Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving!!

Last night we had our 2nd Annual Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving! It was alot of fun and we ended up having 34 people come! We made a ham and everyone brought the traditional sides and lots of yummy desserts : ) Here are some pics!

Going through the line...

This is the set-up before everyone came



(These are a little out of order) This was right after we put the ham in the oven...so excited!! Last year we made a turkey so this year we attempted the ham. The ham was MUCH easier!

My pride and joy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Branson...here we come!

Last weekend we had our 3rd annual Branson Branigan Reunion. We met Chris's family in Branson for a weekend of fun! We stayed at a luxurious condo on Table Rock Lake and had a very relaxing time.

Our weekend consisted of eating, talking,eating, going out on a boat, more eating, fishing, eating, the Dixie Stampede, more eating, and of course shopping. Here are a few pics from our weekend of fun!

Dianna in the Kitchen

There was no shortage of laptops to be had...

David made a big catch

Getting ready to go on the boat!!

Our fearless Captain David

All of our snacks...we didn't want to go hungry!

Lounging on the boat...

The laziest fisherman I've ever seen... : )

They even let me drive! What were they thinking??

At the Dixie Stampede. They have all the horse stalls out where you can see them so we browsed around the horses before the show started.

This guy didn't really want his picture taken...he showed us what he thought of us...

Christmas card pic? I think so!

We had a really fun weekend and can't wait to do it again next year!

3 Words...

Apple Cider Doughnuts.

Yesterday we ventured out to the Powell Pumpkin Patch and the Louisburg Cider Mill with our dear friends the Johnsons. Our first stop was the pumpkin patch which was really cool. I have never seen so many pumpkins in my life! They were all still on the vine and you could walk through the field and pick your own.

Then we went to Louisburg and sampled some of their yummy cider and of course we couldn't leave without a dozen cider doughnuts!

It was a pretty windy day.

saved the best for last...happy fall y'all!

Winner, Winner ,Chicken Dinner!

I saw this recipe on Kelly's Korner blog a few weeks ago and finally decided to try it out myself and I am SO glad I did!!! This will definitly be making our dinner rotation! It is SO yummy and SO healthy. Also, its a ONE PAN meal! Can I get an amen y'all?

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced

4 cloves garlic (I use garlic salt)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

2 cans green beans

8 small red potatoes, quartered

4 chicken breasts (I use tenders since we buy a big bag from Costco)

Preheat oven to 450. Coat a large baking dish with PAM. Arrange lemon slices from 1 lemon in a single layer on the bottom of the dish. In large bowl combine remaining olive oil, lemon juice of 2nd lemon, garlic, salt and pepper. Add green beans and toss to coat. Using tongs, remove green beans and arrange them on top of lemon slices. Add potatoes to same olive oil mixture and coat. Arrange on inside edge of dish on top of the beans. I also add a lemon pepper mixture on top of everything. It adds a lot of flavor.Place chicken in olive oil mixture and coat. Place chicken in dish. Roast for 40-50 minutes. Remove chicken and continue roasting potatoes/beans if necessary.

**I mixed my potatoes and greeen beans together and then put the chicken on top.

And as Julia would say, "Bon Appetit!"

Happy Fall Y'all

It is really starting to look and feel like fall here in Kansas City. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and the temperature is starting to cool down. The start of fall here means...Fall Festivals! This weekend Overland Park hosted theirs so we went to check it out on Saturday. Our bff's the Johnsons joined us and fun was had by all! We toured all the craft tents with kettle corn and diet dp in hand. We even watched a little parade!

Chris and Josh delivered the cokes to their "high maintenence" wives.

Ok, and I can't forget to post this link at the end. I came across this post on the LPM blog the other day and Chris and I both just laughed so hard. All I have to say is if you grew up in Texas and had the pleasure of experiencing the coveted homecoming mum...lift up a prayer of thanks. And when/if you move to some other state where people do not know what "homecoming mums" are...just remember...how can they believe if they have not yet heard? And when those people laugh and mock you because you wore a giant fake flower with streamers hanging from it and hung it on your wall for the remainder of your high school career...just hold on to that Texas Pride. It will carry you through.

One Month...

is exactly how long its been since my last blog post. Can you tell school has started or what? So what have the Branigan's been up to in the last month...

-Starting year two of teaching 3rd grade

-Starting and finishing a two week module at seminary

-Dog sitting

-Starting Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace class...more on that later

-Running...and more running...

-Eating...and more eating...

-Being a bridesmaid for my dear friend Liz (now) Green

Since I don't really feel like backposting and updating on all of those things...I'll just blog about our Labor Day! We slept in this morning and then made banana wheat pancakes which were YUMMY!! After that our friends Josh and Courtney came over and we went to Cactus Grill for lunch. We tried to go to a store called "Stuff" in Brookside but it was unfortunately closed...boo. We headed to the plaza after that and did a little (window) shopping and then on our way home got FREE CHICK FIL A! Can I get an amen? So, all in all it was a super day off spent with awesome friends and really good food!

Good Bye Summer

Dear Summer,

Thank you for letting me sleep in every single day, if I wanted to. Thank you for giving me lots of sunshine to get tan at the pool. And most of all...thank you for Snow Cones. However, please let our snow cone stand get more sugar free flavors by next year.

Love,

Kelly

Well today was my official last day of summer so Chris and I celebrated all day. This morning we bought a mini fridge off Craigslist and took it to my classroom. Then, this afternoon we went to the pool for one last "hurrah". And then this evening we went to Jack Stack BBQ for an amazing dinner. We had smoked chicken topped with brisket. It was delicious. Not to mention the cheesy cornbake and baked beans. For dessert Chris ate some bread pudding...one of his favorites!