treat yourself.

most mornings i usually enjoy some yogurt & granola, or toast & fruit, the occasional bowl of cereal… but saturday morning deserved something more. i woke up to some serious favor from God & felt so blessed and comforted that He just ALWAYS provides, knows what to do, takes care of me…

  He’s got this.

So, downstairs i went. I slipped on my most used piece of “clothing” in our house, my apron, and opened up my laptop to a recipe that i had recently pinned for future baking purposes.

banana bread pancakes with a vanilla maple glaze.

yummm. they sounded like music to my ears & happiness to my belly. not to mention, banana pancakes always make me think of Jack Johnson, who is responsible for both husband & i’s first ‘song’ (better when we’re together) and also my little sister ashton and i’s ‘song’ (banana pancakes). can you think of a better reason to treat yourself to banana pancakes on a saturday morning?

they were delicious. i served them (to myself, ha!) with fresh fruit, turkey bacon & juice from a mason jar… because let's be honest, everything tastes better served in a mason jar! 

enjoy :)

Banana Bread Pancakes

makes 12 pancakes

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup milk
mini chocolate chips

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it. Whisk together the dry ingredients and add in milk and vanilla, stirring to combine. The mixture will still be dry. Add in mashed bananas and mix. Add in melted butter and stir until batter is somewhat smooth.

Heat a skillet or grilled on medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into rounds and cook until bubbles form on top – about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for a minute or two more. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter and syrup, or the vanilla maple glaze.

Note: if you don’t have/can’t find whole wheat pastry flour, use 1 cup of regular whole wheat and 1 cup of all purpose. Or 2 cups of all purpose.

Vanilla Maple Glaze

1/2 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Pour over pancakes.  

my helpers...

have a wonderful day!

xoxo

happy two years of marriage!

seriously? 2 years? wow! Lord, You really knew what you were doing on this one :) i am eternally grateful for marriage & for the life i share with chris. he is truly the best man & choosing him to love each day is NOT hard. plus he looks like that… that isn’t horrible either ;)

2 years of marriage, 9 years together total (this winter)… i have loved my life so far with husband & am so proud to be the mrs. to his mr. i see our life together & imagine our future and light up inside. it usually causes me to break out in an uncontrollable smile, sometimes song, and lately tears ha! i’m not sad, lately i just feel overwhelmed with love. i have never felt so loved by chris as i do these days, and everytime i think i couldn’t love him more, my heart shows me i’m wrong & just keeps expanding with more love for this one man. thank You, thank You, thank You God! the more i love chris, and the more i understand his love for me, it opens my eyes to Your love for me. to think that You love me a gazillionmilliontrillionkazillion times more than chris does?! whoa. that is a LOT of love. seriously blows my mind, and i am SO thankful.

here is to another 2 years times a million chris… cuz ya know, we’re gonna live that long :)

i love you so much.

last year i posted on our anniversary & reminisced on our special day HERE… gah, what a beautiful celebration! This year, i wanted to post a few pics from our engagement, since it played a key part in getting us to where we are now, enjoy :)

our engagement story.

after five & a half years of dating, chris decided it was time to marry me. sheesh, took him long enough! ha, kidding. i guess it isn’t very common for 15 & 16 year olds to get married.. so fine, it’s okay that he waited. anyways… on July 20, 2009 chris decided THIS was the day. so he went to starbucks, wrote the question on the bottom of a coffee cup & let them know what was going on & that we would be coming in later that day, together…

skip forward an hour or so…

he invited me to grab a starbucks & like i usually do when he invites me to do anything… i accepted. we went to the starbucks in monument & he wanted to go in and sit instead of his usual drive-thru option. say what? yea, i was surprised too, however not suspicious at all & was happy he wanted to sit & chat (kind of my favorite thing to do). we get to the counter & i order my summer starbucks drink of choice: passion tea lemonade-sweetened, and he orders a white chocolate mocha… a hot drink in the middle of summer?? i questioned him & he told me he was ‘just feelin’ it.’ the perfect opportunity for me to bust his plan and be suspicious that something was going on. oblivious, we paid & found a table. i am thankful for my slight ditzy-ness in this moment. we sat talking, for what seemed like FOREVER as chris would describe it. me, blabbing away, while he is CHUGGING a piping hot drink, (“burning off his tastebuds”) in hopes i will see the bottom of the cup. it took me a little bit before i ever even noticed, but then i did.

i can still remember his face exactly when he saw me see. he immediately pulled out the little box & opened it. i remember just crying & saying yes, yes! before i ever looked down at the little beauty. everyone in starbucks was cheering & it was wonderful!

the ring was beautiful & designed by him! not another one in the world like it :) the diamonds from my engagement ring were given to us by his grandmother, making them SO SO extra special to me. she told me she wouldn’t want anyone else in the world to wear them except me, which also warmed & still warms my heart right up.

i love this ring of mine, it pretty much never leaves my finger. (you can see my finished engagement&wedding ring in last year’s post HERE)

thank you california for giving us a beautiful setting for some of our engagement photos! you’re great.

wear love.

Colossians 3:12-14
”So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”

isn’t little sister beautiful? i love her.

You can now buy this cropped tee in the Project Love online store!

WWW.PROJECTYOURLOVE.COM

and find us on facebook & twitter!

It Is Well With My Soul *FEATURE*

Hi Friends! There are THREE new items in the Project Love store! Check them out & spread the love by telling your friends! lovelovelove!

Below is a feature on one of my favorites from the new line :)

you know… the one that’s gorgeous. yea, that’s gaby, or elle as i sometimes like to call her. she is a beauty, inside & out. while in colorado, i took a few pictures of her in one of the new Project Love tops. needless to say, her pictures turned out incredibly beautiful… not that i thought for a second that they wouldn’t! meet the ‘it is well with my soul’ tank from the new line, and my lovely best friend…

i know, doesn’t she make you sick? haha! kidding. i love her, she’s gorgeous & has THE best laugh!

 

This tank is now available for purchase in the Project Love online store!

www.projectyourlove.com

xoxo

sisters.

i am the middle sister, sandwiched between two beautiful & amazing women. it’s hard to describe the love between sisters. it’s a HUGE, messy, drive the get-away car kind of love. we bicker & don’t always agree on things, but we love each other so hard that it’s hard to stay mad for too long… and by too long i mean, an hour, IF. i have LOVED coming from a huge family & even more than that, having two sisters. It is one of my biggest prayers that chris & i have daughters and they have relationships like my sisters and i have. thank You, thank You LORD for my sisters & the love You have shown me through them!

colorado by instagram.

family.

fun.

food.

beverages.

puppies.

boats.

scenery.

bridal showers.

love.

 

happy weekend!

 

i went to colorado.

…and this is what i did.

okay… so it’s not ALL that i did.

it’s just one of my favorite pictures EVER of my littlest brother and i, and i felt it deserved it’s own post. i love him & i loved home. focusing undivided attention on family & fun is the best reason to be M.I.A. from all things internet/social media. that being said, glad to be back! more to come! 

happy thursday!

xoxo