What a GREAT weekend we had as a family!

We started this weekend off with a nice and relaxing afternoon at the park. Evey started crawling a little over a week ago and just loves to explore everything! She was loving the beautiful weather outside.

Look mommy, I'm crawlin!!!

Monkey butt

Coming to get mommy's camera

Cute little fam

"I like to nibble on my feet for dessert! MMMMMM"

Marshmellow Roastin' Time!!!

Waiting for Daddy to get the fire goin'.

I am in love!

Gosh I love this expression!

Cutie pie

Chillin with daddy

"I'm gonna get you!"

Heck yeah, roastin my starbursts! Fav!

This is her new thing, this means she wants food, whatever it is we are eating! SO funny!

Our Evelette loves the park!

Gigglin and smilin like crazy while daddy pushes her :)

She has such a strong grip, loves to hang on things. At least daddy's thinks she does haha

My climbin monkey!

Pollo Durango Shredded Chicken Tacos

Cravin a little Mexican Food tonight!? Try this yummy recipe!

Pollo Durango Shredded Chicken Tacos
3 chicken breasts or 3 boneless pork chops
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cups sour cream
1/4-1/2 cup chicken broth (thickness)
10-12 tomatillos
2 tsp. cumin
salt and pepper or montreal seasoning
1 8 oz. pkg. mushrooms, sliced
2 cups. montery jack cheese
10 flour tortillas
1/2 cup cilantro
limes (garnish)

 Grill or saute meat. Season with salt and pepper or montreal seasoning. Shred meat, set aside. In large skillet, saute onions and mushrooms in a little butter until tender. In meduim sized pot, add some water and the peeled tomatillos. Let them simmer and cook about 6 mins. Put in food processor and blend til smooth. Add pureed tomatillos into onions and mushroom mixture. Add sour cream, chicken broth, and seasoings to pan. When sauce begins to thicken, add cooked chicken back to pan. Let simmer til warmed through. Serve mixture in tortillas with shredded cheese, sour cream, and cilantro.

My version of an Olive Garden Dinner :)

Meinzer's Homemade Creamy Chicken Alfredo
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups heavy/whipping cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp white pepper

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add flour. Whisk in heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low and add all the seasonings. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Yummy!!

Olive Garden Salad Dressing (DealstoMeals.com)
1/3 cup mayo
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. romano cheese
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Mix it all in a blender. Enjoy!

Olive Garden Breadsticks (Food Network)
Dough:
1 1/2 C hot water
2 T sugar
1 T salt
2 T butter, softened
4-5 C flour
1 T yeast

Topping:
3 T butter melted
sea salt
1/4 t garlic powder


1. Turn your tap water to hot. It should feel hot, but not so hot that it's uncomfortable to touch.
2. Fill up your handy measuring device with 1 1/2 C hot water.
3. Pour the water into your stand mixer. Add the sugar.
4. And the salt.
5. Add the softened butter.
6. Pour in about 2 cups of flour.
7. Using the paddle handle start to mix the dough on low.
8. Add the yeast.
9. Add the rest of the flour about a half cup at a time, until the dough scrapes the sides of the bowl clean.
10. Mix the dough for 5 minutes on medium speed. If you were to touch it, it should spring back just a bit.
11. Spray your counter top and your hands with cooking spray. Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and roll it into a long log on your counter top.
12. Spray a sharp knife with cooking spray and cut the dough into 12-14 pieces.
13. Roll the pieces into long snakes. Once you set them on the pan, they will shrink a bit.
14. Spray 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray, and lay the breadsticks out leaveing about 2 inches between each one.
15. Place the pans in your oven with the temprature turned to 170. Let them rise for about 15 minutes, or until doubled in size.
16. Once the breadsticks have risen, remove them from the oven. Brush them with the 1 1/2 T of the melted butter and sprinkle them with the sea salt.
17. Return them to the oven and turn the heat to 400 degrees. Your dough will rise a bit more as the oven temprature increases. Once it has hit 400 degrees the breadsticks should cook for about 12 -15 minutes, or until golden brown. Half way thought the baking period  open up your oven and switch the bottom pan to the top, and the top to the bottom. This will ensure they cook evenly.
18. While the breadsticks are baking combine the rest of the melted butter with 1/4 t garlic powder.
19. When the breadsticks are golden brown, remove them from the oven and brush them with the melted butter/garlic mixture.
That's it! Serve these babies hot from the oven. You won't regret it!Enjoy!!!!

Summer Fun

We have been having such a great summer, staying busy and doing lots and lots of driving! Mike got Lagoon tickets from his work and we were able to go, (thanks mom for watching Evelette so we could go!!) with my sister Brianna, her boyfriend Logan, and my brother Brent Jr. It was such a hot day but we had a lot of fun together! I was surprised I was able to relax and enjoy my day without Evelette there. I have never left her before, I have serious Evey withdrawals haha. But it turned out to be a really good day!

My baby girl is growing up SO fast! Last week she started pulling herself up in her crib and on furniture. Yesterday she started CRAWLING forward!!! She has been crawling backward for a long time now, so Mike and I were freaking out when we saw her go clear across the room! Probably more exciting for us than for her haha.

She loves doing "Big Girl" things and anything mommy and daddy are doing. We bought her her own keyboard because she is so obsessed with pounding on daddy's keyboard. She liked it for like two minutes and wanted to go back to smacking on daddy's. SO funny. I forget what the point of buying her toys is, she only wants to play with boxes, bags, shoes, her feet, chairs, phones, keyboards, etc. Silly girl.



Since she was a couple months old, one of her favorite activities is to going swimming.

She loves playing at the park and watching all the little kids running everywhere, probably counting down the days until she can go join them.

Smily butt

Playing with Sadie and Kim

Of course, trying to eat anything she can get her little hands and tongue on!

Family fun day in Grand Junction. And the many faces of Evelette.

She LOVES eating everything we eat. And making a mess of everything. But what baby doesn't!?

Evelette has a little bunch of hairs on the top of her head, that are like two inches longer than the rest of her hair. And they are always sticking up. I love it!

My little beauty!!

Evelette Diane Meinzer... from the first instant I saw you, I knew you were going to light up my life, but how much joy you were going to bring to my life I had NO IDEA!!! Day by day I am reminded that I am the most blessed woman on this Earth to have been trusted to be your mother. I love you more and more every day. You are my best friend. I am loving watching you grow, learn, and develop. Thanks for being my amazing daughter, I love you!!

 You are 7 1/2 months old. You weigh 13 lbs. 11 oz. and are 23 1/2 inches long. You are my little shorty, but that's okay because your big, BEAUTIFUL hazel eyes sure do make up for it! You are obsessed with mommy and daddy's cups and wanting to "drink" out of them too. You love licking and sucking on plastic water bottles, (you are sure smart enough to know when there is not water in them, then you want nothing to do with the bottle.) You have the most contagious, high pitched laugh I've ever heard! You are starting to get "shy" with other people, you will smile at them when they talk to you then you hurry and hide your face in your blankie. SO CUTE! You love your baby food- peas, green beans, and applesauce is your fav! You love to eat your feet, wish I was that flexible! Whenever you hear another baby or child cry, you cry. You are so observant of every single thing going on in the room, no secrets when your around. You love to swim, go on walks in your stroller, and do anything outside. You love to sit in your little chair in the garage while daddy lifts weights. You love to move in circles, round and round and round, on your belly. You crawl backwards and do "push-ups" on all fours ... you are our buff little baby girl! (Daddy even made you your own pull-up bar, so funny to watch you do that!) When you toot, you look at me like what was that mommy!?!?, and I cannot help but laugh. You have the most HUGE, open-mouthed smile when I come to get you in the mornings or after your naps, melts my heart. You love to read your new books with mommy, you even help to hold the book, haha which makes for interesting storytime!

You love to make messes and you can hardly crawl yet, and you sure think you are funny doing it!! I am sure in for a treat! :)

 I came in your room today to check on you because there was an awful lot of happy noises coming from your baby monitor, and this is what I find!!! I about had a heart attack, my 7 month old baby girl is already pulling herself up in the crib! I guess those pull-ups really are coming in handy haha, time to lower the mattress!!!

Gosh you are so dang cute, how could I ever get mad at that cute little face of yours!?
Love you Evey!!

LOVE this recipe!

Chicken Pesto French Bread Sandwich

Recipe from: jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com ... I love her blog!!

1 loaf french bread

2 T olive oil

2 chicken breasts

freshly cracked salt and pepper

1 1/2 t minced garlic

1 large white onion

1/3-1/2 C pesto

2 C mozzarella cheese

1 C shredded Parmesan cheese

1. Cut your chicken into 1 inch chunks with some kitchen scissors. Heat up a large skillet and add your 1 T of the oil. When it's nice and hot throw in your garlic, and then your chicken. Season it up with the salt and pepper. Let the chicken and garlic cook until it has a nice golden look to it. Set the beauties aside.

2. In the same hot skillet put the other T of oil in along with your onions. Let them cook until they are nice and golden as well.

3. Cut your loaf of french bread in half, right on through the middle.

4. Spread the pesto over each half.

5. Layer the chicken, onions, and then sprinkle with the cheese.

6. Throw the lovely concoction into a 400 degree oven and let it bake just until the cheese is all bubbly and the bread is heated through. About 10-15 minutes.