Vann Pop. 5 !!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Its been a long time since I(Nick) have written a post on here. Just wanted to share about our great day of Thanksgiving! We started the morning out with a Vann family tradition, the Turkey Trot. Eden stayed with G.G. and Papa and Carissa, Connor(Carissa's Brother) and I did the 5k run. None of us trained for it so our goal was to finish without walking, ha ha ha. We met our goal and all actually ended up with good times! Check us out...






Then we headed to Carissa's Grandparents house where we had an incredible meal that all the women contributed to. Seriously, we are so blessed to have families that can cook such awesome meals.







Finally, we went to my parents house where we ate pie and spent the evening with great family!



Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I am thankful for a selfless, loving and beautiful wife. Also, for a loving daughter that brings so much joy to my life. Most importantly I am thankful for my salvation and the love and grace my Savior so willingly gives.

I'm gonna miss this!!!

Have you heard the song by Trace Adkins called "You're Gonna Miss This"?

Click here for the video...

That is me!

It's where I'm at at least these days. I have to keep reminding myself that these are some of the best times in my life and I truly am loving every second!

I still can't believe that Nick and I will be married 3 years in December and that Eden will be 2 in April! Time really is flying and I'm just being reminded that each day is so precious and every moment should be lived like our last.

I'm also reminded of the precious blood of Christ shed for me. That each day I need to be reminded of that too and remember His sacrifice.

I have been thinking about the Holiday season lately and have really felt God calling me to slow down. I feel like Holiday's are so rushed and the true meaning gets lost in all the "hustle and bustle." The past few Christmas's in our house have been crazy. Three Christmas's ago, Nick and I were busy that entire November and first of December getting our wedding together, finishing up internships, and graduating college. That year we got married, came home from our honeymoon the night before Christmas Eve, and moved the day after Christmas back to College Station so Nick could finish up school. The next Christmas I was pregnant and at that point was finally feeling well after being so sick during my first trimester. I was so glad to be better that I was focused on actually preparing for our baby to arrive. Last year, we left the day after Christmas with our 8 month old and Nick's family to Utah for skiing and vacationing. Don't get me wrong all of those Christmas's were a blast and wouldn't trade them for a minute, but this year I want things to be different. I want and hope that this year we can just sit back and enjoy the Holiday season without having too much going on. I want us to focus on Christ's birth and remember that our KING was born and remember His life and sacrifice made for us!

If you know me well at all you know I LOVE Christmas music and if it was up to me, I would have my house already decorated. Unfortunately, the decorations are in the attic and Nick won't get them down until after Thanksgiving. Haha....

I heard this song about 2 years ago and fell in love with it. What a perfect message it has for this season. Really listen to the words!

Click Here for 2000 Decembers Ago by Joy Williams

I hope you all have a very blessed Thanksgiving week!

Joyfully His,

Sugar and Spice Debut

Saturday was our first show for Sugar and Spice! It ended up being a great experience and we had so much fun. Our next show is this Thursday and we are super excited about it.

Here are some pictures from our first show.

Hayley and I after we got our table all set up...

Our Table...

Wipe Cases...

Tutus...

Me and Hay...



"Pink Lemonade" tutu...


Leopard wipe cases...
You can contact me via e-mail if you are interested in any of these adorable accessories!

carissavann@hotmail.com

Have a great week!

Sugar and Spice

As mentioned in previous posts, I finally have my stuff ready to share about my new business. My best friend Hayley and I were talking one day about all the crafty things we have been doing and plan on doing and thought what a great way to make some extra dough! Soon after talking about it, we were offered a booth at a craft show here in town. So fun! So, tomorrow is the big day. We will debut our business and our crafts we have spent the last few months preparing.
Our business is called Sugar and Spice and we will be selling baby and toddler accessories. Right now we have tutus and wipe cases available.
Hayley has been working very hard to make ADORABLE wipe cases and I have been making tutus!
If you live in the Houston area and want to come to the show we will be at
7326 Moss Wood Drive, Sugar land from 1pm-4pm!
If you would like more information about our merchandise or would like to purchase something you can contact me through e-mail. (carissavann@hotmail.com) We will have our very own website up in the next few months!

Wipe Cases:





Tutus: (I have the cutest model! ;)











This is not all we have done, just a little preview. We also do custom orders so if you have ideas for what you want or just ideas for us period we welcome them! :)

Hope to see you there and have a GREAT weekend!

Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween!

We had a fantastic Halloween this year. Our community group had a block party in our neighborhood and it was so much fun. It was a great time to fellowship with each other and take our kids trick or treating together! Eden loved trick or treating. When we would come up to a door she would say "peeeesee" (please) and then say "BYE-BYE" really loud as we were walking away. She mostly loved the candy and was trying to eat it through the wrappers! Haha!

When we got Eden's costume, she hated it and didn't want anything to do with it. It was torture trying to get it on her and keep it on her. Once we got to the party and everyone else was dressed up too, she loved it. She actually didn't really want to take it off that night. She looked so cute as a bumble bee or as she says "bubble bee!"

Just for kicks, here is a picture from last Halloween...

She has grown so much since then!



Here is a slideshow of our fun block party!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Recipe Time

Ok so I know I said in my last post that I would write about my new little business, but that is still a work in progress and I have been wanting to do a recipe post for some time now. I think this is the perfect time b/c I just LOVE fall and winter foods (who doesn't??) and want to share.

For the 4th of July, we had our good friends the Barosh's over for some 4th fun and I cooked my very first brisket. I was a little nervous to do this but it turned out sooooo good. Mel actually said it was the best one she has ever eaten! Wow.

Here is the recipe. (It's actually very easy to make!)

Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket - Paula Deen

Ingredients:
-2 tablespoons chili powder
-2 tablespoons salt
-1 tablespoon garlic powder
-1 tablespoon onion powder
-1 tablespoon ground black pepper
-1 tablespoon sugar
-2 teaspoons dry mustard
-1 bay leaf, crushed
-4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
-1 1/2 cups beef stock

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

-Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard, and bay leaf. Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub. Place in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.

-Add beef stock and enough water to yield about 1/2 inch of liquid in the roasting pan. Lower oven to 300 degrees F, cover pan tightly and continue cooking for 3 hours, or until fork-tender.

***I actually trimmed the fat off the bottom before I cooked it (I left about 20% of the fat) and then for the last hour I spread BBQ sauce over the top. (I used Kraft original sauce and used around half the bottle to spread and the other half to serve with the meat).

Ok now for some fall recipes...

Crock pot recipes:

1.) Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
-1 can 98% Fat free cream of chicken soup
-Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-1 Can bisquits (any kind, I use grands or HEB brand)

Directions:
-Pour cream of chicken soup in the bottom of your crock pot
-Fill empty can of chicken soup with water, add to crock pot
and stir
-Lay chicken breasts in crock pot and sprinkle with salt and pepper
-Cook either on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 3-4 hours
-30 minutes before you eat use 2 forks to shred chicken in crock
pot, then add biquits (cut up to size of dumplings you like)and
allow to cook for 30 more minutes,then ENJOY!

2.) Pot Roast

Ingredients:
-Rump roast
-Potatoes (opt.)
-Carrots (opt.)

Directions:
-Season roast with salt & pepper or your choice of seasoning
-Place roast in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours (My mom
cooks her's on high for like 45 minutes first and then switches to
low for the rest of the time and it's great that way, but if you
don't have time it turns out great the other way too)
-*You can also slice your potatoes and carrots and put with roast
and they turn out really yummy. ENJOY!

3.) Beef tips (Thanks to the Mosiers)

Ingredients:
-1 package stew meat
-1 can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup
-1 packet french onion soup mix

Directions:
-Pour can of cream of mushroom soup into crock pot
-Fill half of the empty can with water, pour in crock pot and stir
-Add stew meat and stir
-Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8
-*Serve over rice or egg noodles ENJOY!

4.) Love Soup (stew)

Ingredients:
-1 large can stewed tomatoes
-1 can tomato paste
-1 large can tomato sauce
-1 package stew meat
-2 potatoes (peeled and chopped into bite size pieces)
-1 cup carrots (chopped)
-1 cup frozen corn
-1 cup frozen green beans

Directions:
-Add all ingredients to crock pot and stir together
-Cook on low for 6-8 hours
-*Serve with Jiffy cornbread (a great fall time meal!) ENJOY!

5.) BBQ chicken sandwiches

Ingredients:
-Boneless skinless chicken breasts
-1 bottle of Masterpiece BBQ sauce
-Buns

Directions:
-Place chicken in crock pot and smother with BBQ sauce
-Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours
-*You can shred this up and serve on hamburger buns or just
leave whole and eat with your favorite veggies or salad

***You can make almost any kind of chicken in the crock pot. Just buy your favorite marinade, mix together honey and mustard, or just pour some good ole' cream of mushroom on top and there you go!

6.)Sweet potato casserole (the easy version)

Ingredients:
-3-4 large sweet potatoes
-brown sugar
-butter
-mini marshmallows

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350
-Wash sweet potatoes and poke several holes with a sharp knife in each one.
-Cook potatoes in microwave (3-4 min on one side and 3-4 min on the other or until completely tender.)
-When they are cooked, cut them in half and scrap out the meat into a large mixing bowl.
-Add butter and brown sugar to taste.
-Place in a greased 8X8 pan and top with marshmallows.
-Cook in oven until hot and bubbly and when the marshmallows just begin to brown.
-ENJOY!

Desserts:

Pumpkin Pie Crunch (my favorite fall dessert)

Ingredients:
-1 can pumpkin
-1 can evaporated milk 12 oz.
-3 eggs
-1 1/2 c sugar
-4 t pumpkin pie spice
-1/2 t salt
-Yellow cake mix (butter recipe)
-1 c chopped pecan bits (opt.)
-1 c butter, melted
-Cool Whip (if you can find the vanilla Cool Whip, that is much better!)

Directions:
-Spray a 9X13 pan with vegetable spray
-Combine pumpkin, evap. milk, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, sugar and salt and mix until smooth.
-Pour into pan.
-Sprinkle cake mix evenly on top of it.
-Sprinkle pecans on top.(Optional)
-Drizzle melted butter on top.
-Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 min.
-Let cool and serve with lots of Cool Whip.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
-3 c sugar
-1 c vegetable oil
-4 eggs
-16 oz. pumpkin
-3 1/2 c flour
-2 t salt
-1 t baking powder
-1 t nutmeg
-1 t allspice
-1 t cinnamon
-1/2 t cloves
-2/3 c water

Directions:
-Spray 2 loaf pans with vegetable spray
-Stir together sugar and oil.
-Then stir in eggs, one a time while mixing, and add pumpkin.
-In a separate mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
-Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture in increments, alternating with the water.
-Bake at 350 for about an hour or until your knife comes out clean.

I'm Back!

Wow! The last few months have been so busy around the Vann house. I'm so glad to be back blogging again. It's kind of been put on the back burner with all the stuff we have going on.
Here is the last two months in a nutshell...
-After labor day weekend, our community groups started back up again and this year we are hosting it at our house every week. We absolutely LOVE it! I love having people in my house fellowshipping and sharing life with each other.
-My best friend Hayley and I started a small business selling baby gifts and we have been busy getting ready for our first show on November 7th. (Details about all this in my next post - stay tuned and mark your calendars to come)
-Eden is 18 months and has been growing like a little weed. Last week we started potty training her. She is doing really well and catching on quickly. She still needs a little time to get it down but we are making progress.
-We are still slowly but surely getting our house furnished and put together. We painted our kitchen a few weeks ago and are really enjoying it. We painted it yellow! We still have so much we want to do to our house, but I am realizing that decorating and fixing up your house never stops. Haha!

We are loving this fall weather and it's my absolute FAVORITE time of the year. I love the Holiday season!

Here are some pics from the last few months...

Several weeks ago we joined my family for some pumpkin pickin' fun...

Eden checking out the pumpkins.


Eden with her GG and Papa!


Wow! Look at these, Mom!


This was last weekend at the pumpkin patch near our house...

Cutie!


Sweet smiles!


Sassy pants! *She finally has enough hair for a little pony tail or sprout!*


Family pic


I love my sweet little angel!


Could these two be any cuter??!!! I LOVE this picture!!!


Have a great Tuesday!