Zuppa Toscana!!! Eat your KALE it's good for you!

I Love Kale...it's delicious.  It's very good for you so why not use it in your cooking!  My mother-in-law makes kale chips, she roasts it in a hot oven with olive oil and sea salt and drizzles some balsamic vinegar over the top.  She made it last fall when Porter was born.  Tasty snack! Here is a recipe from Mother Thyme (a great blog!!!) if you want to try and make them.

Zuppa Toscana

I found this recipe a while ago and still continue to use it and it's a great one...comes out just like Olive Garden's!!  I serve it with some crusty bread and its a complete meal!  I follow the recipe...if you know me at all I am not a huge recipe cook but sometimes you have to just follow the recipe!  

By the way I am going to have one happy husband when he come home from work...

The past few months...some pictures!!!

 Made us some delicious peach cobbler for family night last week!  Amazing Alabama peaches!!!  So yummy.  This is a recipe I got from Greg's mom and it is the best cobbler I have ever had.  You serve it with half and half...(I know) sooo delicious!

 Sweet Annie-Mae...I just love her to pieces.  She loves to dance around the house...and she has been so interested in ballerinas lately so I went to Walmart and found a cheap leotard and a little skirt...couldn't find ballet shoes but these slippers seem to work, she doesn't know the difference.

 My little man...he makes my heart melt every day.  He is the sweetest most loving little baby I know.  ( I am not bias at all)  

 Fourth of July waiting for daddy to come home...poor guy has been working so hard here in Alabama.  

 Shopping with mommy!  They love to ride in this at the store.  Thank you Publix!!!  Sometimes I shop here just because they have this! Walmart why haven't you figured this out yet!

Typical Sunday at our home:)

Quiet Books...2 yrs later :)

Well over the past two years I have been working on some quiet books, one for Annie and one for her cousin Penny. I am just now finished and I have to say it is a nice feeling. It was not my favorite craft to be honest, a little too slow for me. (that was kind of my own fault though) Here are some pics of the pages, and I was inspired by many blogs...too many to list but here is one that stood out to me and she even has free templates to use.  Also my princess page wouldn't be in the quiet book if it weren't for Jill at Made it on Monday...here is the link to her page.  Here are just a few pictures and I will post some more once I finish sewing Annie's together.  I gave Penny hers at vacation but didn't take any finished project pics!!!

The Outer Banks

Windy morning walk on the beach!

Catching Blue crabs!

More pics to come!!!

yummy recipes I want to try...thanks Mrs. Salmon!

My sister Caitlin has a recently new blog and has some great ideas on dinners.  She is a fabulous cook and loves trying new things out and is quite inventive in the kitchen.  Here is the link to her blog she has some recipes posted there.  I want to try the chicken enchilada pizza!!!  I got to talk to her today during the day usually she is teaching!   She is a teacher and is on summer vacation and in the process of moving to Delaware where her husband will be doing Teach for America.  Lot's of exciting adventures in their future!!!  Anyways had to post this.

Running together in Spirit!

Hello all that read my blog...about 10 of you:) My sister mentioned a few months ago you should run a race Christy!  At first I laughed to myself and was like YEAH RIGHT and totally did not believe in myself but then with her sweet enthusiasm and incredibly positive attitude she CONVINCED me.  That night we registered for races together, Jessica a 10 K and myself a 5K.  Jessica lives in Utah and I live in Alabama but we registered for races in our home towns that were being held the same day at about the same time.  So over the last few months I began slowly training for my 5K.  I remember dying trying to run one mile two months ago and my dear husband was so positive and said hey its a start you can do it!  So in the last month I have been able to turn a 12 minute mile pace into a 9 to 10 minute mile pace.  Which to me is an accomplishment.  I definitely feel better and I have really enjoyed my quiet nights running when the kids are in bed it has been so therapeutic!  Thanks to sweet compliments along the way and words of encouragement from my husband those really helped and they always came at the right time.

Things that really helped me with my race was pacing myself along the way...thanks to my iphone nike + app.  Also listening to music....thank you Beyonce, Mariah, and Adele! WOO...and a few power songs at the end....

yeah I look beat at the end...I was


Here is Jess and her beautiful Sydney cheering her on!!

I still have a ways to go to reach some of my personal fitness goals but I definitely feel they are in reach and that I can do it!  It's just about choosing to be healthy!!!
Here is the link to my sister's blog, she posted about her race and how far she has come!  She ran for BYU and has been such an inspiration to me.

DIY Bangle Bracelet

 Well, this is a random craft for me but it was fun and very easy and very cheap!  I was inspired by some of the bracelets out there right now, fabric wrapped and embroidery wrapped here, check out these bangles from Ann Taylor Loft here... I also thought these were so cute from Akka design.  Anyways this project cost me almost nothing, the bangle I got from Jo-Ann Fabrics for 97 cents!  I already had the tulle and beads. I buy my tulle at Hobby Lobby, I love this size you can use it for many things and it comes in so many fun colors.

I cut about 2 yards of tulle (wasn't sure how much I would need) so I could easily wrap the tulle around the bracelet.

 Tie a simple knot on the inside of the bangle and cut the access tulle from the knot then start wrapping!  Wrap so the tulle lays nice and flat and pull tightly, you don't want it to be too loose.

 Once you are done wrapping the whole bangle and you return to where your knot is wrap over that so it lays smooth on the inside, I then just pulled my end of tulle underneath another layer and then carefully glued it down (tulle is obviously very fine material be careful not to glue too much or it will melt.)  

 Here it is!  You can either leave it simple or you can add whatever you want!  I tried sewing some beads on it and it turned out cute. You can also add other colors of tulle, ribbon, or wrap layers of embroidery thread.  I love how the tulle makes it look shimmery!

Curious George

Well Porter has a new nick name thanks to his big sister.  Annie-Mae likes to call him baby George for some reason.  The past few days I have really found that it really fits him quite well.  He is scooting all over the place and getting into everything!  He is very determined and wants to touch and eat anything he sees.  Annie-Mae watches Curious George in the mornings sometimes and I wonder if she sees a resemblance...

DIY HEADBOARD if you can't afford the one you want!

So we have been married eight years almost and we have never really had much bedroom furniture, I guess it's just never been on our priority list and you know how it is things always come up...like having babies and stuff like that.  Anyways I was tired of looking at such an empty space above my bed that I did something about it today.  I think it looks cute but maybe it's because I was just so proud of hanging them myself and they didn't look crooked!  Anyway, here it is.  

Most everything is stuff I have picked up from antique/thrift stores over the years and so really if I had to put a total on this it wouldn't be very much.  Even the pillows are made from a table cloth from the 50's.  

Sister POWER!!!

My youngest sister Jessica designed my new blog.  Check out her blog erasofamily.blogspot.com  She is a stay at home mom to a beautiful baby girl and is helping her husband get through his last year at BYU.  She is so creative and this is just a small fraction of what she does amazingly!  If you need help with anything (business cards, wedding invitations, baby announcements, blogs) message her!!! 

starting from scratch

Where do you start when you haven't been blogging consistently for 2 years and your last post was somewhere before you got pregnant with your youngest?  Well...I guess I will just pick up where we are now!!   We just moved to Montgomery, Alabama and so far it is great!  We didn't know what to expect and so far I guess it has exceeded those expectations.   We are living in a two bedroom apartment right now because when they transferred us here they said it would probably only be for a year or less.  I love our apartment it overlooks a pond and Annie-Mae loves to run around and chase the ducks.  We planted some plants on our balcony and they have been growing amazingly well....I love how  there are no weeds and not much upkeep I just have to water!!  Anyways kids are growing up fast, Porter is already 6 and half months and Annie is on her way to three in September.  I love Porter's huge grin in the mornings and Annie-Mae is just a sweet little girl...(she has her moments) but don't they all?