Sunday, December 30, 2012

Scalloped Potatoes

I didn't take a picture of my finished potatoes, but this one closely resembles mine (and I feel like I need a picture when I give out recipes)



My scalloped potatoes were a hit at Christmas! A friend asked for my recipe before Christmas so she could make them for her family dinner and my parents recently asked me for it so I figured I would put it on here for all :o)

1/4 cup onion
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cup milk
3 med potatoes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup shredded cheese

Saute onion in butter. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat. Grease baking dish and layer bottom with 1/2 potatoes and cover with 1/2 the sauce. Repeat. I top the dish with the cheese (some people layer it)
cover with foil and Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for 30 min or until potatoes are tender.

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing


Cinnamon rolls
1 Cup water
1 Cup butter
3/4 C sugar
2 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 (.25 ounce) pkgs yeast 
1/2 cup warm water
7 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon

In a large pot bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Add the 1 cup of butter, sugar, and salt. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup cold water. When mixture is lukewarm, add beaten eggs. In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water. Allow yeast to rise about 5 minutes, until foamy. Stir into mixture. Add flour and stir together. Cover pan with lid and refrigerate overnight.
When ready to roll out, divide dough into thirds. Lightly flour surface. Roll dough out in to 12x6 inch rectangle about 1/2 in thick. Spread each rectangle with one-third of the softened butter. In a bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle one-third of brown sugar mixture over surface of dough.
Roll up jelly-roll style and cut into about 12 rounds. Place on greased baking sheet. Follow same procedure with remaining dough. Let raise 2-3 hours*. Bake one sheet at a time at 375 degrees. for about 15 min or until lightly browned. spread cream cheese frosting over rolls when warm. Makes 3-4 dozen.

*I didn't let one of pans raise that long (I let them raise about 5 min) and they turned out just fine :o)

I really dislike powdered sugar glaze and a lot of cream cheese icing recipe's because all I taste is powdered sugar so I use this one for a number things- cookies, cinnamon rolls, and cakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tbsp sour cream
2 tsp vanilla
16 oz confectioners sugar

Blend all ingredients together with electric mixer. All done!

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Christmas in picture form!


I have dreamed of this for a very long time- Christmas with a sweet  husband and  a precious  little child. Even though we have already had one christmas as a family of 3, we really loved this christmas. Greg was so excited about wrapping Evan's presents and even more excited for him to wake up in the morning!
Christmas Eve Santa cookie making

Evan attempts to eat raw dough

check out my rockin' red skinny jeans! I would wear them everyday if it wasn't gross and weird! 



Toy story game for his Innotab! He loves woody's face.

"Papoo" helped open presents and "Mamoo" ctook mucho pictures!

My little sugar was running a fever :o( he's got "sick eyes"

Innotab!


Tunnel o' fun
I will soon post my cinnamon roll and cream cheese icing recipe we used on Christmas eve for Christmas morning breakfast.
You will never frost with another cream cheese icing recipe after you've tried mine!




Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas Eve!

The festivities have begun! Greg and I started wrapping presents, making cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls for tomorrow and we will soon be making cookies for Santa. Evan gets to open a couple presents tonight, which I am so excited about! I love starting our own little traditions!

Last night we took my parents up to SLC to Temple square to see the lights. We wanted to do the carriage ride and we stood in line, but it was way too close to Evan's bedtime and that child had his cranky pants on, so we nixed it :o(

They had lots of choirs going on too, but it was sooo busy we didn't go listen to any. I was surprised it was so busy on a Sunday, but indeed it was.

Anyway, it was so pretty and I'm glad we finally made it there. After 4 years of living here we finally went to see the Christmas lights at temple square. We talked about it every year, but we just never did it.

look at the temple in the back! So pretty!


I'm so excited for Christmas tomorrow! It's going to be fun teaching him what Christmas is really about and reading Luke 2!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

I love this time of year

I love prepping for Christmas, it's so exciting!
It's like Christmas for 25 days because we ordered pretty much every Christmas present for Evan and each other online and we have gifts coming from family, so we keep getting presents nearly everyday and it's pretty exciting.

Christmas Eve will soon be here and we get to make homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning and cookies for santa! 


That tree no longer has ornaments...just lights. All the little child's fault.

Cute little child story I have to share- Every morning when Evan wakes up I always say, "hi, baby!"
This is the conversation Evan and I had one morning recently:
Evan- "Mommy?"
Me- "What sweetheart?"
Evan- "Hi, baby" 
oh that sweet child melts me every second of his life.

What happens when the boys are left home alone together?





Monday, December 10, 2012

a few of my favorite things

Smooth minerals foundation
I use all colors except the blue..

Smooth minerals blush


Thursday, December 6, 2012

a note about the previous post

I forgot to mention that I made the tree skirt out of 2 flat sheets. I picked them up at the local thrift store and I don't even know what size they were. I used a white flat sheet on the bottom and a cream colored one for the ruffle part. The flat sheets plus the glue for the glue gun total cost to make this skirt = $7.66

Can I just tell you that I got excited about something the other day and I said, "Holla!" and my little man then repeated it back exactly the way I said it? I love him.

He saying more and more 2 and 3 word sentences and melts me. always. my favorite right now is, "Where daddy go?"



Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Tree skirt

My husband did the measuring and I did the cutting and glue gunning. His help always makes things go faster.

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I love it :o)

I followed these directions here

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Crock Pot Roasted Tomato-basil Soup

I love my crock pot and I really love tomato soup that doesn't come from a can.

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2 Cans(28oz each) peeled whole tomatoes, drained and 3 cups liquid reserved.
2 1/2 tbsp packed dark brown sugar
1 med onion, finely chopped
3 cups chicken broth
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp ground allspice (I didn't use this because I don't like it)
1 can evaporated milk (5 ounces)
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil ( I used dried, but I would recommend fresh)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat Oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheet with foil; spray with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange tomatoes on foil in single layer. Sprinkle with brown sugar and top with onion. Bake about 25-30 min or until tomatoes look dry and light brown. Let tomatoes cool slightly; finely chop.

2. Place tomato mixture, 3 cups reserved liquid from tomatoes, broth, tomato paste and allspice (if you choose) in crock pot. Mix well. cook on low 8 hours or on high for 4 hours.

3. Add evaporated milk and basil; season with salt and pepper. cook on high for 30 min or until hot.

My husband hates tomatoes and therefore tomato soup, but he did say, "well, I don't hate this as much as I hate canned soup." Thank you husband, thank you. 
Our neighbors got lots of tomato soup because there was no way I was eating it all by myself.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

remember when...

I made this
Well it cost me about $10 bucks maybe a little less to make and I still have at least 2 months left of it. I made it March 10th, 2012. Our laundry smells delightful and it gets everything just as clean as the expensive stuff. 9 months and still going strong? I'd say it's a total winner and money saver!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

My Family

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I will not ever be able to express through words how much I love my family.
I am so in love with these two boys :o)

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

what the heck!?

So apparently I have ran out of memory or something so I can't post pictures on here anymore without `paying...if I don't find a way to fix it without paying then I'll get a new blog address. I'll keep you all posted!

We spent the last week in Ohio for Thanksgiving and it was so nice! We made dinner for one of my grandma's for thanksgiving and then feasted on my other grandma's deliciousness and it was delightful! Greg studied most of the time and I was able to relax a little (sorry, honey!) My mom was super thoughtful and had movie tickets waiting for us when we got there! We hardly get to go on dates so this was magical! Much to Greg's chagrin, we went and saw Breaking Dawn pt 2. I loved it and Greg loved it too actually :o) He's a good sport. He generally picks the movies we go see and it was my turn! :o)

Evan was lucky enough to be able to hold a tiny dog in the airport. There was a little lady there with her dog in her walker and Evan was saying, "Dog, dog Please!" 
She put that little dog in his lap and it was the best day of his life! He just kept looking up and grinning! He melts me.

We had the best donuts ever made from Schulers. If you ever visit Springfield Ohio or even Dayton or Columbus (it's worth the 45 min drive, for real!) you need to look up schulers. They've been around forever and one year all I wanted was a cake and donuts from schulers for my birthday and my husband woke up early and bought me some fresh donuts :o)

My little man loved flying in the big airplane. He was constantly looking out the window saying, "oohhh wow!" and "WHOA!" 

Evan counted to 10 yesterday. All by himself. Greg and I were sitting in the living room after our long days and Evan was playing on the floor and we heard him start counting. Normally, he stops at three, but not yesterday. That little man went to 9 and then said, "Hooray!" because number 10 is exciting to get too :o)

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Clean whole wheat bread (a fix from the last post)

Since there are some people that I know are going to be making this soon I needed to fix a few things...

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 C water
*2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp sea salt.

So
Mix the flour, *yeast and water together. I knead this for a short time because it's really sticky at this point.
Let rise 30 min or until doubled.

Then add Olive oil, Honey, and salt. Honestly, I sometimes don't even use the salt and other times I just throw a dash in. Knead for 5 min and let then let rise 30 min or until doubled

Knead one more time for 5 min and then make into a loaf and put in loaf pan and let rise then bake at 350 for 40 min.

*As for the yeast I have found that if I cut back to 1 tsp then I don't get a big hole in the center, and you may not need to knead as much. 

Like last time, Just put water on your hands through the kneading process because it gets super sticky. If you want it a little sweeter add more honey (my hubs likes it sweeter)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Oops!

I tried to cut Evan's hair. Normally, I do a pretty good job on his hair. This time I tried something different and basically this is what happened...



You guys, He's bald! I had to shave his head! 

I was trying to blend his hair and it wasn't working so I tried to shave it a little higher on the sides because it made sense at the time and then I started to think about everything I needed to pack to go to Ohio and I shaved really far up and there was no recovering. So I had to shave my poor baby's head! This was the conversation Greg and I had about it.

Greg- "Lacey, I can see his scalp."
Me- "Well, at least he has a nice shaped head."

He has such cute hair too! Oh man! It's a good thing he's adorable! I can't wait until it grows a little.

He does enjoy rubbing his head :o)

Monday, November 12, 2012

Green Drinks and Homemade Bread

We aren't sure when we are going to try and have another baby, but I'm sure it's not going to be real soon, but it's also not going to be real far away...somewhere in the middle haha.
Anyway, I decided to start being a little more strict on my clean diet (although I'm sure Thanksgiving is going to completely kill all my effort because we are going home for Thanksgiving and HELLO my grandma's cooking is like Betty Crocker's on steriods..and if that didn't make any sense...basically, my grandma rocks in the kitchen...the end.)
Until then and after then I want to be the healthiest I can be to nourish my future little wee one.
So that brings me to...GREEN DRINKS!

This is Banana (1/2), mango, pineapple, strawberry, peach, and spinach(filled to the top with about 5 pieces of fruit in the bottom) with 1 cup of water. I shouldn't use the frozen fruit in the bag at walmart because it has some additives to "preserve color" and that's no good, but it will do for now. They are delish and such a great breakfast that really is filling. You can also do- Kale and fruit. I love kale.

I started making my own bread for a couple reasons
The main reason was because- have you ever looked at the ingredients in your bread? Way too many to be healthy and the preservative free kind that I was buying was like 4 bucks a loaf...caaarrraaazzzaaayyyy. Reason number dos- It's. So. Much. Cheaper. and who doesn't love homemade bread?


The recipe?

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 3/4 C water
2 tsp yeast
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp sea salt.

Mix the flour, water, and yeast together (I started putting my yeast in my water first and then waiting for it to get frothy and then mix it with my flour)
Mix until sticky and then let rise until doubled about 30 min.
Knead like crazy. I don't have a Kitchen Aid yet..and by yet, I mean YET. I will have one my friends. Anyway, I have found that if I knead it for 5 min every time I'm supposed to knead I don't get "purse bread" Purse bread is when you get a nice big hole in the center of your bread.
Let rise 30 min again or until doubled
and then Knead one more time. Once kneaded form into loaf and put in loaf pan. It will get sticky when you knead it like crazy so I just put a little water on my hands throughout the kneading process and it also really helps with the moistness when it's baked.
Bake at 350 for 40 min.

Be Healthy my friends!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Some firsts

Evan's first real snow fall. It has snowed before since he's been born, obviously, but he hasn't ever really played in it!
Evan's first snowman! Daddy helped him make it!



We introduced him to homemade oreo's and naturally with oreo's comes milk and  cookies...so Evan's first time having milk and cookies



Friday, November 2, 2012

Baby Smoothie

My friend got me hooked on doing these for my little guy.
I used fruit (mixed bag of frozen fruit from walmart), spinach leaves, milk, and a banana for extra sweetness.
These are great! Especially since my child hates eating :o) He gets great amounts of iron from the spinach which I love! My friend uses apple juice in replace of milk sometimes.

I should have taken pictures, huh?
They are super yummy. Evan loves to share with his mommy or as he calls me, "mommay" like a little english boy :o)

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Trick or Treat!

My little lion had so much fun getting free candy! He would occasionally roar when asked by the people handing out candy :o)
We went to the dorms here at BYU for trick or treating. It was easy to go 2 feet to the next door!
Evan would say, "shrick sheet." eventually, it started sounding like the real phrase. He would say Thank you after he got his candy and sometimes he would try and grab more :o) Then he would wave and say bye bye! He got mad at us a few times because we wouldn't let him eat the candy right away, but he eventually learned how fun it is to have people put candy in his bag :o) He would also try and give the candy back too because he seriously loves to share. I have the best child ever. 



Sunday, October 28, 2012

Fall baby and a recipe


It has been so cold here but my little boy insists everyday to be outside :o)

Garlic pasta
My mom and Grandma were here for a week and I made this for them and it was a big hit. When it comes to the garlic I LUUHHHOOOVVEEE Garlic so I usually double or triple my garlic...and oh man..DELISH
Creamy Garlic Pasta
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp butter
¼  tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
3 cups chicken stock
½ lb spaghetti or angel hair pasta
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
In a pot, bring the olive oil to medium-low heat. Add the garlic and stir, allowing it to cook for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the butter until melted. Add the salt, pepper and chicken stock. Raise the heat to high and let it come to a boil. 
Once it is at a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook for as long as the box’s directions indicate. Reduce the stove to medium heat and mix in the parmesan until completely melted. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream and parsley. Serve immediately.



Saturday, October 27, 2012

Because no one else will talk about it.

I will.

None of the liberal news stations will talk about the horrendous shananigans that went on sept 11 of this year.  
I'm talking about Benghazi and how our President went to SLEEP while our fellow Americans were being slaughtered in Libya. 
Our Anti-American Socialist president received an email about the attack and then went to sleep. REALLY!? 

When the Navy Seals heard the gunfire from the consulate they wanted to go and do what true americans wants to do and go and help save American lives, but you know what their orders were? "stand down" ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? and not once my friends, Huh uh, several times. So our American hero Navy seals disobeyed orders and went in anyway, because that is the right thing to do when America is being attacked. Technically, it was american soil being attacked.

Tyrone Woods was one of the Navy Seals names and there was another but I can't remember his name. 
From 9pm-4am Tyrone fought to save lives and save lives he did. He was also calling for help, but the people at the white house chose to watch IN REAL TIME our fellow Americans be killed instead of get help for them.
Oh wait, Obama decided to go to bed while our Americans were being killed.
That is why Obama couldn't look Tyrones dad in the eye when he apologized to him which Tyrones dad said was the "most insincere apology" he's ever heard. How could he be sincere he let it happen.
Why would he care what happens to Americans when he has a book that's titled, Born in Kenya, raised in Indonesia.....just saying....is he really American? BAH! We don't know! 
I can't wait for a real answer to why those men were told to stand down. Right now when asked about it he beats around the bush and never gives an explanation.

I have lost so much respect for him for several different reasons
1. He denied visiting boy scouts to go on the view because he wants to be a celebrity, not a president
2. he voted for partial birth abortion TWICE, but birthing a baby and allowing it to die is inhumane...Do you even know what they do in partial birth abortions? Don't even look it up because it's heinous. He had said he was originally against abortion because of his beliefs, but now all of a sudden he is ok with it? What's that say about his beliefs? If he really is catholic I know they are not for abortions at all. But we don't know who he is.
3. Liar Liar pants on fire
4. Benghazi. Tyrone's dad is a retired attorney and he said Obama is partly responsible for his son's death and outside of the white house he would be charged. 

My husband is very savvy in financial matters and economical matters and if you talk to him he will tell you that what Obama is going to do is stupid and will ruin us.


 do not vote for someone who hates America. Do not vote for someone who bows to people he shouldn't be bowing to. Do not vote for someone who will go to sleep while American's are dying to save other American's.
Do not vote for someone who isn't willing to help the military save lives.
Do not vote for someone who knows nothing about business.
Do not vote for someone who won a nobel peace prize, for what?! Do we even know!? Probably keeping the peace by letting American's die.

I am disgusted. Can you tell? 
Greg says this is all making me crazy (and he's somewhat right. I can't watch political news anymore because it makes me so mad how uneducated people are and have no idea what they are voting for) but I say if you had a brother in the military, (which I do) how would you feel knowing it could have been your brother needing help and was being refused?

Monday, October 22, 2012

Movie date

Daddy was away at a soccer game with his brother while he was in town and Evan and I had a movie date.
My child loves, "mooie's" and popcorn.



Guys, I got my hair cut and I love it and I think we need family pictures again because of my hair

AND
I am so excited for this...


Homemade Apple Cranberry Sauce with Cinnamon.
I'll post the recipe around thanksgiving.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

A sweet little sound

We were driving home from Grandma's last night and my little boy was pointing to his fingers and saying, "1, 2,3..."  

He's Perfect.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Have you ever..

eaten baked edamame? If you haven't, you should!

It's awesome! I just put olive oil and salt on mine and baked them at 375 for 15 minutes and I had a delish and super healthy snack!

Also, You should try Kale chips! Dudes! It's aweeesssooommmeee!
they actually sell Kale already chopped, but I just bought the bunch and chopped it into inch sized pieces and put olive oil, salt, and pepper on them and baked them at 375 for about 10 min until a little crispy and brown on the edges...so yummy! and soo healthy!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Evan is 18 months!


Length = between percentile 10 and 25 

Weight = between percentile 5 and 10 
Head Circumference = between percentile 10 and 25


Those are my little man's stats. He's tiny :o)

Do you believe he will be 2 in 6 months!? I sure don't! 
He knows these body parts:
Nose, eyes, hands, fingers, toes, feet, elbow, neck, head, mouth, cheeks, belly button (he calls nana I haven't a clue why)
he knows his hair, bum, pee pee, and ears.
One of my most favorite things he says now is, "uh-oh mama" seriously he melts me.

Our friends want us to let him grow a shag...I'm considering it.

He will say his Abc's with me but he tends to say the next letter of what ever letter I say.
he climbs on everything! He talks all the time and he knows and says a ton of words. We started having him say our prayers and oh. my. goodness. Guys, he is so precious!

We bowed our heads to say a prayer and Evan bowed his head and then put his finger to his lips and said, "sshhh" haha he also fell asleep about 2 min later and slept 12 hours without dinner..

My sweet boy!

I forgot that I bought dark brown pants specifically for this outfit and I put him in these! I was so mad at myself when I realized it!

Evan was putting Greg to bed with toys and clothes.


This is how Evan reads


He says, "meelk"


OH YEAH!



Friday, September 28, 2012

5 years!

Greg and I celebrated our 5 years together on Saturday! We have some pretty awesome friends here in Utah and they watched Evan for 4 hours while we went to a dinner and a movie! I have a tendency to forget my camera when I really want to have it, so no pictures of our great date! We haven't been on a real date in a long time. So we wanted to have a real date like old times for our anniversary. We had such a good time. I love uninterrupted time with my husband. I always find myself missing my little one after a bit though...

My little Evan turns 18 months on Sunday! We go to his 18 month check up on Tuesday so I'll give ya all his stats then!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Victory!

I have finally figured out how to get my child to eat eggs!
PANCAKES!
Not just any pancakes my friends, egg and banana pancakes!

I found this on pinterest and all you do is add 2 eggs to one banana squish it all up and it throw it on the griddle like normal pancakes and you get this...
I put butter on them and syrup and Evan just thought he was eating banana pancakes!
I have longed for the day my child would eat eggs and he does! He just doesn't know it...

Monday, September 10, 2012

A little bit of Lately

My sweet child loves to help whenever he can
I look mad in this picture so Greg took another...


                                          ......Over exaggerated smile with giant eyes

After his assistance with the Lemon cookies we made daddy's cake for his 27th birthday! We are getting so old. Greg's cake came from a box this year, sorry Greg :o)


Thank goodness he likes his quiet book!



Evan likes to finish my sentences..

I am slightly obsessed with the way he says, "apple"

Every morning when Evan wakes up he says, "ROAR!" That means he wants to watch The Lion King. See for yourself.