Teal and Coral :)

I have recently found myself to be obsessed with the teal/coral color combination. I want to get rid of everything in my house and replace it with pretty bright colors! I love teal for furniture pieces and coral for accent pieces. I have also recently been drawn to colorful eclectic patterns as well.

This nursery is so gorgeous.

I love this vintage slider swing!

It would be even cuter with these coral pillows thrown on.

I would love, love, love to have this dresser in my house some where!

and I would probably top it with a lamp like this one...

...and some beautiful peonies as well.

and I just adore these pillows

The teal and coral work in apparel too!

I'm inspired now! I'm going to do some re-decorating and use these colors! So excited!

I hope you liked the pictures!

Love,
Jessica

I Am Not Finished.

So I haven't posted in a while. I only have a few more weeks of college left so needless to say I've been busy! I'm exhausted and my mind is scrambled! Please forgive me but it may be awhile until the next entry!

Until then, may God bless you!

She turned her can'ts into cans, and her dreams into plans.

love,
Jessica

Wedding Bells!

So I have wedding fever! No we are not getting remarried or anything but I can still get excited for everyone else who is! Many of are friends are getting married this summer and it has left me with weddings on the brain! This post is dedicated to all of them and praying them a life full of love and happiness together!

The 3 big important things that most girls have dreamed about their whole lives: dress, colors, flowers! I never did, it wasn't a big deal in my family. My mom pushed establishing yourself and being educated, never made finding a husband a priority or even a concern at all. Thank you for that Mommy!

Consider the following my girlish daydreams!

THE DRESS
I am obsessed with these eco-friendly dresses and even COTTON dresses!! Beautiful, green, and comfortable! How perfect!

jessicaiverson

I love the lace detail on this one.

threadheadcreations

My favorite! ^

thecottonbride

If we ever do renew our vows and I can get a dress I definitely want one of those beauties!

Colors/Flowers:
For spring and summer weddings I love the bright colors.

mypersonalartist

thebeautybridal

betsywhite

myweddingplace

Such a neat idea!

Tulips are my favorite flower :)

Cake/Decorations

They all look so beautiful and delicious!

Love the vintage feel of the jars, so unique!

Very cute and inexpensive way to add lots of color and spend little money!

Another cute inexpensive way to add lots of color without spending a fortune on flowers.

I'm so excited! I hope I have a daughter some day so I can help her plan her wedding, I have so many ideas! But of course there will be no pressure to find a husband and get married as soon as possible. But when/if it does happen, no matter how long it takes, I will be thrilled to start planning :)

And here are some pictures from my very own wedding.

Thanks for reading!
Love, Jessica

Year Number One

It has already been a whole year since I married my best friend. It feels like only a few months to me though.

We were married on March 13th, 2010, in Pocola OK. The tiny little town I grew up in. At Trinity Baptist Church. Our wedding was simple. Not everything went as planned. I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to decorate, I didn't finish the wedding favors (which would have been daisy seeds with a cute little poem attached), I lost my mascara, I forgot to put out the guest sign in book, there were family members missing from the pictures, Only half of the music got played during the reception, and the only cake I got was the piece Ryan put in my mouth. But I look back on all of this and laugh and I laughed about it then to. All of these things were not what I cared about on that day.

It was really important to us to focus on what we were there for. It wasn't to impress people with all the small details of flowers, cake, and entertainment. It was to pronounce our love for one another to God, our loved ones, and each other. The most important part of the day was the promise we made to each other that we would be together forever.

Sitting here a year later and counting my blessings I am so happy. I have the best husband I could ever dream of having, I have wonderful in-laws and family whom I love very much, I have a loving home to be at every day, and the most beautiful happy baby in the whole world!

This past year has been the best one of my life. So much has happened in our lives in such a short amount of time. All wonderful things!
I so look forward to the many many years to come with my amazing man!

Love always,
Jessica Hatcher

Brown Sugar Meatloaf

I have been slacking this week. At least in the blog area; it has been very busy around here! Friday my dear old Daddy was in town to pick up my brother. He brought two of my little brothers with him; Jacob and Jared. I cooked :)

I really get so much pleasure out of feeding people. We had mashed potatoes, broccoli, biscuits, and meatloaf.

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 3/4 cup crushed saltine crackers, 10 crackers

Instructions:

- heat oven to 350 degrees, grease 5X9 loaf pan (I used a 7X11 and didn't need to grease it)
- press brown sugar into bottom of pan, spread with ketchup
- mix all remaining ingredients, shape into loaf (I mixed with a rubber spoonula so I didn't have to get my hands in the mixture)
- place loaf on top of ketchup (also did not shape into loaf, just spooned it into pan and spread out with spoon)
- bake for 1 hour

I don't have any pictures of my actual loaf

Everyone loved it! Except for Josh who is apparently freaked out by ketchup. I was surprised at how good it was. It was easy to make but takes a long time to cook. I like this recipe because the ketchup isn't overwhelming. I will probably be making this again.

Love,
Jessica

Vegetable Pot Pie

Good Evening!

I recently discovered that I love to cook! It's fun and exciting to me. Every week I try out a new recipe and I think it would be fun to share! This week is vegetabale pot pie!

Ingredients:

- 1 can cream of potato soup
- 1 can mixed vegetables, drained
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 9inch pie crusts, thawed
- 1 egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

- Set the oven to 375 degrees F
- Combine potato soup, vegetables, milk, thyme, pepper
- Spoon into bottom crust, cover with top crust, crimp edges to seal, slit top crust, brush with egg.
- Bake 40 minutes, cool 10 min.

My advice :)

To wake up the thyme spice put it into your hand and kind of crush it before you add it. Also make sure the second pie crust doesn't get too soft before you try to put it on top or it will be hard to handle!Another idea is to add some brocolli to the mixture, yumm! I'm also serving chicken breasts seasoned with savory (crushed to waken the flavor up).

Finished product:
drumroll please ..... ... ..

Ryan's and Josh's reaction/s:
Ryan said: "Man this is good, you've got to make this more often."
Josh said: "This is so good! Oh am I not supposed to eat yet?" and "I'm gonna eat the whole pie!"

My reaction:
It WAS very good and so easy to make, I will for sure be making this more often!

Thanks for reading! :)
Jessica

This and That (Epiphany)

WARNING: This post will probably be very scattered and may not even have any flow to it at all.

Let's see, I'm not sure where to start. This past week has been long and hard. I am utterly exhausted and keep getting headaches from lack of sleep. The top tooth Elijah has been working on for awhile finally popped through. We all slept a little better last night yay! He has been much happier today and probably in a lot less pain! Also, he is mobile now! He has been scooting around backwards all day, getting a little bit further each time before he gets upset that he isn't going where he wants to be going.

Wednesday at church Ryan and I shared our life stories in CBI. I reflected on my childhood church and how I was saved. I was always told in order to go to heaven I had to ask Jesus into my heart,really mean it, believe he died on the cross and rose again, and repent of my sins. I also needed to profess my faith in front of the whole church and be baptized. Then after doing all of that, I could go to heaven.

That is A LOT of work for a ten year old to do. My own parents would ask less from me in exchange for their love and care. Surely my Heavenly Father, my Creator would still love me if I didn't do all of those things wouldn't He? So for the next ten years I walked around wondering is Jesus really living in my heart, did I really mean it when I said that prayer, and would he still let me in Heaven even though I still sin, and if not then what was the point of Jesus dieing on the cross at all? He died as payment for our sin so surely repenting doesn't get you into Heaven right?

Looking back on that now I think what does that prayer even mean? I have no idea what it means to ask Jesus into my heart and I defintitely couldn't tell you where to find that in the Bible. Turns out they were wrong about how to get into Heaven.

The Holy Bible, the words of God tell me that all I have to do is believe in him and I will have everlasting life! John 3:16 along with several other places throughout the Bible tell me this. I get into Heaven by the grace of God and nothing else! I could say that prayer from when I was ten every day for the rest of my life and it wouldn't get me into Heaven. I could do good works for the rest of my life and it wouldn't satisify God because he is already satisfied! He has received his payment, the death of his only son Jesus was that payment and the ONLY thing God wants from ALL of us, EACH and EVERY person on this Earth, is for us to believe in him. Isn't that amazing?

There are a few more things I could talk about but frankly I'm barely keeping my eyes open and they can't really follow the amazing revelation I had above^ so I will end this post here and maybe get some rest!

Thank you God for sending your only Son to die for my sins so that I could live with you in Heaven eternally just for believing in You.

LOve always,
Jessica :)