What's For Dinner

The weekend is finally here and it's going to be a busy one for us. So I needed to come up with something easy and quick with little prep involved. Enter in the Crock Pot and Pinterest. My Recipes and Calories board on Pinterest currently has 395 pins! So I was sure I could find something. It's already cooking and smells delicious. Enjoy!

                                         Beef Stroganoff

A Little "Spring" in Our Step

Oh Spring, how wonderful you have been to us so far this year! So many gorgeous days are getting us excited to put our garden in. Justin and I have already made our list of veggies that we are growing this year. Zucchini is a new addition this year for us. My parents for years have grown zucchini and last year I found so many new ways to cook with it. Zucchini baked fries, grilled zucchini, and my favorite zucchini quiche. Yum!! Sometimes you just have to use your imagination or Pinterest:) We love having our own home grown vegetables and herbs. My parents garden is huge compared to ours, so they still spoil us with their award winning tomatoes, green beans, and potatoes!

Spring just seems to put everyone in a better mood because we all know that summer is finally coming. Family gatherings, pool parties, camping, days fishing at Lily Lake, a trip to Chicago, two weddings, and a trip up to a winery and a B&B are on Justin and I's agenda. We are eagerly looking forward to it all! In the month of June alone we have so many happy celebrations. My Moms Birthday, Lily's 1st Birthday(SO excited for her party), my bonus sister Kathy's Birthday, my parents 42nd Wedding Anniversary, and last but not least, Justin and I's 4 year Wedding Anniversary! We are so excited to celebrate this Anniversary. Not that any of the others weren't just as special but something about this one just makes it extra special for us.

Happy Spring Everyone!!

A Day of Celebration

Wow, I can't believe it's already the middle of April! The weather has been so wonderful for this time of the year and Easter was no exception. Justin and I went to Easter Mass on Saturday night and boy was it wonderful. We walked out feeling renewed and refreshed! This was Lily's first Easter so that made it extra special. She looked so adorable in her dress. Justin and I included a pair of bunny ears in her Easter basket and she sure looked cute! We also celebrated my brother Brad's Birthday as well since it fell just a few days prior to Easter. My parents got all us kids and spouses gift cards to Kilwin's, which we are very anxious to use!! Basically it was a day filled with love, thankfulness, yummy food, and a good old fashioned Easter egg hunt. I sure hope everyone had a wonderful Easter as well!

My hubs and I :)

My brothers and I with Lily.

Jordan LOVED the new Bible that we got for him!

All smiles!!

Don't I look cute?!?!

The Truth in Sadness

Wow, what a week it was. Glad most of it's behind me, but for others the hurt goes on. I thought my week started off bad just because I had to have some blood work done. Not for anything real serious, but who likes waiting for test results. I pretty much had the Dr. on speed dial the day they were suppose to call me with the results. Sure I bugged them but I wasn't going to wait around all day when I knew the results were in already. Yes, I bothered the medical foundation too;) Whoops! The tests came back fine, thank Heavens, but then the following day I re injured my back/rib. I said out loud to myself "God can you please just give me a break". I got online to drown my sorrows in the wonderful world of Facebook and then I got a huge reality check and I felt horrible. Two people that I knew through High School and through mutual friends passed away one day apart from eachother. Both just 31 years old and both from cancer. People so often say they lost their battle from cancer but that couldn't be any further from the truth. They fought and they fought hard!  I sat there crying, for them, and for their families. Here just moments before I was feeling sorry for myself. I felt guilty. But then I looked at Justin and he smiled back at me, I glanced at our family photos scattered throughout our living room, and then I thanked God. I thanked him for the life I have, my husband, my family, my friends. In those times we all feel sorry for ourselves(which happens), we need to be grateful for our lives. Brandon and Kelly would have done anything for just one more day. Cherish your days! I know I will mine.