Feature Friday: Jennifer DeMoro Jewelry

Hi guys! It has been a crazy couple of weeks. We flew out to Washington for Stafford to take the bar, I am staying with my parents while he flies back to Minnesota to pack up the rest of our apartment and drive it out here with his dad. In case you didn't catch the beginning of that sentence...   Stafford TOOK THE BAR!!! That means no more studying!! And we can't start working until we hear back in September, so basically we get to play the rest of the summer! I am kind of grateful it takes a while to grade, because he so deserves a break and to be honest me and my girls need a break! haha. We all have our own trials, and the bar was a big one for us. I'm glad it's over and we can move on to better things. Yay!

As all of this was unfolding, I was able to connect with Jennifer of Jennifer DeMoro Jewelry. I asked if she wanted to collaborate and was ecstatic when she said yes! I've been searching for a hand stamped necklace for a while, but was always worried about quality. I have had this necklace for about a month now and wear it quite often. I can tell you it is high quality and has held up with my busy mommy lifestyle. It is simple enough to wear every day, but makes me feel a little more done up. Beautiful pieces like this that are so versatile are worth the extra money to get the lasting quality. 

On her website, Jennifer offers more than just personalized necklaces. I adore her Turquoise Hoop Earrings and her Gold Stacking Rings. If you want something for yourself or to gift to someone special, she is offering my readers a 10% discount with code: lovestrong10 at check out. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

XO

Currently

So our summer has been off to a good start! It's been super hot, and now we've hit the cool down. I've been trying to do something fun with the girls everyday and I think it's keeping us all happy. If you have tips on summer activities with toddlers I'd love to hear them!

I wanted to put together a little list of what we're up to lately, so here it is:

Eating:
Garlic Butter Asparagus Pasta - We tried this last week and it was pretty delicious. I've never had good luck with asparagus, but this recipe worked and it tasted delicious. My girls even ate the Orzo. We will definitely make it again.

Watching:
My girls have been OBSESSED with Zootopia since it came out last week. We had a family movie night complete with blankets and pillows and popcorn with chocolate chips! We have probably watched at least parts of it everyday since.
As for what I'M watching- nothing. I need something. I got into Gilmore Girls a little, but the sarcasm is just too much for me sometimes. I'm happily taking suggestions.

Reading:
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing - This book is amazing! I only got to read the first 60 pages or so before I had to return it to the library because of the wait list. I loved it and was so inspired by it. Since we're already packing to move across the country, I figured this was as good a time as any to get rid of so much of our clutter. Everyday I get rid of a bag or two of stuff I feel the weight lift off my shoulders. It's a freeing feeling. I definitely recommend this book!

Doing:
Packing... I've been slowly trying to pack here and there because after the bar, Stafford is coming back by himself to pack up the house and the truck, so I'd like to get as much of the apartment done as possible before we leave. This means starting early. Sadly the decorations were the easiest, so now our walls are bare and boxes are piling up. We may have to move Addie into McKinlee's room by the end of it so we can have one whole room devoted to boxes. Bleh.

I have to say- these girls are pretty fun despite the number of times I have to tell them to get off of each other ;)

The BEST Strawberry Jam

I am a little bit embarrassed to say that I have attempted to make strawberry jam before and it was a complete disaster. I used a different pectin than my mom uses and after a phone call to both my mom and my grandma they gave me total opposite instructions on how to make it work (-can you tell I've been watching Project Runway during Addie's night time feedings?). After going through the whole cooking process I decided that the unset jam was not worth the blood, sweat, and tears. I accepted that I would not be the trophy wife and mom that I had hoped to be.
Luckily a year went by and my mom came out for Adalyn's birth. She bought us three cartons of strawberries and brought her own pectin. I was over due and decided to watch her process from the couch- yes I was that tired by the end of it. A month after my mom left, I realized we had already gone through 4 jars and that we wouldn't have enough to last us until next summer. My mom sent a care package with a box of pectin in it for me to try again, and last night at 10 o'clock I decided it was time. Was my two year old still awake trying to peak at me from her bedroom door? Yes. Did I send my husband to Target at 10:40 because I didn't have enough Karo syrup? Yes. Was Adalyn awake in her bouncer on the island with me the whole time? Yes. But I did it. And by 12:30am it was all done and I felt SO good about myself.
So because I don't want you to feel the same failure I once felt, here is the recipe that is tried and true by my mom and now me (woo-hoo!).

Easy Freezer Strawberry Jam:
3 1/4 cup Crushed Strawberries
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1 (2oz.) Box MCP Pectin
1 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
4 1/2 cup Sugar

Wash, stem, and finely grind strawberries in food processor.
Combine exactly measured strawberries and lemon juice into a large bowl.
Measure exact amount of sugar into a separate bowl.
Gradually stir MCP Pectin into berry mixture. Set aside for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes to dissolve pectin completely.
Add Karo Syrup to berry mixture and mix well.
Add sugar gradually. Stir well to dissolve completely until it is no longer grainy. (Grab some with your fingers to feel for sugar- it should feel completely smooth besides the seeds.)
After sugar is completely dissolved, pour jam into containers leaving a 1/2 inch of space for expansion.
Cover and leave out at room temperature for 24 hours until set.
Store in Fridge for up to 3 weeks or freeze for up to 1 year.

Summertime Recap..

Since it's now OCTOBER I thought I would finally post about our summer! It's been busy busy, but I had to share some pictures since we've been MIA.
As you know, Stafford and I both graduated from BYU-Idaho in July. Our families came up to be a part of our big day, so we took the opportunity to do some last second sight seeing before we left Rexburg. We decided to drive to Mesa Falls and then on to Yellowstone. It was such a fun trip!

 Then we visited my family in Washington for a few weeks before moving out to Minneapolis. My older sister and her daughters came out to visit as well. One day we were able to go to a park that my mom took us girls to when I was growing up. It was kind of surreal! McKinlee loved it and had so much fun with her cousins.

It was great to just be with my family and spend time with them before leaving. I know they loved seeing McKinlee grow up while we were there.

 And now we are here, finishing up unpacking and decorating. This girl makes all the hassle and craziness fun. I just love her sweet spirit and little smile.

McKinlee: 8 Months

Leggings: Carter's on clearance

This month has been crazy. This girl is growing so fast and it's killing me! 

Sleep: We are now settling in to our new apartment and McKinlee's settling back into her sleep schedule. She takes 2 good naps a day. One at 10:30 and another at 2:30 or so. We try and keep her up until 9 or 9:30 and she goes down for the night. Lately she's been waking up at 8:50 without fail. Haha I just need 10 more minutes! She must know what she's doing. I really can't complain though. I am grateful that she sleeps in that much. I still love that she rolls onto her side as soon as we set her down.

Size: 
Weight: Not sure!

Height: Not sure!

We're in size 2 diapers and she is in between clothing sizes! She wears 3-6, and 6 month clothing mostly. I'm even buying more 9 month clothing so I can be ready for her next growth spurt! Unpacking has been like Christmas around here. I forgot she had this many clothes! There are quite a few 6 month outfits that she hasn't gotten to wear yet because we were supposed to be moved in a month ago! So after a month of struggling to find something for her to wear, it's fun to open up boxes of possibilities :)

 
Food: McKinlee is nursing only once a day now. I think I'm nearing the end of the line with breastfeeding. I'm a little sad that we got out of the habit during the move, so I may try to reinstate it a little more, but I think we're at a pretty good stopping point. 8 months is a good amount of time. Listen to me. Flip flop, flip flop. We'll see what happens with breastfeeding. In the meantime, we have started feeding her more bread and we've introduced CHEERIOS. I have to say, that was pretty nerve wracking for me. I was so worried about her choking- and yes she gagged the first time, but now she's pro and is loving it. We also bought her little yogurt drops and I think she likes them. They melt pretty fast and give her a new taste. I haven't given her any meat yet, so that will be happening this month!

Milestones: McKinlee is mobile! No- she's still not crawling, but she gets around so fast. I honestly don't know how she does it. I turn around for 30 seconds and she's halfway across the room! I think it's a mixture of army crawling, inch worming and rolling. It's kind of adorable. I don't worry about her falling over while sitting anymore and she pulls herself up anytime she can. She loves standing! She also walks a little bit while holding onto the couch or her crib! That was an exciting night. She pulled herself up in her crib and started bouncing and then walking along the rail. I was dying. She was just laughing and smiling. So cute. McKinlee also has her two bottom teeth and I think 2 of her top teeth are coming in now. I can't wait for that smile! She has also mastered the pincer grasp thanks to those cheerios and self feeding! I'm so proud of that little girl.

It's been a crazy couple of months and I'm sorry for the lack of blogging. It's been so insane! Now we are mostly unpacked and back to real life. Stafford and I have not lived in our own place by ourselves for over 2 months! Crazy right? It's weird that it's just McKinlee and me while Stafford's at school. AND I haven't cooked a meal in 2 months. That sounds crazy and I can't believe I'm admitting that. Back to real life for us. Wish us luck!

 Happy October!

Mom Fail.

I feel like I need to preface this post by reminding you of our crazy past month or so.  If you read my last post you know we are living out of suitcases until our apartment is finishing up construction.

I can't say it's been the easiest thing moving from place to place and getting McKinlee used to every new environment (she's finally settling into a routine), but we've sure been blessed with great friends and family through the whole process. This morning I was looking around our room and deciding what I needed to do today. Then I looked at my baby...

Yes, she's a doll- but that's not what I'm talking about.. Look at that outfit!! Those were her pajamas last night! As I was getting her dressed for bed, I was desperately searching through her suitcase for anything that would fit her and cover her arms and legs. She's grown out of most of her 3 month clothing and I didn't pack all of her 6 month clothing to come with us (what was I thinking?!). I've known that laundry had to be done soon what with the major drool fest she's got going lately and the messy bottle drinker she is.  :) Man I just love that girl.

I could just die over that face... the itchy eyes/nose face. So cute.

This isn't the ideal situation, but hey, we're alive and happy. Babies don't know if they're wearing a completely mismatched outfit because their mother couldn't get it together enough to have clean pajamas for her, do they? No big deal. Wish me luck on getting more done tomorrow!

Come Fly With Me

McKinlee took her first plane ride and I had my first plane ride with a baby. What an experience.

For the past month we've been living at my parent's house in Washington. Stafford flew back to pick up all of our boxes and furniture in Idaho with his dad. They drove the moving truck to Minneapolis and moved it into a storage unit, since our apartment building is currently being built, and two weeks later McKinlee and I flew out to be with him. You could say it's been a crazy summer. 

McKinlee and I had to take two planes to get here. The first one was great! She slept on the way up and on the way back down while sipping on a bottle. I didn't pay for a seat for her either, but both flights had enough room for her carseat! SCORE! I don't know how I would have done it just with her on my lap. I'm sure it would have been fine, but I was so grateful to have a place for her to sit.

The second flight was not so great.. We went up and as she was sleeping she kept whimpering and turning back and forth. About a half hour into the flight she suddenly wakes up, starts coughing and next thing I know spit up is everywhere! And it keeps coming! I unbuckled her immediately so she wouldn't choke and tried to soak up as much as possible with her burp clothe. It was a mess. I didn't know what to do! The lady next to me seemed like she didn't have a clue what was happening. I changed McKinlee on my lap and wiped her and the carseat up as best as I could. I put it all in a garbage bag the flight attendant gave me to best contain the smell. It was pretty gross. After all was said and done she was happy and cute the rest of the ride.

The worst part of it all was probably that night. She was sick for the first time and that was miserable for us! She woke up every 2 hours crying and was so congested. It was horrible. Needless to say it will be a while before we take another plane ride :)

McKinlee: 7 Months

I can't believe I almost forgot to post this!

Sorry for the picture repeat! The move is throwing us off a little bit.

McKinlee is 7 months old already! Over the halfway mark. I can't believe it! She has grown so much over this past month.

Sleep:  Even with all the traveling around McKinlee has still slept all through the night. I am so glad! We did have a rough patch when she was sick our first night in Minneapolis. It was a little miserable. She still sleeps around 10-12 hours at night. She goes down around 11:00 and wakes up around 9:00. She takes a good nap in the morning, another good one around 2 or 3, and the last is around 7 or 8. She has been sleeping in a pack 'n play for the past month and it seems fine with her. As soon as I set her down, she rolls to her side. It's adorable.

Size: 
Weight: Not sure!

Height: Not sure!

We're in size 2 diapers and she has officially grown out of all 0-3 month clothes. She wears 3, 3-6, and 6 month clothing. I feel like her outfits finally count! Haha she can sit up and we go out more often so people actually see her cute clothes. She is getting so big. I can tell that she has grown.

 
Food: McKinlee is still nursing a few times a day. We switched her to oatmeal to see if she liked it more than rice cereal. I don't think there's a big difference between her reactions to the two. She likes fruits and vegetables way more than the main course though. We finally tried some cookies this month! We tried these ones. She really loves being able to feed herself. They are big enough for her to hold and they fall apart when she sucks on them, so I'm not worried about her choking on them. She still loves little bites of bread and drinking water out of any cup/straw she can get her hands on!

Milestones: Baby girl is our little sitter!  She can catch herself for the most part and reaches for things in front of her really well! Her rolling has improved, but we're still working on it. McKinlee is quite the talker. She loves talking with Grandma Shana and her aunties! Grandpa gets a smile out of her everyday when he gets home from work. I think being around more people has helped her through the stranger stage. She loves getting passed around and playing with everyone. I'm glad she can be happy with everyone. There are definitely rough times, but for the most part she is a happy baby!

We Miss Daddy!

I have to say... Not having Stafford around has been HARD. This girl sure does miss her dad. We video chat as often as we can. He is a couple hours ahead of us, which makes it hard. We send him lots of mommy/daughter pictures to help him get through the week. I don't know if they actually help him or hurt him haha.We'll be joining him in about a week! In the meantime, my mom's putting me to work on another project. I'm loving painting and decorating a house. I know Stafford and I are far from having a home of our own to play with, so this will do.

Love you babe!
xoxo- your girls

Packing... again!

It has been a little crazy around here. As you know we just graduated and are now packing up and moving to Minnesota. It's weird. I didn't know I had this much stuff in my house! I promise we're not hoarders, but our living room sure looks like it right now.

While I'm organizing all of this craziness in my house, you should definitely check out the giveaway I'm a part of over on Courtney's blog...

She is so cute and this giveaway has something for everyone- seriously. Check it out!

Have you heard..?

We're moving to Minnesota!

Stafford and I are graduating this month from BYU-Idaho and after months of Stafford studying for the LSAT, taking the LSAT, and applying for schools we decided on the University of Minnesota Law School.

It's a really good school and we are just excited for the new chapter in our life. We have loved it here at BYU-Idaho and I know we'll miss it. We met and fell in love here and not to mention we had our baby here! This has been our home for the past 4 years. We have heard great things about Minneapolis and the people there, so we are very excited. I guess we'll have to brush up on our hockey terms though because I think it's kind of a big deal there! (Great... one more sport I have to learn everything about..) We don't have family out there and don't really know anyone, so we're just going into it a little blind. I have researched where the zoo's are, the malls (umm.. Mall of America anyone?) and the Chipotle's and Panera Bread's so we're all set. We found a place and I can't wait to move in! That's our next big thing in life, so I'm just ready to get going! We've started selling a few things and packing up a couple boxes, but we still have a little while before we leave.

I think I need to beef up my winter closet a little more before October hits.

Flower Clip

First two weeks of homelessness

Hello, hello!
So...  the past couple weeks have been crazy!
I had my last day working at preschool. I'm tellin ya, it is sad to say goodbye to so many cute faces. :( 

I'm going to miss them...

haha even though I look a little crazy..

Parents were coming so we had to get them out the door. I got my own little mittens 

that everyone signed. So sweet.

 Last time we talked I was crazy busy packing. Luckily we got that all done thanks to our wonderful friends and had a nice dinner before we left...

After Courtney helped me clean for hours and hours, our apartment was

finally clean and we were ready to leave. I'll miss this apartment. It was so big and nice for our little family.

After this picture we crammed ourselves into the little space left in our car
and we began our 14 hour drive.
Even after 5 minutes of the freeway I was already feeling claustrophobic.
Luckily Rocky IV adjusted quickly to life on the road...

He was such a good sport...

We stayed the night in Barstow and continued 
on our journey the next morning. Our poor bird was so sick of being in a car by that time. 
We finally got to Utah Saturday night. 
We had a great time with Stafford's parents and siblings. It's always a party when everyone's there.
We also were able to stop by the Timpanogos Temple which was our first temple after we were married...

 We also had a little love time throwing rocks in the back yard. It's important to have alone time when you're homeless and living with family for a month... haha

 ...  very important.

 After a wonderful week with Stafford's family, we flew to Arizona to hang out with his sister Steph and her cute family. Her son loves Stafford and if you ask me they totally look alike..

We had a blast with family and eating as much mexican food as we could.
Friday we flew to Portland to be with my family for Christmas. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and we're excited to finally be settled in our new townhome. yay!

Last week

 okay, so I haven't written in a while.

I'm sorry.

I've been sick, and Sunday is the day of rest. 

and I haven't taken any pictures.

So here is our schedule this week:

Tonight we went to our sweet friend's for dinner.

The Lee's have been so nice to us since we've been in Fresno.

We just love them.

Then we went to the church for a meeting with our bishop and to say goodbye.

Tomorrow is my last day working at preschool :(

I am so sad. I will miss those cute little faces so much. 

I won't get to work with kids for a long time, so that'll be a big change.

Then I get to make some crafts with my fun friend Jennifer. yay!

That night will be our last time going to the Fresno temple.

We will miss it so much. We've gotten to know the workers and we've just loved going.

Thursday I will be packing all day long.

We'll go out to dinner with some friends and then hopefully use their hands to help pack and clean.

and Friday we're out of here!

Stafford will work and come home early to pack up the car and head out.

I will be so sad to leave. This place has been so fun and we've met a lot of great people.

Anyways,

I don't know how much I'll be able to update this baby in the next month, because we'll kind of be everywhere. Thanks for following our adventures so far! We're excited for the next couple years!

non-existent packing.

So...  we are on countdown here people. Stafford and I are moving in a week and a half!

Nothing is packed yet. I am freaking out. If you ask Stafford, he would tell you that I am the slowest packer of all time... and he's right. I'm horrible.

My way of helping the situation is to work on my scrapbooking so I can make the pile smaller.

So this is what our living room looks like right now...

haha I don't know how helpful I'm being, but it makes me feel better to get something done.

Next thing on the agenda... 

I am determined to keep my goal. Tonight for dinner I looked through my pinterest recipes and found a yummy rice recipe, and since we had pasta yesterday, it was perfect. So today this was the attempt...

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice

I got this delicious recipe from here

Ingredients:

• chicken breasts (I used one because I don't like meat).
• 1 can of cream of chicken
• onion, chopped up
• yellow rice (I used 1 1/2 cups uncooked white minute rice)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1 can of corn drained

Put chicken in crock pot with chopped onion, then add cream of chicken. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4. Then add cooked rice and corn the last 15 minutes to warm.

There are lots of variations of this recipe, but this was very easy. Loved it.

 So yay... I think it looks good.

... and the complete meal... 

It was yum.

Have a great turkey day tomorrow!