Lunch Ideas for Work or School

I've been making Alex lunch for school every day since we got married. It's something that I really love doing for him....sending him off to school with a little care package of fruit snacks, granola bars and other survival essentials for the day. I have always made him two turkey/cheese/tomato sandwiches - until recently. 

Alex expressed to me that although very grateful, he just can't stomach another sandwich for a long time! I don't blame him at all. After 5 years of it, I'd be sick of it too.

That comment has sent me on a little hunt for ideas of what I could make for him in the mornings that won't take me long to make. And I must say, I've had a ton of fun doing it! Alex loves food and it makes me happy to see and hear his reactions to the different things I've packed for him. And what's great about making him a delicious lunch in the morning is that by the afternoon I don't need to figure out what I'm going eat for lunch! It's already done!

Before I list the few lunch ideas, I must mention these great Rubbermaid LunchBlox containers!

I have both the Sandwich kit and the Salad kit. These little containers are the perfect serving size and it's fun to figure out what you could put in each container. They stack perfectly and are made to fit in a lunch bag. They also come with an ice pack, so if you or the person you're making the lunch for doesn't have access to a fridge, the ice pack will keep everything cool until it's time to eat! I'm telling you...great investment! My grocery store had a buy one pack get one free... I couldn't pass it up!

#1 Seven Layer Bean Dip

(side note: I don't measure anything, so you'll have to estimate how much of the ingredient to use) :)

It's actually a six layer bean dip over here...we omit the olives. 

All you need is:

Re-fried beans

Sour cream

Avocado

Tomato 

Cheese

Green onions 

Super easy! Takes a second to cut things up and you layer the ingredients in the order they are listed. Pair with a bag of chips (of course!) and you're good to go!

#2 Chicken Salad Sandwich

There are tons of different ways and combinations to make a chicken salad sandwich, but this is our favorite!

Ingredients:

1 can of chicken

Mayo

1 pickle diced (we like the Zesty flavor! Amazing!)

1 green onion diced

1/2 cupish Craisins 

handful of sliced almonds

Garlic salt

Onion Powder

Paprika

Salt/Pepper

Mustard

Mix it all together. Assemble on sandwich and drizzle with mustard. The salad definitely tastes better if it's been refrigerated for a couple of hours. 

#3 Strawberry Spinach Salad

This is probably the fastest and easiest meal to make. 

All you need is:

Packaged baby spinach (ready to use)

4-5 Strawberries

Feta cheese

Sliced almonds.

Dice the strawberries then layer the salad. Pair with either poppyseed dressing or a raspberry balsamic vinaigrette and it's delicious! 

#4 Pita

One of the most frequented restaurants in Provo for us was The Pita Pit. We LOVED that place! A pita is a great change up from a sandwich. You could make any type of pita you wanted!

In this pita, I put a lot of different things:

Turkey

Salami

Feta Cheese

Lettuce 

Tomato

Red Onion

Pepperoncini's

Chipotle Mayo

Mustard

Sub Dressing (oil/vinegar)

Salt/Pepper

Sides/Snacks

Here are some ideas to pair your main dish with:

*Fruits - grapes, oranges, apples, plums, strawberries

*Hard boiled eggs

*Hummus and pita chips

*Beef Jerkey

*Raisins or Craisins

*Celery with peanut butter and raisins

*Carrots

*Chips and salsa or guacamole

Happy Lunch Making!! 

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday, Friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! 

We had a great weekend together as a family, mostly listening to the LDS General Conference. Conference sure is a different experience when there are young children vying for your attention and making tons of noise. But through all of the distractions, we were able to hear a lot of wonderful, uplifting, inspiring messages. I've definitely come away with a renewed sense of wanting to be and do better as a person. I've got a list of resolutions to start working on. :) (And we're sooo excited for the announcement of a temple to be built here in Tucson!!)

Todd, however, was battling a fever all day yesterday and all through the night. It's heart breaking to wake up at 1 am to the sounds of whimpers coming from across the hall. But being able to rock a sick little boy by the dim light of a nightlight, cradled in my arms, with damp rags across his chest and forehead and humming his favorite songs, reminds me of how much I love being a mother and how sometimes there are only things a mother can do to comfort her ill child.  

Thank goodness he woke up feeling better this morning. Lets hope none of us get sick this week... especially since Alex has a final test this Thursday! That would be the last thing he needs...

My Little Ballerina

Since high school, I've dreamed of having a little girl in ballet. I couldn't wait to dress her up and neatly tuck her hair away into a little bun.  

Lucy just finished her first ballet/tap class yesterday! It was such a joy to see her in there stretching her little legs and practicing her pliés. 

There were (several) moments where the teacher had to remind Lucy to listen and to participate. After all, she was one of the youngest and this is her first organized class of any kind. But overall, she did a fantastic job and she looked forward to "dancing school" every week! We start another section of dance next week. This time it is going to be a ballet/creative dance class... Lucy really didn't like tap dancing on account she was scared she was going to slip and fall. :)

this is a little 40 sec video of Lucy doing some pliés

Surprise!!

And by surprise I mean THAT surprise!

Yup... Alex and I are expecting our third baby due this April.

We were very much in shock, especially me. I was feeling like I was finally getting a handle on things with two kids... I was planning to focus more on school and really spend more time on myself developing my talents. In fact, I was trying to not get pregnant. Yet somehow it still happened.
It just really goes to show that the Lord has a different plan for me.

Though having another baby right now was not in our plans, we are so grateful for this little miracle that will soon be joining our family!

(and for those wondering, I am about 13 weeks along) :)

A Note From a Smitten Fourteen Year Old

For the last several years, I've had a three-ring binder under my side of the bed collecting all sorts of notes, pictures, ticket stubs, and other sentimental things that have made up a lot of mine and Alex's relationship journey. I'll pull it out, throw something in there, then shove it back under my bed, with the intention to one day organize it all.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally went to Michaels, bought a new scrapbook album, some protective cover sheets, and began to chronologically organize everything. 

This brings me to to this note... It was the first thing I had ever given to Alex. I brought it to church, shoved it in his hands and walked away. Yea, sure... the note shows confidence, but that took a lot for me to do!! I also included this cheesy picture of myself in it... one where you couldn't even see my face! ha! 

The best part about all of this? Is that Alex actually kept these for all those years...

Perhaps a New Project...

Last night, everyone went to bed early. It was 8 o'clock, the house was dark and quiet, all except for the hum of the ceiling fan and the light that illuminated the pages of my precious journal. I snuggled up to the arm of the couch, using it to prop up my journal as I wrote. Though the air was quiet, my mind was roaring with thoughts as I quickly jotted them down. There is something about handwriting in my journal that is so therapeutic for me. I love it more than I can say.
I closed my journal, wondering what next I was going to do. The night is young, my family is tucked in bed, and I've got this very rare time all to myself. Rather than aimlessly search for something to watch online, I decided to aimlessly walk around Barnes and Noble, searching for something to catch my eye. I found myself in the "Self Help" section looking at the book The Happiness Project. I've been wanting to read this book for a long while now, and I am currently number 40 on the waiting list at the library to read it. I sat down to read it and eventually just bought it. I'm only about 25 pages into it so far, but already it has been very enlightening to me. I am in a current state of just surviving rather than thriving. I'm a pretty happy person, but I know I could be happier. There are things in my day to day life that I know I need to change... little things that I think know will make a big difference. I'm the only one holding myself back from reaching my full potential of happiness. I know that we were put on this earth to experience joy and happiness, yet there are so many demands and distractions that get in our way of truly experiencing these euphoric feelings.

I'm anxious to keep reading...I think by the end of this book, I might just start thinking about doing my own happiness project.

Through Lucy's Eyes

Lucy is at an age where everything is beautiful to her. Even if she has read the same book hundreds of times, she'll turn the page then... "Gaaasp! IT'S BEAUTIFUL!" Or she'll see the same old dress that I've worn over and over, and she'll come up to me, with both hands on her cheeks, and say "gaaasp! You look beautiful, Mama!"
Her sweet, innocent eyes, are quickly soaking in every little beautiful, joyful moment of this brief childhood. She definitely reminds me to see the beauty in the ordinary things around me.

On our way home from Phoenix this week, it was about 10:30pm and Lucy was wriggling in the back seat, trying with all of her might to not go to the bathroom right then and there. We quickly found the next exit with any sort of bathroom, all the while saying "Alllmosst therrrrre, Lucy! Alllmosst therrre!" The first place we pulled up to was a Shell gas station. As we pulled up, I noticed there were no bathrooms inside. I turned to Alex and told him he's taking Lucy this time cause there was no way I was going to go around to the side of the gas station to use their restroom this late at night with who knows what/who hiding in the dark!
Alex grabs Lucy, grabs the restroom key tied to the giant mixing spoon, and disappears around the corner. The restroom door wasn't marked properly and was among two other doors. After trying the key on a couple of doors, Alex found the right one. He and Lucy then walk into the dark, not so smelly good restroom.
Alex turns on the light and then, "GAAAASP!!" He thought that Lucy had seen some kind of rat or lizard or something, but then Lucy proceeds... "IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!" Then she twirls in a big circle with her arms outstretched, soaking in her new environment.

I'm pretty sure her imagination had taken over at that point. :)