Spring Family Pictures 2017

We took some pictures in our backyard on Easter Sunday and I loved how they turned out. So cute! Claire's dress is from Carters and mine is from Dress Barn. 

Easter 2017

Easter weekend 2017. We had so much fun!!

 Dying eggs! Thanks to whoever suggested on the internet using a whisk for a toddler. It worked really well.

 

 

Eating marshmallow off the mixer. She loved all the treats.

 Her second Easter outfit of the day, from screaming owl. It is so cute! Love all the outfits they have.

First time hunting for eggs with daddy. She picked up on what she was supposed to do really fast.

How was your Easter?
XO
Caitlin

What was in Claire's Easter Basket

Holiday's are so much fun when you have children. Claire has been loving all the family time we get to have when there is a holiday and that is the most important thing. She lit up when she saw what the Easter bunny brought her. I may have gone a little over board but I just love her to much not to spoil her.
Her basket was the same one we had last year from Walmart or Target I can't remember. I didn't put any grass in because I knew she would immediately pull it out and make a mess with it so I saved myself the hassle. The one thing I knew for sure she needed to get was her Easter dress and everything else was just extra, she didn't get a lot of candy which is good cause I would have ended up eating it.

Basically you can see everything there but we got coloring books, stickers, those bath changing foam things (which she hated BTW), bath books,  some stickers/notebooks,  and pajamas.
She is sure loved.

XO
Caitlin

What I eat in a day

 Lately I have been trying to be more aware of what I eat. I know that our bodies can only intake so much bad stuff before it starts effecting our every day lifestyle. Although what I currently eat wouldn't necessarily be referred to as clean eating this is a lot healthier then what I normally eat.
This is also what I eat on workdays which is Monday-Thursday.
Breakfast:

 For breakfast I generally love having bagels. Thomas Bagels are only 260 and I actually eat mine plain most of the time. Sometimes I will toast them and add a tbsp of cream cheese which only adds about 50 calories. I am counting calories while I'm trying to loose weight and it's hard. I know, but will be worth it.

I then go to work for about 6 hours and I eat my bagel at work, then I'll have a 32 oz of water before lunch time. This helps me so much to stop overeating/snacking. I also chew gum, that is my lifesaver when trying to loose weight.

 

 I love this huge mason jar I got from Target and I try and fill it up at least twice a day but usually reach three. Water is so good for you!

For lunch at work I have been meal prepping, If you haven't seen my previous post about meal prep then you should check it out but I ate one of my meal prep lunches today and it was yummy. Chicken and veggies over rice. If I don't meal prep then I have been getting those salad kits at the grocery store and I love those for lunch to.

After I get home Claire usually goes down for a nap and I am hungry/ ready for a snack. My go to snack is usually popcorn but I like to save that for movie night. Today I had a yogurt.

 If I am still hungry after a snack I'll have more water and then will try and get myself busy doing something around the house. Once I am busy it helps me stay away from the kitchen.

For dinner I just have whatever is on our menu for the night, it varies but tonight it was chicken Parmesan with salad. So yummy!

Eating right is so important, make sure and take care of your body while you can.
XO
Caitlin

Meal Prep

I recently started a weight loss challenge that my cousin is hosting. I am excited to be more conscious of my health and so far I've been doing pretty good with it. A big pitfall for me is lunch, especially when I am at work because it's tempting to go out to eat. To avoid that I have started meal prepping. This saves so much money and is healthier for me. This week I made these chicken veggie bowls and next week I am doing turkey taco bowls which I am excited for.

Ingredients:
chicken breasts (two)
cherry tomatoes
broccoli florets
zuccini
pepper variety or onion
paprika
olive oil
Italian seasoning

 Instructions:
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Cut up chicken into cubs and cut up all vegetables.
Align on foiled baking sheet in a rainbow.
Sprinkle paprika, salt & pepper, and Italian seasoning all over pan
Add 2 tbsp olive oil to chicken and vegetables.
Roast in oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Once food is in the oven cooking go ahead and make either rice or quinoa to add to the bottom of the bowl. I went with brown rice.

Once vegetables are brown on the outside and chicken is cooked through go ahead and pull out the baking sheet. Start prepping your bowls by adding the rice on the bottom then the veggies and chicken on top.
I got these containers from Walmart and they are the Great Value brand, you can get them in the Ziploc area. 

Once all prepped put the lids on and slide into your fridge. They can stay in the fridge for up to 4 days. 

Having these lunches prepared before hand has literally saved me so much time and effort in the morning. I am not a morning person so simplifying my routine helps me get going.  I am so excited to try out the turkey bowls for next week and will let you know how those go.

XO
Caitlin

Toddler Clothing Haul

Toddler clothes are so fun! I love purchasing new clothing for Claire. I budget her clothing in with our weekly groceries because I shop at Walmart. This makes it easy because the majority of her clothes are from Walmart. They have such cute items and I just love how inexpensive they are. We have a weekly grocery budget and I use whatever isn't spent on groceries to purchase clothing, household items, activity items, etc. So let's start with what I got her at Walmart.

In this picture above you see all the basic items she needed. On the right are her shirts. I got a few solid shirts in the spring colors and then a few in the patterns. All are size 24M which in shirts is almost two small for her. On the right is the pant selections, as well as the shorts. These are in 24 months and the shorts and skirts fit her but the pants in the middle with the bow on them those are a little to big around her middle. She has a tiny waist so we usually just stick with leggings.

In this picture I got her two new pairs of shoes. Those sandals are to die for! So perfect to wear with her new Easter dress (I'll do a post on our Easter outfits in two weeks, after Easter). She also got some 2T shirts which are adorable. That unicorn one up at the top! I also got her a pack of toddler socks because she needed some to wear with her new tennis shoes since we are outside a lot now that the weather is warmer. Oh I also got a few footie pajamas that aren't pictured because she needed new ones.

Now onto what I got from Target.

The Cat & Jack brand at Target is my favorite. Those eyelet t-shirts I couldn't resist. And those black leggins in the middle are what I have her wear basically daily. They are great play leggings. This brand is very inexpensive and Target usually has sales every now and then.

So that's it for her spring clothing haul. I picked up a bunch of dresses from Walmart recently but didn't take a picture so she is also set for dresses for church.

XO
Caitlin

Books I Read: March

March was such a good reading month for me. I got to explore some new books and finally read a book that's been on my to be read list since January. I am happy that I got three books in this month and I was able to be a beta (test) reader for one of my friends. She is in the process of writing her first YA novel and I have been interested in it since 2013 when I first heard she was doing this. She recently finished her novel and I got to be a beta reader and it was amazing. I don't know how much she wants me to share about it quite yet so I wont go into to much detail on her book. It was one of the books I am counting for March though because it was around 300 pages.

1. The Reptile Room

 A series of Unfortunate Events. It gets old after a while. I know it's written primarily for children but I had a hard time finishing this one. I was trying to read all four books before I watched the Netflix series but I can't get through them so I wont be reading #3 and #4 and just watching it. I know what happens as I have read the books before when I was younger. I remember enjoying them when I was younger but now it's just so depressing that I can't get through it. I need something a little happier in my life (especially since I am prone to anxiety and depression). If you read the first one you get the gist of what happens to the children and can figure out the story from there. I know there are some story lines that you would be missing but if you are an adult I would say skip this one.

2.  My Fair Gentleman by Nancy Campbell Allen

 I loved this book. I have featured several "A proper romance" novels on this blog in the past. They are some of my favorite. Historical romance is always fun to read but I don't like all the raunchy stuff that is often included in them. These novels are clean and catchy. They draw you in simply on character development and story line which I believe is a sign of good writing. This story was sweet and although these novels are always predictable I do like to read to the end to find out what happens.

3. Don't by Kyra Palmer (Beta Read)
This was the Beta novel I got to read and it was phenomenal. So good. It's a contemporary novel about a girl in high school and her experience finding love. It has good twists and turns in it to make you keep reading and the characters are rather interesting. Sorry I am being so vague but I can't reveal to much except keep your eye out, hopefully it will be published soon.

4. Sadie by Rebecca Belliston

I picked this book up while browsing Deseret Book one day with Claire. We went to go buy her new church books but I always stroll down the novel aisle to see if anything new has come out. This book caught my attention and I read it in March. I read it during my personal time at night while I took a bath and it was awesome. I loved having that time to read and soak in the tub every night.
The story is interesting and is about a girl who finds her self caught up in a world she knew nothing about. She was about to marry a guy who was involved in illegal activity and the FBI showed up to try and figure out what was going on. She ends up having to flee her fiance and gets rescued by four guys on their annual ski vacation. At first you don't suspect a love interest will form but one does and the story of what happens to her former fiance keeps you interested in the novel. It's a good quick read and I would recommend it for the summer.
To my surprise I just discovered that there is a book 2 so I'll be picking that up to read while we are in St. George this month.

April to be read:
The Sheriff of Savage Wells
Augustina (book 2 of the Sadie series)
Better than Before (I really want to read this!! I just need to get a copy)

That's it for now, I probably will read 4 books but I am doing good with my goal so far and I am enjoying all the reading I have been doing. I want to read more classical stuff so I am thinking of adding a poetry book in there as well.

XO
Caitlin