coming out of the fog...

I'm finally starting to feel a little better.



My dear friend Annalee and her adorable daughter Lilly came over to play on Wed.

Lilly made me laugh so hard, every time I tried to take her picture, this was the face I got. 

I won a spot in this class:

I've been slow at scrapping lately and I have tons of pictures so I'm hoping this class will help a little bit.

Look at my 2 favorite people, aren't they adorable.

I'll be back later with a more interesting update.

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Stalled

I've been absent this week. I apologize.

I even have things to blog about, but I've been busy and now I'm sick, and the only thing I want to do when I get home, is lay on the couch or go to bed.



I will be back soon. I promise...with pictures to boot!



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Makin' Waffles

Nothing better than breakfast for dinner. Zoe asked to help make the waffles and she looked mighty cute doing it. She mixed everything and dumped in all the ingredients. If you look close you can see her tan lines on her little biceps, lots of time in the sun this summer.

I'm so excited I got to take these pictures. I couple weeks ago, I won a new scrapbooking line, from Lily Bee, called Domestic Bliss. These pictures will be perfect for that. You can see the collection here.



Finally, here's my crafty share.

It's that time of year when all the craft companies come out with their new products. In preparation for that, I'm trying to use up my stuff from last season and scraps. I made this little mini book to house some of my favorite pictures of Zoe from this summer. It's 4"x4" and it's bound with staples in the middle and Japanese washi (paper) tape.

I haven't finished the project simply because of lack of time + lack of a color ink cartridge (it ran out).

I know I keep saying that but truly life is just crowded right now.



I will do my best to keep the blog up for the rest of summer, but no promises ok? :)



Before I go, I wanted to share an amazing new recipe.

Yesterday while we were out and about, we stopped at a local fruit stand to get some fresh strawberries, we got some strawberries, but the blackberries looked divine, so we grabbed some of those too.

I had never cooked with blackberries before but after digging through recipes online, we decided to make our traditional apple crisp but with blackberries. It was delicious!



So here's my adjusted recipe. (Original apple crisp recipe by Betty Crocker)

Blackberry-Apple Crisp

Base:

2 medium apples (peeled and sliced)

3-4 cups fresh blackberries



Topping:

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cooking oats

1/3 cup butter (softened)

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. nutmeg



Vanilla ice cream, on the side.



1. layer apples and blackberries in a greased 9X13 pan

2. mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. cut in softened butter, until mix is crumbly.

3. Spread topping over the fruit.

4. cook at 350 for 30 minutes.

5. enjoy!



Have a great week!



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Shh....Weekend Ahead

And I couldn't be more ready.

 Zoe in her new shades

Ryan is back from Scout Camp and we have NOTHING on the agenda for the next 2 days. :::big sigh:::



We've been having a great summer, but we have been so busy we're in need of some R&R.



I'm planning on being in my pajamas until at least 11am tomorrow :)



I do have something crafty to post, but I've been too busy to even snap a picture. So that will get done when my agenda free weekend is over.





Hope you all have a wonderful weekend too!



XOXO,

Holly & Co

Thoughtful Tuesday - Week 4 - Catch up

Wow, this weekend was busy. I'm finally coming out of the haze.



We got to have (almost) all of Ryan's family over for dinner on Sunday. It was a tight squeeze, 9 adults + 4 kids in 900 sq. feet, but we did have air conditioning! We missed you Cole! It was so fun having everyone together.



And it looks like our schedule won't be slowing down anytime soon. Coming up on the calendar we've got a visit to Santa Cruz/Monterey/Sunnyvale, my parents are coming for a visit, maybe a jaunt to the coast, our Ward Service Auction, another semester starting, and Zoe starting preschool.



The next few weeks are going to fly by and then my beloved season fall will be here! I'm already dreaming of apples and baking and sweaters...ahh...I can't hardly wait!



Ryan is at Scout Camp this week and thank goodness he's coming home soon. I've realized that even when he's busy at home, he is still at home and I really miss him when he's gone. I haven't been lacking for things to fill the evenings though, it just seems to be one event after another. Hopefully we can slow down this weekend, I think we all need a day unplugged.



I'll be back later this week with a crafty share.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

SaturdayFAIL

 Picture taken before the disaster.

So, here's my SaturdayFAIL story.



We'd planned to go to the movies on Saturday morning. Ryan & Brok were going to see Inception (which they said was the best movie ever!) and I was going to take Zoe to Toy Story 3. They started a few minutes apart and they ended at the same time. So we went, all was going well, until the movie started. Zoe was up and down and loud and all over the place. We ended up leaving so as not to disturb the other movie-goers, and headed over to the outlets.



It was hot, and Zoe was in a crabby mood. 3 stores, and each one the experience just got worse and worse. Ripping things off the racks, screaming, trying to get out of the stroller...ugh, it was a headache.

So I headed for the McDonald's to seek some refuge while the boys finished their movie. That didn't help. She tried to play in the playplace, she was too little to climb the stairs up into the slides, which brought on lots of tears.



She tried to eat other people's french fries that had fallen on the floor. Again, more tears from the "No" response I gave her.

As we were leaving she fell and skinned her knee.



When we got to the car, I discovered she had a blowout and there were no diapers in the car... thanks to my girl scout skills I discovered pj pants + burb cloth = diaper replacement for 20 minutes.

Memo to me: Potty Train.

Finally we made it home and put Zoe down for a nap, and I collapsed onto my bed and cried from exhaustion.



Thankfully my husband was wonderful and took charge the rest of the evening and even did the grocery shopping I was too tired to do. 2 points for Mr. Humbert.



I hope you got a chuckle from my SaturdayFAIL, and I hope your Saturday was better than mine.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Trend: Yogurt Bar

We've visited a few of these type places before, but I think we've found our favorite. We discovered it while on a dessert run the other night with the Stauffer family.





Tonight our concoctions were as follows:

Peach Mango Tart yogurt + fresh mango + fresh strawberries + granola = Ryan



Red Velvet Cake yogurt + Vanilla yogurt + fresh strawberries + Cap'n Crunch = Holly



Vanilla + Reese's Pieces + chocolate sprinkles = Zoe





Yes, I did let Zoe pick out her own. I was surprised she didn't pick more toppings. I think she was just so excited to get her very own bowl....small bowl...but still all hers.

You can see how happy she is here.

Ryan loves having his picture taken, especially while he's eating.

{Yes, that is a Perry the Platypus t-shirt}



Here's to welcoming the weekend.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.