Weekend fun and food.

This past Thursday I made Zack and I dinner. I had a pork tenderloin left over from a previous meal and it needed to be used. So, I found a recipe for cherry glazed pork tenderloin. This recipe actually called for 2 pork tenderloins so I halved it. I paired the pork tenderloin with salad and sweet potatoes. The meat was really nicely flavored and pretty easy to prepare. Zack and I both really liked this recipe.

This past weekend Zack's youngest brother Matt came for a visit. Matt was supposed to be getting to our house on Saturday morning at about 8:30. Zack and I got up at about 8 and started to make some breakfast. We had cinnamon rolls, bacon, and fresh fruit. Matt arrived at our house just as we were finishing up breakfast preparations. After breakfast, Zack and Matt played the Wii for a while until we decided to go play frisbee golf.



Matt has become pretty good at frisbee golf. He plays pretty frequently with his friends at school. Zack and I have not had quite as much experience. Zack has played several times with his brothers and fathers...and I have played one other time. I was REALLY bad at this game, but we had a good time playing it together. I, of course, came in last, but it was fun getting to spend the time with Zack and Matt.


After frisbee, we went back to the house to grab some lunch. We made portabello roast beef sandwiches. Zack and I have had these a couple times and I knew that Matt would probably like them (He went back for seconds, so I think that they I can call that a success!).

After Lunch, Zack and Matt went and threw an ultimate frisbee and hit some softballs. I stayed home and dd some things around the house and to get dinner ready. I had given Matt an option of having chicken burritos (a family favorite) or trying a new recipe for chicken tacos. Matt opted for us trying the new recipe. So, I made Presto Chicken Tacos. They were pretty good, but Zack and I agreed that they were not as good as our normal chicken burritos.



After dinner one of Zack's coworkers came over to play board games with us. We played games for a couple of hours during which time we discovered that Matt has not seen a TON of really good movies. So, after finishing our board game we watched The Patriot.


Sunday Morning I got up and made breakfast before church. We made French Toast, bacon and fresh fruit. This is the first time that I ever made french toast and I looked online to find a basic French Toast recipe. I then added some cinnamon and vanilla to the recipe. It turned out pretty good.


After breakfast we headed off to church.

After church Zack and Matt were supposed to be going to play ultimate frisbee. So they ate light lunches and then headed out to play. They played for a couple of hours while I tried to get some things done around the house.

Sunday night for dinner I made Apple Glazed Pork Chops, corn, hash brown casserole, and salad. Zack and Matt both seemed to really like the pork chops.

Sunday night after dinner, our friends Jaclyn and Kevin came over to play a game of Settler's of Catan. The game was pretty close for everyone but me...I must have really poorly placed my settlements, because I was REALLY behind. Matt ended up winning the game in the end...much to Zack's chagrin.

This month our small group is meeting at our house. I had intended on making whiskey sirloin steak as one of the meals while Matt was in town, but I had not carefully enough read the recipe and it ended up needing to marinate over night. So, on Monday night when I got home from work I pulled the marinated steaks out of the refrigerator to cook for dinner. I got home late and thankfully the steaks were not supposed to take too long to cook. I threw them in the oven and tried to get our house straightened up a little before everyone got here. Unfortunately, the meat was supposed to be broiled and the cooking spray on the pan started to burn causing smoke to come pouring out of the oven and into our house. It was hazy in the kitchen and living room. So, I opened some windows and started some fans to try to push all of the smoke out of the house before everyone got here. That didn't really work, and Zack and I were just sitting down to dinner when people started to show up. The meal itself turned out really well and Zack really liked the flavor of the steak. I didn't have any whiskey sitting around so I substituted apple juice and it still gave it a nice flavor. We had some leftover sides to pair with the meat and ended up having a pretty nice dinner last night.

Small group was really good last night despite the low attendance. It has been pretty difficult for everyone to be at small group with different people being out for either sickness or work related reasons. the winter months can get a little crazy. Hopefully attendance will improve as we start into spring.

We have been doing a study on Song of Solomon that has been really good. Each week we watch a video about a different topic and then have discussion. Last night's lesson was on romance. Anna Lauren and Eric led the discussion last night and as always they had a lot of insight to bring to the discussion. We talked about the importance of speaking life into your marriage. They had us go around the room and each spouse would take a moment to tell everyone something that they really love/appreciated about their spouse. The men led and then the wives responded with something that they loved about there husbands. It was really a neat experience. It was meaningful to both hear what your spouse had to say in your praise and to hear what everyone else valued in their own husband/wife.

I am really thankful for the wonderful couples that God has placed in our lives and I am blessed each time we get together whether it is just a time of fellowship or a deeper time of Bible study and worship.