He stole my heart at "you can sit with me"

He stole my heart at "you can sit with me"
I love this man!

About Me

My photo
Welcome to the heart of a hoosier a family! May you get a glismpe of our lives. Tho our lives may not be very glamorous, you will find it rooted deep in family traditions. We are a hard working midwest family. My husband is a God fearing family business owning man. I'm a smiling, loving, fun, heart on the sleeve mom. Cassie is driven, funny. loving, bust her butt type of girl and Carter is full of laugher, strong work ethic and has the heart the size of United States. We are the heart of a hoosier family!

Fireman Dyksen

Fireman Dyksen
Did I mention that my husband is a smokin' hot fireman? He is and he's ALL mine!

Northwood girls soccer player

Northwood girls soccer player
Cassie is our 17 year old daughter. One of her many passions is playing soccer!

She steals our heart

She steals our heart
This is Cassie. She is a Junior in high school.

Northwood boys soccer

Northwood boys soccer
This is our son Carter. He plays for the boys soccer team! He also has has the passion for the game like his sister!

These two are the reason we get up everyday

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Why, Yes we would like free samples!





4.26.11



Last Friday I went on a little road trip to Grand Rapids Michigan to pick up our younger cousins Stephen and Allissa from Calvin College. Stephen and Allissa are Bruce's younger cousins but they happen to be the age of our kids. I went to pick them up so we could spend Easter weekend with them. Friday night our kids hung out with them at grandma and grandp's house. They went to Rulli's resturant for dinner and hung out and talked. Saturday the kids and mom Dyksen met me at Cassie's soccer game and then we went to mom D's house for lunch. After lunch Cassie and I took Stephen and Allissa to the Cheese Factory in Middlebury to kind of show them around a little bit and of coarse try free samples of cheese. They had never tried amish peanut butter but I think they both love it now!



















After the the Cheese Factory we stopped by the Rise N Roll Bakery. I had never been there before but heard lots of people rave about it. I now know why!!! YUM-O! We of coarse tried all the free samples! My favorite was the chocolate crinkle cookies! Stephen probably had more than one sample of the monster cookies but he just wanted to make sure they were good with every bite. The kids also tried apple butter for the first time. It was a hit as well! After we finally left the Rise N Roll we had to make a quick stop at Forks County Line Store for extra milk. Stephen said he didn't like that store as much due to the lack of free samples! lol After snacking our way around Middlebury we headed home. The kids played soccer, roof ball, hit golf balls and messed around until dinner time. The kids ended up staying the night and going to church with us. We love spending time with Stephen and Allissa! They are such great young people! I miss them already!




Friends

4.26.11






Last week Carter got to hang out with one of his oldest and best friends Alec Kuck! This may not seem like such a big deal but Alec lives 789 miles away. Alec and Carter meet kindergarten year and have been buds since! Both boys were so sad when Alec and his family decided to move back to Georgia where his mom is from. It was pretty tough on both of them. The distance didn't stop them from being friends tho. They would write each other letters about every week (which was impressive since both boys are not writers) They would call each other and whenever Alec came to town to see his aunt they were sure to hang out. Every time they see each other it's like they were never apart! This time would be no different. The boys planned a poker party with all the guys on Saturday night and then Alec came back over on Monday and stayed the night. They played video games and just messed around! I'm so thankful for Alec and his family! I happen to think they are a pretty special family!



kindergarten



6th grade





8th grade





Freshmen








Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Live Like No One Else So You Can Live Like No One Else

Bruce and I just finished up The Dave Ramsey Class for the second time. For those who don't know who he is, Dave is a financial guy who teaches all about money. Good stuff! Ways to change your family tree! There's just one problem. I'm soooo not a numbers girl! My husband is! He's what you would call the nerd in the relationship and I'm the free spirit! He makes the budget and I show up for a 5 min. meeting to look over it! I'm thankful for my little number nerd! He always takes care of us! With that said, we have been working really hard to become debt free. It's not easy let me tell you! As Dave says "life happens" but it's our job to be prepared and to tell our money where to go. That includes the dreaded B word.....budgets! We have found ourselves here lately passing up going out to dinner with friends. If the money is not there it's not there. Yeah, it would be easy to pull out the credit card but we are done with that life style! It's not easy telling our friends no. I'm a social girl and I love them to pieces but that's the way it is. Being on a budget has changed how we spend. It used to be that we would go out to dinner whenever. If we forgot something at the store we would just go get. With having only having x amount for groceries once it's gone it's gone. This week for example I forgot bread. Yeah, it's just bread and it's only a couple bucks but that's not the point. We had spent our budget already.

So, I pulled out my bread recipe. It's just not any bread recipe. This recipe was given to me by a dear friend. The person who gave me this recipe was like family. Our relationship has changed and I'm not sure it will ever be the same, so every time I pull it out I pray for her. Today was that day. I pulled it out and I prayed and made bread. I miss her and hope some day we will be friends again. I would like to share the recipe with you. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures this time but I promise you will love it and it's easy. And if you think about it, pray for the someone in life that tugs at your heart!

Carol Hess Bread

3 1/2 cups flour
2 TBS Sugar
1/2 tea salt
1 egg
1 package Rapid Rise Yeast
1 cup hot water


Put 2 cups flour, yeast and dry ingredients in large bow and mix. Pour in water mix thoroughly. Add egg. Mix. Add next 1 1/2 cups flour. Make a soft dough ball. Place in a greased bowl, cover. Place in warm dry spot til doubles. On lightly floured surface knead five times. Place in greased loaf pan. cover til doubled. Take out of pan on cooling rack. Brush with melted butter. Sliced when cool.


I also made two more yummy things this week and I will share those recipes as well. If you're anything like me I'm always looking for new yum-o recipes!


Speedy Brownies

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 tea salt
5 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tea vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

in mixing bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. beat until smooth. Pour into a greased 13x9 pan baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake 350 until toothpick comes out clean. Makes 3 dozen

Last but not least.......Beef Carbonnade.......a new Dyksen favorite

Beef Carbonnade

2lb beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 TBS flour, 1/4 tea salt, 1/8 tea pepper, 2 T olive oil
14 oz beef broth
2 large onions halved and sliced thin
1 clove garlic crushed
12 oz dark beer or use can beef broth
12 oz egg noodles cook and drain
fresh parsley leaves chopped

Toss well in bowl beef cubes, flour,salt and pepper. Heat 1 T of oil in skillet on med hi. Brown 1/2 beef remove and repeat with other beef. Remove beef and add 1 can beef broth. Boil 1 min. In crock pot stir onions, garlic thyme and beer. Tom with browned beef and broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve over noodles.


I hope you enjoy the new recipes!

Monday, April 4, 2011

SHMILY

Bruce and I once read a devotional about this sweet couple who played a game with each other. The goal of the game was to write the word SHMILY in a surprise place for the other one to find. They took turns leaving SHIMILY all around the house, and as soon as the other person discovered it, it was their turn to hide it once more. Bruce and I loved the idea! We soon joined in the game and it was kind of fun when the kids would ask us what the heck that stood for. See, SHMILY stands for


See

how

much

I

love

you


Bruce and I have enjoyed this fun game for years now! It's always such a blessing to find a SHMILY note when you least expect it.


My husband actually left me a SHMILY note for the last 2 Saturdays! He has been leaving early Saturday for a men's bible study. When I got up I found a SHMILY note next to the coffee pot! How sweet is that! He didn't even drink coffee at home but took the take the time to make me coffee.



SHMILY notes remind us to serve each other and it's just so much fun finding that note when you least expect it! I'm so thankful for such a great husband!



I love you Bruce Allen Dyksen!!!!


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Kenton Dyksen is here!










I'm so excited to announce that Kenton Dyksen is FINALLY here! He was born April 2, 2011 at 10:53pm. Kenton weighed 10lb 1.2oz and was 21in long. In his mom's words "he's perfect" and I agree! :)




I kept waiting and waiting to hear the news. Like Kelly didn't have anything better to do but update aunt Serena. GEEZ lol




This morning Bruce woke me up with the news that baby Kenton was here! Let me tell you I shot outta bed pretty quick to check facebook for all the details! Bruce said he wished I would get out of bed that quick everyday! Fat chance honey! lol



I was dying to meet this little guy. We had to go to church and had to finish up our last Dave Ramsey class not to mention we had a carry in lunch. Class and lunch were great but I had baby on the mind! Time seemed to drag on!


When class was over we went to pick up Carter from his buddies house. In my mind I thought we would head right to the hospital. When Bruce put on the blinker to head home I was like I don't think so! lol We headed right to the hospital. When we got there grandma and grandpa Dyksen were already there. Kelly looked great! Tom looked tired! Kaden had a melt down before we got there. He just didn't want this baby. I think getting some toys to play with helped! :)



I think they make a pretty nice looking family!










Here's more pics of Kenton






Mom and baby look great!








Carter and his new cousin!









The double chin on Kenton looks better on him than auntie Serena lol







Uncle Bruce and Kenton! Such handsome men!




Lark, Steve and baby Kenton. :)





I think Carrie may like this little guy!





By the time we got ready to leave Kaden actually sat down and held his new brother and started kissing him! It was so sweet! I love the picture of the Dyksen boys!


I'm so happy for Tom, Kelly and Kaden that they now have a new healthy baby! I look forward to watching my new nephew grow up not only physically but spiritually! I'm one lucky aunt! I now have 2 nieces and 3 nephews! All healthy and super cute just like their auntie! :)