BIRTHDAY DINNER

Yesterday we celebrated my birthday with James parents.  We went to a mexican restaurant that none of us had been to before.  We had the yummiest coconut rum and cranberry drinks, and their homeade corn tortillas were to die for.  And for my birthday they all came by as sang to me and adorned me with this huge hat.  It was fun.  And we got free sopapillas!!!  It was a nice time and Im so glad we went out. 

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Then his parents needed to pick up a few things so we went to the new heb and James dad was so excited to show me around in there.  It was so cute.  I bought myself some flowers and whiskey as a birthday gift to myself.  Im a happy camper. 

When we got home, James and I took Violet down to the river.  Ill post some photos soon.  She loves it down there.   

Im excited, in two days one of my besties, Katelyn will be here to visit!  And then we get to party again!  I hope I never get tired of birthdays. 

BABY DON'T WORRY

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Saturday we had a full day of family and friends.  Starting out with this little boy's birthday party.  He was so cute and had so much fun.  I also got to see his baby brother for the first time since I left the hospital after his birth.  He is so darn precious. 

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Is he not the sweetest?  He is a week old today!   

Then we went to visit my family at my nanna's house.  We got to see my nanna, my brother, my nephew, my aunt, and my cousin and his new girlfriend.  It was so good to see everyone.  I got the sweetest video of Aiden singing me a Bob Marley song.  Its kind of dark and the quality isnt great, but it was too sweet not to share.  This is actually the second round of him singing it to me.  The first one was even sweeter, a moment I will not forget. 

I love that little man. 

Then we left my nanna's around 8:30 that night and went to James parents house where they were having a 50th birthday party for his aunt.  Right when we walked into the bar they were all line dancing, even his dad.  It was hilarious.  We ended up hanging out with his family until 2 in the morning.  It was a long long day full of family love.   

Did anyone get to witness the super moon?  It has been so beautiful the past two nights.  If you missed it, the KV Moon Reports were posted on friday.  Go check them out! 

The Mountain Girl Clothing giveaway ends in 2 days!  Check back later today on the giveaway page for an awesome giveaway from Blowfish Shoes! 

And last but not least, a message from my 5 year old nephew... "baby don't worry, about a thing... cause every little thing, is gonna be alright."  <3

MEET LAUREL LEA

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Little Laurel Lea graced us with her heart melting presence yesterday at 6:39 pm.  She was a bit at risk, so after about 12 hours of my friend Bird's labor failing to progress, they performed a c-section.  Even though that was not what anyone wanted, we were all happy to have a healthy beautiful baby in our arms.  I hate that my friend has to be in so much pain now though.  But she is a trooper, so I know she can do it.  ​

I am absolutely in awe over this little one.  She has already planted a new seed of baby fever in me.  I just love her so much.  Just look at that little face!  I took alot of sweet photos of family holding her, but I didn't want to post those here on my blog, but they are on my facebook for the family to see.  It was so sweet watching Bird's dad's face light up while staring at his new grandbaby.  My heart is so full of baby love right now.​

MY MAN IN THE KITCHEN

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These images above make me that happiest girl in the world.  Something huge shifted in my marriage this past week.  FOOD.  Its always been a struggle with James and I b/c to be frank, he hates vegetables, and really only likes meat, pasta and bread.  So I usually try to eat light and healthy during the day and then cave to his likings at night for dinner.  Although for a while we were almost eating our own dinners everynight b/c I just didn't want pasta and chicken again.  Alot of it is my fault in the fact that I get a bit lazy figuring out new ways to cook it.  It doesn't excite me the way most veggies do.  So, after having two really boring pasta meals in a row last week, even James got disgusted and angry at our eating habits.  Then he went on a recipe hunting spree and by the time we needed to go to the grocery store the next day he had 5 recipes and a desert and salad (for me) all lined up.  Honestly, at first I was a little nervous we would buy a bunch of stuff and then have it go bad in the fridge b/c of our deep eating habits.  But OMG was I wrong!  For the first time ever (besides making french toast) James has been in the kitchen cooking every dinner.  I can't even express how this makes me feel.  It only took almost 6 years, but hey, I don't care anymore!!!  And of course all the meals he picked out were meat, but they are all super different and yummy, and its a really good start!   

This meal above is the only exception to the meat.  And the only one I didn't get a real photo of.  He actually cooked this meal for our friends who came over that night, and it was his first time cooking pasta ever.  It was baked spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta shells.  I couldn't believe he picked a recipe that even had spinach in it!  And he loved it!  I don't think even he believed he was eating it.  (Im hoping this is the beginning of him trying new things he thought he hated in new ways and discovering he actually does like them).   And next I need to get him working on the side dishes, they were all after thoughts that were thrown together with what we had on hand.

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Another thing he has recently discovered he likes after vowing he hates it is fish!  He now knows he likes salmon and tilapia.  But is still hesitant to try new ones.  This was his first fish meal to make.  It was broiled tilapia with parmesan and herbs.  And I made some potatoes and green beans on side.  He ate the potatoes. :)  The parmesan crust on top of this fish was sooooo yummy!!!

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This was his first ever attempt at cooking chicken!  Of course, for his first time, he picked something we couldn't even pronounce... Roman style chicken saltimbocca.  Which was prosciutto wrapped chicken with sage in a white wine reduction sauce.  I couldn't believe that he was teaching me things on his first try!!!  And you can probably tell, the corn side was an extreme after thought.  We were so focused on the chicken.  So I threw together rosemary corn b/c its super fast and easy.  And this was the best chicken Ive ever had.  Week one and the hubby is putting me to shame! 

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This meal we did together, actually mostly me.  I really wanted to recreate the meal I had in Louisianna.  It was parmesan mushroom risotto with baked eggplant and a fried egg on top.  I made baked chicken for James part b/c he didn't thing he would like the eggplant.  Although he tried mine and liked it.  But this meal was seriously lacking flavor and it was dry.  They had put a yummy cajun cream sause of some kind under their bed of rice and that really helped moisten it up.  And I over cooked my egg, which was a huge bummer.  So yeah, my one day in the kitchen this week was a bomb. 

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This was James second chicken meal.  Neither of us loved the way the chicken came out but it was close to being great.  Just a bit too much lemon.  It was a marinade made with fresh squeezed lemons, oranges, garlic and soy sauce.  On the side I made a medley of grilled green beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and goat cheese.  I was definitely on the veggies side on this one. 

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Last night he tried making steak.  Neither of us knew how to cook it on the stove so we looked up a few recipes and the one we went with was way wrong!!!  He burnt it a bit... But it still had good flavor.  He made a marinade for it with dijon mustard and honey, and a dipping sauce with the same but with mango in it.  On the side I tried my hand at making homeade mashed potatoes for the first time in my life.  For some reason it always intimidated me but it was the easiest thing ever!!!  And James loved them, which he claimed he hated mashed potatoes!  So win!  They were goat cheese and rosemary mashed potatoes.  And baked asparagus with a yummy balsalmic soy sauce drizzle.  Asparagus is one thing James will never try he says.  Never.  ha ha. 

Oh, and I didnt get a photo of it, but he also made Chocolate Earth Balls, which were yummy cookie dough like balls made from peanut butter, honey and cocoa powder.  So good! 

I know this all may sound really simple to most, but for us its huge.  Like life changing huge.  Im so proud of James.  I hope this leads us into a new direction with food together.  And I hope it gradually gets a bit more on the healthy side and not so much meat.  But for now, Ill take it!  James got most of his recipes from Whole Foods website.