Another Year Has Come and Gone

I know everyone goes around making New Year’s resolutions this time of year, but honestly, how many people actually stick to their so called ‘resolutions’? I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of not following through with the things I set out to do in the new year. This year I want to be different. I’m not going to call them resolutions, they are more like goals that I am setting to achieve. Some of them are practical and some of them are going to be a little hard for me to follow through with, but nonetheless I am going to give it my best.

Here is a list of the things I would like to do in the new year:

a) Find a church and attend regularly. The church we were attending didn’t feel right, so about 3 months ago we just stopped going instead of trying to find another one. So we are now on the lookout for a new home church.

b) Be more organized. I am one of those people who tries so hard to be organized that I am extremely unorganized. I want to be more organized when it comes to the household, business and Jake’s school.

c) Be a more frugal. I am in desperate need of a money management makeover! I would like to teach myself to not spend money like it grows on trees. I even plan to balance my checkbook every time I spend money, which is something I have not done in years!

d) Do something with photography. I am not the best photographer out there, but I want to do something with it this next year. I plan on taking some classes and doing more ‘shoots’ for friends to get the hang of things. And most importantly take more pictures of my boys, and maybe even be in a few!

e) Loose my flab. Yes, I know… I make this one every year and NEVER stick to it. Maybe this year will be different?!?

 

What are some of your goals in the New Year?

A Very Merry Christmas, Part II

This year Christmas was very special for me. I am blessed beyond belief and got to spend it with the three people I love most in this world. Christ has done AMAZING things for us this year!

 

I am so excited that I now have a family of my own that I can create traditions with. And one of those traditions is opening stockings on Christmas Eve, not that my kids are old enough to know the difference. And we live so far away from Michael’s family that my boys open gifts from Thanksgiving to the middle of January. And on top of that both their birthdays are so extremely close to Christmas. Maybe we just need to move closer to his family!?

 

The boys stayed up so late the night before that we had to wake them up Christmas morning. But once they were awake they were ready to go! I had them go one at a time so that I could get pictures of both of them opening their gifts. Even Baylee got to open presents and Michael had a surprise present under the tree!

A Very Merry Christmas, Part I

Thanks to Michael’s great choice in presents this year, our living room is getting a much needed makeover. I got some new furniture, well new to me furniture {the best part is the sofa reclines!!!} and soon I will have a brand new used cowhide rug to cover my concrete floors and cowhide throw pillows to match. I can’t wait to get it all pieced together! It will be a slow process seeing how I still need to finish the walls, do something with the floors, replace light switch covers and find me some window treatments. Whew! It exhaust me just thinking about it all.

I’m not a recliner kind of person, but this one is so comfy, it just hugs you all over!

This was taken today. I had to rearrange everything when I took down the tree. You know looking at this picture, I am not digging the Brandied Pear colored walls. Maybe it is just the flash, because they do not look like that in real life. They are not near that white, more like an off white.

This picture is more like what our walls look like. The lighting looks really bad, but the color is truer {is that how you spell that?} to what the actual walls look like.

Becca, I hope you liked this post, because it is just for you! :)

He Just Pretends to Ignore Me

I am planning on getting a few pictures up from Christmas here in the near future, but in the meantime I had to tell you about the wonderful gifts I received from my dear, sweet Michael this year.

To be honest I had no clue he had been listening to me go on and on for months about all the little camera gadgets I wanted. But boy was I wrong! Here I am in all my natural beauty opening my stocking on Christmas Eve…

And this is what I found inside: a Canon lens cleaning kit, the lens hood that I have been wanting, a UV filter, a Hoya polarized filter and a cordless remote! I was so excited when I saw that he had been listening to me all this time.

And………. drumroll please………… I finally got to order the camera bag I have been dying to get! I ordered the Lola bag by Epiphanie two days ago and I am still squealing with excitement! Eeeeeekkkkk! There is only one down side… wah wah wah… she won’t be here until APRIL 8th!!! I’m praying for a tiny miracle that they by chance arrive early. It could be worse though, the customer service lady, Lauren, that I talked to said that when these sell out that there may not be another shipment until the summer of 2011. So here I am, patiently… well probably more impatiently waiting for April to arrive

{Photo courtesy of Google}

The weather outside was frightful…

…okay,the weather was not all that frightful, it was more just a wet, foggy mess. I wish it had been more of a rain than a drizzle. I would have been super happy if it had been cold enough to freeze everything. Oh how I wish for snow {sigh}.

And with the weather being so cold yesterday, Michael decided to make a fire and Jacob wanted to help.

Hope everyone has a very merry Christmas Eve!

Pico de Gallo

One of my favorite things to eat is Pico de Gallo with fresh, warm tortilla chips! I love the way the tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro and lime all blend together to make their own little special fiesta in my mouth! I even love to eat it with other things such as fish tacos, omelets, eggs, burritos… you name it, I can pretty much eat it on anything!

My ingredients include: Roma tomatoes {about 4 to 5}, a few fresh jalapenos, a lime, one small onion, a handful of cilantro and salt. With the tomatoes I cut off the stem end so they are not accidentally chopped up and put into the bowl. My family used to seed the jalapenos to cut down on the heat, but I have noticed that leaving the seeds in does not make it unbearably hot. And don’t forget to give you veggies a quick rinse.

Start by cutting the stem off the jalapenos. I cut mine in half and place the cut side down on the board so it is easier to cut into strips.  I then cut them across to make a nice dice. Continue that until all of your jalapenos are cut, then place in a bowl and set aside.

I cut the tomatoes the same way I cut my jalapenos. I have found that this is the easiest way {for me} to get a good even dice going on everything. But you may have a method that works better for you, and that is perfectly ok.

When all the tomatoes are diced, place them in the bowl with the jalapenos and give them a quick stir.

{Wiping tears} I know this may sound crazy, but I place my onion in the fridge until just before I cut it so my eyes don’t water the whole time I am dicing.  After I cut the ends off and peel my onion I cut it in half. I then cut into the onion, being sure not to cut completely through. I then cut it like I did the tomatoes and jalapenos. This gives me a nice even dice.

Once the onions are diced I place in the bowl with the other ingredients and give it a quick stir. Aren’t the colors so pretty together? And it is starting to smell yummy!

All I do for the cilantro is give it a rough chop with my knife. This is one of the best parts! I love the way cilantro smells!

After you have a really good rough chop on the cilantro add it to the bowl with everything . Give it a quick stir and then take a minute to close your eyes and smell the wonderful aromas escaping from the bowl! 

Once you have taken in the wonderful smells, cut your lime in half and squeeze half of it into the bowl…

Take a decent size pinch of salt and sprinkle over veggies. Now, be careful because you can add too much. Remember: You can always add more, but you can’t take away.

Stir everything and just to make sure you have it seasoned right, take that chip and give it a taste. Mmmmmm! Perfect! Be sure to adjust the seasoning to your liking. Some people need more salt and some people need less, it all depends on your personal preferences.

Instead of taking up space in the fridge with a bowl, I like to put mine in a mason jar. That way you can take out however much you like, put the lid back on and not have to worry about plastic wrap or any of that.

Happy 5th Birthday Jacob

Today my sweet monster is a whole hand old. I have to say that the years have flown by waaaay to fast.

{Jacob @ 3 weeks old}

Look at you now… You have grown into such a handsome little man!

I love you, Jacob!

The Gingerbread House That Almost Was

Everything started off really well. I got all the contents out of the box and laid them out for the little monsters to see what we were going to be dealing with. Doesn’t look too complex right? And they are already asking me if they can eat it!

The frosting was easy enough to make… you just pour the contents into the bowl and add 5 tablespoons of warm water and mix for 2-3 minutes.

I got the house put together and made sure to use more than enough frosting so it would be pretty sturdy. We let it dry… okay who am I kidding! They wanted to decorate it NOW!

The decorating began… we made a door and a window. I know that they are not the prettiest but the little monsters loved it! And they only ate every other piece of candy instead of every piece!

And they did not want any help!

We had it almost done… and then… DISASTER STRUCK! Our house that we worked so hard on just collapsed. I was pretty devastated… the boys on the other hand…

… had to force a frown because they were so excited that they got to finally eat it!

They should really put a disclaimer on these things, because what looks so easy on the box… is not so easy in reality!

Photo Session Collage

Yay! I am finally finished editing my BFF’s family photos. I am thrilled with how good they came out. I am hoping that she likes them as much as I do! Next on my agenda…Maternity photos for one of my good friends who is due to pop in January.

Christmas time is almost here!

I have to say that other than the fact that the Christmas tree is up, there are tons of presents to wrap and I’m broke… it does not feel like Christmas at all! Right now it is 66* outside and the high today is supposed to be in the 80’s. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all about the warm weather and flip flops, but not for Christmas! Okay, let me clarify that… it is only okay to be this warm if you are spending Christmas at the beach! It’s even too warm around for a fire or sipping hot coco. And the worst part is, everywhere you look something is fire hazard since we have not had rain since September!

Even with the warm weather I have been making it feel like Christmas throughout the house. I finally have my tree complete, now all I have to do is wrap presents and fill stockings.

And yes, my tree is a little is a little untraditional {and leans to the left a little for some reason} this year. Instead of going with the traditional red and green that defines Christmas, I went with something fun. I have turquoise, leopard and camo ornaments. I even made my own tree skirt this year out of fuzzy leopard material. And you can see in the background my horribly ugly window treatments that will be replaced with the ones I bought as soon as I get the curtain rods up.

Michael brought me home these horns yesterday from his hunting trip that I decided to use as decorations.

The camo stockings that you see here in the picture were handmade by my friend, Abby and I. I had looked everywhere for camo stockings for the boys, but was unable to find some for a decent price. Being on a budget, I decided to buy some fabric and let Abby sew them. 

And here is Michael redecorating the mantle for me last night!

Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary’s
(makes 1 drink)

4 oz. tomato juice
1 1/2 oz.. vodka
5 dashes Tabasco
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 lemon- juiced
Olive brine
1/2 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
salt and pepper- to taste
Celery stalk and olives for garnish

Place first eight ingredients in a mason jar with lid. Shake to mix. Add ice and garnish.

Enjoy!

First Photo Shoot Sneak Peek

I have to say that I was very excited when my BFF Courtney asked me to take her family pictures. To be honest I was terrified that they would not come out good at all… but I have to say that I was really really happy with the way they came out.

The picture below is my favorite one….

Doing the Happy Dance

Did you miss me? Well…. my computer is officially fixed!!!! I have TONS to catch up on :)

Will be posting through out the day…

I’m Back!

I finally got smart and just downloaded Windows Live Writer on Michael’s computer. I can’t wait to post pictures of my friends family that I took this last weekend!!!

Still No Computer :(

I am still having to use Michael's computer for now. I have so many pictures to post when mine is fixed, which is hopefully by tomorrow!

Hope you all out there in the Bloggy world are having a wonderful week!

Broken Hard Drive :(

First I want to say thank you to Michael for letting me borrow your computer!

I have been in and out lately because 2 days ago my dear sweet Baylee knocked over my computer and it cracked my hard drive, so.... I had to take it in to save all my pictures and files and put in a new hard drive. Now I have to wait for my software to come in before I can get up and going again.

I do have to say that my computer will be put up from now on and everything will be downloaded to my external hard drive for backup.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Old Friends Reunite

Dear Mr. Binky

It was good to see you over Thanksgiving. It had been forever since we had seen each other last. The short time we spent together was filled with fun and laughter. It’s like we had never spent any time apart at all! You were the same ol’ Mr. Binky that I remembered… bright and cheerful as ever. I hope you had as much fun as I did. Maybe, someday we will see each other again. I wish you the best wherever you are. Goodbye Mr. Binky!

Love, Tyler

New Bathroom Decor

I was tired of always having a messy, mismatched guest bathroom. So when I was at Target I decided to get a new shower curtain, a new rug and a couple of new hand towels. I also found this cute snowman soap pump that I just had to get! I have so many cute ideas for the bathroom, but Michael said that I am not allowed to do anything else to it until the living room and bedroom are complete : /

So… that just means I am going to get those rooms done ASAP!