Top of the morning to ya!


     Today is a bittersweet day for me... It marks the end of company for a month or so. I am spoiled by all of the guests coming from the states. On top of that, my brothers are going to the states for a couple of weeks; so we are missing two members of the Whitlock Gang.

    So... This cold overcast afternoon, I shall blog some photos from the past two months. Rylan has now been gone a week. Daniel came for a week and is off on more traveling adventures today. And now our menfolk will be back and forth spending time abroad as we hold down the fort. Thankfully, Bruna has not yet abandoned us. ;-)

I captioned this on Instagram taunting every acclaimed burger restaurant...

This is a billion-dollar recipe right here, folks. 

If I might say so myself. 

Went to the Wales vs. Springboks rugby game with my brothers

and a couple friends. I never got into rugby until this day. I felt a bit naughty

and couldn't resist joining the 50-some-odd Wales fans. This guy beside me said:

You can't root for Wales! I replied that it's part of my heritage and he said: Oh ok, then. But you still can't cheer for them! 

South Africa won by the skin of their teeth. 

Even though we were at a business cocktail party, we had to have fun

and take silly photos. 

This isn't kosher. But don't worry. Gab and Rylan ate this one.

Rhodes came as close as he could to it. Espresso-shot Chocolate Cupcakes.

Delectable.

Bruna is a HUGE fan of soccer. So, even though we were at a rugby game, she was DYING to take a photo under this.

You know... Just a casual breakfast in Kruger.

Behind the scenes Douceur Food Photography.

I was going to root for Chile until she brought out this awesome gear! ;-)

Gab captioned this best: In which we froze for 5hrs straight and then defrosted for 7hrs in Kruger Park.

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

It's Official

Top of the morning to ya!

   

    I am positively *elated*... I found an incredible graphic designer, Ingeborg (IngeWorx), who lives just 5 minutes from my house. I felt VERY disorganised when I went to her and shared the fonts I liked, my whimsical but simple lines personality, my "happy" colours, etc... Apparently, she was glad to have someone who knew what they liked (I can't IMAGINE anyone less decisive on this matter than me!!).

   So... She sent me several designs to work with.

    Keeping to my personality, I selected and combined designs from three of the card templates and she did the magic.

   Here 'tis with some additional food photos from this week:

Confession: I stole this photo off of my mom's instagram and cropped it. 

Rylan promised to take a better photo that I can put on my instagram

account so I can tag Inge in it. If you want to see a better photo, you're going to have to

follow me. ;-) 

Morgan made some SLAMMING Orange Chicken a few nights ago...

AND she ate it. She's been eating extremely clean. The girl is dedicated.

I told her the other night I had a dream (nightmare??) that she

gorged herself on brownies. That's how dedicated she is.

So Gabbi and Rylan have been competing in photography. I believe

I mentioned that before. I am posting both of their photos on here of my Cinnamon

Pretzels... I won't tell you who did which one. I have a feeling some of my readers

may be a bit biased. ;-) haha!

I am not being diplomatic when I say this... But I absolutely LOVE both for different reasons.

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

The Warrior Race - Hartbeespoort Dam

Top of the morning to ya!

It was my idea. I heard about it.

6.3km - 15 obstacle race. Sounded manageable.

So I signed us up. Two 5-man teams.

Team Hazak: Dad, Mo, Graham, Liezl, and Rylan.

Team Forte: Raymond, Craig, Aaron, Gab... and me.

Team Forte beat Team Hazak.

They retained a few casualties such as Liezl losing BOTH of her shoes in the first mud pit.

Dad had to carry her for a lot of the running.

Thorns. Everywhere.

But we still would've had them. Whatever they may say.

The Warrior Race was started by a Cali guy. He moved to SA in '94. We only did the Rookie or "Recruit" level. There's Commando and Black Ops.

I didn't envy them. I need to get in shape.

Talk about a small world: my dad was talking to the man who started it and they have a mutual acquaintance.

Team Forte. At the finish line waiting - with binoculars - for Team Hazak to appear.

Ok. I'll stop. ;-)

But when your father - of adult children, mind you - can still sprint 100m in 10sec flat... It's a pretty big deal when you beat his team of athletes.

This platform is a lot higher when you climb it. Someone must've taken this photo from a crane.

But I would rather jump into ice-cold muddy water than do burpees. 

So I jumped on "3".

Waking up at 4am, driving the 4hrs there, competing, winning (important sigh), and driving the 4hrs back home was worth it! What a blast... Dad is already calling for a re-match.

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

Rylan "Hard-Kour" Is Here!

Top of the morning to ya!

Meet Rylan. This is Rylan in his natural habitat. 

He's an incredible photographer.

Ambitious entrepreneur.

Loves life. Loves people. And he loves the Lord.

He also sends me random parkour videos that he gets of himself.

Hence the nickname: "Hard-kour".

Yes... I came up with that, myself.

He's also seeing how long he can grow his hair... Kind of intimidating

having a guy walk in with hair almost longer than your own.

Am I the only one who looks at this and thinks of "Sunshine" from Remember The Titans???

Rylan is my partner-in-crime. 

But he is also my culinary enemy.

I've recently forced him to work in the kitchen for the remaining 1.5months here

because he is ULTRA picky.

He doesn't even like cheese in his scrambled eggs. Gross.

So here we pose pre-cinnamon roll making. 

(Photos to follow...That is if I can get any before they are pulverized.)

I've been loving my life since he arrived because I now have THREE food photographers for Douceur.

And I take full advantage of their competitive nature because they now race

to take the food photos for my Instagram account. 

This. Is. The Life.

We are all very random. It's amazing to look at him and he remind me of when I used to babysit him and his siblings. 

Now, he's a traveling young man advancing the Kingdom.

The Bruce was quite entertained by the young adults who seem to not be able to overcome the child-at-heart spirit within them. 

But together, we fully enjoy the life God has blessed us with and make the most of our time together. 

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

The Bruce

Top of the morning to ya!

    

 This one is for our little buddy, Bruce or The Bruce...

Meet "The Bruce". Our handsome little nephew. Here he is with

his favourite person besides Oupa Craig: Uncle "G". Bruce LOVES

Graham and every time I see him he asks: G??

Bruce is quite the curious adventurer.

 I often look at him in awe as I consider the fact this 2yr old is 

entirely oblivious to the fact

that he is an American traveling the world and exploring Africa.

My goal is to be Bruce's favourite aunt and I think I'm getting pretty close!

He definitely looks up to men, which is awesome, but he is kind enough

to share some love with the ladies. ;-) Sunday afternoon, we went to have lunch at 

his new house where he has even more to explore. It's hard keeping him from climbing up the rocks

like a "proper Boer" child... Barefoot. 

He was disappointed with me for telling him he couldn't

climb past a certain point. He furrowed his eyebrows and pointed up the rock face saying, "MAHN-keys!" (Monkeys.)

I am not one for tricking children, but this little guy was so persistent that I finally said:

"Bruce, the monkeys are at church."

Bruce looked up at me quizzically and said: Bible? JESUS???

Me: Yes, Bruce. They went to read the Bible and learn about Jesus.

To my surprise, he was satisfied and soon began to distract himself

with other curious things to be explored in the garden.

Kait sent me an SMS this morning saying: No monkeys today. They must still be at church! 

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

A Valid Excuse for No Posts

Top of the morning to ya!

    It has been about a month, I believe. My apologies. Below is a sneak-peek into our month. The Lord has blessed us tremendously! Zach and Kait moved here with their two handsome boys!!!! Anddddd... My long-time friend and partner-in-crime ~Ash~ has also flown halfway across the world to spend March with us.

      Again... My cup overfloweth. :D

I think this blog will begin to get a facelift. Gabbi and Morgan

have been having fun with the camera. I know they will have a heart-attack because

I see their photography through rose-coloured glasses and tend to upload their least

favourite photos. However, here is the lovely Gabbi. 

I think I've seen Big Foot more times than I've seen a photo

of Graham smiling and even making a funny face for the camera. He usually ducks as soon as a 

camera is brought out, so this is definitely my favourite. (We'll just ignore the fact

that this is his mischievous smile because he probably stole that cheese from someone and ate a huge chunk.)

This is my lovely friend, Kait. She exudes joy and radiance! She is passionate

about the Lord, LOVES her husband, and absolutely adores her boys!

Morgan and Gab liked this photo... I don't even remember this being taken.

So, I just love this photo. I didn't find the one where Gabbi played around 

with the exposure and Morgan got 85 likes on the first day. But this is Morgan. Mo. Slo-Mo.

Speedy. Ashleigh... Depending on who you're talking to and where they met. 

She is my best friend.

We ~ Douceur ~ did a photo shoot per request on DIY Pom Poms... The entire tutorial is on Facebook.

When Ash is in town... We take FULL advantage and had to make 

the Woodser-famous cheese blitzen. *moment of silence*

Meet "The Bruce". Highly intelligent. Charming. Handsome.

Hilarious. Curious. Athletic. Loving. Never meets a stranger. TALL for 2yrs of age. 

A miracle and a blessing. I look at him and see God's grace. 

I never would've thought when I was 16 and met his mom that we would reconnect,

she'd be married, and THEN we'd have Bruce and Wyatt joining their parents to live in Africa with us!! God is good.

Wyatt. "Wy-man". 5 months old. He is also tall. Precious. 

Quick to smile. Absolutely ADORES the sight of his brother. Loves coo-ing at us.

I could kiss his scrumptious cheeks all day!!! MMM!!

Ash's dear precious Grandma Long sent a present to me through

Ash from my favourite store: Anthropologie. Made my day! I love her so much!

So... This morning I made her a Thank-You card. 

We also went for a Sunday walk in the Botanical Gardens. 

Tangled is one of our favourites... And for some reason, we girls think

that we have a pretty convincing smolder. So... We tried it again.

It looks more like all the typical teenage girl photos we make fun of. Yeesh!

It has perplexed Mo and me how celebrities can talk and always look 

ready for the camera... I think the airbrush edit must also make their faces

look normal or something.

Graham photo-bombing like a boss.

You know those 50's horror movie poses??

That's what we also tried.  (^^^ Morgan was taking this pretty seriously.)

This one is a little more convincing but I couldn't help but think of this... 

Hold on a moment...

It's probably dumb how much this makes me crack up

every time I look at it.

 

Bruce is such a ham!! And this family is so lovely!

These are way out of order but Ash and I have been to the Food Fundi

so many times now that I can't remember when this was!

Even though we are 21 and 22... We will always be kids deep down inside

and our husbands and children will just have to give us grace. This was our water olympics day in the pool. Ash's splash was just a little too large.

Mom had the excellent idea of a beading class at our new favourite shop!

We had a girls' day making jewelry and it was quite fun!

I like to tease Ash that she copies me a lot...

But in reality, I love love love this girl! She has a beautiful heart and I am so blessed

to have her as my friend. That she would spend money to fly all the way over here just blows me away. I am so excited to see and rejoice with her as she enters new seasons of life. She has been faithful and kept the Lord as her central focus. God be praised!

And finally... For now... The 3hr zip line day as a family with Ash. 

While we waited for Ash to zip her way to our station, we decided to be brave and see if the equipment could really hold 5 adults up as we leaned back over a steep ledge.

I must admit... I felt pretty cool!

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."

{Chopped: The Second Schmidt-Lock ZA Competition}

Top of the morning to ya! 

     I believe I have mentioned a few times our "Chopped" competition with the awesome Schmidts. Back in October, they were visiting with my Tio Sergio from Mocambique and we were all watching the FoodNetwork competition Chopped. 

   Mr. Schmidt had the splendid idea to do our own and the next day Morgan, Mrs. Schmidt, and Mom judged Team 1 (Gabbi and me), Team 2 (Mr. Schmidt and Graham), and Team 3 (Dad and Craig) on entrees and desserts. 

    It was LOADS of fun! 

    Everyone we have shared this story with has expressed a desire to participate and I believe this will become a regular-random event for us. 

   This time, we had pointers from the last competition, more judges, slightly different teams, and two curveballs. *gulp*

Helene and Willem. A lovely couple recently moved here from Bloemfontein.

Helene was one of our 4 judges, this time, and Willem was the official

taste-tester.

Dad (Team 3) and Roger (Team 2) were standing

awfully close for being Chopped enemies, wouldn't you say?? 

This was after the dessert curveball which I 

will explain momentarily...

I was working away at what I like to call "Rosemary Redemption"... Again, 

this was a result of the dessert curveball I will explain shortly. Dewie failed to realise

that the "plain" crackers he was going to crush for Team 3's dessert were actually

Rosemary... Not a good mix with peanut butter and chocolate... Nor the the

three secret ingredients for dessert: Brandy. Coconut milk. Cape Malay Curry.

Gabbi and I came up with this dessert but we did not get the credit for it

thanks to the lovely dessert curveball Morgan came up with... I still love her. 

This Cape Malay Pudim- as I called it- was inspired by a delectable dessert

I had in Dubai. This was the winning dessert and Team 2 (Graham and Mr. Schmidt)

will go down in history as the creators. ... I really hate revisionist history! ;-P

Dad and Dewie were trying to boot us off of the stove. The other fun factors in this competition

were the limited space, microwave-sized oven, and the lack of proper

pots/pans/cooking utensils since our shipment is yet to arrive. But the resulting

smack talk and competitive spirit was HILARIOUS.

Dad was trying to slow Gabbi down. Ha!

I just had to post another photo of them. I love this couple!

They were quite entertained by the debates between the contestants

especially since they - as judges - were in-the-know about the curveballs. -.-

So... I said I would tell you about the curveballs. The entree curveball 

actually saved our creation. 30min in, Morgan gave us a 4th secret ingredient (some apricot-mayo type sauce) that rescued our cocoa/anise balsamic reduction sauce that Gabbi burned on a high flame. (Love her still, too.) 

The second curveball, however, was a real...shocker. And I guessed it RIGHT before

the 20min mark hit and we would be informed as to what it was.

 Morgan was lovely enough to tell each team to move to the station to the right and pick up where the last team left off. We could not tell each other what we did or what we had in mind. The sad part was Gabbi and I were finished with our 

dessert that was just baking in the oven. Team 2 benefited from our prepared efficiency.

This was my face when they told me the dessert curveball.

... And this was Dad's face when he heard the dessert curveball.

Team 1's entree.

Team 2's deletable entree. (No, this isn't mine. Yes, it was delectable.)

Team 3's manly entree. - Dad and Mr. Schmidt I could swear were separated at birth.

They were talking a LOT of smack to each other. We all got a kick out of Mr. Schmidt when he saw this one. His way of painting the...unique trait of this pizza was by saying: "Ice cream is good. Pizza is good. But ice cream on pizza is not."

"Well... That's all I have to say about that."