Back to School!

I can't believe the summer is over!  It went by so fast!  Both me and the boys were ready for school to start.  Remii made it home from North Carolina the day before school started.  He wanted to be home to see Luke's first day of kindergarten.  We went the night before as a family to Hollywood Connection.  It was fun to do something as a family right before school started.  We had a blast!

I am so happy to have Remii home!  He had a great summer finishing as the top salesman in the office! 

 Look at how cute Ben and Luke are!  I can't even believe that I have a fourth grader and a kindergartener!  Ben was pretty excited to start school, but is not looking forward to the homework!

Luke is so stinking cute!  He is such a good little boy and even though I was excited for him to start school I worried about him on the first day!  It has been so nice having him in all day kindergarten and he is LOVING it!  He has met a new friend named Caroline (It's not my GIRLFRIEND mom!) and loves being all grown up in school.   He is doing great so far!

Farewell North Carolina

Where has this summer gone?  It has just flown by!  It is always a blast out here and seems like a mini vacation.  My hubby's company takes good care of us while we are out here and we do a lot of fun things.  My blog is keeping me busier than ever!  I am kind of glad to get back to Utah because not only have I been trying to run my blog, I have also been cooking for at least 5 guys.  Every night.  I am exhausted from it!  But they work hard so I am happy to do it.  Speaking of my blog it was only 60,000 pageviews away last month of reaching 1 million pageviews!  It grew by over 100,000 last month and I am feeling so blest by it!  My blog has turned into something I never dreamed possible.  It is tons of work and I am so glad to be getting a break from it at the end of the month to go to Hawaii!  Woot woot!  Here is a little recap of the summer for us...

Myrtle Beach with my BFF!

Ben and Luke eating snow cones with Uncle Reino

Ben and Luke's new pet frogs that they caught in NC!

At the NC museum with Uncle Reino.

We stay right on the beach in Myrtle.  It is amazing!

Touring Uncle Reino's navy ship!

Just another night feeding all of the guy! :)

The places where we lived in NC were amazing!  Included was a theater room!

We spent a lot of weekends having fun.  Ben got to drive a go cart!

Midnight showing of Man of Steel. :)

Inside Uncle Reino's ship.

On our way to Myrtle Beach at 5 am!

North Carolina Museum fun!

Thats a wrap of the summer in North Carolina for us!  It was also fun to be able to be close to Remii's brothers navy base and hang out with him a few times over the summer.  It was a great summer and I am excited to get home and get the kids ready to get back to school! :)

Visiting Uncle Reino's Navy Ship

I have decided to take the night off of my Recipe Critic blog to do some much needed blogging over here at my family blog!  We have been having such a fun time here in North Carolina!  Our adventures have included frog hunting, swimming everyday, and fun activities with Remii's company.  We just got back from Myrtle beach!  I will try to be posting pictures of that later. :)

Remii's brother has been in the navy for about 3 years.  He served most of his time in Japan and was just recently reassigned to Norfolk, Virginia to finish up his last year.  We were so excited to be so close and be able to go and visit him and have the amazing experience of visiting the Navy base and touring the ship.  The boys LOVED it!  We had such a great weekend and ended it with going to Virginia beach.   The boys got to meet Uncle Reino for the first time this summer, and they have loved getting to know him better and visit his cool ship!

Reino took us on a tour of his ship, the George H. W. Bush Ship 77

It was such a great weekend and an experience the boys will never forget!  We are so grateful for Uncle Reino for defending and supporting our country!

Life of a Blogger part 2

Wow!  I totally miss blogging over at our family blog!  I have so many things to update my family blog with.  The good news is is that I am taking some time off next week for my blog anniversary so I am hoping to get caught up with a lot of things.  Plus I am moving to North Carolina to FINALLY be reunited with my hubby in 5 days!!

I have had so many amazing opportunities happen to me since starting my blog this past year!  Not only has it been a huge blessing for our family and could completely support us financially,  but I have been able to be apart of working with some amazing people.  Today I had an article published on me and my Tuscan Garlic chicken in the Deseret news!

I was so excited it made me get a tear.  My food blog is such hard work, and sometimes I want to kill it.  Haha  But all on all I am thankful that I can be a stay at home mom and make delicious meals for my family.  It is given me amazing opportunities that I never thought were possible!  I will be featured by Pillsbury for a second time this month, and I am currently working with a chocolate company in Utah creating recipes with their chocolates and all of my recipes will be as inserts in the boxes of chocolates!  Here is a sneak peak of one of the recipes...  :)

One of the BEST parts of having my blog is all of the friends ships that I have made!   I have some of the best friends through blogging!  It is nice to have someone to relate to about being a full time blogger...  because I always get weird looks when people ask me what I do for work and I tell them I am a food blogger.  I have had so much fun attending conferences with these awesome bloggers,  going on fun trips, and just being able to talk to them!

Build your blog conference 2013 with Inside Brucrew Life and Love Grows Wild

SNAP! conference 2013 with High Heels and Grills and Chef In Training

SNAP!  conference with iHeartnaptime

Having a girls day with Nikki from Chef in Training baking in her kitchen!

Watching LASIK eye surgery with Sweet Treats and More and Baking with Blondie

Girls Road trip to St George with Chef in Training

Shopping for random food dishes on our girls trip!

SNAP! conference with High Heels and Grills and Chef in Training

Build your Blog conference with Oh Sweet Basil, Taste and Tell, Sweet Treats and More and Chef in Training

One Year

A year already?  Say what!?   That flew by!  I seriously am ridiculously obsessed with Remii.  Sometimes I think that I love him too much so I ask him if I should tone it down.  But he just makes me so happy!  He has all of the qualities that I want in an eternal companion.  And his love for the gospel and is testimony is what I really love.  {Don't get me wrong he is pretty hot too!} Remii is always there to make me a better person and is an amazing example to Ben and Luke.  He supports me so much in all that I do.  When I am having a blog meltdown, he puts the boys to bed and reads scriptures with them.  When I need help with something, he is always there.  He provides for our family so that we are always taken care of.  I could go on and on about how much I love him and how much he means to me.  But I will let the pictures do the talking.  Warning: we kiss alot! :D

Ahhhhh look at how young we look.  Oh wait that was only a year ago!  Haha  Well it was pre-blog weight for the both of us!  Haha  We headed straight from the wedding reception to San Diego!  Guess what the best part of our honeymoon was?  Nope not that....  Renting a brand new mustang convertible!  It was awesome!  We always have such a blast together!

We have done so many fun things together this year!  San Diego, a cruise, Disneyworld, Myrtle Beach, Washington DC, and it has all been a blast!  I was thinking about my life yesterday and I love my life!  I couldn't ask for a better hubby by my side.  He is perfect for me and I am honestly so happy that we found each other!  Remii made me believe in love again and also believe that good guys still do exist in the world and I love him more and more every day!  I can't see what life has in store for us!

If you need even more mush.... click here

Life as a Food Blogger

Once upon a time on a boring summer day in North Carolina I had this thought of starting a food blog.  I love to cook, I want all of my recipes in one place, and I had nothing better to do.  I wanted to do something extra other than being a mom.  So I started the little adventure of a food blog.  Little did I know the complex world of food blogging.  I never intended making money off of my food blog, just needed something to do.  Here are some of the things that I go through on a daily basis.

• It is a full time job.  I have to keep my blog updated with at least 3 new recipes a week.  This is not including photography, editing, networking and being an active part of my Facebook group.  
• As my blog has grown, I have learned photography is so important.  I have to take my pictures in good lighting, so I am usually making dinner at 1 in the afternoon.  My family gets reheated meals every night.  But all that matters is that I get a good pic right?  Haha  I will be SO glad when the winter is over so that I can make dinner later.  And don't even ask me to bake, cook something when the sun is down!  
• It is not an easy job.  I usually have 1-2 recipe fails a week.  A lot of the times, the food is amazing and I can't get a good picture.  Grrrr.  Days like those I want to quit my blog! :)
• I can't even believe the stats I get every month on my blog.  Seriously all these people are reading this??  I am excited to be able to add to the income of my family and am thrilled where my blog is headed.    
• I am constantly looking at food all day!  Looking for new ideas.  Yeah I have said that my diet is going to start tomorrow for the last 6 months.  I am freaking out that I am going on a cruise next week!  
• People just don't really understand that blogging can be a job.  I get weird looks all of the time trying to explain what I do.  I was in Crate and Barrel the other day.  And I am always buying random dishes.  I tried to explain to the lady for 30 minutes what I do.  I just gave up!  Haha
• I can't ever take a trip and forget about my food blog.  I have to have people guest post, posts already lined up, and a babysitter to do the networking for me.  Sheesh!  This is totally my life now!

I got to attend my first blog conference over the weekend!  Yes they have blog conferences.  Trust me this was new to me too!  It was a blast!  It was so fun to meet all of my favorite bloggers.  And I loved all of the classes that I went to.  I learned so much from it and made so many friendships.  Actually I already knew them through blogging, it was so nice to actually meet them face to face.  The conference was organized by The Six Sisters.  Who are the nicest, most genuine, amazing girls you will meet.  They have really helped me grow my blog into what it is today.

With four of the sisters.  They blog at sixsistersstuff.com

With Jocelyn Insidebrucrewlife.com and Liz lovegrowswild.com

This was my partner in crime during the conference.  I love her!  Nikki from chef-in-training.com

Top sweetbellaroos.com and my awesome blog designer somethingswanky.com and bottom right sweetreatsmore.com

My blog has been a huge learning experience.  I already cherish the friendships that I have made through blogging and most of all I am so thankful for a very supportive hubby.  Seriously.  He rocks.  Not only does he support me by eating my delicious creations, but he knows that it requires a lot of time.  He will put the boys in bed and read scriptures with them while I am late night blogging.  I also love the support that I receive from my friends that have supported me when my blog was just starting.  Every little like and follower counted in the beginning and I honestly can't thank those people enough!  And oh.my.heck.  I finally finished this post!  I have only started it at least 4 different times!  Yay!