Beautiful Weather

Today has been so gorgeous we just had to get outside.

Giselle loves chasing after her ball, but after a couple of runs she heads straight for the shade and lays down-she cracks me up.

On a different note, I just have to share this recipe that I got this week and made today. It's called Crock Pot Creamy Italian Chicken and it is fabulous! You need:

• 4-6 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 pkg Fat-Free Cream Cheese
• 1 can Cream of Chicken
• 1 pkg Good Seasonings Italian Salad Dressing Mix

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray, lay chicken in the bottom, and cover with the Italian seasoning. Then cut cream cheese into cubes and scatter across chicken, then cover everything with the cream of chicken. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours. I served it with brown rice and it was so good! AND its only 5 points!

One Year Meat-Free!

Last March I never would have thought I would go a whole year without eating any meat! (except for occasional fish) I was originally inspired by Ellen DeGeneres and Carrie Underwood and just thought that going without meat was a healthy choice. And it totally was. I felt great the whole time. But it was never my intention to do it for a year. After a few months I figured that since I had done it that long I would just keep doing it until a year had passed and then I would reevaluate. Well over the last week I decided that while I really enjoyed my choice to not eat meat, I think it would be good to introduce chicken and turkey back in. Though I must say, I will probably never eat beef or pork ever again. After doing tons of research, I just can't see that the benefits outweigh the risks (for me). So anyways, on my one year anniversary of being meat-free I made Broccoli Chicken Casserole and it was fabulous! I know that James is probably happy for me to be cooking chicken again, though he was super supportive for the whole last year.

First bite! (excuse the hair-it's been a long day)

Catching Up

THIS is why I was anti-Magan-having-a-blog! Because my boring life gets busy and I won't post! Seriously, the last two weeks have been full of school (two econometric papers due in two weeks) and that's it. But here are just a few things that have gone on...

-James and I went to see "The Blind Side" last Saturday at the dollar theater. Needless to say, I want to be Sandra Bullock's character! Loved, loved, loved that movie! I cried and cried several times and I recommend it to everyone! James even liked it!
-We got Girl Scout cookies! I had been waiting since January to enjoy these! And we certainly did enjoy them... all in one day! Ha! -I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by dying my daily egg white bagel sandwich green! I got some weird looks at school, but I thought it was fun. I'm thinking about dying it a different color everyday now. -We all hiked the Y yesterday. I've been slacking on my work outs and thought it would be fun if we all did it together. It took us a little bit longer than when just James and I go by ourselves, but little Houston walked all by himself just about the whole way! After we got home we all took baths and then James and I made breakfast for dinner-my favorite- and it was fabulous! French toast, hashbrowns, and grits :) It was funny because a while back when Houston was here I made him cheese grits for breakfast and he didn't like them at all. So then yesterday Eric let him try them again, but this time they were fixed the Yankee way with sugar, which he loved. Sick! So I had fun making fun of all three of the boys for their Yankee tendency to ruin a wonderful Southern food. We were so tired after dinner that we all fell asleep at about 8:00-ha!

Our life should get more exciting from here on out... I'm hoping. With Easter/General Conference, my family coming in April for graduation (I'm walking early), and James getting more feedback from potential employers everyday I should have more to blog about!

Alice in Wonderland

Saturday afternoon James and I went to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D. I thought it was a fun movie, but I wish there would have been more Johnny Depp... basically, I wish the movie would have been "The Mad Hatter".

After the movie we met Eric and Houston at Tucano's for Eric's birthday dinner. It was delicious as always and we ate way too much!

Saturday was also my parents' 28th wedding anniversary! I think they look too young to have been married for that long :) I think this picture sums up their personalities really well... My mom is crazy and my dad is not, but it's obviously workin' well for them!

Off now to watch the Academy Awards! So far Jennifer Lopez's dress is my favorite!

No one can say I didn't try!

I've been trying to expand my store of recipes and tonight tried an African stew. Bad idea. Let me just tell you, the smell alone is making me nauseous. James is on the phone right now ordering pizza-ha! It sounded so good in the recipe! It has sweet potatoes, carrots, peanut butter, spinach... It's a WW recipe, and when I was telling my dad about it he said, "Maybe they're thinking that since it's so gross people won't eat it and then they'll lose weight." Anyways, if you ever come across a WW recipe for African stew DON'T DO IT.

On a different note, yesterday was my sister Lauren's 17th birthday! She told me she wanted balloons and chocolate, which I didn't know how I was going to get to her, but after a pleasant experience with the local Hy-Vee I was able to order a balloon bouquet and Hershey's kisses for her.

I wish we would have been there to celebrate with her :( But I'm sure it was still fabulous. Happy Birthday Lauren, we love you!

Bead Party

My friend Shara's aunt has a bead party once a month and this evening I finally got to go to one! It was so much fun and I could not believe how much cheaper it is to make your own jewelry. I bought a bracelet at Target a couple of months ago and absolutely love it and have wanted more like it. So tonight I made two for the price that I paid for just that one at Target!
I'm so happy with how they turned out! And I can't wait 'til the next party--I think these bead parties are going to be my new favorite thing! Thanks for inviting me Shara!

Surprise Date 2 and more...

The last two days have been crazy. I had a test yesterday and two tests today so I've been freaking out and studying like a crazy person. But it's all over now and the tests went well... we'll just have to see HOW well next week.

Last night we had fish tacos (my sister-in-law Jessica's fabulous recipe). We've had it a couple of times since Eric has been living with us, but last night for whatever reason he had a crazy allergic reaction to them! The poor guy's lips and left side of his face got really swollen and he couldn't feel his tongue. I felt bad, but it was kind of funny.

The picture doesn't do it too much justice... it got worse. He and James eventually went to the store and got some Benadryl so he's fine now.

I was recently called to be an Activity Days leader at church and got to go to my first activity this afternoon. These are two of the girls with the other leader's daughter in the middle. For their activity they took these rocks/marbles and pasted the six "Be's" on them. They were supposed to be Mod Podged on, but it kept taking the ink off, so they just taped them on. It was fun and the girls are really sweet. I'm excited to spend more time with them!

In celebration of my tests being over we had a surprise date tonight! James took me to Red Robin... not usually a favorite of mine, but I've been wanting Fish and Chips lately (I don't know why because I've never ordered it in my life!) and I was able to get it there. It was good, and I was just happy to not have to cook.