happy halloween

source: eighteen25

we got back yesterday afternoon from 10 days away.

needless to say my house looks like this.

...i have lots of housework to do.

but yay for trick-or-treaters tonight!

happy halloween from the karl family.

weeklong recap.

this week was not like our normal week. we flew out monday morning to miami for training with other new staff and interns from Cru. we had a fantastic time and learned so much.

got on the flight. grabbed for my kindle to find this unfortunate message.

of course...

a cab ride with a feisty haitian man.

don't talk with miami-ians about baseball. we got him a little worked up to say the least.

view from our hotel.

i would never get tired of seeing this every morning.

...or this at night.

big props to the genius who put a girlish color and boyish color in the combo packs of toothbrushes. justin shouldn't have an excuse on why he used mine...

sky mall is always good for a couple of laughs.

our in-flight game is to find all the gems. this was a good one.

i wonder why these french fry shaped, shrimp flavored "chips" are on clearance... i'm almost gagging thinking about those.

berry incident.

last week we put millie in the backyard for her normal bathroom trip before dinner. she didn't come back to the door, ten minutes passed and she still wasn't back.justin went to go check on what was going on.

he found her against the retaining wall pulling a bush down.
and smashing the berries and munching said berries.

once we brought her inside her nose was completely purple.
i mean PURPLE.
we had to wipe down her entire face and inside her mouth to get off all the berry juice.

the next morning i snapped a picture of the bush. which was never over the wall like it is now.

the berries didn't sit too well with her, we found berry puke in her crate.

don't think she has touched them since...

homemade spaghetti sauce.

i was looking through our pantry and seeing that we had an insane amount of canned tomatoes. 

i have no clue why...so i was set out to find a way to use some.

can't go wrong with a paula deen recipe.

this is her baked spaghetti recipe, complete with a homemade sauce.

my mouth was watering by the time the sauce finished, it made our house smell fantastic.

even though it takes a little bit it was worth every minute.

i can check that off my cooking bucket list [and probably never buy it from the store again...]

what's one thing you can make better than buy from the store?

Just Something I Whipped Up

weekend in atlanta

this past weekend we drove to atlanta to visit both my parents and justin's parents.
such a great time, we haven't been here in way too long.
...i spent the whole weekend miserably stuffed full. but i'm okay with that.

my parent's bought a big green egg, so they roasted a chicken for dinner friday night.

yuuuum.

saturday we went to fox brother's bbq in decatur with justin's dad and stepmom, so good to catch up with them and hear what is going on in their lives!

smoked chicken with mac and cheese and tater tots. 

sunday morning we went to church where my dad grew up, skyland united methodist church, in honor of my grandma's 94th birthday. she passed away when i was in college, so this was a great way to celebrate her life and the spiritual legacy her and my grandpa passed down. 

then lunch was bbq on the egg.

 (i'm sensing a theme here...my family likes good food.)

15 pounds of pure amazing pork.

lots of down time with the family.

and i found time to get a haircut. [no pictures yet, but i got 2-3 inches cut off!]

we are flying out this morning for training in miami with Cru.

adois amigos.

life in karl-land.

hubs has been working so hard on a paper for his old testament class. [he takes classes part time with southern seminary]

so proud of him...and thankful he is almost finished with all 14 pages of it.

highly recommend this book. whiter than snow by paul david tripp.

quick devotions based on psalm 51. tripp does a fantastic job leading you to repentance and showing us our deep need for God.

new rug. boom.

love it. on sale at kirkland for only 60 bucks.

sooo. uhhhh. we might be out of food.

milk anyone?

i don't even really like this stuff. why do i buy it and torture myself?

all of our socks ready to be matched.

millie would die if i let her dig in.

socks are her favorite toy.

have a great weekend.

an unexpected visitor.

as justin was going to get ready for the morning he found this little guy chilling in the bathroom.

after taking lots of pictures to show me our little lizard friend was set free in the backyard.

let's hope millie didn't scare him too bad.

Weekend Reading Party

brownie peanut butter cups

found this recipe off pinterest (big shocker) and knew i wanted to make them as soon as possible. and i actually ended up making them (even more of a shocker...)
they are simple, yet fantastic.

that's all you need. well, plus the ingredients the boxed brownie mix requires.

i'm in love with these bad boys.

1. make brownies according to instructions on the box. bake in greased mini muffin pan 13-15 minutes at 350.

2. before cooling push tops down with measuring spoon.

3. heat 3/4 cup of peanut butter in microwave until smooth.

4. spoon 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter in each brownie

5. top with chocolate chips or other desired topping.

6. chill in fridge to make it easier to get out of pan.

The Idea Room

Weekend Blog Reading Party

Sunday Showcase

kentuck art festival.

justin and i were pumped to make it to the annual kentuck art festival this weekend. tuscaloosa isn't exactly the most happening place for fun things like this, so we were glad we were in town for it!

one sure fire way to have people stop at your booth: dog paintings.

of course we got one of her magnets that looks like millie.

already looking forward to next year...

what adventures did you have this past weekend?