and Shay had been scheming for a month.  I was so surprised!  I had really been missing my girl friends (who for the most part live in Dallas except for Emily who was out of town this weekend), and started crying after I squealed and tackled her.  My mom had picked Shay up from the airport, so she brought her over and got this picture with Shay's camera when I opened the door.  Love it.  Now all the nagging that JW did to pick up the house all week made sense.  He even made sure the guest room was clean and had fresh sheets and towels.  He's a good husband.

Needless to say, I was happy to share my birthday dinner on Friday with Shay too! :)  We tried to go to Chuy's, but it was packed, so we went to another Mexian resaurant down the street from us called Molinas.  Then, we went to the City Center and walked around for awhile and finished off the evening with Marble Slab... yum rainbow morsels. :)

Saturday morning Shay and I had some good girl time and headed to TJ Maxx/Homegoods while JW worked on bar prep, and then had my favorite for lunch- Cafe Express.  My parents had invited us over to swim in the afternoon, and then my dad grilled us yummy steaks for dinner.  His steaks and baked beans are the best!  Mom got this amazing cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes.  It is now one of my favorites.  It was delicious!

After dinner I got to open presents, and then we played Apples to Apples.  It was a really great day.

Sunday was my actual birthday, and JW and Shay sang to me and I got donuts in bed.  Shay did a great job documenting the morning before they woke me up. :)

Lovely morning pictures...

I got to open my gift from JW, a beautiful gold and pearl bracelet he found pinned on one of my Pinterest boards. He is so resourceful. :)

Everyone came to tell me good morning.

Apparently the girls were tired since JW woke them up to be part of the birthday festivities, so they went back to bed. 

We got ready for church and went to BCF again.  We were slightly late because I was having a wardrobe melt-down and couldn't decide what to wear.  It was fun to have a girl friend there though to give opinions on the 50 different things I tried on. :)  After church we went to Cafe Express again for lunch.  Not very creative, I know, but I did order something different.  I just love that place and have been making up for lost time now that we're in Houston.

After lunch we took Shay back to the airport and ran some errands in the afternoon before Jenn and Momma Hance came over and took us out to dinner to celebrate that night.  It was a great birthday weekend, and I sure felt loved!  Thank you friends and family for making it special!

Our Last Days in Waco

I wish I would have taken more pictures in these last days, but you know how it goes... We were packing like mad and had a million things going on and wrapping up as we prepared to move.  Here are some I found when cleaning out our camera's memory this week.

Our poor dogs didn't know what was going on as our house filled up with boxes.  One evening I found them both laying in the guest room bath trying to get some peace and quiet away from it all.  I think the transition of moving was exhausting for them too. :)

The Roushs came to Waco one week to help us pack and we all enjoyed a favorite local Waco sandwich shop for lunch.

Then of course, we went to Chuy's, one of our favorites for dinner.  Can't beat that creamy jalapeno dip!

So thankful for my girl friend, Meg!

Aren't they cute?

After dinner, we came home and decided to take family pictures of each other.

Look how well Tegan did for their picture.  Great one, isn't it?

Okay, now see how well ours went...

Tegs thought she could help us whip them into shape.

This is the best one out of the bunch.  Our pups were easily distracted. :)  I blame it on Dakota's puppy energy and lack of an attention span.  Oh well!  We'll get a good one some day.

  

Our time in Waco was filled with growth for us as a married couple and some great memories.  It is the place where we became friends with the Roushs, who will remain one of our most dear couple friends despite them living in Dallas and us in Houston now.  Waco is the city where I had my first job and built relationships with some volunteers that believed in me and the mission of the March of Dimes.  They became friends as we worked hard to grow the presence and awareness of our mission in Waco.  I already miss them terribly and know they will always hold a special place in my heart.  It's the place where JW and I built a relationship as a dating couple while I was in college at Baylor, and then the place where we spent our first years as a married couple.  Waco is the home of the first church JW and I attended as a married couple and a Sunday School class we miss.  Waco is a neat community that we enjoyed very much.  We will always look back fondly on the memories we have there and look forward to going back to visit.

Graduation Day!

Oh, how we've dreamed of this day!  On April 28, 2012, JW graduated from Baylor Law School with honors.  He was one of eleven students to graduate cum laude because not only did he finish Baylor Law School, which is referred to the Marine Corps of law schools, he did it while maintaining a 3.4 GPA.  Needless to say, I was a proud wife when they called JW's name to walk across that stage.

We had lots of friends and family make the trip to be in town to celebrate with us... 25 people to be exact.  We had a large cheering section and were so honored to have loved ones there for the momentous occasion.

Most of my pictures turned out blurry, so we're going to have to get copies of the ones the professional photographer was taking.

Such a handsome graduate!

Hance Family: Macie, Matthew, Angie, JW, me, Joe, and Jennifer

Proud daddy!  JW and Joe

Momma Hance, JW, me, and Jenn

 

Nana, Papa, Carol, JW, me, and Jennifer

Mullings crew: Claire, Hunter, JW, me, Mom, and Dad

Gotta love that wind!

With the Perry's: me, JW, Adam, and Lauren

Uncle Randy, Aunt Gigi, JW, me, Erica, and Jake

That wind was picking up!

Howard, JW, me, and G-Ma

The graduate and his proud wife

After graduation, we had a party in a room at our church.   We ate lunch, visited, and then had a pick-up basketball game.  You know Joey has never turned down the opportunity for competition, and when we reserved the party room at church, we got half of the basketball court too.  So, we had friends bring a change of clothes so they could play basketball after lunch.  JW had a blast!  It was really fun to watch them and was a perfect ending to a pretty great day.

With the Hitte's: me, JW, Cory, and Lauren

Meg, JW, and me

Rich had a youth event for church, so he couldn't make the trip, but Megan came in and represented the Roush's.  We missed you, Richie Rich!

Papa, JW, me, and Nana

Momma Hance, JW, and me

JW and Dana

This is one of the judges in Ft. Worth that Joey clerked with last summer.  She and her district staff have been so sweet to keep up with JW.  We were honored to have her there to celebrate with us.

I spent all day Friday cooking 15 lbs. of pulled pork, sides, and dessert.  Momma Hance, Jennifer, and Nana and Papa came in that afternoon in time to help me finish up some centerpieces, take us out to dinner, and go and setup the party room.  They were a huge help!

You probably don't care much about the menu, but I want to remember what we had, so here's the list:

Appetizers:

Salsa and Spinach Artichoke Dip with pita chips and crackers

Lunch:

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches on rolls, Potato Casserole, Fruit Salad, and Cole Slaw

Dessert:

 Spice Cake, Lemon Snowball cookies, and Momma Hance made her famous Cheesecake, brownies, and Hermits

I had never cooked for 30 people before, so we definitely aired on the side of having too much food rather than not enough.  JW had the idea to purchase disposable tupperware so that our guests could take left-overs home with them.  That ended up being a great idea and many people took food home with them.

For the centerpieces, I got three different sized mason jars and tied natural, yellow, and green raffia around the top, filled them with sliced lemons and limes, and fresh flowers.  They went on top of burlap in the middle of each table and turned out pretty cute!  I will definitely save the jars to use for parties in the future.  Math is not my strong suite and I had a major brain fart when buying them, so we actually have twelve of each.  Thank goodness Momma Hance arrived before I had put flowers in all of them! :)

Friend table: Lauren, Adam, Cory, Lauren, and Meg

Mom, me, and Claire

The ladies in my family all ended up wearing the same color and it wasn't even planned.

Angie, Macie, and Jennifer

Pretty ladies!  This turned out to be a really cute picture.

Let the games begin...

We are very blessed to have such amazing friends and family to celebrate life with!  Law school has been a challenging chapter that has taught us a lot.  We are thankful for the support of friends and family throughout the journey and look forward to beginning our new chapter in Houston very soon.