I mean, it IS officially summer now, right? I think it is only fitting that Food Friday gets a little time away, a little bit of much needed relaxation.

We are SO BLESSED to share the news with you that we bought our very first home!! The feelings I have when I think of it are pretty indescribable. It is momentous moment, a milestone, an incredible joy. But if we are going to call a spade a spade, it is also a TON of work. A house that we put a offer on a year ago (yes it has been a year of practicing patience and trusting God, as noted here as well), we are now attempting to make into a home to call our own. But two years of an uninhabited house has left us with our hands full. Take out meals have been our friend for the past month, and dirty clothes, paint stained hands and aching backs have been a truth of our days. But I can’t WAIT to show you all that we are doing/done/get to grow our family in!

To get just a small idea, here is a “before” shot of our new house…our new home….

and the back…(yes, those were waist high weeds…)

(Stay tuned for the “after”!)

That all being said, as you can imagine, take out meals from Cotixan and Panda Express, as delicious as they are, don’t make great Food Friday posts. So, as much as I HATE to announce a hiatus for Food Friday, my plate is officially full….and sadly to say, not with food.  We will come back with more meals to share once we fire up that new gas range in our brand spakin’ new home! For now…don’t forget to stop by tomorrow for a dose of the cutest little boys you have ever seen…with dinosaurs…and silly faces galore!

Nothing quite melts my heart like a dad who is willing to snuggle or kiss their little one for the camera. It not only melts my heart, but I also believe that never does a man look so strong as he does when he is not afraid to be soft, affectionate and loving with his children.  I LOVE my job and love every time I have the honor of capturing a “daddy”.

To all my awesome dads and all the dads out there…..Happy Father’s Day!

In celebration, here are just a few of some of my favorite captures of the dads and fatherhood:

[ And of course a quick shout out for my husband!  I was so excited to see who he would be as a father, and he is a better dad to Dayla then I ever could have imagined.  To one of the best dad's I know...to my husband...to the love of my life and one of the greatest blessings God has ever brought into my life...truly my better half.....Happy Father's Day babe!]

Last week Daniel had to fly to Dallas for a couple days for work.  I realized when he was gone that I eat differently, mainly just not as well or gourmet as I do when he is cooking!  HA.  The other thing that I realized is that when he is not home, I eat a lot of my meals standing up in the kitchen.  It is not out of necessity or because I am in a hurry by any means.  I am not sure exactly why I do it, I think I do it because it just feels less lonely.

I wouldn’t recommend this way of eating, eating while standing that is, for as a friend of mine pointed out, we should slow down, appreciate our meals, make it a ritual that is to be blessed and not taken for granted.  Meals should be not just a necessity, but also a time of love, laughter, and blessing.  We should let the food nourish both our bodies and our family time.

But heaven knows, there is a lot of out there who eat some meals standing up in the kitchen.  So this week’s Food Friday is in support for all the people who eat standing up.This is a taco I made from all the little odds and ends in our fridge one night when Daniel was away.  It was pretty gourmet compared to the bowl of oatmeal I usually endure.  And of course, it was eaten standing up.

Today’s Feature: Everything in the Fridge Taco

You have to realize that this regular Food Friday blog post started mostly because I have a husband who is passionate about cooking new things (and I thought it would be fun to get better at photographing food!).  I love cooking too, but not to the extent that he does.  I do play a very important role as well, eating the new things.  And now photographing them too!  These are both essential to the food process,  I am sure of it.

With that said, I am going to proudly share with you that Daniel made English muffins the other day, and they were AWESOME.  I am totally proud. And Thomas would be proud too.  And of course, yes, I was there to eat them.  Although it was him who photographed them this time….whoops! I am slacking on my duties.

Without further ado, the English muffins debut!  You too can make your very own if you get the amazing (and yes, intense) bread book “The Baker’s Apprentice”

Today’s Feature: English Muffins

Okay, this is very loosely related to food.  I am just going to confess that upfront.  I could make excuses (like, I have been SO busy that it is unbelievable) or tell you that we just closed escrow for our first home (which is CRAZY exciting, awesome, and most the reason I am so busy), but I am not the kind of girl who likes to tangent from the point (yeah right) or make excuses (too late). So I am just going to share something fun we did ON a Friday (see that connection there?)

Last Friday we had the pleasure of going as a family to the PETCO suite to watch a Padres game, our first baseball game with Dayla.  Much to our surprise, our little 2.5 year old girl LOVED IT and cried when we had to go!  You would have thought that the highlight for her was being in the suite, or meeting “Red Ruff” the dog and Marmaduke (who threw the first pitch), or even that she got her dancing self on the jumbo-tron.  But much to our surprise the part she liked the best was eating two bags of cracker jacks, shelling her own peanuts (there is the food connection to this post), doing the wave, and ACTUALLY WATCHING the game!  She loved hearing all about the man who had to take his turn to hit the ball with the stick and glowed with delight whenever the crowd roared in applause for a run.

So for all you baseball fans out there….

Today’s Feature: Cracker Jack’s

A couple other shots….just for fun.

This one below was literally Dayla’s face the entire time she watched the game.