Pure Joy

Meet Joy. She is my cousin's sweet little girl. She had her while we were in California and were lucky enough to be able to capture some sweet pictures of her. Christy and James are beyond thrilled to have this little angel in their home. She's pretty lucky herself to go to a home with such amazing parents. :)

Quick and Easy Paninis

So I've been craving Mexican like crazy lately (no I'm not pregnant) and so to take a small break form the deliciousness that is all food Mexican I decided to make paninis. These are my own creation but they are ridiculously easy and yummy! They're not horrible for you either...

This is actually filling and the flavors are awesome. We had some chicken left over and so I places it in the fridge. The next morning as I was rushing around getting ready for school I thought "what can I eat for lunch today?" Since the chicken was already cooked I was able to throw this sandwich together in less than 3 minutes. When I heated it up and took it out for lunch I had quite a few people tell me it smelled amazing. I told them it tasted as amazing as it smelled.

Anyway, make it. It's quick and easy and a husband pleaser. :) I'm about to go make one for myself right now as a matter of fact. I'm telling you it will become a family dinner staple.

Chicken spinach & tomato Pesto Paninis
Makes 6

1 loaf whole wheat/grain french bread (you can get this at walmart)
2 chicken breasts
1 jar sun dried tomato pesto
1 bag baby spinach
Swiss cheese slices
Salt & pepper (I like Lawry's Seasoning Salt)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook on stove top pan for 7-9 minutes on each side until chicken is cooked through and a little carmelization starts to happen on the chicken. Pull the chicken out, set it on a plate and tent with foil. Let it rest for about 5 minutes. While it's resting slice the french bread. Spreak pesto on both sides on the bread. Put half a slice of cheese on one half and spinach on the other half. Place the 2nd half of the cheese on the spinach. Slice the chicken into thin strips. Take 3-4 strips of chicken and lay on top of the spinach and cheese. Put the other side of the sandwich on the chicken and place in panini maker for two minutes. ( I Don't have a panini maker so I use a george forman grill).

Happiness

School started today, so I'm going to do a post about things that make me happy.


This picture makes me happy


This baby makes me happy


And this wonderful man makes me happy.

Three in one night

Yup third post tonight. I've now had four cookies and I'm just waiting for my movie to end before I go to bed. I wanted to post some pictures of the sky I took the night before that amazing/dreadful storm came through. I didn't mess with the colors or anything except to make it black and white which I felt was fitting. And the last photo is of Chris's cousin. I don't know if anyone could be more ready for a modeling career than she is. :)

late night rant

I'm baking chocolate chip cookies. I've already eaten two and I'm already counting down until the next batch comes out of the oven so I can eat a third and then maybe just maybe a fourth. Let's not think about the amount of cookie dough I've eaten already. I'm pretty sure they're not weight watchers friendly.
To entertain myself while I'm using my extra 35 points this week in one sitting I'm watching one of my favorite movies Definitely Maybe. This movie makes me happy.
I felt like talking to somebody...but there's nobody here but me.
Actually it's a good thing. No seriously. I'm enjoying the quiet. Chris is completely wrapped up in Harry Potter which I think is super Sexy. Yes I'm a nerd. He tells me that all the time. But it's true. Now only do I think it's sexy that he's reading, but it's sexy that it's Harry Potter, and what's even sexier is that he can hardly put it down. Even right now I can hear our squeaky bed moving around as he's trying to get comfortable but he's still reading and it's been three hours. :D LOVE IT!!!
Boston is getting his molars and just wants to be cuddled all the time. I keep telling myself to soak it all in because he's not a cuddly baby. His favorite thing is to be wrapped up in his blanket and danced around the room to songs by Glee. I figured it's a fantastic work out because he's a 27 pound weight.
My sister is dating Chris's best friend which I'm totally excited about! I'm secretly hoping that they get married...actually I'm pretty sure it's not secret. I tell just about everybody and now I'm telling all of you. :) Chris would officially be brothers with his best friend. It doesn't get much cooler than that.
Let's see what else. I'm dreading school but let's not talk about that. If I don't think about it it won't happen. Right?
The timer just went off so I'm off to enjoy another melt in my mouth cookie! This night couldn't get much better!

Events in the Adams family.

This kid left on his mission to Santa Rosa, California.


We are seriously going to miss him. Especially Chris. Those two were thick as thieves. We are so proud of him and excited for what he's supposed to go through. He is probably one of the funniest people I've ever met. Is it bad we're already counting down? lol.

This girl...

got baptized. We are so proud of her as well! All of this happened with in a week and a half. We have been busy and happy and sad all once. Awesome stuff.

I figured it out!

So I'm sure all of you are spectacular at keeping your house clean while doing everything else you have to do in life. I bet most of you figured it out a long time ago.
Well on the off chance there are any of you out there who get behind and suddenly one day you look around and see that your house is a disaster and are overwhelmed by how to clean it and keep it clean this is for you.
A couple weeks ago I was so overwhelmed by how gross my house felt and realized my current system wasn't doing much to help (the current system being that I would do minimal things during the week and then one day when I couldn't handle it any more I would spend 4-5 hours cleaning everything and still not get done).
So I created a little system which has worked wonders in our house, with my mood, and with my time. My house stays amazingly clean and the laundry gets done!
I thought I'd share this with any of you who may struggle like me. It takes no more than 30 minutes a day but it makes a huge difference. I promise it works!

Monday:
Vacuum carpet
baseboards and doors
One load of laundry

Tuesday:
Dust
One load of laundry
Straighten Bedrooms

Wednesday:
Sweep/Mop tile floors
One load of Laundry
Take out garbages

Thursday:
One load of laundry
Toilets

Friday:
Tubs
One load of laundry
Plan next weeks meals

Saturday:
Sinks
One load of laundry
grocery shopping


So there you go. It's saved me so much time during the week and it's kept the house pretty much spotless. It's made my life easier, and Boston even helps aka follow me around pulling things out of drawers.

Hail NO!

Can you believe this rain and hail? We sure couldn't. It couldn't have come at a worse time. We just finished our yard and the hydroseed has only been down for a week. So when this hail came and the street turned into a river and our back yard turned into a lake there was nothing to keep the dirt in it's place. This lovely storm carried away so much of our dirt that in some parts of our yard the ground was eroded even below the sprinkler pipe! When we realized that the water was carrying our dirt down the street Chris ran out there with a large piece of cardboard to try and divert the water. It worked until the hail got to be about nickel size and was hurting Chris. We tried to put paint cans out there to divert the water, and it helped but the damage was already done and because the hail was so large and the water running through our yard was so strong that really in the end all we could do was watch as our Hydroseed and dirt was washed away. When it all stopped and we were surveying the damage to our yard we noticed that the neighbor's trampoline had been blown up against our fence. At first it looked like it had put a hole in it, but on closer examination we saw it was just bent, but in one piece.
When it was all over I cried. Sure did. Luckily, the Hydroseed guy said he would come and redo our entire yard for free. The landscaper guy is coming tomorrow morning with new dirt to try and fix the chunks that are missing in the front and in the back. It's going to cost us $ to fix it, but it's got to be fixed. Lame.
On a side note my brother backed into my car which now has a massive dent in the passenger side door. So that's going to have to wait to be fixed since the yard needs to be fixed asap so all the work done isn't lost.
Life has a funny sense of humor sometimes. The one thing that kept us smiling today was Boston. While we were horrified to watch our yard be washed away, he thought the hail and especially dad be pelted by the hail was quite comical. Oh sweet innocence. It must be so wonderful to only see the good in things. :)