Shh...I have a secret..

Wanna know???

Did you guess it?? Yes,we're expecting baby #2 in November!!

The Big 22!

Yesterday was my birthday. 22 years old! I had a wonderful birthday. My sweet fiancé took me to a local bakery to get red velvet brownies, then we grilled some burgers and hot dogs and spent the day eating and playing video games with my sister,her boyfriend, Ben, and my sweet baby girl. them I went to work at our church nursery and and went to get FroYo with my whole family. It was a great low key birthday. But what really made it perfect was that Ben took the day off for my birthday. I was talking to one of the women at our church and she said to Ben, "I think every man should take off for his wife's birthday" and I definitely agree. As a new mom I feel like I kinda gave up birthdays. At least the old birthday where I would get tons of presents and the entire day was about me. My daughters birthday is 13 days before mine so we didn't have much left to spend on presents for me and I just wanted a nice relaxing day with my family. But I felt so very special because Ben chose to stop and spend the day with me. It may not always be practical or even possible for him to but I enjoyed the day.

The Princess is 1!!

We had a sock monkey party with a few close friends and family and it was a blast!! But since a picture is worth a thousand words... here it is!

The food table :)

We made a picture board to showcase her first year

The guest book and favor table

Banana pudding was a huge hit!

Smash Cupcake :)

She loved the ballons on the ceiling!

                                                  I think the party was a success ;)

Pinterest Yummies!

So I am completely obsessed with Pinterest for everything. But what I love most is the amazing recipes! So I thought I'd share a few of my absolute favorites so far.

Pumpkin filled Crescent Rolls..mmm! White Chicken Enchiladas!

These were so good I didn't get to take a picture before they were completely gone!

This Buffalo Chicken Ring is SO good!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken...a great dinner for busy people!

Just life...

I had a really hard time adjusting to being a stay at home mom. It wasn't what I imagined it would be and it's not easy to stay home all the time without any adult interaction. The last few months have been more of a challenge than I thought they would be and I had gotten slightly depressed. Now this isn't to say that I don't love being home with my daughter. I do. It's the best decision I've ever made and I wouldn't give it up for anything!
So saying that,I have this friend who I've been friends with for over 10 years. She was my best friend for years and I love her dearly. She is amazing. However, she sees life a lot differently than I do now. In high school we were both bitter, believing love was a lie,people can't change, questioning the existence of God...but I changed. I met Ben and I saw how much a person can change when they do it for love, and I realized that love is out there. The first time I heard my sweet baby girls heart beat, well how can you doubt the existence of God after that? I can't. My friend has changed too..she found a wonderful man who treats her like a queen. But she has still remained bitter about life. In my depressed state, reading her Facebook posts were making me even more depressed so I simply deleted her. I wanted to be surrounded by positivity. How else could I be happy? Now I heard from her mom that she's getting married in a few months. I reached out to her after getting an invite from her mom to tell her how happy I am for her. I just wanted her to know that I want the best for her no matter what. Now my invite has been rescinded and I feel lost. How do you lose a best friend over Facebook?

Baby leggings!

I LOVE baby leggings! They are so stinking cute but they can get pretty pricey. My favorite way to make them is super easy and super quick. I usually just go to the store and buy adult knee high socks-my daughter has always had chunky little legs so I've never had a problem with using these,even at 4 months old... :)

What I like about using the adult knee highs is that there are so many different patterns for pretty cheap, they usually have some for each holiday, and most of the work us dine for you! So, I take the socks and cut off the foot part at the ankle(you can make it shorter if your baby has short legs) and then I fold that under just barely and sew in a circle. That's it. Done. And for less than $5!

One last Valentine's thought...