ORLANDO

Again, I am a horrible blogger. But I there are times that Facebook just isn't ideal to write down everything I want to say. And I REALLY need to learn to fix my blog up all pretty and everything. One day. But today is not that day. So Sunday we came home from a week in Orlando. We went down on Sunday and came back the next Sunday. I can't really compare it to other vacations because Brad and I have been places alone, two years ago we went with Brad's family to Myrtle Beach and we only had Talan and Nehemiah and Nehemiah was just 6 months old. And now we have a 3, 2 and 1 year old. So I can't really compare it. But I LOVED IT! Brad's cousin has a timeshare there and there son and his wife were going and ended up not being able to go at the last minute. So they asked us if we wanted to. So a free 7 day, 7 night vacation besides expenses? Of course we went. It was a 2 bedroom so we asked Brad's mom and dad if the wanted to go too and they did. We originally planned on leaving our house at midnight and then we were going to have to load everthing up when we got to Brad's parents house. In the end it ended up being 3 AM when we officially hit the road. We all rode together in order to save on gas. We also found a luggage carrier for the van on the craigslist. So worth it!! We decided on leaving so early to try and make the ride better for the children. So they would have more sleeping time than having to sit through all that driving. It was about a ten hour drive, probably a little more. We also knew we would have to make several stops. So our first stop was Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Yummy! Love that place. After eating, dipaer changes and all that good stuff that stop ended up taking about an hour and half. We didn't stop again for a few more hours then we stopped for gas. There we of course did diaper changes, bathroom breaks, and fixed the children a snack. Off we go again. Then we were about an hour and half away from Orlando and decided to go ahead and stop for lunch. We pulled in to a Wendys. One of my favorite fast foods. It was DISGUSTING. It was gross, the prices were crazy and it was a pretty bad experience all together. The children were a little cranky and sleepy. Eli had been constipated earlier that day. Well I had taked Talan to the bathroom so Linda (Brad's mom) had moved over to Eli to try and get him to eat some more. She started to smell something and then investigates. Eli had exploded! So much so that it had shot out of his diaper and there was just this huge blob sitting next to him in the high chair. That was a fun experience. So probably 40 minutes later we finally get back on the road. We arrive at our destination and check in. The actual living room area was a little small but it wasn't too bad. Brad's dad had to go lay down when we got there and we had to go grocery shopping. So first we went and picked up some pizza, came back and ate and then Linda, Talan and I went grocery shopping while Brad took the boys swimming. He was going to take all of them but I couldn't find Talans bathing suit and was horrified I had forgotten it. So she went with us to go pick her one out. That trip to Walmart was an awful experience itself. That place was packed with rude people and it was just packed. And of course it wasn't anything like what we are used to so that trip probably took three hours if not more. So the next day I remember hearing the children wake up and Brad getting out of bed with them. But then the next thing I know I wake up and it is extremely quiet. And 11:00!!! I walk down to the pool where they are and after talking for a bit I end up going back to the room and making everybody sandwiches and putting on my bathing suit and going back to the pool with our lunch. We ate and then swam for a little bit more and then go put the children down for a nap. Brad ended up napping with them and again I had all this time to myself! It was probably maybe and hour or two but it was so nice. I watched tv, played on my phone and ended up sitting out on the balcony reading a book. After awhile we needed to go to Sams to get some more stuff. It had already closed by the time we went grocery shopping the day before. So Linda and I ended up doing that and going back to Walmart and it was again crazy and took hours. We ended up picking up chicken from the deli for supper that night and Brad took all the children swimming while we were gone. And now I think this post is long enough. And knowing me I may or may not come back with part 2 anytime soon. We shall see.

Start to Finish

Wow! I am a horrible blogger. I am so unconsistent in so many areas in my life. I was going to do the 31 day challenge of getting my home clean and record my progress through my blog. I don't even remember what day I got to. I have started on more than one occasion to blog about weight loss. I have now gotten so far off track I am only 2 pounds under what I started at.
There are so many factors for those things. The weight loss I was so tired and busy the week of Christmas that I quit working out and haven't started back yet. And now it's March. I do pretty ok about watching what I eat but I LOVE coke and Mt. Dew. Especially when I am extremely exhausted and I have a headache. Well this week along that has been 4 out of 5 days. :( So needless to say if I found a new habit I would definitley be better at losing weight.
And as far as getting my house clean I could just get sick to my stomach over that. We actually took some drastic measures which cost A LOT of money to get our house in order. After that it was WAY better starting out Friday afternoon. The cleanest my house has been in 10 months. Well then life happened. I have been so exhausted all week because I have been up and down all through the night with babies and then we have been waking up between 5 and 530 every morning and not getting in the bed until 11. So I have had no energy and have done nothing ot my house or laundry all week and it has fastly gotten worse and worse. And I'm still exhausted and I have no idea when I will have the energy or time to get it cleaned back up. So that's my life for the week. Even as typing I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open. On a good note my daugter is actually asking to go potty! All the time actually because she just wants to paly in the bathroom but we are on our way to being potty trained!

Sausage and Peppers

Sausage and Peppers

This was super easy, affordable and good.

Ingredients:
1 pkg sausage (Use what you like. I used what was on sale)
2-3 peppers cut in to chunks (Use what you like)
1 onion cut in to chunks
olive oil or cooking spray
1 pkg herb and garlic soup mix
1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 cup water
Cooked rice

Directions:
In a large skillet, brown sausage in oil if needed over med-high heat. Remove with slotted spoon and keep warm. In the drippings, saute peppers and onion until crisp-tender.
In a bowl, combine the water and package of soup mix. Add soup mixture, hot sauce and sausage to the vegetables. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes or until the sauce has thickened up some. Serve over rice.

Asian Chicken

Super easy and really good! And this could be made in the oven or the crockpot. I made mine in the oven.
Ingredients:
Chicken breast - I had probably around 2 pounds
1 1/3 cup apricot preserves
2 packs Lipton onion soup mix (1 box)
1 cup of water

Directions:
Mix preserves, soup mix and water. Pour over chicken in casserole dish and bake at 350 for one hour. Or you can cook in the crockpot until the chicken is done. We ate this over rice. This is one of the simplest recipes I have ever made and it was really good.

31 Day Challenge

I purchased an ebook the other day that I am already in LOVE with.
It is a christian based book to help you get your house clean. It not only gives some helpful daily tasks but it also gives some scriptural insight on developing a heart to be a better keeper of the home. I have always been an absolute horrible housekeeper. Today is my second day on the challenge and once I got started on the challenge of the day I found myself not wanting to stop there. So I ended up vacuuming out my furniture which in my house was a big task. It had been way too long. I am now exhausted and while my house is still nowhere near close to being a "clean house" I feel confident that it is well on its way :)

5 years ago

Five years ago today would have been the eve of my wedding. And to be honest I have so many regrets when it comes to our actual wedding details and things like that. Thankfully the wedding and activites isn't what it's really all about. Sure we have the memories from those but then we have been making a whole lifetime of memories in the five years since then.
I have never been really close to my mom and after graduation I didn't have the option of living at home anymore. I had eventually found an apartment and that's where I lived when I met Brad. After we got engaged to help save money I gave up my apartment and lived at Brad's parents house in their computer room for a little over a month.
I had to give you that background to go with this story. So the day before the wedding. We had the rehearsal that night. That day I went to Huntsville to pick up my wedding dress and Brad's tuxedo. After the rehearsal dinner I had to find somewhere else to sleep so that we would not see each other on our wedding day. So I ended up staying the night with a girl who lived in the same apartment as me. We also worked together and she also happens to be who introduced me to Brad. We hung out a lot back then but once I got married I pretty much lost all friends I had at that time. I don't think we stayed up late. Her sister in law put some fake nails on for me and they turned out very pretty and that was about it. For some reason Brad decided we weren't even allowed to talk before the wedding so after midnight I wasn't even allowed to text him. He's pretty strange sometimes...haha. So tomorrow I will blog about our actual wedding day.
Since I have had kids I have a really hard time remembering a lot of things so I apologize now for my lack of details. I do remember that the night before I was very excited and anxious. The next day however was a completely differen story.....

One pound

One pound and unfortunately it was in the opposite direction. Yup, I gained one pound. But to be honest I really thought it was going to be more than that. I had a couple of days where I had headaches so I drank lots of caffeine (coke) and then halfway through the week I skipped one day in working out and then that was all she wrote as the saying goes. I haven't worked out since. I was hoping to REALLY get back on track this week but, I woke up with a headache again this morning. So not only am I not going to work out with a headache but I drank some coke and snacked on cheez-its with for breakfast. I am however going to have a healthy lunch. Supper will not be so healthy however. I am trying a new recipe for creamy enchiladas. If its good I will let you know.
So I'm obviously struggling with this weight loss thing. I know several people who are doing these Body by Vi shakes or something like that. But to be honest I really enjoy the herbalife shakes and it cost about a third of the body by vi shakes. But I also don't want to be doing shakes the rest of my life. That's why I am really trying to not necessarily diet but just making a whole lifestyle change. I realized this morning that even that area needs to be given over to God. The whole reason Im not losing weight has just been my inability to not give in to temptation or just doing what is easiest. So Im going to be praying that God shows me ways to be healthier and to overcome my temptations. I'm also praying for a complete healing from headaches. I have been struggling with these for about 7 or 8 years now. So I would appreciate prayers for that!