How Many of "You" are There?

I was recently sent this link and it was a fun thing to do - see how many "Stephanie Love's" and "Stephanie Writebol's" there were in the U. S. According to the information I got, there are 599,937 "Stephanie's" in the U. S. and only one "Stephanie Writebol." Now, as for the number of "Stephanie Love's" (my maiden name), there are 210 of us in the U. S. Check it out and see how many of you there are in the U. S. The link is "How Many of Me". It would be fun to have you post your information here - so we can all see "how many of you" there are in the U. S. Happy Saturday!

New Blog on the Block

Do you love food? Do you like to share new recipes? Then check out the new blog, "For the Love of Food," found on the link list to the right. I hear great things are cooking there!

Making Jam with Mom

Each trip back to Missouri is a good time with friends and family. During my last two trips back (July and December), with the help of my mom, I have become quite the "Betty Crocker" and learned to do some canning. When I went back in July, she taught me how to do homemade apple butter and also peach jam. Both turned out really good and I was excited to know how to make these two delicious treats. The apple butter was grandma's recipe so it meant a lot to learn to make it. This past December, we took on a new challenge, making the Cranberry Banana jam that my aunt typically makes, but wasn't able to do this year. While this may not sound like the best jam, it is absolutely wonderful - on top of hot biscuits it is a GREAT treat. We were so excited that it turned out well! We had a fun time making it and spending time together. I love learning those things from mom and knowing that I can do it. I am looking forward to making more and think I have made the decision to have the jam be my first entry in the Sonoma County Fair this summer. I have not decided if it will be the apple butter, peach jam or cranberry banana - but one of those will be the entry that gets me my free ticket :)

Great memories, great times and great jam! Thanks mom!

Finally Caught Up!

With a day off work (for MLK Day), a couple of weeks of being back from Missouri, and back in our normal routine (if that is possible - who knows what normal is???) I finally felt like I was caught up with things and could sit down to write a blog - not that I have incredible things to say, but wanted to update my few readers on how we were doing.

Our visit back to Missouri was really a great time! We were able to celebrate the holidays with our families and spend some time with friends. We were able to spend Christmas day with my parents and extended family as well as Jeremy's grandparents and brother and sister-in-law. We were blessed to find out we were going to be Aunt Steph and Uncle Jeremy again - with Brian and Esther expecting in June. That was a fun Christmas surprise! I have to admit that probably one of my greatest joys over the holidays was spending time with my nephew Ramsey, who is now 6 months old and he is adorable - of course I am a little partial, but it was such fun playing with him and seeing him smile! He is a great little guy!!!!! It was fun being Aunt Steph!

Another highlight of being in Missouri was going to look at Christmas lights with my family and eating at our traditional place, "Porky's!" For all you pork lovers - it is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can tell from the picture, JCrew and others will be proud to see we are getting Ramsey hooked on the "pork" products at a young age :) This is a time I always look forward to - traditions and making memories with the family - what a joy!!!!!!!!

We are glad to be back and getting into a normal routine - it is hard to believe that it is already (as we are calling it with the Jr. High kids) 007!!!! I am eager to see all God has planned for this year. We are excited and blessed to have Jeremy's brother and sister-in-law here with us and are so thankful for the time God is giving us with them. We are looking forward to visits from family and friends! Mission trips, field trips, camps, the birth of our new nephew/niece, celebrating our 2nd anniversary and much more await us in 007 - - - - God is so good and no matter what comes, we must remember that He is always with us and we must seek him first. As we were talking with the Jr. High kids - we are truly on a mission for Christ and may 007 be one exciting mission for Him!!!!!!