creating: crock pot pulled pork

We tried a new, EASY recipe for pulled pork sandwiches and it turned out really good, so I thought I would share it.  Ready for the ingredients?  Here you go:

We used pork shoulder with the bone out but for this recipe you could use pork tenderloin too)

 You will just need enough root beer to cover the meat.

Fill the crock pot with the root beer until it covers the meat.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours, until the meat shreds easily with a fork.

Have your really cute sous chef help as much as possible.♥

Once the meat shreds easily, drain the access root bear and then cover the shredded meat with your favorite BBQ sauce.  Let it stay on the WARM setting until you are ready to eat.

We ate it with a kale and brocolli slaw mix from Costco.

It was a really tasty dinner and it was so nice how easy it was.

It allowed me to spend more time with our littlest Rae who is having the HARDEST time with teething. She has been wanting to just lay low:

Even with a mouth that hurts, she still manages smiles:

Even with teething, she LOVED the dinner too♥.

turning...

Each meal at Mount Hermon, the kids would play outside while we finished our meals (a.k.a. waiting for Eden to finish eating her way through a growth spurt♥.)  The older kids in our group would watch the little ones and it was the favorite post meal activity.  There was a patio right next to our tables and we could monitor pretty well.  On our last night, I hear one of the kids run up to tell their parents that someone was bleeding, ALOT.  I walk out to check and my nephew is helping Ryder get to me and Ryder is SCREAMING while he is holding his face/head/eye, and there was SO MUCH blood.  It is the first time Ryder has ever had a cut like that.  He is screaming at me that it hurts and I can't get him to let me look at it and all I can think is that it's his eye.  In less than five seconds, my mind went to "He's blind in that eye" and "He'll need surgery" and "Oh My gosh, if the stick is still poking out, what the @#$! am I going to do..."  I told my nephew to get my sister, an ICU nurse, and Kit and to bring me lots of napkins.   Kit took one look at my face and went into a very specific calm that he gets when I am freaking out. (Yep, he has that calm mastered...♥)  The three of us finally get Ryder to move his hands and we realize it isn't his eye, but he just keeps bleeding.  Mind you, Ryder is scared and screaming and  I'm trying not to but I have tears rolling  down my face, which I know is freaking him out even more.  Kit, in his amazingly calm voice, tells me to get our friend Jon, who is an ER doctor.  Of course he would think rationally when I am in the process of my freak out.  Our friend Jonny comes and calms Ryder down, cleans up all the blood, assesses that he doesn't need stitches, gets it all set with a bandaid and then sits with us while we all try to calm down.  Poor Jonny.  He made it so we will NEVER want to travel without him ever again!♥  He so sweetly told me that this probably won't be the last time.  He is so right.  We have a little boy who thinks he is so much older than he is and he loves all things boy like sticks and rocks and dirt and guns and knives... (If he gets a butter knife, or a popsicle stick, or a rock that has the slightest edge,  he thinks he's McGuyver or Rambo. My Ryder will sleep with his Laser gun if we would let him...) He is ALL boy.

We took this right after we got him pretty cleaned up and he had a bag of Skittles:

I realized that night that I can worry myself into a full ulcer and sleepless nights, or I can turn to Jesus and entrust my son to His provision and care.  I realize really how many things I have NO control over, especially when it comes to my Littles.  My prayer is that I learn what it is to CONTINUALLY turn to Jesus and trust Him and His faithful sovereignty.  He knew my baby boy before I did. Before Ryder was ever a thought for Kit and I, Jesus knew him and created him with such love.  When I think of that, I realize that I can let go more and more and allow the Lord to be in control of the people that I hold most precious.  I am so thankful that God used Ryder's gash to remind me of who He is and to help form who I am still becoming as a child of God.  

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Ryder is doing so great.  His head is healing so well, and he is bilking it for all the Skittles he possibly can.  Yep, he's feeling better.  Jonny, thank you so much for loving on us.  We are so thankful for you and I am not kidding that we will not want to travel without you and your family ever again♥.

We're back!

We had such a great time up at Mt Hermon last week.  Here are a few of our highlights:

The first night there was dinner on the lawn and a meet and greet with the staff and ice cream.

 Eden and her cousin Ruby:

(a.k.a. the cutest sweet tooths ever!)

Ryder loved that there was something new every day and he would look at the schedule as though he could read every word!  So did his sister:

Ryder and Eden went to their classes every day and almost every night.  I was so proud of them!

Eden cried EVERY time I dropped her off.  That was really hard for me...  I keep telling myself it can only get better and easier.  He had so much fun in his class and with all the family activities that he actually fell asleep at meals:

He was just plain tuckered out...

One day we took the train from Mt. Hermon to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk:

Ryder loved getting to ride in the open car with his cousins:

Once we got to the boardwalk, we went on the carousel and a people mover that took you WAY up high over the entire boardwalk.  

The people mover:

 Kit rode with Eden and he equated it to riding with an orangoutang.  I kept thinking that Ryder would fall.  Needless to say we were both happy to be back on the ground. 

The Carousel:

Pictures on the boardwalk:

One of the mornings there was a pancake breakfast.  We woke up late and got the time wrong for when we needed to be there so the morning was a little rough, but once we got there, we had a really good time.  Ryder hiked up with his cousins and was a trooper the whole time!

 There was a pancake flipping contest.  

Ryder was REALLY close! 

 Eden just watched:

One of Ryder's FAVORITE evening activities was playing air hockey with his dad.  He was really good too... 

One of the evenings, there was zumba party with glow sticks and s'mores.  This was one of our favorite activities:

While on our trip, our friend Cate turned 9, so of course there had to be ice cream:

 Our friend Jonny was helping Ryder.  Yep, Jonny was his new best friend!

The kiddos found a banana slug.

They were elated!

 Ryder REALLY wanted to hold it, but we decided that looking is way better...

One of my favorite things of the trip was watching all the kiddos in our group play together.  They would be in classes together and would all play so well together.  It was awesome!

Our friends have a son who has the biggest smile and the most tender heart and could not be more relational if he tried.  We call him the smile ambassador.  He loved giving Eden hugs.  Yep, I melted every time he did it:

Kit did the high ropes course on one of the afternoons during nap time.  The kids and I sat that one out♥.

(Man, does Kit know how to work a helmet or what!?!)

 We would hike down to the creek and the kids would play in the water.

 One of the days we went on the boats:

Ryder was the captain for sure!

It was so peaceful, we could have stayed there all day...

There was a morning and an evening speaker:

Margaret Feinburg and Richard Dahlstrom.
They were AMAZING and we were so thankful for the way the Lord used their words in our own lives.  
Kit and I had such great conversations, we would go on these long walks and enjoy how beautiful the grounds were and just share life together...

We had the opportunity to take lots of pictures and have LOTS of family time:

 

 

It took us a few days to get in our groove, and I only melted down once ♥, but the trip was a huge success and the kids slept great and we are excited to go again next year!