Weekly Meal Plan

First, I would like to thank you all for the sweet comments on yesterdays post. The power of prayer is an amazing thing and I am so thankful for the friends I have made in the blog world. Grandma is doing about the same but is suppose to be transfered to a rehabilitation center in Houston sometime this week. Keep the prayers coming, they are working!

Once again, this is an off week for meal planning! I am heading out of town Thursday morning for a friends bachelorette party in New Orleans. We are all pretty excited about it!

Sunday- I was lazy and made Jambalaya. I love it and could eat it weekly!

Monday- Taco Junk

This is a mix that I have made a few times using ground beef, can of black beans, can of corn, can of rotel, taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, and serve it over fritos. So easy and so good!

Tuesday- Chicken Tortilla Bake

Wednesday- Texas Roadhouse

Thursday-Saturday- The husband is on his own and I will be spending a crapton of money on food in N.O.

What is on your menu this week?

Life...

So, I was getting back into a life routine. Meal planning, working, blogging, spending time with my husband and just loving life!! Everything was going well and we were living life day by day. I talk to my mom, dad, and grandma every single day either on the way to or from work. Wednesday morning, I wake up like normal, go to school, continue my every day routine and then get a call from my dad that I need to come home (Houston) as soon as I can because my grandma is not doing well. My world stops. 

My grandma means the world to me but over the last few days, I realize that I take advantage of talking to her everyday (and everyone for that matter). She is getting older, is a cancer survivor X2, but has been doing really well. I leave work and Chris and I rush to Huntsville to see her before going to be with family in Houston. The last Wednesday-Saturday have been rough. Everyone thought we were going to lose her. She is done fighting and ready to give up. Good news is that she is doing better but still not wanting to fight. She is done fighting but her body is not. My husband and I came back to Dallas late last night and it was a bittersweet feeling to leave. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to see her, talk to her, and kiss her one more time and hope for many more. 

This is not a post to bring anyone down but to remind everyone that tomorrow is not guaranteed. The times spent with those we love can be taken away so quick. It scares me to think about that thought but it is reality. I miss her and my other family already and have not been gone but a day. 

Please pray for my grandma to continue to improve daily and to find the will to fight and stay strong. I know she wants to see my Papaw and Uncle Scotty but I am not ready to let her go...

My grandma and dad.

Ziegen

I posted a while back about us getting a puppy. I showed some pictures of her when she was a little bitty baby. She is no longer little...she is growing like crazy! We absolutely love her and she completes our family for now!!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of her...

This first picture was taken the first day we had her, she loves to cuddle up on the couch with us or by herself!

 Again, sleeping on the couch. This was the second day we had her.

 Do you see a pattern? When this picture was taken, she was not sleeping at night but she is doing so much better now.

 She crawled in her kennel to go to sleep, woohoo! & that little hippo is like her comfort toy.

 First walk together on a leash. She loves her big sister and Acey is finally starting to love her back :-)

 Her tongue used to be a little to big for her mouth and when she was extra tired, it would hang out.

 Princess sleeping on the couch!

This dog absolutely LOVES water & being outside. I think she would prefer to be outside rather than inside.

I hope these videos work, I have never posted a video before. One of the videos is of her fetching her toy and the other is of her digging/swimming in her swimming pool.

Hope you enjoyed the life of Zieg so far. I can guarentee you that there will be more pictures to come!!

WILW

I am linking up with Jamie for What I'm Loving Wednesday. It has been a while since my last link up!

I am loving being a home owner! Home ownership is a great feeling of comfort, responsibility, and committment.

I am loving our new puppy and how well her and Acey are getting along. ( I will have a whole post dedicated to her tomorrow)

I am loving this pillow. We are really struggling to find a rug for our living room. Until we have a rug, I don't want to buy/decorate anything else because the rug will be a color decider. The colors in the pillow are what I am envisioning for our living room.

I am loving the weather! Yes, I live in Texas. Yes, it is hot. Yes, it is humid but I would much rather hot and beautiful then cold and miserable! (ask me about this again in August).

I am loving the table that my husband built for our patio. It is the perfect size for our space and we love having dinner outside while the dogs play.

As always, I am loving my sweet husband. He was out of town for a week and I missed him!! So glad to have him back home.

What are you loving this week?

House Update

I have a meal plan for this week and will post it sometime before the week is over so that you can use some of the recipes if you would like. This is the most inconsistent I have been with blogging since starting. I have been reading a lot of blogs and finding new ones but haven't had the motivation to write my own. I decided to do a house update tonight and will be asking for decor advice sooner than later! Since my last update, we have moved in and are settling in. We absolutely love being homeowners. It is so awesome to come home to a house that is YOURS and have a backyard to sit and relax in while the dogs play. For now, here are the final pictures we took before moving in. I am going to post pictures of our living room soon and need advice for decorating it. I have a vision but can't figure out where to start. 

Dining room with the wood put in.

View from the stairs. You can see a door in the middle/upper left and that is to replace the pantry door that is already in. They did it wrong the first go round. 

Beautiful stone fireplace! This was a decision made late into the build process and we are so glad we choose the stone. 

 Part of our bathroom before paint. 

Better picture of the granite but before the fireplace. 

Like I already said, we are loving being homeowners and are excited to put our personal touches on our house! 

Weekly Meal Plan

This is the first week in a long time that I have had an actual meal plan and I am very excited about it! I was keeping up with meal planning really well for a while and then we got close to moving and had to pack. I have the next 3 weeks planned but will only share one for now. My goal is to go to a monthly meal plan and grocery shop every Sunday. I came across a new blog this week and all of this weeks recipes are from the blog! This weeks meals are:

Sun. BBQ Meatballs

I make my own version of meatballs and serve them over white rice with brown gravy. These will be served with mashed potatoes, corn, and garlic bread. I have never had a  bbq version so hopefully they are good! 

Mon. Crock Pot Pulled BBQ Pork

Serving this on buns with bbq beans.

Tues. Personal Pita Pizza

We have had homemade pizzas before but haven't tried this pizza bread/dough before. We will have salads with the pizzas.

Wed. Sloppy Joes (Chris is gone Wed. through Sun. so I am on my own, he hates sloppy joes!)

I will have these with macaroni & cheese. 

Thurs.- I will have a grilled cheese or leftovers. 

Fri.-Sat.- My mom will be in town and we will eat as we go. 

Does anyone else meal plan? What are you having for dinner this week? 

Can't believe

it has been a year since we said "I DO"!!! 

This has been the most amazing year of my life and I am so thankful to have spent it with my husband! So much has happened in just a year and I couldn't imagine spending it with anyone else. Let's take a walk down memory lane...

Spa Day with the most amazing bridesmaids ( I didn't take any other pictures :-( )

Rehearsal Dinner 

Getting Ready

Saying I DO

Married!!

Honeymoon in Antigua

Watched my best friend get married!

Celebrated another best friends engagement!

Went to another best friends wedding

Built our first house

Expanded our family with another little girl, Ziegen

I told you, it has been an AMAZING year! I am so thankful for everyone in our lives and cannot wait to see what the future holds. Chris and I are celebrating our anniversary by going to the same restaurant we went to celebrate our engagement. I love you, Chris! I am so happy to call you mine!!!