Latelys.

Goodness, it's hard to believe the summer is over and we are quickly heading into the colder months.  Daylight Savings Time has rocked ME this year… not so much the boys, but this Mama crashes early every night now, which is annoying since it cuts into my alone time with my hot man.

Summer was a blast and I feel like we did a decent job this year of spending every waking moment outdoors going on bike rides, spending time at the pool, taking the boys to different parks, and of course doing a fair amount of traveling.  Then we blinked, summer was over, and Jaxon was in school.

Tyler's work has slowed down quite a bit recently and he just survived another layoff.  There has been plenty of opportunities for us to simply trust in The Lord and his GOOD and PERFECT timing in our lives.  Last week we were given an anonymous gift that had both of us in tears.  I hate that it took a physical check for me to give over the control and stress, but admittedly it did.  I'm not sure why I continue to waste so much time and energy on worry when He continues to prove himself faithful time and time again.  He really does care about the small details of our lives.

My younger brother plays football for William Jewell College, so most of our Saturdays this fall have been filled with this.  It has been fun seeing my parents so much the last few months as they come to town for his games!

There's not much to say about these two that I haven't already said at least a million times.  My love for them grows by the day, which seems impossible, but it's true.  The more I get to know them, the more I love them.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time alone with Cohen while Jaxon is in school.  It has been SO GOOD and SO FUN!  He really thrives on one-on-one time… so do I.  :)  Quality time is my favorite!

The way Jaxon spends so much time building Legos amazes me.  His teacher recently pulled me aside and told me after 17 years teaching, she thinks Jaxon is the most creative she has seen.  The details he thinks of, she said, are way beyond a typical 4 year old.  That was so good for my Mama heart to hear.  :)  I think we'll be having a Lego & Batman Christmas around here!

Psalm 74 has been rocking my world lately as David talks about how all of his enemies are getting all of these things, while he suffers.  In the middle of the chapter, he stops and says "…BUT THEN I ENTERED THE THRONE ROOM".  His perspective completely changes, the things that mattered before no longer do.  All that matters is intimacy with Christ.

I've thought about that so much lately as I still try to figure out the crappy sequence of events that seem to have happened to us this year.  Nothing horrible and I realize there's so much that could be worse, but if I'm honest, the unanswered questions still linger in my head.  BUT THEN I ENTERED THE THRONE ROOM.  What if bad things happen to good people because Jesus' ultimate goal is intimacy with us.  Yeah, sure, he wants us to be happy and enjoy life… but at the expense of closeness with Him?  Nope.  In HIM we find contentment… in HIM we find joy.



Just because it makes me giggle.  They are twins.

Church has certainly kept me on my toes lately!  Between multiple Women's fellowship events I've planned, PLUS hosting a big Women's conference at our church, I have been a busy lady.  I love ministry and I am still praying that someday an opportunity will open for me to work for a church.  I am so thankful for our church family and the way they genuinely love and walk beside us.  I'll say it once, I'll say it a thousand times… get plugged in to a church and small group.  Right now.  :)

I ordered my 2014 Erin Condren life planner!

This is news, people.

Pictures to come once it finally arrives… the anticipation MIGHT kill me.

I still can't believe my baby turned 3 a couple weeks ago.

I mean, the youngest person in my house is THREE??  We're officially "out" of the baby stage?!  Tyler actually had the guts to bring up selling the crib recently.  The conversation ended pretty quickly when I didn't respond and gave him a nasty look.

We had a super fun birthday party, "Wreck it Ralph Cohen", when we were in Iowa (pictures coming!), and then celebrated the day-of with a small group of friends.

Gahhh… I still can't wrap my head around this.

Oh Charlie.  She's such a great dog.

I wish she was about 10 years older… 10 years more calm.

But she's a great dog.  So protective and LOYAL to the boys!

Have you ever taken a "spinning" class?  DO IT!  It's a lot of fun… if you like feeling like you're going to die.  :)

I've still been faithfully going to the gym 2-4 times a week… usually closer to 2-3… and have maintained the same weight for 10 months now.  Which, by the way, is the lowest weight I've ever been, even through high school!  I've never been able to wear single-digit sized pair of jeans, and size medium shirts.  I'm not saying this to brag, but to simply encourage you to KEEP GOING!  It's so worth it. 

I love this new way of living, this new lifestyle I lead.  I am not going to the gym to lose weight, I am going to the gym to stay healthy.  To stay confident.  To stay happy.

Fall Mini Sessions are keeping me on my toes as well.  I love my job.

I've had this lightbulb moment in the last couple weeks when I've realized how thankful I am that my parents had 4 kids.  These people are no longer just annoying siblings, but really have become my closest friends.

Especially in the last year, they have poured into mine and Tylers lives in ways that we never would have imagined.  They've taken us under their wings, pursued deep friendships, been intentional in our times together, and have faithfully prayed for us.

Not only our siblings, but our parents as well.  19 people gathered in my Sisters home for Cohen's birthday party and just LOVED on him.

I fully realize not everyone has this kind of relationship with their family or with their siblings, and I don't take it for granted.  Thank you, Jesus, for your abundant blessings.

Iowa is really beautiful.  I still pray we get to call it "home" again someday.

I also recently participated in a Freezer Meals Workshop, through Wildtree!  Have any of you done one?  So far we have REALLY enjoyed every meal that we've made, and the math ended up being about $12 a meal, and most of the time we have leftovers.  It took me 2 hours of prep, but for 11 meals, that was really reasonable!  December is always SO busy that I hope to do another one, to prevent us from eating out.  And, now I'm hungry.

If God hadn’t been there for me,
    I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
    your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
    you calmed me down and cheered me up.

Psalm 94:18-19

I hope you all have enjoyed the beginning of Fall!

I'll be back soon with PARTY pictures…

AND…!

A giveaway for some pretty sweet Christmas cards from my favorite company ever!

Deliciousness on a plate.

Here's a super delicious recipe that I got from my good friend Andrea a while back. It is so yummy. So yummy, in fact, that I couldn't wait to eat dinner when I made it. And couldn't wait for leftovers the next day. I would describe it as a spin-off of a traditional lasagna meal. It's heaven in a casserole, I'm telling ya.

Noodles Riviera

1 lb ground beef

1/2 tsp thyme

1 envelope spaghetti sauce mix

8 oz sour cream

6 oz can tomato paste

3 c. water

8 oz noodles (penne or rotini)

3 oz cream cheese

1/4 c parmesan

1 c mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350.
{sorry, no pic of this. Figured you're a big girl and could figure this one out on your own!}

2. Brown beef and drain.

{does this picture make anyone else want to vomit? I HATE ground beef when I'm pregnant... yuuuuck}

3. Add thyme, sauce mix, tomato paste, and water. Season with salt & pepper. Simmer for 25 min, stirring occasionally.

{like my big mess I made while doing that? Ha!}

4. While meat simmers, cook noodles al dente and drain.

5. Mix cream cheese, parmesan, sour cream, and 3/4 c mozzarella until smooth.

{Okay, maybe using my KitchenAid mixer to do this step was a bit excessive ... but what can I say, I'll take any excuse to use it over my hand mixer, I love it!}

6. Pour 1/2 cooked noodles into greased baking dish, followed by 1/2 meat mixture, then 1/2 sour cream mixture. Repeat with remaining ingredients and top with leftover mozzarella.

{This was after the first layer was complete, before I did the second layer}

7. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and begins to turn golden brown.

{my mouth is watering ... yummmmm}

If you try it out, let me know!!

ENJOY!!!

No name chicken.

I am not a very big risk taker. Once I find something I like at restaurants, I usually continue to order it time and time again, because I like it enough to do so. Then there will be no disappointment in trying a new meal, only to wish that I would have just ordered my usual. My husband? The complete opposite. Very rarely orders the same things and is always encouraging me to try out new recipes at home.

So my handy dandy Iphone has an app that I found the other day called "All recipes" - stemmed from the infamous website www.allrecipes.com. It has this cool feature that you can select the ingredients you already have in your house and it will bring up recipes that you can make.

Fast forward to last night ... I am trying to decide what to make for dinner, and know that I have tons and tons of frozen chicken in our deep freeze. {It's one of those things that I always buy at the store thinking "I don't know if we have any of this at home ... guess I better buy another bag" sort of thing} I came across a recipe called "Texas Chicken" and thought -- well, why not. I guess we're Texans now. The recipe called for chicken breasts, ranch, and vegetable oil. You baked the chicken in the veg oil and add ranch for the last 15 minutes to top it off. It sounded gross to me, greasy and very bland. So I decided I would go out of my comfort zone and just make up my own recipe.

Here's what I did! Looked in my pantry and found a packet labeled "seasoning mix". I had no idea what it was, but I thought I would cover the chicken in this mystery seasoning mix, add ranch, and let it marinade with the seasoning and ranch for about an hour. I lined a 10x10 baking dish with a little more ranch, added the seasoned chicken, and baked it at 350 for 45 minutes. Then, I took it out, added mozzarella cheese to the top each piece, and baked it for another 15 minutes.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!! The chicken was so tender that it literally fell apart while taking it out of the pan. The seasoning was perfect, I think I could duplicate it again with taco mix and maybe some Lowry's or another similar seasoning. The ranch added just enough 'tang' to it and kept it moist while baking. I served it with rice and some biscuits and it was a hit! We'll definitely be trying it again, and hopefully can duplicate it since I don't have anymore random seasoning mixes in my pantry.

Moral of the story? It's a good thing to go out of your comfort zone. Granted, this could have been a complete disaster, but it wasn't. And for that reason, I am proud of myself!

Part two.

On a much, much, much happier note...

... Tyler makes me laugh. Hard. He has the most random personality, he can go from quiet and serious and just randomly make this off-the-wall comment that has tears rolling down my face. A lot of people are not fortunate enough to see that side of him. I love being his wife. Love.it.

... I had one of those "ah-ha" moments realizing that I honestly think the reason the stupid bank fired me was because I was never going to trust God enough to quit. As much as I hated it there and absolutely loathed being a working Mom (hardest thing EVER!), I would have never trusted God enough to quit. I know, that sounds terrible, but I am sure a lot of you can relate to that feeling... thinking you know better. I would have thought there was just no way we could ever survive without my income and wasn't strong enough to risk it all and quit. So here's those fancy bank people laughing thinking that I'm suffering because I don't have them anymore, and here's me laughing because they are soooo wrong. We are not suffering. We are happy and thriving.

... It is such a weird thing being pregnant. First trimester, let's face it, sucks. Puking and my terrible coffee aversion I had ... it was terrible. But now I feel kicks. I feel him moving around. Jaxon lays his head on my belly and {tries} to wrap his hands around me. The sickness is gone, the belly is sticking out there, and it is amazing. I am really trying to enjoy these moments, because I am about 99% sure we're going to be done having kids after this baby boy makes his appearance into this world. So despite the back pain, the RLP (round ligament pain), and having "i'm huge and fat and disgusting" meltdowns... I love these times. I love carrying our second son. It is a miracle.

... I looooove being with Jaxon all day, every day. As overwhelming as it can get at times, I love moments like this:
{watching Barney in the morning}

and like this:
{knocked-out asleep after a fun day at the pool with mommy}

... I love the sunshine. I do not love heat, but I love how sunshine instantly boosts my mood. I love driving down the road with the radio cranked up and windows down just enjoying life. It may be crazy and upside-down, but I have everything I need.

... I think people take advantage of being together with their spouse. Sometimes while I'm sitting at stop lights I look over and see this man and woman sitting there just staring forward. And all I can think is, "hold his hand. Love and remember the small things, even if you are just on your way to the grocery store. At least you're doing it together." I can't wait until the day that Tyler and I can just be together again. I mean, we are right now, because I'm visiting him, but I mean permanently. I think this time away has seriously taught me so much ... I'm learning to love the little things and it's funny how every day since I have been here I have thought about what to wear, and seriously tried to look nice for my husband. He deserves to have a good-looking wife, not someone who is still in PJ's and hasn't showered for a few days when he gets home from a long day at work. Right? Right. I hope I never forget marriage is something to constantly work on and to never get lazy at.

... I love the movie "Pretty Woman". Sometimes when people ask me what my favorite movie is, I can never think of it. So next time, just remind me that my favorite movie is Pretty Woman. I could watch it once a week and never get tired of it. I also like The Notebook, The Holiday, The Proposal, and all of the Bourne movies.

... I was at Target a couple days ago and bought leggings. Aren't you proud of me, sister? I am a little behind (always) on fashion things, that is one thing I wish I would have the motivation to change about myself. I love dressing cute, but I really just don't have that many cute clothes. One day maybe I can give my credit card to my sister and let her buy a new wardrobe for me. Anyways, back to the leggings. A lot of maternity shirts now are really long and they just don't look that cute with shorts or capris. So I thought "hey, maybe I should buy some of those legging things." Later that day when Tyler got home (correction: to the hotel), he said "wow, you look cute!" Score.

... A couple days ago, I went to this really fancy mall a couple miles away from our hotel. Jaxon and I spent... um, 3 hours there... just walking around. People watching. Sitting by the fountain and letting him splash in the water. Walking slow and letting all these rushed people pass me. Sipping on my beloved Starbucks that I can finally drink again without vomiting. And I loved it. I never do things like that... everywhere I go I am always in a hurry. It was so refreshing and relaxing to walk slow and just browse, I had no intention on buying anything (and you'd be proud... I didn't!). You should try it sometime. Just take a moment (or day) and relax. Let life and people pass you by and just enjoy having a slow-paced afternoon.

... I love weddings. And I love that I am the matron of honor in Brian & Angie's wedding. {They have an incredible story, check out their blog!} Their wedding is in October, which means I am going to be... 8 1/2 months pregnant. The really funny thing is that when we were little teenage girls dreaming about our wedding, Angie used to always tell me I would be pregnant in her wedding. She has always been spot on about things like that ... a little freaky, actually. ;) I am so excited for her to be married and experience how much fun it is. I mean, yeah, it's hard work. But it's fun, isn't it?! I love it. And I love her. Cannot wait to see her walking down that aisle.

... Now that I am a SAHM, I am going to try reeeaaallllyyyy hard to: A.) cook more frequently, because my husband loves it when I do. B.) do laundry more frequently, because my husband loves it when I do. C.) Get dressed and 'get ready' every day, even if I am staying home... because my husband loves it when I do. {and so do I! I hate feeling yucky and lazy}. D.) blog and stay in touch with friends. I love it when I do. E.) spend a lot more time with God, and not so much time on facebook. Yes, I am a facebook addict. And I am terrible at devoting specific time with my maker. Because HE loves it when I do, and I do too. So refreshing. F). Find a gym, get a membership, and work out. Because it makes me feel sooo good when I do. And if they have babysitting service, I have no excuse. And... G). Read more. I love to read, just never ever do it.
Those are my goals, hold me to them.

... There's more that I could say, but because I only had two pictures in this post my sister is probably thinking about algebra and other boring things by now, along with the rest of you. I love to blog, I am just not very good at it. But I'll keep trying.

See? No matter how crazy your life is, take a second to reflect on the many good things surrounding you right now. So here's your challenge... write a post about all the good things in your life and the things you love and send it to me. Things are never as bad as they may seem. I promise.

Diet Dr. Pepper Cake/Cupcakes

If you're anything like me, you'll be extremely skeptical of this recipe, just like I was.  It is called Diet Dr. Pepper Cake, and I made it in form of cupcakes, instead of cake.  For the frosting, I used low-fat cool whip.  These are DELICIOUS.  They are light, fluffy, and moist... and best yet, they are "low-fat", because instead of using oil/eggs/etc in your cake/cupcakes, all you add is the Diet Dr. Pepper.  Take my word for it, these are awesome.  I just randomly tried this recipe and thought if I didn't like them, that I'd throw them away, but instead I took the leftovers to work and all my coworkers loved them also.
Here's the recipe:

- 1 box of white cake mix
- 1 can of Diet Dr. Pepper

 Mix cake mix with Diet Dr. Pepper.  DO NOT add eggs/oil like the box says to.  Mix the 2 ingrediants together and bake according to box directions.  Top the cake/cupcakes with a low-fat frosting or cool whip.

Let me know what you think.  :)

Menu planning = no fun.

One of mine and Tyler's new years resolutions is to only eat out one time per week.  If you know us, this is a huge thing because we love to eat out, and usually by the time I get home from work and the gym, I am in no mood to want to cook a big meal.  But in an attempt to save money before buying a home this Spring/Summer, we are trying really hard to only eat out once a week.  This weekend however we ate out 3 times... whoops.  ;)

Tonight I need to work on my menu for the next 3 weeks, so here's a few things that I have on the list, but if you have anymore ideas or new recipes you'd like to share with me, please feel free to add.  :)  We are definitely up for always trying new things.

• 
  
  Taco puffs (sooo easy but sooo good!)
  
  


• 
  
  Chicken Spaghetti
  
  


• 
  
  Chicken & Dumplings (slow-cooker recipe)
  
  


• 
  
  Spaghetti w/ meat sauce
  
  


• 
  
  Enchiladas
  
  


• 
  
  Cheesey potato soup
  
  


• 
  
  Spiral spaghetti casserole
  
  


• 
  
  Ricotta pasta with sausage (Rachel Ray recipe!  Yum-O!)
  
  


• 
  
  Lasagna... Ty's favorite.
  
  


• 
  
  Ravioli Casserole
  
  


• 
  
  Chili
  
  


• 
  
  And of course, the infamous frozen pizza
  
  

This is just a brief, small idea of what we'll be eating the next couple weeks... same 'ole, same 'ole.

Anyone have any good recipes you'd like to share with me?  :)