30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 4

Your Parents

I have awesome parents. 

Meet Mike and Candy Barry. I know I don't tell them enough, but I am so lucky to be their daughter. They have always been loving and supportive (except when I wanted to be a pizza delivery girl...still a little bitter about that :) and I know I have them to thank for the way my brother and I turned out. They raised us in a strong Christian home, and taught us to treat others with respect. They taught us to have strong values and to stick to them, even when it may not be the cool thing to do. We also inherited our love of animals from my parents....and my grandparents...actually, everyone in our family loves animals. (It is a family joke that the favorite kid/grandkid is Deuce, our amazing dog...rightfully so!)

My mom has always been my best friend. As other friends have come and gone in my life, I have always been able to count on my mom. We always have fun together, and we often laugh until we cry. Some of our new favorite hobbies together include eating gourmet cupcakes and shopping for home decor. Although it freaks me out when we often say the same thing at the same time (and I immediately tell her we shouldn't hang out anymore...) I am grateful to have a personality very similar to hers.

I have always hoped that I can give my children an upbringing similiar to mine, and to give them the love and trust my parents gave me.

Mom and Dad, thank you for everything you have done for me! I couldn't ask for better parents!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 3

Your Spouse

I changed it to 'Your Spouse' because when I am married to the man I love, why would I want to talk about any other guys!? (Warning: It may get mushy) Doug is my husband, and he is awesome. I think we compliment each other pretty well...where I am inpatient, he is patient. When I am spontaneous, he is rational. When he is messy, I am organized. If it wasn't for him, I would probably have multiple cats and dogs by now (which I don't necessarily think is a bad thing...) If it wasn't for me, he would probably eat pizza all day, every day. He can always make me laugh, and I love knowing that we will always have fun together.

We also have a great meeting story. I had always wondered how I would meet my future husband, and God definitely exceeded my highest expectations with our story. I am a TERRIBLE storyteller, so I am going to use Doug's version of the story instead (from our wedding website!)

It was spring break, and I was headed to Destin with my buddy, Austin, not having a clue as to what would be in store for me on this trip. After a long drive down, and some rain the first night, Austin and I headed to the beach the afternoon of March 9, 2008. We saw a group of girls over to the left, and decided to sit close enough to keep an eye on them, but also far enough away to not seem creepy. I spotted the blonde girl right away, and focused my attention on her. Shortly after, I officially called "dibs" on the blonde girl. Not 10 minutes after that, what do you know, she comes walking our way. I tell Austin to play it cool and let me do the talking. Here was my chance. She came up and was as cute as could be, and politely asked if we wouldn't mind watching their stuff if they went for a walk on the beach. I told her not to worry and to enjoy the walk, and knew I had to come up with something good for when they came back.

After a short walk, here she came again. This time she came to sincerely thank us for watching their stuff. I told her it was no problem and the only issue I had was to fight off a band of ninjas that came up over the sand dunes, but that after seeing them off, all of Julie and her friends' precious belongings were fine. She told me I was her hero and batted her big blue eyes just to prove again how cute she really was. It didn't take long for us to get talking and find out we both went to UGA, as well as attended rival high schools and lived about 20 minutes apart in Marietta. Some would say this was meant to be.

Julie then informed me that she and her friends would be going back to the pool area and told us we were invited to come along. Playing it cool again, I told her that we might see them down there but were going to stay put for now. I waited about ten minutes and told Austin we were following them. So we met them at the hot tubs, and continued getting to know each other. We were informed of the girls' plan to go over to Club Overboard that night, and quickly managed to snag an invite. But before that, Austin and I had to get these girls out on the par 3 chip and putt golf course. We started out as a large group, and it became clear. Doug and Julie knew what they were doing. No one else did. So we ditched everyone else and finally got to hang out by ourselves for the first time. I played surprisingly good, impressing Julie with several lucky birdies and we started to build a connection that would prove to be very special indeed.

Later that night, Austin and I went to the club with the girls. When we got there everyone stood around awkwardly for a while, but something happened and before I knew it Julie and I were happily dancing the night away. Julie and I continued getting to know each other better and better over the course of the week by throwing the football and sharing grapes and cookies.

I absolutely knew she was the one for me once wiffleball happened. Tip: wiffleball is a great spring break game for meeting people. I conjured up a bat and ball from Wal-mart and we got a game going on a cloudy day. I made sure "Slugger", as she referred to herself this day, was on my team. After striking out Austin numerous times with a wicked curve ball and belting out home runs from both sides of the plate (making sure to be very impressive), the most incredible and spectacular thing happened. Julie smashed a line drive so hard that my wiffle ball broke in half. While this absolutely ruined the game, it did win my heart.

The final day at the beach I knew I had to make sure something happened. I had to make sure this would continue on when we got back to school. I invited Julie to go golfing again, this time just the two of us. After playing nowhere near as well this time, we finally arrived at the "boat hole" that runs parallel to a pier that juts out onto the canal towards Destin Harbor. After completing this difficult hole, I had us put the clubs down and enjoy each other's company. It was sunset and being on that pier overlooking the water was a perfect place to be. After thinking way too much about it and letting myself get very nervous, I finally went in for the first kiss. It was an absolutely perfect beginning to the incredible relationship I share with her, and sealed the perfect ending to the best possible spring break I could ever imagine.

Yesterday marks 5 months of marriage...here's to a wonderful husband (and kitty-daddy!) :)

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 2 & Fajita Recipe

Meaning Behind Your Blog Name

Well, this post may not be so interesting. Mine is pretty easy to figure out. Our last name is Minton. And we are "smitten" with each other, hence the recent marriage. There ya go! 

Since that was pretty short and sweet, I will spice up the post with a recipe! Katie B. recently posted a wonderful fajita recipe, so I decided to try it out. We LOVED it! 

Crock Pot Fajitas:

- 2 packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts (or tenderloins, which cook faster)
- Can of chicken broth
- Large jar of salsa
- Packet of fajita seasoning
- Sliced/Chopped onions and peppers

Mix all of the above ingredients in the crock pot and cook for several hours. We just had chicken breasts, so I cut them up into smaller strips and it cooked for about 5 hours.

**You can spoon out the chicken and vegetables, for the fajitas. Or, you can eat it with the broth as a soup! I had it as a soup the next day and it was just as delicious!

Why am I just starting to use my crock pot? It is the most glorious thing to just mix up a bunch of stuff, and 5 hours later, dinner is ready! So, I need more crock pot recipes that a picky eater (Doug) would like! If you have any you want to share, please leave a comment below!