Copycat Disneyland's Blue Bayou Monte Cristo

So I hope that you all had a great Valentines Day!!!  You know how when you are first married or in a relationship or whatever and you celebrate your one week... one month... two month... etc?  Wellllll... Evan and I still do that! And were going to do it until were dead!  Haha we were married on January 13, 2012, so every month we have a little mini celebration of yet another month.  Usually we just watch a movie and go get ice cream or something.  But, since February 13th is the day before valentines day, we always kinda get two days of celebrating and fun.

We usually switch off on who gets to plan which day when it comes to Feb. 13th and 14th, and this year Evan got the 13th and I got Valentines day.  He brought home Frankie's pizza (aka best pizza ever!) which, for the season, Frankie made in the shape of a heart.  Evan also got some foot lotion, and he rubbed my feet while we watched "Warm Bodies".  Haha I don't care how geeky this is, but I LOVE that movie!  Haha it's surprisingly cute for a zombie movie!!!

For valentines day, I decided to make one of our favorite special dinners.  We went on our honeymoon to Disneyland, and we love it there.  One of traditions when we go, is to go to the Blue Bayou!  It's the restaurant that's inside the beginning of the Pirates of the Carribean ride.  Our favorite food there is their Monte Cristos.  They are to die for.  I found a RECIPIE two years ago that I have since modified, and made multiple times for special occasions.  Here is how I make mine, and while they aren't exactly like the Blue Bayou... They are still stinkin' good and take us back to our happy place. ;)

LAST MINUTE! Valentines Day Printable

Oh my goodness... I have been so bad at sharing things the past few weeks...  this is how I've been feeling:

Haha not to say that I haven't done anything for valentines day, I just haven't  posted anything.  Ammon is just so much fun, I get distracted by him and his adorableness.  Plus I just haven't been able to think of much that I could share with you that isn't already plastered all over Pinterest.  =)  I'll be better, I promise.  I have been coming up with some good posts, with some yummy recipes so watch out for those.

I love Valentines Day.  I always used to say that it was MY holiday because my maiden name was was Hart. =)  But now I'm married it just great to have an awesome hubby to spend it with.  

For Valentines day, I did make a printable banner... but I was slightly frustrated at it and embarrassed about sharing it because of the fact that it didn't print out as bright as it looked on the computer... a problem I'm still trying to work through.  But here is a picture of it:  

Sorry the pictures aren't very good...  My living room has the WORST lighting.

It's still cute even if it is a little darker than I was expecting.

I know it's a little late in the game, but hey.  If you like this banner and would use it next year, or just want to throw up something for the day,
HERE is the PDF link.
After I cut out these printable triangles, I also cut out 6 more triangles that were just slightly bigger than these so that I could have a border around the edge, and so that they would be a little thicker.  I wanted the edges black, but if you're like me and don't have any black cardstock and don't want to go out and buy some, you can take a sharpie to the edges like I did.  I just colored the edges that would show on the big triangles before I glued the patterned triangles on.

Cupid Wings Tutorial

Happy beginning to February!  I am so excited about this tutorial!  I had an idea a while back to give Ammon's grandmas a valentine picture of him with him all dressed up as a cupid.  So naturally to get inspiration, I went to Pinterest knowing that I could not have been the first person to think of this.  Someone else out there had to have already dressed up their baby and taken pictures to show all their kid's friends and future spouse one day. ;)  And I did find a few things, but I ended up just making up my own.  And I think that they turned out pretty dang cute!  (or that could just be him =))  I thought that they were super easy to make, and they were extremely cheap to make too! 
TOTAL COST: $2

Ooooo!!!  I want to eat him! =)

Ritzy Reeses Squares

This is a recipe that a friend of ours made for us the other day. These are super easy, no bake, and only have 5 ingredients.  I know they look like a lot of other chocolate peanut butter bar recipes out there, but they have a secret ingredient! Our friends told us as they were dishing them up that the recipe called for graham cracker crumbs, but since they didn't have any on hand, they used Ritz crackers instead. And oh my heavens, was it a great substitute! It was perfectly sweet and salty, and chocolaty and peanut buttery and just yum.  =)

Kitchen Chalkboard Printables - EDITED!

Table Setting Printable has been edited!

So here is my first attempt at making a chalkboard printable!  It was an adventure trying to make it look right... How did I do?  I have an empty frame in my kitchen where I used to have the Elf Four Food Groups Pyramid during Christmas time.  But it has been several weeks since Christmas now, and it has been empty since December 26th, so I decided it was finally time to get something in it.  And of course when I started thinking about it I came up with more than one idea, so I'll just share all of them.

Grandma's Red Pepper Jelly

Today I am going to be sharing a recipe that I got from my Grandma.  This was always one of my very favorite things that she bottled every year. It makes as a great appetizer that is easy to just pull a bottle out of the pantry and pour over a brick of cream cheese to serve with crackers.  It also does make more than one bottle, so it can easily be shared with your neighbors and friends.

Simple Weight Loss Goal Chart

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope that you all had a great Christmas and a safe New Years Eve.  Ours was pretty quiet.  Ammon got spoiled by his grandmas on Christmas (of course), and we enjoyed just spending time with our families.  Now New Years is also over, and it is 2014!  And with the new year comes resolutions.  Yay!

 

I know like everyone else in the world, I have the resolution to lose weight and be healthier.  I've done really good in the 6 months since I had my baby, and I dont want to quit now where I'm at!  I am a very visual person.  For me, when trying to lose weight or work towards some fitness goal, I have to have a chart that I can look at to see my progress, and see where I am headed.  Usually in the past I have just scribbled on a scrap of paper the goals I have and what date I would like to achieve them by.  But then being the scatter brain that I am, I lose it!

So, this year, I thought I'd make a cute actual chart that I can print up nicely and put somewhere where I won't lose it.  Here's just my simple weight loss chart I thought I'd share with you.   I have three different styles. One more neutral one, the second is the same with just a little bit more girly flare, and the third is just straight up girly.