Anniversary + Family Pictures

oh man, yesterday my husband and i celebrate 9 years of marriage! woot woot. 9 is such a big number but it went by super fast. i feel pretty privileged to have been chosen by this man and to have been blessed with the kids we have and to be living this life with these people. 

and to top it off my sweet and talented friend, Jackie Wonders, who so lovingly shares her gift of photography with us, just sent me all our family photos she captured for us while we were down in San Diego this summer. i think these are my favorite! 

so, get ready. cause i'm gonna show you all my favorites. which is pretty much all of them. 

you're welcome. 

i just love them so much. i can't stop looking at them. 

Dominic, you are such a good man. you love me more than i could ever ask for or expect and serve me selflessly even when it is not returned. you are patient with me and know how to lead me when i'm feeling lost. but most importantly, you are a Godly man that loves and serves the Lord with all your heart, and that overflows onto us. i cherish all the good and bad we have gone through and look forward to many more years along your side. 

cheers to nine years! 

tara

p.s. jackie, you are amazing. i can't thank you enough. you are a pivotal tool in helping us document and capture the years that are most easily forgotten. there aren't words that would be enough to describe my appreciation, but hopefully my walls covered in your work is a glimpse! i love you sweet friend. 

Make It Paleo: proscuitto wrapped chicken & asparagus

i just want to start out by saying, that you can eat this even if you aren't paleo. and you should. tonight. because, it will change your life. all your friends will think you are a gourmet chef if you make it for them, your kids will love you and sing your praises, and your husband will never get sick of it. 

this is a true story. i know because it happened to me. 

i call it: PROSCIUTTO WRAPPED CHICKEN & ASPARAGUS a la TARA. 

syke. 

i totally stole it from another blog. this one. i just tweaked the recipe a touch.

i totally stumbled on this recipe while trying to make the original one, which calls for cooking it in the slow cooker for 4 hours. the day i wanted to make it, i made sure i had all my ingredients and had previously thawed my chicken... but the day totally got away from me, and around came 4 o'clock. it was too late to put it in the crock pot. so i followed all the original instructions, but cooked it in the oven. 

it turned out so good, i never went back and tried making it in the crockpot. and i've probably made it 8-10 times in the last two months. 

if you slice it with a really sharp knife it looks extra fancy. i usually serve it with cauliflower and carrot puree, or spaghetti squash slathered in grass fed butter. and i'm super serious when i say that even your kids will love it. some of my pickiest kid friends said it was the best chicken they ever had! 

WIN.

so go out and get this stuff and make it quick.

{PROSCIUTTO WRAPPED CHICKEN & ASPARAGUS}

4 chicken breasts, filleted and pounded with a meat mallet (i think that's what they're called. i don't own one. i cover my hammer with saran wrap. ha!) (ghetto.)

24 spears of asparagus

8 cloves garlic

8 slices prosciutto

olive oil

freshly ground salt and pepper

after pounding your chicken, roll each fillet with 3 asparagus spears and a clove of garlic. then wrap each roll in prosciutto. place in a 9x13" pyrex and drizzle with olive oil and lightly salt and pepper. cover with foil and back for 10 minutes on 350. remove foil and continue baking until cooked through, about 20 more minutes. 

yum.

tara

Monday Inspiration: Modern Quilts

Happy Monday! to start your week out i thought it'd be nice if i loaded you up on some color! i'm currently in the process of picking the quilt pattern for two quilts for Big A's room (he has bunk beds) and the pictures of quilts i'm considering are nice and vibrant. i originally was going to just do straight strips across the whole quilt, since its so simple and wouldn't be too time consuming. but after seeing all these beautiful patterns i'm rethinking that plan. 

maybe you can help me work it out? i'm not an expert quilter, so i'm looking for something that will not be labor intensive. i will be machine quilting the entire thing (it would take me YEARS to hand stitch a whole quilt, i just know it), and i am using one solid color of aqua for the top, one solid color of brown for the bottom and a white border all the way around.

No.1} i love the large scale pattern of this one, i think being so large would keep it at a pretty beginner level? 

No.2} oh man. this is a beauty.

No.3} i think this triangle pattern is my favorite. but i think it actually might be the colors that are drawing me in and not the pattern? i can't tell. 

No.4} i like this one because even though it's solid, the stitching has interesting detail. 

No.5} straight strips in a visually appealing layout. this one is easy but different.

No.6} i'm looking at this one more for the way the fabric is cut, the stitching is WAY too detailed for me. it's beautiful though!

No. 7} this one has another fun but easy arrangement.

No. 8} this one is more labor intensive, but i think i could do it. 

so what do you think? which one is your favorite? can you visualize any of these patterns just solid aqua? 

thanks guys!

tara

what we wore wednesday

hey everyone! happy hump day. (sidenote: i get why they call Wednesday "hump day".. because it's the middle of the week, also known as the hump... but it always makes me think of humping. am i alone in this? i don't think so.)

so for this extra special hump day Wednesday post i'll be sharing what my daughter and i wore to her birthday party at The Victoria Rose Tea House in Clovis. we had such a fun time being girly. i let her put very light make up on, and we picked out some special accessories to wear. this is the best part about having a daughter. 

little a is wearing a sweet girly dress from TJMaxx that was gifted from my parents, silver ballet flats from Nordstrom's Rack, and all accessories were a gift from her Nana! i am wearing a hand-me-down dress from H&M, nude heels from Bandolino, and my accessories are from Express from a super long time ago. i think we are in the perfect tea party apparel. 

whilst taking Thelma & Louise style portraits, we were photo bombed by Big A. 

good one buddy, good one. 

the birthday girl with her sweet little friends. 

we had a blast. 

now go give hump day some real meaning and hump your husband tonight. i can almost guarantee that it will make his day. 

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tara

birthday girl gets a new outfit!

today is my baby girl's birthday! and to make her feel extra special i decided (yesterday... typical) to make her a new outfit. 

i used a tutorial from one of my favorite sewing blogs, Make It and Love It. i love the step by step, easy to read instructions and photos she provides. it makes it easy for me to follow along, especially since i wouldn't consider myself an advanced sewer. i've really learned a lot from making things off her site. for this one i used her "little girl romper" tute. i also really love that she has a lot of boy stuff on there. 

{via}

i've had my eye on this super cute romper i found on pinterest for a while, and i happened to have a similar red polka dot fabric laying around.

i love how it turned out. the only changes i made to the original tutorial is that instead of making the chest area pleated, i added eyelet ruffles. i also added cuffs on the shorts with coordinating tiny polka dot fabric and a matching headband. 

she loves it too. i had it hanging up and when she came down stairs for the first time this morning she saw it right away and said, "thank you for my beautiful outfit mommy!". 

love her. 

Amalya, happy birthday sweet girl! you are growing up so fast. it really does seem like you were just a toddler, running around and jabbering words only we could understand. but now your favorite thing to do is "chat" at the table with us and carry on long discussions about your favorite things. you have so much personality, you are so animated and add drama and flair to every dance or song you sing. i see you changing, and understanding the struggles in your heart more. i see you working hard to obey and learning how to ask for things with words and not being so quick to throw a fit. i'm so proud of you for that! i prayed for you and you are a gift to our family, the perfect fit. God did not make a mistake on you, and i hope that as you grow you will learn that beauty comes from within, not from your outward appearance. i pray that God would capture your heart, even now, so that you will spend all the days of your life giving him the glory. i pray He will reveal His will for you to us and to you early on so you will never wander, and that you will use your gifts to bring him honor. 

you are so dearly loved, sweet girl. what a joy it is to be your mommy. 

xoxo,

mommy

gluten free chocolate crepes

probably one of my favorite things to do is cook. i've always loved it. i can remember experimenting with my own cookie recipes as young as 8 or 9. standing in the kitchen adding a dash of this and a sprinkle of that. it was just so relaxing, and exciting. the difference now is that back then my food never turned out very good and now i have kids that either want to help or just cry while wrapped to my ankle because they are "starving"... which, in turn, makes it very stressful. but then my husband comes home and saves me so i can claim that time to myself again. Saturday mornings are nice too because my husband is home and i can get up while everyone is still snuggling and cook in the quiet of the morning.

i recently came across the most beautiful picture of chocolate crepes on pinterest and had it set in my mind to make my own version. we eat a paleo "template"" diet, but almost every Saturday i like to have a cheat breakfast to make fun memories with the kids. this morning we had gluten free chocolate crepes. 

{via}

my "cheat" version is made from gluten free flour... which is made out of fava beans and potatoes or something. makes me feel like it's better than straight up wheat. some people would beg to differ, but whatevs. i also sprayed these suckers down with whipped cream... FROM THE CAN. then sprayed it straight into my mouth. oh yes. i'm a paleo rebel. (under regular paleo circumstances i usually whip my own whipped cream and sweeten with honey or stevia.)

really, no one cares. because it's my muffin top that really suffers. and the sugar coma i head into directly after consuming such ridiculous foods. (please catch onto the sarcastic tone, i don't need any haters!)

this was not my first time making crepes. i do it pretty often actually. Big A's favorite crepe is filled with Nutella and banana slices. little a's fav is lemon curd with blueberries. i prefer a blueberry and sour cream crepe myself while the hubby likes almond butter and banana in his. for this recipe i took my ushe and added cocoa powder... easy peasy.

now for the recipe.

{GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CREPES}

1 cup bob's redmill gluten free all purpose flour 

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder 

whisk all ingredients til there are no lumps. spray your nonstick pan down with cooking spray (the healthy kind!) and add 1/4 cup batter, swirl around pan til thinly coated. wait a sec then flip it. donezo.

what did you have for breakfast?? do you have any special Saturday morning food traditions? i'd love to hear about them. 

if you hurry, you can still make this for tomorrow. go now and run to the store! 

love, 

tara

new dinnerware + linen napkins

guys, my table is super fancy right now! and for no special reason.

i know, i know... you're all... whoa, what? you can't just be gone from blogging for more than a month and then be all up in our face with a fancy table! we're not your booty call, that you can just show up whenever you want and expect some love...

sorry guys, i totally understand. i guess i'm just struggling to commit to this internet relationship. but you know what? i do like you, a lot. just trying to figure out if i want to be married or just date you occasionally. it's not you. it's me. 

haha. 

wow, there are a lot of awkward relationship references going on right now. sorry. 

anyway, like i said. my table is fancy. before i took my long break from blogging (which was to join my husband in San Diego for 4 weeks of summer camp at Hume SD), in an effort to find something unimportant to take away the stress of packing my entire family for 4 weeks, i decided it would be a good idea to make a dozen linen napkins... that we wouldn't be using for over a month... just because... it wasn't like i had anything else to do... like pack....

and a few weeks before we left i went garage selling with my good friend and scored on some white dinnerware! i don't know if you remember how much i've been wanting white dinnerware, but here's a reminder. i used my new napkins and dinnerware as an opportunity to set my table up all fancy. 

and the best part was that the kids helped! they loved joining in the assembly line and layering all the pieces. after i took pictures we enjoyed an equally fancy lunch of hot dogs, carrots, and cottage cheese with apple sauce. CLASSY. they were excited and that's all that matters. 

the dishes are Centura by Corning and i hear they are actually real vintage. i looked up purchasing a couple bowls and one bowl is running $15 to replace. i got 10, 6 piece place settings for.... $10!!!! so excited. 

for the napkins, i purchased several yards of linen in the color Lake (its a deep teal if you can't tell in the pictures) and used this sewing tutorial to make 10 mitered napkins. the latte bowls are from Anthro, and my silverware and water glasses are from Ikea.

i love my table this way. the kids want to keep it this way "FOREVER!!!"... now i just need to host a dinner party so other people can enjoy it!

xoxo,

tara