July Birthday's

Yes, I am very behind on posting. Right now, I seem behind on everything in my life! I'll explain more in a different post. July is a busy month all around but also because we have four family birthday's within 11 days of each other. My dad is July 3, Ruby is July 11, I'm July 12 & my mom is July 14. Of course, the only birthday that REALLY matters much to anyone is Ruby's. Turning 3 was ridiculously exciting for her. She savored every moment of birthday bliss singing "Happy Birthday" to herself at least once a day for numerous days in a row. We have started condensing family birthdays since now there are so many people in our family. One party for each birthday month. We had a lot of fun & the highlight of the party wound up being the Pinata that Ruby BEGGED for! I'm still hiding her bag of candy since there was far to much for any 3 year old to eat through. I actually don't have that many pictures from the day, but I stole some from my sister who also made a nice little video so I'll just share hers. 

31 Days of Meals

Ever since Quin's birth, we have barely eaten out! In comparison to our old food habits, or the food habits of most anyone else in the world we NEVER EAT OUT! It's difficult to come up with dairy and gluten free meals for an entire month! Some of these involve a bit of gluten, (I always make gluten free for Quin no matter what!) but I try and keep it to a minimal. I ALWAYS modify the recipes to be dairy free which is why a lot of these are not linked to a recipe page.....

Here is a list of my 31 go-to meals. It helps when I know what I'm making and plan accordingly when I shop. There are a couple of repeats because those are household favorites and we enjoy eating them more than once a month. Some of these are what I call "Friday Night" meals which I only make when Adam won't need leftovers for work the next day either because they are expensive or because they don't keep well.

(When I say pasta I mean rice or corn pasta. TJ's has a really yummy corn pasta!)

1. Shepherds Pie

2.  Protein style Hamburgers, caramelized onions, mushrooms, avocado, green salad, steak fries

3. Chicken Pesto Pasta with broccoli and mushrooms

4. Slow roasted chicken, carrots, baked broccoli, potatoes and honey orange sauce

5. Taquitos, rice & beans with homemade guacamole

6. Orange chicken, broccoli and carrots with rice (I use boneless skinless breast & instead of egg I dip it in 6tbs extra virgin olive oil with 3tbs rice milk whisked until combined and thick. AND I 1/2 the sauce recipe...it makes a lot)

7. Shredded beef tacos, rice & beans

8. Spaghetti & meatballs

9. Greek chicken salad, roasted bell peppers, kalamata olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, hummus & flat bread, Greek Dressing

10. Salmon, wild rice & veggies

11. Chicken and veggie soup

12. Green enchiladas, beans, homemade guacamole (I use a little KRAFT cheese which is lactose free)

13. Beef Stew

14. Mongolian beef  with mushrooms and broccoli

15. Beef Stroganauf with broccoli

16. Chicken marsala with Naan bread & jasmine rice

17. Breakfast 

18. London broil, CousCous, tomato relish, green salad

19. Chicken and mushroom masala over pasta

20. Mexican chicken salad with cilantro dressing

21. BLT’s with avocado & steak fries

22. Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, onion straws and green beans

23. Steak, roasted potatoes, veggies, mushrooms & caramelized onions

24. Chicken lettuce wraps

25. Pork chops with mushroom sauce over pasta or rice & veggies

26.  Chicken tetrazzini

27.  Sliders, chips and salad

28.  Pulled Pork Sandwiches 

29. Greek chicken salad & flat bread (Greek dressing recipe) *repeat*

30. Beef Stroganauf with broccoli *repeat*

31. Slow roasted chicken, carrots, baked broccoli, potatoes and honey orange sauce *repeat*

Like Weeds

My children are growing like weeds! 

Officially Summer

I know that it's officially Summertime, not because the calendar says so, or because it's hot outside, but because of the GAZILLIONS of people who are FLOCKING to where I live. Every single year I forget how much I dislike summertime crowds. Disney Land is packed, the beach is packed,  the mall is packed, the streets by my house are packed....and you know something? The older I get the more I realize I don't enjoy the heat that much. I find myself tending to be very fond of Fall. Adam on the other hand is a beach bum. He lives for the hot weekends that he can go bake in the sun. When I was a kid, summer was the best part of my world. Do you remember that feeling you used to get when summer was arriving? Such a wonderful feeling really. As I got old enough to venture out on my own, friends would pick me & my sister up to go to the beach. We could literally go anywhere no matter how crowded and it was the greatest thing in the world. We used to wait in three hour lines at Disney Land for splash mountain and it was absolutely nothing. Maybe it's sad that I'm so impatient now. As I age I feel as though I become less and less fun. I really do miss those wild and free days spent lounging around during the summer break. I'm excited to watch my kiddos do the same stuff I used to do. I guess in a lot of ways they really will keep me young!

Here are some old pictures of what my summers used to look like!

Out on the lake in Mammoth for vacation

High School Summer Camp at the beach

DISNEY LAND! (Yes, I realize I was wearing overalls.)

One of our awesome dress up dance parties

I'm pretty certain this was 4th of July

This was a Jr. High Summer camp gas station candy stop!

Mother's Day

Mother's day for me is as awesome as a birthday & a little more exciting because you don't have to think about getting older when you celebrate it! I am so privileged to be a mother to two beautiful daughters and am blessed to have a mother who is and has always been a great example and a wonderful presence in my life. I DO know how truly lucky I am that my mom has taught me right, encouraged, cherished, believed, nurtured and shown me how to love.  

Adam made me feel very special and I woke up to breakfast, coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice! He cleaned up the house and took care of the girls while I relaxed! Gotta love a man who cooks and cleans! 

 Adam found a walking stick outside! Ruby LOVED it. We named him Marvin and she carried him around all day claiming he was her best friend.

 It wouldn't be Mother's day if my mother didn't cry. 

 Ashley took pictures of Quin & I cannot wait to see them. Although I must say there might not be many where she's actually smiling! Little stinker was in a bad mood! 

We don't need a boy! This girl is a natural! 

 My mom and my other mom, Nancy. The two most influential women in my life! 

Old Friends

I love those friends where time can pass where you don't speak, but once you see them again it's as though not a day has gone by that you haven't been together. They are what I call (or better yet what Anne calls) Kindred Spirits. I have been blessed to have quite a few in my time, two of whom whether near or far, will always remain close to my heart. Sarah & Rachel Yardley, sisters extraordinaire!


I met Sarah in 2001, just after my 16th birthday. We were going on a church mission trip to Europe and connected immediately. Really though, if you knew Sarah, (and you just might since I think she has 10,000 friends) you would know how easy she is to talk to!  Here we are together on our trip. I don't know that I've had more fun in my adolescent life than I did on that trip!

I met Rachel after coming back from that trip with Sarah. There may be disputes about the first time we actually met,  (which I'm NOT remembering at this moment) but all I know is that it was love at first sight. Here I am with Rachel at my sister's bridal shower in 2003. I was 17 or maybe had JUST turned 18.

In 2008 Rach and I got to have our Europe trip together! It was only fair I went to Europe with each of these girls. To bad it couldn't have been with both at the same time!

No matter where we've been in our lives, we have always kept in touch and always re-connected. I was so happy to hear that Rachel is getting married this year! The ONLY thing that made me sad was finding out that she is going to be moving to the Middle East with the man of her dreams. Of course I'm happy for her, and I know I will see her again, but my heart is saddened to have such a wonderful girl so far away. I got to see Sarah & Rachel a couple weeks ago at a friend's birthday party & it was a hilarious evening filled with screaming, laughing and a little dancing waiter named Jose who wasn't supposed to be dancing. 


Though the years we've had lots of fun times together at birthday parties, weddings, showers of all sorts, family events, dinner parties, trips, church etc......
and I love them dearly. 

This is just a typical Lindsay/Rachel screaming moment

Quin's 1st Party

I have this dream of being that amazing mom whose children's birthday parties are a fore look of what their wedding will be like. Everywhere you turn on the web there is a blog of some amazing talented mother whose life is picture perfect. Their children never get dirty, their in-laws are angels, they never fight with their husbands, their hair is always so delicately coiffed and makeup flawless. Sigh. This will never be me. I am a real mom. The kind whose kids throw fits, whose house is a mess most of the time, whose laundry piles up and who goes to the store without makeup, hair in ponytail and just prays she doesn't run into someone she knows. That's me. So you won't be surprised when I say that Quin's first birthday party was at a park, we ate hot dogs, and there wasn't a single decoration in sight.

It was actually a really difficult weekend where lot of little everything's seemed to go wrong.
I won't go into details on the insignificant stuff, but one of my old friends from bible college who married another friend of mine passed away just last week of cancer. I haven't seen them in a long time, but my sister and her husband are really close with them. They (along with a few other friends who were invited to Quin's party) attended the memorial service which was at the same time as Quin's party. Of course I in no way would ever be upset they chose a memorial service over a 1 year old's birthday party! If I could have changed the date and gone to the memorial I would have, but it was just all to late. You can never plan for something so terrible. We are continually praying for his family!

Quin was cutting four teeth the day of her party and had a low grade fever. Fussy couldn't begin to describe the state she was in! It was just one of those days. The dog peed on my carpet, Ruby threw a tantrum, Adam was at work. Once we finally got to the park and got everything set up, I felt much better and was able to enjoy hanging out with friends and family. Quin had a lovely time and enjoyed eating her gluten free vegan red velvet cupcake I made for her. Overall, after all the qualms and absent people, it was a nice little party. I don't want to throw another birthday party any time soon :)