Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Homemade Noodles
• Crock Pots
• Rainbows
• Raindrops
• The smell of fresh cut grass
• Skype
• Short work days
• True friends
• Headbands
• Cute shoes

Boys will be boys

This is a funny little moment I had to share. The other night Jackson climbed into my bed after a bad dream. After I woke up in the morning he was starting to stir.. he started talking and at first I thought he was talking in his sleep. His eyes weren't even open yet but in a quiet, half asleep, little voice he said, "what's invisible and smells like bananas?" I said, "I don't know" He replied, "a monkey fart". I laughed so hard because it caught me off guard. I don't like "bathroom talk" or bathroom jokes in our house but that is not was I was expecting to hear first thing in the morning from my sweet baby boy. He's such a comedian.

Wordless Wednesday

Thoughts on 30

30 was a scary thought to me. I don't feel 30. Seems like just yesterday I was ridding my bike to my friends house to play Barbies.. yet here I am with even my oldest child having outgrown Barbies herself now.

At 30 years old, I've come to love the color pink. I love to cook & bake. I have accepted the fact that nothing turns out as you plan. I am starting to learn how to stop letting my urge to be a perfectionist get in the way of accomplishing things. I've learned to enjoy the little things. I've learned to pray with an open heart.. often, and be prepared for answers that weren't exactly what I was expecting!

There are no do-overs so I want to make the most of everything. I've always done that for my kids and I need to make sure I keep doing that for myself too. I will cherish every moment. I will take time to smell the flowers. I will take time for me. I will breathe.... deeply if needed haha. I will continue to be thankful for what I have and share those blessings with others when I can. I will continue to work on forgiving the people that have wronged me.

I am happy to be at the place I am. I am happy & healthy and working towards making things even better. Working out every day, eating healthy & getting more sleep because I owe it to myself! Last week, in the middle of remodeling my bathroom I took a break and baked a pie! At that point I had an epiphany that there is honestly nothing I can't do if I put my mind to it, and that, I am proud of.

Bountiful Basket

This weeks Bountiful Basket:

• Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Celery
• 3 Acorn Squash
• 5 Yellow Onions
• Okra - a good 5 handfuls
• 6 Bananas
• 6 Peaches
• 8 Apples
• 8 Green Plums
• 3 Asian Pears
• 1lb Seedless Concord Grapes

Italian Pack:

• Eggplant
• 2 Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• 4 Yellow/Purple Onion
• Garlic
• Basil
• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Italian Parsley

The Italian pack was a great add on for $7 with big bunches of fresh herbs. Fantastic deal considering I just paid a little over three bucks for some fresh Basil alone this last week!

This weeks challenge will be the Okra since I've never cooked it.. I'm not sure I've even eaten it before! I will have to let you know what I end up doing with it.

Here's a recipe we've made MANY times over the last few weeks. I looked up recipes for cabbage since I have never been a fan and I tried this cabbage soup. To my surprise it was delicious! We made a big pot of it and Ashleigh and I ate the whole thing within two days. Now, as we run our we make another pot. It's great as is but you could add pretty much anything to it. I told Jerrick & Sierra about it since they got a basket that week too and weren't sure what to do with the cabbage either.. they loved it also! (neither of them care for cabbage either) Sierra said it's her new favorite soup!


We made stuffed peppers with the Bell Peppers from last time. I cooked up some meat and rice then chopped some veggies (onion, mushroom, garlic). The kids got to stuff their own pepper with what they wanted and they loved them!

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Pet rocks
• Mud pies
• Nail polish
• iPod
• Bountiful Baskets
• New yummy recipes
• Kids that aren't too old to snuggle
• Tweens that aren't to cool to hang out with mom yet
• Red Box
• The Office

Wordless Wednesday

Camping

I took the kids camping by myself last weekend. It was so fun! We also brought Alex (one of Ashleigh's best friends) with us. I was VERY worried about getting everything packed. I'm known for organizing and packing very well, even with limited space... but I wasn't sure if this was something I'd be able to accomplish. Not only was I packing for one more person but one less spot in my little car that I could pack! I managed... barley. The kids were pretty crammed in the backseat. They had to sit on and lean against pillows, blankets & backpacks in order for us all to fit.

I've had my eye on a new tent since the beginning of summer. I did a lot of research and read many online reviews about it before deciding which one I wanted, only to find out it was sold out everywhere. While doing my shopping for supplies a few days before leaving, I found my tent! There was one left. I was so excited, I wasn't even looking for it and had just planned on getting it next year! We have outgrown our little dome tent and would never have room to bring someone along. Our camp site was great! There was a creek that ran though the back and it looked like a scene out of a fairy tale. Crystal clear water, moss covered rocks, tree limb bridges and rocks to hop across. Pathways leading though the trees close enough to the site that the kids could wander and explore on their own. They found a stack of rocks in the shape of a chair & a circle of trees that looked like a hut. The girls wrapped up a rock in a towel and drew a face on it to make a rock baby.

My Mom was able to come up the mountain and join us the last night. It was nice to have the bigger tent to fit everyone in. I felt much safer having us all in one tent together rather than having to worry about people in a separate tent. We went on hikes and had adventures, we made boats and raced them down the creek, the kids put together a few skits to perform, and had sing alongs and told scary stories by the fire at night, snuggled at night to keep warm & Jackson even picked me some flowers.

As we were packing up camp, Jackson noticed a chipmunk in the car! We opened the door for it to get out and it climbed up into my dashboard! It took about 20 minutes to get it out. It was defiantly eventful. As we were driving back (on the freeway) 15 minutes from home,  I felt something on my knee. I looked down to see a chipmunk on my leg!!! I shook my leg and it jumped off to go hide somewhere. Alex saw it jump off but Ashleigh didn't believe me. We took everything out of the car and searched it.. no chipmunk in sight. Finally Ashleigh saw it scurry out of the car and run away. The next morning Jackson & I heard it in our neighbors pine tree a couple houses down.

The Land of Corn

I'm a little late posting this since it was a month ago, but I had such a nice trip to Iowa this year. It was eventful but very relaxing (for the most part haha). Rusty's Dad and our friend James were going to pick us up from the Airport. Rusty was returning from Georgia after being at a Leadership Camp, the same day I was arriving. We coordinated our flights and were supposed to land within 10 minutes of each other (around 9 P.M.).

I flew from Utah to Tennessee (where the humidity was horrible) and during my layover I got a text from Rusty saying his flight was delayed and he wouldn't even be off the ground by the time I land in Iowa. By the time I had landed (and could turn my phone back on) I had texts from him about multiple delays. To make a long story short, the weather was horrible and  his flight finally came in around 2 A.M. He spent 10 hours at that airport and 2 of them sitting on the tarmac. We clapped when they finally landed. 

Justin & Lacey

The 3 of us (Rusty, James and I) slept at least until noon the next day. James was there the for the duration of my trip with the exception of the last couple days. I had a great time hanging out with friends I've known for years. We spent time with Justin & Lacey  and their 2 little ones often.

The 5 of us went downtown to the sky bridge and enjoyed the view of over the Mississippi. It had been raining a lot lately and the banks of the river were sand bagged. It was extremely full compared to last summer when I visited. After we walked around downtown a bit we all went out to eat.

We went swimming at friend's houses a few times which was so nice giving the heat and humidity. We also saw a couple movies, Inception and Dinner for Scmucks, which were both great. We went to the Putnam Museum also and took flowers to Tyler's grave. There were a couple very impressive thunder storms while I was there. Sadly, there weren't as many fireflies as last year due to all the storms.

Rusty had a follow up appointment with  a bone specialist while I was there,  after finding out he had broke a small bone in his hand (before going to his leadership camp). Initially he was told to wear a brace but after further examination he got put in a cast. He wasn't able to drill with his rifle for about 6 six weeks though and that made him crazy.

Karmen & I

Rusty's Mom, Karmen, has been wanting to take me to a favorite shop of hers. It's like an Antique store/indoor swap meet. They had some great things there. I bought an old jar of buttons for Ashleigh and some honey sticks from a local company as a souvenir for my brother & Sierra.

Of my Iowa friends,4 of us had Birthdays in July so we had BBQ to celebrate them all. We had hamburgers, hot dogs bratwurst and veggie kabobs on the grill. All week we were worried about getting rained out, but the weather ended up being great. After dinner we visited by the fire pit and roasted marshmallows for smores.Later we sang "happy birthday" and had cake (that Karmen made us). It was a fun evening.

On my last day Rusty and I took a water taxi across the Mississippi and had fun a the John Dear commons (a local attraction) We bought a couple souvenirs for my family there. Then got back on the taxi to ride on the Mississippi back to where we had parked and visited an architectural park there. Later that night we walked to the fair grounds. We enjoyed a show and the fair food. It was a fun night but a bitter sweet knowing I would be leaving in the morning.

I missed my kids but we talked everyday and just like last year sent each other pictures everyday too. I had a great time. Till next year, Iowa friends.

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

• Butterfly nets
• Batteries
• Flashlights
• Coconut rings
• Bottled water
• Roasting sticks
• Smores
• Chapstick
• Pillows
• Hand sanitizer 

Wordless Wednesday

Thankful Thursday

Of the many blessings I have, I am thankful for:

Tomato brushetta
Home baked pie
Roasted garlic
Forts make from cardboard boxes
New flooring in the kids bath
New toilet, vanity & sink in kids bathroom
Knowing I installed it all myself
100% on spelling tests
Dinosaurs (haha)
Great movies

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Wordless Wednesday

Plums

We've ended up with so many plums from the last two weeks with the co-op. I have never been a big fan of plums even though I have a plum tree in my backyard. I went on the hunt for some recipes and came  across 'Purple Plum Pie' which had great reviews. It tuned out yummy!

I love the website, All Recipes.com They have so many recipes and they are rated, and commented on from other people that have tried them, they even have listed some of their own variations of them also. I have  fallen in love with a Tomato Bruschetta recipe I found when looking for something to do with all the tomatoes we had. I could eat this for breakfast lunch and dinner... it is that good. I was worried we had way to many tomatoes but now it seems like there's not enough!

Bountiful Basket

 Here is this morning's Bountiful Basket. Again it was only $15 for all these fruits and veggies! I did add on bread for $10 (for 5 loaves, which I am sharing with my mom, aunt, brother & sierra at $2 per loaf).

I really enjoyed finding new recipes this last week for veggies we eat all the time anyway. I actually enjoyed the sweet potatoes too!  We made twice baked sweet potatoes & sweet potatoes fries.


In this weeks basket we got:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 head cabbage
• 1 large bunch of celery
• 4 bell peppers
• 6 tomatoes
• 8 sweet potatoes
• honeydew melon
• over 2lbs of grapes
• 1lbs strawberries
• 8 bananas
• 8 nectarines
• 23 plums

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Garden

Here's an update on our little garden. We have already had quite a few salads with our mixed geeens and we use our fresh herbs in recipes all the time. Jackson picked his first carrots last night and they were delicious. I am looking forward to the tomatoes!

  

Cherry Tomato | Leeks | Apple Tree

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