What's your "back-up" dinner?

Just curious.... what is your back-up dinner? You know, the dinner you go to when you are in a hurry or forgot to take the meat out of the freezer. What do you always keep in your pantry that makes a fast dinner? I'm always looking for fast, easy dinner ideas. I love to cook but with a baby in the house it's not always so easy. Here are a few of our favorite back-up dinners:

1. Zataran's Red Beans and Rice. This is soooo yummy and super easy. We always add kielbosa sausage and extra rice to it because it is pretty saucy. You'll find at least 2 of these boxes in our pantry at all times.

2. Target's Archer Farms Puttanesca sauce with Costco's frozen meatballs. If you like spaghetti sauce you will love this one. It's way better than just plain old red sauce.

3. Tortilla soup: 1 can of chicken (you'll find it with the tuna), 1 can of rotel (it's tomatoes and diced green chili's), 1 can of ranch or texas beans, and a family size can of Cambell's chicken and rice soup. All you do is dump all the cans, don't drain any of them, into a pan and heat. To serve, crush tortilla chips on the bottom of a bowl and pour the soup over. It's so easy and so good.

I'd love to hear your easy dinner ideas. Thanks!

Few pics...and some happiness

Our weekend was so nice and relaxing and now I'm sad it's over. Saturday morning we got up early and went garage sale hopping with Carolyn, Julia, Megan and Savannah. It was a lot of fun. I don't know why, maybe it's the anticipation of finding some great treasure at a ridiculously low price. Levi got a full set of golf clubs with the carrier for 10 dollars. The people that were running that garage sale left their 16 year old son in charge when they went to get more change so when Levi asked how much the kid made up a price of $10. Poor guy, I think we totally ripped him off! After the garage sales we went to Paradise Bakery. I had been craving their oatmeal and got Carolyn all excited for it too. After we ordered the waiter came out and said they were all out of oatmeal. So I'm still craving it. Paradise for breakfast anyone? Then we went over to Care's house for dinner. We are so lucky to have a brother and sister-in-law that are so fun to be around. We all started planning a trip in March to the beach house for the girls and I can't wait. Sunday morning we went to church. I always stress a little with how Grace will do but she was awesome! She slept the entire time. After, we went to my parents house and hung out and watched my family fight over Grace. Sundays are fun because we know if we go to my parent's house they'll cook us an amazing dinner!

This whole weekend I couldn't stop thinking about how BLESSED I am. I can truly say that I completely LOVE my life. My husband is amazing and my baby is beautiful. I have a wonderful family and the best friends ever. I just don't want to ever take any of this for granted so don't anyone let me!


Big girl in her bumbo!


I was trying to catch her smiles. She is smiling so much now.


Gracie and her messy hair. I cannot keep her hair from sticking up. I wet it, I brush it, I continuously smooth it! Is it too early for gel?

Just one of those days...

So yesterday started out like any other day. Grace and I woke up and just lay in bed stretching and playing. I love this part of the day because she is so calm and happy. As I went to pick her up I noticed a huge wet spot underneath her. Her diaper had leaked.... leaked, a lot and it was all over our bed! As I'm cleaning her, she poops, another little mess to clean up. After being cleaned and fed I put her in the swing so I get ready and change our sheets. After I finished getting ready, Grace woke up started crying hysterically. I picked her up from my swing and what is my hand, her body, and the swing covered in??? Baby poop! It was everywhere. This much of a mess called for a bath. I was carrying Grace as far away from my body as possible trying not to get any more of this mess on me but in carrying her this way, I couldn't see very well and I kicked a wallflower off the wall. It went flying and glass went everywhere! This drew the attention of my very curious dogs that try and eat everything that falls on the floor, even good smelling glass. It probably was a very funny sight to see, me holding a crying, poopy baby at arms length, trying the block the dogs from the glass while I'm also trying to avoid glass, and a stained floor covered in good smelling oil. Everything was such a mess I didn't even know where or what to start cleaning! I kind of just wanted to start crying! Yep, it was just one of those days!

Photo shoot...

Just wanted to let you know our family pictures are up. Levi is so funny, as we were taking the pictures he made sure to tell Gracie that this is the ONLY time you will every pose nude for a camera.... :) Let us know what you think!

http://www.jenniferjonesphoto.com/darkroom/proof/?client/grace

And it's ......superbaby!

I just had to do a quick post to tell everyone that Gracie can roll over from her tummy to her back! We were playing on the floor this morning and she rolled over. I couldn't believe my eyese so I put her back on her tummy and right away she did it again! Some people didn't believe me so when Levi got home we put her back on the floor and yes, she rolled over again but this time we got it on video! Good job Gracie, you're only 3 weeks, but we all knew you are a superbaby!

Play Date!

Today we went over to Aly's for the moms to visit and the older kids to play. It was so much fun to see all the babies and kids together. Our group just keeps growing and growing. We actually got all the kids on the couch to get a picture. It was so funny but cute. We just kept taking pictures hoping one would turn out okay. Now we are just waiting for Hilary's little boy to come!



We couldn't believe we got them all on the couch for a picture!


All the kid's...now we are just waiting for Cash to come


Lacey, McKenzie and Gracie



Grace and Savannah

More pictures...

Gracie is almost 3 weeks old and I can't believe how fast time is going by! I want it to move a little slower because I am having so much fun staying home and being with her all day. I don't want to go back to work in November...luckily it's only part time! We went to the doctor yesterday and Grace is already 9lbs! She is in the 94th percentile for height and 70th percentile for weight. I can't believe we thought she was going to be a petite little baby! Today Gracie and I went over to visit Carolyn and Julia. Julia and Grace are only 6 weeks apart but it's amazing how much of a difference 6 weeks makes when they are this young. We got some cute pictures of them. Grace is so lucky to have a cousin so close in age. They're going to be best friends! Life is going good at home. Grace has kind of gotten into a routine with her sleeping and eating schedule. She sleeps pretty good stretches at night which has really helped me catch up on sleep. At night, Daddy is the only one that can rock her and get her into a deep sleep. I'll rock her and think she is totally asleep so I'll put her down and within a minute she is crying again. Daddy just has the special touch. She really is a good baby. She has her fussy spells at night but overall she is pretty easy. We enjoy her so much. Sometimes when she is sleeping during the day I just want to wake her up to hold her because I miss her. Levi is guilty of that too. When he gets home from work he picks her up whether she's sleeping or not. Think she is going to be spoiled?


Julia and Grace


Feed me mom!


Julia and Grace's best friends bracelets


That's a look of adoration


Laughing with Papa Blake


Proud Papa


First Bath


Hanging out with Uncle Wyatt