Simply Watermelon Lemonade

I simply love watermelon.

& I simply love lemonade.
Little did I know that the two flavors combined are simply amazing.

Not too long ago...

We were at a restaurant that offered watermelon lemonade

instead of the traditional strawberry lemonade that you can find almost anywhere.

Hubby ordered one out of curiosity.

It. was. d e l i c i o u s.
They garnished it with fresh watermelon,

but used watermelon syrup instead of fresh watermelon in the drink itself.

I ordered one on my birthday at another restaurant,
and my taste buds were in heaven once again.
Note: This restaurant also used watermelon syrup instead of fresh watermelon.

Hubby bought a container of pre-cubed watermelon just to munch on
since watermelon is such a great summer treat...
Somehow it became buried behind things in the fridge,
and we almost forgot about it.
Thankfully we found it just in the nick of time,
& began eating it while it was still good.
I realized we wouldn't be able to finish the whole container before it went bad,
and was kinda sad about it...
Then I remembered how delicious watermelon lemonade was,
remembered that we had Simply Lemonade in the fridge,
& decided to make some to use up more of the watermelon while we still could.
It was a thousand times better than either restaurant version,
& the best part...
It was simply lemonade & watermelon.
No watermelon flavoring.
All natural.
There were no leftovers.
Didn't have to toss any uneaten watermelon out (:

Without further ado...
The recipe.

1.75 liter bottle of Simply Lemonade (you will have some left over)

4-5 cups watermelon chunks

Fill blender with 4-5 cups of watermelon chunks. Pour Simply Lemonade in the blender over the watermelon chunks until the 6 cup mark. Blend until smooth. Taste, then add more watermelon or lemonade to your liking if needed. Enjoy!

Featured at:

xoxo

^Lift

Sooo, I started using this awesome site called ^Lift.

It's a way to track your progress on specific goals you would like to accomplish.

Source: Google+

My sister mentioned Lift in a blog post last month.

I read about it while I had limited internet access

& had been meaning to check it out ever since.

A few days ago I finally got a chance to see what it's all about & I love it.

You can check out my progress here.

 Whether it be simple day-to-day tasks,

or baby steps that need to be accomplished before attaining a long-term goal,

you enter them in as 'habits'

and check them off each day once completed.

I know I always accomplish more when I'm checking things off a list.

Lift helps you track your progress each week,

& you can see multiple weeks at a time to see your long-term progress.

You can encourage your friends

or other people with similar goals.

It's pretty nifty.

No more setting goals in January

only to slack off come February.

Don't be discouraged.

We all have great potential.

Follow your dreams.

Choose happiness.

#itshappyhere

As my Grandma used to always say,

"New day, new start, happy heart."

xoxo

Monte Cristo French Toast

I'm really missing Disneyland right now...

It's my birthday week,

and for the first time in a long time

I won't be able to go to the Blue Bayou

and eat a scrumptious Monte Cristo.

Super sad.

I wrote a guest post about it,

which you should check out over at A Peek Into My Paradise!

I wanted to do something about this craving of mine,

so we had Monte Cristo French Toast for breakfast today...

It's not the same as the deep-fried deliciousness that we always get at the Blue Bayou,

but it definitely hit the spot.

I saw a pretty easy recipe here & modified it a little...

14 slices of ham

14 slices of turkey

7 slices Swiss cheese

14 slices of bread

butter (softened)

3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1/8 tsp salt

powdered sugar

blackberry preserves

- Arrange cheese, ham, & turkey on plates so they will be easier to grab when putting the sandwiches together. This step will also bring them closer to room temperature so they won't take as long to heat up while cooking. I decided to do this on two separate plates so that the cheese doesn't soak up the moisture from the meats.

- Butter one side of each slice of bread, placing 2 slices of ham, 2 slices of turkey, and 1 slice of Swiss cheese on the unbuttered side of one slice, then placing another slice of bread on top making sure the buttered side is out. Repeat until you have made all 7 sandwiches with the buttered sides out.

- Cut into halves diagonally and secure with toothpicks. I broke each toothpick in half so that they weren't sticking up so high, and used 3 toothpicks per triangle.

- Beat eggs with milk and salt. Dip sandwich halves into egg mixture quickly and fry on a lightly greased hot skillet or griddle over medium heat until egg mixture is fully cooked & sandwich is lightly browned.

- Remove toothpicks before serving. 

- Sprinkle with powdered sugar & serve with blackberry preserves on the side.

xoxo

Two Month Late Update

We've had limited internet access ever since we moved
so I apologize for my ever-so-quiet blog.
We finally have our normal internet access back though so I'm hoping to start posting regularly again.
You probably won't be seeing any Mommy School posts or recipes for a while,
or at least until we get more unpacked & in a normal routine,
but it's good to be back - well, kinda back.

Our CA house had been empty since the end of June.
The last couple nights there were really weird.
Ya know, sleeping in an empty home and all...
We just closed on it though,
so it is a happy home once again.

Yep, that's right...
We found a buyer for our SoCal home!
Right after it was listed,
we had 4 showings in 3 days with 2 offers.
We accepted 1...
The offer was too good to be true
& we are so glad that things worked out the way they did.
We were nervous about the appraisal at first until it was over & we had the results,
but everything worked out fine and we had nothing to worry about.
It appraised right at the price we needed it to.
Afterwards we wished we had listed it higher since it sold so quickly!

Hubby drove four days with Gram (his mom) & Little Dudeman to make it to Indiana the last week of June.
Needless to say, it was a long drive...
Meanwhile, Little Princess & I stayed with Nani (my mom) at her place in Orange County.
We had an absolutely wonderful week spending time with her,
even though she had to work some of the days that we were there...
We went to a mommy & me yoga class on Tuesday which we both really enjoyed.

We also got to spend some time with my grandparents & visited Crystal Cove to see some tidepools & the ocean.
On Wednesday my mom was feeling pretty miserable from a bad cold that was going around
so she stayed home from work, we watched some Bollywood movies, & she got some extra rest.
We went to a Music Makers group with other mommies & toddlers from church on Thursday while my mom was working,
but later that night Little Princess started to get that cold and had a really hard time sleeping.
Friday we went to urgent care to make sure Little Princess didn't have an ear infection
since she had such a rough night and was tugging on her ear quite a bit,
but the doctor said her ears looked fine and that it was just a cold & allergies.
So we drove by the ocean one last time & swam in the pool for a bit before Nani finished work.

You can read all about our flights to Indy & our crazy layover at the Denver airport here...

It's kinda long, so I decided I would spare you & make it a separate post.

You're welcome.

We stayed at a friend's lake house for a weeks until we closed on our house.
We closed on the 16th,
& moved in on the 19th.
Our new home is wonderful (:

We were a little apprehensive since we bought it entirely on faith.
What I mean by that is we didn't get a chance to actually go house-hunting.
We had a great realtor that showed us houses on Google+ using the hangouts feature.
Crazy awesome, right?
But hey, it worked.
We ended up in the school district we wanted,
in a really great neighborhood,
nestled back away from major streets,
yet only 5-10 minutes away from pretty much everything!
Our neighbors & church family are super friendly & welcoming,
there's lots of young kids,
and a lot to see & do in the area.
We can't wait to get more unpacked so that this house can become our home!

Also, my family decided to come surprise us on the 18th to help with the move...
It. was. epic.
I was sitting in our empty home cleaning & waiting with the kids for our truck to come with all of our stuff
while Hubby was at work & Gram was at the lake house.
The truck was scheduled to come sometime between 10a-5p.
The kids were bored, & I was sick of cleaning.
Just as I started thinking how great it would be to have some company, the doorbell rang.
Assuming it was the ABF truck I was slightly relieved,
since that meant that we could leave to run errands then head back to the lake house.
I looked out the window & didn't see the truck - or anyone for that matter.
I then thought to myself...
maybe it was someone from church or a neighbor.
I opened the door to see my family holding a plate of cookies & some sparkling grape juice!
I. was. overjoyed!
That was exactly what I needed right at that moment.
The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
We decided to keep it a surprise for Hubby & Gram...
When Hubby came home for a quick lunch everyone hid in our pantry like a pack of sardines
and I told him that there was a huge spider in there that I needed him to take care of.
When he opened the door, he saw them all standing in there.
He stayed to eat his lunch & chat for a bit before heading out to finish his work day,
then he drove to the lake house to pick up Gram so she could look at an apartment & we could go out for dinner.
When they got to the house, my family was waiting quietly upstairs.
They had decided to sneak down one at a time
then casually start in on conversation as if they had been here all along.
It worked a little too well!
Gram saw the plate of cookies that they had brought & I told her that they were from our new neighbors.
When she asked if they had any kids I said that they had 4 kids, but that they were older...
Two girls in high school & two children that had graduated already.
Their son is in college & their eldest is married with two kids of her own.
(I didn't mention that it was me)
When Gram was looking out our back window & talking with Hubby about our playset & garden,
my sister Abby came downstairs,
washed her hands in the kitchen sink,
then we started chatting away in the background.
When Gram still wasn't turning around,
our sister McCall came down & joined in on the conversation.
We started talking louder & made it a point to call each other by name to make things a little more obvious.
Still no clue.
It wasn't until the kids' Gramma (not Nani, but my other mom, (stepmom)) came down the stairs & started talking that she realized they were here.
It was priceless.
My sister blogged about it not too long ago...
She has a spectacular blog (:
I magma her.
Ya know, since magma is hotter than lava.
Really though.
I love my family & extended family like crazy.

I'll try to post all about our lake house adventures later this week!

Longest layover ever.

The last Saturday in June we got up early to head to the John Wayne airport in Santa Ana.
Little Princess & I had been staying with Nani so that we could spend some extra time with her before we moved.
Hubby & Little Dudeman were already in Indiana and would be picking us up that evening in Indy.
I could tell that I was starting to get that awful cold that was going around earlier that week by this point.
No fun.
Our flight left at 10:05am and we got to the airport around 8:30ish (if I remember correctly)
We waited in line to check our big suitcase and the carseat,
then around 9-or-so we walked over to security to say our "see ya laters".
They let us go through the first class line since I had a stroller,
then the nice man that checked my ID decided to help us through the line since it was the end of his shift.
I forgot to empty the water out of Little Princess's sippy cup,
& they normally dump it or test it (which I was completely okay with),
but they said that they weren't going to bother because it wasn't very much.
It was more than half-full.
Uhm... not really protocol, but okay?
That was nice of them.

Little Princess was an angel on her first flight, even with her drippy nose.
I began to have more & more sniffles as the flight went on,
but Little Princess slept almost the entire flight, which was quite the blessing.
We were sitting next to a nice man & his partner who loved keeping her entertained during take-off & landing.
She only screamed once...
but that was after we had landed & it was because I was wiping her nose.

We had were supposed to have an hour-and-a-half layover once we got to Denver.
Not too short, not too long right?
Enough time to have a quick lunch, go to the bathroom, change diapers, & get to the complete opposite end of the terminal (where our next gate was) without feeling super rushed.
I looked at the departure board with disappointment when I saw that our flight time had changed.
Our flight to Indy was now scheduled to leave at 4:45pm instead of 2:50pm.
Hubby had already left since Indiana is 2 hours ahead of Colorado.
He was about halfway through the 3 hour drive to come pick us up when I called to tell him the bad news.
So they stopped to have dinner since he & Little Dudeman now had plenty of time to kill.
We ate lunch and got to our gate
(located at the opposite end of the terminal, remember?)
About 20 minutes or so passes and the nice lady at the gate kindly lets us know that our plane would be even more delayed, although she didn't have a new departure time yet.
A couple minutes after that she informs us that our new flight time would be 7:23pm out of a different gate
(which was back where I had just come from)
Yep.
So I called Hubby and told him the bad news yet again.
The 7:23pm departure meant we would arrive around 11:30pm (after the time change),
then we would have to get off the plane,
wait for our luggage,
re-install the carseat for Little Princess,
& drive 3 hours to the lake house.
Yeah... did I mention that we were staying at a friend's lake house until we closed on our new home?
It was a nice break from the chaos of moving.
Really nice.
But back to the airport.
I was feeling more & more miserable by the second.
I had terrible hayfever & was sneezing up a storm,
not to mention that my nose wouldn't stop dripping.
Yep, I was no longer stuffy.
It was like a leaky faucet.
I had a headache and well,
I was achy from head to toe...
Not a fun way to spend a layover.
Hubby was thinking about driving back to the lake house & driving to Indy the next day to pick us up if the airline could get us a hotel in Denver, then he would come get us on the first morning flight.
I walked by the guest relations line & decided I would wait for it to die down a little,
but it continued to grow...
After a couple stinky diapers and a few walks back and forth to opposite ends of the terminal I finally decided to wait in the 45 minute line at guest relations to see what they could do about that.
No such luck.
They said that since there was still another flight to Indy (at 7:11pm) that they couldn't get us a hotel.
It's okay.
I didn't want to go to a hotel anyway.
We would have had no clothes or carseat since we had checked it.
They did however give me a $30 meal voucher and a $10 snack voucher to use at the airport while we waited...
35 minutes before the boarding time.
That didn't give us a lot of time to sit down in the nice sit-down restaurant they suggested,
order,
wait for food,
eat it,
change one last diaper,
& get to the gate.
So instead, I ran to the little grab-n-go shop nearby,
got as much food as I could manage to eat &/or stow that would add up to $30
(a giant slice of pizza, raspberry cheesecake, a sandwich, yogurt, a banana, a cookie, some chips, & possibly other things that I have since forgotten about).
Then I ran over to Hope's Country Fresh Cookies,
ordered $10 worth of cookies to save for later,
& headed back to the gate.
There I met a girl on our flight from Carmel, IN (Hubby's hometown)
& a lady that was headed to the exact same lake that we were (Lake Wawasee).
Small world, eh?

We finally boarded our upgraded plane around 7:40pm.
I say upgraded because it was no longer a full flight.
We went from having 2 seats per side to 3 seats per side.
There was a very kind mother, daughter, & grandmother in the same row as us.
The 3 of them decided to all sit together on one side of the plane to give us some extra space since Little Princess was squirmy & needed a lot of extra wiggle room during this flight.
I was so grateful!
I had hoped for another easy flight since I was very exhausted by then & quite miserable from the cold.
Unfortunately I had one fussy toddler to deal with almost the entire flight.
She decided to nap about 10-15 minutes before the descent,
but woke up screaming when her ears started bothering her.
No nap for me.
Miserable.
Absolutely miserable.

We landed around 11:45pm,
got our luggage around 12:15am,
took a quick potty break,
changed diapers,
paid for parking before heading to the car,
installed the carseat,
loaded up the car,
& hit the road.
We ended up leaving the airport around 1:00am
and didn't get to the lake house until about 4:00am.

Longest. layover. ever.
or at least it felt like it...

Have you ever had any crazy long layovers?

YNAB Summer Sale

Just wanted to pop in really quick-like to let you know about an amazing discount YNAB is offering on their budgeting software now until July 22nd!

It's normally $60, but they are offering it for $39.99 right now.

Not only that, but if you follow this link, I can get you an additional $6 off your purchase.

That brings your total to $33.99!

Don't know what YNAB is?

Check out my post about how we discovered it & how it's helped us

then check out their site to learn more...

We've gone 7 months now without going further into credit card debt.

Even with all of our moving expenses.

YNAB has been quite a blessing in our lives.

I would recommend it to anyone that wants to become more financially stable.

Click here to save $26 on your YNAB purchase until July 22nd!

That is all.

Real posts coming soon.

Promise.

SoCal to the Hoosier State

You may or may not have already read that we're moving, but either way, here's the story:
Hubby recently accepted an offer for a job transfer to Northeast Indiana.
That's right...
We're moving from Sunny SoCal to the Midwest at the end of June.
Needless to say, we've been extremely busy packing & trying to get our home ready to sell.
You wouldn't happen to know anyone that wants to buy a house in the SoCal desert near Palm Springs, would you?
Didn't think so.
Drats.

We knew that we wanted to move before Little Dudeman started school, but we honestly didn't think it would be this soon, & we were planning on moving somewhere with a comfortable climate all year round...
We didn't want any more 115+ degree convection oven summers, but we weren't looking for bitter cold winters either.
So why Indiana?
Well, the schools in the Midwest are great & everything kept pulling us back that direction.

A few years ago, we found out that the LDS church was building a temple in Indianapolis & we knew we wanted to go to the dedication once it was finished.

We went to Hubby's 10 year high school reunion a couple years ago.
That was my first time visiting Indiana & seeing where he grew up.
I could see us living there,
in the distant future.

He kept seeing job postings for Indiana, but ignored them since we didn't think we would be able to move out there at the time.

This is where it starts to get interesting...
A long-time family friend that he & his mom knew mailed us something out of the blue back in December.
She happens to be a realtor in Indiana.
They hadn't stayed in touch really.
In fact, they hadn't talked in YEARS.
She had no idea we were in California or that Hubby was married with 2 kids.
She just was thinking about Hubby & his mom and decided to try to contact them.
When we got the mail she had sent we were a little confused as to how she found us & why.
It was a cute calendar from the real estate company she works for.

When he heard that they were building a regional office for his work out in Indianapolis we thought to ourselves yet again, "Why have we seen so many things about Indiana lately?"

We received yet another real estate related letter in the mail from our realtor friend in Indiana.
We started thinking either she wants us to call her or she is desperate for business.
Turns out she didn't know if it was really us & was hoping we would contact her so they could catch up.
We still didn't get around to calling her, because things had been a little busy over here.

Then the job post opened up yet again, & we started piecing things together.
Maybe we were supposed to move there...
So we prayed.
Everything felt right even though we were confused.
So we started looking at houses online & got in contact with our realtor friend.
She's wonderful. (:
Then the company decided they wanted us in a different part of Indiana a couple hours away.
It was hard hearing that at first since we wanted to be near people we knew.
We wanted to be in a more familiar area.
But this would be a new adventure for all of us.
Although it was not where we had originally thought we would be,
we started feeling more & more right about where we were going.

Throughout this moving process, we've noticed a lot of hidden blessings:
Our Disneyland annual passes expired at the beginning of May.
We knew we weren't going to renew them because the prices had gone up $170/person
and we would have to pay for Little Dudeman from now on as well.
If Disneyland hadn't raised their prices that much,
we probably would have continued getting our annual passes every year & never moved away from SoCal.
Bittersweet.
So we set aside money to do Legoland, Knotts, & San Diego Zoo passes instead.

When we found out about the move, we already had that money set aside that we could now put towards moving expenses.

We found YNAB back in December.
It has helped us budget better & save more money for moving expenses
rather than going further into credit card debt because of the move.

We received a check from our insurance company out of the blue.
Apparently we paid too much when my wisdom teeth were removed back in 2011...
More money to help with moving expenses.

We have a bunch of wonderful Young Women in our ward at church.
We have been extremely blessed to have the help from a couple of them that are graduating this year.
One of them needed service hours to graduate early,
and both of them needed service hours to receive their Honor Bee charm.
I get their help & get to see their smiling faces multiple times each week,
they get service hours for watching my kids and helping me pack & clean.
Win-win. (:

I won't miss the excruciatingly hot summers or the high gas prices,
but I will miss a lot of things...

Disneyland

the ocean

warm winters
our big kitchen
DHS mineral water
In-N-Out
Costco

Nani
our ward family
the office staff of our pediatrician & other doctors

all the other wonderful people I've met out here

Although I'm super stressed about how little time we have to get everything done,
and how we don't have a buyer for our house yet,
and how we don't know where we will live when we get there,
and so many other stressful little details about the move,
I truly am excited about our new adventure.

I'm looking forward to...

Culvers
grass
seasons
better schools

making new friends
Hubby being less stressed after work

I know it looks like I will miss more than I'm looking forward to,
but that's part of the adventure that comes with moving.

You never know all the great things in store for your future.
You learn them as you go,
enjoy them while they last,
and embrace them once they're past.
xoxo

Update: We moved