BOOKS I READ IN 2018

I'm sharing the books I read in 2018 with you today! For the first time in a VERY long time, it was a fairly consistent reading year for me. I don't know if I will ever be one of the people who reads 30-40 books in a year (just thinking about that gives me the hives. How can you even remember it all?). Prior to this year I had not really read consistently since my high school days. Entering college and then motherhood just pushed reading for pleasure to the side for quite a few years. 

Back in late 2016, I had a tiny baby and a strong itch to read something amazing. So I asked my wonderful, book-loving husband to pick something out for me that would hopefully jumpstart my reading life again. He did and that's where this list starts off today. Wait, wasn't that 2016, you say? Yes. This first book took me OVER a year to finish. But that one book that took foreeeever to finish really kicked me back into reading mode. So here we are now at the start of 2019 and I have an actual list of books I finished last year and I'm feeling quite excited to share them with you. 

As a side note -- if you are like me and sometimes struggle to find the motivation to read regularly, making a completed book list as I went was a HUGE encouragement to me throughout the year. It was a visual reminder of Yes!! You CAN finish books, Emily!! I thought I would just mention this little tip as 2019 begins with (hopefully) another year of reading ahead. (I say hopefully because there will be a newborn added into the picture in February this year, so I will hold my plans a little loosely.😉)

Books of 2018:

February 

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I started this book when Charlie was an tiny infant.....and finished it when my son was 1.5 years old. Probably not the best season of life to try and finish a new book, but it DID get finished eventually. Samuel picked this first book of the year to get me back into the swing of reading, and he picked a good one. McCarthy's style of storytelling really pulled me in because I haven't read anything quite like it before. It's totally unique. The Road is not the most action packed story, but their story of togetherness, loss, survival, and determination completely force you to keep reading until the end. I really enjoy it a lot, and I'm so glad I kept working at it.

March
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I didn't want this book to end, you guys. It was so beautiful and descriptive. It also may have started an obsession with reading WWII historical fiction this year which I neverrr would have expected. One of the main characters is a young girl who is blind, dealing with the effects of the war. Her blindness creates such an interesting aspect to the novel because the author tells such a strong story through all of the senses. I loved this book and have thought about it a lot since finishing it.





April
The Gospel Comes with a House Key by Rosaria Butterfield 
This was the first Rosaria Butterfield book I had read and, man, can she write. I was so interested to read how she and her family show hospitality in their community and challenged to find ways that I can do the same.









Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling on Audiobook (finished in July)
Harry Potter will be read over and over and over in my life, I do believe. I will read it repeatedly for myself and hope to read it to my children one day. It's just always a good idea. Now, The Deathly Hallows was the only HP book that I had only read through once so I decided to change that this year! I listened to this on walks with Charlie and on many of our road trips to Kentucky and back. Loved every minute of it.





May
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
I loved this book SO MUCH. It was by far my favorite fiction book I read all year. And I'll be the first to admit that I cried multiple times reading this one. This was the second of three WWII historical fiction book I read last year. It's a story of women in wartime, finding and losing those they love, and doing everything they can to survive the Nazi's taking over their home.









June
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
And for my third WWII book, I kept seeing people talk about this one for months. One night we were out for a walk as a family and we came across a little free library in someone's front yard and wouldn't you know this little book that I had been wanting to read was inside! I was delighted to borrow it and bring it home. It's the story of a pregnant girl who runs away trying to find her long lost cousin who ends up  uncovering the life of a war hero. It was a fun, quick read.





August
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones 
I wanted to really like this book. But I just didn't. It was sad from the very beginning. It just carried a broken tone through it all, especially about the role of marriage and promise in today's society. I did enjoy the side stories about their family, career, and race, but the marriage depicted in this novel just left me heartbroken and aching for a happier story. Didn't love this book.








September
The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
If you like a good thriller, you will enjoy this one! I used to read thriller a lot more before becoming a mom and just loved it. Now....let's just say I was a little nervous to read this one, totally expecting to be such a scaredy chicken. I can't handle scary like I used to, yall! But it was way more suspenseful and just slightly scary so that it was the right amount of thriller for me. I didn't really love the final ending/resolution, but it does have some pretty great and surprising twists and turns.




October
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Wow. This story was pretty amazing. This story gives a fictional insight, loosely based on real events, to the life of refugees living in America. However, it was another book with a questionable line of decisions made by married couples (I feel like has been a theme in the books I've read this year, unfortunately). I would love to know the main character, Little Bee, in real life. Her personality and perspective were so gripping and felt so real. I would definitely recommend this book.






December 
Educated by Tara Westover
This was SUCH. a. great. book. After almost every chapter I found myself thinking, "Did that really happen?!" And yes, yes it did. This memoir was so unreal at times I could not put it down. Her retelling of the ridiculous injuries she and her family suffered alone are enough for me to want to read this again. Pretty unbelievable things happened in this family of Mormons who believe they are preparing for the end times at any moment. Tara's life story is one of shelter and "faith" on a secluded mountain and her struggle and fight to succeed when she enters the rest of the world as an older teenager. Highly, highly recommend.




Overall I was really happy to have finished all of these books at the end of the day, with really only one exception that I didn't love.

I think I will make reading one book a month my goal for 2019. So y'all keep me accountable on that. Here's to another year of reading!

Emily

WHAT A WEEK: BABY'S GENDER & CONCERT IN CHICAGO

Last Saturday night, I looked at Samuel and said, "It's been a really big week."

And it was. We found out the gender of baby #2 and went to a long-awaited concert in Chicago!

20 WEEK ANATOMY SCAN
I'll start with the baby gender because, oh my!!!!!!





Ready for it....

IT'S  A  GIRL!

Surprise!! surprise!! surprise!!! We were so shocked and thrilled to find out that baby number two is a little girl!

We were both kind of thinking it was another boy, to be honest, just because this pregnancy hasn't been drastically different from my first pregnancy. But this is the second time I have been completely wrong on predicting the gender. I was so confident that Charlie was a girl. I'm 0 and 2 on that!

The ultrasound technician started out checking the heartbeat and trying to wake the baby up. :) I told her I had been feeling a lot of movement, but mostly at night. Just a few minutes later, the baby woke up and stayed moving around the entire time (very unlike big brother's anatomy scan. he stayed rolled into a ball the whole time and didn't even let us finish the whole checklist at that appointment!). Then the nurse said, "It's looking like a girl!" and I said, "What! Are you serious?"And sure enough, she could see very clearly that it was a GIRL. Samuel and I were thrilled by this happy news!

All of her measurements and photos during the scan looked great. We are so thankful for her health thus far. Her heart rate is now around 144 bpm.

Crazy enough, I did have a dream that it was girl a few months ago! My dream was that we had arrived home from the hospital with a baby girl and I could remember NOTHING about the delivery or even being at the hospital. So I guess you could say, I had a gender prediction dream! But let's hope that last part doesn't happen in real life.

Over the course of the day we found out, we called and texted family and shared our gender reveal photos above with them. Our family was just as surprised (and happy) as we were! I had several close friends who guessed girl, but most of our immediate family was also thinking it would be a boy. But it goes without saying that everyone, especially Samuel and I, was over the moon thrilled to hear that we are having a little girl. We are so thankful for her precious life and cannot wait to meet our new baby girl sometime near the end of February.

BEN RECTOR CONCERT
Samuel and I also went to a really special concert in Chicago last week!

For my birthday back in August, my wonderful + amazing + sweet + thoughtful + husband got me surprise tickets to see Ben Rector in Chicago!! The concert was at the Chicago Theatre and we were pumped. It was our first time going to Chicago alone, too, soo we were really up for an adventure!

We only live 25 miles from Chicago according to the map, buuuuttttt it definitely takes over an hour to get there. Always. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the concert venue, but thankfully we left about 2 hours prior to the concert start time.

The show was so good, y'all. He sang all my favorite songs from the new album and there were a lot of really special surprises in it too. And we loved being inside the Chicago Theatre! It's so beautiful.

October is off to a really fun start. We have family coming in next weekend and Halloween right around the corner (one of my personal favorites, as you may or may not know).

In the mean time, I'll just be sitting here letting it sink in that we are having a baby G I R L.
I can't believe it.

Emily

OUR FAMILY IS GROWING! + PREGNANCY UPDATE

I haven't officially announced our exciting news on my blog: We are adding another James baby to the family sometime at the end of February 2019!

We are so thrilled and thankful to the Lord for this sweet gift of life. Every time I think about it I am completely overwhelmed by the reality that this is a gracious gift from the Lord. I am so excited to snuggle another little baby and to watch Charlie become to be a big brother. 

I thought it would be fun to share some details about this pregnancy and compare it to my first pregnancy some, how it has been different or the same and if that is any hint at the gender. And speaking about the gender...our anatomy ultrasound is at the beginning of October! Ahhh, I can't wait to find out. 

So let's get into this pregnancy update!

How did you tell your husband?
I told Samuel totally different this time around. For one, our first baby was a happy surprise. :) Also, Samuel was basically waiting outside the bathroom door with me to find out. And, he was the one who recommended I even take a pregnancy test to begin with because I didn't believe I was pregnant. Ha! We found out together, and I was already 8 weeks along at that point.

This time around, we had just started trying to get pregnant again. I had a very strong feeling that I was pregnant for over a week before I took a test. I didn't really keep him in the loop at all, which is so unlike me, but it was all because I wanted to really be able to surprise him with the pregnancy test since I didn't get the chance to do that the first time! I kept my suspicions and buying a pregnancy test a little secret until I knew for sure. I took it early one morning while he was at the gym before work, and when he walked back in the door, there I was with a positive pregnancy test! 

Were you surprised? 
I wasn't! But Samuel was! Opposite of last time. 

How many weeks along are you?
18 weeks.

Baby's heart rate? 
It's been 154-155 bpm.

Cravings? 
For most of the first trimester, NOTHING sounded good. It was a  s t r u g g l e. I would get so so hungry, but felt like there wasn't a thing that was actually appealing. 

Eventually I started to crave egg salad sandwiches - for like two weeks straight. Then I craved this little made up combo with tortilla, cream cheese, pepperoni, and cucumbers and ate that every day for like two weeks as well. Bagel with cream cheese was also a staple early on. I might have also needed a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonalds a couple of late nights. My husband is the best. ;) 

Gender? 
We are going to find out in early October! We are both suspicious it's another boy. I would guess boy based on not being terribly sick, acne improved, and similar pregnancy "feel."

1st trimester symptoms?  
Sickness- I only threw up one time (around 6 weeks) because I waited too long to eat breakfast which made me sick. There were two other instances were I thought I was going to get sick, but I hurriedly shoved a bagel in my mouth and it went away. It's a weird sensation to feel nauseous and be eating at the same time, but that is the secret in the first trimester. 

Tiredness- No joke, I could not go one day without taking a nap while Charlie was napping. It was unbelievable how tired I was. Sometimes on the weekends when Samuel was home, I would take a nap basically as soon as I finished eating breakfast and then again when Charlie was taking his nap. I have never been more unproductive or let chores go more, but it was so unavoidable.

Hunger- SO so so hungry all the time.

Can't Stand- Super sweet food and my sugary gummy vitamins.  I had to switch to a non-sugary vitamin because the others tasted SO sweet!

Round Ligament Pain - This was waayyy worse this time around. Basically any time I would stand up after sitting down for a while, that muscle would spasm and shoot pain! I had to be sure to stand up super slowly so that it wouldn't hurt. It's finally happening less often.

Other- I had major bloating and discomfort in my first trimester as well. So miserable. A homemade peppermint oil scrub right on my stomach worked wonders. 

Movement?
I started to feel light flutters around 15 weeks pregnant. By 18 weeks they feel like tiny kicks! I remember starting to first feel flutters during my first pregnancy around 17 weeks, so for me it's true that you feel movement earlier the second time around.

Maternity clothes?
I have started to wear maternity clothes here and there for comfort, but I can still wear most of my normal clothes right now. Same as first pregnancy at this point. 

Baby name? 
It's sooo much harder this time!! I feel so picky. We have mentioned a boy and girl name that we like, but we don't know if we will use them yet. Send me some suggestions y'all cause the ones I keep reading online are....terrible haha.

2nd trimester symptoms (so far)?
Energy- Hallelujah, my energy is ten times more than it was last trimester! Around week 14 I really felt a jump. I don't have to have a nap to function and that is a relief!

Sleep- Still getting up once a night to go to the bathroom, but sleeping fine. Crazy dreams, but that's normal for me. I had some back pain at night lately and started sleeping with a pillow between my knees which has helped.

Bump- Oh yes. It's here for the party.

Left: August 15 (13 weeks along),  Right: September 18 (Almost 18 weeks)

Thanks for reading this little update, friends! I don't know how often I will be able to do these, but we will definitely share the gender sometime after we find out. What do you think - boy or girl? ;)

Emily

APRIL ADVENTURES: TAKING FAMILY TO CHICAGO

I'm back with more April adventures as promised!

If you read my last post about our two week trip to see family, you would know that my sister-in-law and her family will be moving very soon to a new state. They told us a while back they wanted to come see where we live now before they moved, so they came up for the last weekend of April for a quick weekend trip. Samuel's parents came too because they had not visited Wheaton since the weekend we moved here. We had 6 adults, a 6- month-old baby, and a 21-month-old all staying in our two bedroom place. It was pretty cozy, but oh so fun.

They, of course, wanted to go to Chicago while they were in town! We've lived in our new town for TEN months now, which seems so hard to believe, and we had not been to Chicago since last August. It's only about an hour away from us so that's kind of crazy, right?! It was about time we went back. 

The first time we went last year it was only Samuel, Charlie, and I who rode the train in for the day. Let me tell yall. This second trip with family was WAY more successful, enjoyable, and eventful. So keep reading for some tips and details of fun things we loved doing. 

1. Choose the right travel method. First things first, we drove instead of taking the train this time. Don't get me wrong, riding the Metra was a super fun experience that I hope to do again soon, but for a big group (we had 6 adults and 2 infants) it was just so much easier to drive exactly where we wanted to go because of strollers, diaper bags, babies, a nursing mother, etc. 

The drive into the city was not terribly bad. I had always heard how awful the traffic would be. My husband, the driver, might disagree with me but I didn't think it was all that bad. The hardest part was trying to find parking, but once we realized most places were about the same price we just settled on one. 

The cost of parking was ridiculous, so be prepared for that if you decide to drive your own car. We were there from about 11 am - 4 pm and it ended up being $37. To be fair, we parked at probably the most popular parking garage directly under Millennium Park, compared to my sister-in-law who parked about a mile away from Millennium Park and only paid $12. It truly was nice to be in a convenient spot that day even though we paid a little more for that convenience. Just to give you some perspective, when we rode the Metra it was still over $20 for our tickets. 

2. Pick just a few main destinations. Our main destination for the day was Intelligentsia Coffee. My sister-in-law was a beast at mapping out everywhere we wanted to go. The first time we went to Chicago this was not the case. We failed at planning. People, planning is the KEY to an amazing Chicago trip  because you really have no conception of just how BIG this city is. It can seriously take 30 minutes to go from top to bottom of the city. So you have know where you want to go in order to survive. 

The location of Intelligentsia we picked was just a block away from Millennium Park. Look at it HERE on the map as a reference. It was so so good, you all. I wasn't sure if I was going to love it (because I think Quills coffee back in Louisville is the worst, and I thought it would be similar) but I really loved Intelligentsia. I'm so glad we stopped in there for coffee first thing because the temperature was in the 50s, which felt like the 40s. In April!!!! Chicago winter never ends. It was nice to have a warm cup to walk around with.

After we got our coffee, we walked back over to Millennium Park for those who had not been. Is that place ever not crowded!? It kind of is one of the best photo spots, though. We grabbed a quick Panarea Bread lunch across from the park to take care of the babies diapers/feedings. 

 

Which brings me to my next tip: 

3. Plan your destinations based on what's nearby. Make your plans doable. It's not realistic to plan to go to place A, then drive to B and C. That will waste your money and your time. We walked to a nearby shopping area (essentially an indoor mall) called Block 37 which we found on the maps app. It was just a short walk from where we already were and it had a lot to see and do! We went to the Disney store, a two story Anthropologie, Magnolia Bakery (no relation to Chip and Joanna's Magnolia, but they had the BEST whipped chocolate banana pudding. Oh my.), and got a break from the cold wind being inside.

4. Go to Garret Popcorn. That's the last tip. Just go there. Get the Garret Mix with caramel and cheddar popcorn, and you will have pretty much guaranteed a successful Chicago trip. It's DELICIOUS. 

I'm definitely not an expert at Chicago travel by any means yet, but our experience from the first time was just so night and day I wanted to share the things we found helpful. 

I still have some other things on my Chicago bucket list like:

Stan's Donuts

Go to a Cubs Game

The Navy Pier 

The Skydeck at Willis Tower 

Lincoln Park Zoo

Chicago Children's Museum

Firecakes 

Oz Park 

Garfield Conservatory

Drop anything else you think we would like in the comments. I'd love to know what other things you recommend doing! 

-Emily 

APRIL ADVENTURES: TWO WEEK TRIP TO KY AND TN

Loooong time no blog! How's your start of Spring been? It's been a busy month for us, but filled with the most exciting things like family, vacation, and lots of traveling. 

When we went back home to Louisville for Christmas, we knew it would be our last time in Kentucky until April. You may not think 4 months seems that long, and really it's not, but it was the longest stretch between seeing family we had had since moving last July. And it was going to be over winter which would make it feel even longer. But come April, Samuel would be attending the T4G conference for work which, as it happens, was back in Louisville! So all three of us were going along to spend time with family for a whole week.

During that long winter like I mentioned, we found out that both of my sister-in-laws and their families would be moving this summer. It seems hard to believe that in the short span of a year, all three of the James kids would be moving to new states away from family for the first time. But each for great, God glorifying opportunities that we are so excited for! For the last few years we have been doing our James family vacation in May, but with the moves coming up, we started to wonder how we could squeeze in at least a small family vacation in April. We had this crazy idea to take the week after the conference off for the family vacation and it worked out absolutely perfectly. That's how we ended up sneaking in a TWO week trip!

The first week of our trip, which contained the 3 days of Samuel's conference, we stayed at my parents house. We did ALL the things, you guys. We had a belated Easter meal with my Mamaw and aunts and uncles, Charlie and I had a mall shopping day with Mimi and Aunt Rae Rae, Samuel and I saw A Quiet Place on a date, we had dinner with sweet friends from our pervious church, I saw one of my best friends from high school, Charlie and I got haircuts by my talented cosmetologist sister, we got pedicures, ate Steel City Pops, and played the worlds hardest game of sequence.


S N A P S H O T S  from  the  first  week

Easter// Mamaw + Charlie

Mimi reading Charlie a new book

My Favorite Muffin + Aunt Rae Rae

He was a BIG fan

We went to the Zoo with cousins and old church friends!

B O T T L E  B R O K E N  (on  accident!)

Charlie was bottle broken during this trip!!!! Color me SHOCKED. Before this trip, he was drinking basically all of his cow's milk in his bottles. He would ask for it every time and get super sad if I even thought about putting the milk in a sippy cup. He would drink his water in a sippy cup or Contigo water bottle, but not that precious milk. It had to be a bottle. Even though I was hoping to break him of it eventually, I was totally fine with him keeping the bottles until 2ish, or at least until he finished cutting his last teeth - the two year molars. Throughout teething, the bottle was his main source of comfort so I was fine with him having it until then. 

I joked to Samuel about "forgetting" to bring the bottles to see if we could break him of it, but decided the thought of having to go buy new ones in Louisville if he needed it would be silly. So I washed them and put them out to dry the morning we were schedule to leave Wheaton. That night in Louisville, I went to make Charlie his bottle before bed and I realized I DIDN'T PACK THEM. I was highly anticipating having to go get at least one bottle the next day, but would you believe it, he never asked for it. Not once in the whole two weeks. And then we came home and he still didn't ask for them. So, I hid them away and his bottle days officially ended. I was amazed how easy it turned out to be! Maybe the Lord made me forget to bring them to Louisville. ;)

  

D A T E   N I G H T 

Also squeezed into that week was Samuel and I's first night away since having Charlie. He did great spending the night with Mimi and PopPop! He's such a champ when it comes to saying goodbye to us and we are so, so thankful. We ate dinner downtown, and walked along the river at sunset. It was really special to be able to do that back in our hometown.

Louisville, Kentucky

G A T L I N B U R G  James  Family  Vacation

On Saturday we left Louisville for a 4 day trip to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our James family vacation! That place is our go-to getaway. We stayed in a big cabin and soaked up all the family togetherness, playing games and watching The Greatest Showman for the first time. We always love to go to Cades Cove, and this time we got to see a mama and baby bear just hanging out nearby. We also went to the aquarium, played putt putt, and went out for pancakes!

Charlie had a BLAST getting to play with his cousins on this trip. His speech went through the roof after spending that time with them, too. He was already saying tons of words well, but after being around the other kids his clarity was noticeably better. He fell in LOVE with his two little girl cousins, Leighton and Addie. It was especially precious to watch him be so sweet to Addie who is 5 months old.

We will always treasure this vacation before everyone's big life changes.

Cades Cove 

Addie and Aunt Emmie

The cousins 

Cades Cove// Charlie + Leighton

We headed back to Wheaton on Friday, almost two weeks later. With that we had officially taken our longest trip as a family ever. I was so excited to share this trip with you, but also to "blog scrapbook" it for myself for years to come. We left this trip feeling so thankful - for parents who hosted us, a job that let us travel, a baby who slept well for the first time on vacation, for time to spend with family and friends, and for new exciting things ahead for the James kids.

If you thought that was all the excitement we had in April, stay tuned for another APRIL ADVENTURES post from when we went to CHICAGO with family last weekend! I will have a happy report of a much smoother trip this time around, and some new favorite food finds you have to do if you come to Chicago. 

Stay tuned for more adventures.
Emily

WORSHIP + READING PLAYLIST

I can't read in silence. I'm one of those people that needs noise to make me tune my mind to what I'm reading. Not only does it help me focus, but it has always been how I enjoyed to read most. I can remember this being true all the way back to high school and especially in college.  I would listen to my iPod with headphones whenever I had to study at school or in the super quiet library. Another one of my favorite things to do is to listen to music when I read on road trips. Just thinking about reading with my headphones in the warm car makes me want to travel right now. ;) It's always been the best way for me to enjoy reading even more.

It has even been so true that I have a couple of albums I associate directly with books I was reading when I listened for the first time. Isn't that funny?! Is anyone else like this too or is my mind just so music associative? I remember listening to the new (at the time) Adele album as I was reading Water for Elephants. I was flying to Florida with my parents and sister for vacation and now whenever I hear that album it always makes me think of that book, those sandy beaches, and the sunny balcony I spent so much time reading on during our summer vacation.

If you are like me when it comes to reading with music, yay I'm not alone in this! And this post is especially for you. If you think I'm weird and crazy and could never imagine reading AND listening to music at the same time, first of all, try it sometime and second of all, this playlist is still for you. Today I'm sharing the Spotify playlist I recently made for doing my Bible reading plan, and even if you don't want to listen while you read, these are songs you'll still want to add to your Jesus music repertoire. It's not a finished list in the least, but I've been loving it so far this year.

Just to name a few of the artists on the playlist:
Sovereign Grace Music
Audrey Assad
Bart Millard
Andrew Peterson
Shane & Shane

Some of my top favorites you will hear are "All Creatures of Our God and King," "All Glory Be to Christ," "O Praise the Name," "Prayer," and "Grace That Is Greater." So if nothing else, listen to those first.



This playlist will continue to grow and change throughout the year I'm sure. I would love to know your favorites right now too, so please drop them below in the comments.

Happy reading AND listening! 😊
-Emily

HOMEMADE PIZZA NIGHT + DELISH NO YEAST DOUGH RECIPE

I need to talk to y'all about pizza. My family could have pizza night once a week (and often times, we do haha). Anybody else? I guess it's pretty fitting that we moved to the pizza capital of the US - Chicago. Deep dish pizza really is all that it's talked up to be, guys. If you are ever in the Chicago area you n e e d to try Lou Malnati's or Geno's East for some amazing Chicago style pizza. It's so different than your regular pizzas out there. But that's not what this post is about. ;) It's about the fantastic pizza you can make at home!

I have made homemade pizzas in the past that were just average. Too much plain-tasting sauce. The crust was soggy in the middle. Not a whole lot of flavor. But THIS pizza was way way tastier and so easy, and definitely not average! My husband (who is a big pizza l o v e r) could not stop raving about my homemade pizza on Friday night. That's the best feeling as a wife!! And I do have to admit, I was really surprised myself because I have always been a canned pizza crust kind of girl but this was BETTER. 

What was so different about this pizza, you ask? 

The first thing we loved more about this pizza was the dough! 1) You don't need yeast!!! (so many praise hands), 2) it was fluffy and fully baked in the middle, 3) golden crispy on the bottom (not burnt or white/underbaked), and 4) it didn't taste like flavorless cardboard (as homemade dough sometimes does). Also, you don't have to pre-bake the dough before putting toppings on which is just another plus.

The second thing we loved was the sauce and it was so simple to put together. It was the most delicious, flavorful companion to that perfect dough. Here's how to make it!

HOMEMADE PIZZA SAUCE

Ingredients

1 jar of marinara sauce 

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Bring all ingredients to a simmer in a sauce pan. 

Note: I actually had about 1/4 cup of sauce left over that I didn't put on the pizza. My husband likes to have a marinara dipping sauce so it worked perfectly to have some left over! Just use your own judgement on whether to use it all or not based on the size of your pizza - be generous with covering the dough minus about 1 inch around the edges, but as a general rule less is more here. 

NO YEAST PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk (plus 2 tbsp more if your dough seems too dry to combine)

1/4 cup room temp/softened unsalted butter  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare baking sheet or pizza pan with nonstick spray.

2. Combine all dough ingredients in a bowl and mix until dough ball forms. I like to use my hands to crumble up the butter into pea-sized crumbles of butter + dough. (This is something I learned from my mother-in-law when making homemade biscuits. ;)

3. Roll dough ball out onto a floured surface with a rolling pin. This dough can be quite sticky at first! I rolled mine to be about 1/4 inch thick. (I didn't have the prettiest edges on this pizza, but I'll make that better next time!)

4. Move dough onto prepared baking sheet or pizza pan. Now it's time to add your pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings. 

*For toppings I used my homemade pizza sauce, a blend of Mexican and mozzarella shredded cheese, diced onions, green peppers, and pepperonis.*

5. Bake for 15 minutes until underneath dough is golden brown. 

And that's it! This recipe has officially been added to our favorites list and I can't wait to try it with other toppings. Stock up on your favorite pizza toppings and get this pizza cooking on your next Friday night, guys. You won't be disappointed!

Emily 

FAVORITES FROM 2017

2017 absolutely flew by. Was it like that for you? I know people probably say that about every year that comes and goes, but really, THIS year FLEW by more than the others. I'm going to blame having a one-year-old growing right before my eyes and our big move to Illinois, but maybe it's just because I'm getting OLD? Could also be a three-way tie...

As a big wrap up, I thought I would blog some of my favorite things from the year. Favorite memory, kitchen item, book, make up, food, candle, vacation - just all across the board new favorites from my 2017. I love reading these kinds of blog posts. So in no particular order, here are my 2017 favorites.


Music: Audrey Assad
This was the year of Audrey for my husband and I. We took countless road trips to and from Louisville and Chicago and she was a regular on every trip. If you're looking for someone to listen to during your Bible reading time or just some new worship tunes, go listen to her Inheritance album right now. I listened to these three over and over this year and I linked them to Youtube for you: Abide With Me, Good to Me, and Holy, Holy, Holy. 

Vacation: Gatlinburg, Tennessee 
In May the three of us traveled from Louisville to Gatlinburg for a family vacation with my husband's whole family. We had just accepted the job at Crossway so it was such a relief to go on this trip and relax with family before coming home and preparing to move. This place has such a special spot in my heart.  We stayed in a huge cabin on the same street as the Apple Barn (if you've never been to GB or The Apple Barn, seriously GO). Needless to say, it was a great location!

Charlie's 1st Birthday 
On August 4th our baby boy turned ONE. We had already moved to Illinois by that time, so we traveled back to Kentucky for the weekend to celebrate with almost 40 people for his birthday party! It was so special to get to see so many of our family and friends to praise the Lord with us for the first year of Charlie's life. You can read my post about the whole party here. He took his first steps the same weekend as his first birthday, and he's been nonstop ever since.

Kitchen Tool: Immersion Blender(and Homemade Mayo)
I bought myself a Kitchen Aid Immersion Blender with a birthday gift card and it's becoming my favorite kitchen thing! I really got it to attempt a recipe for Whole 30 Mayo and let me tell y'all - it's the BEST mayo you will ever taste and so much healthier. I'll drop my recipe below. So far this mayo is all I've used the stick blender for, so if you have other recipes you like to use an immersion blender with send them my way!

Podcasts: Risen Motherhood 
This year I finally got on the Podcast train. The first one I listened to was Serial (I know, I'm only like years late but whatever). Serial was interesting but I was a little disappointed with the ending to be honest. My favorite podcast is definitely Risen Motherhood! Two sister-in-laws talk about a Christ-centered view of motherhood and daily life and often invite guest speakers on. I usually listen to a podcast while doing dishes, cooking, or in the car on road trips. What are your favorite podcasts of the year??

Concert: Ellie Holcomb(and getting to meet her!!) 
This is one of my most favorite little memories of 2017. So, on August 17th (the day after my birthday), I was just scrolling through Instagram stories while I was waiting for dinner to come out of the oven, when Ellie's came up. She said she was in Naperville for a free concert for women starting at 7 p.m. at a local church. My Naperville, IL? Free? In 45 minutes? I flipped out - could I make it in time!?  No worries that I had to scarf some food down (I didn't even have time to wait for the hot dinner I had cooking!). I rang up my new neighbor friend and she sweetly came along to the concert with me! It was one of those once in a lifetime, last minute, super fun things. And I got to meet her, hug her, and thank her for her music after the concert! 

Book: Wonder by R. J. Palacio 
When I was in college, I had several friends read and recommend this book (especially since we were becoming teachers), but I just never got around to it. Yall - it's amazing! It's a quick and easy read that every student, teacher, and parent needs to read. So glad I finally did! 

Make Up: Tarte Shape Tape
This is the BEST concealer. And it smells weridly good too (like licorice!). It retails for $27 at Ulta which I know is more expensive than what you would find at Target, but it lasts for a long time and is worth every penny if you need some coverage and eye brightening. 

Candle: Target Sun Kissed Soy Candle
Before this year I had exclusively bought Bath and Body Works candles for yearssss. I got this candle for a friend and then went back and got one for myself because when I smelled it burning in her house I had to have it! It's a soy candle (Bath and Body are not soy), and it burned so pleasantly and not super loudly (unlike Bath and Body, also). My only complaint was that it didn't burn evenly at all, but I was able to continue using it with a candle warmer. 

Day Trip to Chicago
About a month after we moved to Illinois we took our first train ride into Chicago! The train was a super fun experience but the hour long ride was about Charlie's limit. We walked around downtown, visited Millennium Park, ate Potbelly, and just enjoyed the great weather! Definitely want to go again when it warms up with a list of places to visit in mind. There are some amazing donut shops that I'm dying to try. Hopefully will do that in 2018 ;)

LUSH Sleepy Lotion
This is the most wonderful lavender vanilla lotion EVER. It's also a really pretty purple. I love to put this all over my hands, arms, and legs before bed. The smell really does soothe and make you sleepy. I just ran out and I've been missing it at night so I need to stock up on that again soon!

& being a momma!
Are one-year-olds not the most fun thing in the world?? GOSH. It really is true that becoming a parent opens up a whole new part of your heart that you didn't even know was there and could love another person. Next month Charlie will officially be one and a half. He talks ALL the time. He loves any kind of ball or cooking thing. Some days I feel like we already have a two-year-old on our hands (the independence and the tantrums!!!). Since his first birthday he has cut all 4 pre-molars and now 3 canine teeth, but he's such a good sport about life even though I can tell his gums hurt him A LOT.  He's a little trooper. 

2017 was the first full year of being a parent, and boy am I happy to be called Mom. :) 

I wish you all the best 2018! 

Emily