A Trip to Nashville

The end of October we went to Nashville to visit our family. My in-laws are there while my father-in-law serves as the mission president. They also brought their five youngest kids with them. (We sure have been missing our babysitters since they have been gone.) It was such a beautiful place to visit. The fall season is quickly becoming my favorite and I know it definitely would be if I lived there! We were there for a little over a week and did so many fun things. We took an evening trip to the park, went to the Opryland Hotel and walked around! It was such an amazing place! We had the opportunity to meet Elder Hymas, a general authority who came to stay overnight for a meeting. We also were able to attend parts of a Zone Leader conference for all the Zone Leaders in the Tennessee Nashville mission. I'm not sure how often they have them, but my mother-in-law serves them breakfast and lunch every time they have one, so I was able to help her a little while we were there. It was quite a bit of work. I'm not sure how she does it as often as she does. She's wonderful! 

Ethan really liked the horses with guitars so we had to get a picture.

Opryland Hotel fountain

 We walked around a lake that is really close to their house. There were several walking trails and we spent a couple of hours just walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was in the high 60's most of the time we were there! We weren't very excited when we came back to cold weather and snow!

Ethan loved being outside

Family Picture-can you see the gorgeous colors on the trees?

 We were in Nashville for Halloween and went to a ward trunk-or-treat on Friday night. Thanks to the wonderfulness that is Pinterest, I made E's costume with lots of help from my sweet mom! He was Russell from the Disney movie "Up". (I tried to get J to dress up but couldn't make that happen.) I think it turned out really darling and it was even cuter that he let me put it all on and wore it both nights. I wish you could see the back! We turned a purse into a little backpack and even added straps for a blanket roll. He was pretty excited after he saw other kids dressed up too! While we were trunk-or-treating, one of the counselors in the Mission Presidency dressed up as Mi Mow as E would say (Mickey Mouse) and he was in heaven. He just wanted to stand by him all night.

E as Russell

 Ethan is so much fun to be around. He has such a cute, sweet, funny personality that I can't help but just stop and watch him. He takes a little while to warm up to people but as soon as he's comfortable, you will know it because he just starts acting like his funny self. He doesn't really like his picture taken, he just wants to see them so you have to catch him quick to get any shot at all! I will soon have another post about this fun little boy because he turns 2 in less than a week!

We hope everyone had a great Halloween and is enjoying this beautiful Fall season!

March's Top Ten

As I was checking a few blogs the other night, I noticed that I hadn't posted the whole month of March. We have done quite a bit this month so I decided to post the top 10 happenings. 

1.FAMILY: March means Spring Break!! So my family travelled out to Utah/Idaho for a little vacation. My sister also flew out from California with her little girl, Lily. It was great to see them and we had such a good time. I love having family visit and now that we have a house to actually have room for people to stay-it was so wonderful! 

Lily turned 1 a few days before they came so we threw her a little birthday party complete with yummy cupcakes and a few presents. She was pretty worn out from our activities so she didn't eat much-just poked at the cupcake a little. Isn't she darling? She was so sweet while she was here-trying to give hugs to Ethan and play with him. Although, he didn't warm up to her hugs until they were leaving!

I posted this pic in family because I sure love this little guy! He is so happy most of the time and is so fun to play with. We took this picture right after his first haircut. Now I know you are saying, "First haircut? He doesn't even have any hair!" Well, as he's gotten older, he's grown  a nice curly patch on the back of his head. Along with that came a rattail and it was hideous-so it needed to be cut off! Now he looks so handsome! (Don't mind my cheesy face.)

2. CREPES & CARAMEL SYRUP: Some of you may know that I L.O.V.E to cook! I am always looking for new recipes to try or different ways to switch up old ones! I have made crepes several times before but was never really in love with the recipe I had. And then I found this one on Our Best Bites! It's so easy and yummy, I made it three times in March. And along with that I found this caramel syrup recipe. Even though I was pretty much eating dessert for breakfast, it was delicious! And on another note, this sauce is incredible on vanilla ice cream!

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

3. STRAWBERRIES: Strawberries have been on sale here in Idaho so I stocked up! And because we love them makes that even better! Ethan has a new found love for strawberries, whether eaten whole or cut up. I love his "pucker" face in this picture! I think I love strawberries so much because they remind me of summer and I'm SOOO ready for summer!

4. CARNITAS: Just the mention of carnitas now and I get hungry! These were A.MAZ.ING! I love some me good mexican food and this recipe lives up to "good mexican food"-maybe even "great mexican food". The meat slowly cooks in a mixture of orange and lime juice and some yummy mexican spices and then is finished off with a quick fry in some olive oil to make it crispy and seal in the incredible flavor. The first time I made this I served this on tortillas with traditional toppings and they were so good. It made a ton, but don't worry, I didn't let it go to waste.  For the next week, I finished it off several different ways and it was excellent every way I tried it! Now you should try it too!

Photo Credit

5. SILHOUETTE SD: This is my new crafty best friend!! This machine can do so much and I have done some very fun projects with this. In March, I used this machine to cut out the invitations for my brother- & sister-in-law's  wedding, which is this coming weekend! We are very excited for Steven & Rachel. I have several more projects in mind to use this machine for and I may even post some of them on here.

6. PIONEER WOMAN SALSA: I don't like chunky salsa and so when I found this recipe I knew I wanted to try it. This salsa has become my new favorite! I don't think that I will ever buy salsa again! It has a little bit of spice to it and all the flavors blend perfectly. It does make a lot but it kept well in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Photo Credit

7. MENU PLANNING: I don't have a picture for this one but this one thing has helped tremendously. I have always hated the stress of 5pm and the question of "What am I going to make for dinner?" Since February, I have tried to plan a menu each week and it has saved me the stress of rushing to make dinner, has allowed me to make healthier meals, and has saved us money on our grocery bill. I'm hooked!!

 8. SUNSHINE: We have started to get a little bit of sunshine here and it makes me ready for some warmer weather. Living in Idaho you never know what you are going to get, even in the summertime but one can only hope right?!?!

9. SURVIVOR: There is not much to say about this one but I have always enjoyed watching this show.

10. HOLIDAYS: When I was growing up, my mom always did something fun for us for even the smallest holidays.Now that I have a family of my own, I am excited to follow my mom and celebrate holidays-even the little ones!