DAY 791... My Little Peacock

Picking out a Halloween costume for your baby can be challenging. There are just so many stinking options. This year, since I found myself with extra time on my hands, I choose to make Aniston's costume. I finally decided on a Peacock. Super girly and something that I thought I could have a lot of fun with. Also it's probably the last Halloween where I get to pick what she dresses up as and so I wanted to go BIG. It only cost me $30 to make and it only took 2 hours! Aniston will be attending several Halloween parties and I plan on switching things up a little for each one so be prepared for a lot of different pictures of her wearing this costume... Also we live in Idaho where it's freezing, thus the long sleeve t-shirt. Super classy!

Basically I am a little obsessed with this little girl... and the costume! I LOVE HAVING A LITTLE GIRL!

DAY 790... Passing Time

I have had a tough week. I have always been an emotional person, and this week... my emotions have got the best of me. I have been busy trying to keep myself busy in order to pass the time. Basically this means that I get to spend a lot of time with my Aniston Kate! Picture O-V-E-R-L-O-A-D!

Since the weather has been gorgeous, we took a walk and decided to snap some pictures around some Halloween decorations.

 Peek a boo!

 Of course Panda came along for the ride.

 She was all smiles until she saw what was behind her... Haha

I could not resist this picture! Hil-Ar-Ious

 Aniston pretty much hates church, so when she starts getting crazy I take her outside for a walk. Luckily for us the Rexburg Temple is literally right out the doors of our chapel. We consider ourselves pretty lucky.

 Ani is a little obsessed with pumpkins, so we frequently spend our time looking at all the pumpkins outside the stores, you know since Rexburg doesn't have a pumpkin patch. Not cool Rexburg.

 One blessing that I have been enjoying lately is the blessing that I have to no longer wake up to an alarm before the sun is even up to spend time with other people's kids, but to wake up to my own beautiful daughter! HUGE BLESSING!

 Aniston loves sitting on the riding lawn mower at Nana and Papa's. Such a good little helper!

 All of these cute faces!

I just love this little girl! She is ridiculously sassy and crazy, but I just love her smile and her cute style!

I am so thankful that I have this precious little child in my life. She is one of the greatest blessings in my life and I am so happy for so many different reasons that she is in my life! She was definitely sent here to save me and bless me. I just love her!

I have been spending a lot of time reading old conference talks. I am amazed at the strength and the comfort that they have given me. There was one talk that I ran across given by Elder Faust, called Choices, and it was awesome! If you need a spiritual uplifting today you can read it here.

Monday Munchies... Rosiane Chicken

I LOVE spicy food, but the awesome thing about this amazing recipe (which we named for our sister-in-law, because she first made it for us) is that you can make it as spicy or not spicy at all depending upon your preference. Seriously this dish is so incredibly easy to make and is so delicious that we eat it twice a week most weeks.

Shopping List:
1 lb of chicken
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1/2 White Onion
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt Pepper
Paprika
Creole (this is what makes it spicy!!!! YUM)

• I cut up both peppers and the half of onion and place them in a bowl. I add a generous amount of every spice shown above. I use the least of salt and pepper, but I do not measure. Kind of freaks the OCD person inside of me out. But it always tastes so good that I get over it pretty quickly.

• Next cut up the chicken, into bite size pieces and once again, add every spice to the chicken before cooking it.
• When the chicken is mostly cooked in the pan I add the veggies and cook for 5-10 more minutes. It all depends on how soft or crunchy you want the veggies.
• Usually I cook the rice while I am finishing up the chicken, just to optimize time and so that everything is warm at the same time.
• Once the rice is cooked I add the chicken on top and ENJOY!

 Seriously You will be addicted! When I am going low carb I eat it without rice and it's still just as tasty without all the carbs and extra calories! Thank you Rosiane for this AMAZING recipe!

DAY 783... DIY Halloween Decor

I have decided that now that I have a child, I want holidays to be super fun and that includes decorating the house. However, I am a cheap person and don't want to spend a lot of money, so instead I spend a lot of time on Pinterest looking at crafts and figuring out how I can do them with materials I already have.

This past week I completed my October Wreath, the Bat Wall, a Candy Corn Garland, and a Halloween printable for a frame.

For our "scary" (as Ani calls it every time she walks by it) wreath I used a cheap floral wreath, gauze, ribbon, and a scary centerpiece. And of course I used my hand dandy glue gun.

Seriously I just wrapped the wreath in gauze, gluing once at the beginning and once at the end, then I pulled at the gauze to give it a torn look... you know it make it a little more scary. Then I hot glued the centerpiece using the plastic hook it came with to the back of the wreath, and then I tied some ribbon and made a bow and 10 minutes after I started I was done.

For the Bat Wall, I googled bat template and printed it off in two sizes, then I just used construction paper and cut a bunch out and attached them to the wall with sticky tack. LOVE THAT STUFF! I bent the wings out to give it more of a 3D effect. Aniston is just a wee bit obsessed with them.

For my Candy Corn Garland, I used paper plates, yellow paint, orange and white construction paper, a hole punch and black yarn. Seriously... cheapest woman ALIVE! I painted the paper plates yellow and cut out my circles to start with.

Next a glued the circles onto the plate, checking a thousand times to make sure the colors were exactly like they are on the candy. PS - I do not even like candy corn. Not one bit. Also don't be jealous of our sweet carpet in our apartment... Trust me the price and space of the places makes every negative about the place worth it!

Next I cut each plate in half, then in half again, then in half again. This let me with 8 pieces from each plate. Then I punch two holes in each candy.

Next I measured the length I wanted the garland to be and threaded the yarn through and holes and hung it up on my fireplace.

I needed to replace the picture of Spencer holding Ani since it wasn't so Halloween themed... But seriously cutest picture ever taken when she was exactly 1 week old by my sister. Check out her website here.

So I made a little printable (not sure what you even call them), using all my awesome fonts... LOVE PINTEREST... and had it printed at a local place for .12 cents. I figure that I can change it out for every holiday and that will be fun. I'm sure my skills will improve with the more I make, but seriously Microsoft Publisher is so fun and so easy to use. If I could do it over again I would definitely not use yellow. Oh well, you live and you learn right?

I love having more time to spend at home and to be crafty with my house and family! Wait until you see Miss Aniston Kate's A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E Halloween costume I am making. I promise you are gonna LOVE it!