Key Lime Cake

Mmmmm...this is probably my second favorite cake I have ever made. (My first favorite here.)

Same basic techniques, here's the recipe:

Cake:
1 white cake mix
1 pkg vanilla pudding mix
About 10-15 drops of doTERRA lime oil
Bake according to package

Frosting:
1 pkg cream cheese softened
1 tub cool whip
Juice of 1-2 limes (to taste)

Topping:
1 pkg graham crackers crushed
1/3 c. butter
1/4 sugar
Melt butter then brown crackers and sugar
Lime slices

Bake the cake, then let cool. Frost it about 1/4 in thickness or better, then top with graham cracker crumbs and lime slices.

Beautiful

Tonight my ward had a relief society activity. I'm not sure who it was that came up with it, but it's just what I needed. 8 of us were asked beforehand to read a chapter of a book during the activity, a book called Beautiful by Jenny Phillips. 

This is a quote from her website about it that I loved:

"Beautiful" is a powerful reminder to women and young women of the deceits of the adversary and the truths of the Savior on the topics of true beauty, modesty, and what matters most.

I was really moved by the story and I wish I could eloquently put into words just how I felt. I felt the spirit bear witness that the message of the story was true and the Savior, My King, has given me 'keys' to return to his kingdom and that He is imploring me to seek after them.

Lately I have been really struggling to figure out my priorities and having a hard time with choosing between good, better, and best. I just feel like time is passing me by so quickly and I don't have time to do everything I'd like to do. For instance I'd love to go to culinary school, get a teaching degree, stay at home with my babies and really teach them and help them discover and become who they are, start my own business, become a foster parent, create a homeschooling curriculum, learn how to sew and play the piano, host parties, have an honest and uplifting blog that I write everyday, be a friend to everyone, read uplifting blogs, scrapbook all of our memories, go on family outings often, sing in choirs, read all the classics and other books I find interesting, organize and clean my home, serve often, recognize and respond to the promptings of the spirit, watch my favorite shows, paint and create art, play sports, and the list goes on. For some of these things it is easy to decide what is good, better, or best. For others it's not so easy because I feel like a few major ones are my calling in life but I don't know how to make them come to pass or what order I should do them in. And of course I know that some 'best' things I'd like be doing everyday are studying my scriptures, being a good mommy, praying, teaching the gospel to my family and those around me, etc. 

Anyway, after reading this book I am inspired to work on finding the 

'ten keys of beauty' found in Moroni 7:45...

 45 And ^acharity suffereth long, and is ^bkind, and ^cenvieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily ^dprovoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

...and I am hoping and praying that doing so will help me become as beautiful and I felt tonight listening and reading this book and that I discover which path(s) to take.

*Note: There was also a beautiful musical number after we read the story which comes from the cd that came with the book. I highly recommend purchasing this book (or borrow it from me) because it has changed me for the better. 

Chicken pot pie

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (could do homemade or pre made)
1-3 cups chicken (I usually do about 2)
1/4 c butter
1/3 c flour
1/3 c onion
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 tsp pepper
1.5 c chicken broth
1/2 c milk
2 cup frozen or fresh veggies (if fresh precook them for a couple mins) I like using broccoli, corn, peas, and carrots. And sometimes some hash browns.

Heat oven to 425. Place one crust in 9 in pie pan and pre bake according to package directions. In a medium sauce pan melt butter over medium, add onion and cook until tender about 2-3 mins. Stir in flour, salt and pepper and stir constantly until mixture is bubbly, then remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk and heat to boiling stirring often until thick and smooth. Stir in chicken and veggies. Spoon onto crust and place the second crust on top and flute the edge. Cut slits in the top and bake for 35-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Also if I'm in a rush I omit the flour, broth steps and just use a can of cream of chicken soup and 1 can of milk and heat through.

Faith vs. Fear

I've had a lot of fear these past couple months of pregnancy. 

Fears:

• Having another c-section
• Not being able to manage my time with both of my girls and give them each attention they need
• Actually getting the epidural
• Not knowing how to give birth
• People will judge me because my house is so messy
• Having labor pains
• Breastfeeding not working out again

But, I realize I need to change. In church last week we talked about faith vs. fear and how if you are fearful it's impossible to be faithful. I feel so much peace now that whatever happens, everything will be ok. I'll have a beautiful baby girl I am hoping for and visualizing a positive outcome. Before I was just imagining the worst and stressing out so much. 

37 Weeks

How far along: 37 weeks

Weight: 188

Maternity clothes: Sweats and tees...

Stretch marks: Very stretchy

Sleep: Not getting much between the baby moving, the contractions, back pain, peeing, thirsty, baby dropped and there is so. much. pressure.

Best moment of this week: That I am dilated to 2 cm and 80% effaced! Anytime...but I've heard that before and gone a week over.

Miss anything: My body, my sleep, my independence, doing things for myself

Movement: A little less this past week, worried a little but I had a stress test at my last appt and everything looks great. Now she is back to moving a ton, maybe I just wasn't eating well enough.

Food cravings: GREEN SMOOTHIES (I so want to buy a blend-tec and make deliciously smooth ones), kettle corn, coconut soup, french toast sticks, biscuits and gravy, peaches, oreos.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Strong smells, raw meat, people touching me, some baby movements.

Have you started to show yet: Definitely, though gladly not as puffy as I was with Syd. And baby has really dropped.

Gender: Girl! Yay! Syd will be such a good big sister to her little sister.

Labor signs: Back labor and lots of contractions. Just waiting for them to become regular.

Belly button in or out: Pretty even, neither out nor in.

Wedding rings on or off: Off, now wear it on a necklace.

Happy or moody most of the time: Anxious! Very excited for baby to arrive, but so very anxious.

Sweet Cornbread Muffins

I used to think I didn't like cornbread. Then one time I had a really delicious cornbread muffin and I realized I previously had only really dry and bland cornbread. This recipe is a compilation of a few different recipes that makes IMHO the best cornbread muffins/loaves.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter softened 
2/3 cup sugar 
2 eggs 
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 cup cornmeal 
3 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon salt 
3/4 cup milk 
1 cup sour cream 
1 cup creamed corn

Directions:
Preheat oven 400 degrees. Take 1/3 cup butter, sugar, eggs and mix in a large bowl until creamy. In another bowl, sift flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Add milk, sour cream, and creamed corn. Mix well. Place cupcake liners in pans and fill almost to the top (doesn't rise much when baking) and bake for 20-25 mins until just golden on the top. Check with toothpick, if it comes out clean they are done. Super yummy when topped with whipped honey butter! Enjoy!

Sydney is 2!

Last week my friend Haley took Syd's 2 year old pictures and they are so adorable! Go to her blog for a sneak peek!

I hit the mother lode today garage saling!

(Yes, garage saling, it's a thing)

I have been meaning to go every weekend for the past couple weekends, but things just kept coming up. But that's ok because today it was like one-stop-shopping at this one garage sale. Literally everything I was looking for (winter clothes for Syd, side-by-side double stroller, and a cozy coupe) at one sale! 

Here's the lowdown:

For Sydney:

9 pairs of pants

6 long-sleeve shirts

4 pairs of tights

2 skirts

2 rash guard swimming suits

2 pairs of leggings 

7 pajamas

4 jackets

5 dresses

1 winter coat

1 snowsuit

1 pair of boots

2 pairs of shoes

ALL FOR $30!!! That's $0.65 each!

And...

1 Cozy Coupe (those cute little cars for kids) - $5

1 double side-by-side stroller - $15

Then on the way home at another sale:

Adorable baby swing/bouncy chair combo - $25

Other fun finds at random garage sales along the way:

1 11x14 picture frame for our soon to come new family pic when the baby is born! - $0.25

Olivia and Brown Bear, Brown Bear books - $1

2 cute shirts and 4 tanks for me - $1.75

All in all I spent $80. Pretty good! 

The best part is feeling more ready for this baby to come by having a swing, double stroller, and not having to worry about shopping for clothes for Syd after the baby comes.

Sydney's 2!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Sydney! We had two celebration, one with Michael's family and one with mine. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the one with my family. :(

It was fun to make her birthday cakes, one for her to eat and make a mess with and one for everyone else to eat! This one is hers:
                         
  

Inspired by this cake.

And this one is the cake for the restofus.

The best part about making cake...

Syd getting ready to eat cake and open her presents!                                                  

Mmmm...she didn't even get very messy

 

The fam
  

The darling jammies that Grandma Babs got for her. And yes, she's eating a fruit snack for breakfast...it's her birthday aka do-whatever-you-want-day.
                                           
Playing babies and make up with Cora Belle in their new jammies. These two are just 2 days apart! I hope they'll be good friends!

FFA Challenge #3

Challenge #3 is to pick a room, any room, to makeover. Well, since baby #2 is on the way, I knew it had to be Sydney's room. I have been brainstorming for over 3 months (since the time we didn't get the lovely 3 bd apt down the street we wanted) about how I would be fitting both of our girls and all of their stuff into a 9'x11' room. Well I guess the real problem was that it is also used as our storage room. And now it will be exclusively a bedroom for our two cuties! (Except for the closet, still need that for storage space:)

First thing that needed to happen was to get rid of the wall of boxes...

This was a long process, but it felt good to get rid of some of the stuff we (mostly me) have been holding on to. My BIL laughed when he saw some of the boxes actually labeled "Crap", but that's what it was. You know, all the random stuff you have left over when you have packed up all the clothes, dishes, books, other necessities. Like text books, random tchotchkes, and free (so I HAD to get it) crafting supplies "I'm going to use someday." 

Here's some pics during the process:

Luckily, my SIL and her fam were moving in July so we did a combined garage sale at my MIL's house. We had a great turn out and made over $300 total, $140 for us! I was so excited and really wanted to put the money to good use. I bought a new (to us) dresser/buffet for $80 from ksl.com for holding the girls' clothes:

I love the richness of the color and the detail:

Thanks to these handsome men for loading and unloading the chunky monkey:

I love the way the room is now with the dresser on the left wall. The crib, bookshelf, and rocker on the right and Syd's 'big girl bed' parallel to the bed and crib on the back wall with her coloring table. And the toy bin is next to her closet on the back wall. Here's a pic of the little stink bug after a long exhausting day of play.

Better after pics to come when I can catch Sydney's room clean, she loves emptying out her toy bins and bookshelf. But that's ok because now everything has a place and she is good about "keening up". 

After going through all those boxes and getting the girls' room all organized I just couldn't stop. SO I planned out how I wanted our room to be organized so we can fit a pack n play by our bed for the first few months. Better Homes and Gardens has a great tool called arrange-a-room that has been really helpful during this whole process. It's really nice because you can get the exact measurements of the room and all the furniture in and arrange it virtually before you actually go through the hassle of moving things. The hubs is grateful since he only has to arrange once (usually:) and I already know everything will fit in the space.

Here's how our room now looks. Bed centered with bookcases on either side, laundry on the right wall and pack n play and dresser on the left:

(yes, that is a pic of my computer screen)

Also since most of my craft stuff was in our room, it has been moved to the front room. So we have our couch on the back wall. Side table, over-sized chair and random shoe/coupons/crap storage thing (that I am debating about letting go cause it's a bit of an eye sore) on the right. The entertainment center on front wall with my craft storage shelves next to it. And on the left wall my crafting table and more supplies.

I love having my craft stuff out of our room because now it feels like a bedroom instead of a storage room!

Well I guess this turned into making over our whole apt (don't worry, the kitchen got some lovin' to as I went through the wall of boxes in there and organized our kitchen gadgets better) rather than just the girls' room, but it feels great to accomplish so much! I still have more organizing and putting away I need to do before I get some good after pics, hopefully that will happen over the next couple of weeks.

And in case you are wondering where the other $60 from the garage sale went I spent about $40 and bought 3 awesome over-the-door-organizers from amazon. One for our coat closet to hold all the random things we never know where to put like rope, batteries, ink, pens, paper clips, pins, etc. One for the bathroom to hold my jewelry and our stockpile of toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. And one for the girls' room for shoes, accessories, bows, all things girly. Feels so good to get organized! With the $20 left over we went out to din din! Gotta have a little fun. :)