For My Fellow Foodie's

Foodie : a person with a particular interest in food.
These are some super quick weeknight meals I've done recently.

Spring mix topped with cucumber, avocado, leftover grilled steak, hard boiled egg, sunflower seeds & ranch dressing.

Sometimes you just need Costco's chicken alfredo. I paired it with bread, wine &
I made a delicious salad with strawberries, walnuts, avocado & homemade balsamic/olive oil dressing.

Leftover bbq chicken & cheddar cheese goes on tortilla in microwave for 30seconds. Top with avocado & spinach/salad mix.
Drench with ranch dressing. Devour!

Pan fried asparagus, boxed long grain and wild rice, bread & parsley lemon baked salmon.

I am always interested to know what people eat every day!
Sometimes I get seriously lazy and all I want to eat is frozen pizza for a week.
With our new transition into only one income I am going to really have to buckle down and do a strict meal plan & budget for groceries.
I already somewhat did that. I would write down 8 meals I thought sounded good. Make my shopping list. Then I would go to the store. But then life would happen and we would only end up eating 5 of the meals and food would go to waste.
I need to go through my pantry and freezer and make meals around what we already have.
It's a process that definitely takes time, but I think it will really be worth it to cut costs in this area.

What are your tips & tricks to save money on grocery shopping? 

What are your favorite meals to make? 

What do you eat for breakfast?

What do you eat for lunch?

Pictures

I take what feels like a thousand pictures a day. 

I am constantly clicking, trying to capture those tiny moments.

I love having a picture to look back on.

Penelope is reaching new milestones, growing, and changing. 

I want to remember these times.

I want to remember the beautiful scenery.

I want to remember the family time.

I love sharing my pictures.

First time in the grass.

Poop face.

Doll baby.

I tell her to "smile for dadda" and she gives me big cheesy grins!

Yelling at me while I do laundry. This was a happy yell.

Her newest face.

She's too cute!

Her new favorite way to read.

My Joy, oh My Joy!

The day I was born our pastors wife came to the hospital. Marie brought her 4 month old daughter, Melody Joy, with her. That is why Melody and I say that we've been best friends since the day I was born. We grew up having many play dates & sleepovers. As teenagers we would have dessert and coffee dates. As we've become young adults Melody moved across the country with her husband. But we continue to have "friend dates," it just consists of talking on the phone even though I am NOT a phone talker.
When we were young we fantasized what life would be like when we got older. We always thought we would marry brothers or best friends. We would live next door to each other. Our kids would be around the same age and would grow up to be best friends. We always joked we would be in the nursing home together taking care of each other, outliving our husbands! [Sorry Zach & Spencer ;)] Life hasn't really turned out how we had so eagerly hoped, but distance cannot diminish this friendship.
Melody came up to visit us in hopes she would be here for Penelope's birth. Unfortunately she left five days too soon, so they've never met.
I have two middle names. My first middle name is Marie, after Melody's mom. When I found out I was pregnant I told Zach that if we had a girl her middle name would be Joy after Mel, and so that is the story of how Penelope's middle name came about. =)
I used to call Mel "My Joy." Now I find myself calling Penny that. It couldn't be more fitting for these two females. Seriously, they both bring so much JOY to my life! 
You know when one of your friends gets a great job, or travels somewhere awesome, has a cuter house, or a nicer/newer car and you're just so jealous. I honestly don't feel that with Melody. I'm always just SO happy for her. She has been blessed with many great things, but she's not boastful about any of it. She also has been dealt many difficult times but she doesn't let those moments define her life. And she definitely doesn't complain; if she tells you about a hardship she speaks of it in such a way that you don't feel any negativity. She truly oozes joy!

Melody is my forever friend. She will always be my best friend. She will always be My Joy.

Playing dollies & Barbies was our favorite!

Yeah, we always held hands!

On of the many Barbie birthday parties...I believe this was Melody's.

Freshman year we had tons of school spirit! Go Bulldogs!

Graduation Day - June 2007!

Multiple times we would show up wearing the same color schemes...not on purpose!

One of our many coffee & dessert dates!

At my wedding shower.

I was in Seattle for a concert and Mel was flying out of there the same day.
She was going to Africa. Little did she know she would meet her husband while there.

The day Melody got back from Africa!!
That is NOT a winter tan from MT! ;-)

The night of Melody's rehearsal dinner.

Melody's wedding day...such a gorgeous bride!

Just six days before I gave birth. The last time we've seen each other in person.
I need to take Penelope and visit Mel in Tennessee!

I have a thousand pictures of us. Most are at my parents house where I don't have access. It is so fun to look back and see how much we've grown and changed.

A Day To Remember

As I've stated, I grew up in Montana. Hiking in Glacier National Park is a very vivid memory from my earliest days. I've hiked to Avalanche Lake countless times but today was different. Today was Penelope's first time on this trail, and that made it extremely special.
Her first hike will forever be to Avalanche Lake.

Avalanche Gorge

beautiful green

crazy roots

spring buds & waterfalls

We made it the 2+ miles to the lake! YAY!

little creatures roaming the forest

While describing what I saw..."it's like a red cardinal, but blue." 

I'm going to buy myself a bird book. 

Penny and her meemaw!

beautiful

Well, hello there!

hiking down the muddy trail

another large uprooted tree

cuties

It was a great day hiking with the fam!

Oops! Flash!...still a great pic of a great couple!

Rick & Gaye

so many fallen trees

Happy Memorial Day! 

I am so thankful to live in the land of the free, 

because of the brave!

A great start to a great Saturday!

Today's walk was a little over four miles.

I use the app MapMyRun.
I've been getting blisters in between my toes from my tennis shoes. :( I think the toe part is too wide so my feet slide from side-to-side.
Today was overcast so I decided to wear a long sleeve shirt...big mistake! A quarter of the way through I wanted to strip the thing off and go in just my sports bra. I didn't though...but it would have been so much more comfortable!
Well, the child is finally waking from her coma snooze! We're going to meet our new neighbors...I'll post photos soon!

A Day In The Life

I am always fascinated how people spend their time. Seriously, what do you do all day?



Here is a very typical weekday for us::

We wake up anywhere between 6am-8am. I turn on music right away. Penny breastfeeds at 8am and then plays with toys while momma has her breakfast and tries to start writing for the day.

If it's nice we try to go for a walk before the scorching Montana sun hits. ;)
If it's not good walking weather we'll play toys, read books, have dance parties, etc.

I try to put Penelope down for a nap anywhere between 10am-11:30am. Every day kind of differs, she lets me know when she's tired. This is when I usually take my shower - if I do it while she's awake she tends to cry the whole time.
*Penelope's naps range from a 10 minute cat-nap to an hour and a half coma-snooze!

Penelope eats real food at noon (or whenever she wakes up from her mid-morning nap). Lately she's been eating a pureed meat (EX: chicken & sweet potato, meaty spaghetti, etc.), a pouch of Ella's Kitchen fruit and/or veggie, and then some Gerber prunes. The girl EATS I tell ya!

Around 1pm we typically head out to get the mail at the post office, go grocery shopping, or do any other errands in town. If we don't have errands to run we'll play some more. Or I'll have Penelope play in her high chair while I meal prep. I will also try to do laundry and clean the house during this time.

We are working on a 3pm nap, it doesn't always happen, but if it doesn't then someone likes to nap around 6pm and that makes for a very late night. :/

Penelope eats again at 4pm.
*In the next month or so I'm going to ween her off of this feeding so she's only breastfeeding twice a day (morning and night). I'm still not 100% sure how these transitions are supposed to go, but I'm doing my best in figuring it out.

I'll start dinner anywhere between 5-6pm, depending on what we're having.

Dadda gets home between 5:30-6pm. He'll take the babe so I can finish dinner.

Our nights differ all the time. Sometimes we'll go to a friends, sometimes we'll have people over, or we'll keep it just the three of us.

If we're at home Penny gets a bath around 7:30pm. 

8pm is her last breastfeeding.

Penny goes to bed anywhere between 8:30-10pm. I usually rock her to sleep and then she's out for the night. We have been pretty lucky when it comes to her sleeping through the night. I was a major sleeper before I had her though. We're talking 10-12 hours a night that I would sleep - that was even before I was pregnant! So the 8 hours max that I've been getting has been a little rough, but I know, I know...we are LUCKY we even get eight solid hours!

 **Am I crazy!? I still breastfeed my baby that started getting teeth at four months! I made the personal decision that I wanted to breastfeed her until her first birthday and then start weening her to be done by 13 months. She has bit me a couple of times - once she broke skin. OUCH! But she only does it when she's teething really bad. I ended up flicking her in the mouth, and I think she learned her lesson. I read up on all of the benefits of breastfeeding vs formula and to me, since I can do it, I don't see any reason not to. I do realize that there are woman who are physically incapable of breastfeeding, and I don't think you're a lesser mother because of it. I also realize everyone has their own personal reasons for doing one or the other for whatever amount of time. I won't judge you, so please don't judge me.**

The life of staying home is not what I expected it to be. I thought I would have ample time to read, write, pamper myself, and get all of the housework done with extra time leftover. Instead my time is taken up mostly by feedings and diaper changes. Life is good though. Life is so good. I feel incredibly blessed to get this opportunity, and any "free time" I get is that much more sacred.

I've had a couple people ask me if I'm bored yet. Are you kidding?! How is there time to be bored?? There is constantly something to do and a little someone to entertain!

Every morning starts with coffee. It's a must for me. Some days call for two cups!

Penelope likes to be dramatic while crawling toward me.

During one of our many dance parties.

I made some sun-tea today! Yum!!

The girl sleeps in the most awkward positions. I constantly check on her to make sure she's breathing.