I found something to decorate

As you know I live at my mom's house along with all of her stuff.  I have to admit that I really love it. My sisters will attest that this house is a warm lovely home.  However, I did recently determine that there was something I could contribute to upgrade the look of the home and that was mom's kitchen rugs.  The ones she had were rather tattered and well...had to go.  So I added a little bit of color.  I included before and after pics. What do you think?  (Ok ok... I realize that this isn't the biggest deal but for a girl who was in major house decorating mode to go to nothing I am going to take every opportunity I can get!) :) 

Happy Feet

I just found these shoes at Target this evening and I am pretty happy about them. They were only $14.99 and quite comfy. Anyway...I just love red shoes so now I need to find some cute stuff to wear them with. I love my Target! Go get your own today (I won't mind).

Totally 80's

We had a super fun night!  The girls that are renting our house threw an 80's themed b-day party.  My outfit was sort of lame (I think it bordered early 90's in retrospect)  but Mark went as George Michael and I was so proud of him. (I know what your thinking.  George plays for the other team but if you ask either team I think everyone will agree...he's a good looking man).  The house was decked out!  They had 80's pics around...and other tidbits like..."do you still fight the urge to say 'not!' "  They had Tab soda, silly puddy, chutes and ladders to play, even pac-man cupcakes.  It was really fun! Happy Birthday Anne!  Thanks for the totally awesome party. 

Mac Fan

So my husband and I have fallen in love with all things mac.  We have gone the way of the apple for a couple of years now and have never looked back.  However, I have recently discovered that there are a lot of blogging bells and whistles that are only available if you are using a PC.  (I blame blogspot, not macs of course).  But I thought that would a helpful tidbit if anyone else is like me and usually only use a mac.  We do have my dad's pc here at the house so one day here I will switch the internet over to that and see what else I can whip up for the blog.  And now you know....

A Life of Exploration

Although Taj does not yet walk on his own he loves to be left to his own explorations!  I took this picture today.  He likes to scoot those chairs around and run his cars through here but today he decided to see what the view was like on  the inside.  He stayed there and checked the world out upside-down for a minute.  

Yummy Grub

So the other day I made a yummy dinner (which...if you know me...is not too common). So I thought I would post some bragging rights and the recipes.

For the entree we had BBQ Chicken Pizza! Here is the recipe. It calls for red onion slices on top and I do not like onions, but I have found that it really adds to the flavor when it bakes and then I just take them off my slice before I eat. :)

BBQ Chicken Pizza (this is courtesy of my friend Hannah...who cooks like nobody's business!)

Rhodes Frozen Bread Dough (make sure it is thawed well in advance)

Rotisserie Chicken pulled apart into chunks

Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce or your choice of brand

Red Onion

Monterey Jack Cheese

Roll Dough into pizza shape. Mix BBQ sauce w/ desired amount of chicken. Spread over dough then cover with cheese and onion. Bake for 15-20 min at 350 degrees!

The next thing I made was decandant brownies and for homemade brownies I was surprised how easy and yummy. But that one came from Paula Dean and can be found right here!

Congrats

Mark's lifelong friend Josh was married this last weekend in Denver.  Mark was able to fly out there for the wedding and snapped these beautiful photos.  It looks like it was a beautiful wedding.  Congratulations to Josh and Chelsea Virstoko!

So Taj loves to chomp on the spoon every time I let him have a bite now a days.  He makes this face at me all the time and I was finally able to snap a picture that does it justice!

Hello Ladies

Well Taj has officially learned to grin for the camera! I went to snap a photo of him the other day and he just lit up.  Man they catch on quick.  And then I knew my family would like to know that Taj strolls over to the shelf that Grandma Gail had pictures of her youngest grand-babies and chats them up.  He will stand there and talk and talk to them...he even seems to use a cuter baby-talk voice than normal!  I love to watch and listen to that.  (side note...I don't know what the deal is with my technical difficulties on my blog lately..the pictures are being funny and that stupid poll just won't fix or be deleted.  My sister sent me a link to help me fix it, so I will get on that soon.)

Party at our Crib!

We had Taj's first b-day party!  It was really fun.  We were thinking it would be more of a swim party but no one made their way to the backyard kiddie pool.  Taj's buddy Zeke is turning one in a week so we had the party together!  Lots of friends came to hang out with us and the kids had a lot of fun with each other.  Here are some pictures of Zeke and his Diva (that's the preferred term over grandma), a little family portrait of us (doesn't Taj look like he is grinning for the shot?) and then some good friends of ours, Dusty (Zeke's dad, is in the green shirt) and Jake and Troy are on the couch.  We have all been friends since high school.   Mark's best friend Josh and his fiance Chelsea were there too (they get married in a week!) Then just a shot of the party.  We wish all of our family could have been there but Taj still felt a lot of family love from afar!

Taj O is One!

Yesterday, August 1st was Taj first birthday!  We are having the official party this Saturday, with our buddy Zeke who will turn one soon too, but I had to shoot some pics of him on the actual day.  We also buzzed his hair last night...so pictures in the red shirt...pre-haircut.  Pictures in the gray shirt...post.  Is he handsome or what? There will be more soon of our PARRRTTYYYY!

Nickelblonde

So as many of you know my sister Carolyn is a hairdresser (the best one I have ever had).  She moved far far away to Tennessee this summer but before she went I asked her to help me sow one last hair wild oat.  I was a blonde for just a few weeks.  I liked it.  It was fun.  I didn't have the money to maintain it in Carolyn's absence so I just went back to plain old brown...but it did make my summer a little more interesting.  Mark didn't mind it either.  :)