Let's Play Catch Up!

I've been gone a while again. This time I'm back for sure. :) Our computer has been down for a little over a month now, and still is. Joy. Another month or so and maybe I'll get around to ordering the part to fix it. ;) We're almost enjoying not having a lot of technology in our house. Or at least my husband is. Not having another distraction has helped me focus on getting things in order and figure out life as a Mommy of 2, but I'm ready to reconnect with the outside world. So, Hello! Did you miss me? ;) (I've noticed my readers have continued to slowly gather. Thanks gals and welcome! I'm glad my extreme absence hasn't deterred you!)

Much to my dismay Xave has abandoned naptime and that hour or two of bliss where the kids were both asleep is a distant memory a majority of the time. I literally crave creative thinking, and photography is something that gets my mind whirling without taking up too much time. I find this nifty gratitude 30 day photo challenge, so here goes nothing. I'll share my pictures here each day, but first I'd like to share a few of the things I've been doing in the last few months. Those posts will be coming up the next few days, so until then, I hope you're having a  wonderful day! :)

This is the move that never ends...

Yes it goes on and on my friends.. We've been in the process of moving for a whole week! (Not exactly never ending I know. ;) ) Except we're not actually moving. As is no surprise to a majority of the country, times are hard and after my husband got laid off last winter, we ended up moving in with his parents and have lived with them since. Last month they decided to go look at a house completely out of the blue and a crazy thing happened! Three weeks later, they were signing papers and moving out. Which means, we've been helping them pack and move while we empty out the old storage shed and re-setup their old house as our own. Quite exciting, but after moving 15 times in my life, 5 in the last 2 years, I'm pretty much done moving for a long long time. So I'm still on a hiatus and will hopefully one day find my way back to full time blogging because it's a lot of fun, and I've got some big ideas for our house that I'd love to share with everyone. I miss you all and can't wait to get back into the swing of things and come check out what you've all been up to too.

I hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine and not getting blasted with it at 5 am like I am every morning! Guess it's time to get some new curtains. ;)

What a Bunch of Animals!

At the zoo that is... ;) I had really high hopes i would actually post this last week like I said I would. Our life is a little discombobulated right now, so I hope you can forgive me for being so hit and miss right now.

Anywho, we DID go to the zoo last week, i just unfortunately didn't get many pictures of that. We weren't thinking and went on the discounted day to get in a little cheaper. Discount day in the middle of summer. Just sounds like trouble doesn't it? Needless to say, the zoo was packed and we had to park at least a half mile away because the parking lots, and roadsides, were packed. It also happened to be quite hot. Next time we're going in late fall when everyone is in school or something. ;)

Despite the craziness, it was a lot of fun! I thought I knew all the "typical" zoo animals, but they had some I hadn't ever heard of and it was neat to learn a little about them. We gave Xave an old disposable camera my mother-in-law had found in a random box and let him take pictures of the animals he liked best. We'll have to use up the rest of it and get it developed to see how good they actually are. (old school, right!?)

After the zoo we drove to a small splash truck we saw a video of online and had a blast. We decided we really need one of those here, but that probably isn't likely anytime soon. I did get some good pictures of that so check them out below. I'm posting with my phone for now and haven't figured out how or if I can put them anywhere other than the bottom. Kind of lame, but better than nothing. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Get out and explore your local (or not so local) area and try something new, or enjoy an old favorite! :)

Baby Blessing :)

Yesterday we finally got to have Hunter blessed. The hubby did an amazing job and it was beautiful. You never would have known he was nervous beyond belief. Love ya sweetie ;)

I wish I could have gotten/made an all white outfit, but my dear sweet husband forgot to mention he'd set a date with the Bishop until Friday morning. Needless to say I was in a bit of a panic after that. Our town lacks special occasion and church clothes for boys except around major holidays, so I was skeptic about finding ANYTHING nice.

I couldn't validate paying $30+ in gas for one outfit to drive to the big city either. After scouring clothing rack after clothing rack I finally saw a white polo on a clearance rack after I'd given up and was heading out of the store. Perfect! I know it's not at all about the clothes, but I really wanted him to look nice and it was relieving to finally find something.

After all that trouble I ended up forgetting his shoes on the table, so he was barefoot. What can you do? Haha. They sure are cute though aren't they? Have an awesome week! :) (we're going to the zoo this week so look forward to some fun pics from that!)

Happy 4th of July!!

I swear my life has been on fast forward lately. We're suddenly in the midst of summer, my sweet boy will be 4 in a month and my little baby is 2 1/2 months old. How did that happen??

A few weeks ago was mi Madre's birthday, so I decided to make her the purse she requested a year ago. (oops!) My sewing machine has a broken part, so I borrowed my MIL's and went to work. It was obvious I hadn't sewn a bag in a while, and after much frustration and silly mistakes I finally got it done. (Phone pictures aren't the greatest. ;))

My brother and his wife were visiting last week so we went up to see them for a few days. Super fun! I watched the other kids while my parents took a mini vacation with them and also got the responsibility of picking up their new kitten, Snowflower. She's adorable!!! They moved to the country recently and need some mousers, and they definitely got that! Feisty but sweet . Check her out below too. :)

(Blurry again...)

It's been an exciting month! (or more...) So back to today! We went to a ceremony and breakfast at church this morning to celebrate Independence Day. Later on we're having a BBQ to celebrate the 4th and my hubby's very belated birthday. He read somewhere about a challenge/project for people to read the Declaration of Independence, so we'll be doing that tonight too. I think it's important to remember the real reasons for our holidays and not just eat lots of yummy foods. I hope you all have a fun and safe 4th!! :)

Potty training today!

We are potty training today! Woohoo! We've tried several times in the last year with resistance, and decided not to force it. He's seemed ready to try again for a while so I did some research and found some tips. Successful day so far and Xavier loves his big boy undies! Keep your fingers crossed for me. ;)

Hopefully if it stops raining I can go work on our new coffee table, but more on that later. Enjoy your weekend! :)

Food Friday: Buffalo Chips

For anyone who actually knows what a real buffalo chip is, I'm sure you're a little horrified to see a recipe for "buffalo chips". Just hang in there and keep reading. ;) When I was younger we had a tradition when family came to visit to go have a girl's night. So we'd all get in the car and drive a little ways to a fun pizza place in a "close" town. (It was not unusual for us to drive up to 2 hours to go out for a dinner out! Gotta love living in the middle of nowhere!) We always got hamburgers with fries, and lots of fry sauce *YUM*, and for dessert we'd have buffalo chips. Now it's time to use your imagination a little bit. For the buffalo chips they bring out a small cake pan right out of the oven, and inside is a piping hot cookie with some super cold vanilla bean ice cream. Totally awesome twist on cookies and milk! The other day I was craving these little beauties, so I decided to make a smaller version at home. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. :)

(Food photography is obviously not one of my talents. I need to work on that. You get the idea though. Ice cream, hot cookie, warm melted goodness? I thought so.)

"Buffalo Chips"

1 package pre-made cookie dough, any flavor
Vanilla bean ice cream


Preheat oven according to package instructions.

Push 2 pre-portioned cookies into the bottom of a ramekin.

Bake according to package directions. The dough will puff up considerably.

Take a spoon and gently press it down and let cool slightly.

Add a scoop or two of ice cream. Enjoy!



Super simple, right? They're also super delicious and would be awesome at any summer bbq or party. The ramekins are nice so you get individual portions, although you could share one if you really wanted too. You can also make them in a larger pan if you want one dish you can all dig into. :)

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend. :)