6th Anniversary

6 years. Wow. Its been 6 years since me and Sam were sealed for time and all eternity!! I waited so long to marry him! I knew 100% that I wanted to marry him at 18 years old. So waiting was brutal sometimes, but it was worth it.

I truly don't know how I was so lucky to get such an amazing man. Especially when I go back and read my old journal entries when we were dating. I was kinda a dramatic brat at times! But, he loved me anyway. And he still does many years later. Sometimes I still can't figure out why, but I know he does. 

He works so hard for us so I can be home raising our daughters. He makes me feel pretty. He is the best daddy in the world. He makes me laugh and he makes me feel like I'm a really funny person. He listens to me complain, and encourages me when I talk to him about my hopes and dreams. And never once does he think my dreams are too big. Sometimes I really have to pinch myself to see if our life together is real.

This weekend has been amazing. My sister took our kids over-night (thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!) and we had a wonderful time. We talked more than we have in a long time, we saw a late movie, slept in til 9:30 (stayed in bed talking some more until 10:30) he made me Eggs Benedict (Oh yeah, he is an amazing cook) and then we talked some more. Its amazing how much you can talk about when darling little kids aren't interrupting!! :)

Happy 6th Anniversary Sam! You make my heart happy. I love you forever!! 

Life Lately: The Best of April

April was a crazy, fun month. We fit a lot in!! Here is what our life was like in April.

 Life lately has been my adorable girls loving on Jessi. Madalyn in particular LOVES dogs. She gets so excited when one is around. Life has been the girls playing in the pebbles at the elementary school. Its been a note and a gift card from my coach when I needed it most, and its been a cute little baby showing me her beautiful smile. 

 Life lately has been getting out of my shower to have Elsa, Anna, and Olaf staring at me. Its been a little troublemaker Madalyn sneaking gum from my purse that I accidentally left out. Life has been some beautiful flowers from my beautiful girl, and its been sisters playing in the yard together. 

 Life lately has been letting off some steam at the park after a particularly hard Saturday. Its been Sunday cuddle time with a very missed daddy. Its been a nice family walk in dress-ups and all, and life has been my favorite bag of Easter candy for .28 cents each. (I bought 4)

 Life lately has been a HUGE April snowstorm in which we met our friends for some play time. And its been the most fun field trip ever to Smiths where Abby tried a Dragon fruit and got lots of other goodies. The Smiths guy, Bruce, was an awesome guide!

 Life lately has been cute smiles. Its been hanging around the peaceful Temple grounds. Life has been going to Jungle Jims for a birthday party. Madalyn preferred staying by us trying on hats while Abby loved the rides. 

 Life has been being goofy with Sam. Its been riding our horses around the block. Life lately has been buying tickets for this summers Death Cab for Cutie concert, and its been the girls playing in our new piece of furniture. 

 Life lately has been my future clothing designer Abby making Anna a dress out of play dough. She did that all by herself, and it was pretty good with the cape and all. Life has been Madalyn getting to my parents remote and biting chunks out of it before I knew what she was doing. Life has been trying on old hats, and playing out in the rain with the best daddy ever. 

 Life lately has been trying chicken and waffles and loving every.single.bite. It was so, SO good. Life has been Madalyn playing in our new car while sister slept in the back. Did I mention we got a new car? Oh yeah. We did. (technically at the end of March) Her name is Rosie and she is a 2005 Honda Pilot. We love her and we look forward to the many family memories we will have in her. Life lately has been Madalyn dressed as Cinderella, and not being able to get up the stairs to me, and its been a fun date day with the Bae.

Finally, life lately has been spent soaking up the beautiful weather at the park. Its been capturing Abbys obsession with Madalyns ear once again on camera. Its been opening a bag of Doritos and having them explode on me, and its been Madalyn having free reign of the TV at Grammys house.

I really love my life. I'm fortunate to live it. I have beautiful girls, and wonderful husband. That's all a gal needs. 

Abbyisms

There is never a dull moment when having a conversation with Abby. I could listen to her sweet munchin voice tell me stories forever. She is so smart and so cute and absolutely hilarious! She says something that makes me laugh everyday!! Here are just a few of the hilariously cute things she has been saying lately:

• After pulling herself into a sitting position using her arms to grab onto the crib, (because she likes to hang out in there with her baby sis) Abby exclaimed: "I have the strongest muscles!! I have strong beautiful muscles. They are purple...with a little bit of pink." (this one was a few months ago, but I love it!)
• Reading a book in sacrament meeting one Sunday: "Dear Heavenly Father, I love you, but I have the chicken pox." Please note, she in fact didn't have the chicken pox. :)
• Abby made a castle out of toilet paper and two toy necklaces. When I asked her who lived in it she replied with "a bobby pin princess." The girls imagination is adorable.
• The other day as she was using the bathroom, she yelled to me: "My poop looks like a hot tub. A stinky hot tub where monsters live!"
• "Her head is just like a bongo with a face on it." Abby referring to Madalyns head. This one had me cracking up every time I looked at Madalyns bongo head. 
• And lastly, my very favorite thing she has said EVER: The other day when we were driving to preschool, she said her wrist hurt. I asked her why it hurt and she said "because Heavenly Father stuffed too many bones in my skin." I about crashed because I was laughing so hard. 

Oh Abby. Thanks for the laughes. You are one of a kind!

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!!