A Perfect Proposal

Karl proposed to me 2 years ago today!  So weird and crazy to me that I used to be his fiancee and before that, his girlfriend!!  I was his girlfriend such a short time ago and now I'm his wife!  Blow.my.mind.  Not only that, but Karl proposed here in Sumter when I came to visit him for my birthday- I can't believe that I live here now!  I mean... I really can't believe I live here now, haha.  My proposal was perfect- Karl made it absolutely perfect and The Lord absolutely protected me from knowing what was going on because I would've acted not fun if I had known haha.  Our year of engagement was anything but normal- I'm so glad that is over!  So this weekend we are in Little Rock partaking in the Chism/Riggan wedding festivities aka, bliss, and then back to Arlington for a night and some 23rd birthday celebrating!  So in love with where Karl & I are in this season of life and how we can look back on 2 whole years ago to see how The Lord provides, how quickly time flies, and how He moves thru relationships and love!

Now I have this handmade, wooden box that has keepsakes from the day of our engagement!

Our families sent boxes of fun stuff- bride books & magazines- fun stuff to start looking at!!  There's nothing like celebrating your engagement in your fiance's military dorm room :)

At a fancy dinner that night that Karl had planned & set up!
 

Such an awesome weekend that was!  I'm so glad to be married now- I remember how hard it was to leave Karl after that weekend and come back home to Texas to a surprise engagement party without him.  Praising The Lord that season of our lives has come and gone and we get to live together now- I still am not over how fun that is!

Mrs. Burton

yummmy Blackened Chicken

Karl & I made this the other night and we really enjoyed it!  I loved it because unlike casseroles and stovetop meals, you can more easily control how much you make... and not make food for 6-8 people.  This is basically just well-seasoned chicken so it was a low-fat meal.

{I cut everything in half}...

• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 4 teaspoons sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning {we didn't have this... I did have"blackening seasoning" so I added some of that}
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper {I used chili powder}
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper, divided
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves {I pounded them out thin}
• 1 1/3 cups mayonnaise {I used fat-free}
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1. In a small bowl, combine paprika, I teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic powder, thyme, lemon-pepper, cayenne and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pepper; sprinkle {a lot} over both sides of chicken. Set aside. In another bowl, combine mayonnaise, water, vinegar and remaining sugar, salt and pepper; cover and chill 1 cup for serving. Save remaining sauce for basting.
2. Grill chicken, covered, over indirect medium heat for 4-6 minutes on each side or until juices run clear, basting frequently with remaining sauce. Serve with reserved sauce.

This was really delicious!  We had it with oven-roasted asparagus {doy, my fave} and I think this will definitely be a go-to meal here from now on!

Enjoy!

11

Happy 11 months of marriage to my hubs!!  I feel like our first year of marriage is a little like a child's first year of life- I'll have to stop this whole monthly acknowledgement thing after 12 months... or maybe I can drag it out to 24 months.  We'll see.  All I know is that we'll have been married for a year next month.  That is mind blowing.  What a year we have had, what a year we are about to have.  Enjoying daily life with him and learning to just love where we are in the life we have.  REALLY enjoying thinking of and starting new traditions and things to start this first year that we can continue for decades to come, that has been so fun!  Go ahead and prepare for the gushiest post you've ever read one month from today.

Thankful that it is today, and not this day last year where I was the most stressed out & miserable human being in existence.  mmhmm.
Mrs. Hannah K.C. Burton

Me+the ER+and steak stuck in my throat.

Never a dull moment here in Hannah land.  I've been looking forward to a visit from Allison & The Johns' kids for a couple of weeks now and Karl & I have just been SO excited about it!  I mean like, over.the.moon.  This house needed some serious livening up and they were just the people to do it for us!  They got here at 7ish on Sunday night and Karl & I had dinner almost ready.  That means they were here for less than an hour before I started the worst 8 hours of.my.life.  This story is almost embarrassing.  But I swear there is something wrong (anatomically or pathophysiologically... that has yet to be determined) and I'm not a sloppy eater so keep that in mind and don't judge me.  So... I got steak stuck in my esophagus.  And this isn't the first time it has happened.  But it is the first time I had to go to the ER for it.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It used to happen in college when I would eat microwavable pancakes in the parking lot of UBC but it would last for like 15 seconds, it happened at a Young Life fundraising banquet here in Sumter but lasted less than 5 minutes (super embarrassing), and it happened at my cousin Jade's wedding when I was helping to photograph the event, yeah, horrible timing.  That last time it lasted over an hour but dislodged in the car on the way to the ER.  So, anyways, this was not my first rodeo.  So.... Karl & I left our guests here and headed to the hospital to find a packed ER.  Fortunately, I was triaged back within about 20 minutes (only to find out the triage nurse thought the food was in my trachea- are you serious??  It took you 20 minutes to get me back when you thought it was in my trachea??)  BUT unfortunately, it was another, oh, 1 1/2 hours before I was seen by a doctor.  Lemme describe to you what is happening for the now 4 hours that I have had this steak stuck in my throat... NOTHING can get past it- saliva, water, NOTHING.  So, without TMI, go ahead and figure all that out.  There was LOTS of vomiting going on.  Still not sure how something was coming up but NOTHING could go down.  The doctor seemed to be familiar with what was happening because although it took him an eternity to get to me, it took him all of 5 seconds to make a plan- IV med to relax my esophagus then esophagoscopy to remove it.  After an hour waiting for the nurse to come start my IV and push the med, I was beyond.  Like, wanted to jump out of my skin.  I was soooooo so uncomfortable and felt like I was going crazy.  Worst feeling ever.  So the first part of the plan didn't even work, although the nurse was really nice.  She did, however, also insist on giving me some valium to "take the edge off," which actually brought more edge on because then all I wanted to do was lie down but I couldn't because I had to sit up to keep relieving myself of the saliva that couldn't go down my throat.  THEN the GI doctor had to be called in (READ: wait.) And I was put under for the scope.  Next thing I know I'm awake, I no longer have an expensive cut of meat lodged in my throat, I'm crying uncontrollably, and I feel only slightly better than I did before... my body does not agree with whatever esophagus muscle relaxant they gave me, morphine, valium, and versed all given within, oh, about 2 hours of each other when my fluids were low thanks to profuse vomiting and no IV fluids.  Smart move, county hospital.  Anywayz.  Karl was a rockstar and totally played it cool the whole time while I was an emotional, pained, & irritated mess.  And there's nobody else I would've felt that OK abandoning at our house- The Johns' were so sweet and they are basically family so obviously it was no big deal to them to be left and they were just worried about me.  Literally stumbled to the car (stopped to heave) at about 3 am and then home where Karl claims he had to put my pajamas on me, although I have literally no memory of this.  He also claims that I said while crying, "I'm chasing the beanie dogs, I have to catch the beanie dogs."  You mean weenie dogs?  "No, beanie!! wahhhhhhh."  So, I have a follow-up appointment next Tuesday before Karl & I leave for Little Rock where I have a feeling they'll refer me to a gastroenterologist for a scope with esophageal dilation to figure out what the problem is.  In the mean time, I won't ever lock eyes with steak again.  More on our visit with The Johns' tomorrow, after you have time to digest my drama... pun intended bahaha.  And yes, I do have a pictures of what they saw down the scope and I'm proud to show them off.

Late Bloomer

Here's a belated weekend review, of sorts.  Karl & I thought it would be fun to have a Harry Potter marathon this weekend- I have only seen the first one and Karl has only seen the first two.  I was excited at first and went to three different video stores to rent them, put our blow-up mattress on the living room floor with lots of blankets and pillows, bought pizza and cookies for dinner, and even made a "Welcome to the Wizarding World- Burton Harry Potter Marathon 2011" sign for Karl to see when he got home.  That excitement lasted approximately 6 hours- through the first 2 movies.  I blame several factors:

a) Karl's work.  (now that I can blame my mom for less and less, Karl's work has become the scapegoat)- but seriously, our all-day Saturday and all-day Sunday marathon turned into just Sunday afternoon because Karl was called into work for Saturday and part of Sunday which leads me to...

b) The "marathon" was dragged out to Monday night & Tuesday night- over.kill.

c) I prefer movies with no antagonist.  Or at least an antagonist with a small role or a nice face.  I spent 70% of movies 4, 5, 6, & 7 with my eyes covered- such scary, scary movies!  Like, so scary I had an impossible a hard time enjoying them.  I just don't enjoy that feeling of being scared or times of intensity in movies.  Never have.  Don't bother inviting me to a haunted house.  

The first 3 were nice to watch- the scenes were brighter (literally.  Like 4-7 were so dark... not just like 'evil' dark but like literally dark, woof)- but my favorite has to be Chamber of Secrets.  I'm not sure why, except that I can now say that I think the first one does a disservice to the rest of the series and I felt like I was watching a scary version of Spy Kids by the fourth.  Karl, on the other hand, has suddenly become the world's biggest Harry Potter fan.  He was extremely irritated at my texting during the movie and now is an expert at anything and everything related to Harry Potter.  I think I heard him refer to Harry Potter as "Potts" at one point so that's how close they are now.

Despite my living in fear all weekend and half the week, we had a GREAT weekend!  It was so fun and I'm so glad we watched these!  I definitely want to see the final installment, obviously I have to finish what I started!  ANNND I can now say that I feel more like an accepted member of society having been initiated by Potts.  I would like to read these books- I know they are so well written, major page-turners, and fun to read and now that I know the plot line I think I can really enjoy the books.  I'm going to try and talk Karl into us both reading them while he is in Korea so we can have something fun and light to talk and email about. SOOOOO

To understand me better, I should end this post by filling you in on a few of my favorite movies.

Recess: School's Out

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Coyote Ugly

Father of the Bride part 2

... see a trend here?  No real antagonists or the antagonist is self.  Nothing popping out of dark forests here.

Happy Hump Day (I hate when people say that)

Hannah K.C. Burton

Uncle Sam, hold on to your hats.

Karl & I had such a fun weekend! Since we found out about South Korea, we have been trying to do extra fun things and not do much sitting around {because Karl would prefer not to- he gets bored really quickly}. SO during the week I've been researching all the free, fun, & unusual activities going on around the state for the weekend! We are definitely doing a lot of driving, but certainly having tons of fun exploring and this weekend was no exception. We had tons of options for fun Fourth activities but we decided to check out the State Farmers Market in Columbia on Saturday with some shopping and a date night, Pawleys Island near Myrtle Beach on Sunday for a day of sand+sun+surf, & Lake Wateree yesterday to celebrate the fourth! It was a blast and made me realize how lucky we are to live in a place where we can be on the ocean one day and a lake the next without more than an hour and a halfs drive

Sunday at the beach was fun and so relaxing, with the exception of losing my hair barrette and modesty to a massive wave in the Atlantic.  Sorry 'bout that children on the beach, you'll understand when you're older.  The drive to Myrtle Beach really isn't that bad, and it's even shorter to Charleston- Karl & I should make it more often- the beaches are BEAUTIFUL with the most wonderfully soft sand and nice warm water!

Pretending like it looks like I have arms and my hair is a little more calm

 hoping he comes across my barrette...

Sunday while we were gone at the beach, I had dinner cooking in the crock pot- it was spicy chicken ranch sandwiches- all uhmerican.  That's one of our favorites here at The Burton household and it's super easy.  I thought I had posted this recipe before but I can't find it, so here it is {again?}.

-2-3 chicken breasts in the crock pot with a packet of Hidden Valley Dry Ranch and 2/3 of a bottle of hot wing sauce and cook on low for 7-8 hours or until fork-tender.

-Remove chicken from the crock pot, shred with forks, return to the crock pot, and stir- adding in 2T of butter

-Serve on toasted hamburger buns or hoagie rolls with ranch + avacado + whatever sounds good to you!

I also whipped up this bad boy the night before and iced+topped it when we got home from our full day- delish!

-Bake a roll of sugar cookie dough on a jelly pan (I lined the pan with wax paper just to be safe) according to package and let cookie cool

-Top with: 1 package of cream cheese {softened} mixed with 1/2 cup sugar and 1T vanilla annnd whatever fruit your little heart desires!- TA-DAH!

Overnight on Sunday I slow-cooked food for Monday at the lake- sweetened pulled pork for tacos, another of our favorites.  I've posted the recipe before- here. We reheated the pork + heated other taco toppings and tortillas on our camping stove that Karl's parents gave us for Christmas- it was so fun!  Definitely a better alternative to dragging our grill out to the lake and making hotdogs or hamburgers, in my humble opinion.  The lake was really fun!  It's a small area that provides access and a little man-made sand area for military only.  There are nice restrooms, pavilions, and tons of picnic tables.  They had a great band out there and an awesome fireworks show- it was perfect and only about 45 minutes away from our house!  Oh and I can't not mention the people watching- I was in heaven.  All the back tats you could imagine + an embarrassing amount of smoking & drinking + american flag bikinis rampant + southern drawls that were past charming.  More cheetos than I knew could be stocked in one state.  I imagine pray it is much classier out there on a regular/not holiday weekend... 

So thankful for Karl's servant heart and service to the grand 'ol USA & to everyone who has served, is serving, and will serve!  Praising God for how He reigns in this country
Hannah K.C. Burton