I Heart Faces~Soft and Sweet

If this isn't 'soft and sweet' I don't know what is!  ;) 

I love this image of Hayden and my bestie's baby taken last year. I can't believe how much they have grown! 

*side note, I apologize for the craptastic quality of this image...the original was lost on my mac that suffered an unfortunate accident :-/  Anyway, I had to pull this off Facebook.

To see the other awesome entries, click HERE.

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

"Jerry's Fish Tacos"

So, my brother in law is a great cook.  His specialty is Italian food since he is Italian, but he makes the yummiest fish tacos so I thought I'd share 'em with my awesome blog followers :)  I don't have exact measurements but you don't need them with this dish, it's kina just "add to taste" kinda thing!  Anyway, here's what you will need:

~Fresh Tilapia (about 1 filet per person.  You can get about 3 tacos out of one filet)

~Bell Peppers (red, green, orange, yellow...it doesn't matter! I used red, yellow and orange mini peppers today for lots of color ;)

~One large lime or a couple small limes

~Fresh Cilantro

~Chili Pepper (to taste)

~Corn or Flour Tortillias depending on if you want cruchy or soft tacos

~Sour Cream (for sauce)

Chop the peppers in chunks and dice up the cilantro (save some of the cilantro for sauce.)  Squeeze the lime juice in the pan and add peppers and cilantro and saute on medium heat.  (Save some lime juice for the sour cream sauce.)  Also, I just threw the lime halves in the pan to cook with everything after I squeezed them.  If it seems like you need more liquid, add more lime juice or a little water (or you can use vinegar...I added a little water and a litte vinegar.)  Add chili pepper to taste (if desired.)  Add whole fish filets and cover.  Simmer until fish is done.  When the fish is done you can chop it up in big chunks so its easy to serve in the shells.  Fill shells and top with sauce (sour cream with lime juice and cilantro added to taste.)  Yummy!!  These are great served with blackbeans and I like to add a little sugar to the blackbeans ;) 

(please excuse my pitiful presentation...we were in a hurry to eat and get out the door tonight for revival so I had to work fast ;)

*I hope this wasn't confusing.  As you can tell, it's not an exact recipe of specific measurements, you just kinda add ingredients until it suits your taste.  It's a yummy way to make fish tacos if you have never tried them!* 


All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

I Heart Faces~Pets

This week's theme on I Heart Faces is pets.  This is our family pet, Roscoe.  He is a handful to say the least and I'm sad to say that I don't have as much patience for him since becoming a mommy but Hayden loves him so much.  He insists on kissing him on the nose when we let him out and he likes to hug him all the time.  Roscoe likes to lick his face (probably since he is the only one of us who lets him!) 

Click HERE to see all the other wonderful pet entries!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

On this day...

...7 years ago I said "yes" to my best friend when he asked me to marry him on the balcony of the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga.

It came as a bit of a surprise because I wanted to wait until the summer to get engaged since we had only become "official" in February.  I even remember thinking when I realized what he was doing "why is he proposing, he doesn't even have the ring yet!"  (He had told me that the ring I picked out had been sold...it had been sold...to him! ;)  But, of course I said "yes!" because I knew I was going to marry him and had known it for a while (he had too.)  It was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  14 months later, we were married and started our life together.  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by, but you know what they say..."time flies when you're having fun."  I can honestly say that I can't imagine my life without him, I hope I never have to. 


All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

I Heart Faces~Wind

For this week's challenge, I decided to use an image I took of my hubby at the beach one year.  It was taken back when I had a film SLR so it has been scanned and the quality isn't the greatest, but I love this image of him standing against the wind and just letting it wash over him.  And it reminds me of our favorite beach/vacation spot :)

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All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Randomness/Update

There are a few things I thought it might be appropriate to update on, so this post will do just that (I hope.) 
First off, we have had NO action on our house.  Not one showing. zip. zilch. nada.

I am wondering if this is a sign that it's just not the right time for us to move (as much as I would LOVE to.)  Now normally, I would just let it sit on the market and wait for a buyer to eventually come along.  However, our plan was to try for another baby in the next few months and I need more space before said baby arrives.  Like, it's not an option.  Either we have more space or I might go a little crazy ;)  SO, we are going to pray that if we haven't heard anything by a certain date (in the very near future) that we will take it off the market and add a bonus room to our house.  We will use it as a playroom/family room type thing.  This obviously will not solve all of our space issues with this house but it will help some.  It will help make this house work for us for maybe a couple more years till we try to sell again.  And I'm planning on re-decorating if we stay as well.  I am just way over my current decor, earthtone colors and all.  I'm ready to freshen things up! 
I think the Lord may be teaching me a lesson in contentment.  We don't need to move, we just want to.

(this picture is crap because my battery was dying...I think.)

The truth is, we have a nice, 3 year old home that has everything we need even if it doesn't have all the space we want for our growing family.  We are so very blessed.  I am able to stay home which has always been a dream of mine.  We are able to comfortably make our mortgage payments every month.  We have everything we need and a lot of things we want.  And don't get me wrong, I didn't want to move so that we could buy a huge, beautiful, expensive home so we could 'keep up with the Jones' or be house-poor like so many people are.  My main requirement was more space.  I had this dream of finding a home with lots of space that was a bit of a fixer (maybe even a little ugly) and me and Jeff would turn it into a beautiful home together.  I got caught up in how fun it would be to take a home that was a little 'rough around the edges' and make it a beautiful place for us to call home for a long time.  But, maybe that is not what the Lord has in mind.

(like the uh...spider web?  Just keepin' it real, peeps!)

Maybe He wants us to stay in this house for a bit longer.  And if that is what we are supposed to do, even though that is not what I want, I am ok with that. 

Next thing on the updating agenda...my little man :) 

He will be 2 next month and I cannot believe how fast the past 2 years have flown by! 
He has been such a bog boy lately.  He is doing amazing with potty training.  We have nearly no accidents at home.  I keep his potty in the living room for easy access and he tells me when he has to go (if he needs help getting his pants down) or he goes on his own.  This weekend I was brave enough to take him out and about in underwear and he did great!  I had to remember to take him potty often since I was worried that he might not tell me when he had to go.  We stayed dry the whole time, I was so excited!  He still wears diapers for nap and bedtime, of course.  And I haven't been brave enough to take him to church in underwear yet but I need to just bite the bullet on that.  I will just have to pack a change of clothes for if he has an accident. 

He is always amazing me with how much he loves learning. He's known every letter of the alphabet for a while now but now he has moved on to numbers (recognizing them,) shapes, colors and whatever else I show him!

He totally loves Buzz and Woody and goes crazy when he sees anything with them on it.  He watches Toy Story and he is always talking to people about "Buzz eee (and) Woody"  He even has Buzz & Woody underwear ;)

Next...I have planted a few things that are sprouting in my window sill.

  So far I have red & yellow peppers, strawberries and dwarf sunflowers.  I am procrastinating about planting my tomatoes :-/  And I have a few herbs I want to plant too.  I need to get going on that!

I just want to say that we are so very thankful for everyone that has been praying for us lately.  We appreciate it more than you know.  We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received from great friends, family and our amazing church family.  Please continue to pray for God's protection and for wisdom. 

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

I Heart Faces~Best Face of March

This week, I am entering this photo for the 'best face of march' people's choice contest.  I love this image of little "V."  I had SO much fun with her lifestyle session.  She is the prettiest little girl!!

If you would like to view other entries or enter one yourself, click HERE

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!