September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month...

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and today is the last day of the month. What have YOU done to make a difference in the life of child with cancer or for a family with a child battling this nasty monster? Remember, my brave little friend Coleman who has earned his angel wings once said, "an act of kindness, big or small, is the greatest gift of all." Once the clock strikes midnight at the end of the month, September will be over. But the fight to cure childhood cancer won't be. And we need to start facing the facts and amp up the funding so that sufficient research can be getting done. For instance on average, 36 kids are diagnosed with cancer EVERY DAY in the United States. That means, that 1 in every 4 elementary school has a child with cancer and the average high school has two students who are current or former cancer patients. Not only this but cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children over the age of 1 even with cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, AIDS, asthma and juvenile diabetes combined. Childhood cancer cannot be prevented. It spares no ethic group, socioeconomic class or geographic region. It can happen anywhere, anytime and to any child. Scary thought?? Yes. Wish you could do something about it, yes? Then by all means, DO SOMETHING!!! Donate your time by volunteering at a children's hospital, Ronald McDonald House, or a sibling/parent support group. Donate money in any amount to a research based or hospital based credible source (always, always know where your money is going--it's sad how many people try to make a buck out of people trying to do something good.) Make hats or blankets for the children in the hospital. Donate gift cards to general places such as Target, Walmart or Visa cards, gas cards and fast food cards for families in the hospitals to use. Spread the word. Advocate for these kids and their families! 

Many people look at me with a sad look when I tell them what I'm going to school for and the professional field I have picked to work in. They think, "isn't that so sad? how can you stand that? what a depressing job..." Yes there are sad days and yes, there are days that I can't stand because it is so unfair seeing cancer strike such innocent kids. But otherwise, I don't think of it as a depressing, downer of a job. Every day I get to the hospital, I find hope. The halls are filled with laughter and I'm always greeted with hugs and smiles. The kids I meet have the cards stacked against them every day and they still wake up more optimistic than even the most well off people I know. My heart hurts for them all more than they would ever know but because of their spirits, they make my job worth every minute. I cherish all of my time that I get to spend with them. Every day I am inspired by the kids and families I meet to do more with my life, try harder, be a better person, don't give up on myself, not to stress over the little things, and to let go of my worries. The toughest lesson I've learned though from too many of these kids is to love wholeheartedly every minute of the day because we never know when our last minute will be. The fight doesn't end because the month of September is ending. And thanks to mine and Jordan's amazing family and friends, we were able to make a $350 donation to Dance Marathon, the student organization at Iowa that raises money to support kids treated for cancer at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital! We raised this money during our Dollar Dance at our wedding reception and honestly, that is one of our favorite decisions we made about our wedding! We are grateful for the money we received and are honored to be donating it For The Kids. This organization is very near and dear to our hearts as this is where we met each other, both of our closest friends and it led us to our career paths. 

This is why we fight for the cure and why we keep dancing. For sweet kiddos and precious babies like Jasmine. For the kiddos who have earned their angel wings. For the kiddos who have fought the good fight and won. And for the kiddos who put their gloves on day after day and fight back. Make a difference for them. Be the miracle. For The Kids, always and forever.

http://dancemarathon.uiowa.edu/
Donate and get involved!
Creating Tomorrow By Dancing Today!

Iowa's 100th Homecoming Celebration

This weekend it will be the University of Iowa's 100th Homecoming! Pretty cool, huh?! And it will be the 6th one that Jordan and I have celebrated...weird! The best part about all of this is that we will have a full house this weekend with six of our close friends all staying at our place...it's going to be cramped but it's going to be awesome and I can't wait! I already have the whole place clean and organized, toilet paper is stocked, towels and blankets are clean, air mattress is ready to go and we have plenty of beer and frozen pizzas to last us a week! Let's Go Hawks and hurry "home" to us friends! Can't wait for them to start arriving tomorrow!

fall fashion favorites!

Saturday was the first official day of Fall! Ah I can't believe it...this past year has flown by crazy fast! And to start off this Fall season, I wore all of my favorite fall fashions today! I love pairing leggings with a long cozy cardigan or chunky sweater, a scarf of any sort and some boots....seriously, I could LIVE in this kind of outfit all year long! If I could find a place where the weather was like this year round, Jordan and I would most definitely move there instantly! Not too hot and not too cold, warm sunshine and beautiful colors....ahh that would be the life! But then reality hits and I realize we only have a short time to enjoy this weather while we can before winter strikes! Here's how I rocked the first work day of the fall:

refashion attack and I love it!
cardigan: refashioned from a sweater and cost $1.50
scarf: my mom made this from an old dress
long sleeve under cardigan: $5.00 from Old Navy
boot warmers: my mom made these from an old sweater
leggings: $5.00 from Target
boots: $30.00 from Target last year
(I also got them in black and gray....Target can do no wrong)

ah so happy to be home with my pup
after a long 12-hour day!

Hope everyone has their fall favorites out and ready to start wearing because like it or not, the seasons are changing and the cooler weather is here to stay! Happy Monday!

Cabin Party Round 2

Minus the Hawks blowing the game and losing it at the end, the weekend was still amazing and a huge success. I'm not sure how it couldn't be given the circumstances....all three Cross kids, Jordan, Kat, Suz and good friends of Scott and Kat's, Nate and Amber then add in the cabin in the woods, bon fire, lots of beer, good food and snacks...and like I said, the best people I know to spend a weekend partying with at a cabin. And well, that all adds up to one awesome time. Even Paisley had a fantastic time running around wherever she pleased while not hooked up to a leash or rope and she got to dig in real dirt (as opposed to our bed or the carpet). And holy shit can she dig! I am now fearful of our future yard that we have because I think she'll tear it up like it's her job....hopefully we can get that under control or if anything, maybe I can train her to just till up the yard in places I want to plant a garden?! I can dream at least. Anyway, she was a filthy dirt and burr covered, stinky (from rolling around and laying on anything and everything that smelled "good" to her...like dead birds and deer poop), exhausted pup by the end of the night! 

bros and their mexican sweatshirts

cabin chicks

what goons

fun weekend getaway together!

So many insides jokes and so many good chats with everyone. Great group of people and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend trip to Wisconsin! After making the drive home, Jordan and I both took a nap to recover and then I gave Paisley a bath...she definitely wasn't happy but there was so way I was letting her up on the furniture or in our bed looking the way she looked! Now she's all fluffy again, smelling good and free of burrs! And it's bedtime for all of us because Cabin Party Round 2 officially wore us out! Already looking forward to next year because I think we're getting t-shirts!!! CABIN TEAM, ASSEMBLE!!!!

Pumpkin Scones

The chill is in the air, the leaves are changing and the shelves are starting to be lined with Halloween candy which means one thing...fall is here so here comes lots of pumpkin and apple flavored food and drinks! YUMMM!!! Now that I'm a wife (and secretly still trying to impress Jordan when I can) I've been whipping up different meals and desserts but here is one that is blog worthy! I made these Starbucks Clone Pumpkin Scones from the Iowa Girl Eats blog! And boy were they delicious...they will definitely be a repeater for us, especially as the temperature keeps dropping! What is it about the pumpkin and apple flavors that are SO good in the chilly weather and so comforting?! Whatever it is, I'm not upset about it! 

I followed the instructions for the recipe but doubled it because I knew they would get devoured rather fast....and it's a good thing that I did! I also added a few extra pinches of cinnamon and nutmeg to make them even more flavorful. Ok and I increased the glaze ingredients a little to give them plenty of coating. AMAZING! And the best part about all of this is that I made this batch of 16 total scones for what 3 of them from Starbucks would have cost me! So, here's what you need so you can start making your kitchen smell delicious and fill you tummy with a great fall treat:
Ingredients:

2 cups flour
7 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
3 Tablespoons half & half
1 egg
6 Tablespoons cold butter, cubed

For the plain glaze: 
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons half & half

For the spiced drizzle:
1 cup + 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons half & half
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch ground ground ginger
pinch ground ground cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees then line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In the bowl of a large food processor (or in a large bowl) combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Pulse or whisk to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until well incorporated and mixture is the texture of cornmeal. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, half & half, and egg. Add to flour mixture and pulse until just combined. Alternatively, stir until the dough comes together in a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead 4 or 5 times to bring the dough together, then flatten into a circle 1″ thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough in half, then cut each half into thirds.
4. Place the wedges onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
5. When scones are cool, whisk together the plain glaze ingredients, then spoon on top and spread slightly. Let harden for 10 minutes, then whisk together the spiced drizzle ingredients and drizzle on top. Let harden completely, about 1 hour, before serving. Store in an air-tight container for 1 day. **don't stack with parchment paper between rows of scones in container...just use more containers to avoid stacking them otherwise it makes the glaze runny! I learned this the hard way!**

YUM!!!  These are perfect for breakfast, mid-morning snack,
afternoon snack, dinner dessert, and bedtime snack!
So good!!!!

So besides baking, I'm really looking forward to the weekend! We all need a weekend getaway from time to time, right? Right. This weekend Jordan and I are hitting the road and heading northbound to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin for a good ol' fashioned cabin party!!! The cabin party is my sister-in-law Kat's parents and it's in the middle of 50 acres of land they own aka the middle of no where aka  there are NO NEIGHBORS!!! So what if we're all in our mid to late twenties and like to party as if we're still 19 and 21 years old?! Can't wait to see my siblings and all party together around a bon fire and explore the woods! And the Hawks play in the morning while we'll be driving up there so hopefully they give us a good game to listen to and cheer along with! Let's go Thursday and Friday, hurry up because we're looking forward to a great weekend!

first (of many!) refashion project: frumpy sweater into fun cardigan

What is a "refashion project" you might ask? Well, it is taking something old, used, recycled, worn out, too big or too small for you clothing or whatever it might be....and refashioning it into something fun, fabulous, new and totally usable again! It reminds me of the concept of an old book that my mom used to have that I was obsessed with and it was called "From Trash To Treasure". I loved looking at all of the projects and pictures wondering how they took something as simple as empty pop cans and turned them into a Halloween wreath! And after all of the pinning and Pinteresting I've been doing, I needed to take my turn at refashioning and I think I found a new favorite hobby!

What sparked this project was a trip to the consignment store that Kat and I made over the weekend when they were here. Which by the way, the weekend was an absolute blast. The Hawks won and we had a great time with Scott, Kat, the kids and our friends! Lots of laughs, good chats and talks with one another and an overall, fun time! So like I was saying, Kat and I made a trip to Stuff and we hit the jackpot! We each got a ton of awesome items, some still with tags, and some looked barely used! And as always, we got it all for one hell of a price! Several things we bought were only a quarter...yes, only $0.25!!!! And the rest of it was pretty much all $2.00 and under with a few exceptions! Kat had originally pulled this sweater off the rack but then saw the size and said it'd be way too big or could be paired with leggings, boots and a chunky sweater. But then I had a lightbulb go off in my head.....my first refashion project! I snagged it up and said, "I'm going to attempt to make this into a cardigan..." And that is exactly what I did!

I successfully turned this size XL sweater from H&M, which was originally priced at $38.00 and I got for $1.75, to a size M cute and cozy cardigan! The project only took me about an hour total! And that's because I added 8 buttons and button holes....some of the holes aren't 100% perfect by any means, but since it will be buttoned up anyway, I wasn't too worried! And I had thread that perfectly matched the sweater so it helps to disguise some of the crooked stitches around the button holes! I can't wait to find the next sweater at Stuff or Goodwill that is waiting to be refashioned!

working for the weekend

It's hump day so at least that means two things: the week is already half over and a great weekend is now closer to being here today than it was yesterday! And I'm super excited for this weekend! My brother is coming on Friday night with both the kiddos and Kat is meeting them here! A weekend with the coolest brother and sister-in-law ever and throw in the two cutest kids in the world mixed with a home Iowa football game along with Jordan and our friends?! Well people, that adds up to what's about to be one hell of a weekend and I for one am so pumped!!!! I haven't seen Scott and his family since the wedding so I'm looking forward to seeing them and hearing all about their new house in Madison and catching up while enjoying some cold ones together! Happy Hump Day everyone and here's to another fabulous fall weekend!

I.S. Who??

Well, Iowa hasn't been called the "Heartbreak Hawks" for nothing before. And that's exactly what the Hawks did to all of us this weekend...broke our hearts after a sad showing and overall pathetic game. Ughhh total drag. The only upside to it was that I got a surprise visit from my close friend Monica! I love fun surprises like that! We hung out Friday night at our place and met up on Saturday to tailgate together....even if she is a Cyclone! 

my favorite CyClown
(and it was the perfect day to wear my
Hawkeye tailgating dress!)

grrr! Put me in coach!

We spent the rest of the day after the awful football game lounging and watching more football.....and then repeated that again all day on Sunday. There are few things that I love more than Lazy Sunday's lounging all day watching football and alternating between snuggling and napping with Jordan or Paisley...or sometimes all three of us piled on the couch! Since we spent the whole weekend doing more lounging than moving, it's safe to say that today has been super productive on my end! Hope everyone had a great start to their week!

We're sailing away!!!!!!!

We have officially booked our honeymoon trip!!!!!!!!! Ahh we're so sooo excited!!! For a long time, we were debating about going to Costa Rica and hopping around a few different places or going to Jamaica....then once we actually got into the planning of it and the details, we quickly realized that the flights were going to be way too expensive to fly to one of these two countries. Kind of a bummer but we didn't let it discourage us from finding a trip that would still be within our budget and a fun adventure for us to go on! We refused to book a trip that we couldn't pay in full for because who wants to keep paying for a trip once they get back from it?! Not us!

Anyway, so we finally sat down and mapped out exactly what we wanted out of a honeymoon trip and narrowed it down it: Caribbean and/or Bahamas, tropical beach area, adventures and excursions, all inclusive but not a deal breaker. We got to looking and then out of no where, it hit me. We should go on a cruise!!!! After about two hours of looking and debating and contemplating and double then triple checking our schedules....we pulled the trigger and booked a cruise! AND it includes EVERYTHING we wanted within our budget!!! We will be sailing away from Miami and making a stop at Grand Cayman Island where we will parasail then spend the day at the beach. Then after that we will make a stop at Ocho Rios, Jamaica where we are going on a zipline tour through the rainforest. I can't even believe I'm typing this and that we really are making it happen! Of course, this wouldn't be possible without my amazing family and grandma for giving us a pretty penny and then several other family members and friends who gave us money for our honeymoon fund! We could really never thank you all enough! I can't wait for our adventure together and the trip...it's going to be amazing! 100 Days til we sail away!

One Month Down & Forever To Go!

When I Say I Do

By: Matthew West

There must be a God, I believe its true. 
Cause I can see His love, when I look at you. 
And He must have a plan for this crazy life. 
Becuase He brought you here and placed you by my side.

And I have never been so sure of anything before, 
Like I am in this moment here with you 
Now for better or for worse are so much more than only words
And I pray everyday will be the proof 
That I mean what I say when I say 'I do'
Yeah I mean what I Say when I say 'I do'

You see these hands you hold, will always hold you up
When the strength you have, just aint strong enough 
And what tomorrow brings, only time will tell
But I will stand by you in sickness and in health 

Cause I have never been so sure of anything before 
Like I am in this moment here with you
And now for better or for worse'
Are so much more than only words
And I pray every day will be the proof 
That I mean what I say when I say 'I do' 
Ya I mean what I say when I say 'I do'

Take my hand and take this ring
And know that I will always love you through anything.

And as the years march on like a beating heart
I will live these words 'til death do us part'

Cause I have never been so sure of anything before 
Like I am in this moment here with you
And now for better or for worse 
Are so much more than only words 
And I pray everyday will be the proof 
That I mean what I say when I say 'I do'
Yeah I mean what I say when I say 'I do'

Happy One Month Wedding Anniversary, Mr. E!

I love you more than you'll ever know, today and always. 

Here's to many more months of celebrating our life together!
All my love,
KE

I'm so hungry I could die!!!

Iowa won! And we tailgated like we're freshman all over again! I'm pretty sure I wasn't even a real person at one point because I was SOOO hungry (and okay, maybe the gin bucket didn't help my case.) And we had an absolute blast every minute of the whole weekend. I mean, how couldn't we?! Jordan's parents bought us tickets for the game and then my parents surprised us and flew up for the game too. AND to top it off, all of our closest friends were there too! It was amazing and quite the reunion for all of us to be together again after the wedding! I know I say it a lot, but we're so lucky to have such awesome family and kickass friends in our lives!

it wouldn't be a game day and tailgating without a love hug

started out as boyfriend and girlfriend...
last season we were fiance and fiance...
and now this year we're happy to be Mr and Mrs!

my fam at the game
Dad, it's not raining. Ditch the poncho!

The Bean

Turns out The Bean isn't so big after all...

finally eating dinner and celebrating the Hawks victory!

my two favorite guys and the biggest Hawk fans
who I know and love so much