My little Darren is 2 Years old!

Nicknames: Dare Bear, Bubba, Dare, Chubs, Monster

Clothing Size: 3t Everything!!

Personality: Oh my lante! You are FULL of personality!! You love to giggle, and do things to make other people laugh. You are full of emotion and are just not sure how to express it yet. But you know what love means and show it to everyone you love. Specially the dogs!!

Things I Could Do Without: Throwing yourself down and crying. Specially when we are in public. 

Item/Toy We Love The Most: Minion Movie when I need to get things done.

Item/Toy You Love The Most: Minions EVERYTHING. Oh and you will play with any car you can find. Even walking through parking lots you love to point out which cars you like and don't like.

Things I’m Loving Most Right Now: Watching you and Kyra play. You love your big sister and want to do everything she does. That even includes doing dances, and putting on shows she wants you to do!! I love your giggles specially when you are laughing at yourself because you did something you found funny. And kisses and hugs followed by little whispered I love yous!!!

Things You’re Loving Most Right Now: Exploring your world. You love going to the park and each time get braver and try to do things you couldn't do the last time. You love to watch your sister and want to do everything she can do. Reading books and talking about what is happening in the pictures!

Turkey Meatloaf

This one is always a favorite in our house, both kids eat it because it's like a cheeseburger. And it's healthy because hello ground turkey!!

Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground turkey (that is plenty for us)

1 egg

1/8 cup bread crumbs

Garlic Salt, Onion Powder, Pepper, paprika. 

Ketchup

Shredded cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Place ground turkey in a bowl, create a bowl in the middle and crack an egg in. Mix egg and meat together.

Add crumbs and seasoning again mixing it up.

Spray a meatloaf pan and press meatloaf into pan.

Add a thin layer of ketchup then bake for 20 mins.

Add a layer of a cheese of your choice and continue to bake for 10 more mins.

Serve with a vegetable of your choice, we love steamed green beans.

I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!

Week 1: You have me in stitches

If you have been following my blog forever you know that not last year but the year before I would write a week in recap, and really like looking back at those and seeing exactly what was going on!! So I am starting it again this year.

I know this a day late but I was sick as a dog last night so I didn't sit down and write it.

This week was starting out soooo uneventful. I was thinking what am I even going to include?


We drove home from Colorado on Monday, we spent the entire day driving. It was a super long drive but the kids and dogs were so good and we managed to make the trip as quick as possible. But we were all so glad to be home and in our own beds finally after spending the last 2 weeks on Vacation!



We spent the next day just being lazy I don't think anyone got dressed, or left the house at anytime!! It was so needed.



Kyra started back to School on the 4th, she wasn't really sure she was ready to be back, but was so excited to tell us about all her friends after school.

On Thursday we went to lunch just the boys and me and it was so nice to spend some time together. Darren was so happy to get our attention and was dancing the whole meal. So as you can see our week started out with just chilling and getting back into a routine. Dustin was still off work and we didn't have much going on.

That is until Friday came, the day was going so great, and we had been really productive all day. And we were in the home stretch. When Kyra comes flying out of Darrens room screaming Darren is bleeding. We go rushing in and swoop him up. Once in the bathroom we finally were able to rinse his hand off and see that his finger was cut really deep. It had gotten smashed in the door. So off we rush to the ER.



Where we spent the next 4 hours and Darren was so incredibly brave. He stopped crying before we left the house and only cried for the numbing shots. He did great. And it is on the mend!!

Luckly with the way our weekend started the rest of it was much better, I cleaned house all day Saturday and most the day Sunday!!! Got both kids rooms, cleaned decluttered and ready for the move!!





Sunday I also got to go spend a couple hours with my dear friend, we had a nice kid free walk through the mall!!!

Last year, and this years Resolutions!!

So last  year was a weird year for this blog. I had been so consistent for years about getting on blogging keeping it updated and I lost perspective about why I do it I think. I do this blog as a way to look back on the things our family does. To have a story to go with the pictures. To be able to remember the amazing milestones, and seasons our little family sees. As well as a place to vent, or share my hobbies so in 2017 I am going back to that!!


Here is a recap on 2016 resolutions and goals!!!

24 sessions- I concluded my year with 105 I would say I accomplished this goal!!!

Fix financial situation- Well our vacation at Christmas time blew this one out of the water!!! Here is to hoping we can get this under control someday!

Keep up fitness routine. I feel like even tho I haven't ever managed to make working out just a habit, I do try to do it consistently and I am very strong. I just have a nice layer of protection :D

KonMarie Method. I never fully finished this. I love the idea tho and before our move I would love to really downsize the amount of stuff we have!

Read 12 books. I feel like I may have been close to finishing this one. I am not sure what my count was but I read some good books this year. And most are reviewed on here for you to check out :D

Get good grades. Well this one is for sure a thing. As you can see above that other goals have been sliding but I have been working hard on school!!

Keep up with Blogs, and YouTube. And provide some new content. Uh....yeah. 

Do a catch up day once a month. I wish I had done this one more!! 

I feel like somethings got focused on more than others. So for 2017 I started a journal that I will be reading my goals once a week, and checking in and keeping myself reliable!

2017 Goals

*Personal*

1.Workout more

2. Read more

3. Work on my blog

*Business*

1. Work less, make more.

2. Make close to 12k by the end of the year.

3. Only work during specific hours.

*House* 

1. Declutter ALOT of stuff.

2. Organize more.

3. Create a perfect home in Oregon.

*Financial*

1. Save $100 a month.

2. Spend less.

3. Pay off debt.

*Family*

1. Eat out only once a week.

2. Be more active.

3. Try a new recipe every other week.

I feel like there are more goals, and they are less specific than usual but this year is going to be a very challenging year for our family!! And the transition moving across the country will be difficult!

The Girl on the Train Book Review

Hey you guys, I know its odd that I really let this poor blog go last year, and here it is the 6th of 2017 and I still haven't posted. This used to be my main "social media" but over time my focus has progressed to my Facebook Page.

I am trying to keep up with my blog a little more this week, along with the reemergence of the "Our week in review". This will be increasingly entertaining as the madness of our lives is about to spiral out of control!!

Anyways back to the subject at hand.

The Girl on the Train




So my mom handed this book to me, it wasn't even one I really had heard of. Yes I know I am off the radar obviously seeing as its a movie!!

I had the semester off and thought what the heck once I finish my last book I will give it try.



Review:

So this book is a very interesting one, I don't think I would say it is in the category I would usually read. But I was so intrigued by it. I wasn't sure what to think for most of the book, the author does an incredible job at camouflaging the climax of the story!! You really don't even see it coming, and spend the majority of the book thinking other people was the suspect.

I do have to say that the way the book is written is kinda hard to comprehend and you don't exactly catch on until about half way through the book. I did a lot of flipping back to check which character was talking, and what the date was they were talking in. So that was a little frustrating at first but ever so necessary for the story to be so mysterious!

Over all Rating? 9 out of 10. Because it was hard to follow for a while. But it was AMAZING so if you haven't already you need to pick this book up and go for a ride on The Train!!