Blakers

all ready for churchi dont know how well you can see this, but he will kick his blanket off and LAUGH forever! he thinks its SO funny!
whenever he eats, his hands have to be doing something.

he hates tummy time, he'd rather play superman.

Happy Thanksgiving

we had such a great thanksgiving! i only got a few pictures though. we started out the day at My moms for breakfast and then went over to beau's dad's for lunch/dinner.

Family Pictures 2010

Beef Stew

Beau told me last night... 'never mess with this recipe. ok?' so im guessing it's a good one?

again, this recipe is a guess... i just winged it.

1-2 cups (depending on how meaty you like it) of chopped up roast (if you live in our house, its elk roast)

1 cup of chopped carrots

1/2 cup of chopped celery

3 small potatoes cubed

1/2-1 cup of peas

6 cups beef broth (of 6 cups water and 6 TSP of beef bouillon)

1/2 tsp garlic bead sprinkle, or some kind of garlic seasoning

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp of pepper (or less if you don't want it too spicy)

cornstarch and water (optional)

i threw the broth, carrots, celery, potatoes and seasonings in the crock pot at about 11:00 am on high, and let that all cook until the vegetables were tender. (about 6 hours but check it often! if they start to get too soft turn it to low) at about 4:30 i added the roast, and peas. Ok now here's where your preference comes in. beau like more of a gravy like soup, so i added some cornstarch dissolved in cold water (like 1 TBS cornstarch and 1 TBS water), let it cook for like 10 min and checked it, then i repeated the process until it was think enough. taste it, add more seasonings if you would like, and eat with fresh bread and butter, or store bought bread like us :)

it was so so yummy! kinda spicy, so if you dont want it spicy skip the pepper until the end. to be honest, i usually under season things until its almost ready, then add seasonings so i can make sure it tastes right!

GOING PRIVATE TOMORROW!!

just a little reminder :)

leave me your email if you havent already!

yummy taco filling

i love it when people post food they make on their blogs, so i thought i'd return to favor! i dont really ever actually follow recipes, i just kind of wing it, but for the sake of all of you that DO follow recipes, ill try and make one up the best i can!i've seen similar recipes to this called confetti tacos, so i guess that's what i'll call it?

Ground Beef (i do 2 lbs at a time and freeze 3/4 of it)

1/2 an onion

garlic powder

onion powder

black pepper

taco seasoning

Can of corn

Can of Kidney Beans

fresh spinach (optional)

soften onion in some olive oil, and add ground beef. add seasonings to taste (this goes back to my i dont follow a recipe) i like it super seasoned, so i add a lot, but you can start out easy and add more at the end. if i had to make a guess of measurements, i'd say between 1/2 and 1 TSP. of each except for taco seasoning, i add a buttload of that, like 2 Tablespoons, but you might not like that stuff as much as i do! :) anyways, once the ground beef is cooked, add the corn and kidney beans, then tear up a bunch of spinach and wilt that in (or just throw in WELL drained frozen spinach). if i have extra enchilada sauce i will pour some of that in, but today i didnt. you can also add olives, they are super good in this, but i dont think they freeze well, so i skipped them this time. this it what the mixture ends up looking like...at this point, you have a few options, today i steamed some corn tortillas and topped the mixture with salsa, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, and more fresh spinach. but i also use this ad my enchilada filling, i add not quite a whole small can of mild enchilada sauce, then i layer the beef mixture, cheese, and steamed corn tortillas, top with cheese and olives, bake until it's hot all the way through and enjoy! this is how i freeze the mixtures, put it in about 2 cup portions in baggies and lay them flat in the freezer, then to thaw i either throw them in the microwave for a few minutes, or let it thaw in the fridge overnight.

this is honestly one of the staples at our house, its super filling and SUPER cheap to make! and i usually have everything in my pantry!

its beging to look a lot like christmas!

i broke down and put up our christmas this week! i literally could NOT wait another day! it was tough to put up my decor in a new house, i had a place for everything in our old house, now i had to re-think it all! but is all up! (except for our tree and lights, i need beau to help with those! oh and stockings, because we need to buy 1 more!!)

*dont mind the quality of these pictures, it was dark when i took them, and i didnt really take the time to do lighting, whoops!)

5 years

So 5 Years ago today, beau and i became 'official'. i am so glad that we found eachother, he still makes me weak in the knees, but for different reasons now, yes i still find him terribly attractive, but its not getting roses once a week (yes for like 3 months i got roses at school or work once a week:)) or finding a love note in my car, now its watching him hold our baby boy, or holding my hand while we grocery shop. He is the most wonderful husband a girl could ask for.

2005


2006

2007

20082009

2010

we used to write SO many notes to eachother! i have every single note he has written me in a binder, i love reading through them! heres a few for your reading pleasure! go ahead and laugh, we do! we were some crazy kids in love!

dont expect to get 1/2 of these, we had a lot of inside jokes! :) there are very few people who know what africa means :)