It's Here!!

My New Kitchen Aid

I a so excited my new kitchen aid mixer is here. Amazon was having a one day sale last week and so I treated myself for my birthday and anniversay with this baby. I have wanted one my whole life. I have longed and dreamed about the day I would own one. Well today is that day and I sit here at work. It is all unpacked and sitting on my table just waiting for me to come home and play with it this afternoon. Oh man I can't wait.

I have been on a mission this year to really work on doing the majority of my cooking at home and from scratch. It has been going really great. I have taken to making bread at home now. Each weekend I make 2 loafs of bread. Since I work full-time during the week I do a lot of planning and even some mean prep on the weekend. If I can get somethings prepared and put in the fridge or freezer to pull out and throw in the over later in the week.

I really have enjoyed trying new recipes and getting creative with my menus. We are all eating healthier now that we aren't just opening boxes of hamburger helper. I can't say I notice a difference in my food bill because we just buy different foods. No more prepared food but more fruits, veggies and meats. I can say I have noticed a big drop in our costs for eating out. We just don't do it very often any more. We tend to enjoy grilling and cooking at home. I have taken up canning again and have been freezing and canning beets, and making jams.

I do have to say my favorite thing now that I am in the kitchen is having Sam there helping me cook. It is great when the two of us are working side by side preparing and cooking meals. So enjoyable!!

Madison

This was a great 2 page layout I made with some pictures of Madison taken when i was in Wisconsin.

Cayden

When I was in Green Bay a couple weeks ago, I got to hang out with my nephew's kids on the 4th of July. Debbie and I took them to the park for the afternoon. We had so much fun playing and taking pictures of them. This is just a fun layout I finished up tonight. I was taking Jessica Sprague's Now We Are Rockin' class. Of course I got behind and am just playing catch up but that layout was perfect for the pictures of Cayden.

Summer is flying buy

Seriously where has the summer gone. I can't believe we are already into the end of July. Last week was party week at our house. I had my birthday on the 19th (ewwww 41) but the day was great. I got some stuff done around the house and than hubby took me over to Dickinson to eat dinner, do a little shopping and go watch the races at Southwest Speedway. It was a lot of fun and just a great evening.

Than on the 22nd we celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe we have been married 19 years already. Next year for our 20th we are going to take a trip together. We aren't sure where yet but we are kind of in the middle of starting a new chapter in our lives and it is just great getting to spend time together. For all of our marriage we have always had kids running around and traveling with us. Now we are about to be grandparents in February, our middle daughter will be leaving town in just a couple weeks to move off to college. Our youngest will be a junior in high school this year and really doesn't like to travel or do things with us. It is great just getting to hang out with Sam in the evenings when the kids are working. We usually eat dinner together and just visit and catch up on our days.

I already know I am going to enjoy this new chapter in my life. I love spending time with Sam and just enjoying the relaxed lifestyle of not having to run around after young children, being able to just head out of town together for an evening or weekend. I have to say through all the difficult years with little kids, jobs and everything else in a new marriage, I never imagined it would be this great after being married so long. I am loving it.