Weekend Recap

Monday already? How does that happen? I hope y'all had a fantastic weekend!

This was a laaazzzy weekend for us and it was FANTASTIC! I think I'm still recovering from our Great American Adventure!

Friday after work I rushed home to see my Honey - he had been gone since Tuesday and I miss him terribly when he is traveling. Sofia came home from school and quickly changed for gymnastics and I scooted her over to gymnastics. 

After dropping off for gymnastics, I then headed over to Walmart to pick up a few things to make this yummy recipe! This is The Pioneer Woman's chicken spaghetti and it smelled yummy.  But how did it taste you might be wondering??

Well this Atkins girl couldn't tell you but, based on Honey's reaction and the fact that he had seconds and leftovers on Saturday and Sunday, I'd say it's a winner!

We rounded out our Friday night with some Breaking Bad (we're in Season 2) and of course Chopped.

Saturday was so relaxed! We went to the library and the grocery and that's it. (see this post to see our plan for stopping all of these grocery trips).

Like I mentioned, I'm back on Atkins (it's the ONLY way I lose weight - but that's a long story for another day) so my dinners center on a meat and then I build sides off of that. I wanted smoked chicken so of course my Honey was happy to crank up the grill. On a side note, he grills/smokes on the Big Green Egg. Anyone else have one of these? They ROCK!

So Saturday night, we had smoked chicken, wedge salad w/bacon and garlic bread. I had the salad and chicken. No bread for me. I also made Alabama White Sauce for the chicken. YUMMY!

Clearly we needed dessert. Well, they needed dessert, so I turned to the pantry and Pinterest and made the classic, Oatmeal No-Bake cookies. They were a hit!

More Breaking Bad, Chopped and that's about it. Oh wait, I did help the mini-hoarder in the house (Sofia) clean out and organize her room and bathroom. HOLY COW the amount of JUNK that child had in her room! WHEW! 

Sunday we went by the library before Honey headed off to the airport (boo) and then Sofia and I went to the movies to see Smurfs. It was ok. I mean, I didn't fall asleep so that's an accomplishment! 

Now back to the grind tomorrow as we count down to.......FOOTBALL!!!  WOOOO HOOOO! Roll Tide Roll!  

How was your weekend? Action packed or easy breezy?

September Meal Plan - I'm organized!

I must admit, I'm so proud of this accomplishment, I'm linking up with the Organizing Junkie! 

My Honey and I have decided we need to get better about planning our meals so we aren't heading off to the grocery 4-5 times each week. Plus, we know we overspend by shopping in that way. So I challenged myself by planning not 1 week, but 4 weeks of meals! 

In addition, we have given ourselves a $400 per month budget for all our groceries.  That is the scariest part!

Where's a girl to turn when it's time for mega planning like that? Well Pinterest of course!! I reviewed all the stuff I had pinned to my YUM board and then made a new September Meal Plan board. It was SO easy!

Now first let me say that I get a few nights off while Honey travels for business (boo). We also did not plan to cook every Saturday night because we try to have 1 date night per week. 

I made a calendar and put everything down on a day that made sense for our activity calendars, etc.   

Now I still have to do the shopping for the ingredients, but I have made the list and cleaned out the fridge and freezer! 

Saturday when we headed to the grocery for our ingredients for Saturday night we hit the jackpot and stocked up on chicken!  Woo Hoo - breasts and tenders were buy 1, get 2 free! I also got 3 whole chickens on sale, ribs, turkey breasts and ground turkey. We are all set!

So if you need any ideas, head on over and check out my Pinterest boards. I'll be back later to post reviews on the new recipes! 

Favorite online shops

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner to share my favorite online shops. 

Lizard Thicket and Francesca's! We have both of these shops local, but about 30 minutes away from me now. But since I've shopped in the store I feel good about shopping online and not having to return anything. 

(Posting from my phone so sorry no links)

Aladdin Mason Jar Tumbler - Yes Please

I saw these cute cups on another blog and just knew I had to have some! Who knew Walmart had such cute stuff?

Cute clothes are still ok in our house!

Y'all know I miss those days of smocked bishops and big ole bows! I refuse to give in to the Justice craze. Too much glitter and i dont want Sofia going to school dressed like everyone else! I will fight it as long as I can!

So imagine my happiness when she liked a few custom outfits from Etsy and I scooped them up with cash I made from selling her old clothes and random stuff around the house on eBay and Swip Swap.  Do y'all have Swip Swap? For this outfit, you were able to pick the eye color and hair color for the shirt to match your daughter!

Favorite Photo Friday

Sofia, Grand Tetons National Park

Time to pretty up the door - Pinterest Told Me To!

I was so tired of coming home to our sad, unadorned front door. Now, even though we use the garage to come and go, our front door needed something! So after checking out the latest and greatest wreath ideas on Pinterest, I knew this burlap trend was for me! So naturally I wanted to add some red (not only is it my favorite color but hello...Roll Tide Roll!

I stopped my local crafty shop and stocked up (used my coupons) on supplies. I used:

• 16" metal wreath
• 2 10 yard rolls of natural burlap ribbon
• 1 10 yard roll of red, wired burlap ribbon
• wooden letter for the man of the house's last name (also my maiden name and "s" for Sofia)
• string for attaching the "S" and attaching the burlap in a few spots

Total spent - around $20

Now, there are tons of tutorials on Pinterest. I used this one. The tutorial is pretty easy, but you kinda have to figure out your system. Then just fluff and rearrange it till it looks how you want it to look!

So here is is half way thru and then the final product. What do you think? Please ignore the messy porch. Are you into the burlap craze? What has Pinterest told you to do lately?

Wordless Wednesday

Great American Road Trip - Part 2

Today I'm linking up with Tell us Tuesday! Join the party too!! http://akabailey.blogspot.com/2013/08/tell-us-tuesday-link-up-party-guest.html?m=1

The next portion of our trip found us Rexburg, ID at Yellowstone Bear World. It was a lot of fun! A drive through park to see lots of deer and bears (black and grizzly). The kids also got to bottle-feed baby bears then we all took a truck tour of the park where we could feed the bears bread. Another great day on the road! After a day at the park, we headed over to Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole, WY. More to come about those tomorrow!

Weekend Re-Cap

Where did this weekend go? It seems like it just started? Whew!

Well Sofia made it through her first week of 4th grade with no trouble BUT her teacher has already quit!  WHAT?? Ugh!! This is like a replay of her kindergarten year! Let's hope the long-term sub they choose will be great! The funniest part is the teacher was only actually in class with them 1 day! She had in-service days on Monday and Tuesday, came to class Wednesday and then quit the same day! Oh boy!

I signed Sofia up for gymnastics at a new, local place (5 minutes from home) and she will be going to Level 2, 3 days per week from 4-6. She was SO happy to be back in class! Now I'm searching eBay for more leos! This week she will also be trying out a tumbling class at another local gym. Gotta get her (and me) active!

Friday night we took our minions to the movies. I enjoyed the movie (as much as you can) and the kids a fun too!

On Saturday, we were lazy around the house for a bit, then we went by the library and to sushi for lunch. We had seen How Do You Roll on "Shark Tank" and thought the concept sounded pretty neat so we looked them up and then it dawned on me..."Hey, I saw them on Groupon!" So I quickly looked them up and sure enough, you got $20 for $10. So I bought 2 because I knew we (Me and Honey) and Honey's oldest son, J, love sushi! Now of course Miss Picky would have nothing to do with sushi so luckily Pei Wei was right across the street so she got her lo mein and we got our rolls! You get to choose your wrapper style (I go with soy as I detest seaweed), 3 fruits or veggies (I went with jalepeno, avocado and cucumber), 1 meat (spicy tuna for me) and then sauce (spicy mayo). The roll is 10 really big pieces and they cost about $8. Pretty good deal if you enjoy sushi. So look them up! If you've already tried them, let me know what you think!

After our bellies were full from sushi, we headed over to one of the Hilton Resorts here in Phoenix for some pool time (Honey and I had a Groupon for massage/pool day but it was raining on the day we got our massage, so they gave us a raincheck for the pool day). It was hot outside but we still had a few hours of pool fun!

After the pool, we picked up some takeout and then headed home for a night in because on Sunday we had big plans!

We woke up Sunday morning at 6:30 and were out the door by 7am headed to the Grand Canyon with the kids. We took them to Bright Angel trail and we hiked down to the 1.5 mile rest stop and then back up. It wasn't too hot and it started to get cloudy on our way out, so that made the climb a little bit easier! That makes 4 National Parks for us to visit in the last 4 weeks.  Which brings up the following rant. I apologize now if I offend anyone. 

Have Americans forgotten about our National Parks? Are we so obsessed with electronics and other things that the idea of being outside does not appeal to us anymore? Do we know how lucky we are that we live in a country so wonderful that provides these places of beauty to us?

Where is all this coming from you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. In the last 2 weeks, we have been in Arches National Park, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. I would venture to say 75% of the people combined that we bumped into on trails, etc. were from different countries (Asian, European). Very few were English speaking Americans. Now, I am sure I might come off backwoodsy or something but it just seems odd. I remember growing up as a kid, we went the Great Smoky Mountain National Park a few times each year. It was a different story back then. Do we not appreciate what we have in our own backyards anymore? By all means, I am not angry that people from other countries appreciate our parks, I just wonder where the locals are? Any thoughts?

Ok, rant over. Now on to some pics from the wonder that is The Grand Canyon! Hope you all had excellent weekends!