Go make your loved ones BREAD!

I don't know about your families- but Leif loves bread. No, I mean he loves bread. Making artisan (crusty baguette type) bread has being on my bucket list / new year's resolution list for years- probably since Leif and I were friends and I found out what an amazing guy he was and really wanted to impress him with my mad baking skills (not that I ever even attempted- but it was a nice thought).... anywhoo. But I've been reading this book about French cooking and baguettes and chocolate (mostly chocolate... and making amazing truffles is on my bucket list now) .... and it's totally inspired me to bake! I can cook fairly well (my mother is to be given the credit for our amazing "home economics" courses), but I rarely bake and never bake bread since I moved out on my own. (Mom baked whole wheat bread - with a soft crust.... which we totally took for granted growing up and I now miss!) But as Leif and I move in on month three of being married, it's high time for me to bake this man some bread. So yesterday- I found a pin I'd put on my pinterest recipe board about 5 min bread and started into it at about 5 p.m. yesterday. Well.  It's 5 min bread- once you've let it rise for 2 hours, and if you don't count the baking time... so at 8 p.m. I pulled this out of the oven...

We went a little bizerk with my new creation and immediately sunk into buttery, fresh bread heaven.... oh. my. word.... I've been dreaming about fresh baked creations and this soared above my expectations and perched in the tree of my dreams and sang lovely songs to me. It truly was out of this world. And the best part- is that it was SO easy! Here's the link.  Go check it out! Another great thing about this recipe is that once you've made a big batch of it- you stick the dough in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and it really does take 5 min to prep after that initial 2 hour rise. Let me know how yours turns out! Oh- they say to let it cool or the crust will be too tough and the dough spungy... well, we just couldn't wait THAT long- so we didn't and it was divine and it was just as amazing this a.m. as I nibbled left-overs after I made Leif a sandwich out of it with our panni maker (George Forman Grill) 

Enjoy! Go make your loved ones some BREAD!

Love,

Arielle

The Wedding pt. 2

The Kiss!! 

We walked out to The Piano Guys instrumental version of Better Together by the Turtles - a song that a close friend told us is our theme song. ;) Very happy song... and brings back wonderful memories of walking back down the isle looking into my family and friend's faces smiling from ear to ear ... so happy... and we are better together. :)

 

      

And.... we are living happily ever after! 

The End

P.S. Pics of reception will be posted at some point... stay tuned! 

The Wedding pt. 1

Finally! The story about our wedding... continued! :) Seems appropriate  as we get ready to celebrate our first Valentine's day as a married couple!

Here are a few photos of right before the wedding- after I arrived with my bridesmaids, parents and grandmother and adopted grandmother.

Wilson, our ring-beror

              

                    Leif and his best-man and brother, Austin

A moment of prayer together before everything began... I didn't want him to see me! 

My bridesmaids ditched me for picture time- so my dad helped me!

My mother-in-law and my lovely bridesmaids and maid of honour

(left to right: my mother-in-law: Amber, Ring beror: Wilson, the flower girls, 

father-in-law: Bryan 

My parents: Patrick and Beverly L.

Leif's Parents: Bryan and Amber A. 

And then it all started... Everyone lined up - I saw my former landlords wave through the little chapel window and heard the sounds of the wedding party's processional start. It was a recording of some of Leif's instrumental guitar music. I wanted to incorporate music from my favorite artist! Val- my wedding coordinator (and life-saver!!) handed us our bouquets that we had all  made the day before (I bought the flowers bulk through Sam's Club) and Savannah P. started down the isle, followed by Anna G., Savannah S. and my sister and maid-of-honour, Emma. Wilson, the ring beror walked down after that and I stood behind my flower-girls wondering if they really were going to walk down the isle. The stood at the entrance  hand-in-hand and peered around the corner at all of the people. I whispered that it was time for them to go... and Val encouraged them as well... and they started walking. :) YEAH! Then time really did stand still as Val closed the door for a moment, the music changed to an instrumental version Me and You by Kenny Chesney by Bryan Rason (click here for the link).... and I was really glad that my dad was walking me down the isle. I held his arm tight and took a picture in my mind of that moment.

The doors opened and (whew, I'm listening to that song right now and it's making me cry... I am so blessed to be married to this man!) ... I saw my grandma, and everyone else who was there for just a moment- and then I saw Leif. I slowed my pace and wanted this moment to last forever...

                                

It didn't go by too fast or too slow. I hung on each word and each moment, trying to memorize it all. This is the day I dreamed of... and it was more perfect and amazing than I imagined. Leif looked stunning, everything was perfect, sunny and most importantly I could feel the Lord there so radiantly. 

We didn't want to do sand combining or a unity candle, so we decided to wash each-other's feet as a symbol of our caring and serving each-other selflessly as Jesus washed each of the disciple's feet in John 13:1-17.

Our vows exchanged- we wrote our own

A Quote

Source