Wedding time!!!

So I'll be gone from the blog world until Monday. 

Jon and I are headed down to Portland tonight to gear up for one of my BFF's wedding on Saturday!  I'm really excited for her big day and feel so lucky that I get to be apart of her special day! 

Janet and I have been friends for a very long time, we went to middle school and high school together but we didn't start hanging out until we graduated HS.  We have had many adventures together and have some great memories.  We are each others twin!

A few weekends ago, I was in Portland for her bachelorette celebration, but I never got the chance to post pictures of the night.  So here you go!

 

 

 Hope everyone has a good rest of the week and a wonderful weekend!!!

"See" you on Monday!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

Last week I tried out another pinterest recipe and I was very satisfied with my results!

I made crockpot buffalo chicken, and it was SO easy to make and really good! Original recipe here.

And the best part??! You only need 3 ingredients to make these! Simply and delicious recipes are the BEST!

All you need is:

3 – 5 lbs frozen skinless, boneless chicken breasts

12oz bottle Franks Red Hot Wings buffalo sauce

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

Place the frozen chicken in the crockpot, pour buffalo sauce over chicken, then sprinkle ranch mix on top. Cover and cook on low for about 5 hours.

What the chicken will look like once its ready to be shredded.

Remove chicken from crockpot, but keep the sauce in the pot. Shred the chicken with two forks. The chicken should just fall apart.

Place shredded chicken back into the crockpot and stir to coat chicken.  Cook shredded chicken in crockpot on low for about another hour or until chicken absorbs most of the sauce.

And the final product!

We then had them on hamburger buns.  The chicken is SO tender, and has such a great buffalo taste! We also had the chicken in tacos on Sunday.  So tasty and easy!

I participated in Linny's Vault summertime swap and I came home yesterday to a wonderful package waiting for me at my door!

I was paired up with Sarah, who blogs over at From This Desk.  She sent me such a wonderful summertime package!

I love everything that I received and cannot wait to put everything to use! 

Thank you so much Sarah for all the great summertime gifts!!

Our 1 year anniversary celebration

Jon and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary last week, and it sure was wonderful!

The celebration kicked off on Tuesday, our actual wedding anniversary.  Since it was on a Tuesday night, and we have so much going on in our lives with the upcoming move, we decided to not do anything big or get each other gifts.  I did make him a cute card though!

But of course, Jon being the sweet man that he is, surprised me with the sweetest anniversary gifts! 1st, when I got home from work, he made me go straight upstairs because he was still working on his surprise.  About an hour later, I was asked to come downstairs and close my eyes.  I had NO idea what I was walking into! (LOTS of pictures ahead!)

Standing there with my eyes closed, with no clue what I walked into (Its blurry, but I still love this picture)

I was so overwhelmed I didn't even know where to look!

Things on the table: old notes & cards Ive made Jon over the last 4.5 years, wedding pictures, pictures from trips, wedding vases, his wedding gift & card, our wedding wine glasses given to our guest.

He picked out all of the flowers in my bouquet!

This note makes me laugh, I totally sound like a stalker! hahaha

He even got us special wedding plates for dinner! lol

My gift! I love Precious Moments, and I had mentioned to Jon that I wanted to start collecting these and he listened! I wasn't expecting this! The bottom says "A whole year filled with special moments" Too cute!

 After the surprise, we spent the rest of our evening eating take out, Pad Thai, and watching old videos that he has made me and looking back at all of our pictures we have taken since we started dating.  It was such a great way to celebrate our 1st year of marriage!  

Saturday, we decided to spend the day together and celebrate some more. 

We started off with wine tasting, since we got married in a vineyard this only makes sense, right?!

Then we went to a local bar, had some lunch and played darts, our new favorite thing to do! Of course i beat Jon at darts! lol

Later that night we headed out to dinner at "Edge Water" Its a restaurant in Seattle right on the water.  Its such a pretty restaurant and the food is SO good! Of course we each ordered delicious steaks and enjoyed our time together!

Date night shoes!

I had just ordered these online and was very excited when they arrived on Friday!!! Jon thinks they are ridiculous but I think they are super cute!

Our view on the way to dinner.  I'm definitely going to miss the pretty views in Seattle, but NOT the weather! lol

 The end! lol. 

I had such a great time celebrating with Jon.  I am so thankful to be married to someone that totally gets me and loves me for me! I love that he is willing to do these sweet little things for me and put so much effort in making sure that I'm happy and feel special & loved.  Love you forever Mr. Burns!

The most AMAZING Oreo Cupcakes!!

Friday, I decided to try out a cupcake recipe that i found on pinterest, and man oh man, they turned out amazing!!! 

If you love chocolate and love Oreos, then this is the treat for you!

Original recipe here

For the cupcakes, you will need:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 eggs 

1 cup milk 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1 cup boiling water

Heat your over to 350°F

Fill your cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside

Stir together:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Then add:
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes
Then stir in 1 cup boiling water (this will make the batter thin and super yummy!)
Fill the cupcake cups 2/3 with batter
Bake for 22 mins


Let them cool completely before frosting (I baked all of  my cupcakes, then while they cooled I made the frosting)

Oreo Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening or butter (I used butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons milk (I used 3 tablespoons)
3-4 cups powdered sugar
14 Oreos, finely crushed in food processor

In a large bowl mix:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening or butter (I used butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons milk (I used 3 tablespoons)

Then add:
3-4 cups powdered sugar ( I only used 3 cups, add enough until your get the amount of sweetness that you like)
Once the butter and powdered sugar are mixed together, mix in the Oreos until well combined. Try not to eat all of the frosting before you frost all of the cupcakes! lol.  Its hard not to though!

My final product!!!

I have to say, these are the best cupcakes Ive had! I'm already trying to come up with an excuse to make them again!