As promised....

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Fabulous Food Friday: Tequilla Lime Chicken

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago and it was some of the best chicken I've ever had. I only had one bite since it was before my carnivorous ways kicked back in but it was so good. I got the recipe from Pioneer woman and you have simply GOT to try it!

Changes I made:
I used legs and thighs because that was what I had. Also, I cooked them on the skillet because I'm pretty sure it was raining and I didn't want my poor husband grilling out in the rain. Also, I hate tequila and we don't have any so I left it out.

Pictures courtesy of Pioneer woman.



Ingredients
■3 whole Limes, Juiced
■5 cloves Garlic, Peeled
■1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
■1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
■½ cups Cilantro
■½ cups Tequila
■5 Tablespoons Olive Oil
■4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
■1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
■ pico de gallo (I also made homemade pico and it was so good as well but a little too spicy for me!)

Preparation Instructions
Combine lime juice, garlic cloves, sliced jalapeno, salt, cilantro, and tequila in a food processor or blender. Pulse until combined. Turn on the blender/food processor and drizzle in the olive oil until it’s all combined.

Slightly flatten chicken breasts with a mallet or the bottom of a heavy skillet. Place in a plastic bag and pour in marinade. Seal bag and marinate for several hours or (preferably) overnight.

When ready to cook, remove chicken from bag and place on the grill. Cook until completely done. Toward the end of cooking, top chicken breasts with grated Monterey Jack and allow to melt. (You can also top chicken with cheese and melt under the broiler.)

Serve topped with pico de gallo or salsa, alongside refried black beans, Mexican rice, sour cream, avocado slices, fresh flour tortillas…and whatever other garnishes make you smile!

Preview

Ok, so I felt a little bad writing a post this morning without pictures. So when the kids and I went to the park a little while ago, I brought my camera. I am tickled pink about the pictures I got! Here's a glimpse...


I took over 100 pictures, narrowed it down to 80 but won't inundate you with them all so over the next week or so, I'll post my favorites! I can't wait for you to see them :)

Random Ramblings

Sorry, no cute pictures of the kids this morning. Yesterday, I took them hiking at Garden of the gods. I brought my camera but the battery was dead! I was so disappointed because the view while walking the trail was stunning. I kept thinking how amazing it was that God created all of this. Definitely one of His finest masterpieces.

I got quite the workout while we were there. Everyone that passed me commented "Wow, you sure are getting your exercise!" And one woman passed me and said "Well, no wonder why Colorado is such a healthy state!" It was funny because all of these people were thinking I was this big poster child for health but little do they know I often eat brownies for breakfast! Ha!

Speaking of health, I have started eating meat again. The GI symptoms I had that caused me to give up meat have returned with a vengeance. So I thought if I'm going to be sick, I might as well eat what I want. Life is much too short to deprive myself. And so far, it's been a week and I haven't been sick again! I tore UP some fried chicken last week! It was some of the best fried chicken I've ever eat...maybe because it had been almost 9 months since I had eaten some. Yummmmmmmmmm! Now I can actually eat the food I cook. I've been making some really great recipes too that I will hopefully remember to share later.

Olivia's pink eye is doing much better. I think I have her sinus mess but no pink eye fortunately. We all had a pretty good day yesterday and spent a lot of time playing. We have been trying to get outside as much as possible before we're snowed in much of the winter!

I am going on a tv fast for a while. Not sure for how long. The only thing I'll really miss is my food network. Y'all know how I just love my girl Paula! I have been trying to convince Theo to do it as well but no such luck. I think that is his main way to relax at the end of a long day. Don't get me wrong, I love me some tv but I'm trying to make better use of my time. I have been reading like crazy and just finished a really good book called Saving CeeCee Honeycutt. I highly recommend it. I'm about to start The Murderer's Daughter so I'll let you know how that one is.

We don't have any big plans for the rest of the week. I'm really looking forward to Theo being home this weekend and not working on that paper (which he finally turned in!) Hope you all have a good one!

Not So Pretty in Pink

Olivia woke up Sunday morning with goopy eyes and a snotty nose. I realize now, I should not have taken her to the Y on Monday but hindsight is 20/20, right? Well, yesterday when she woke up from her nap, it was much worse. So I magically donned my cape, transformed into Pediatric Nurse Practitioner mode and rapidly diagnosed her with pink eye. Ok, well it wasn't quite all that dramatic but a post about pink eye is actually rather boring!

Anyway, I took her in yesterday afternoon and sure enough, I was right (and I patted myself on the back, or at least in my mind). Since she also has gunk (yes, that is an official medical term!) in her nose, the pediatrician is treating her with Amoxil.

I still managed to get some pictures of my two precious ones before our trip to the grocery store. I'm telling you, no fewer than 15 people today commented on how beautiful Olivia was. She is used to getting a lot of attention but today took the cake. I told Livie it must be hard work being so gorgeous but I wouldn't know anything about all that!! :) Even when she's sick, she's still beautiful!

Playtime

Since I have been extremely neglectful of taking pictures of the kids lately, I decided to bust out my camera yesterday for a little impromptu photo shoot. Because of the camera setting I used, some of the pictures are a littly fuzzy but adorable nonetheless.



After going to Denver Saturday and Carter playing outside almost the whole day, both of the kids slept until 8:30. Theo is trying to finish up his 25 page master's class paper so we decided to miss church. Instead, the kids and I played on the floor for forever. Then, to get out of the house for Theo, I took the kids hiking. Oh man!! What a workout and it wasn't even uphill. We hiked (I say we, but the kids were napping in the stroller most of the time) for almost an hour. I was exhausted and everything on my body hurts now. But it was worth it.



I really enjoy days where there is nothing I have to do and I can lounge around with the kids all day. Theo's paper is due tonight. I'm really looking forward to having my husband back! He's on vacation soon and I already have a long list, well, not really, but there are a few things I want to do while he's home. For example, Pike's peak (if I can do that while pregnant, I'm not sure), Royal Gorge, some more hiking, those kind of things.



I'm also gearing up for Carter's 4th birthday! We'll have his party Labor Day weekend since mom's coming up. He finally decided on a Little Einsteins party and I found a steal of a deal on birthday decorations. I'm not sure where we'll have it yet, probably just at the house. He's super excited! As for princess Olivia, I don't think we'll do much for her since she'll be turning one. Maybe we'll do ladybugs and Little Einsteins! We'll see.



I hope you had a good weekend. I'm going to be running errands like crazy today but hopefully the rest of the week will be slow. Lord knows I need that with everything that's been going on!

Our trip to the zoo

Friday after Theo's work picnic, the kids and I headed to the zoo while Theo stayed behind and played some serious volleyball with his co-workers. I wish I could have seen that. And here I was thinking I was the volleyball player....at least back in the day. But I digress.....

We are really trying to take advantage of our zoo pass. I'm telling you what, after pushing 50 pounds of children plus about 20 pounds of big mama jogging stroller, I was beat! My calves still hurt awfully bad and I can hardly walk down the stairs. I'm tempted to scoot down the stairs on my bottom like Carter used to be but decided a carpet-burned bum is worse than sore muscles :)

My favorite part of the zoo is the giraffe exhibit. I love how you can get so close to them.



My favorite giraffe is this one because it's spots are different.

When we first walked up, all of the giraffes were just motionless like statues. It was kinda weird but then they started all walking around.

Some of the other zoo animals:




The tiger is my second favorite!


I think Carter's favorite part of the zoo is the playground. We often rush by the animals just to get to the slide. Oh well, maybe when he's a little older he'll have more of an appreciation for animals.



They also had face painting this time. We saw kids walking around with all kinds of creatures painted on their faces. Carter insisted he get his face painted too. He wanted something red (of course he'd want RED paint of all colors!! But I couldn't disappoint him so I gave in). What was supposed to be spider man turned out looking more like a spawn of satan. I think it freaked Carter out when he saw his face in the mirror and immediately asked to have the paint wiped off! He had the saddest look on his face after he saw the paint on his skin. He still has one eyebrow stained red!



I'm not sure what Olivia is doing in the picture....looks like she's praising Jesus :)

Family

I realized a couple of days ago that there were a lot of pictures from our Louisiana trip that I had not posted. And since I have barely taken any pictures of the kids the past couple of weeks, I thought I would share these.

The grandparents



The cousins and aunts






I would say our week has been uneventful but that's not entirely the case. Although after my appointment Tuesday, things have slowed down some. We are heading to see Aunt Meredith tomorrow and I can't wait! It's been a long time since we've been up that way. I've been attempting to go to the gym everyday but Olivia has not done well this week. Very disappointing but hopefully just a phase.

Yesterday I drove all the way across town to take the kids to the zoo and as soon as we got there it started raining! Ugh. So Carter wasn't having any of that. We drove back across town and went to the mall instead. I was proud of myself. I only spent $6! Plus, 50 cents on two gumballs which would later prove to get us kicked out of this hoity toity store. Carter had blue coloring from the gum on his hands and the sales lady asked us to leave! I was a little taken aback! But oh well, we won't be going back there...EVER!!

Today we are heading to a work picnic at Theo's job. It's pretty close to the zoo so I may make another attempt to take them back before the picnic and just forget about the gym today. Going to the zoo and pushing 50 pounds of kid around a mountain is plenty of a workout for me!

Matters of the heart

The roller coaster continues....

The night after we got back from Louisiana, I woke up in the middle of a deep sleep with awful chest pain and could hardly catch my breath. The nurse in me thought I had a blood clot since we had just recently spent two days driving in the car. I came downstairs and Theo could tell something was not right. We rushed to the ER (thankfully one of our neighbors came over and stayed with the kids).

The ER doctor was also concerned about me possibly having a blood clot since I was already at risk being pregnant and all. We all debated on whether or not I should have a CT scan since I was just 9 weeks pregnant. But I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep not knowing if I had a blood clot or not.

They took extra precautions with me so we agreed I should do the scan. The CT did not show a blood clot fortunately but did show I had an enlarged ascending aorta. I had an appointment Tuesday with a cardiothoracic surgeon and was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm. Scary, I know! But mine is small and doesn't require anything at this point but monitoring. I do have to get an echo of my heart to check my valves (as this can be abnormal too in someone with this problem). I don't have to go back for a year and then depending on if a repeat CT scan shows the aneurysm has grown or stayed the same, then we'll decide how often I will need to be followed. It is very likely when I'm older (hopefully much older) I will need surgery to repair this. If left untreated and it grows, I am at risk for sudden cardiac death if the aneurysm ruptures or if I have an aortic dissection. Again, scary! Especially for a 30 year old otherwise healthy person to think about.

Truthfully, I was really worried about it at first. But I have prayed harder these last few weeks than I ever have in my life and I really do have a peace about this. My whole life is in God's hands. I will trust him. I do trust him. I know he has my best interests at heart.

Introducing.....

Baby #3! Surprise!!! I know, you all are thinking wow. And wow is right! I am 12 weeks pregnant today. I'll save you the math calculation and tell you that this baby and Olivia will be 16 1/2 months apart. Phew. I know. I found out May 20th that I was pregnant. I know this may be TMI (so dad, I'm sorry!) but I only had one period and then BAM, got pregnant! I can't say it was a total shock because I decided since we knew for sure that we wanted another one that I would not get back on birth control. I was five days late when I took the test. I had really been wanting some wine and I thought, hmmmmm, I think I should have started by now so I better take a test just to be sure. Sure enough, it was a big, fat:



For those of you I recently saw in Louisiana or those of you I have talked to, I am sorry I didn't tell you! There are some other things going on which I will blog about later but I wanted to make sure everything was okay before I made the big announcement!

I am due February 1st (at least according to ultrasound). Long story short, there may be something wrong with the baby. I have already had 4 ultrasounds (more than I had my entire pregnancies with Carter and Olivia), a high risk OB appointment, a first trimester down syndrome screen (which praise the Lord, came back normal), a slew of lab work, and will be scheduled for a fetal echo (ultrasound of the baby's heart) when I am 18-20 weeks pregnant. The baby has an abnormal nuchal fold measurement, which can mean a chromosomal problem like Down Syndrome, or a congenital heart defect. Based on the fact that Carter also has a heart defect (a very mild one), the doctors are more concerned about this.

The past week has been quite the emotional rollercoaster. Theo and I have walked down a dark road but we now see some light. With the call yesterday saying the baby's Down Syndrome screen was normal, I felt like I could breathe again. I felt as if had been holding my breath for 5 days and could finally exhale. I have been praying the hardest prayers of my life...begging and pleading with God. I was very eager to trade my health for the health of this baby. I struggled with praying for a healthy baby versus praying God's will be to done. We are not completely out of the woods yet. We won't know more about the baby's heart until a couple of months from now. But I am standing firm on God's word and know he will give us exactly the baby we are meant to have.

The case of the missing sprinkles

I can only laugh as I tell this story....a couple of weekends ago, Carter and I were going to make cupcakes. The recipe called for something I didn't have (actually I did have it, but couldn't find it at the time! Surprise, surprise!) So I put the frosting, cupcake liners and sprinkles on the counter.

Well, the following Saturday, with my missing stick of butter in hand, we got ready to make the cupcakes. Then I realized all of the stuff I had placed on the counter was missing. Seriously, I literally spent over half and hour looking for those things. I basically took everything out of the pantry trying to find the stuff. I even called Theo at work to see if he knew where they were but no such luck. So we made a plain cake (since I didn't have any liners) and we made a special trip to Target just to get more frosting.

A couple of days later, I was cleaning out the car. As I got Carter's Diego backpack out, I noticed something bulging from the outside pocket. Lo and behold, it the missing frosting! I was relieved to know I hadn't lost my mind but still puzzled about where the sprinkles and cupcake liners were.

Today, I am doing laundry. Under the massive pile of kids clothes was another one of Carter's bags.

My first thought was "Oh no, please don't let there be food in here". When I opened up the bag, this is what I found:


Guilty as charged!

Theo was right next to me and we both just busted out laughing! At least I haven't toatlly lost my mind :)

And because I haven't posted many pictures lately, here are some for the grandparents (and our friends!).



Olivia also has another tooth (her top right side tooth) and I keep expecting more to pop through. If you click on the second picture to enlarge it, you can see her little tooth just barely poking through :)

Also, I have been doing a lot of shopping lately (much to the dismay of Theo!). He said I am acting like I have this itch I just have to scratch. But then I realized it's because I haven't had a chance to buy cute summer clothes in four years. Last summer, I was big pregnant with Olivia. The summer before that I was working. The summer before that I had just started working so I bought work clothes. The summer before that I was big pregnant with Carter. Now, I want some cute clothes! But I am nothing if not a savvy, bargain shopper. I scrounged up a lot of old gift cards and had over $100 to spend. That doesn't include the gift card Theo gave me for my birthday. I bought this dress from Ann Taylor Loft.

It was originally $70 and I paid $20 for it! I wore it to church today. Theo really likes it. If I get him to take a picture in my other clothes, I will show you those too (not like you really care but I like to brag about my good bargains!)