{Pics from Attu & Kodiak Islands}

Thank goodness he's back---I feel somewhat less stressed!! Here are some of my favorite pics he took. Bald eagles EVERYWHERE and the fish is called an Acrtic Char--haha!!!!!

{ My HARVEY!!!! }

O.M.G!!!! If you "know" me and I mean REALLY "know" me you know I am an absolute nut over handbags w/ the matching wallet of course.... I am sooooooooooo flippin' excited over my new Harvey seatbelt bag!!!!! Here's the pics of what I ordered...CANNOT wait until it gets here!!!!!!! Whatcha think???

{ TDY @ Attu Island}

See the red dot??? THAT'S Attu Island!!!!!! That's where Josh is....

{My house & Bub's new haircut...}

Ok...Cut out houses and sent them home for them to show us everyone that lived in their house....this is mine. Pre-schoolers are sooooo funny & I'm enjoying it!


Josh finally put his foot down...the boy needed to a cut and I wanted to see his eyeballs. He was ready for something new too---I think it's cute. Notice his shirt in the 2nd pic....we have matching ones....=)

{{Me...?}}

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

{Pass/Fail}

*big sigh* Tomorrow is the start of week 3 of working....huge adjustments here at our house for sure. It has been 7 years since I have worked outside of our home. 7 years since I have had to do the things millions of women do every day and I can honestly say I hate it and I'm officially stressed out. I'm organized and a control freak and I'm thinking I need to rethink this or I need to sit myself down and have a talk with myself about breathing and rolling with things and stop trying to control EVERYTHING!!!!

Sunday night staying up waaaay too late and not going to bed until almost 2 to get up at 5:30 FAIL

Monday/Tuesday hating the room they put me in to where I gripe at my family when I get home and cry FAIL

Talking to the Director and getting my point across that toddlers and pre-toddlers freak me out so that's probably not the right room for me to be in PASS

Making a home cooked meal and sitting down all of us to eat as a family PASS

falling asleep on the couch night after night and forgetting that my husband might want some "alone" time with me FAIL

letting laundry pile up all week and letting Josh catch it up but complaining that he could've helped MORE instead of appreciating what he did do FAIL

going out Friday evening to dinner/movie with my family after being exhausted after work and having a great time PASS

Will this get easier? How does one let go of having to be in total control? Can I do this or will I fail???

{group effort...}

Ok ok ok the first cake disappeared pretty fast around here SOOOOOOOO here is cake #2 and it was a total group effort to ice it! I did the middle layer and Caleb and Josh did the top. I totally suck at icing cakes--FOR REAL!2 chocolate cakes in less than a week---good grief!!!!

{Our supper & dessert tonight was rockin'!!!!}

Ok, first off I'm a blog surfer (cheeks blushing)......BUT I'm soooo glad I am because I found a great husband/wife blog that has awesome awesome recipes!!! Tonight was my first time trying any of them and to think I tried 2 right off scared me a touch but WOW did they knock my socks off!!!! I modified the enchiladas by using different cheese and more chicken and extra spices.... They have step by step instructions with PICTURES (2 thumbs up)!!!! I put the recipes below but if you go to my links ----------->(right hand side) "Kevin & Amanda's recipes" you can check it out. I can't wait to try other things on there!!!!!





Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

1 tbsp butter or margarine
1 can Rotel tomatoes and green chilies, drained
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, cut up and softened
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast
8 (8″) flour tortillas
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 pint whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9×13 baking dish with Pam. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add rotel and saute 1 min. Stir in cream cheese and chicken and cook, stirring constantly until cream cheese melts. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of chicken mixture down center of each tortilla. Roll up tortillas and place seam side down in a lightly greased 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese, and drizzle with whipping cream. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Take off foil and cook for another 15 mins, or until top is golden brown.



THE BEST Chocolate Cake EVER

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 package Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a VERY large bowl (4 qt), mix together everything except chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice (I normally use two 9-inch pie pans). For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. :) It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup shortening (crisco)
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

In a mixing bowl, cream shortening until fluffy. Add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

{A fantastic mail day for me!!}

So today was a pretty great mail day for me yay!!!! I got my new Silhouette, ribbon from an auction I won on Ebay and my new Bellas!!!! *big sigh* scrappy goodness

Today Josh was off from work so we lounged around the house until it was time to pick Caleb up from school and then headed to town for dinner out at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Fairbanks--yum! I ALWAYS get the same thing--fajita quesadillas without peppers. After Wal-Mart came home and finished up Caleb's science fair project and now we are settleing down to watch my DVR'd Grey's....just a great day all around. Tomorrow is the grand opening of the BX on base...I thought it was today but no such luck--tomorrow though. I've got my fingers crossed I'll be able to figure out the Silhouette...I'm soooooo not good at electronic stuffs so we'll see :)

{My beautiful Bellas...}

My pretty Bellas need a better, prettier home! I'm ashamed to admit this is where they reside not feeling loved as much as they should. *big sigh* TODAY will be the day I find a bigger place for them because as you can see they are crammed in that naked tin! I am going to alter them a new place a prettier place....last week Emily had a free shipping sale and I went hog wild and bought about 20 more! It's shameful to admit I hoard these things...so glad Tina talked me into them I LOVE them! How do you store your Bellas?