Paninis and a Princess

Last night we had paninis for dinner.

They are a favorite of ours, so easy and so satisfying :)

Have any of you made paninis?...What kind of ingredients did you use?? We usually use the same every time, but I'd love some other ideas :)

Here's what we put on our paninis:

- bread

(you can use just about any kind...we love Dave's Killer Bread)

- mayonaise

- fresh greens

- cheese

(I love fresh motzarella, Adam likes his with pepperjack and sometimes sharp cheddar)

- tomatoes

- seasoned, grilled chicken breast

- PESTO

(it's all about the pesto)

We put it all together...and put it on our George Foreman, works just like a panini press! :)

** there's no need for butter on the outside of the bread (like you would grilled cheese) they're just wonderful without it!

Let the sandwich(es) grill for about two minutes (check a few times to be sure the bread is grilled to how you'd like it, not burnt;)

And ENJOY! We had ours with a side of delicious steamed cauliflower, brocoli, and grilled summer squash :)

The picture is dark, but you can see that Adam is chowing down :)

*****************

And the princess part of this post...well, my sweet Adam came home from work SO excited for a surprise he wanted to show me on his computer. I sat on his lap with my eyes closed as he clicked away on his computer.

"Open up!" he said.

TANGLED was starting to play! That boy is just too cute! He's known since November, when I first saw that movie, that I've been excited to see it again with him! (we're big Disney fans:) So when he found out you could pre-order it on iTunes two weeks ago, he got it and has been waiting to surprise me <3 After Brooks went to sleep, we watched it, snuggled on the couch...we laughed a lot, and I even cried. (I get really emotionally attached to movie characters, even cartoons)

All in all, it was a wonderful night :)

Dear Brooks,

Hi there sunshine! You really are my sunshine...especially on these cold, snowy and overcast days (in late March for goodness sake!). Well Little B, you turned ONE 2 weeks ago! Your Daddy and I have been blessed to have you in our family for 12 whole months now. Your sweet Grandma Kjar says that raising/watching children is like watching the Discovery Channel 24/7...how true that is! It's been amazing to see you learn and grow...get back up when you've fallen down...try all kinds of new foods...you're becoming more loving and interactive every day...and you are so patient with your Dad and I as we ourselves learn how to do this parenting gig ;)

I know I posted many of these pictures of you back in November here, but I just love seeing them all together...I'm amazed at how much you transform, and so quickly:

From our sleepy newborn,

to our wrinkly-legged 1 month old,

to our 2 month old giggler,

(once you started laughing you've never stopped:)

to our smiley & chubby 4 month old,

to our 6 month old sitter,

to our always-laughing 8 month old crawler,

to our 10 month old little bookworm,

to our 11 month old wobbly walker,

to our ONE-YEAR OLD SWEET BOY!

{Sunday, March 14th @ 9:19pm

weight: 7 lbs 10 oz

height: 21 in}

{weight: 12.72 lbs

length: 23.75 in}

{weight: 15.5 lbs

length: 26.25 in}

{weight: 18.45 lbs

length: 27.0 in}

{weight: 22.93 lbs

length: 28.75 in}

{weight: 24.67 lbs

length: 30.31 in}

I love you Brooks, and your father and I are so excited for what this next year holds in store for you!! Summer is going to be amazing with our little man. Cheers to another year of learning and growing bud! :)

Love always and forever,

Mom

PS - Lots of kisses coming your way!

vlog - 12 reason we love Brooks

Thank goodness for a husband who remembered that he set up a youtube account a while back...we can now post normal speed videos! yeesssss!

I realize I say in the video we were going for 35-40 seconds...but some good laughs made it a bit longer ;)

We chose to list only 12 reasons (out of MANY) because he's 12 months old :)

And here's a translation in case you couldn't understand us through the speed-talk and laughter:

1) we love that Brooks is a great baby

2) we love his mullet

3) we love his belly

4) we love his laugh

5) when we change his diaper and he sometimes pees on us, that's real funny ;)

6) he has his daddy's eyelashes

7) we love watching him sleep

8) we love when he wakes up happy

9) we love his hair...business is the front, party in the back (repeat;)

10) we love his booty with his diaper

11) we love his little teeth (he has 5 now!)

12) we love that he loves us!

I LOVE MY BOYS :)

Guardian of Virtue

Last night, before our little cozy-robes and smoothie-sipping date, I was lucky enough to go the the General Young Women Meeting at my church. Every year, the presidency over all of the Young Women (girls ages 12-18) speak at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and the beautiful meeting is broadcasted all over the world. The main message surrounded one of our Thirteen Articles of Faith:

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many thing, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Toward the end of the meeting, they played this video. It is absolutely beautiful...watching so many young women share their heartfelt testimonies gave me goosebumps (the good kind). I am so inspired by their sweet hearts, full of faith.

And here are some of my notes and thoughts I had while listening to the inspiring talks:

Mary N. Cook spoke about how Christ lived a benevolent life. And in the scriptures there are numerous examples of men and women who have strived to live benevolent lives, following the Savior's example. One is from a parable: the Good Samaritan. I need to do as the Good Samaritan did, and serve, with a benevolent heart, any one in need around me. Sister Cook said that we all have "personal longings and private dreams"...we are all unique, but we ALL seek to be loved. She gave us a challenge: over this next week we do at least one Good Samaritan act. I am going to follow any promptings to reach out to those around me, show them I care, and that Heavenly Father loves them. I am excited to see what opportunities I will have to serve...

Next, Elaine S. Dalton shared with us a beautiful and insightful message of being a guardian of virtue...she encouraged all of the young women to be a protector and defender of moral purity. How can we guard virtue?? She adviced the girls, and mothers and leaders, to make a list of do's and don'ts...then live that list. Near the end, Sister Dalton reminded us of the touching verse in Proverbs 31, and said these lovely words:

"I am a guardian of something more precious than rubies."

How true that is.

And lastly, President Henry B. Eyring shared his testimony and knowledge of God's love for him, and of God's love for each of His daughters. I felt the spirit so strongly when he testified that our Heavenly Father has a bright future for each one of us...and by knowing that, our daily, hourly, and by-the-minute choices will be more sincere and be more Christ-like...our lives will be filled with more joy than we can comprehend.

I am so grateful for such inspired women and men that serve in our church. And especially for a loving Heavenly Father who wants His children to come to His Son, and live lives of virtue. The Young Women's program is amazing and I'm so blessed to be apart of it!

You can watch the full Conference address here :)

Smoothie Stay-cation...oh, and a vlog :)

** I got the recipe for the Sarah Bear Smoothie we're sipping on, here.

SOOOOOOOOOO good :)

PS - was the video 21 seconds or 52 seconds?? should be 52...for some reason when I just watched it again the audio is normal but the actual video is speeding through! please let me know :)

3-Layer Peanut Butter Bars

I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER. And when it's combined with chocolate, I'm in heaven.

So when my Young Women's youth group had a Bake Sale to earn money for their girl's camp this summer, I was all about signing up to bring a batch of Peanut Butter Bars. The Bake Sale coordinator, Alicia, gave me the recipe...it was easy and turned out great! I brought home an empty pan from the bake sale :)

Alicia's 3-Layer Peanut Butter Bars

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used creamy)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups flour

2 cups oats

chocolate frosting (found recipe here, but I'm on the hunt for something better...)

Preheat oven at 325. Cream first 6 ingredients. Sift soda, salt, and flour. Add flour mixture & oats...barely mix. Press dough on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 13 minutes. (do not over bake!) Chill bars in the fridge until cool (about 30 minutes). Spread peanut butter on bars...1 1/2 to 2 cups. Spread chocolate frosting over top. Enjoy peanut butter & chocolate heaven!

** The chocolate frosting recipe I found here, didn't turn out how I'd hoped...so if any of you out there have a favorite chocolate frosting recipe, please send it my way! :)

I'm linking up this yummy recipe to Whipperberry...they never let me down with amazing recipes, crafts, decor, and party ideas. Go check them out here!

in denial that it is not summer

It has been snowing for a couple hours now...but as you can see by my shoe choice, I am most definitely in denial.

And my daffodils by our front door seem to be in denial of this fickle weather too :) They've pushed up through the cold ground and are toughing out the cold. Oh I cannot wait 'til they bloom.

And while driving in the car today, in the snow, I listened to two different songs by John Mayer on the radio ("Daughters" and "Dreaming with a Broken Heart", two of my favorites). John Mayer instantly makes me think of summer...I've been to two of his concerts (he is amazing live), both during the gorgeous, WARM months of summer. So thank you John Mayer for warming up my cold, snowy afternoon with your fantastic voice :)

Below is a video of him singing live in California...his version of "Free Fallin'" is ridiculously amazing. Enjoy and happy friday!