Strawberry Salad

I made this salad for a fun barbecue with some friends! It was sad, because it was sort-of an end-of-summer thing. I hate to see summer go! So I had to make this salad one more time. It's delish. My friend Codee actually inspired me on this one!

Here's what you need:

1 head of green leaf lettuce
1 lb strawberries, quartered longways
1/2 small package of craisins
a handful of sunflower seeds

Mix together in large salad bowl.

For dressing:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar (more or less to taste)

Pour dressing over salad, mix until all leaves are coated.

By the way, every time I bring this salad to a party, it's ALL GONE by the end. Everyone loves it! Thanks Codee for the recipe!

Can you have an affair without getting physical?

It's that subtle flirting with a 'friend' that will lead to a full blown affair. It's one of the biggest reasons that over 50% of all marriages in this country end in divorce! It all starts with selfishness. "My husband just doesn't meet my emotional needs," or "why doesn't my wife seem to care about what I do like she used to?" or "I do so much for my spouse, what does he/she ever do for me?"

I think we have all had these moments of selfishness in our marriage! Unfortunately, we can't afford to be selfish in a marriage the way we can during the dating phase. Marriage takes work and dedication; particularly to meeting the needs of the other person. I have been searching high and low on other people's opinions on this matter. What I have come up with is that YES, it is possible to have an 'emotional' affair without any 'physical' involvement. I think that this simply means your feelings and devotion have (even in the most subtle form) transferred to someone else.

I also found this awesome questionnaire (mixed with some of my own questions) from a family values magazine that I subscribe to. (Full article here.) You can ask yourself these questions and decide if perhaps you need to change your behavior and/or lifestyle:

*Are you turning to your 'friend' for comfort rather than turning to your spouse?
*Do you find yourself thinking about your friend even when you are at home?
*Are you looking for the negative rather than the positive in your spouse?
*Do you seek opportunities to be with your friend even when work doesn't require you to be together?
*Do you email and text your friend when you are not together?
*Have you told your spouse about these messages? Or do you try to hide them?
*Does the relationship with your friend take more of your time and energy than your relationship with your spouse?
*Do you compare your spouse to your friend?
*Would you be uncomfortable introducing your spouse to your friend?
*Is your spouse voice a concern about a change in your behavior?

If you answered 'yes' to most of these questions, you may be entering the beginning stages of an emotional affair, which ultimately can destroy your marriage. YIKES!

What can be done about this?

Some good tips I have been told are:

1) First of all, recognize your behavior as being inappropriate and wrong. It is easy to fall into this kind of trap, and losing your family over it is NOT worth it!

2) END the flirty relationship. Either tell your 'friend' that you cannot continue this way, or simply stop the excess communication. A wise relative told me that it is FAR better to offend someone at work than to offend your spouse.

3)Have an open conversation with your spouse. Focus on YOURSELF being the problem, not the other person. There may be some needs that yours spouse is not aware of and would be glad to work on once realized. Make a sincere apology if necessary.

4)REFOCUS your attention to your marriage and your spouse. Look for the positive rather than the negative. Try to forget yourself and think of your spouses feelings.

Chicken Enchiladas with Mexican Fried Rice

I tried a new recipe for chicken enchiladas...YUMMY!

Makes 10 enchiladas

What you need:
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (fresh is better than canned)
1 cup sour cream
1 (7 ounce) can chopped green chilies
1 cup chopped onions
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
10 flour tortillas
1 (15-ounce) can mild enchilada sauce
Chopped green onions to garnish (optional)

Serve with Mexican fried rice(I will explain later)


First, get the rice cookin'. Oh my word, I would NEVER cook rice without a rice cooker. {That's just the Asian in me :)}

Combine chicken, sour cream, and green chilies, set aside. In another pan, saute onions in butter until golden. Add onion, salt, and 2 cups cheese to chicken mixture.

Dip the tortillas in enchilada sauce first to soften them. I like this idea, because it makes for a softened enchilada sauce flavor. The emphasis is more on the chili-chicken combination inside!
Plop some of the mixture in the tortilla, roll it up in a greased 9x13-inch pan (mine is lined with tinfoil, but sometimes that can get messy if you don't use enough cooking spray.)

Cover with remaining cheese, put the dish in the oven. Bake uncovered at 350* for 20-30 minutes.

Mmmmm...fresh out of the oven.

And now for the Mexican fried rice!
I actually change how I make this every time I do it.
I usually use about 3-4 cups of white rice.
You know the enchilada sauce I used in the above recipe? I poured the leftover sauce over the rice in a large pan.
I also add whatever veggies I have; corn, peppers, tomatoes, whatever I have.
Since the enchilada sauce doesn't have tons of flavor, I also usually add some salsa to taste.
Other alternatives include: tomato sauce with 1 packet of taco seasoning and 1 packet of fajita seasoning.

I mix all the ingredients together and fry the rice until it is hot; careful not to make it too crispy.

Don't worry everyone.

I haven't died or fallen off the face of the earth. You see, although at work I am very good at prioritizing my time, I am not quite as efficient at home. I AM still taking pictures of my girls...HUNDREDS of them! In July alone there were over 400! And I have done a good job of keeping them organized on the computer.
But getting them posted is another story.
And ever since I have had this mad obsession with editing all my photos to make them look pretty, it takes even LONGER!
So I apologize to my faithful readers. Please bear with me.
I am sure you will see more posts from me as summer dies down and I get board. Right now I am anything BUT!

Here's a little update!

All of us: had an AMAZINGLY fun summer! (Well, maybe all of us except Nate because he was in school) We had tons of family reunions, picnics, boating trips, BBQs, camping, drive-ins, you name it!

Nate: has 2 semesters left till he is DONE with the Master's program! We are staying in the basement until he finishes. He is also training for a triathalon, and doing very well I might add!

Me: same old same old. Working, being a mom, and juggling everything else. I have taken up a new hobby called exercising (not my favorite hobby) and I am currently trying to can stuff so the winter is yummy. I also clip coupons. And I still change diapers.

Kaylee: starting her first year of pre-school next month! She is so excited! She went and met her teacher and classmates...she cried when we left! No, screamed! She continues to let her imagination run wild and is almost NEVER without an alter ego.

Brenna: walking for about a month! She loves to talk in her own alien language...ALL THE TIME. Still can't sleep without her binky. Often cuddles up with strange random things, such as large books, Nate's football, her sippy cup, etc. She and Kaylee love to play and fight together.

P.S. Stay tuned! You will see more from us soon...or shall I say, as soon as I can.

{HUGS and KISSES!}

A trip to the park

Flower vase and treasure box makeover!

{Sigh} I do love makeovers. My sister-in-law's birthday was yesterday. What a wonderful excuse to get a little crafty!


Here is victim #1. A vase. A great thrift store find.

First step, spray paint with rustoleum.

Then add some color with scrapbook paper, plastered on with gloss-luster mod podge.

Here's the back. I love the flowers!

And here's the front. This turned out perfect for stem flowers!

Ok, victim #2! Another great find from a thrift store.

Here's what the inside looked like. Ewe.

Same thing as the frame. A layer of rustoleum inside and out, and some friendly scrapbook paper and mod podge. This is the front, again with the cute flowers!

The back!

The side. Don't worry, the mod podge disappears as it dries.

I embellished the top with fancy buttons. I love how you can put your own in your own pictures to decorate the top of this box!

This is the inside. The inside of a treasure box MUST have polka dots!

Aw, look how they match!

TA DA!!! Happy birthday Cam!

Brownies with a funky flair

I don't have my own brownie recipe yet, so I had to borrow one. The fun part about this post is the decorating.

I made some delicious brownies for a baby shower, and using my frosting gun, added some bright blue swirls!

...it made the brownies look real pretty...

...and we had so much fun doing it!

Summer highlight...camping!

I decided I would do "SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS" for those who would like to see what we did over the summer, here and there. I felt less overwhelmed by taking this approach.

This first highlight is from August, actually. We went camping with the Bringhursts, and also Tierney and Ron.
Here are pictures of the first night!

Cami and Brenna

Kaylee

Tierney! What a cutie. :)

Ron and Mark

Look at me, I'm not wearing makeup and I have a hat on. I'm a true camper! Ha!

Kaylee's 'camping shoes' that we bought at the DI. She was so proud of them.

Nate and Ryan banged these big branches onto a tree trunk to make firewood.

Kaylee's first roasted dog.

Mmmm....smores!

Nate melting plastic.

So the first night, we got rained on. Bad. Then Brenna got a bad case of diarrhea out of nowhere. Needless to say, no one really got much sleep. It was still raining most of the next day, so we had to go out to eat!

Tired people...

At the breakfast table.

We went and visited Bear Lake when it stopped raining...too bad we didn't get to swim much!

Kaylee still had SOOOO much fun!

Cami pulling Kaylee and Brenna in the inflatable boat.