Denver Botanic Gardens

Grandmother is here visiting so we decided to take advantage of the free day at the Denver Botanic Gardens since I figured she would enjoy something like that. That place is humongous! We saw maybe 1/4 of it. We only got to the Mesa Desert and Chinese Gardens. I wish we would have gone the other way on the path to see something a bit more exciting. The parts that we saw were pretty though.

Like the zoo, you are "encouraged" (per their website) to bring a picnic dinner with you. So since we were encouraged, we did. I love being able to take food into places like that instead of having to buy their overpriced meals.

For some strange reason there was a huge display of weird bamboo type material everywhere. While weird, it did make for some interesting displays. At one of the bamboo displays, there is a big hill that Elianna asked to run and play on. She had a blast running up and down and I even taught her how to roll down the hill which was a huge hit!

Next free day, a friend from church (Lisa is an awesome photographer) and I are planning on taking our kids there. Hoping for some cutie pictures taken by Lisa ... the "other" Lisa that is.

This Crazy World

As many of you know, a shooting occurred at our local movie theater. Neither Chris or I knew anything had happened until we started getting texts from family and friends wondering if we were ok. It was unusual that we didn't hear anything since we live right around the corner from a local fire station. Of course, I think we get so used to hearing the sirens, that we don't really pay attention.

We barely had our eyes open and our day was off to a fast start in a way we never imagined. During a Monday to Sunday work week, Chris gets 2 of those days off. That week, providentially Chris had that Friday off. He pretty much never has a Friday off. Chris immediately jumped into action by getting in contact with our pastor seeing what could be done to help. Pastor Mike and Chris picked up donuts and headed over to the high school where the families and survivors were gathering. They were able to pray with several people and share the Gospel.

Later that evening, our church, Wellspring, hosted a prayer and worship time. How important it is to come together to pray for those hurting right there in our community. After the prayer time, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat a late late dinner.

Needless to say, our day was re-arranged and busy! Because the shooter's apartment was only 1 mile away from our house and they were talking about booby traps that may involve chemicals, I elected to stay home with Elianna in case we had to evacuate. Thankfully none of that happened. While I should have been getting ready to have GG come in the next day, I watched hours of footage via the computer. What is it about crisis that makes you want to watch over and over the same things? Ask me to watch Sports Center over and over? Uh, no thank you! A royal wedding or a local crisis over and over? Yes, thank you.

Many of you prayed for us and we so appreciate those prayers. Below is the email we sent to many asking for prayer.


We are asking for prayer for our city, Aurora. As you probably know, a shooting occurred at the local movie theater. To put it into perspective: This theater is approximately 2 miles from our house and the apartment building being investigated is about a mile from our house.

This morning our pastor, Pastor Mike, and I were able to minister to several people at the local high school where families and survivors gathered. Tonight our church, Wellspring Community, is hosting a prayer service at 5:30 pm. We will then attend the community vigil at the municipal building at 7 pm. We are asking that you would pray for us as we reach out to help those in need and those struggling to find hope in such a desperate time. Our desire is to be a light in the midst of such darkness knowing that light shines brightest in the darkest of times. Pray for the families of those who lost loved ones. Thank you for your prayers.


Recently, we headed over to the large memorial that has been set up right across the street from the theater. It is amazing to see the outpouring of love from people in our community. It is a huge memorial. So very very sobering.

Yummyness!

Ok so there is a lot to post about but not a lot of time apparently. Grandmother is here until next Thursday, we let a missionary from our church in NJ borrow the truck, and we have VBS this week. It's been a bit crazy and with just 1 car getting Chris to work and me to VBS - oh boy! But I did want to really fast post because I know I'm getting tired of looking at dead mice. Yuck! Since that post we have caught 2 more. Haven't seen any activity so I think we got them all.

Now to the reason this post is titled Yummyness!. Last night I decided to make a copycat recipe for Chick-fil-A bites and Chick-fil-A sauce. Now do you understand? {It definitely wasn't because of the dead mice.}  They were both delicious and tasted just like it. So for those of you who don't have a CFA near you (and love it!), this recipe is for you to now make at home whenever you want! Yay! And you'll never guess what the secret ingredient is!?! Pickle juice!

Chick-fil-A Bites

2 large chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces 

   and seasoned with salt and pepper
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pickle juice
1 egg
1-1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup peanut oil, divided (or canola or vegetable oil)

Whisk together egg, milk and pickle juice, and pour into a large ziplock bag or a bowl. Add chicken pieces and marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

Combine flour, powdered sugar, salt and pepper in a large ziplock bag. Shake to combine. Remove chicken from the marinade and add into the bag. Shake to coat the chicken completely.

Heat half the oil in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat (6 or 7 out of 10). Test the oil by dropping in a bit of the flour mixture. If it sizzles, the oil is ready, if it pops, lower the temperature a bit.

Gently place chicken pieces into the oil with tongs. Do this in 2 batches, as you don't want to overcrowd the pan. Cook the chicken for 3-4 minutes, or until golden brown on one side. Turn the chicken over and allow to cook for 3-4 more minutes. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Heat the remaining oil and continue with the other half of the chicken pieces.

Recipe from IowaGirlEats.com

Chick-fil-A Sauce

1/2 cup mayo
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon smokey barbecue sauce

Whisk all ingredients together.

Recipe from www.KneadySweetie.com

Picture from IowaGirlEats.com

Life is funny, but sometimes I'm not laughing

Ah life! 7 years ago when Chris and I got married, never once did I think that I would have an ugly gray box in my kitchen that would catch 11 mice in it.

Oh wait . . . yeah. You read that right. 11 mice. In my kitchen. In a span of 3 days. Not proud of that fact. At all. But somehow it's life and life's a funny thing, but I don't have to laugh at it.

{This is a fair warning! If you do not like rodents or disgusting subjects, then go away! because that's all I got. That and a crazy story, but that's nothing new.}

Sunday Harley began sniffing and getting agitated at something in the dining room by the buffet. Because "the mans" (as Elianna called them) were putting in the back fence, I didn't think too much about it. Just figured he heard them working outside and was getting all worked up. But then he didn't stop and I got all worked up. Long story short, there was a mouse underneath the buffet that ran into the kitchen and under the stove. Uncool. Very uncool. So we put up mousetraps. We put up 2 "regular" mousetraps. You know the kind that you stick cheese and peanut butter on and snap! it gets the mouse. And one ugly gray mousetrap that they walk into but can't get out of.

We caught them in pairs of 2 except for, obviously, 1 of them (seeing as we caught 11). Here's where it gets disgusting. The first 2 mice we caught was the momma mouse and a baby mouse that was feeding on the momma even though she was caught in the trap and was dead. Oh that is disgusting! Chris said there is a good sermon illustration in that one.

The next 2 we caught were in the "regular" mousetrap together. Disturbing!

The last 7 we caught were in the big ugly gray trap. We haven't caught anymore so we think we have the whole family minus the daddy. Do mouse families live in families? Hopefully not because we still have one on the loose then. We like to believe that's the end of them. I'm thinking they got riled up and moved into our house because of the new fence being put in.

We got rid of the mice just in time because Grandmother flies in tomorrow to stay for 2 weeks! Can't wait to see her!

PS:  Sorry for the disturbing pictures!  Chris wanted me to post this since this is part of our life.  Crazy as that life is at times!