happy 1st birthday!

happy 1st birthday to my nephew (kinda) dj!

i can't believe it's already been a year since we were all anxiously awaiting your arrival!  We love you and can't wait to celebrate with you on saturday!

1 year ago...

it's hard to believe that 1 year ago today, johnathan and I were putting in our 1st offer on our house! the tornado storm had just come through the day before and we went to look at the house 1 more time with no electricity and trees down everywhere! then we went to register for wedding gifts! it's amazing what can happen in a year!

happy birthday husband!!

happy birthday to my hubby, johnathan!

for his birthday, he wanted to ride go karts. so, he got a group of friends together and went to rush hour karting in garner for some fun!!!

i even made him a red velvet birthday cake...his favorite!

I hope you had a great day! I love you!

aloha chicken

i am naming my newest recipe creation"aloha chicken!"

so this recipe wasn't from the cookbook.  this was a pinterest find.  i wasn't sure if i was going to attempt a new recipe this week.  it's the 1st week back after spring break and things are super busy but i decided that if i didn't keep trying i'd probably slack off!  this recipe might have been even easier than the last one!  the hardest part was having to smell it all night while it cooked and not be able to eat it!

basically, you put 3-4 chicken breasts, hawaiian bbq sauce (from target), and a can of drained pineapple in the crockpot for 4-5 hours on high.

towards the end, i took the chicken out and shredded it up and put it back in for a little while.  when you're ready to eat, put a scoop or 2 over rice and it'll look something like this!

it reminded me of some chicken that leah, my mom, and i had at the luau we went to in hawaii a few years ago.  there wasn't much food that we enjoyed but the chicken was yummy!!  aloha!

final thoughts: i will definitely make it again!  i may just leave out the pineapple or not put in a whole can cause johnathan picked them out.

starting with betty crocker

i've wanted to try out some new recipes for dinner.  i've been googling and looking on pinterest for recipes.  i remembered that my friend sarah gave us a betty crocker cook book as part of our wedding gift.

i decided this would be an easy place to start.  now, i don't imagine this becoming as detailed as the "julie and julia" movie.  i don't plan on boiling any lobsters or doing whatever she did to that chicken.  but, i do think it would be fun to try out a recipe a week or every other week depending on how much time i have!

so, tonight i attempted my 1st recipe:  cheeseburger pie

apparently this recipe has been around for years but to me, it's new.  plus, betty crocker has been around forever so i'm sure it's an oldie but goodie!  anyway, i had most of the ingredients already and it was a good place to start!  i whipped it all up and here's the final product!

johnathan, me, and tater all enjoyed it!  i'm looking forward to leftovers tomorrow night!

final thoughts:  2 thumbs (and paws) up!

spring has sprung!

spring has sprung here at our house!  the warmer weather has inspired me to start doing some stuff outside.  we would like to put up a new fence, get rid of the rock circle, and take down some more bushes.  for now though, smaller projects are easier to tackle!  i'm not big on yard work but i'm pretty proud of myself for breaking out my cute gardening gloves and pulling up some weeds!  here are some of the more fun projects...

still love the flip flop theme!  i found some really cute flip flop things for inside and out.

johnathan put up our house numbers.

just watered!  i love these flowers cause they remind me of our wedding flowers!

laun.dry

this weekend, i needed something to keep me occupied and hopefully help in making myself happier.  the laundry room has been bugging me ever since my last blog.  i had some leftover paint from our half bath.  after getting a few supplies, i decided to tackle the laundry room saturday night!  the washer and dryer weren't as heavy as i thought.  so when i started, it looked like this....

lots of white and dust.

i got it all cleaned up and painted and here's the final product!

i lucked out and found my laun.dry sign at kohl's!

and i can finally show off my newest crafty project....

i'm really happy with how it turned out!  i'm also glad it's done!  and i did it ALL by myself!