Happy father?s day?and open house craziness

First of all, happy father?s day to my amazing dad. I couldn?t ask for a better example of leadership, wisdom, or perseverance. Despite his fight with hepatitis C, he has always been extremely supportive of everything I?ve ever done.

So thank you, dad! I love you!

Yesterday was a long day of open-housing for our fam. I don?t know if it?s the same where you live, but it?s tradition here in the Midwest for a graduating senior to have an open house to celebrate his or her achievements {mainly finishing high school}. Open houses generally involve lots of food, embarrassing family photos, and monetary gifts.

The morning started out with decorating 200 cupcakes. And there was lots of pulled pork taste-testing.

[Bethany and Dad taste-testing]

The menu included pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, watermelon and cantaloupe, and pasta salad {cupcakes for dessert}.

[the open house menu?perfect blend of summery foods]

So proud of my little brother! He?ll be off to Chicago in the fall for college. I?m hoping this will be a good excuse to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as much as humanly possible.

[the happy grad?probably tired of smiling for 2 hours straight]

I had a lot of fun frosting cupcakes with my sister?and it was a lot easier than creating a huge cake. I think people enjoyed eating cupcakes rather than regular cake, too. After the 10th or 11th open house, change is good.

[we had 3 of these cupcake trees out]

We?ve been pretty much inseparable since arriving home. It?s great having a built in running buddy and friend to hang out with while I?m home. I miss my roommates, though {shout-out to the roommate and Mona if you?re reading!}

[Bethany and I with one of the cupcake trees]

Both my parents did a lot of work to make Ben?s open house happen, especially my mom. I think everything went really well, and we have so much food left over! We?ll be eating pulled pork and salad for DAYS! It was really good to see old friends and people who I?ve known since I was a kid?these are the people who have prayed for me and shaped me into who I am today, and I?m really grateful for their presence in my life.

I wanted to answer Katie or CCV?s question about Vitamin A toxicity. She said:

I try to limit my Vit. A because I've always heard that it's a fat-soluble vitamin, so it's bad if you exceed the RDA by too much. I always thought this was true even for beta carotene, not just supplements... am I wrong?

Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, which means that it can be stored in the body and doesn?t need to be consumed daily. However, the beta carotene found in orange vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes is a pro-vitamin A carotenoid and must converted into the active form of vitamin A (retinol). Because beta carotene is not well absorbed and the conversion rate is so low, toxicity from plant sources is nearly impossible. However, consuming too much preformed vitamin A from animal sources (liver), vitamins, and fortified foods (milk, breakfast cereals) can lead to toxicity. The Linus Pauling Institute says that generally, signs of toxicity are associated with long-term consumption of vitamin A in excess of ten times the RDA (8,000 to 10,000 mcg/day or 25,000 to 33,000 IU/day).

Hope this helped to answer your question, Katie..and happy father?s Day!