Nashville, TN

We had an incredible time in Nashville! We stayed about 15 minutes from downtown, all 6 of us in 1 hotel room! We needed this short little vacay more than ever too!!

Waiting...waiting..waiting..waiting on our cab to arrive.

Garth put on a great concert! We didn't know whether to pee our pants or cry when he came out! Pretty sure me, Jen, and Sam did both though! Needless to say, by the end of the concert, we had no voices and couldn't hear a whole lot either! And to those of you that we called during the concert, whether or not you heard Garth singing or just us yelling, feel privileged that we thought about you! :) 

Trisha came out and sang a few songs. We laughed when she sang 'She's In Love With The Boy' and Jen called Joey..her river boy boyfriend from many years ago..and we sang the song to him.

Then Garth and Trisha sang a song together. It was really great! Garth was pretty emotional during the entire concert because he was just so amazed at the fans that still held on to him over the years.

 After the concert, we walked down to Music Row. The only food we had eaten since lunch was chip-n-salsa and popcorn during happy hour at our hotel. So we found a hotdog stand and stood on Music Row, eating hotdogs!

This is probably my favorite picture from the ENTIRE trip!!

(besides the blurry one of Jen stuck upside down between the nightstand and the bed)

 

At Tootsies Orchid Lounge.

Before we headed back to the hotel, we thought we'd order pizza. So we sent Samantha to the bar to ask a waitress for the number to a pizza place. Jen went up behind her and heard her ask for the number to a Pepsi place..and we all nearly fell out of our stools laughing at Samantha. This is the look she gave us when we all started laughing.

 And we were back in Illinois..clearly..by the car below! We followed this car out of Albion..we thought it was true Southern Illinois graffiti!

 (Sorry I didn't post earlier about our adventure south..my computer is not working properly tonight, so I am setting it to post at 9am tomorrow! Hope it works!)

A Fun Filled Day

Below are just some highlights of the day..to go along with the candy making at mom's.

Come in!! (Love ya Jen!!)

 Yep!! It sure did!! Quite a bit too!! I was pumped..I love snow!

Jen spilled half a bag of chocolate chips all over the floor. Lainey wanted so bad to eat them! Sheila wanted so bad not to pee her pants laughing about the spilled chips! (Love ya Sheila!!) 

 Mom dipped her PB balls in chocolate then finished decorating them so we could start making hard candy.

Bart wrote thank you notes..from their September wedding. HA! He probably got 10 or 15..out of about 150..done. We were waaayyy too distracting for him! BobbiJo volunteered to help..but Jen didn't like her ideas on what to write! ;)

Rylan sat on the couch for awhile and read Newsweek.

I swear Jen was losing her mind today and thought we were making Pumpkin Rolls because she thought the dish towel was supposed to be wet..and then she covered the entire dish towel in powdered sugar instead of making a mound..both of which you do for Pumpkin Rolls! Not hard candy!

Mom gave BobbiJo war paint.

Then we tried to get the hard candy making going..except I burnt the first batch..just like last year!! Whoops!

Mom gave BobbiJo more war paint! Guess she was just trying to make her blend in with the snow outside.

Bart was our dish washer..and he only touched the super hot pans a few times before he finally...didn't learn at all that the pans were scalding hot.

Lainey begged for attention and food..stood in the way..and got really friendly with BobbiJo.

The cinnamon candy always gets everyone involved. Between holding a shirt or towel over your or someone else's nose, using towels to fan the smells away, opening and closing doors to fan the smell out, or just plain gasping for air because you've inhaled the scent. We go outside to add and stir in the flavor. The scent is so strong that it takes your breath away if you breathe it and it turns your skin red if it steams on you. It's insane and you can't understand how stressful and funny it is making the cinnamon candy until you experience it with us.

We always make cinnamon last because you are miserable after making it and it makes the house smell so good. So after we finished all of the cinnamon batches, BobbiJo and I got a little spunkified and played Chugga Chugga.

Jen and Bart did it last year..so Bobbi and I played this year. Needless to say..my nose was filled with powdered sugar..along with my lungs.

We had a blast today..all 10 of us! If you've never experienced a day with my family..you should stop by sometime when we're all at mom's! It's a once in a lifetime experience and we can promise anyone a good time! We're definitely unique!

Mimi's Hard Candy

We have made hard candy for years. It is a family tradition, on my mom's side. We used to make it at Mimi's with all the cousins and aunts. Now we do it at mom's house every year and it is definitely a day you don't want to miss out on! There are many different ways to go about making hard candy. This is the way we learned and the way we will always make it. It is a very fast paced process as the candy hardens pretty fast. I encourage everyone to try this at home! It's a time honored tradition that we will forever carry on!

3/4 cup corn syrup

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

Mix all 3 ingredients in saucepan. Using a candy thermometer, heat to 300F.

Remove from heat immediately, placing candy thermometer in a cup of very hot water.

(In the picture below, we kept 2 batches going at once so we simply just stuck the thermometer into the next pan. You have to make sure the liquid is hot so the thermometer does not bust.) 

Stir in candy flavoring of your choice.
(We like to mix 2 flavors together to make a stronger and more interesting flavor. However, 1 bottle does fine too! We always use 2 bottles of cinnamon to 1 batch of candy to make the cinnamon candy strong.)

Stir in food coloring of your choice.

Pour into a buttered jelly roll pan.

Using 2 knives, gather a clump of candy and drop it onto a mound of powdered sugar on towel.

It is best to wait until the candy starts to become tacky. The edges will be tacky first.

Toss the clump of candy around in the powdered sugar mound just enough to coat it and remove excess sugar.

(Make sure your hands are covered in powdered sugar! The candy is very hot!)

Drop clump of hard candy onto parchment paper sprinkled with powdered sugar. Using your fingers, drag the candy out into a long line.

Once it starts to harden, use scissors to cut each strip into bite size pieces.

We cut ours into a colander and then sift of the excess powdered sugar.

Once cooled completely, transfer to baggies, containers, or jars.

ENJOY!!

Jared Cummins - Indoor Portraits

Click to view Jared's indoor portraits. He was the first to get to use my new backdrop!!

Cheerleading

We have a GREAT group of girls for basketball! And we've just started the season!  Alicia and I are looking forward to a great cheer season with these girls! Practice went so well yesterday that we let the girls stunt towards the end. They were doing great stunting..so we decided to let them try a basket toss. We would love to perfect this for football season next year. I know we can get it and the girls are pumped about it! Great job girls!! Keep up the great attitudes and hard work!!

A little birdie dropped by...

and left this on my doorstep. It's such a cute little owl! And he will go perfect with the rest of the owl's that I put on my Christmas tree each year! I just love the little fluffy thing! Thanks to whoever left this for me! I love little surprises!