Five on Friday {New Recipes & Shopping Finds}

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great week. Mine flew by and mostly consisted of errands and cooking but both are fine with me. Let's jump into this Five on Friday!

1- New Recipes

I tried two new recipes this week and both were a hit! The first was Orange Chicken from Whitney Bond's blog. We loved the General Tso's chicken we made last week so when I saw she had orange chicken, I jumped on it. The recipe was fairly easy minus the fact that I made a HUGE mess with the cornstarch lol. I doubled the recipe so I think it was just too small of a bowl to try to mix cornstarch and chicken together. Oh well, lesson learned! You can find the recipe here. 

The 2nd recipe was the Pioneer Woman's pulled pork tacos. SOOOOO yummy! I have a pulled pork recipe that my mom's friend gave me that is my go-to but I wanted to try something different. I think they are a tie, I love them both. I forgot to take a picture of the tacos but they were delicious! I think it's from this cookbook but I'm not sure. I took pictures of the recipes I wanted to try from my sister's cookbook :) 

2- Time to Relax

I am the WORST at relaxing, unless I am on vacation lol. When I'm at home, I feel like I need to check things off my list and get things done. Today I decided that I was going to force myself to relax and go hang out on the beach for awhile. It was so nice!! I finished one book and started in on The Cursed Child. Can't wait to get into it more! I also burned the crap out of my back. Darn spray sunscreen!! I need to order more Rodan+ Fields sunscreen. 

On another note, today gave me time to reflect and think about everything that has happened in the last few months. Summer has been so busy with friends & family out to visit, moving, lots of fertility appointments, and working on my R+F business. Even with all the baby hoopla and disappointments I am still so grateful for my life and the people in it. Sometimes you just need a good walk in the fresh air to thank God for the many blessings he gives us. :)

3- Binge-watching Gilmore Girls

I have been binge-watching Gilmore Girls for the past month and I am on the series finale. I seriously cried the other day when Lorelai and Chris broke up and then again when Rory graduated. I am ridiculous, I know. I was in love with this show in high school so it was like reliving it all again. I can't wait until November when the last season comes out!!!! Anyone else with me??

4- More Nordstrom Sale Finds

buy it here

You guys, I am a robe lover. Not the silky sexy kind of robes lol... the big fluffy, cozy kind! I get ready in one everyday, expect for in this hot weather. I've been using a much cooler cotton robe from Target for the past few months. Anyways, I digress. I have a big fluffy robe that I've worn to death and I've wanted a Barefoot Dreams robe for so long. If you don't know the brand, just imagine the softest blanket you've ever felt and then wrap that around your body lol. It's amazing! They are a little pricey but they happen to be on the Nordstrom sale. I've been trying to get one since the sale opened to the public but they've been sold out. I finally found one in stock online and as soon as I put it in my cart it was gone!! I thought I was never going to get one, but finally I did. It should be here Monday and it almost makes me wish it was winter so I can wear it. I said almost... I'm still loving summer!

buy it here

I also FINALLY got the BP Anorak jacket in olive green. I've been checking to see if this little guy is in stock, almost every day. I ordered a small because it said to size down, so I hope it fits! 

5- Vacation Starts Tomorrow

Today is the day we were supposed to leave for Cancun. I'm bummed but I also know that having a baby is WAY more important than a vacation. I still wish we were on that plane but I'll get over it. I hope my parents have an amazing anniversary trip there!

 We finally decided what we are doing for a trip instead. We've gone back and forth with a million ideas but we finally settled on two places. Check in next week to see where we went :) 

House Updates

We've been working on getting the house setup and everything put in place. Our new house has smaller rooms so we have a lot of shuffling of decorations and furniture. It's coming together though :)

This is in the spare bedroom/ my office. The room is kind of a mess because all of Mark's tools are in there and a bunch of other things that haven't found a home yet lol. More pictures of this area to come!

In our living room we have our giant frame that we used at our wedding. I love this thing! To the right is the chair that is below. Also, that's Oliver who is passed out on the couch. 

I LOVE this chair. We picked it up from my parent's house this weekend. 

I showed some living room pictures of the maps/ charts in a previous post but I thought I would share again in case you missed them. 

Mark made this mason jar holder for me. We barely have any storage space so these three little jars are actually very needed. I love my handy hubby!

Weird that I am posting a picture of my toilet lol but I wanted you to see the bathroom from all angles. 

I'll post more pictures as we get some things done. Mark's working on another project for me as we speak. He's so sweet! :)

Weekend Recap {Birthdays, Baseball, and Babies!}

I just love him!

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend! I know we did. We were home in Vegas all weekend and it was a pretty jam-packed time, per usual right?? I did get some down-time yesterday which was nice, but we had to be up at 4 am to leave. YIKES! I had to make sure I would get back in town by my 11 am doctor's appointment. We ended up making great time :) Thank the Lord!

We started the weekend off with dinner at Pizza Rock with my mom, sister, Mark, and Lauren. The food was yummy and we had a great time. Next, my sister and I ran to some stores to try and find something for me to wear out for Dina's birthday. I don't usually go to clubs so my closet was seriously lacking something club-worthy. My sister calls my clothes, nun-clothes lol. Anyways, I found a super cute romper that had an open back. I was really self-conscious but ended up really liking it! I figure I can wear it again for the Rodan+ Fields convention in Vegas. :)

With the birthday girl! **Don't mind my crazy looking eyes- the flash was so bright!

Mark and I met up with Dina, Will, Jake, and Meaghan at their hotel. Then we went to Jewel in Aria to see the Chainsmokers. Such a fun night!! My legs were pretty sore from all the dancing haha... I'm old!

The next day we had a pool day and hung with the fam until it was time for Chase's baseball game. We had dinner beforehand at Born and Raised and then went to the game. We got to see him pitch, which was awesome!!

Sweaty baseball selfie :) 

On Sunday, we went to see Bad Moms with a big group of women. OH MY GOODNESS, it was hilarious! I'm not even a mom but I still thought everything in there was so funny. I can relate to some of those crazy moments from teaching. If you haven't seen it yet, get your booty to a theater and do so!

We were pretending he was a wittle baby still- he wasn't having it!

Davy with Chasen

On Sunday night we had a delicious steak dinner... thanks mom! Then hung out at the house for awhile with Breyen, Katie, baby Davy, Lauren, and Chase. It was fun to see everyone!

We packed up our car when it was still dark and made it on the freeway before 5 am. It was a whirlwind weekend but I was so glad we got to see some friends and family. Plus, I was so happy that we were with Dina for part of her birthday weekend, especially since we missed it last year.

Today, we got some work done at the house and I feel like it's coming together. I'll post some pictures soon! :) Have a great day!

July Disney Trip

Last Wednesday, my friend Stephanie and I headed up to Anaheim to go to Disneyland/ California Adventure. It has become our "thing" and we love it! The day was super humid and hot but the park wasn't as crowded as it normally is... bonus! We had quite the adventure with getting scolded several times by Disney employees, for doing things we didn't know was wrong lol. Also, Big Thunder closed twice while we were in line. The 2nd time it closed we were in line for 45 minutes and were the next people to get on. Huge bummer but they ended up giving us a fast pass for any time wanted. We were finally able to go on the ride after World of Color.  Oh yeah, they also closed down Main Street for awhile because of a bee hive too. :) Interesting day!

So excited to be in the park!!

Our first ride- Matterhorn, of course!

We had dinner at the Wine Trattoria which was so delicious. They had LOTS of gluten free options for Steph and it was nice to just sit for awhile.

So tired but powering through :) 

We got there are 8:30 and made it our mission to power through as late as possible. We had a blast and went on TONS of rides. One of my favorite rides of the day was Soaring Over the World (I think??). It used to be called Soaring Over California but they've recently changed it. They did a great job! We LOVED it!  We also got a fast pass to World of Color at California Adventure and WOW it was amazing! I had never seen it before and it was worth the wait! So beautiful!

We finally left around 10:30 and headed to our hotel. Such a fun day!

In the midst...

If you haven't noticed by now, I am a planner. I like to plan trips, date nights, my day, etc. Well this hasn't been working out so great for me because most of my plans lately have gone astray. A friend posted this verse today, and it really resonated with me. I know that when things don't go my way, that means that He is at work in my life. His plans are far greater than I can imagine and I know I will never fully understand. I am really trying to wrap my head around this at the moment.

Life has been a little nuts for us lately and it seems like the crazy just keeps on coming. Some of it have been great things... like this house we are renting. Our plans for buying didn't work out but we are loving our new house. Some of them are not so great things... I'm praying that the Lord will give me strength during this time and help me meditate on this verse. I know I don't understand, but someday I will.

Another friend sent me this prayer before my doctor's appointment this week and I have clung to every word.

 Just wanted to encourage you all today in the ways that I have been encouraged and uplifted. :)