HELL WEEK

You know that week in college where all the fraternities haze the freshmen and it is termed "Hell Week". Well... that is what I feel like Wesley & I have been through this week. There has been nothing normal about our little life, no recipe of the week, actually NO COOKING, no workouts, no blogging, no grocery shopping, nothing! We would just sit and stare at each other, oh and PRAY!

Most of you know on Tuesday morning we got a call saying Whitney's (wesley's sister) boyfriend of 7 years was MISSING! We couldnt believe it, this was so out of character for DeWayne. After a long Tuesday and little sleep Tuesday night, we woke Wednesday to no new news. At this point all of us were starting to get very scared at the outcome of the situation. Wednesday at 3:15 Wesley called and said they found him!!! He was carjacked from Ashburn on Monday at around 6:00pm while trying help a man who appeared to need gas. The man pulled a gun on DeWayne and told him to drive until he said stop. 45 hours later we find out he is in Detroit. He jumped out at a red light and ran to the nearest police. They kept him until Whitney & Wade flew up there to get him. They are home now and he is safe. I thank you all for praying for his return, facebook was flooded with status updates, groups, and wall posts to help locate him. I do believe this situation has brought our town of cordele together on a spiritual level. Everyone has seen what the power of prayer can do. We thank God for keeping DeWayne safe and bringing him home.


I know this is long, but I just have to share my little testimony out of this whole thing. On Wednesday, during Reese's nap, I wanted to send whitney a bible verse for her to lean on. I found this one
Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:13a,14
I was a little nervous about the fact it said TODAY, because I wasnt sure we would have answers TODAY. But it was the one that just felt right to send her. I went back and looked at the time I sent it to her and it was at 2:40pm Wednesday. DeWayne called her at 3:00pm! WOW!
I trusted in the lord that that was the right verse and he delivered! FAST!!!!

Wesley's Birthday Weekend

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, he turned 26 Saturday! To celebrate we went to Hal's Steakhouse Friday night. Wesley has been dying to go there so I kept dinner a secret until we pulled up to the door, and he was SOOO excited. We were so happy that Wade and Kate, Hunter and Nicole and Renee all came to dinner to help us celebrate.

After dinner we went to the St. Regis Hotel to grab a couple of post-dinner cocktails. The people watching there is SUPERB!



Saturday Wesley and I went to the outlets shopping for some Birthday/Vegas clothes in the pouring rain. Then we headed on over to Maggie & Dave's house in Gainesville for the night. Meghan & Brian came up that afternoon also, and later Jamie & Colby joined us too. Not only were we there to celebrate Wesley being a year older but also to toast Mags & Dave for their One Year Anniversary! We had a wonderful dinner and the best part was helping eat the top layer of their wedding cake. It was still good!!! It was so nice to spend the night with such wonderful friends.

Today, The Hice's joined us and we played on the lake all day. Baby Luke could be the cutest thing there ever is.

The weather was beautiful and we were so thankful Maggie & Dave invited us to come celebrate so many special occasions. Happy Anniversary Griffins!

I GAVE BACK

Tonight is the American Idol show Idol Gives Back. While watching all of the stories on the children around the world in need. I couldn't help but go whip out my credit card and donate. Simon said that so far, just since the start of the show, they have raised 15 million dollars. WOW!!! I'm so glad I did it!

You should donate too just go here.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK:

Tonight I cooked BAKED GROUPER with CHUNKY TOMATO SAUCE. I had grouper and looked at so many websites to try to find a recipe, I think this is the hardest fish to find a recipe for. I finally found this one on Cookinglight.com and it was wonderful. I didnt even have to go to the store, I had everything at home.

You can find the recipe here.
We had this with sauteed Brussel Sprouts and Grits with Gouda Cheese. YUMMMM! Hope you all try this one out!

Fiesta Fun

This weekend we went back to Auburn for a wedding party for Adam and Erin, FIESTA themed!
It was outside by the pool with beautiful weather and tons of friends.




Adam's favorite part: opening gifts in front of EVERYONE.

This is Sam mid-crunch working on his Vegas Bod

After the party we met up downtown Auburn with some of Wesley's old teammates (who are now in the big league). He was in football heaven, Ronnie Brown, Jason Campbell, Carnell Williams, and of course WILL HERRING!!! Will and Cooper made the Auburn All Decade team! Congrats Guys! Of course the night had to start with SHOTS!


Will Starr showing off his dance moves



"Watch where your hands go boy"

Gluten Free?

This month in Martha Stewart Living Magazine I came across a couple of gluten free recipes that looked really good. I immediately thought of Wesley's friend Jason, he is on a gluten free diet and we never get to have him over for dinner. So we invited him over to try out our new recipe for the week. (we try to make one new recipe a week) We had Zucchini-Ribbon "Lasagna". We thought it was really good and Hunter even said he didn't miss the noodles! You should give it a try.

This recipe says it serves 9, but i kind of doubled it and with 3 boys and me there was none left!

Zucchini Lasagna
For the Sauce:
1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled plum tomatoes with juice
2 Tablespoons EVOO
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb ground turkey meat
2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp coarse salt

For the Lasagna
3 medium zucchini (I used more)
1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp EVOO
Freshly ground pepper

1. Make the sauce: Pule tomatoes with juice in food processor until finely chopped. Heat oil in large skillet over med heat. Cook onion and red pepper flakes, stirring until onion is tender. Add turkey, cook until browned. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer until thick, about 20 min. Stir in oregano and salt. Let cool.
2. Make the Lasagna: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice zucchini lengthwise into thin strips*. Place 5 or 6 zucchini slices in bottom of 8 in square dish. Top with 1 cup of sauce, dot with 1/4 cup ricotta. Repeat twice. Top with zucchini and brush with oil. Dot with remaining ricotta. Season with pepper. Bake uncovered, until lasagna bubbles and top browns, 50 -60 min. Let stand for 10 min.
*I popped the strips in the oven for a couple minutes brushed with oil before to get them nice and noodle-like.

155 Calories per serving!!!

I dont have a picture of this b/c I didnt want to look really weird in front of the boys taking pics of the food! : )

Extra Recipe:
When planning dinner for Jason, we couldnt decide between 2 recipes. They both looked so good so I bought the stuff for both and let wesley make the decision. So on Tuesday night we made the other Gluten-Free dish. It was awesome! I will be making this again, SOON!

Crisp Baked Lemon Cod
2 cups Rice Chex cereal, crushed
1/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
3/4 tsp coarse salt
4 Cod fillets, skinned

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine rice cereal, oil, parsley, zest, and salt.
2. Press fish into crumb mixture, turning to coat. Bake until golden brown and cooked 14 to 16 min.

So easy and so good! I served this with roasted asparagus and squash and it made such a pretty plate. Sorry no pics again.
Check these out in the April issue of Martha Stewart Living pg. 168-170. She takes way better pics!

I'm Dons Friend

This weekend I went down to St. Augustine, FL with some of my girlfriends. We were going to have a beach weekend and run a 5k- a first for some. It was so fun to spend time with these girls I never get to hang out with.

We got there Friday and went straight to the pier to pick up our race goodies.

Then we went to check into our condo, and found a mystery door...the bookcase was a secret door to a half bathroom. CRAZY!!!!

Friday night we went to Harry's restaurant and enjoyed some fresh seafood

Saturday morning was the BIG day, we all brought pink and black running clothes without planning it! It made it so easy to spot everyone!



The 5k was called Don's Friends Run and there were 313 people running. Everyone made it across the finish line and were so excited to check this off the Bucket List.


Jenna making it to the finish


Kelley and Beth....they ran the whole time!


GO BECCA GO!

We were all so happy to be done!

We spent the rest of the day on the beach and then got ready to go out for dinner and drinks.


and a little bit of dancing




What a fun weekend! Our cab ride home that night was the best part of all. We even got the video camera out for it. (If we get it on you tube, I'll add it later). Of course we had to take some silly pics in our condo that was filled with mirrors EVERYWHERE, this one was on the ceiling in the living room. I love how it looks like we are in a picture frame.

Tomahawk Choppin'

Last night we went to the Braves game with a group of friends. Besides the traffic getting down there we had a blast! Braves won again- UNDEFEATED!




So of course you know I am easily distracted at sporting events, well this was a MAJOR distraction for me ALL GAME!

uh, excuse me sir, PLEASE TUCK YOUR TAG IN!!!!!!

Just try to pronounce this guys name... Poor Guy!

So, I HATE Hot Dogs (as you all know) so I couldn't help but post these pics of Lauren eating her footlong. I told Maggie if she brought one back and sat beside me I would die!

But I ended up catching her and dave sneaking one in! CAUGHT YA!

(Mags, I love your reaction)