Coconut Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies (Gluten & Dairy Free!)

This is what today looks like:

And this is what today looks like for us:

:) 

For us, snow days have become sweet, unexpected time off from feeling obligated to get things done.  After sliding off the road on our drive to church this morning, we've opted to stay in watching Parks and Rec on Netflix and baking cookies this afternoon and evening.  

Speaking of cookies--I came up with a dairy and gluten free recipe I really like.  Here's what we're snacking on on this snowy Sunday evening.

Coconut Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup gluten free flour (I used sweet sorghum flour)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup oats (GF)

1/2 cup craisins
Shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Set aside a large cookie sheet.  Melt coconut oil, then mix with brown sugar in a large bowl until combined.  Add the almond milk, applesauce, honey and vanilla.  Mix in flour, sea salt, baking soda until combined. Mix in oats and craisins.  Scoop tablespoons onto baking sheets and sprinkle shredded coconut on top. Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool before eating.  

Five days into this gluten and dairy free lifestyle, and I'm feeling super satisfied! Stay safe and warm, pretties!

-J

Baillie & Taylor (Pt. 1)

I am so excited to share these photos with you all.  Baillie and Taylor are an extremely good looking couple and so, so sweet.  And their wedding will be in the lodge at Lake Wedington--where Daniel and I just got married less than two months ago! She has good taste :)

When Baillie reached out to me through the blog a couple of weeks ago and said she was getting married in May, Nat and I knew we needed to get this session in before the holidays to relieve a little of her stress. :) Even though it was FREEZING last Saturday, I'm so glad we were able to make it work! 

Here are a few of my photos from the shoot.  Nat will be sharing hers in the next day or two!

If you're getting together with loved ones over the holidays and want to schedule a last minute mini shoot (as a Christmas gift from us, it'd be free! ), don't hesitate to ask us about it!

Let your heart be light!

-J

Christmas Came Early

Christmas is NINE DAYS AWAY (how did that happen?), so this whole twelve days of Christmas challenge is well underway! And we had a very busy weekend because of it. On the first day I baked banana bread for our neighbors, then we went to Louie's to watch the Thunder whoop up on the Lakers :)

Daniel and I also ended up exchanging gifts this weekend  This wasn't planned, but when I got home Thursday (I get home an hour before he does, so it was kind of inevitable) there was a giant box from a bike shop on our doorstep.  Daniel knows I've been wanting to get into triathlons but don't own a road bike--well, now I do! Thanks, boo!

Because of that, I decided to go ahead and set his gift up before he got home Friday.  Now, we are not big drinkers, but Daniel really loves trying new drinks every once in a while, especially when it involves sitting around catching up with his best friends.  So, I thought it'd be fun to provide him with this:

The cart is vintage and I collected the different sets of glasses (champagne flutes, cocktail glasses, whiskey glasses, shot glasses, three different types of beer glasses) from various places, and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It was fun to put together, and he loved it!  So if any of you are still looking for gift ideas for your man--here you go :)

Have a fantastic week, friends!

-J

Taylor & Baillie Are Getting Married!

Nat drove over today for a very cold, very wonderful engagement shoot.  We had the pleasure of meeting these two pretty people for the first time.

Excited to share more soon!

-J

The Twelve Deeds + Dates of Christmas

GOODNESS those snow days didn't do me any favors in the energy department. I am straight up dragging at work today. Even though I'm a little sleepy, I'm so excited to share a little challenge with you!

Lately I feel like I see the 12 days of Christmas referenced everywhere I look (In some places it's the 25 days of Christmas.  Yeesh--that's a lot of baked goods.).  The past couple of years I've half-heartedly participated in Advent by following along with Scripture reading plans that required about two minutes of my time each day of December leading up to Christmas, but I didn't actually DO a whole lot.  I mean sure, I wrapped some presents, baked some banana bread, and said the words, "I just LOVE Christmas," all romantically to Daniel several hundred times, but I didn't really practice the crazy things those very Scriptures I was supposed to be really reflecting upon were teaching me.  Again, I'm not saying I should only follow the Lord in December, but I am saying I should let God's Word change me and guide me, and my annual reading of the Christmas story and all the prophecies about Christ before it should show up through the movement of my flesh and bone during the Christmas season.  

Christmas is twelve days from tomorrow, and I've spent a little time the past couple of weeks trying to come up with my own twelve days of Christmas based on what I've been reading about preparing the way for Jesus, taking care of the orphans and the widows, and throwing down all I have to pick up my cross and follow the Lord.  It's really easy for me to get caught up in buying the right gifts for the right people and making sure I have money to do so this time of year--I end up losing sight of Christ in the spirit of being the best Christmas gift giver to people who really don't need more junk to remember me by (I mean that lovingly, friends and fam--I love giving you stuff!) and not really giving up anything at all. 

So I've come up with a list of twelve deeds that I think will help me focus less on myself and my own pride and more on other people.  I've debated whether or not to share this challenge with you because I don't want it to look like I'm saying, "I am SUCH a good person, guys!" It's pretty much the opposite, actually--I decided to share it because I'd like your accountability.  If I'm being totally honest, getting all or even a few of these things done in the midst of holiday madness is going to be TOUGH for me--I'm a selfish girl who really just wants to sit and watch all the Christmas episodes of The Office back to back while binge eating the cookies I got at my small group's Christmas cookie exchange last night.  Making, doing, and buying things for people I don't know is going to require some effort in the time of year I usually allow myself to sink into that whole "Long Winter's Nap" lull.

Since this is my first married Christmas and my husband somehow still finds me somewhat charming after living with me for a month and a half, he's agreed to partner with me in this stuff. And because I'm asking the Lord to teach me the art of selflessness, I want to get better at focusing on my Daniel's needs as well, so I thought I'd add in some intentional time together during these next twelve days.  

(Now I'm definitely not saying deeds or works are going to earn me any favors or special treatment with God--I'm just admitting my everyday actions aren't reflecting the Christ I claim to pursue and hope to mirror. And you all should know by now how much I like lists.  If it's not written down in list format, I probably won't do it.)

So here we go:

The Twelve Deeds & Dates of Christmas!

1. Bake for neighbors (I've never met them because I'm TERRIBLE.)
+ Watch basketball game at sports bar (This requires us to leave our house--we don't have cable.)

2. Free family photos
 + Wrap presents together over hot chocolate

3. Give away half of closet
+ Try on clothes for one another

4. Leave a large tip
+ Go out for lunch

5. Invite someone new over for dinner, cook for them
+ Have a glass of wine together after guest leaves

6. Babysit for free
+ Daydream out loud about future family 

7. Write anonymous letters of encouragement
+ Watch a Christmas movie in front of the fire

8. Buy a stranger's coffee
+ Coffee date, no cell phones

9.  Organize bell ringer flash mob
+ Drive around to look at Christmas lights

10. Go Christmas caroling, hand out candy canes 
+ (This could be a group date!)

11. Serve at soup kitchen
+ Watch "White Christmas" at Circle Cinema (old historic theater in Tulsa--we watched this there during our first Christmas season together)

12. Give to an adoption fund
+ Find a moment together to pray over child, family, & our future family



I'd love for you to consider joining us in this little challenge or maybe even create a list of your own! Either way, I hope you have the merriest Christmas!

-J

Jacob & Kaitlyn (& Harlow Coming Soon!)

This super gorgeous couple leads our small group and has blessed Daniel and me so much with their advice, hospitality, and friendship, so when Kaitlyn asked me Friday if I'd be up for a little Christmas card/maternity shoot in the snow Saturday, I was so excited!  These two are seriously beautiful and I had no doubt their good looks and fantastic personalities would show up in photos.  And they didn't disappoint!

Thank you for letting me brave the cold with you yesterday, Kaitlyn and Jacob!  I'm seriously blessed to call you two my friends, and I can't wait to meet little Harlow in the spring!

And thank you to my sweet husband for driving us around, holding our coats and gloves, and making me a hot cup of coffee when we got home!

-J