10 & 11 Months: Reese Taylor

So I posted Reese's 10 month so late that I decided I would just put them together for an even more amazing blog post!

 

Reese has gotten so big, I don't even know what to do anymore! She's literally going to be taller than me by age 5... okay maybe 10.

 

Here are 11 new things about Reese:

- She can officially give high fives.

- She'll blow you kisses if she likes you.

- She has tasted dog food...When we tried to get it out of her mouth she got mad.

- She eats just about everything we eat for dinner, just in smaller portions.

- She has 7 teeth!

- She is wearing 18month-2t clothes.

- We can no longer hide things on top of our dresser, because she can reach that high.

- She LOVES the Toy story movies, and will look at her Woody doll when he comes on the screen.

- She's not a big FROZEN fan....yet. I keep trying though.

- She gets mad when I eat the last Oreo without sharing.

- She holds things up to her ear and acts like she's talking on the phone.

 

I love how much I love her. I'm so sad to see her grow, but I absolutely love how much she has grown. I can't believe her birthday is less than a month away. Be ready for a post on of that party for sure!

9 months Reese Taylor

I always feel bad when I don't get Reese's update out quicker. She's almost 9 1/2 months now... But in my defense, she's been a little sick, and I didn't want her to be miserable as I was taking pictures. 

 

She's doing a bit better now! So here are 9 new things about Reese:

1- She now has 4 teeth.

 

2- She knows how to climb the stairs (this is a very scary new thing!).

 

3- She has now experienced her first ear infection. 

 

4- She will always cry when you take her away from Grandma (doesn't matter which one)

 

5- She can wave Hi and Bye!

 

6- She loves to dance! 

 

7- She prefers big people food more than a bottle.

 

8- She'll give you kisses if she feels like it.

 

9- She has the cutest way of expressing herself. Lots of gasps when she's excited, and you can tell she's trying so hard to talk!

She's kind of a hot mess in this picture, but she is still the cutest hot mess I have ever seen!

This was at my brother in law's wedding, She had so much fun dancing!

Easy 5 Ingredient Guacamole

 

 

 

I'd like to start off by saying, I dislike onions with a passion. Now, with that being said, this is why I don't usually like guacamole. For the most part, the onions seem to be over bearing, and when I do try to eat guacamole, I have to pick through it to avoid the onions. 

 

 

Something you should also know, I LOVE avocados. This is why I keep trying to eat guacamole, I want the avocados more than anything. 

 

 

My father in-law showed me a simple trick to making guacamole without having to cut up onions into it. Instead we used Picante "mild" salsa. Mind you, this is probably the only salsa I like because the onions don't overwhelm me when I eat it. 

 

 

So here is what you will need for your simple, yet flavorful guacamole.

 

* about 4-5 tablespoons of picante mild salsa.

 

* 5 avocados ( we used small avocados so you'll need to adjust your measurements if you use bigger ones)

 

* pinch of garlic salt

 

* salt and pepper to taste

 

 

- Cut the avocados in half, and take the pit out.

 



 

 

- Using a spoon, put the inside of the avocado into a bowl.

 

 

 

- Mash the avocados until a little creamy. 

 

- next you'll want to add your other ingredients and mix them one by one. 

 

-Enjoy with some tortilla chips! 

 

Hope you like this as much as I do!

Breakfast of Champions

This weekend was awesome, just like most weekends. Also, like most weekends, we made a semi big breakfast Saturday morning. This time we made home made breakfast sandwiches, which normally I'm not a fan of, but this time we made them with biscuits! Let me tell ya, it makes a huge difference (to me at least)!

 

We first got the idea from getting breakfast sandwhiches from Carls Jr. They were soooo good! But they were also sooo expensive when you are on a tight budget!!! So we decided to try them ourselves and BAM! So easy, and super good. 

 

Here is what you need

 

- 1 can flaky buttered biscuits

 

- package of sausages (we got the pre shaped ones... We felt like we got more out of them then a roll of sausage)

 

- sliced cheese (we used Velveeta)

 

- about 6 eggs

 

 

We started with putting the biscuits in the oven. We followed the directions on the packages for this.

Next my husband cooked the sausages, while I scrambled the eggs. I added a little bit of milk to the eggs. Then I poured a little at a time into the egg pan, and shaped them to look like mini omelets (folding the egg over) then cutting them in half to fit on the sandwich.

 

When the biscuits were all done we just cut them in half and layered our toppings (sausage, eggs, and cheese) onto them. These also would taste awesome with bacon, AND still taste good after refrigerating and reheating the next day! 

Be a Hero

A fellow blogging friend of mine is talking about this on her blog today. My heart always aches for children and babies who are suffering from cancer. Please take a minute to read Holland's story HERE.

 

Her Uncle is determined to be Holland's hero and  is going to be cycling a 1,200 mile bike ride this summer in memory of Holland, and to raise money for Pediatric Cancer Research.

 

He will be riding from Las Vegas, Nevada to Dallas, Texas in hopes to raise 10,000$.

 

You can donate by clicking HERE!

8 Months Reese Taylor

 

 

 

How is it that my little baby is 8 months old and no longer little?? Okay, maybe she's still a munchkin, but I have to admit that it makes me sad when I pack up her clothes that no longer fit her. My husband said something about her growing up too fast, and it just reminded me how I need to enjoy every second of this. Enjoy her whining, her screaming, giggles, gummy/toothy grins and yes, even her teething. Because to me these are some of the best times, and I don't want to say, "I can't wait until she can do this". I just want to love every second of this little girl's life!

Anyway, here are 8 new things about Reese Taylor at 8 months:



- She is crawling now!!

- She says Da (not sure if she's connecting it with dada, but Josh likes to think so).

- She is infatuated with babies! They make her super happy.

- She can wave bye bye.

- She will have yelling time with me ( this is where we match each others yells, and annoy everyone in the house). I love it sooooo much!

- She is super photogenic.

- She'll stop whatever she's doing to listen if there is music on the TV.

- She can pull herself up onto her feet!

Thumbs up: Ode to the Midi!

 

Your length is so perfect

falling right below my knees.

I'll take one in every color,

every shape, and style please.

 

That. Just. Happened.

 

I'd like to give a huge thumbs up to midi skirts! I LOVE love love love the midi skirt. I may be obsessed with the midi skirt. A midi skirt falls between your knees and your ankles. If they are not warn correctly they can make your legs look a little...What's the word...Stumpy. Here is a post, from a blog I follow, on how to wear the midi. She gives some great tips!

 

This midi is perfect for the spring time white trend happening right now!

 

This skirt is a perfect full A-line look.

 

This last one is my favorite. It's the perfect basic pencil midi skirt!

 

 

Enjoy!

5 tips to Living in a small space

 

 

We recently moved from a 1 bedroom apartment, into my in-law's home. The room we moved into is smaller then our room in our 1 bedroom apartment, so we've worked a way to fit in this room with our bed, dresser, side tables, crib, babies dresser, and lets not forget the dog and her kennel. It took some  serious maneuvering, but we made it all fit with the help of my best friend Alexandra.

The Monday after we moved in, Alexandra and her sweet husband came over to help us get situated and to set up our room without making the room look like we put things wherever they would fit (She's a super great organizer).Here are a few tips that helped me in the process of making our room a comfortable living space, even with it being super tiny.

 

- To save a little room, I put the babies dresser inside the closet and took the closet doors off to make the dresser more accessible.

 

- We raised the bed on to bricks (make it pretty with a bed skirt) to give us a little storage space under the bed.

 

- Under the crib is also a great place for storage

 

-To keep your room from looking completely cluttered, only keep things out that are completely necessary. Otherwise keep everything else in storage under the bed, crib, or on your shelf in the closet.

 

- Think about hanging a shoe rack behind your bedroom door.

 

HERE are some baskets you could try storing your non essentials.

 

 And HERE are some clear containers you could also use.

If you have more tips, please share!!

7 Months Reese Taylor

So Reese is actually almost 8 months now, and I am so sorry that I have deprived you of this sweet girl!

 

So here are 7 new things about Reese at 7 months

 

-She is a backwards crawler. She will keep going backwards until she is stopped by something... like the couch, or a wall.

-She knows how to get on all fours. All fours for her is actually on her feet and hands looking like a stink bug.

-She has stranger anxiety...It's getting better though!

-She LOVES the theme song to "friends". She is definitely my daughter.

-She can snatch food up off your plate faster than you can.

-She loves dogs, and gets a tad bit upset when they don't come right to her and play.

-She has two teeth coming in.. and a super cute whiney cry to go with them.

 

Slacking it up

Lately... I've been slacking. I haven't been so consistant with my posts... And I apologize! 

 

Life has been a little crazy this past month. My father in law had a stroke. Seriously if your like me and haven't known someone that has had a stoke before, this is a bit traumatizing! We left my in-laws house and almost as soon as we got home (we only live about 10 minutes away) my husband gets a call from my frantic mother in law. "Chris (father in law) is having a stroke!" My husband jumps in the car and speeds (literally, A cop tried to pull him over) back to there house. 

 

Apparently he was just sitting on the bed and his whole left side went numb. My mother in law said he was telling her as it was happening and she saw his face droop. Next day we are there in the hospital with him. It was so sad to see him so helpless, and it kinda hit me that anything can happen at any moment! 

 

I've felt like I was aware of this statement before, but in reality I had no idea. Ever since the stroke we've done our best to visit him at the hospital and rehab center. If it was me, I know he'd be there. He's doing better, and is working really hard to be fully recovered.

 

Anyway I guess what I really want to get across, is please don't take for granted your loved ones. Lucky for us he is recovering, but I can't help but think, what if he wasn't recovering? Or what if this stroke would have taken him from us? We would be devastated.

 

Love your family my friends.

 

XO,

Stephanie

The perfect FREE app to edit your pictures

For a long time now I have wanted a nice camera and a photo editing program. Well I'm sorry to say I have not gotten either... Instead I have found the perfect app to edit my photos! Don't get me wrong, I would love to have the camera and photo editing program.. but for now this is what I have, and I'm okay with that.

Have you ever bought a photo editing app that you hated? To make it all worse, you just spent money on this app that sucks, so that kind of makes it suck even more. Well one of the great things about this app is that it is free! The app is called Snapseed.

Snapseed has no many options for editing, so I'm just going to show you a few of my favorites.

 

Here is a photo taken with my I-phone.

What I like to do while editing on snapseed is, first using the drama filter. I like to use the preset filter "Bright 2"

 

 Here is my photo now after using that filter.

 

The next option on this app that I love is the Center Focus setting. Again I have a favorite pre setting. It's called Old Lens. After I use that, I usually do a little tweeking on the setting by making the blur a little stronger.

 

 

Here is my photo after using the Center Focus setting.

 

There are plenty of other options, and filters. This next picture I used the Vintage setting after using the Drama "bright 2" setting.

 

 

This one I used the black and white setting again AFTER using the Drama setting. 

 

This is still in the black and white setting, It just shows you can darken certain areas or lighten them.

 

Hope you find this post helpful when editing your many iPhone pictures!

6 Months Reese Taylor

 

Woah... Reese has hit her half birthday mark! Made me begin to brain storm ideas for her 1st birthday party! While that's in the works, and still 6 months away, here are a few things about her now.

 

-She has the prettiest sitting posture (Definitely doesn't get that from her mom).

-She has finally started playing with our dog Oakley.

-She has developed some mild stranger anxiety... Maybe it's not so much strangers since it's mainly with both her Grandpas.

-She now greets me when I get home from work with a huge smile.

-She now can sit in a bathtub without mom...don't freak out, she is supervised. (BTW she LOVES bath time).

-Her favorite movie of all time is Monsters University.

Here she is watching her Monsters U. She'll sit like this through almost the whole movie.

 

She had a little help from mom in this picture. I had to move one of her legs to get her here. She can't do this yet on her own, yes this picture is deceiving.

 

Any ideas on how to get rid of the stranger anxiety?

Quick and Easy

I made a super simple lunch the other day! and It was rather healthy if I do say so my self. I usually base healthy on if my husband will eat it or not... and He was pretty grossed out!! So here it is

 

-Cottage cheese

-Avocado

-Grape Tomatoes

-Pepper

 

I don't know about any of you, but I LOVE all these things, and with spring heading our way (or already here in Vegas), We will get a new variety of fruits and vegetables in our super markets! Be excited!

Any of you have some simple recipes for spring I can try?

Work Out Log #2 (Music)

So I'm on week two of working out! One thing I tried this week that I feel will have a big impact on my results is the way I'm running. I usually just run... nothing wrong with that right? This week though I've switched it up and started doing intervals from jogging to running, and MAN does that intensify my work out!

 

Here are a few great songs you can run your intervals with...

**Evacuate the Dance Floor

**I Don't Care ( Fall out Boy)

**Born this way ( Lady Gaga)

**Shut up and Drive (Rihanna)

**Calabria 2008 (Enur)

 

Other great songs to work out to are...

*Lights (Bassnectar Remix)

*ET (Katy Perry)

*She wolf (Shakira)

*Just Dance

*Break your heart

*Bleeding Out (Imagine Dragons)

*Telephone (Lady Gaga)

No Love for Mom

I've always loved Valentines day... actually pretty much every holiday. Josh knew that when he married me. This is why he can't get mad when I force my baby into cute Valentines outfits.

Anyway! Here is a super cute mini photo shoot I had with my favorite little girl.

P.s. Josh was the only one who could make her smile, she didn't want to give mom any smiles. I was lucky if I could get her to even look up at me.

I hope you all have a very happy Valentines Day!

 

Chicken Tacos

Yesterday, towards the end of the work day, I got a text from my wonderful husband asking what I'd like for dinner. So you know, I'm not a cook. I like exact messurments not a dash of this, a pinch of that, or season til taste. That being said, my husband cooks almost every night. So yesterday I was trying to think outside of our usual meals and I decided on a mash up of our chicken and rice with our normal tacos. This is when I decided on chicken tacos. 

I know this may not sound exciting to most, but we rarely eat out of our comfort zone, so it was a huge deal for us to make anything new. Even Josh admits to being a little nervous.

 

Anyway, dinner turned out to be amazing! Josh even mentioned it was so good that it came second to Cafe rio grilled chicken tacos! That's really saying something! Here's our recipe

 

Corn tortillas

Shredded cheddar cheese

1can refried beans

3medium pieces of chicken (cooked & chopped up)

Taco seasoning

Canola oil

Sour cream

 

Start off by cooking your chicken all the way through.

Next add the taco seasoning as directed on the container.

As that is simmering, start frying your tortillas. I decided on baking mine, but that didn't turn out as I would have liked. So I suggest frying your tortillas, or buying premade  shells. 

While you're multi tasking, I through the refried beans in the microwave for 2 minutes, stirring it half way through.

When you've finished all of that, start loading up your taco! I put beans, chicken, cheese, then sour cream! These were seriously awesome. 

 

This picture has my baked tortillas... I did steal my husband fried tortillas after having my tacos fall apart on me.

Workout log #1

Last night was my 2nd night hitting the gym! Feels great to get moving even if it is only for 30minutes.

 

I start out and finish with some stretching and cardio to warm up/cool down.

Here were my focuses for the last two days.

Monday-Quads & Hamstrings

Tuesday-Chest and Triceps

 

One thing I've always felt helps me enjoy my workout a little more is the right music! 

Lady Gaga on pandora has been working great for me, but if you'd rather make a playlist, here are a few to get you pumped.

*Rihanna-where have you been

*Lady Gaga-Applause

*Imagine Dragons-Radioactive

 

 

Don't forget to follow me for more posts on working out, being on a budget, or getting my crafty-side on!

 

 

 

  

How to plan a surprise party

 

My wonderful husband just turned 30 and I thought it would be fun to throw him a surprise party. Not only did I decide on throwing him a party, but I decided to do this a week before his birthday...

Here are the steps I took when planning his party.

Step 1: Plan the party 1-2 weeks out

Call me crazy, but I feel like it's worked out better this way. I didn't have to worry about anyone spilling the beans, and I pretty much invited family and a few friends. Sure it would have been fun to have more people, but then you worry about more food, and seating, and space, and plates/napkins. No thanks.

Step 2: Find a good location. I've been super blessed enough to have a best friend loan me her place for the party.

Step 3: Potluck

I would LOVE to be able to buy all the food for the guests, but I simply can't right now. So the next best thing would be to have every family bring 1 dish. Dish can mean drinks as well. Just be sure to tell everyone what you are needing them to bring, and to write down what everyone will be bringing. This way you don't have 7 people bring pizza and 1 person bring a 12 pack of soda.

Step 4: Decorations

Make these simple. Print outs from pinterest are golden! You can also go to the $ store and get inexpensive decorations including plates and napkins.

Here are a few pictures from his party again just so you can see some of the inexpensive decorations.

 

Candy 1$

Plates 1$

Plastic table cloth 1$

Streamers 1$

 

Step 5: Be sneaky! My husband had no idea I had this planned!

Have you ever thrown a surprise party? What did you say to make sure the Birthday boy or girl got there without being suspicious?