Riding a horse

The other night we went to watch my cowboy brother practice his team roping. His finace, Mollie, decided it would be a fun idea for Lauren to get some practice as well.



I agreed and while she was being led around the arena with Charleigh, isn't she cute, I whipped out my camera and snapped away. I also took quite a few pictures of my brother. Once I get those edited I will post a few.

Here is Lauren holding the reins. Not really, just for a picture. Mollie was still in complete control and Brian was walking along the side making sure these two cuties didn't fall off.

Lauren was amazing. She wasn't scared one bit and was actually waving to everyone that she passed. Cracked me up!! she is a natural, let me tell you, which will make her Uncle Aaron quite proud. I see more horse riding in her future!

Three Bean and Corn Salad

I am sure by now you all know that I follow MckMama's blog, well I also follow her on Twitter and she often tweets about some really yummy sounding food. So I took some of her suggestions and created my own concoction. So here it goes.





I call this Three Bean and Corn Salad



1 can of black beans
1 can of Garbanzo beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of corn
2 cans of Rotel with lime and cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
a big old bunch of chopped cilantro, the more the better!!


Mix in a big bowl and chill. My family liked to eat this with tortilla chips but it is pretty darn good by itself!

Show Us Where You Live Friday

So it's another round of "show us where you live" Friday! This week is nursery's or children's rooms so you are in for a treat! Lauren's Room is the only room in our house that is painted. How awful is that?? I had to beg Brian when I was pregnant to paint her room. It took quite a bit of convincing but I think it turned out well.

We used the "Sugar Plum" theme from Babies R Us. That is where I got this border.

I painted these letters and hung them all by myself! I was super thrilled with how they turned out and they still are one of my favorite parts of her room.

The crib right after we set it up.

View of the room from the door. All those flowers and butterflies on the wall are just decals! They peel right off. How cool is that? :)

Closer up view of the changing table and rocking chair. All purchased at Babies R Us.

The armoire. It has drawers and a cabinet for hanging clothes and other storage.

This shelf is hanging on the wall right as you walk into her room. The plaque of her name was given to me by my dad and my step mom. They brought that back from one of their trips to Branson when I was pregnant, it came from Silver Dollar City.

If you want to check out more kid's rooms or nurseries visit Kelly's blog for the links!

Thanks for visiting Lauren's room. I would love to hear what you think of it or just leave me a comment letting me know you stopped by!

Branson Vacation

Over Memorial Day weekend we got the chance to go to Branson with my Dad and Step-Mom. We left out about 1 on Friday in my Dad’s big ol’ RV! Here is Lauren gearing up for the ride down there.

Overall she did really well on the drive. I was expecting her to sleep most of the way down there but seeing as she has never been in the RV while it was actually moving she stayed awake for the ENTIRE drive down there. Sometimes she was happy and sometimes she was screaming her head off. But we tried our bests to keep her entertained. Her favorite thing was taking my Step-mom’s watch and putting it on her arm and having everyone tell her how pretty she looked. Mostly my Dad though. I can’t tell you how many times I heard her say “PaPa” until he was finally able to turn and look and tell her how pretty and whistle at her!!


On the drive down there we stopped at Lambert’s. Home of the throwed rolls. It was absolutely delicious. This place is down home cooking and you usually have to wait an incredibly long time. They told us when we put our name in that it would be 1 hour and 15 minutes which is a really fast wait time. Well we only had to wait for 45 minutes which was AWESOME!! And the food is so worth the wait.

This is what Brian got. Country Fried Chicken with fried apples and baked beans with a big pile of mashed potatoes on top!

This is what I got. Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and friend apples. YUM YUM!

Look at how big our plates were! And that isn’t all. They come around with these big huge bowls of other “fixin’s” too. Like fried okra, black eyed peas, macaroni and tomatoes and don’t forget the rolls that they throw at you!! Lauren should get a job doing that someday since she likes to throw things and that girl has an arm on her, let me tell you. She threw her binky and it landed like 3 booths away!!

Saturday morning we woke up and were a tad bit disappointed that it has already started to rain. But since it was doing it off and on we decided to go ahead and take the chance and go to Silver Dollar City. We were pretty lucky that the rain stopped and we got to enjoy the city for several hours before we were caught in a down pour! If you have never been to Silver Dollar City it is this cute theme park that is set back in the old days. There are lots of shops and a few rides and a kid themed area too. We bought Lauren this adorable hat to help keep what sun was out off of her face. She did better than I thought she would about keeping it on. And once again Lauren decided that she was not going to nap. I am sure that she thought she was going to miss something!! She didn’t get cranky until we had been trying to hide from the rain for a while at which point we decided to leave. And she was out cold before we even got out of the parking lot! She took a fantastic nap on the way back to the camper. Here are some pictures from the day.

Lauren in her Silver Dollar City Hat

Lauren eating fresh Pork Rinds

Lauren and her PaPa and Grandma, my Dad and my Step Mom

Lauren riding a rocking horse that looks like a carousel horse.

That evening we just chilled and hung out in the RV. Lauren decided she was going to help her grandma vacuum.


Sunday was a day chalked full of shopping. We went to the Tanger outlet because I wanted to go to the Coach factory store. I was horribly disappointed that I came home empty handed but I didn’t find a purse that I just couldn’t live without. My step mom did find one though!

Next we went to the Branson Landing. This is a new area of Branson with a bunch of shops. We strolled around for quite a bit while my Dad and Lauren took a nap in the car!! Then we drove the strip and stopped to eat crab legs at a buffet!! YUMMY!! After we gorged ourselves on crab legs we headed back to the RV to change and decided that we were going to stay in for the night. We watched the movie 27 Dresses which I had never seen before and thought was a pretty good movie.

Monday we got up and had pancakes for breakfast and then loaded up the RV to head home. This time Lauren slept the majority of the way and was still tuckered out when we got home. I put her down for a “nap” at 4:45 and she slept until 5:15 the next morning!!! WOW!!!

It has been 6 years since Brian and I have been to Branson and it is amazing how many new things they have to do there. We didn’t go to any shows this time around but a lot of them looked like they would be so much fun. They have a Titanic museum, a Hollywood Wax Museum, Dixie Stampede, (which is Brian and I's favorite place to go in Branson!) Ripley’s Believe It or Not, which my niece refers to as the “crack house” and a ton of other shows that we usually enjoy when we are down there. I had a wonderful time and Lauren did so great on her very first vacation!! Traveling with a young child sure is an experience. I am glad that I got the first one under my belt so I will hopefully be better prepared next time.

I ♥ Faces - Week 20 - Photo Challenge “Silhouettes”

This week over at I ♥ Faces they are changing it up a bit and the category this week is "silhouettes" This is a picture of my brother and his fiance that I took during their engagement shoot last summer. I played around with it a bit and this is the final edit that I decided on. I hope you like it!

Let me know what you think or just leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by. I love finding new blogs to read!

Random or not so Random?

That is the question. I often wonder if the things that I think are random really are random. A while ago I wrote this post on a verse from Jeremiah. I had been running into it several places so I don't think that when I randomly clicked on a link to someone's blog that when I pulled it up that first of all her name was Lauren, my daughter's name, and secondly that she had that same verse at the top of her blog!

A couple of weeks ago I called in to make a pledge to my favorite radio station K-Love and in the process of taking my pledge they asked for my email address. I gave them one that I only use for certain things like notices from Lauren's day care, and it has the number for our wedding anniversary at the end,828, the guy on the phone asked me if it was from Romans 8:28 and I really wasn't familiar with that passage but much to my surprise when I was reading before bed that same night in Grace Based Parenting but low and behold that verse was mentioned!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

When I got to that page and saw that verse on it I about fell out of the bed! I couldn't believe that a verse a stranger mentioned to me on the phone that morning was now in this book that I have been reading and it was that very same day.

Random, I am beginning to think not! God knows what he is doing. All of these things that I may think are coincidences are all a part of His great plan for my life and how wonderful is it that he uses things like a radio pledge a-thon and a book to bring these things together! Or blogs that I just randomly click on.

We are leaving to go to Branson in about an hour! I am so excited. We are going with my dad and my step mom and we will be gone until Monday. I am so looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend.

Edits

Last summer I took engagement pictures for my brother and his fiance. They are getting married this September! I am so excited.

This is one of the pictures that I did for them

Original

Edit

I desaturated the color. I thought it looked cool like that and so did my future sister in law. This is one of the pictures they used on their "save the date" cards. I helped her design those too!

What do you think of this edit?

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

MckMama has created this wonderful way for us to stop hiding our flaws and imperfections! It is quite refreshing for me to admit that I am not super mom, while still hiding a little bit behind the guise of Not Me!

Boy am I glad that it is Not Me! Monday. This week I really need to get some stuff off my chest and just have a pity party for myself. I am so glad that I can hide behind the disguise of Not Me!!

So this week was really hard for me emotionally. We went to the Spring program at Lauren's day care on Thursday and as soon as she saw her teacher's she wanted nothing to do with me. She even screamed when they had to give her back to me to help the graduates put on their gowns. I then did not start to think in the future about how I would feel if it were Lauren's preschool graduation and I did not get a little teary eyed. I also did not get a bit jealous about her wanting her teachers and not me and then I did not think to myself that I wish I didn't have to work and could stay at home.

Lauren started getting sick Thursday night and again instead of wanting her mommy she only wanted her daddy. What is up with that? Aren't kids supposed to want their mommy when they don't feel good? :) I admit that it is so sweet that he is so attentive to her and that he is amazing with her so it would be stupid for me to get upset, right. So I most certainly did not get my feelings hurt over and over when she wanted him over me. This did not make me inadequate as a mother and I definitely did not wish over and over that I were able to stay at home and I certainly did not selfishly wish that Brian made more money so that I could be a stay at home mom. That would be awful of me to even think that. It isn't his fault that she wants him over me. I should be happy that she loves her daddy and that he is in her life and that he is so good with her. Someone please tell me that this is a phase and it will pass.......PLEASE!!!

On to something else that I did not do this week! I went shopping for my bridesmaid dress for my brother's wedding with his fiance. I did not get a tad bit irritated with her when it took her forever to pick out a dress for me. It isn't my fault that everyone has a different style dress and the colors won't match up. So I definitely did not laugh when one of her sisters called her "bridezilla" because I was not thinking the same exact thing!!!

Ok so enough of my pity party table for one!! If you would like to check out more Not Me! Mondays please visit MckMama!

Basil Pesto Chicken

I made this a few weeks ago and it is one of my favorite chicken dishes by far! I love pesto and cheese and well I love chicken so what could be better!

This is on our menu for sometime this week so I thought I would share it with you. It is so easy!

Basil Pesto Chicken

Ingredients

4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts halves (about 1 llb)

1 packet Shake N Bake coating mix (I used the extra crispy by you can use any kind)

2 tsp Basil Pesto (you can buy this jarred in the pasta aisle)

1/4 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 400. Coat Chicken with coating mix. Place in 8 ince square baking dish. Bake 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Top chicken with the pesto and then sprinkle with the cheese. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly browned.

Babies are a Gift From God

These are a few shots from the newborn photo shoot that I did on Monday. Isn't she beautiful!!!

Let me know what you think. I might post some more later, I took a ton and a bunch of them turned out really well.

I ♥ Faces

Lindsay over at Another Day in Paradise always participates in these challenges at I ♥ Faces so I have been lurking around the site and decided that I would try it this week. :) I have so many pictures of my daughter laughing or smiling but a few hold a very special place in my heart and memory.....her first smiles. This pictures was taken when Lauren was just over three months old and at this point had been smiling for several weeks. In this particular photo her daddy was making her laugh as he often does and I just love the look on her face!!

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

MckMama has created this wonderful way for us to stop hiding our flaws and imperfections! It is quite refreshing for me to admit that I am not super mom, while still hiding a little bit behind the guise of Not Me!

This week was a busy one around my household. For the first time ever I did not start a new workout program. Ok well maybe not the first time ever but it is certainly a first for me. I hate to work out but this week I did not continue using the 30 day shred video and I did not go to Zumba! and most importantly I did not like it. :) I did not work out every day except one and I was so exhausted from working all day that I was dead on my feet. As soon as I sat down on the couch after dinner I did not almost fall asleep immediately, nope not me!

I did not want to measure my progress by stepping on the scale, and was NOT amazed that I did not lose 5 pounds!!!

I did not get amusement out of my daughter learning to say my brother's dogs name and hear her repeat it over and over again for TWO days while we watched him. His name is Crossfire and it was not very cute to hear her say "cross cross" more times than I have ever heard her say Mama, I did not even feel the teensiest jealous about that, nope not at all.

As you all know I got a new camera a few weeks ago and last week I did not book my first newborn photo shoot! I am not excited about this at all.......it is tonight! With my new camera I did not capture Lauren doing the do in her diaper and I definitely would not post a picture of it on my blog.

And just to keep it real and sentimental I did not get emotional again about Lauren and her daddy. We were not laying in bed on Saturday morning and Brian was not still asleep when Lauren and I got up for the day. Lauren went over to her sleeping Daddy and layed her head on her chest and then she did not plant a big old smack a roo right on his lips while he layed there still asleep. I did not almost lose it and want to ball my eyes out!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sometimes it is still so surreal for me to call myself a mother. After Lauren was born I think I was in shock for months at the fact that I was a mother and she was my daughter. It wasn't so weird for me to call my husband "daddy" but when people called me mommy or something to that effect it just made my day, and still does. I love to think of myself as not just a wife or sister or daughter but as a mother.

We went to church with my mom this morning and the pastor had a wonderful message for mothers. He spoke on a passage from 1 Kings 3:10-28 about a mother who would rather her son be raised by another than slain. It was a very good message and he said a few things that really struck home to me. The first thing that he said was "there is no perfect mother" I try so hard to do the right things, not feed her solids before 6 months, leave her carseat rear facing as long as possible, etc. but sometimes I just don't feel like I am doing that great of a job. Another thing he said was that mother's are often too hard on themselves. BOY did he hit the nail on the head with that one. Brian and I just had a conversation last night about pretty much the same thing. I was upset about something that had happened earlier in the day and my reaction to it. How I don't feel like I am living up to my standards of what a good mom is. I am not really letting Lauren down, I am letting myself down. I just need to let go of this ideal image that I have in my head and be the best mother that I can be.

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's Day 2009

What a difference a year makes!!

You've got to Shake It! Shake It!!

This morning I went to my first ever Zumba class! It was so much fun. I am not coordinated at all and I didn't know any of the moves but I was shaking it the best that I could and worked up quite a sweat! I think that I am going to go to this class on a regular basis. It was almost as if I wasn't even working out. :) Splendid since I don't really enjoy working out all that much. BUT!!! And my husband will love hearing me say this, the more that I do the Shred workouts and the more that I shake it, the more that I am beginning to enjoy it.

Well as you all know I got a new camera a few weeks ago. I am so excited that I have a chance to use it on someone other than my daughter! On Monday I will get to take pictures of a 6 week old baby. A guy that I work with and his wife are proud new parents and are going to let me take some shots of their precious daughter Madeline. So stay tuned for that! I will post about them sometime next week.

The month of May is going to be quite busy. I have the photo shoot, then we are doing a bowl-a-thon on Tuesday next week for Junior Achievement. This is a great organization that supports financial literacy and since I work for a Credit Union we of course are big supporters.
Memorial Day weekend we have big plans. We are going away for the long weekend with my dad and my step mom to Branson. WOO HOO!! I am actually looking forward to it. Brian and I haven't been to Branson for 6 years and Lauren, of course, has never been. I am a little nervous about the drive though. Lauren has never been on such a long drive before and we will be in my dad's motor home and I am not too sure how the carseat situation is going to work. I hear one thing from my step mom and another thing from other people. If any one knows what the laws for that would be in Missouri let me know!!

Show Us Where You Live Friday

So it's the second week of "show us where you live" Friday! This week is living rooms!

Kelly over at Kelly's Korner Blog has started a weekly theme to show every one what our houses look like.

Lauren doesn't have a play room so our living room houses most of her toys as you can clearly see!! My decorating style for our living room was just basic black and white. Black couches, black and white pictures on the wall etc. We used to have two end tables and a coffee table but they were glass and had pointy edges. We were afraid Lauren would get hurt on them so we removed the coffee table and one of the end tables.

Our living room is not that big and it looks like we have a lot of stuff crammed in it but it honestly is not that bad!

This is the view of our living room from the kitchen.

Our couches

The picture above our couch, I took myself!! I went to London about 7 years ago and I took this picture in a boat harbor not too far from the London Tower Bridge. I love this picture and when Brian and I first started dating he asked me to blow it up so he could hang it over his couch and that is where it has stayed.

Our TV and a view of Lauren's toy box!

Other pictures on our walls, all black and white, all taken by me!

This is oyr wedding "shrine" We have a bunch of pictures, gifts, and different thing from our wedding on dislat. We recently rearranged the living room to accomidate the play pin so our love seat sits in front of this most of the time.

So that is my living room! Feel free to check out Kelly's blog for her living room and a Mr. Linky to a bunch of other great living rooms!