Drool worthy cookies.

Yeah you read that. Let me introduce to you...BANANA BUTTERSCOTCH COOKIES!

Yeah, you're welcome.

All you need are 4 ingredients, and you probably already have them all. I literally can't remember if I've blogged about this recipe before, but you know what? If I have, twice can't hurt. These cookies are insane...and by insane I mean so freaking tasty I can eat 8 of them in like a minute.

All you need;

A box of yellow cake mix (any brand is fine)

Butterscotch chips

2 cups oats (I used whole grain)

3 large, very mushy bananas

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Get out a large bowl and mush the bananas together until they are at a paste-like consistency.

Then, add in the yellow cake mix. Only do a LITTLE AT A TIME, its a little easier to stir that way!

Add in 2 cups of oats (also do a little at a time), and to answer your question, YES its going to get very, very, verrryyyy thick! Like, you'll have a serious arm workout...I much prefer doing it this way so I don't have to spend 30 minutes cleaning out my kitchen aid mixer!

Last, add in your butterscotch chips. Use half the bag, or use the whole bag. Honestly, I use almost ALL of it every time!!

Once you have that all mixed up, place teaspoon sized (or just slightly bigger) portions on a non-stick cookie sheet. 

Bake for ONLY 12-13 minutes. No longer or the butterscotch starts to burn to the pan (trust me). Don't keep them in longer waiting for them to "brown" either, remember these are cake cookies and are supposed to be moist (ugh, that's my least favorite word...but I had too).

Once finished, remove from the cookie sheet and place them on racks to cool for 5-10 minutes! Once they are cool, you'll immediately want to place them in a sealed container to keep them soft!

This makes a ton of little cookies, so be hungry when you make these. Can't wait to see what you guys think!

{maternity shoot}

HAPPY FRIDAY, FRIENDS!!

Obviously, that is not my adorable pregnant belly seen below. That would be a friend from church. She and her husband asked if I'd be interested in a maternity shoot this Spring and of course I jumped at the chance, and we made it happen one evening earlier this week! Heather is seriously beautiful, and she has the most adorable little family, plus a little guy on the way! I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Yikes. Any more beautiful faces and I think your screen might burst ;) hope you enjoyed.

Getting to know your Great Grandma!

I had this idea the other day, to take my Great Grandma Agnes out to dinner for her birthday, and really spend time getting to know her. Honestly, how many of us can say we know that much about the early life of our grandparents? I'm lucky enough to have a Great Grandma, she's been through so much. Guys, she was born in 1930. 1930! Can you imagine the things she's seen and been through!? She was almost in tears that we took time out of our lives to take HER out, and celebrate her 84th birthday.

Meet my Great Grandma Agnes.

I asked her lots of questions, and so did Caleb, her responses to some had us cracking up, others were  more on the serious side. It was a tremendous night and I thought I'd share what I learned about her and the questions we asked her.

Whats your middle name? Lois

What did you like best about High School? Probably all the cute boys, if I'm being honest! Oh, and also English class...cause I wasn't a whizz in math at all. 

Who was President when you were born? Oh heck, I don't even know! I know Roosevelt was around there somewhere. (Caleb googled it, it was Hoover!)

What was your husband's name? Lyndel. Kayla, you do know he got to see you before he passed, right? (this almost brought tears to my eyes. I never had the privilege of really meeting my great grandpa, so this meant so much to me)

What was the first job you ever worked? I was a stay at home mom once I got married, but the only job I ever had was when I was young, at a cosmetic counter...selling all the pretty make up.

When did you find the Lord? Lemme tell ya, I was a trouble maker until I met Lyndel. His entire family were devout Christians, but heavy drinkers...some of them strayed away, but not us. I've never looked back!

When did you become a mom? I was only 20 years old when I had your grandpa Tony! I don't recommend getting married at 16 these days though like I did.

What's the craziest thing you've ever done? (she couldn't stop laughing - she said she had too many stupid stories about all the silly things she'd done we'd be there all night...and she wants me to ask her again next time we do this)

She ate her birthday treat that she made sure to save room for... and continued to talk about her random stories and we just couldn't get enough.

We talked about politics, our faith, food, the weather, our dreams and everything in between. We found out she got married at the young age of 16, talked about how she grieved over the passing of one of her son's, Mark...and how she still hang dries her clothes outside when the weather is right.

She confessed that she thinks Bill Clinton is "quite a looker", and hopes she can live to see a female be President of the US. We asked her if she ever found interest in anyone else after Great Grandpa passed, and she said that God had other plans; "besides, who wants to cook and clean for another man, and pay for a wedding all over again?" then she winked at us. When I asked her what she would do more of if she could? She said without a doubt, she would travel.

Caleb wanted to have a little fun with her. Back story...any of you who know us for real, know that my husband LEGITIMATELY wants to name our future son Thor...its not a joke. So he asked "Grandma Agnes, what do you think of the name Thor?" --- "the name what?" -- "THOR...T-H-O-R"... "what do you mean?" (I'm cracking up at this point)...he says "like, for a baby boy", and she started laughing so hard she had to put the napkin over her face and said "Caleb honey, to be frank, I don't quite like it". She just made my night. I love her spunk and sassiness. 

I hope to be just like her.

Cheers, to 84 years!

Also a huge birthday hug to one of my favorite ladies, Anna! I'm so happy to have "met" you through this crazy blog-land...and I hope we can make it official this summer!

Happies, its a thing.

Last week, Caleb had the worst cold ever. I'm talking a sneezing, coughing, mouth-breathing, snotty, yucky type cold. I took care of him the best I could, and by Saturday it went away. Guess who started to feel like absolute CRAP the minute he began feeling better? You guessed it. When you get married you share more than a last name...you share germs too!

I'm finally feeling a little better, but hoping its gone by this weekend! So instead of focusing on my yucky head cold, I'm choosing to look at my "happies" as of late. Yes, its a word.

When your sister in law snapchat's you a picture of her in the cutest dress, and you realize...um, I tried that on the DAY BEFORE and almost bought it, too. Talk about soulmates.

Don't you like my socks?? They go so well with the dress, I know.

Doing 3 photography consultations last week. Whenever I don't have the best of days, I remind myself that I get to make someone's wedding day more enjoyable, by delivering them awesome wedding day shots. Know what makes it all worth it? When the bride texts me with "HOLY CRAP  KAYLA! THESE ARE AMAZING!!"... and I can breathe a sigh of relief, and happiness...that makes all the late nights of editing, hours of chugging coffee, and sore feet worth it.

Spending the entire Sunday being sick, but it being totally worth it because its the first nice Spring day out in forever...and you're surrounded by little ones...and getting to watch your husband be extremely attractive while "coaching" basketball.

Finally creating a (tiny) about me page. My new blog gal Kelli, made me aware I needed one of these ASAP so we could tell how freakishly alike we were. Turns out its true, she's my twin separated at birth. I'm just kidding, she's the cutest though, and has the best blonde hair ever. No, she didn't pay me to say any of that. But its all true...so go check her out right meow.

Speaking of meow...I'm still rocking out to Katy Perry's CD, yes...this many months after she released Prism. Don't judge.

Linking up with the sweetest, Shanna!

Enjoy your hump day!!

OMGFROZEN!

Happy April first! I'm a loser and have no jokes up my sleeve...only a really fun post! ;)

My favorite couple in the whole wide world, Erin and Jared came over last weekend and surprised us with the latest Disney movie, Frozen. Heard of it? ;) I kid...of course you have, unless you've been living under a rock.

Much to my own disbelief, Caleb and I hadn't been able to make time to hit up the theatre and see said movie. It devastated us...and hearing everyone else talk about how incredible it was, just made me more sad we hadn't had the chance to see it. So when they surprised us with the film...it pretty much made my week!!

I had an insanely busy week last week (which would explain why I didn't workout....once.....whoops), so waiting until this past weekend to watch it was killing me!! Friday night, Caleb and I were finally able to watch it and O-M-G. Not that you guys probably care at all, unless you're huge Disney fans (which is pretty much a requirement to read my blog...hehe), but I'm going to list my favorite moments! 

Olaf. I meaaaan, he was making me laugh so hard. What's even better? I love the actor. When doing research (yes, I do research, read up on trivia, and check out factoids about these movies!), they said that a lot of "Olaf's script" was made up in-the-moment by Josh Gad. He freakin cracks me up!

The fact that they didn't make Elsa a villain. When reading about the movie, the directors thought about doing this...but realized it would've taken the movie into a whole new direction, and they steered away from that. THANKFULLY. I love the fact that this is about two sisters, and that Elsa was only trying to protect Anna, even if that meant putting herself in total isolation (saying that out loud, does sound a tad nerdy...I realize this)!

Let It Go. I mean, the whole scene in this movie looks like an all out music video. I think I recall saying "WEERKKKK IT ELSAAA!!" as she strutted to the patio of her ice palace. That song though, it just makes me happy.

Sven. I could NOT get over how darn cute he was as a baby Moose. I mean, I want one. He was adorable, and just a fun character to watch throughout the movie. My favorite part? Near the end of the movie when they get a new sleigh (or whatever it is), and he looks at Kristoff like he's all that.

PS - if you've done any research at all, or read about the hypothesis on Frozen, you might have seen the apparent appearance of Rapunzel and Eugene on coronation day! Reading up on people's theories on Disney movie's weirdly excites me...and finding hidden cameos like this are so fun!

I could literally go on and on about this film, and I won't even tell you how much I've read about the making, creating, song writing, etc. It's just so great, if you haven't seen it yet...RUN, don't walk, to your nearest store to pick it up! This is definitely a movie I'll watch at LEAST 6 times a year :)

The rest of my weekend was nice, Caleb and I ran some much needed errands on Saturday, and our Sunday was literally jam packed. Church, photography consultation, children's ministry luncheon at the park, an hour of rest, and then youth group at church again. We were extremely busy, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Hope you had a great weekend, too!

PS - have you entered the giveaway that Ashley & I have for you? If not, go now!! A few days left to win yourself a gift card to the greatest place on Earth...Target! Obviously.

Spring Mani/Pedi's!

Spring is here!! If you're anything like me, you almost NEVER paint your nails, but with the fun bright colors I see out all the time, I think its time for a change of pace. Time to have some fun with my nails. My girl Ashley and I have put together 5 beyond adorable spring mani/pedi combos for ya!! We also have a fun surprise at the end!

Blanc/Go Ginza

Okay, can we talk about how obsessed I am with this gold color? I think I like it because its so different than the original BRIGHT Spring color most women would gravitate too...and hey, it would look GREAT with a tan!

Cocktails & Coconuts/Spaghetti Strap

Another super fun, but creative spring nail combo? BLUE! Again, its not a typical "go-to" for most, so its a fun way to stay outside of the box.

Find me an Oasis/Bikini So Teeny

Now head over to Ashley's post and see the other two adorable combo's we came up with! She's miss fashion herself so trust me, you'll love em.

As for the surprise? We want YOU to try out some of these colors! So we're giving you a chance at a $20 gift card to Target!! You can spoil yourself to some cute nail color, or a new Spring top...or whatever you want, really! Just use the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will end this Saturday, April 5th, and the winner will be announced via email!
Have a fun week!

Embrace your crazy.

Rules of blogging? Never take a bad picture, don't show how horribly unclean your house is, and always make things seem better than they truly are.

You know what we say? Break the rules, break 'em all.

Be you, show off that messy apartment, and take ridiculous pictures for the world to see.

After our day date at the salon, Erin and I were taking actual head shots for our "professional profiles"....

and things got a little out of hand, and instead of deleting them all, we decided to embrace the crazy!

Blogging is hard to do, sometimes. We (especially as women) tend to belittle ourselves, and compare ourselves to every other woman out there...

"but she has a better house than me..."

"but her hair is longer than mine..."

"she's so crafty, she's so pretty...."

"and that body!? How does she find the time to stay so fit?!"

Guess what? Girlfriend isn't perfect either. That same blogger, friend, or co-worker that you find yourself comparing yourself too, she's got issues of her own. She's got insecurities of her own. Guess what? She might even compare herself to YOU.

One of my favorite quotes is; "don't compare your diary, to someone else's high light reel"

Erin and I want this to serve as a reminder that not every picture is perfect...not every apartment is decked out in Anthropologie, and not every marriage is as perfect as social media makes it seem. We live life, and keep it real. We're silly, we make ugly faces, and our lives are not perfect, but we're going with it. We invite you to show us your crazy, too. Come on...don't leave us looking like the only ones ;)

How about we take this weekend to uplift each other? I encourage you to let go of your insecurities, and love those crazy pictures of yourself, show em off... give yourself a good laugh :)

Happy Friday!