Wife Fail...?

Sunday dinner consisted of chicken tenders, french fries and some macaroni cheese poppers (these were a test- we had never tried them before!) heated thoroughly on our pizazz...

I sort of felt like I was failing as a wife.

Dinner on a pizazz? Heated up, pre-packaged, frozen food?

What happened to all of the recipes that I pin daily on pinterest and my promises to eat healthier, less processed/pre-packaged food?

The answer: I don't know. I just really didn't feel like making dinner last night.

I'm sure, in fact I'm 100% positive, that I'm not the only to make their husband (and their self) frozen food for dinner, but I still couldn't help but feel guilty. I mean, I spend a good portion of my evenings looking at pinterest and blogs on eating healthy whole foods, striving to become a proverbs 31 woman, feeding your husband delicious meals, planning meals, and so on and so forth. 

But sometimes, it has to be okay to take a break... Right?

Sometimes I just need to to make a dinner that takes 5 minutes to "prep" and 10 minutes to heat up.

I don't want to make this a habit, in fact I'm trying harder and harder to make healthy eating the habit, but I'm going to allow this to be the exception. And when the exception happens, I'm going to convince myself not to feel guilty!

 Thankfully... well, maybe not thankfully, but on occasions like this I'm glad that my husband sometimes prefers the simplicity of chicken tenders and fries. And grateful that in a loving way, he holds no unrealistic expectations that I'll be cooking him a 4 course meal every day. :)

New Fence

Thanks to Piper's fast rate of growth and her new love for barking at our neighbors through the small picket fence to the right of our house... we decided it was time to put up a privacy fence.

We had a few people come out and give us estimates on doing the work, which ranged from $1,500 to $2,200! We couldn't bring ourselves to pay that money just to save some sweat and labor on our Mark's part. So Mark decided he could do without the big wigs and decided to recruit the help of my younger brother Noah to replace the picket fence. It took a little longer than they thought it would, plus a few extra trips to the hardware store than they originally planned, but it definitely saved us some cash! It's completely finished and now we don't have to worry about our neighbors conspiring against us because  of our pup!

Mark and Noah installing the gate this morning.

I was at work on Friday when the majority of the fencing was put up, so I only got pictures of them finishing it up today.

I couldn't resist getting a close up shot of this gorgeous guy. Something about my man building and fixing things for his house and family that just makes my heart beat a little faster.

Piper, of course, did her best to help with the project. She made sure the wooden stakes didn't stay in the ground for too long.

She also helped dispose of them after collecting a few into piles.

The frame of the gate is up! Now time to nail on the panels.

One more shot of the hubs before I left the men to their work while I went to a Bridal Shower. :)

Oh. And one more shot of Piper. She loved having Noah over for a couple of days.

This is what I came home too!

A completely finished fence....

And two exhausted men relaxing by playing some Madden on the big screen.

After all that hard work my man even took me out on a date tonight!

It was a baseball diamond kind of night. We cheered on the local minor league baseball team. 

(They even had fireworks after the game!)

Take me out to the ball game anyone?

Piper's Beach Day

Can somebody please tell me what happened to spring??? We waited so so long this year for warmer weather to finally make its appearance but it is being such a tease! 80 degrees one day and then 45-50 degrees the next??? So. not. fair. But I thought I'd share a few pictures from Piper's first day at the beach to help encourage spring to come and actually STAY.

Warning: My white legs/arms may blind you. It was my first beach day too!

Trying to get Piper to focus on me and not the million sights/smells she was experiencing.

She finally figured out she wasn't going to get to play unless she listened.

Piper couldn't have a beach day without her best friends Shelby and Fletcher. Shelby's licking her chops and eyeballing the grapes we were snacking on.

"I like the water, but, those waves are kind of scary mom..."

"Mom, this has been a great walk, but can I go chase those sea gulls now?"

Piper loves her "uncle" Adam. She can't get enough of him whenever they're together.

"I LOVE THE BEACH! Can we come again soon?"

As soon as spring decides to stick around, my Pipes, I'll take you back to the beach. I promise!

Prince Edward Island Vacation

Just spending a lazy Sunday afternoon thinking about the girls trip I'll be taking to Prince Edward Island...

We'll be staying in a 2 bedroom cottage near the sandy beaches of the north shore of Prince Edward Island. It's called Kindred Spirits Cottages.

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We're going to have a full kitchen so we don't have to eat out every night, but I think we might anyways. :) I know breakfast is provided in the mornings. :)

It's so quaint! I love it!

The average temperature there in May is supposed to be around 55-60 degrees... I think that sounds like pretty good hot tub weather to me!

While we're there we plan to visit the Anne of Green Gables House...

And also visit Lucy Maud Montgomery's home in Canvendish. The lady that created the beloved Anne of Green Gables stories. We'll also try to visit Avonlea village and do some shopping.

I'm so excited! We'll be traveling by car or train from Massachusetts up to Maine, spending a few days in Maine and then on to PEI. We don't have all of those details worked out yet but once we do I'll be sure to share. :)

I've also been searching Pinterest for some good traveling and packing tips... just a few of the things I've pinned recently that I think might be helpful. : )

Tips for packing only 1 suitcase - also useful for our trip to Europe later this Summer.

Prevent Over-Packing - I always do this!

Covering Shoes in You Bag - to keep dirty shoes off of your clothes

Storing Cords - Using a sunglass case to put your headphones/chargers in

Post Card Journal - Love the idea of sending postcards from each day/stop on vacation and then

 compiling them at the end of the trip into a Journal.

I'm sure I'll be on a travel pinning craze over the next few weeks so be sure to stop by my Travel Board on Pinterest to see what looks helpful as I'm preparing for vacations!

Prince Edward Island Count Down:

1 month, 2 days!

4/16/2007 & 4/15/2013

Six years ago today was a chilly spring day, a little overcast and drizzling. I stood on a small church field, surrounded by soccer balls and teammates for what was supposed to be an ordinary practice. Unfortunately that day will be engraved in my heart and mind forever. My coach received a phone call that informed her there had been a mass shooting at Virginia Tech and one of our former teammates and a fellow church member and close friend to many of the girls on the team had not been contacted yet. She was attending Virginia Tech and no one had been able to reach her since the horrific shootings had started. I remember huddling on the steps of the church where we had been practicing, trying to get out of the rain while we figured out what exactly was going on.

We assured ourselves that Lauren was okay, and that most likely she hadn't been able to contact anyone because the campus was on lock-down, cell phone service was sketchy because of the thousands of calls going out, maybe she couldn't get to her phone...etc. But we ended practice early none-the-less so that the girls who knew her the most could return to their families and be sure not to miss any news.

It seems like only yesterday when my mom walked in to the kitchen where I was putting away groceries only hours later and informed me that Lauren had in fact been a victim of the shooting. I can remember that moment so vividly. 

Lauren is now with her Savior. Our worst case scenario when thinking of her that day was really her best case scenario... She got to go HOME. Her testimony of how she loved the Lord and longed to be with Him lives on to this day. 4/16/07 will always be a day that I stop and remember her testimony and her legacy, as well as her family and close friends who miss her dearly. I will neVer forgeT. 

While I know even in troubles that our God is our Protector and our Shield, the trials of this world still make my heart heavy. In light of the recent tragic bombings during the Boston marathon yesterday, I am heart broken over the sin and absence of God in our country. The senseless violence and lack of respect for human life is wearisome. The world groans as if in the beginning of labor pains at the Godlessness.

But I know in all things we have hope.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

John 16:33

Many prayers for the families affected the by VT tragedy 6 years ago, and for the ones hurt by yesterday's devastating bombing in Boston.

Outdoor Projects: Flower Beds and Vegetable Gardens

Mark and I were super excited to wake up to some sunshine this morning! We had grand plans for our yard today and to see the sun beaming after yesterdays rain definitely helped start the morning off right.

The last few weeks I had been trying to figure out a way to line our front flower bed. My dad works in the lawn and landscaping industry and I had asked if he could come up with a cost for making a retaining wall out of stone like below:

Unfortunately, the price of building such a wall, even with the great discount my dad would've been able to get, was still a weeeeee bit out of our yard renovation budget. So my grand plans of using these stones were relegated to some pavers that we found on sale at Home Depot. But thats okay, because know what? I think it turned out pretty great and I think our bank account would agree. :)

If you don't remember from LAST summer when I cleaned out the flower bed from the crazy jungle that had grown there, you can read about it here.....

Or you can just look at this before picture :)

This was our front bed after I cleaned it up last year. It looked decent. Well enough to be a respectable home in the neighborhood. But it wasn't quite living up to what I had in mind for it. Thankfully this year we got an early jump on our flower bed.

Here are the after pictures from today:

The pavers were on sale at Home Depot today for $1.58 per brick. We purchased a total of 43, bringing our total to $67.94 (My first idea would have cost us close to $200). I love the way the bed is raised up a little more than before. It makes it more defined and helps it to stand out a little.

We also bought some hanging flower baskets for the front porch and you can see we've added a flag pole since last summer. We're sporting Mark's alma mater on our pole right now. :)

We bought a tray of Pink Begonias, one White Azalea bush and then I planted my some Star Gazer Lilly bulbs along the back. I want to get a few more filler plants like Hosta's or Lariape's and then put some mulch down. (Mulch was on sale 5 bags for $10 today at Home Depot too, score!)

Mark surprised me with these a couple of weeks ago. He had ordered my favorite flowers in bulb form for me to plant and enjoy all summer long! He's the best. 

They're supposed to bloom mid summer...can NOT wait to see these beauties!

Out in the back yard I finished up my vegetable garden. Well not really finished, but completed about 90% of it.

Here's what the raised flower bed looked like when I walked outside this morning. 

The first thing I had to do was dig up the grass and put some more pavers down along the end of the bed. The bed was sitting on half grass/half dirt like you see in the picture. The dirt area was filled with other pavers that I had previously dug up when I decided that was where I wanted the garden to go. I used those pavers to line the grassy area in front of the bed.

After the grass was dug up I sprinkled some baking soda down on the dirt to keep grass from growing up in between the cracks. It's something I found on pinterest... apparently it changes the pH balance in the soil so nothing can grow??? I don't know, but I thought I would give it a try. :)

Also, I had no idea how hard it would be to put 6 pavers down! It took forever trying to get them level enough so they wouldn't tilt when I stepped on them!

Here is what it looked like at the end of the day. : ) We bought some gardening soil that was on sale for 4 or $10 at the store as well. And then of course some Marigolds to line the garden. We got 2 different tomato plants to start our garden off. Big Boys and Early Girls. There was no research that went into the best tomato plant to buy for us, we just liked the idea of a Boy vs. Girl competition on who can produce the best tomato. We'll see who wins ; ) The only thing left to do is plant the seeds for the other veggies.

Mark also worked on a special project today while I was gardening. He has been getting his feet wet in the world of carpentry and getting pretty darned good at it, and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband. :) I can't wait to share his finished projects!

Hoping that your outdoor season is getting off to a great start!

Any new projects for your yard this year?

Are you planting a vegetable garden? If so, which veggies do you plant?

Any advice for getting my Early Girls to grow bigger BETTER tomatoes than Mark's Big Boys??

Getting Back in Shape: April Update

I know I'm a few days earlier than my normal monthly "Getting back in shape" Updates, but I'm so excited about what has happened since my March Update!

Last month I was still at 152 pounds. I had only lost 4 pounds since January and was trying really hard not be discouraged. I gave myself an incentive that once I dropped below 150 I could go and get myself a pedicure. (I think about this pedicure every time I step on the scale!) But I had to stay below 150 for 1 week in order to get the pedicure. I had been hovering right at 150 for about 2 weeks and was really trying hard to drop atleast 1 more pound so I could give my feet and some much needed love, but nothing seemed to be happening. And then EASTER came and of course we celebrated with much food and I was scared that I had ruined my chances of dropping below 150 before my April update.

Well guess what?

Thats right.

I've finally dropped below 150!!!

I took this picture at the Rec Center today. (Where I swim every Monday/Wednesday.) It is different than my usual scale but I confirmed my weight at home as well to make sure the numbers matched up. :) Now I just have to keep this off until next Wednesday and I can go get my Pedicure!

That brings my weight loss total to 8 pounds in 3 months. I still wish I was further along then I am, but I feel like 8 pounds is pretty significant, so I'm excited. : )

I was inspired with my weight loss today so I made myself a yummy.... Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie for breakfast after my workout. 

Homemade Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie!

10 oz of skim or plain soy milk

1 medium banana (I used 1 1/2!)

1 TBS of Peanut Butter

6-10 ice cubes to thicken it up.

Delicious!

Mark and I bought this cute little Oster Blender To-Go and it makes the smoothie right in the little bottle. Today was my first time using it and I loved it! I might just have another smoothie for Lunch. :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to my Father! The Patriarch of our Family.

Love you Dad!