Easter and Conference Weekend

This weekend , despite Sam working both weekend nights, ended up being a lot of fun!! Friday, Sams CEO let everyone go at 2:00 to start off the weekend, so the girls and I met Sam downtown and we hung out before he had to go to Litzas. We went to Target (thrilling, I know. But I love Target) and then headed over to the dinosaurs at the food court and let the girls play until Sam had to leave. One of the highlights is I ran into my friend John. I haven't seen him for years and it was so good to talk to him again.

That night the girls were in bed early and I spent the night watching my shows and a grown up movie to my hearts content. It was excellent.

Saturday we spent the day listening to conference, and then Sam went to work and I met my mom and sisters at Leatherbys for dinner and ice cream. We then went to my sisters and watched "Into the Woods." Not sure how I feel about it, except that I didn't care for it. I liked the music, but not so much the strory line. On the way to my sisters, my nieces drove with me and "Let It Go" was never sang more loudly by the 4 of us. (me, Tiaree, Bree, and Abby)

So regal. So girl.

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We had Jake over and listened to conference, found our Easter baskets, had an Easter egg hunt, dyed Easter eggs, ate candy galore, and napped. I love that Easter and General Conference were on the same day this year. :) After conference, we went to my parents for another egg hunt and a delicous Easter dinner.

The girls love Jessie. Particularly Madalyn.

It was a wonderful weekend. I am so thankful for my Savior. I am grateful that he died so we may live again. Becuase of him, I get to keep my family forgever!! And I am grateful for living prophets here on the earth that teach us what we need to do so we can make it through this life. 

Life Lately: About a month ago lately that is

I have been wanting to do this post for two weeks now!! I need to start fitting in time to blog again. Its important to me and I love it!!! Yet, I put EVERYTHING else before it. But not anymore. This is my journal and I love looking back at our little life. So, without further ado, here is our Life Lately!!

 Life Lately has been Madalyn eating her spaghetti and loving it too. (and ruining her shirt in the process. Why don't I remember bibs?) Its been trying to get on the roof with daddy and taking a bite out of some sidewalk chalk. And, life has been adorable girls watching a movie together. (Aladdin is their current favorite!)

 Life lately has been watching more movies at night while daddy is at work, and Madalyn loving Tangled so much she has to be right next to the tv. Life has been being jealous of my parents new bikes. Life has been cuddles with Abby and looking at Venus late at night. Abby has been studying space in Preschool. Unfortunately, I thought it was way cooler than she did.

 Life lately has been cold lunches and girls that need blankets. Its been getting Lola back good as new from the shop after I hit a curb in it and damaged it quite a bit. Life has been dirty summer feet in spring, and its been feeling good in some new clothes.

 Life has been playing at the park with some friends, and its been a cute face helping me work. Life has also been a toddler that won't stop climbing on things and its been the dirtiest girl you have ever seen!

 Life has also been healthy, with oven baked fajitas and other clean good foods. Its been waiting for Abby to get out of preschool, long enough hair to do braided pigtails, and cute girls in their matching green St. Patricks day shirts!

 Life has been a much needed, long over due date night for mommy and daddy, while the girls played in a box at Grammy and Papas. Its been going to the pool and everyone enjoying it, and its been delicious, fresh, strawberries.

And lastly, life has been family walks on a Sunday with my favorite people in the whole entire world.

Its a busy, hectic, crazy life, but is my life and its a good one!!

Clean Eats-Oven Baked Fajitas

So, I am finally in the place where I am ready to commit to 80% clean eating. I know 80% sounds like I am short changing myself, but come on! I am human and I still love food: sweets, chips, even McDonald's. And really, if you think about it, cheating only 20% of the time isn't very much.

Anyway, last week I started an AMAZING game-changing program: The 21 Day Fix. What it is is a 21 day plan with 30 minute workouts everyday, and an easy to follow eating plan. And when I say easy to follow, I mean it.

A little background on me: I am not good at dieting. I've tried counting calories, I've tried weight watchers, I've tried eliminating sugar completely out of my diet, basically I've tried all the healthy ways to lose weight and I could stick to none of them. With My Fitness Pal, inputting food wasn't working to count calories. It overwhelmed me and I would cheat far too often. Weight Watchers, same thing. Trying to look up the calorie content or points of a food wasn't easy in my brain, so I failed. I know so many people that have had success on these programs so I am not AT ALL saying they are wrong and my way is the only way. I am just saying they didn't work for me.

But the 21 Day Fix Plan does. There are color coded containers (green, red, purple, yellow, blue, and orange) and you have foods you can eat from those categories. Depending on your weight depends on how much you need to consume. I don't have to count my calories, I just have to pay attention to my portions and how much I get and its EASY!! I feel satisfied with the foods I am eating.

Anyway, to get to the point of my blog, I made the best 21 Day Fix approved dinner tonight: Oven Baked Fajitas!! I LOVE fajitas and this was easy, clean, and delicious. So, without further ado, here it is.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless chicken; cut into strips
• 2 Tbs EVOO (Sam made fun of me when I had to look up what on earth this was! For those of you like me, its extra virgin olive oil! :) )
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 4 diced plum tomatoes
• 6 oz canned diced tomatoes - no salt added
• 1 small can of diced green chilies
• 1 medium onion; sliced
• 1 large bell pepper (red, green, yellow)
• Mexican Blend Cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice the veggies and chicken in strips.
3. Place chicken strips in a greased 13x9 baking dish.
4. In a small bowl, combine oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, dried oregano, and salt.
5. Drizzle the spice mixture over the chicken and stir to coat.
6. Mix tomatoes and green chilies in a bowl. 
7. Add the tomatoes, peppers, and onions to the dish and stir to combine.
8. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. (Cheese can be added within the last several minutes of cooking)

I omitted the cheese since I don't typically eat cheese with my fajitas and added some avocado as well! Seriously, I had to hold back from eating too much!! Also, as you can see, I had flour tortillas, which aren't 21 Day Fix approved, but lets face it. I hate wheat tortillas and as the cool teens say, YOLO right? I still stuck within my allotted carbs for the day. So this meal for me was 1 red (protein) 1 green (veggies) 2 yellow (carbs) and 1 blue (healthy fats.)

You won't regret this meal. Try it and let me know what you think!!

Madalyn Marie: 18 Months

Last month, (our month from Hell) Madalyn turned a year and a half. I never got around to blogging about it because of said month from Hell. (more on that later...) But better late than never right?

• Madalyn has one cute personality. She loves to give kisses. She will try her hardest to aim at the mouth. Its adorable. She also gives the best tightest hugs. She loves to laugh and cuddle She also has one fiery temper. She often throws herself down on the ground in anger. She has also been known to wag her finger at you and yell if you make her mad, and by make her mad I mean things like accidentally bumping her over or taking something away from her she shouldn't have.
  
• She broke her arm on February 6th by climbing on my bed and falling off. Worst. Thing. Ever. But, she adjusted well and was the cutest cast-wearing baby in the world!! (And she got it off yesterday, March 11)
• She loves to sing The Little Mermaid, and it is one of the sweetest sounds in the world. 
  
• We are weaning her off the binky. We still give it to her at nap/bed time (or when she does something scary like get a cast on/off) but every time she wakes up, she says "bye bye" to it (actually, she doesn't say bye bye, she waives at it, but you get the point) and drops it in her crib. However, she will often sneak it out of her crib and come out of her room with a huge binky grin on her face. Needless to say, I now put it in the drawer when its not sleep time. 
• Madalyn can't talk much, but she is great at communicating with me what she wants. She can sign "more" and "milk", she points at herself and then points at something she wants, she nods yes or shakes her head no when I ask her if she wants something, or she will bring me a book or something else she wants to play with and I know I need to help her with it.
  
• Words she can say: "Uh-mmm" (Uh-oh) "Yaaaa!!!" (like when she gets super excited) "Baa!" (bye) "duuu" (done) "eh-eh" (woof woof) "mama" "dada" and she whispers "saaa" for soft. But if I ever try to get her to say these words, she will shake her head no. Things need to be on her own terms!!
  
• Things she loves: having daddy jump her high on the bed, playing with her sisters magic clip dolls...or really anything Abby is playing with, walking around holding Abbys hand, singing, dancing, (mostly twirls and jumps) playing dress up, her care bears, being rocked to sleep, books, watching Curious George, playing outside whether its at the park or in our front yard, and bath time, until it comes time to wash her hair. 
  

Oh my Madalyn Marie!! I love you and your spunky, stubborn, adorable attitude. You make mommy, daddy, and sister all very happy. I love you my little human!!

Currently

One of my favorite blogs to stalk is this one. And, I really like the 'currently' post she does quite often. I have missed blogging so much and want to get back into it, so i've decided to start doing this as part of my blogging. Its a nice way to update without being so long winded...i hope. So here goes. 

Even with a cast, my Madalyn is one happy baby!!

Loving: The way my girls are really starting to play with each other. Well...mostly how Abby drags around Madalyn and playing pretend and Madalyn just goes along with it. Like this morning, she was walking around with her in a "busy street" hoding her hand so Maddie didn't get hit. It melts my mama heart. 

Reading/watching: Sam and I are watching Alias together, and I frequently watch Friends as I am cleaning. I am also slowly trying to make it through Dr. Who (still) and catching up on Supernatural and Once Upon a Time, and staying up with Parks and Rec and Hart of Dixie. (thats a lot of shows!) I am reading The Giver.

Trying to: Get myself more organized. I have a business I am running, kids to take care of, a house to keep clean, a husband to love, and me time. I need a scheduler!

Excited for: Sams little brothers wedding this weekend in Idaho!! I love weddings and I love love and I love getaways. All of these just happen to be this weekend! We need a little vacation!!

What are you all doing currently?

A Thankful Heart

I've been back to being a stay at home mom now for 2 and a half weeks. To say I am in heaven would be an understatement.

Before I got my job at Zions, I was kinda down in the dumps about being home. (It didn't help I was still fighting a little bit of depression) But then I started working outside the home and I realized what a gift it was to be home with my girls. I realize it was only 4 hours a day, but it kinda made the whole day busy and stressful. Near the end my girls were suffering. Sam and I fasted and prayed and the next day, he foud a new job, applied, and the day after that had it. I know it was an answer to our prayers.

Now that I am home again I am trying to live my days to the fullest, because being home with my girls is a gift, and I want to enjoy every minute. Thank you Sam, for sacrificing so much for our little family and being willing to do it. You are the best husband in the world. Love you forever!!

Life Lately: Its been a while

Man, so much has happened the past couple of weeks to our little Tappana family! I quit my job and Sam got a second job. More on that later! The good news is I should be able to blog more. I am still busy building my Beachbody business and Abby and Maddie are all the sudden SO busy, but I enjoy blogging so I want to find more time.

So, here are little snippets of what has been happening with us the past few weeks. I would go back a few months, but this would be a very huge post. Maybe I will still do that though another day. :)

 Life lately has been two adorable girls playing in the laundry basket while I was doing laundry. Its been these cuties sitting together at a resaurant. Life has been a precious Abby fast asleep hugging her bear tight, and its been Madalyn chilling all cute like. 

 Life lately has been my adorable cuties zoned out to Curious George maybe? And Maddie is naked because she soaked through her jammies and I was going to get her in a bath. Life lately has been bringing in the new year with some sparkling cider. It has been a party picture of us, and its been a cute open-mouthed Madalyn getting cuddled back to sleep early in the morning after the New Year festivities. 

 Life lately has been Abby's first time in Primary! My little one is a Sunbeam. When did that happen? She is having a terrible time adjusting, and I think a lot of it is because I am in there. Anyone elses sunbeams struggle? Life has also been a cute Madalyn loving her new (to us) carseat. And life has been a couple of selfies with my cute girls. 

 Life has been saying goodbye to Sams beard, as he had to shave for his new job. I miss it terribly! Life has also been a sad Madalyn wanting more than anything for me to pick her up instead of fix lunch. Life has also been two sick girls, but both were extra cuddly and easy to get to take naps.

Lastly, life has been playing dressup and having daddy jump them. Madalyn is all the sudden huge into dressing up and when she sees her big sister in a dress, she is sure to bring me one to put her in too. Life has also been a trouble maker Madalyn spilling the fruit loops everywhere. And, no, she is not asleep. Life has been an angry Madalyn who wanted nothing to do with the morning. Neither do I kid. Neither do it.

I am excited for this new chapter in our life. I miss Sam, and its going to be hard somenights, but we had to do what is best for our little girls, and they needed me at home. They come first, and the perks of me being able to quit was just a win on my part!