Homemade Pizza & Quality Time

There are two things I can't get enough of: cooking and friends. I really enjoy hosting get-togethers and cooking for people who don't mind eating the things I make. Nothing that I make is ever bland. I cant stand bland food. I grew up with a family whose go-to seasonings were just plain old salt and pepper. Talk about boring.

This weekend I had one of my very good friends over. Taryn is her name. She is one of the sweetest, most genuine, kind-hearted people on the face of the earth. When she and I get together, we mostly lounge, watch movies, laugh, and eat. This weekend we made homemade pizzas. Yum. She loves just plain old sausage and extra cheese. I can't argue with her there. I made a buffalo/BBQ chicken pizza with green peppers and mushrooms. It was amazing. We took a trip to Trader Joe's and Target that day to buy our ingredients. Of course, since we stopped at Target, we purchased more than just ingredients for our pizzas. But, thats besides the point. After our pizzas were done cooking, we devoured what might have been some of the best pizza I've ever eaten in my life. It was delish. We popped in a few movies (four to be exact,) and vegged out the whole day. We watched Beethoven, Super Bad, Crazy Stupid Love, and Knocked Up. It was perfect. My best friend Courtney came to join us halfway through our movie marathon. After all four movies were finished, we called it a night.

Sunday morning came early. It always does. I picked up Jordan and we headed up to church at Substance in St. Paul. We had to make a stop at Dunn Bros, of course. Its tradition. After our bodies were properly fueled, we were ready to take on a full day. The sermon was great, as always. Pastor Peter always hits the nail on the head. I love his preaching. He is so animated and  includes so much scripture in all of his messages. This week was the first sermon of the series called "Resisting Temptation." He based the sermon on Mark 14:38 which says, "Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Everybody has their own temptation. Once the devil figures it out, he will do anything and everything to keep you from a close walk with God. We need to keep our hearts, minds, and bodies guarded by reading and studying The Word, asking God to reveal our temptations and faults to us so we know what to fix. Then, we need to ask God to build and install a supernatural resistance to temptation, and identify a plan of escape when we do experience temptation. God is always transforming us for the better. Following Him is never boring.

For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
Psalm 84:11

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to rescue each time.
Psalm 34:19

For the LORD watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
Psalm 1:6

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
1 Peter 2:11

You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.
Genesis 4:7

After church, Jordan and I joined friends Lauren, Petey, and Taryn at Pier 500 (the best restaurant this side of the Mississippi, in my humble opinion.) After a delicious lunch, Jordan and I headed to Dunn Bros again to refuel, and then back to River Falls to her aunt and uncles house. The Packer/Giant game was on. Unfortunately (no, I'm not being sarcastic,) the Packers lost. I'm a Vikings fan. I have been my whole entire life, but I was honestly hoping the Packers would win this game! I thought it would have been great to see them in the Super Bowl two years in a row. But, what can you do? NOTHING! muaahahha..... but seriously.

The Swanson family and I headed up to Hudson to catch a movie to finish off the weekend after the game. I love them all so dearly.They're all HUUUUUGE Packer fans, so I think they just wanted to get their minds off the loss. Whatever helps I guess. :)

War Horse is a long movie. That's all I have to say about that. I cried three times, but only because I love animals. I don't even like horses that much. They actually scare me. But freakin' War Horse was a tear-jerker! I sat next to Kyle and Melissa and we were doing commentary a lot of the time. There was a couple of times I couldnt contain my laughter. Nothing new there. Hopefully we didnt ruin the experience for anyone else in the theater. And by that I mean I hope we didn't interrupt the lady who answered her phone DURING THE MOVIE! Who does that? As I've said before, "sometimes you feel like a nut, and sometimes you're just plain nuts."