February 29

Who knew playing with building blocks/Legos could be so fun?? Things you forget when not around little people all day ;)

February 27

Spent the afternoon with a little guy - I forget how fun coloring can be - so relaxing - even when I am NOT an artist at all! 

Aren't baby/toddler hands adorable - I love the pudgy-ness :) 

I told you - I'm not an artist - yes this still looks like a 5 yr old drew it LOL oh well....

February 26

I know I've shared this recipe before - but I think it was on my other blog (that I shut down a few years ago) so if you're still following me this is a repeat - but it's SO good that it's worth the additional blog ;)

I originally got this recipe from Weight Watchers - I can't remember where - and I'm sure when done "properly" it's a lower fat pizza - but I'll leave that up to you to figure out ;)

Turkey BBQ Pizza:

So you can either start with a store bought pizza crust (like I did) or make your own (THIS recipe is fantastic!) and then put any type of BBQ Sauce that you like on the crust - I LOVE Sweet Baby Ray's (even if it has High Fructose Corn Syrup in it - boo...)  I think I usually use about 1/2 cup - but do as much as you'd like

Spread the sauce over all of the dough - if you like a clean crust than make sure you leave room for that - I don't care much, so I put it ALL OVER ;) 

Take one package of Turkey lunch meat and slice it up - I just use scissors and cut it all at once - super fast!  layer it over the bbq sauce. 

Take 1/2 of a purple onion and chop it up - you can do this as course or as fine as you'd like - and you can use more or less of the onion - totally up to your tastes - layer the onion over the turkey

I then give it another layer of BBQ Sauce - again do as much as you like - if you like a saucier pizza - than do more - if not do less.  Obviously you can tell that I just squirted it out of the bottle onto the pizza

Then put some shredded swiss cheese on top - again do as much as you'd like, this is where the extra fat comes into play - so do as little or as much as you'd like. 

I then bake in the oven at 350-400' for 25-35 minutes - I usually like the cheese a little more brown than this turned out today - but we were HUNGRY after church!  I also bake it on my Pampered Chef Round Stone so the crust is nice and crispy! 

Slice and serve HOT! 

Let me know if you try this pizza - it's one of our favorites!! 

February 25

Thai food for dinner!! YUM!

February 23

I know I know, it's been over a WEEK since my last post - but well, I've been sick, I mean really sick, down on the couch not doing ANYTHING sick - so I finally went to the doctor on Tuesday and got some drugs - yay :) I'm feeling somewhat better now.

My main reason for blogging today was to wish my taller-than-me-not-so-little brother a VERY HAPPY 19th birthday!!

Gosh - I remember the day he was born - I remember what I was wearing - and even going outside and trying to type out "SOS" in Morse code so that the ambulance could find our house (I'm sure it wasn't ANYTHING like the real SOS lol)  he was such a BIG baby that the midwives had problems delivering him - and he actually broke his arm during delivery. But he arrived safe and sound - on Fat Tuesday of all days :)  He was the cutest little baby - all squshy faced and just BIG!! He weighted in at 12 lbs 4 oz.

I remember rocking him to sleep in the afternoons, and letting him fall asleep in my arms - listening to his little baby snores.

I remember him testing at genius levels in Kindergarten.  One day the school called me at work and needed me to come pick him up - he came back to work with me and colored and just sat quietly in the lobby area while I worked.

I also remember when he asked me why "I" (who was NOT a mother) had boobs....he knew why mom had them - to nurse/feed our younger brother - but why in the world did I have them - that was a fun conversation!

All that to say I have such fond memories of him - he holds a VERY special place in my heart.

This is the "youngest" picture that I have avaliable on my computer - Daniel is the one in the back with the cute little half smile - this was probably Fall 1995

Christmas 2004 I wasn't going to go home to Michigan - but on Christmas Eve I decided to make a VERY quick trip and a few of my siblings came back to Missouri to spend the week with me - this is a picture I took of Daniel that week :) 

This picture was taken December 2007 right after our mom passed away. He came over to my (then) Finacee's house to help me put together some picture boards - it was a rough day, but it was a good memory with my sweet brothers. 

Christmas 2007

 Daniel as a Groomsmen in our wedding - so handsome! June 2008

January 2010 - it was again a sad situation that allowed us to see each other, but I was so thankful to FINALLY see my brothers. 

The next time I saw my brother - October 2010 - again another sad situation, but again, so thankful to see my brothers again (sadly I haven't seen my two younger brothers since this time) 

FINALLY - I'm able to have a relationship with my brother Daniel - August 2011 - So very thankful to see him during our trip to Michigan for Brian's work - we had a GREAT day seeing our grandparents, playing putt putt and going to dinner.  This was shortly before he left for the Navy.

Brian and I were able to attend Dan's Navy graduation - it was such an amazing ceremony and I couldn't have been MORE proud of Daniel. I am SO thankful for these young people who give up their lives, in order for ME (us) to live mine. 

 

Happy Birthday Daniel - I am So proud of you, and proud that you are my brother. Know that I love you, and you will always have a place to call home - no matter where we are living.

February 14

Happy Valentines Day!

I am so thankful that God brought Brian into my life - he is truly my other half. He is my best friend, my lover and my best friend.  Happy Valentines Babes!

Here are a few pictures from our special dinner today:

Our gifts to each other before dinner:

Chocolates from my sweetie!

The Card Brian gave me - so sweet! I can't wait until we are all old and gray and still pinching each others behinds ;) 

The card I gave Brian ;)

 You'll have to guess the hidden word ;)

 Gummy worms from me

 A Hub-Man for my Man ;)

 My Sweet husband :)  - he liked the card ;)

 Dessert!! Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake - SO YUMMY! Recipe can be found HERE

 Our Dinner - SO delicious! It's the Pioneer Woman's Pork Roast with Onions & Apples - one of our favorites!

 Hope you had a good valentines day as well - remember that The real Love story was written many many years ago When Jesus died for you and me - he gave his life for you that's how much he loved you!!

February 12

Went to church this morning - great service. Pastor John talked about SEX - yes, SEX in church and we didn't die, we didn't all burn up and go to hell ;)  He taught on the lies that people believe about sex - fantastic information!

We came home and had lunch then we finished unpacking the basement. Brian put up his flags in the "man land" (or more like the "family room") He also put up some other"man land" items. Then we went upstairs and got a bunch of items hung on the walls and some curtains put up - pictures to come at a later date ;)

I got all our Valentines decorations put up - I think they are cute, even if it's only for a few days ;) 

 Sadly Bernice need's batteries....

 This is the bear that Brian got for me on our first Valentines Day - he's so cute :)  And this is the card we got from Brian's mom :) It was very sweet!!

Do you decorate for Valentines Day? My husband thinks I'm weird ;)

February 11

Today was a pretty lazy day - one that was much needed! Got to spend some good quality time with my main man :)

He also took me to dinner tonight at a pop-up restaurant (that was only open for this weekend) and the chef was a guy that we met at one of our Pampered Chef shows in December.  This was the menu:

Course 1
スープ
Green Iowa Egg Drop Soup
Shiitake ginger shallot garlic rice

Sweet Corn Coconut Chowder
Tofu carrot onion celery garlic ginger

Course 2
前菜
Sausage Stuffed Squid Hoods
Breakfast sausage tempura sticky rice chili

Ginger Glazed“Beef”Tips
Daikon slaw sake cabbage satin rice wine

Course 3
寿司
Pork Sushi
Sticky rice sesame bacon ham apple sweet corn brown sugar

Vegetable Sushi
Seaweed avocado carrot cucumber chive sweet corn wasabi

Course 4
デザート
Fried Ice Cream
Pound cake tempura raspberry chocolate peanut

Cinnamon Sugar Toast
Apple pie spice sticky rice lychee cherry blueberry


The food was amazing - and so unique - something that is hard to find here in Iowa ;)  I think the Pork Sushi was our favorite - the flavors were AMAZING!!

I was also told that this is only part one of Valentines Day ;) So we'll see what else my man has up his sleeve - and yes, he's making me wait until next FRIDAY for the rest! lol

What do you have planned for Valentines Day?  Any traditions?

February 10

Had a fantastic Pampered Chef party tonight with Amanda and her friends! We made a delicious Loaded Baked Potato Chowder, and I think it was a hit!! 

Brian took the lead and did most of the cooking portion of the show. He did a great job, I'm so proud of him.  I love that we are doing this as a team and that we get to spend our date night making money, not spending it ;)

February 8

Another day on the couch, thankfully this afternoon I did start feeling better. I think I've finally kicked whatever I had.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed Gilmore Girls. I watched some of season one today. I love the relationship between Loralie and Rory.  I remember when it went off the air, so abrupt. It was a sad day when I realized that it was over.

What is one of your favorite TV shows?

February 7

Happy Birthday to my brother Tom :) he is sibling #3 of 11 and the sibling right under me (I'm #2) 

I have some crazy stories I could tell you about him - like when we decided to collect crickets into our little ride-on car with the flip-up seat and sell them to our neighbors.....

or

when we loaded our red wagon with snow - and we were going to sell that to our neighbors (what is with us wanting to sell stuff to our neighbors?) Don't worry we were staying away from the yellow snow!

Here is Tom in that very wagon when he was little ;) 

He loves to be outside - doing something with wood working/carving, splitting wood, making fires and putting plaintain on EVERYTHING ;) 

He has a very tender & soft heart - you could tell it in the way he used to care for the baby chicks that were his "responsibility" growing up. 

He was able to pick up the harmonica and teach himself how to play (and I think it was that way with the guitar and the banjo as well)

I was so happy to be part of both of his wedding days - This was the "courthouse" wedding

And this was the "walk down the aisle in a tux" wedding ;) Both were beautiful and you can tell how in-love they are :) 

He's usually a good sport - even if I'm trying to pick his nose ;) 

 and I didn't even notice when he fell asleep during our wedding ;) (mainly because I was on stage ;))

 Over-all I'm thankful that he's my brother - even if we don't see each other or speak that often.

Happy 28th Birthday Tom - I hope it's a great one!