{ Dinner Time :: Mels Kitchen vs. Pioneer Woman}

Not sure if y'all know this or not but I LOVE to cook and bake. I go through rough phases like I'm pregnant {NO I'm not currently} and puking and everything makes me sick or I just had a baby and have only enough energy to keep everyone alive and we eat who knows what or it is just to overwhelming to even think of meal planning BUT when I am on it I'm cooking like its business. 

If you know me well at all you know I LOVE Mels Kitchen. She is a mom and she LOVES to cook and she rocks at it. I do not think I have tried something off of her blog that we have not all LOVED and made multiple times. She is just that good and she is even cooler to have taken the time to made super yummy easy meal plans for me {or you}. So if you have eaten something at my house and thought it was to die for it most likely came from her. 

So for Christmas I got a new cookbook. I was super excited {yes I am a nerd who gets excited to read through a new cookbook} to try out The Pioneer Woman. I had tried a few of her recipes and her cookbook is VERY well done. I am a true believer in a cookbook is only as good as its pictures and this book is filled every page with amazing photos and super easy step by step how to cook {super awesome if you are just learning how to cook}. All of this made me super excited. So being the new year and being full of ambition I made a bunch of her freezer meals and have been trying some of her other recipes for dinner the past 2 weeks. What I have come to discover is NO ONE in my family {not even me - I make things often that I LOVE but the boys and Brady do not - usually weird crazy healthy veggie dishes} has fallen in love with the dishes I have tried. Sad when I actually want to cook and am trying new things and they don't turn out as good as I imagined they would. 

So I have come to the conclusion that I will stick to Mels Kitchen and if you were thinking about buying The Pioneer Woman's cookbook I would maybe pass or if you live in Alabama you can borrow mine and try it out. 

Where do you get most of your dinner recipes from? 

I am still on the hunt for some amazing crockpot freezer meals that are healthy and not a casserole to try out if you know of any. 

Yes I know I am crazy weird about food. 

Happy Cooking!

{Me and my BIG boys}

This is how family home evening ended. I loved these two crazy boys of mine. If I ever dare lay down on the floor I am their personal jungle gym. Ollie was already in bed or he would have been on top of me as well I am sure. I can't believe how big they are getting. I was just looking at pictures of them this past spring and they have changed and grown so much since then. Time goes by so fast I am trying to be a better mom and enjoying them more and stressing about cooking and cleaning less. Here is to 2016 and trying to play more with my kids and enjoy their crazy. 

{Ollie Max:: Because you are cute}

Because when you are this darn cute and your mom didn't blog your first year of life she gets to post pictures just to remember how sweet and cute you are. Even when they are a bit blurry but have the most heart melting smile. I love hearing you say "oh NO!" and "Uttt Ooooh" I also love your wave good bye and how you blow kisses. You have the sweetest little voice. 

You are super silly and your new way of eating food is we put you in the high chair and then you throw every last bit on the floor. I take you out and you eat it all off of the floor before I can even clean it up. I guess we don't need a puppy to clean up the spills anymore with you around. 

sporing his new hair cut. 

{Have you ever ...}

Have you ever put dish soap in your dishwasher instead of dishwasher soap? I highly recommend NEVER letting it happen. Especially if you have wood floors.... it makes a HUGE mess and is a pain to clean up. I realized what I had done after a late sad Saturday night when I half asleep walked into the kitchen and slipped in a pool of bubbles all over the floor. When I opened the dishwasher bubbles came poring out like they are in the bathtub with the boys in my last post. What a mess to end a already sad night. Such is life somedays. 

{Bubble Baths}

What better way to get warm after playing outside in the freezing rain and mud than a HUGE bubble bath in mama and daddy's "rocket tub" as the boys call it. 

This was Ollie Max's first time joining the big boys in the "rocket tub". I think he had mixed emotions about it all. As for me with this many bubbles and this deep of water  and how crazy Ryker and Grayson are I was pretty scared for his safety. 

{Small and Simple Things :: Make Me Happy}

My sweet Brady Michael brought these beauties home to me on a whim and they made me oh so HAPPY! There is just something about having fresh flowers in my house that makes me smile every time I look at them. It was such a kind way to show me love. One other thing that he has started doing is calling me on his way home to see if I need him to stop and pick anything up for me {if you live out in the country you know how BIG of a deal this is}. These are two things I have wanted my sweetheart to do for years and now he is doing them without me even asking. In the smallest things we find the greatest joys. 

What small and simple things does your sweetheart do for you that you often overlook? 

{New Years Eve :: 2015}

Getting ready to ring in the new year with our friends. 2015 was fun but mostly CRAZY and a blur. Here is to hoping 2016 brings more normal and a bit less crazy and much more sleep.  

We got a fire pit for Christmas and had fun breaking it in with some s'more making. The kids loved it. 

These have been best buddies since they met 3 years ago. It cracks me up because their personalities are exactly the same. Both a bit OCD. If they ever get married we are going to have an AWESOME video of them growing up together. 

everyone LOVED papa Jack's fireworks. I wish I would have gotten a picture of their faces when they were firing off. 

Sparkler fun. 

I have no idea how these kids have this much energy. It was almost 10pm at this point and freezing. Only in Alabama do you have your AC on one day and your heater on the next. 

We had a blast hanging out with friends, playing games, eating yummy food, fireworks, and chasing our monkey's. 

My new years kiss!

{Christmas Morning :: 2015}

We had a VERY Merry Christmas.

 We have loved hanging out in our jimmies and playing games and riding new bikes and eating junk food, playing with new toys, Skyping with family, watching movies and just enjoying each other. 

Santa you got Grayson the perfect present. He is obsessed with his new Star Wars bike and LOVES that the handle bar lights up like a light saver. We had rain all Christmas day and got lots of new riding toys and the boys road them all around the house for 2 days before the rain stopped and we could take them outside. 

Santa Ryker is already having a blast building and creating new tracks with his marble run. 

New slipper feet.  

 

I wish a glowing tooth brush made me this happy. 

Its in the small things we find the greatest joy. 

New cowboy boots. 

Papa Jack's family was not coming in town until Saturday so he came over to open presents with us Christmas morning. 

I sure love this handsome guy of mine. I am thankful everyday that he is my eternity. 

I am a robot. 

Ollie was not interested in opening any of his presents {Grayson was happy to open all of them for him} but he found a box of tissues and went to town. My little mess maker. 

{Ward Christmas Party :: Decor}

This year I was put over the Ward Christmas breakfast. So of course I had to do a full Lindsay scale party. I absolutely love how all of the decor turned out truly amazing but man it about killed me and that was even with me starting back in October. 

The spirit was so strong and totally centered on our Savior Jesus Christ and that is exactly what I wanted so it was all worth it in the end. 

Here is the blog I got our program from Christmas Program . You should totally use it. You will not regret it. 

Here are some of the videos we showed in the program. Enjoy the true reason for the season. 

Kids and Christmas

The Good Shepherd 

The Spirit of Christmas 

They gave up their Christmas

{Christmas Eve Dinner :: 2015}

I love my fancy Christmas eve dinner. We use real christmas dishes, steam wear, fancy table spread, and name cards {Ryker loves deciding where everyone is going to sit}. We keep to the Wood family tradition of Chinese for dinner. The night is full of delicious food, laughter, music, games, and present opening. Its pretty perfect. 

The "kids" table. 

Sorry sisters everyone could not fit at the adult table. 

Adult table.

Papa Jack opening his Christmas present from us. His book made him cry he loved it so much. We are truly blessed to have him since we live so far from all of our other grandparents. 

This kid. 

I love listening to Mark pick on his banjo.  So does this little guy. I think he might be a musician or something to do with music. He LOVES it and defiantly gets his grove on. 

I love that having the Collier family over on Christmas eve is now part of our tradition. They are a fun crew to be with and they boys absolutely have a blast playing with Josie and Lukas. All day long they kept asking "when are Josie and Lukas coming?" and then I would tell them an amount of time and they would say "is that long?" 

Ryker's face says "really you are making me take another family photo?"

Papa Jack sure loves the sister missionaries. 

It has been a while since I have really "clicked" with the sister missionaries but man I am in love with these sweet girls. They are going to make some men VERY happy someday. They have been so helpful and I truly love and appreciate their friendship. Some nights it feels like I am hanging out with my sisters. Living far from my real sisters is hard. 

Feel so blessed to have Jerry and Patty as our neighbors and thrilled they were able to spend the night with us.