Sooooooo we bought a house

As many of you know J and I just (well a couple weeks ago) bought a house here in Spokane. After living in Spokane for just about 10 months we found a house that we can make a home.
We walked through numerous houses and drove by even more. We had an awesome Realtor who was willing to put up with all of my emails and inquiries and helped us find a house we loved!

I am so excited to continue to establish some roots here in Spokane and I know that this home will be a great way to do that. God totally had this house hunt in His hands and I feel so blessed by knowing this.
We went and looked at our house the first day it was on the market, put an offer in the very next day and someone else had put an offer in as well. I was pretty stressed out knowing that this house that I knew was meant to be ours could possibly slip through our hands. But with prayers from some friends an unexpected email from our Realtor to the sellers Realtor they accepted our offer. Wahoo!!!!
One thing I love about our house is that the seller was the original owner from 1976 and raised his family here. When his wife had passed away and he had remarried he came in and totally remodeled and updated the house before he put it on the market which we were lucky enough to snag. It turned out that the other offer that was put in with ours was a little stronger but because the seller knew that we were a younger family with two kids and wanted to raise them in this house he went with our offer. I love knowing that this house was filled with love and family and memories and I cant wait to create our own. So thankful that our Realtor sent an email unbeknownst to us telling the Realtor about our family and how we wanted to raise our children here. Love how God works and moves through situations even when we don't see it right away.

We are still getting settled and have some empty rooms awaiting furniture but it is still feeling more and more like home. I look forward to tackling some small projects, DIY'ing and making this our home one room at a time. Stay tuned for a little house tour :)

Chevron stripe fun

I found this fun and funky brass picture at the goodwill for a woppin $2 so I had to snatch it up.
Not sure what I was going to do with it but I knew I could somehow make it cute












My original thought was to paint the glass with chalkboard paint, spray paint the frame a fun color and put it in Maddys room.













Which was a great plan until the glass broke, So i redirected to turn it into a cork board with fun fabric and since I already had some cork laying around all I needed was fabric which I found at Hobby Lobby

Here is the finished product. 

Pinterest Challenge #1

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

So I mentioned this yummy Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai in my previous post so I had to make it the other night and I must say it was sooo yummy.

What was in it ?

1 large spaghetti squash

1 cup bok choy (diced)

1 cup carrots (thinly sliced)

1 large bell pepper (thinly sliced)

 2 cooked chicken breast, shredded (the original recipe was chunks but I decided to shred it)

 1 clove garlic, minced

 1/4 cup chicken broth

 2 tbsp peanut butter

 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp red chili sauce

Garnishes

 2 tbsp dry roasted peanuts, chopped

green onions (chopped)

 cilantro

 lime wedges

I was making a bigger serving so I tripled the recipe for the whole family

Here is how I made it

Preheat oven to 350

Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil

Cut Spaghetti squash in half lenghwise scoop out seeds and season with salt and pepper on lined cookie sheet

Bake spaghetti squash in preheated over for 40-60 minutes or until tender (you should be able to flake it with your fork)

 Boil chicken breasts until cooked through

Shred chicken in a separate bowl once cooked

Heat Large skillet on medium add a Tablespoon EVOO and garlic

Saute bell pepper, carrots and bok choy until tender

In a small saucepan mix the chicken broth. rice wine vinegar. peanut butter. soy sauce and red chili sauce until smooth

When Spaghetti squash is cooked removed from oven and shred the squash with a fork and discard the skin

Add the chicken, spaghetti squash and sauce to the large skillet with the veggies until everything is coated with the sauce and cook until heated through

Top with green onions, cilantro and peanuts and ENJOY!!!!

Hope you love this recipe as much as I do.

Here is the original link that I found the recipe

http://stuffweate.blogspot.com/2012/01/chicken-pad-thai-made-with-spaghetti.html

Summer Bucket List

Summer is right around the corner in our house. Just under a week left and I am so excited to say goodbye to hurrying Maddy to get ready for school and stopping mid-day to lug Zeke out of the house to get her from school.
I saw an idea for a Summer Bucket list so I decided to make my own to help keep the boredom away this summer
Here are some fun things we will be crossing off this summer

 Summer  Bucket  List 

o   Camp out in the backyard   

o   Lemonade stand

o   Water park

o   Roller skating

o   Library

o   Water balloon fight

o   Make popscicles

o   Fireworks

o   Ice cream sundaes for lunch or dinner

o   Paint day

o   Craft day

o   Do a random act of kindness

o   Go out to breakfast

o   Smores

o   Family game night in backyard

o   Craft day

o   Cooking day

o   Go on a hike

o   Sleepover

o   Go Camping

o   Make homemade slime

o   Go to Mobius for the afternoon

o   River front park fun

o   Nature Scavengur Hunt

o   Swim Lessons

o   Wii Afternoon

o   Go to the movies

o   Bowling

o   Sewing time

o   Tea Party with your dolls

o   Beach fun

o   Sponge Bullseye

o   Shaving Cream Fight

o   Sno Cones

Pinteret Challenge

I am sure many of you are as obsessed with Pinterest as I am so I know I am not alone when I say that the percentage of projects/recipes/decor/ things to do with the kids etc that I pin verses how many I actually do is...um...well pretty low.
I have every intention of one day getting around to them so I am here making a public proclamation that I am going to start DOING some of them.
This will become a weekly blog post where I will tackle a new "Pin" off of my list.
Here are some that I am already itching at getting started on:

 These fun wine glasses. Great for parties when you cant find those stinkin wine glass charms in   your drawer.

Spaghetti squash Pad Thai.... I love Pad Thai
but could do without all of the carbs that come along with the noodles so hopefully this will be a     keeper
















How fun are these spray painted folding chairs??? Would be great in a play room or at a kids desk. Now I just need to get my hands on some cheap via garage sales or craigslist

These are just a few that I want to try. Some others will be:

Some sort of fun end of the year gift for Maddisons teachers

Fun summer activities for the kids to keep busy
Chalk board paint World Globe
Chalk paint experiment with some piece of small furniture

Quinoa Stuffed peppers

What are some of your favorite Pinterest recipes or DIY projects? Would love to get some inspiration from you guys

Lets try this again.........

I started this blog awhile ago and have had every intention to keep it up to date. Blogging about my life, fun DIY projects, yummy recipes, challenges I am facing and what God is teaching me.
While my intentions were good with this I have not met my own goals to keep this fresh and have not done it on a regular basis.

As we all know life happens and with two littles running around this was not at the top of my "to do" list. Life and seasons change and I feel I am in a VERY different season of life than I was when I first started this.

Since we have moved to Washington I have felt lost. We changed our lives drastically and while we totally feel that this is Gods plan we still sit feeling unsettled, not having found a church to call home, not having our same routine, the same friends that we would see on a regular basis, the same ministries to serve in and so on. It is an exciting adventure and I am thankful for all of the new things we get to have here but while I am excited for this new adventure our family is on I feel like I have lost a little part of my identity. I am not doing anything for just me and that is just mine. I am not working, not serving (outside of the home) and not doing anything for me and it has me feelin a little lost.
So this is where my renewed sense to blog about "Life as I know it" comes from.
This is something I feel I actually have the time to pour into now. DIY'ing, writing about life and doing this for me.
I am going to give this another try and I am really excited about the possibilities to be able to force myself to do some of the fun projects I have been wanting to do and having an excuse to do it.
So join me on this ride and hold me accountable to keep this goin!

Crutches

One of my closest friends had the best advice and encouragement for me as our move was approaching. As we were discussing the move, my fears and sadness she challenged me with the idea that Maybe God was doing this to give me a fresh start. That maybe everything I had in Roseville, our community, church, friends, experiences, trials, good times and bad was a crutch for me and that maybe God needed to remove me from my safety bubble to really grow me and use me.
I literally go back to this conversation on a daily basis, I think about it, pray about it, contemplate it and challenge myself with it.

My husband and I always joke about how some people are just stuck in their own little bubbles and I think we pride ourselves that we don't fit into that category...or at least I didn't think we did until I started thinking about this concept and realizing that we may not be stuck in a bubble in the same sense that we tease (lovingly of course) about that I can easily say that I was safe and happy and content in a bubble before we moved. We loved our community, our church, family, friends and while I would have never admitted it we were in a safety bubble.

I never expected for God to move so swiftly in changing our hearts, putting pieces into place and moving us to Washington. While it was something we had always wanted in the long term I think we were so focused on our bubble and the comforts inside of it that we didn't see God working around us as He got ready to pop that bubble.
We are out of that bubble now. We just recently found a church that we think can call home, we aren't serving in any major capacity at this point, we don't get to see some of our best friends on a regular basis, I don't have several playdate/ coffee dates set up every week, I am away from my family, Im not working.....and so many other aspects of our life are completely different than they were 4 months ago.

It is a really hard thing to admit to yourself that you have crutches. We all have them and in the light of day when you are going about your routine and have your smile on it is very easy to hide them.
To think that maybe my crutches (while they weren't necessarily bad things) defined me in a way that God didn't want makes me thankful that He blessed our family with a fresh start.
A fresh start that could take us anywhere He wants as long as we are listening and responding to His voice.

My prayer today is that as I look at this fresh start that I would carve out the time necessary and deserved to spend with Him so that I can hear Him, so that I am close to Him. So that when He says go or as He opens doors I am able to hear Him and see the path He has for me.