Rehearsal dinner is over and today is Seth & Jessica’s special day!

Serenity, myself and another Castle Keeper young lady (who traveled with us from AZ) made all the soups and desserts on Thursday. These girls worked hard and I was very proud and thankful for them!

They also couldn’t resist the chocolate frosting. Official tasters which I thought that was my title. Hmmm

I was so thankful that everything for the rehearsal dinner went so well. Having help is so important and my family did a tremendous job… once again. What would I do without them?

One of my Castle Keeper girls did some handlettering for me before I left home and I was able to print it off and use it in this frame.

The sign reads:

Seth & Jessica

The Dates That Changed Our Lives

07.29.14 (courtship begins)

12.19.14 (first date)

11.29.16 (she said, “yes!”

2.25.17 (I do!)

Date night ideas and marriage advice, please for the future Mr. and Mrs.

(hand-lettering done by another CK girl)

Soup and salad was the meal.

Zuppa Toscana

Broccoli Cheese

 Corn and Cheese Chowder

Two different salad combinations with different dressings.

Delicious pretzel rolls made by Serenity. It looks like she’s going to be our official bread maker. She made some wonderful rosemary bread for her brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner in 2013.

Dessert signs:

How Sweet is Love (chocolate cake)

Bananas About You (Banana Puddding for the bride)

“Mint” to Be (Peppermint Bark for the groom)

Saskatoon Berry Pie

Photo booth fun

I’m sure these 3 are going to steal the show.

Looking forward to a beautiful and cold but happy day.

Lots of fun times were shared with this lovely group of young people this last week and we enjoyed hosting them.

So I wanted to tell you all about the Bruschetta Bar that we put together for our Christmas Eve meal. It was a lot of fun to do and I think a lot of the impressiveness of the meal was due to how it was set up – entirely due to my sister. She’s pretty amazing that way. I showed her some pictures on Pinterest that I liked and mentioned that we had some scrap wood I was thinking of using and in just a short while she had the whole table arranged.

To host your own Bruschetta Bar party here are some of the items you may want to purchase.

Baguette Loaves

Roasted Red Peppers

Cherry Tomatoes

Artichoke Hearts

Charred Corn (Trader Joe’s freezer section)

Spinach

Caramelized Onions

Sauteed Mushrooms

Jalapeno Stuffed Green Olives

Arugula

Eggplant Garlic Spread w/ Sweet Red Peppers (Trader Joe’s)

Olive Tapenade Spread (Trader Joe’s)

Pesto Sauce

Marinara Sauce

Red Grapes

Salami

Smoked BBQ Shredded Meat (meat I had in the freezer from my daughter’s graduation)

Variety of cheeses – we used Brie, Extra Sharp Cheddar, P’tit Basque, Asiago, Jalepeno Cheddar (I think it was a cheddar), goat cheese with cranberries, Paradiso (Italian Style)

Chicken Wings (I purchased these in case there were some heartier eaters that wanted more meat.)

You certainly do not need to purchase everything that I did. I had no idea how much we would use since our family tends to eat quite a bit and there were 34 of us. With all the variety I had, it was almost too difficult to choose what combinations to put together. So whether you choose to have as much variety as I did or less, it all works.

To prepare your baguettes slices for the bar, brush olive oil on each slice and then grill for just a few minutes or until you have some black marks. While it’s grilling, sprinkle granulated garlic on each slice.

I found some really tasty recipes on Olivia’s Cuisine for our Bruschetta Bar.

• 2 pints red grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 16 fresh basil leaves, plus more as needed, chiffonade
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

• 2 cans (15oz) cannelloni beans
• 1 large tomato, diced
• Juice one lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Olive oil to taste
• Chopped parsley to taste

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
2. Refrigerate until needed. Drizzle with more olive oil when ready to serve.

It’s a Do-Ahead Kind of Meal

Everything can be done ahead which is a big plus when you’re putting on a party. The only thing you wouldn’t want to do too far in advance is the grilling of the baguette slices since they can get dried out and too hard.

The magic of candles… they always add so much.

The presentation is a big part of the fun!

A bruschetta bar usually has a rustic look to it. Pull out your wooden cutting boards for this. I only had 2 wooden cutting boards so we used the leftover scraps of wood we had around here and covered a few with foil so they would be food safe.

Labels are necessary so everyone knows the various types of cheeses being offered.

Use boxes for stacking. Make your food presentation different levels. It gives much interest and a sophisticated touch. We had a bunch of Amazon boxes we used and if you look closely you will be able to catch part of the markings on the box. Optimally, you would want these to be hidden but to be honest I never even noticed until after the party when I was looking at pictures.

And that’s how our Bruschetta Bar was put together. It really was a lot of fun and a big hit with the family.

And just like on Christmas Eve, snow is supposed to be coming our way once again the next few days. Lots of it! We’ll see if the weatherman is right.

Save

Save

14 loaves of whole wheat bread were baked and placed in the freezer

40 pounds of granola was made

And I’ve been writing all these little tags to attach to our favors. The tags were purchased for $1.00/bag at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. The Sharpie is a gold metallic Extra Fine point pen. I really like the look the gold gives on the white tags.

So much to do still….

The morning of…

everything lay waiting in preparation for the deluge of guests that would show up about 11:30 a.m.

We always shoot the cannon when new guests come to visit. My husband loves his “toy” and built it himself after ordering the barrel and wheels.

The buffet server that my husband built for my son’s high school graduation party in 2011, is used at every function we have. It’s just the cutest thing.

This time I took a couple of chalk boards and had Russell drill a few holes in them so I could tie a raffia bow on it. He then screwed the chalkboard to the server which was perfect since the day was quite breezy and it would have just blown down if done any other way.

I used the server this time for an appetizer of chips and salsa and coffee cappuccino drinks. The kids loved the drink as you can imagine. They probably needed a caffeine boost after so many late nights at camp.

These beverage jars are available at Sam’s right now and come with the little chalkboard signs and a metal bucket that the drink dispenser can sit on top of but I chose not to them this time.

On the menu was a Build Your Own Chipotle Burrito Bar.

It was a big hit.

I grilled 130 pounds of chicken (should have did only 100#’s) a few days before the event.

I am not a griller at all but I talked to a few different friends that are quite good, got their tips and I have to say the chicken turned out splendid.

One of the keys was to pound the chicken till it was all the same thickness so that it would cook evenly. (Do you know how much work it is to pound 130 pounds of chicken? Ai yi yi, I was glad when my husband stepped in to help me with that!)

I had no idea my apron had become askew. I was too wrapped up in grilling to care what I looked like.

My help for the few days before the luncheon was these 4 very special people that I have been blessed to have in my life.

My husband, two daughters and a niece. Take-out was great because who wanted to worry about cooking when we were preparing for 240!

I love my view!

Sorry, I got a little sidetracked showing you those pictures of the days preceding the event.

The campers arrived, the cannon was shot, the lunch prayed over and it was time to eat. Four lines going at once.

I first leaned the tip of having 4 lines at my friend’s daughters wedding.

What you do is use both sides of the table and starting at the end you work towards the middle. In the middle you have a food item that is only found there. In my case I had a basket of chips. Then the guests leave from the middle.

There were cars parked everywhere but we have it where it’s very manageable as long as everyone parks in the proper place, so we have traffic controllers that direct. haha

As I said earlier, the kids kept themselves busy with various entertainments. My son was giving Blazer rides…

… and my husband gave a few, too.

Walleyball

Walleyball spectator station where you can safely watch the happenings in the court…

Lots of chatting…

Look at that waterfall! I love it! I wrote about how we built it here.

Old friends…

A campfire was lit in the evening and some smores was had for those who had not departed.

And after about 15 hours on my feet, I collapsed in bed while others continued on…

But then morning came and I got to see exactly who was still there.

This lovely group…

And of course, there were some trying to escape the camera but I got ’em!

There’s that buffet server again – doing duty this time as my breakfast sideboard.

It was a joy to have all the young people that came from across the United States including Alaska and those who traveled further – like these guests from New Zeland…

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

Whenever she or someone from their family comes to visit they always bring a gift(s). It makes me feel terrible because these things never really cross my mind when I go somewhere and if they do, I’m usually paralyzed with wondering what exactly should I get for my hosts. And you know how indecision is the killer of many great ideas. So, that’s usually what happens to my ideas. They d.i.e. Sad, but true.

Another idea that I think is a good one is guest bedroom baskets in which you place items guests may have forgotten. Most suggest purchasing travel size items.

On the hopes that if I peruse Pinterest I’ll get some great ideas and most importantly inspiration to follow through, I’m going to share with you my favorite suggestions for things to put in guest bedroom baskets that I found online.

• magazines (I like the idea of a devotional book)
• bottles of water
• little snacks for those night time munchies
• moisturizer
• lip balm
• lotion
• mints
• tissues
• shampoo and conditioner
• hairspray
• toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
• mouthwash
• soap
• wet wipes
• deodorant
• q-tips
• sunscreen
• first aid supplies
• razors for shaving and creams
• hair brushes

Presentation is all part of it. It wouldn’t look quite the same if I had these items sitting in a plastic bag, would it? So a pretty basket or other container would be fitting.

Now the question is… can I get it together? haha   We shall see. I have 2 days.  I’ll let you know!

Zachary and Hannah – the planners

Hannah did a beautiful job on the decorations. She bought some things, had some decor of her own and then used items of mine. With all of it, she was able to come up with 9 different centerpieces and they looked beautiful.

We couldn’t have the event outdoors because it was too windy and the temperatures had dropped. So we had to move all of my living room furniture outside and set up in my living room as well as kitchen. These were the tables we set up in the living room the night before the event..

All 9 of the centerpieces.

We decided to mix things up a bit. We served the food from our library. We pushed the kids’ school desks up against the wall. This picture shows 3 of the desks but we had 1 more that was on the opposite side which held the salad and rolls.

The menu was:

Chicken Marsala

Italian Rolls

Mashed Potatoes

Green Beans

Olive Garden Salad

Another odd thing we did was to serve the drinks in my entry way on the bureau.

Because my house is really too small to have almost 70 people seated, the food set-up worked out really well. Less congestion in the kitchen since we had tables in there.  We did serve the many different desserts the ladies brought from the kitchen, along with coffee.

Serving food in unusual places is an idea I picked up from both Martha Stewart and Alexandra Stoddard. I’ve always been intrigued with the idea but have never done it for a crowd until yesterday.

We have a married couple in our church that likes to make and decorate unusual cakes and they always come up with something amazing. Yesterday was no different.

Check out this entirely edible cake – a Bible and a Spoken Word book (totally edible, can you believe?!). The only non-edible item on this cake is the wire rimmed glasses.

It was a surprise dinner. When our pastor and his wife walked in we all started singing, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.”

There were speeches, a special song by Russell and Hannah about pastors and they were given gifts – one was a photo book filled with pictures of each family in the church along with letters saying why we so appreciated our pastor.

It was a lovely day.

Here’s our little church group, minus a few.

This was the first time we’ve ever had anything like this for our pastor. It was a very special day and meant so much to him and his wife. I’m glad my son and daughter-in-law had the vision to do this.

]]> https://treasuringthemoments.net/2015/02/23/a-pastor-appreciation-dinner/feed/ 2 https://treasuringthemoments.net/2015/01/07/family-fun-for-the-holidays/ https://treasuringthemoments.net/2015/01/07/family-fun-for-the-holidays/#comments Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:44:21 +0000 http://treasuringthemoments.net/?p=700357 What do you do with 29 people for 5 days? (We had that many during the Christmas holiday’s if you recall from my last post.)

Every morning at 8:30 all the singles had morning drills and exercises in the walleyball court. The rest of us maybe should have been exercising with them but we took that time to get ourselves together and get breakfast started.

Those on the exercise schedule would come to the kitchen to find glasses of water with fresh lime juice.

Then it was out to the walleyball court for morning warm-up stretches and exercises, along with walleyball drills and walleyball.

As you can see, I did manage to get out there one morning to take a few pictures but then duty called and I had to head back inside. It really hurt my feelings that I had to miss out on all the work health benefiting exercises and very chill morning air.

We took a trip to the local ice rink for a few hours one day. Those who weren’t on the ice watched from the bleachers and watched babies.

I planned an activity for the girls that was sort of a fail even though it worked out in the end. I purchased flour sack tea towels, Aunt Martha’s hot iron transfer designs and some liquid embroidery paint. The part that was kind of a fail was the paint. Some of the colors were so so hard to squeeze out that your hand would hurt. I even busted one from squeezing too hard.

And for the younger ones we had some cookie decorating.

We started a new tradition this year. A Crokinole competition. We played until we had one team that were champions and that happened to be Wesley and his cousin Grace.

Congratulations to our 2014 Crokinole Champions!

As Sunday rolled around, family had to leave until there were only 16 of us left. A little expedition to an abandoned mine was the activity one day. I’ve been in about 3 mines in my life (all since I’ve been married! I didn’t do these types of things growing up and only having 2 other sisters! haha) and this is the best one so far.

Then it snowed. Yes! Here in Arizona! We received about 5 inches and so Frosty had to be reconstructed.

Finally, we had to say goodbye to 5 more until it was only our family and my sister and her family who were going to be with me for another week. It was a wonderful time to all be together. So glad we had the opportunity.

]]> https://treasuringthemoments.net/2015/01/07/family-fun-for-the-holidays/feed/ 2 https://treasuringthemoments.net/2014/12/22/warm-up-here-a-hot-drink-station/ https://treasuringthemoments.net/2014/12/22/warm-up-here-a-hot-drink-station/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:32:00 +0000 http://treasuringthemoments.net/?p=700324 While most would not consider Arizona to have really cold weather, it does say it’s almost winter on the calendar and that means warm weather drinks. Like hot chocolate, chai, or my favorite, mocha cappuccino. So I put together a little hot drink station. Because, although I could serve up hot drinks other ways, this gives it a little more pizazz and it’s just more fun. (I know I’ve shared a hot drink station before with tea, chai & chocolate, but can’t seem to find that post.)

I got myself a bottle drying rack some time back to hold my coffee cups and I’ve really enjoyed having it.

The chalkboard labels came from the dollar store.

Mini-marshmallows in jars purchased at Wal-Mart.

All ready for the cold and brisk weather. (Supposed to be in the 40’s later this week. Brrrr….)

May you stay toasty and warm!

Updated to add: I decided our little drink station needed some color, so I added a few red bows which gave it an added boost of color.

I can’t say I’m really fond of them. The concept is nice – everyone bring a dish and we’ll share it together. But to me the reality of it is not so ideal many times.

Enchiladas on the same plate as your broccoli salad with mashed potatoes and gravy beside that but the gravy somehow manages to spread to cover everything on your plate as well. I may be exaggerating a little but it’s pretty much the case.

One of my favorite ways to organize a meal is where one person brings the main dish and everyone else brings sides that complement it.

But if it’s for a very large group and you don’t want the burden of making the main dish and no one else does either, my next favorite way is to have a themed potluck. Themes are fun. They stretch a person a bit because instead of bringing the routine casserole that they’ve brought for forever, they are forced to be more creative.

For several years now I’ve been planning themed potluck for our church’s anniversary meetings.

We’re not a large church so managing the potluck is pretty simple.

This year the theme for the potluck was Fall.

My decoration for the serving table was totally last-minute. I took a crock that I have 3 rolling pins in, added some wild grass that someone picked quite a while ago and added some Russian sage from our plant in the back yard. I wasn’t sure if it looked a bit much at first but decided in the end that it probably would work okay.

The tablecloth is just a piece of material that I purchased many years ago.

We have a very beat up Blazer that we use to give visitors a tour of our place when they come to visit and I had the inspiration to use it in this setting as a place to serve my drinks out of. The Blazer is rather special in people’s minds because pretty much everyone that has ever visited us has had a thrilling ride in it. Russell says the Blazer is not quite vintage enough to pull off being cute in this situation and he’s probably right but I thought we should try it anyways – do something different.  We set an ice chest on the tailgate filled with ice and bottled waters and to the left was an old cowboy bathtub filled with ice and carbonated drinks like Switch. (Sorry but I didn’t get a good picture with the ice chest in place.)

The ladies did an excellent job bringing foods representative of the beautiful season of Autumn.

I had never had sweet potato lasagna with zucchini and turkey sausage before but I got to try it and I loved it.

Wild rice chicken casserole, chicken potpie and apple glazed ribs were some of the Fall themed offerings.

 And then of course we had a bountiful supply of desserts – apple pies, carrot cake and cobblers served a la mode.

(The sign is from Hobby Lobby that I got for 50% off.)

I’ll leave you with a poem that speaks of Fall. My son memorized this years ago, so it is pretty special to me.

By James Whitcomb Riley

The Sweetheart…

When the guests arrived they were given a clothespin and directed to the magnetic chalkboard that had pictures of Zachary, Hannah and Shalom.  The side that say’s “Don’t Say” is for the clothespin game.

 “Showers of Love” was the theme for this special event and Shalom Adriel was certainly showered.

The clouds were cut out of white material and stuffed with stiff paper. The raindrops were cut using the Silhouette Cameo on card stock.

Clouds that were raining love.

A close-up of the rain drops…

And the food…  It was a brunch so breakfast it was…

Homemade Pop-Tarts

Drinks and seating were outdoors.

It was fun to plan out this theme but in case you might think all these ideas were mine…  My inspiration for this shower theme came from Hostess with the Mostess.