Sorry been busy....

New posts to come....

Do a little jig

BEST KEPT SECRET- 
handmade jig
This weeks "spot light" goes to my incredibly talented friend Alyssa.
She started out making cute cards (all by hand, cut out little pieces and drawn by her!), and onsies for people for birthdays, baby showers, and other occasions.

She got so many requests for people to make her things that she opened up her own etsy shop.  She has BY FAR the cutest onsies I have ever laid my eyes on.

Check out her shop. Buy something, love it forever.

Littlest Secret Bargain!

If you are like me, you enjoy ALL the NEW knick knacks that they are coming out for Mom's and Babies these days....Nursing Covers, Baby Legs, Boppy Pillows... to name a few.
The only catch is, Nursing covers can be anywhere from $29-30 and Baby Leggings by Baby Legs are $11.99-$12.99... welcome to the best part of Littlest Secrets... the Bargains!

Trish Parker is a stay at home mom, and creator of the Cutie Covers website. She sells Nursing covers for only $20 and Leg/Arm warmers for only $6 and they are WELL MADE, and SO cute!  Here are a few of her designs, but check out her website, it's worth it!

 

 

Strangling your husband is NOT an option.

A few years ago I was wondering through the BYU bookstore and I stumbled across this book. It's fun title caught my eye, so  I thumbed through it. The Top 5 Do's and Don't list is what made me actually take the book to the register and BUY it.
This book is AMAZING! I recommend it to EVERY wife, girlfriend, woman! It is funny, and simple, and she tells you things in a straight forward non threatening way. It just kind of makes you say "huh, that makes sense!"

Deseret Book Description
Strangling Your Husband is NOT an Option: A Practical Guide to Dramatically Improving Your Marriage

"Things can get pretty crazy in marital relationships. As one review has said, "What wife hasn't felt like strangling her husband at least once during their marriage?"

With her lighthearted personality and humor, author Merrilee Boyack shares twenty-five years' worth of marital perspective in this practical guide to improve any marriage. As an estate-planning attorney Merrilee has dealt with many struggling couples going through divorce. (Seven-year marriages seem to have the greatest challenges.) She offers practical tips for women who want to better understand men (particularly their husbands) and build happier marriages. She invites women to dump the guilt, to be open enough to learn about areas they'd like to improve, and then take the steps to make those changes. Readers will also find a wealth of fun and practical advice in chapters like "The Five 'Don'ts' and Five 'Do's' of Wifehood," "But How Do I Change My Husband?" and "No, Really, How Can I Change Him?"

The Secrets of the Pot Roast...

I am a lover of Sunday Pot Roast. Most people have their own special family recipe that they love. So I will not be posting a recipe.  Only something that I discovered while experimenting with many Pot Roasts....

1. Macey's often has roast on sale for $1.99 a lb.  Making this dinner VERY affordable.
2. Adding a 12oz can of Coca Cola to your Pot Roast  helps make it MELT OFF THE FORK tender. No joke. I usually cook mine in a crock pot on low for 8 hours.  For the first 5 hours I cook it in just water.  Then for the last 3 hours I add the can of coke.  Try it. It will have a hint of sweetness to the flavor, but seasoning your pot roast should help counter that flavor.

Pampered Chef... Where have you been my whole life?

My WONDERFUL sister inlaw Kim is AMAZING in the kitchen, so when she gave me a pampered chef  "29 minutes to dinner" recipe book, I knew it was going to be amazing. It is.  She has also given me a recipe to a DELICIOUS dessert ANYONE can make and look like you are a culinary whiz.  So here are my 2 recipes.

 BEEF ENCHILADA CASSEROLE (modified to use regular tools and not pampered Chef tools)
Pg. 81 ~ 29 Minutes to Dinner The Pampered Chef®

To speed up this family-pleasing dish, the ground beef mixture is cooked on the stovetop and then the whole casserole is heated in the microwave, NO OVEN REQUIRED!!!

Great show recipe!!

Approx time used 21 minutes!!!

1 lb  ground beef
1 tbsp Taco seasoning Mix
¼ tsp salt
1 can red enchilada sauce
 3/4 or 1/4  cup water
½ cup medium thick and chucky salsa
12  corn tortillas (yellow or white)
¼ cup snipped fresh cilantro divided
1 cup shredded Colby & Monterey Jack cheese blended, divided
Sour Cream and lime wedges (optional)

1.Combine beef, seasoning mix and salt in 10 in skillet. Cook over medium – high heat 8-10 minutes or until beef is no longer pink, breaking beef into crumbles . Drain fat. Add enchilada sauce, water and salsa to skillet. Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.
2.As beef mixture cooks, place tortillas into 2 (6 tortillas each) stacks and cut into 1 inch pieces using Pizza Cutter. Snip cilantro using Kitchen scissors

3.Arrange half of the tortillas evenly over bottom of Deep Dish baker ( I use this glass pyrex bowl) ; top with half of the beef mixture and half of the cheese. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of the cilantro over cheese. Top with remaining tortillas, beef mixture and cheese.
4.Microwave baker on HIGH 3-5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Garnish with remaining 2 tbsp cilantro. Serve with sour cream and lime wedges, if desired.

** This recipe is awesome! And SOOO fast!**

Dessert!

Chocolate Caramel** Oatmeal Chews

Ingredients:

2 cup quick or old fashioned oats

1 ¾ cups flour, divided

¾ cups packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup butterscotch caramel ice cream topping

½ cup chopped pecans

1 (6 oz.) pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips

vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Combine oats, 1 ½ cups flour, brown sugar and baking soda. Add butter and mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup of this crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 baker. Bake 15 minutes

Combine ice cream topping and ¼ cup flour. Whisk together until smooth. Drizzle over the crust. Then spread to edges.

Combine the reserved crumb mixture and pecans in a bowl. Sprinkle this and chocolate chips evenly over the caramel mixture and bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven, cool completely and cut into bars.

The recipe says to let this cool completely, but I am here to tell you EAT IT HOT! Scoop some vanilla ice cream on top and let the crumbles melt in your mouth!

Date Night

Dinner, the movies, games with friends, bbq up the canyon... been there, done that!

To keep your marriage alive and fresh, they recommend that you "date" your spouse on a weekly basis.  Sometimes this isn't as easy as it sounds.  There's the problem of doing something NEW (not something done a million times before), getting a baby sitter, finding something to do, AGREEING on something to do, carving out the time in your schedules, then comes the big one COST...

Babysitting- $15-25 

Sit down restaurant- $20-50

Cost of admission to SOMEWHERE- $15-20

Scary total- $50-70

You're looking at one *PRICEY* evening! 

Here are just a couple ideas to have a great night, and NOT brake the bank!

1. Babysitting-
Find another couple to do a babysitting trade. It's really simple.  They watch your little one(s) the 1st weekend of the month, and you babysit theirs the 3rd weekend.  That way baby sitting is FREE, you have a week break in the middle where you can include your kids, or pay a sitter. And everyone is getting something in return! Or I have met couples who agree to watch someones kids every Friday, and the other couple does every Saturday. Then you have a sitter each weekend. You are just sacrificing 1 of the nights. 
2. Restaurants- 
Lets be honest, sometimes we just WANT to sit down at a nice restaurant and enjoy dinner. Quite a few restaurants are offering LESS EXPENSIVE menu items to entice people to come in without breaking the bank. There is also the option of looking ONLINE (Try this website too) before hand to see what coupons are being offered at your favorite places. Just google " name of your favorite restaurant, coupon"!  This next tip is my favorite though... Find a restaurant (also works with entertainment venues) that you LOVE, and become a "fan" of it on FACEBOOK, that way, when they are having promotions you are notified. It's GREAT. 
3.Entertainment-
Utah County offers a lot of fun places to go, that are actually quite cheap!  In Orem at Parkway Crossing Condo's there is Wise Guys Comedy  The admission is $10 a person, BUT if you get on their website they have 2 for 1 coupons.  We really like to go to the COMEDY HYPNOSIS shows.  They are clean, and funny.  There is also Comedy Sportz. You can go on to their website and sign up your email address to get coupons by email. Their show is $8 if you call for a reservation and pay then.

So let's add up the new cost...
Babysitting- FREE
Ruby River Steakhouse- 2 Orders of the "Ruby your way Menu" 9.99 a meal + water, and 20% tip = $24,( ask for a manager, tell them how much you loved the food and see if they have a "free dessert or appetizer" coupon for next time!)
Wise Guys Comedy Hypnosis, or Comedian-  $10 (use the coupon silly!)

New total- $34


All I'm saying is, Date Night is nessasary, and there are a lot of ways to go about doing it that are cheap and fun.   

Polkadots for little bums

OH, the diaper! We have a love hate relationship with the diaper.  Love the way it protects against leaks and rashes,hate the price tag attached...

Should you go for the cheap brands, most likely your little one will wet right through them without too much effort. Leaks are little fun, but the explosions are worse.  If your sweetheart is like ours, the cheaper brands can also cause little rashes on delicate skin. Our baby has allergies to almost every brand (of diaper AND WIPES), except of course the most expensive Huggies and Pampers.  So for over a year, we shelled out the big bucks to cover the little bum.

Then, one sunny afternoon, I made a DISCOVERY! Call it a "WOOO HOOOO!!!" moment. 

Target has a new generic type brand. Called "UP & UP".  All through out Target you will see this brand creeping up, not making much of a fuss, but always providing lower prices and a good deal.

I'll admit, after trying just about every brand of diaper, I was skeptical that this would be any different. But then I caught a glimpse of the ADORABLE print all over the diaper.  Yes, I demand cuteness even in my diapers!

After buying a pack of 40 diapers for a mere $6.97 as apposed to the 36 diapers for $ 10.97 for some name brand diapers. I wandered over to the other aisles of baby-dom.... 80 wet wipes for 1.89 instead of 72 for 2.50.... Fruit puffs for .82 instead of $1.99.  WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN all my life UP & UP...

I am proud to say, No rashes, no leaks, nothing but PURE AWESOMENESS from this brand of diapers.  

All in all, Cute, affordable, durable, LOVEABLE!