:: our little helper + manhattan ::

Isabelle is so funny when we are vacuuming, sweeping, whatever- she always wants to help and do it, it's pretty cute and fun to watch!

She would love to be able to do it all by herself, but just isn't quite strong enough yet!  Glad we have that to look forward to.. I know what chores to give her ;)!

Izzy girl got invited to her cousin's school carnival Saturday night and we had a birthday party for our good friends in Manhattan, so it worked out for us to go!

The birthday boys + Seth, looking their finest!  Happy 30th Jack + Mike!

lizzy. kellie. moi

morgan + my dear

Just showing off my favorite pants right now.. yes, there are neon pink :).

what a special pair ;)

That's the end of the night for us!  Not really sure what we are doing, but we had such a great time in Manhattan with our friends!

:: hale to kale ::

Our friends/neighbor gave us a bunch of kale from her garden {awesome, I know} and I had been wanting to try the 'green machine'/kale smoothie so I was excited to finally make it!  I know it might look scary, but it's actually pretty good... I'm not a huge fan of the taste of straight up kale, so I was a little worried I would be choking down the drink and was pleasantly surprised.  Izzy girl even slurped her's down!  The bonus is that there are so many ingredients in it that are great for you!

 Blend:

A few stalks of kale {I threw in most of the stems too}, rip into pieces

1 frozen banana, broken into pieces

A little less than a scoop of vanilla JP+ protein powder {you can obviously use any kind or leave it out}

1 tsp flax seeds or whole ground flax meal {I honestly don't measure this, but that's about the right amount}

1 dash of cinnamon, or more to taste {if you want, I just thought it was a good addition}

1 coconut water {I have been using Zico, it's about 11 oz}

We had so much kale that I was able to make kale chips and they are pretty good as well!

You just wash the kale, tear it up into smaller pieces and remove most of the stems {like above}, toss them in a bowl with 2 T of olive oil, some shakes of sea salt and chili powder {if you want the extra spice} and spread them on a cookie sheet.  I didn't line the cookie sheet with parchment paper, but some recipes tell you to do that, so it's up to you.

Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes or until edges are brown.

They end up being a very thin, almost papery type feel, but crunch in your mouth.  I know it might sound unappetizing, but they really are good and too easy not to try!

Izzy girl loves to play in this car at Gigi's!

Look at that happy face - she really likes to play with the radio and push all the noise buttons!

Just driving and changing the station.. looks like a natural!

We got a watering can!  Isabelle is my little gardening partner now!

Oh man, this child!  I couldn't find her and then I heard a noise from the kennel, lifted up the flap and there she was!  How can you be mad at that face!  She just cracks me up!

:: happy 3 years ::

Oh happy day.

It was so fun to look back through all our wedding pics and remember that wonderful day that 'we became one' {Jacob's line ;)}.  I couldn't pick just one picture.

Our Anniversary was on a Wednesday so we didn't do a whole lot, but we spent most of it together as a family and that's what matters.  Isabelle and I took dad a delicious cinnamon roll from Mokas {downtown} for breakfast at work, ran some errands and then picked him up for lunch.

Iz looking like a stud on our way to lunch.

{We had gone to Target and I got sucked in again at the $1 bins so Iz ended up with that ball, some Elmo books, plastic baskets to organize the tub toys and a small pink shovel... score!}

Jacob had these beautiful flowers delivered... such a unique arrangement and some of the flowers reminded him of our wedding, which was why he picked them {so sentimental! ;) }- loved it!

We ended up in Manhattan for dinner because there aren't a whole lot of "nice" restaurants to eat at in Salina and we just wanted something different, so we went to Harry's... it was delicious!!  I don't know if it's because we hadn't eaten good food out in awhile, but everything was so good, we ordered so much and ate it all!  We had some delicious risotto, fresh mozzarella, crispy potatoes and spinach, arugula + pistachio pizza {absolutely delectable!}.

I had this wonderful sangria.

We skipped the fancy desserts at Harry's and went to Orange Leaf for some frozen yogurt :).

It was such a wonderful night, we were so happy we went to Harry's and enjoyed a quiet dinner as just the two of us.  I can't believe it has been 3 years, who knew we would have done so much... had our precious daughter, Isabelle, renovated and sold our house and bought a new house/left my job/moved to Salina.  I am so excited to see what this next year brings for us and our family!  I love you so much dear, thank you for being my wonderful partner in life!!

I kind of love this picture {made better with Instagram of course}, Isabelle is just so into shoes, it's crazy, she went through a faze of having to wear her pink cowboy boots all the time so this is first thing in the morning, still in her pj shirt...

I just thought these were cute from our visit at Gigi's.

Iz has a new love of horses, we aren't quite sure where it came from, but this donkey was a horse to her and she was so excited to ride him!

We love 'ring around the rosy' and sing/dance it every day, I tried to catch her but by the time I was recording her, she was about done :(.

:: some good foods ::

I had a fun day of cooking... I started my day with a nice run and needed a post/recovery smoothie and this was perfect.   

  

Blueberry Smoothie

1 frozen banana 

1 handful of blueberries

1 scoop {1/3 C} protein powder

1/2 T honey {it's good without too}

8 ounces water

*I always add either some flax seeds or whole grain flax meal, just like 1/2 - 1 tsp

*Something I have started doing and have found helpful {may be common sense, but I just started doing it a few months ago}, when your bananas are ripe/to your liking, peel, break into a few pieces, put them in a ziploc and put in the freezer- it makes it so much easier and faster to just throw in the blender!

Thank goodness for Izzy girl's Easter eggs, they turned into this delicious egg salad {yes, I eat them after they've been dyed} and great lunch.  I found the recipe on Pinterest {imagine that, I know}, it's pretty much your typical egg salad, but I needed a refresher on the ingredients. 

Deviled Egg Salad

1 dozen hard-boiled eggs

1/3 C mayo

2 T dijon mustard {spicy mustard}

2 T sweet relish

1 T parsley

1/2 tsp paprika

*I added some chili powder for some extra spice/flavor

salt + pepper, to taste

Peal the eggs, cut in half, and remove the yolks.  Put yolks in a bowl, chop egg whites and put in a separate bowl.  Use a fork to smash the egg yolks, then combine with mayo, mustard, relish, parsley, chili powder and paprika until smooth.  Stir in chopped egg whites.  Taste and season with salt + pepper.

*The recipe put the egg salad on bread for more of a sandwich, but I didn't feel like having bread so I just had it with some spinach and wheat crackers... yum.

Jacob and I found this recipe on Pinterest and had been wanting to make it, so we finally did and it was so good and pretty simple to make.  It was fun to try something new and eat new flavors.

Healthy Mexican Sweet Potato Skins

Here are her ingredients from 'pinchofyum.com', {click on the recipe to get the instructions} I just wanted to include them so I could tell you a few little tid bits from what I did... 

Ingredients

• 3 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 can corn, rinsed and patted dry *I used frozen, so either will work.
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped *I didn't add the onion, Jacob is not a fan.
• 2-4 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced or pureed *I only used 1 can and that was plenty, they are pretty hot {spicy hot}, almost too hot for Jacob to eat.. they did add a unique flavor.
• 1 ounce light cream cheese 
• 1/4 cup light sour cream *I used nonfat plain Greek yogurt.
• 1 teaspoon salt (+ more to taste)
• 1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 6 tablespoons shredded cheese (Pepperjack, Cheddar, Colby Jack… anything will work) *I sprinkled cotija cheese on top {the white crumbly stuff} and it was delicious

I also made some Mexican rice, just from the box {making it from scratch next time!}, but it was a good addition to the meal.

Oh and again, a glass of Prosecco :)!
There is nothing like a day of good homemade food!  It made me happy.  Hope this puts that cookin' itch in ya! ;)

Gram's in town!

Gram came in town for the weekend and Isabelle kind of relates 'yummy in my tummy' to gram because she says it to her a lot when she eats something...

My mom and I went to see 'Cowboy Junkies' at a theater in town and had great seats, they were wonderful and we had a nice time.

Margo's voice {lead singer} was pretty amazing in there!

We had home made blueberry waffles {thanks for making mom!} Saturday morning and they were delicious... I love waffles!  We just used your basic waffle recipe from Betty Crocker, but we used unsweetened original Almond milk instead of vanilla soy milk and real eggs in place of the f.f. egg product {what is that stuff anyway?}... we also added about 1 tsp. of cinnamon to the batter after tasting the first waffle, thought it needed a little something and that was the perfect addition!

This series of pictures are my favorite and speak for themselves...

The last one is my favorite.  So happy.

Jacob and I had a big clean up day, went through a bunch of boxes in the garage and got somewhat organized.  We had all of Isabelle's baby stuff out in the driveway while we were organizing and she wanted to sit in her swing... look how big she looks!  She used to be so little in it!

We had a very productive day, went on a long walk and made these delicious pizzas on the grill for dinner.  My mom and I had some margarita pizzas, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil + tomatoes... yum. 

We added some shredded mozz and pizza blend cheeses to the fresh mozz on the first one and just did the fresh mozz on the second.

We used my aunt's pizza dough recipe and it's so simple:

Dissolve 1 package of yeast into 1 C warm water, then mix into bowl of:

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T oil

3 C flour {I do half whole wheat and half white flour}

Beat and knead well.

Form into a ball and let rise... I usually just flip over the bowl I made the dough in, onto a plate under the oven light and it rises pretty quickly.  Once it's done, roll out onto pizza pan {or cut in half for personal pans}.  We like to cook ours on the pizza stone on the grill so one quick tip to that: sprinkle cornmeal on a cookie sheet that doesn't have lip/side, so you can slide the pizza off, onto the stone easier... trust me, this is after a few times of trial and error and the pizza getting stuck, tearing and falling apart.  So make sure you put plenty of cornmeal on the pan and keep the pizza cool until you are ready to slide it off.  

If you want to bake it in the oven, you can still put some cornmeal on the pan {it's just an added bonus, like you're eating a fancy pizza} and bake it at 450 for about 15 mins, or until the cheese is melted and it looks done.

*Pair that with some Prosecco and it's the perfect meal!

It was great to wake up Sunday morning to left-over waffles!

We were in blueberry mode because then we made some blueberry scones that we found on a blog I like to follow, 'Everyday Occasions by Jenny Steffens'.  We didn't have heavy cream so we substituted it for 3/4 C milk and 1/3 C butter {melted + cooled}.  We also used raw sugar, which I do any time a recipe calls for sugar, just fyi ;).

Thank you mom for coming, we had a wonderful weekend!!  Loved all the cooking, walking, talking!

:: snail mail ::

There is nothing better than getting a package in the mail and today Isabelle and I both got one!  Isabelle got the cutest little owl hand puppet and with it being an owl, she loved it!  And, I/we got 2 dresses that were my gram's from when she was little... they are amazing!  They are 80+ years old and so unique + adorable!  I can't wait to get them on Iz- I will be sure to share them once I do!

Izzy girl was so excited to show dad her owl she got from cousin Lindsay and Rio, we love it!!  Thank you again :)!

We had fun {or I did} playing with 'popbooth', wish Iz could figure it out and not look almost the same  in each one ;).

The girl loves to take all the chalk out and get it all over her hands, clothes, shoes, everywhere!

My owl!  She is so cute when she says owl and 'hoots'!  She says, "hoo, hoo", with the cutest little face.

Check her out! {chalk all over the front of her}

She thinks she's going somewhere!  Love this pic!

My little!!  Too bad this is a little fuzzy.