Vacation Roadtrip 2014 Days 4 &5

Day 4 of our vacation was rather uneventful and I didn't take a single picture. We had Egg & I for breakfast and went to Walmart and bought Zaccheaus new swim shorts, since he packed his old ones from last summer. Then we went to visit Josh's mom at her apartment and made plans for taking her out with us the next day. 

Waiting for Breakfast

We had breakfast at Kelley's Country Cooking, a local chain restaurant. The portions were gigantic and no one could eat all their food. We left with 3 boxes of left overs. After breakfast we headed over to the Museum District of Houston and checked out the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. 

Mock up a refinery made out of neon lights

There was a whole area dedicated to the local mega industry of oil refining. The kids really enjoyed this because it helped them further understand what happens at Josh's work. 

Learning about the oil industry

 Next we checked out the fossils on display at the museum. This was by far the biggest display of dinosaur bones and fossils I had ever seen. They had several different dinosaurs, mammoths, giant turtles and other creatures. There was even a skeleton of a giant sloth, that I am not entirely sure was real.

They're having fun, really they are

The kids liked seeing the real skeletons of creatures from all the different movies they've seen. I kept hearing that one's from Ice Age, that's the T-Rex from Land Before time. Joshua carefully documented the whole area with pictures on his DS.

Tree samplings of petrified wood

The gallery of petrified wood slices was so cool. The slices of trees would make the most beautiful artwork to hang up at home. Too bad it would cost a fortune to get some. Several of the samples were from Washington State!

Seeing how much each metal weighs

In the basement of the museum was a science lab with a big interactive periodic table (I wish LeapFrog or some other company would make something like that) and lots of interactive exhibits for kids to learn about matter, the solar system, the weather and elements.

In the weather lab

 After the basement we went up to the second floor, where they had exhibits on sea shells/ sea life and a huge exhibit on rocks and gems. The older two have always been interested in Geology so this exhibit was really neat for them. Unfortunately this exhibit was so dark I didn't get a single good picture.

Elli wanted her picture taken by the Zebra, but she refused to pose. LOL

Across the hall from the rock and gem exhibit was the African Animal exhibit. We didn't spend a whole lot of time here as it was just stuffed African animals. The kids have all been to zoos with live versions that were more entertaining than the stuffed version. ;-)

Checking out the Egyptian artifacts

On the third floor there was an Egyptian exhibit full of many different artifacts from different time periods. There was several mummy's on display and when we came up on one Elli would say "Great another dead guy". She was a little creeped out by them.

 Also on the third floor was a exhibit of the Americas that included displays on the Inca, Mayan, Native American and Inuit cultures. After seeing all the mummy's Elli thought the Eskimo mannequin was another "dead guy" and got really freaked out for a second because that one was standing up.

If you ever come to Houston the HMNS is a must see. We learned later in the week that Thursdays from 2-5 was free, but we didn't mind since our tickets were part of our City Pass that Josh bought through his work. You can walk through it fast in about 3 hours or slow down and spend all day there. Either way it is fun. I had my pedometer on and we walked 5 miles that day!

More post coming soon!

Vacation Roadtrip 2014 Days 1,2 & 3

 I finally feel recovered enough from our drive that I can share about it. Man that was a long drive!

The route we took

 We left at 4am on Friday and began our trek to Josh's dad's house near Houston. As soon as we were into Eastern Washington Elli began asking if we were in Texas yet. She was not happy when we explained she had a day and a half to go.

Eastern Washington

We seemed to be traveling ahead of some storm system. Just as we were leaving each region we would get a weather warning on our phones for that area. We experienced nearly every type of weather possible. Rain, hail, lightning, thunder, sunshine, SNOW, fog and high winds were some we drove through.

I love wind turbines! These are in Eastern Oregon. Pay no attention to the crack in my windshield.  

Josh and I took turns driving and basically changed seats at each fill up. Although I think he did more night driving than I did. I don't do well at night. 

Wyoming

 When we crossed through the mountains (around 10pm PST) of Wyoming I was trying to sleep and for some reason I woke up really nauseous, so we ditched the plans of trying to make it to Denver and got a room for the night in Rawlins, WY. I am so thankful we did that. We got one room and all squeezed in. Everyone slept well, we got a large free breakfast and we were back on the road by 11am PST.

Elli playing the game she got in her Chick-Fil-A meal

 Anyone who really knows me knows I do not eat fast food, but on a road trip it's hard to stop and eat at a good restaurant. There are 2 fast food places I will make an exception for. At home it's Taco Time and I only get the salad. On this trip, it's been Chick-Fil-A! On day 1 we stopped for lunch there just outside Boise. Day 2 found us eating a late lunch there in Denver. Josh really loves their food and I find it doesn't make me sick like some other fast food places, so we'll be eating there a lot on this trip.

Josh crashed as soon as we got to his dad's

We pushed through on the second day/ night and got into Houston around 9am EST on the third day. Needless to say we were pretty tired and took our turns taking naps throughout the day.

The Tasty Kake Fairy Visited Josh while he slept!

While Josh was napping, Elli and I ran to the store and found some of Josh's favorite treats that we can't get in Washington. He used to get these all the time when he lived in Pennsylvania as a kid and I used to buy them for him online, but when I tried last time they didn't sell them online anymore. He was so excited to hear they had them in Texas. I think we may be taking a few boxes home with us when we leave. 

Kids in the pool

Josh's dad's house has a pool out back, so once we were rested a bit we let the kids play until it was time for dinner. The kids are loving it here! I'm having fun, but can't wait to get back to my home. I feel so out of place down here. I'm pretty sure the locals can sense that I am not from here. LOL

I'll share the rest of our adventures soon...Stay tuned....

My Journey to Better Health, Part 5

"VIGINTI, VEINTE, VENTI!!!"

I did not mean to abandon this series for so long! Some of you may have been wondering if I'm still keeping up with my health journey. Sorry to leave you all in the dark! We've been staying busy here finishing up the school year, having Gabriel's birthday party, took our first real family vacation, had all the kids sick with colds/sinus infection for a week and had Josh away for a week for fire training in Texas. So, not a lot of blogging time for me.
I've been doing really well at keeping up with my exercise routine of working out on my elliptical machine for 20 minutes every morning except Sundays and have only missed 1 or 2 days since getting the machine! I've also been trying to stay active throughout the rest of the day and going on walks or playing outside with the kids later in the day. Eating well is also going well, even while we were on vacation! Juicing has fallen by the wayside for a bit, but I'm hoping to get back into that soon.
I've had days where I felt like nothing was improving, no weight was being lost and just plain discouragement, but I pushed through it and kept working and am now starting to see the affects. I feel like I'm slimming down, but thanks to being a taller person haven't gone down in my clothing size yet. Finally yesterday, curiosity got to me and Elli and I walked over to the fitness center here and used their scale to check my weight... I lost TWENTY pounds! I can't believe it! I was expecting maybe 10, but not 20!

I have lost the equivalent of 2- 10 lb bags of potatoes!!!

I'm so thankful to all of you who encourage me and all of you are on similar health journeys, it's such a blessing to think of you all while I'm working towards my goals. Let's keep working hard!

Life's a beach

Last Sunday evening we were sitting here in our apartment, bellies full from a big Sunday lunch, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our evening. The sun was out we could take the kids to play at Boulevard Park (or any other park) and walk the boardwalk... Which we do quite often. Go out to eat, but we weren't hungry. Go to a store and look around.... What to do? Then Josh suggests, why don't we drive out to Lummi, buy some fireworks and build a fire on the beach. Um, ya, lets do that! The kids will love it!

I walked around gathering beach glass, I ended up with about twice as much =)

Gabe is having fun... This is his happy face. ;-)

 Hello little ferry boat, I think it's about time I go ride you again and check out that little island you go to.

Beautiful sunset over Gooseberry Point. 

Walk/Run for Life

Hi All! The family and I are participating int the Walk for Life again this year.  The WFL takes place on May 19 at Abundant Life Church here in Bellingham. The Walk is the primary fundraiser for the Whatcom County Pregnancy Clinic, a non profit crisis pregnancy clinic downtown. If you would be interested in donating to our fundraising efforts please visit our fundraising page where you can donate or even sign up to walk with us.

My Journey to Better Health, Pt. 4

"My new Toy"

I have wanted an elliptical machine for a really long time. I've watched craigslist and thrift stores, but never came across one. One day while Josh was at Sears looking at tools, I popped over to the exercise equipment and fell in love with this elliptical. They had a used one at a great price & I was hoping to get it. Josh's only worry was where would we put it. There's not exactly an abundance of space with 6 people living in this apartment. We decided to give away our oldest computer and clear out what was my old desk area and I could fit it there. This process ended up taking longer than I planned and I missed out on the used one. Bummer! The next week's Sears add came in the Sunday paper and the same one was going to be on sale $400 off! Plus if I used my Sears card I would save 5% more! And I had a $5 off coupon (every penny counts!), so I got a screaming deal on a NEW one, cheaper than the used one I originally looked at!

My first few times on it, it was evident how out of shape I was. I could hardly do more than 5 minutes of a jogging speed without needing to stop. But I was determined not to be discouraged. I've kept at it exercising every morning, except Sundays and I've gotten up to being able to do 20 minutes! I'm doing just over a half a mile and increasing the resistance each week. This thing will be whipping my butt into shape in no time!

A bump in the night

One morning about two weeks ago, I went to grab something out of the truck and stumbled upon this scene....

Hmm... are those tail-light pieces under my bumper? Oh wait the bumper is cracked and hanging a little weird and the license is all mangled up.... Yep, I think someone really did hit the truck! No note left, so I called the police and reported it as a hit and run.
Later that day I went out for a bit and then returned home and found this guy in our parking lot...

HaHa! I found you! I had no clue which neighbor this was, so I had to search them out... Turned out to be the guy who lives right next door to me! I spent most the next day stressed about having to confront him and on more than one instance decided to let Josh just deal with it, but I knew it was my responsibility. I prayed for God to ease my nerves, give me the right words to say and to protect me from any danger. Then when I saw his car back in our lot, I took Elli with me (no one can be angry with her cuteness around) and  I headed over to his apartment. At first he played dumb but agreed to give me his insurance information. Then I explained to him that a police officer might contact him, because technically this was a hit and run (his girlfriend wasn't too happy with him about that one). But, if we could just get the truck repaired I wouldn't press charges and this could be done with. The last thing I want to do is create strife between my neighbors and I. They were both thankful for my attitude and were very cooperative with me.
After getting their info and talking with their insurance, I took the truck into Olsen's and had an estimate done, $1000 worth of damage was done and it would take almost a week to get it fixed. So, a rental car would be available for me. This is what I ended up getting...

2012 Chrysler Town & Country... Now note; I am one of those people that HATES mini vans. But, man! This thing is fancy! The keys have buttons to open and close the back doors and the trunk, satellite radio, leather seats, dvd system and more than enough room for my family and all our accoutrements.  Since we had such a plush ride this week Josh decided to go check out the new Cabela's over the weekend and visit his brother in Auburn. The kids and I have been looking forward to our daily errand runs and enjoyed a trip down to Skagit County to check out the tulips. 

Look at all that space they have! I'm definitely going to miss it! I'm not going to miss the V-6 engine and an average of 18 mpg! My Jetta TDI has ruined me, if it doesn't get close to 45 mpg, I don't want it! Yes, I know I can't get 45 mpg and fit a family of 6 in the vehicle, but a girl can dream right? Maybe Josh can design one and make us millions! LOL

My Journey to Better Health, Pt 3

"Getting my juices flowing"


I have had numerous friends suggest that I watch the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and give juicing a try... They were all on juicing diets, seeing great results and loving it. I've never been one to jump on bandwagons or follow the fads, so it takes me a while to finally give something a try.
One night while searching for something to watch on Hulu we came across the documentary and decided it was time to listen to my friends and see what it was all about. What was different in this movie that I hadn't already heard from all those infomercials in the 80's and 90's? My brother had a mini juicer back when I was in high school and it ended up being too much of a hassle cutting the fruit and cleaning the machine that no one ever really used it. More recently Josh's mom gave us an old full size juicer, but it had the same fate as the previous one... Never being used. (Actually we ended up selling it on Craigslist in our failed attempt to move off to Texas.)
Anyhoo... back to the documentary. Josh and I were very skeptical at first, but the movie won us over. They went over how a healthy diet needs to be more micro-nutrient (or was it macro-nutrient?) based, as in the pyramid below;

note; I have no idea who Dr Fuhrman is, he just had the right pyramid on his site =)

While Josh and I weren't too keen on cutting down our meat/protein consumption to once a week and the idea of Josh "rarely" eating a steak is almost laughable. We did glean a few good points from the movie and decided to give juicing a try. The day after watching the movie I found a Jack LaLanne juicer at Costco and brought it home. The following weekend we went to Cash and Carry and bought a pallet cart full of fruits and veggies to try. We quickly learned what combos we liked and those we didn't.
Now we are about a month out from that and I've been making (mostly orange based) juices every morning and often make either a juice mix or a salad for lunch and have a regular dinner. I've also cut down my caffeine consumption from 1-3 servings a day to about 3 servings per week and have been working on drinking more water to stay hydrated. What a huge difference it has made! Between the juicing and the vitamins I started taking, I really feel the difference in my health... I haven't even had a single migraine since I started juicing! 

I encourage you all to watch the movie and see if juicing can benefit you! 

And here's a little video for you to watch and laugh at the juicing craze from back in the day... If you are not familiar with In Living Color or Jim Carrey's early work, this may not be funny to you. To me it's hilarious! ;-)

Angel Food Loaf Cake

I know it's a little ridiculous to post a dessert recipe during a series on better health and loosing weight, but I don't care! LOL! Actually this recipe does play into that a little bit, as I found it on my search for smaller desserts. I wanted to make something special that would have little left overs and less temptations to eat more than I should. So here is my recipe for an Angel Food Loaf Cake that I altered a bit from this cookbook.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sifted cake flour

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup (5) egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

dash of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees.

Sift Flour with 1/4 cup sugar 4 times.

Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, vanilla, and lemon extract until egg whites are stiff enough to hold up in soft peaks but are still moist and glossy.

Add remaining 1/2 cup of sugar to egg whites,  2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition to blend. 

Sift about 1/4 of the flour mixture over egg white mixture and fold in lightly. Fold in remaining flour by fourths. 

Bake in un-greased 10x5x3 inch loaf pan in moderate over (375 degrees) for 25 minutes or until done. Remove from oven, invert pan, and let stand for 1 hour or until cool.

Yummy! But it needs a little something more......

PERFECT!!!

My Journey To Better Health, Pt. 2

"Check yourself before you wreck yourself"

My first step on my new weight loss journey was to learn what condition I was really in. As I was saying in my last post as the fall turned into winter I was becoming more and more tired and lacked the energy to just do normal day to day things. I was like Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh stories, LOL. Of course my over active imagination went into high gear thinking of all the things that could be wrong with me. Did I have Diabetes? Or maybe my iron levels were just low? So as soon as my medical insurance became active I scheduled an appointment with my Dr.
He ordered a whole panel of lab work to check for diabetes, my cholesterol levels, my kidney function, my thyroid function and all my vitamin levels. Everything came back perfectly normal, with one exception. My vitamin D levels were really low. "Vitamin D, really?" I thought "I take a vitamin D supplement almost every day". The Dr, suggested that I up my supplements to 2,000 IU's a day and make sure I take it every day. I did and after the first week I was feeling really good, but would still start feeling tired mid day. So, I decided to up my supplement to 3,000 IUs, plus the 800 in my daily vitamins. This made the hugest difference! Right away I started being more active. Seriously, the second day of taking the 3,800 IUs I was running around the backyard playing soccer with the boys. Something I hadn't done in over a year. I'm sure it didn't hurt that by this time the sun had finally started coming out and the weather was perfect for playing outdoors.
I learned online that vitamin d deficiency is a very serious problem that can lead to the bone disease Rickets, because without vitamin d your body can not absorb all the calcium it needs. Because we live in an area with low sun exposure (Did you know Alaska gets more sun than Western Washington?), I don't drink milk and was spending most of my time indoors through the fall and winter I wasn't getting all the natural vitamin d that my body needed. Thankfully it didn't effect me in a way that would have lasting consequences, like bone damage.
Hearing that I was perfectly healthy was such a relief! Now I just needed to make positive changes to my diet and lifestyle to keep everything that way!

My Journey To Better Health, Pt. 1

"Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail"

I hope you don't mind or get bored by these posts, but I have decided to chronicle my weight loss/ health improvement journey here.

I have always had the idea that as long as I felt healthy, could keep up with the kids and still fit into my clothes; it didn't matter what my weight was. That was until after going up a size with each pregnancy and then I discovered I had put on 20 lbs after having one my last child and never changed a clothing size. Slowly I wasn't able to keep up with the kids as much as I used to and began to feel sick more often than not. I knew I needed to change something... to eat healthier and exercise more, but felt trapped because of our past limitations, when we were without a regular income. Eating healthier usually means spending more on fresh healthy food and how does one exercise regularly in the rainiest state of the US without some sort of indoor equipment or membership at a gym? I was bound and determined to make a change as soon as I was able to.

I thought that opportunity had come when I friend put together a weight loss accountability group back in the fall. Josh was working again and I had the support of a small group of friends, I was going to succeed this time, right? Wrong! As fall turned into winter and the holidays came around I found it harder and harder to put forth the effort needed (more on this in a later post) to succeed at my goal I had set of losing 30lbs by spring. I would lose 5lbs, gain it back, lose 3 and just yo-yo back and forth. Very discouraging. Looking back I realized my problem was that I had no plan of attack and made no drastic changes to my daily habits that would produce lasting results.

Which brings us to now. I have made some changes and am seeing some results (mostly health wise, not so much weight wise yet) and would love the support of my friends and family who read this blog to cheer me on. I have a lofty goal of losing 50 lbs by the end of the summer, which would bring down to my pre-3rd pregnancy weight. The next installment of this series should be up in the next couple of days. Then there will probably be weekly or bi-weekly follow ups. If you'd like to join me in this journey, we can talk more about the changes I'm making one on one sometime.

Pray for me friends this is going to take some major strength and determination.

Valentines Dinner

Valentine's Day usually isn't that big of a deal in the price household, but this year I thought we were in need of a little something special. So I put together this little dinner for our family;

The table was set

Dinner was made, simple yet delicious! The place mats are pieces of card stock that I wrote "I love you" on with a metallic sharpie.

Extra special items as a centerpiece, the cross has the Corinthians love verses on it. The willow tree figures represent our kids.

 

Close up of our table cloth. It's a plastic one from Fred Meyer. I don't really like the traditional Vday colors, but this one fit my style perfectly!

The best part (IMO). A simple yet special dessert, boxed brownie mix, whipped cream & chocolate sauce.

I have a real problem with over planning things and not being able to execute all the great ideas I have thought of. Which leads to the end result of me being frustrated and no one enjoying the evening, because mommy is grumpy. So this year I was purposeful to plan a simple menu and simple decorations that 1. didn't cost a ton of money and 2. were easy to execute even with being gone most the afternoon at my book study class. Josh commented that it was probably his best Valentine's Day ever. This comment did come after he took a nap (while the kids were outside and I was making dinner) and after he had a few glasses of wine with his steak dinner. But, I'm taking it as a complement regardless and think I was successful in my simple attempt! =)

Did you do anything for Valentine's Day?

My new garden

I guess you can't really call it a garden... It's just three planters with my Blueberry and Blackberry bushes that I had planted at the house.

The Blueberries are doing great despite this poor weather we've had this Spring/Summer. Once we moved over here I started seeing big fuzzy bees on it multiple times a day, so it's nice and pollinated. LOL

My Blackberry on the other hand is not flourishing quite as well. Looks like I'll get 1 berry off it... well hopefully I get it and not a bird, bug or neighbor kid. Also, that's my other Blueberry in the background. Didn't take a pic of that one, sorry.

The Blueberry plants are Organic and I got them at the Market in Fairhaven last Spring and had the deer at the old house eat every berry it produced. I'm so excited to actually eat the berries from them. I'm thinking they'll be great in my Lemon Blueberry Scone recipe!

The Blackberry is a "thornless" that we got on clearance at Walmart last Mother's Day and it's never done much of anything. With all the Blackberries growing wild around here, you'd think it'd produce like crazy!

On the move

Our time to move has come and we will be moving into our new apartment. I've told some of you already, but this will be mine and Josh's 12th move and something like 23 or so for my own lifetime (and I'm only 29). Even though we are seasoned movers I've really struggled with being content during this whole moving process. I think it might have something to do with the fact that this is our first move that is not self gratifying. In the past we've moved for more space, less rent, new location, etc. But, this time around we are moving so that our church can sell their properties and move into a bigger location. Which I'm totally willing to do and am super excited for. Still, I keep having feeling of not wanting to deal with moving and frustrations start to build up. So I've been trying to focus on the positives of this move. For example; we'll have less space to clean, I'll have my own bathroom again (well I guess I'll share it w/ Josh, but he doesn't make messes like the little boys do), everything will be on one floor (no more having to bring all the laundry from upstairs all the way down to the basement), no yard to care for, we'll still be close to the new church and many others. Thinking on these things helps me to regain focus on what really matters. Am I glorifying God in all I do? Am I setting a good example for my children on how to handle a situation when you don't really want to do what you have to do?

I love this old house. I love being close to the lake. Having the chance to have chickens was awesome. Having so much living space and a basement shop for Josh was a dream. Walking to church was such a time and money saver, we were able to participate in much more than before.

Then God in his great sovereignty gives me situations like this little guy I found in my kitchen halfway between me and Elizabeth.

Yep! I'm ready to move!

It's Gabe's birthday today, we'll be off celebrating and the official move in day is Saturday. See you all next week! I'll be at my spider/mouse/rat free apartment! ( i really hope it is spider/mouse/rat free)

Wait...Did I ever blog about the mice & rats here? It's an old house we've caught 4 mice & a rat got into the attic during the winter, but he was caught and disposed of. ;-D

not quite extreme

Most people by now (at least those with a TV) have heard of the TLC show "Extreme Couponing" where each episode features some shoppers using coupons to leave stores with carts overflowing with product that they paid little or nothing for. I actually haven't seen a full episode of it, but some of the stuff people were coming home with just churned my stomach! Does anyone really need 150 Butterfingers even if they are free? Don't get me wrong, I love free stuff and would not pass up a free candy bar. But is it really in our families best interest to have so much junk stored up? Which brings me to that verse "do not store up your treasures where moths and rust destroy".... can those people really use all that stuff before it goes bad? Yes, I know some of them donate what they don't use, but still it seems a bit much to me.

Anyhoo, I'm getting away from my point of this post. I've been couponing out of necessity for probably as long as Josh and I have been married and about a year ago I started following the blog Thrifty NW Mom and she always posts these amazing deals that she and other readers are getting on items using coupons. Her blog is also where I learned about the TLC show. She gives examples of combining coupons with sales and other coupons to get the best deals on things you buy everyday. So, I decided to give it a try. Slowly but surely I was finding better and better deals. Then this week my sister sent me some of her Albertson's doublers (coupons that double the value of a manufacturers coupon up to $1) and I combined them with some other coupons and sales and this is what I came home with....

• 2 boxes Honey Nut Chex on sale for $1.88 each ($3.76)- printable coupon $1 off 2 boxes combined with the Albertson's doubler= $.88 each!
• 2 bottles of Sierra Mist on sale for $1.67 each ($3.34)- $.75 coupon off our Little Cesar's Pizza box combined with the doubler and a $.40 off peelie coupon (the ones stuck onto the products)= $.72 per bottle!
• Tub of sour cream on sale for $2- $.40 off manufacturers coupon from the newspaper insert combined with a doubler = $1.20 <-not the best deal but I needed some.
• Oral-B toothbrush on clearance for $1.49-$1.50 coupon from paper insert = -$.01 <- made $ off that one!

I am loving how much this is saving me! Being part of the coupon savy blogging community has really helped me get the best deals on the things I'm going to buy anyways (not 150 butterfingers LOL) and that helps me be able to do more with less for my family. Which in turn gives me more to bless others with. Which makes happy. It's stewardship people! (I'm not yelling just really excited)

Have you had any really good deals lately? Also, on a slightly different note... would you follow a local couponing/ deal finding blog? As far as I know there isn't one for Bellingham or any of Whatcom/Skagit counties and I've thought about starting up my own. Good idea? Bad idea? Let me know?

Mmmm... Chocolate =D

I need to get started on dinner, but I have failed at my weekly meal planning this week and have no idea what I'm going to throw together tonight. Plus, I'm feeling a little something coming on that is making me just want to eat things like these;

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2011/05/cookies-and-cream-cheesecake-bars/

http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com/farmchicks/2011/05/peanut-butter-chocolate-bars.html

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/coffee-cake-literally/

You had to post that coffee cake today, Ruth! I've wanted it since I saw the pic on Facebook! LOL

http://www.bakerella.com/got-milk-i-hope-so%e2%80%a6/


My kids will survive one night of being fed chocolate cake for dinner... Right? I won't be scaring them for life will I? LOL

Pops, Guns and Fun

I hope all the mommies out there had a wonderful Mother's Day this year!



Cards and Flowers from the kids

 
I was spoiled rotten by my family this year! Josh was very busy with work and other things so my mom took the kids shopping for a present for me. Gabe picked out some flowers (the yellow rose is from my church), Joshua got me a cookbook and my mom got me this cakepop maker to go along with the cookbook.

Cake Pop maker from my mom



 I have been following Bakerella's blog for quite some time and have wanted this cookbook since it came out! I was at Target the night before the boys were supposed to go shopping and was messing with them by pointing at various things saying "I like this" & "I like that", etc. and as soon as I pointed out this cookbook, Joshua lit up and was so excited about it. I knew right then, that's what I would be getting for my gift, LOL!



Bakerella's Cake Pop cookbook

Look at those little owls! So cute I want to eat them!

 

Garden stakes painted by the kids

 These are not cake pops, but rather garden stakes that the kids painted at a JoAnn's crafting class. Well, I guess "class" isn't the right term for it. They had a table set up right inside the main entrance and the "instructor" tossed a bunch of paper on the table and said "ok kids make your moms a card" and then when it came time to make the stakes she put out the paints and let the kids go at them making a huge mess. Don't think we'll be taking any of the future classes at that JoAnn's. But, I do love my cards and garden decorations still, so I guess it was worth it. ;-D

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I had planned a whole brunch thing after church. I made scones, lemon bars, choc. dipped strawberries and a few other things to go along with an overnight egg casserole that I was going to bake. But, when I removed the casserole from the fridge the whole thing looked black and disgusting. When I threw it out I learned that because my egg mix didn't cover all the potatoes, they then turned black and ruined the whole thing. =(

So I told Josh I was cancelling my brunch and he could do what ever he wanted. So he chose getting some Port of Subs sandwiches and bring them back home to just chill and watch movies. We had all my yummy treats for dessert instead. But before all that we had to make one stop...

Josh really wanted to take me shooting, since I've never shot a gun before and we own like 4 or 5 of them. So, we headed up to a little spot off of a Forestry Service road and I got a lesson in shooting.

me being dorky with the glock

I have to say the guns aren't as scary as I thought they'd be. We started with teaching me to use a pistol. Specifically Josh's new Glock (I have named it Helga von Glockenspielen), which is a 9mm.

Josh decided to get out the big guns

Josh got out the AR-15 he built and shot a couple rounds with it and then insisted I give it a try. I was so nervous with that big gun, but I actually felt I had more control over it than the glock. I couldn't aim it very well though, I think I need a lesson in lining up sights and all that. I actually hit some of my targets by just shooting to see where the bullet would go then adjusting my shot that way.  

Me with the AR-15

Not many people can look cute while holding an assault rifle, but I think I'm pulling it off well.



Hi Kids... Having Fun?

We didn't have enough ear plugs for everyone, so the kids stayed in the truck while we were shooting. They did get out for a bit and explored around the woods a bit before we left.  

 I hope everyone else had a blessed day!