The BEST Iced Coffee...EVER!

So I found a recipe on Pinterest for an Iced Coffee and I thought I would give it a try.  UMMMM...worth a post all on it's own because it.is.soooooo.good!  I got the recipe from here and here is the recipe....

First...
You have to make your coffee concentrate.
(This is the only part of the process that takes some time)
Don't worry,  the gallon of coffee concentrate you end up with will make enough to last you for a month in the fridge!

You do NOT want to brew a normal pot of coffee for your iced coffee.
You want to cold-brew it.
This leaves you with a smooth, acid-free coffee base that we all love for a refreshing cold drink.

Iced Coffee Concentrate.  

Ingredients-

• 1 gallon water (I buy a gallon of drinking water)
• 1 lb bag of your favorite rich coffee (course ground if ya can get it)
• Coffee filters or several layers of cheesecloth
• a fine mesh strainer.
• a large bowl
• pitcher (big enough to hold a gallon)

Directions-

1. Pour gallon of water into your large bowl.
2. Dump the entire bag of coffee into the water/bowl.
3. Stir to make sure all grounds are saturated with water.
4. Walk away, for 12 hours or overnight.
5. line a mesh strainer with a coffee filter or several layers of cheese-cloth, set the strainer on top of your pitcher.
6. Pour (or ladle) your coffee mixture into the strainer. (this part takes awhile...  I often had to walk away while it filtered into the pitcher)   If using coffee filters, you might have to replace them several times during the filtering process.
7. Once all the coffee concentrate has been filtered, stick it in the fridge (it will last for a month!)

Sweet Cream
Ingredients-

• 1, 12oz can of evaporated milk
• 1, 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

Directions-

1. mix both cans together, refrigerate. 

Dana's Sweet & Creamy Iced Coffee 

1. Grab your favorite glass and fill it to the top with ice.

 2. Pour iced coffee concentrate into your glass, filling it a little more than half-full.

 3. Add Sweet Cream into the coffee/ice glass until full (or to taste)

 4.  stir to combine.

 5.  Enjoy!

The coffee concentrate takes a while (I did it overnight) but it's not hard.  The filtering takes a while too because you have to do it little at a time and walk away and let it drain.  I used coffee filters and changed out the filter each time I poured more coffee.  OH and I used Dunkin Donuts Decaf so I could drink it any time of day.

Seriously...better than Starbucks...and MUCH cheaper!

Livin' life and lovin' livin'...

Time gets away from me and I didn't realize it had been a week since my last post.  I have pics and memories just sitting on my camera or phone and I just haven't downloaded them until now.  And we had a fun {busy} weekend and I didn't get a chance to blog then.  I'll share pics from my camera soon but for now these are the ones hangin' around on my phone...

Saw this on facebook this week and I wholeheartedly agree... {thank goodness!}

Ordered these birthday shirts from my favorite etsy shop FlyDuds and got them in this week...they turned out so cute!

Brayden brought me some flowers the other day that he picked himself...melt.my.heart!

Love this sweet girl...and love that she loves her momma.  :)

My boy had a homerun the other night and won his game 13-1...remains undefeated and hoping it stays that way!

The girls made their own "couch" and they were sitting reading magazines.  I love that they love to play together.

Recently made Pioneer Woman's Mushroom Swiss Burgers...so yummy!

Love reading in the Psalms!!!

Praying this is {and remains} my heart cry!

This past Sunday the kids went to a block party at Lolli's church and my cousin Amy sent me these pics....

Meanwhile while they were gone I watched "Hunger Games" on Netflix while Jay was catching this big 'ole guy...

Thankful once we are a child of God, we don't lose our salvation when we mess up!!!

ALL peoples need to hear the gospel...my heart hurts for those who have never heard!

 A life of integrity....

Yesterday was Lucy's best friend Story's and her brother Oakley's birthday.  We got to facetime with her and wish them a happy day.  Love them!  Happy Birthday Story and Oakley!

He IS good...despite your circumstance!

Two triples and a serious crush

 I don't document every one of Brayden's games because they tend to all be similar but last night's game was an OUTSTANDING game and it is worth documenting!  He ended up playing the Cubs which is a special team to play because it included 3 of his old teammates, his very best friend Eli, and a little boy from his class AND it was a nail-biter of a game!

Nonnie got to come too so he was thrilled about that!  He hit great and had 2 triples and both hits were in the outfield.  After one of his great hits he came over to the fence and said, "Nonnie that was for YOU!" and gave her the biggest grin ever.  SO sweet!

3rd base...

Bringin' it home!!!

His best friend Eli!

Something about walking around barefoot at the ball fields...it reminds me Summer is just around the corner eeek!

Ok so something really funny happened and it had nothing to do with the game.  I kept seeing Brayden running around the dugout at one point and I walked over there to see what was going on.  This little girl on his team was literally chasing him around the dugout.  When I questioned him about it and told him to sit down, he started whispering to me (and totally disgusted), "MOM...she keeps saying I am cute!"  I said, "It's because you are!"  But she TOTALLY has a crush on him!  She followed him everywhere, wanted to sit with him, and once when they were going out on the field, she kept trying to stand by him at 3rd base and he kept telling her, "GO to the outfield...way out there!!!"  It was really funny to watch but it s WAYYYY too early for this...Kindergarten, for real?!

Check out the way she is looking at him!!!

Nonnie drove 2 hours here for the game and then 2 hours back.  Thanks Nonnie for coming!

He is ready out on the field!  He LOVES baseball!

Final score: 4 to 1.  We won and Brayden scored 2 out of the 4 runs.  Their one run is the only run that has been scored on us this year so far!

Brayden and his BFF after the game!  

Proud of you B!  You are such a great ball player and even though you played GREAT tonight, you still told me after the game, "Mom I didn't do my best.  That just wasn't me!"  There is always room for improvement, but he did great regardless of how hard he was on himself!

My childhood Bible

 I am so very thankful to have been raised in a Christian home with Godly parents and had a wonderful youth minister who taught me the importance of obedience, commitment and dedication to the Word of God.  Words can not express how grateful I am for their leadership in my life.  

A sweet lady, Janice, whom I do not know, contacted me a while back and said she had been trying to find me.  She had found a Bible that had my name on it and in search for me, found me on facebook and wanted to return this Bible to its rightful owner.  She lives in Arkansas and I have NO idea how my childhood Bible ended up there.  But for whatever reason I was so very thankful she worked so hard to return it to me.  IF you happen to be reading, thank you Janice!!!

It was so much fun to receive my Bible in the mail that I had originally gotten from my parents on Christmas 1991 when I was 11 years old.  I had notes written in it from sermons and random personal notes and some gosh-awful (terrible English I know...but it was!) handwriting!  Sure am glad it has improved since I was 11!

The pictures are love-ly...way outdated!

This was a dried rose that I remember having in there but I can't remember what from. 

So thankful that even at age 11, I was consistent in God's Word.  The Lord was so very gracious to me.

This one makes me laugh...