Peach Crisp With Maple Cream Sauce

I bought a huge box of peaches and they have got to be the juiciest most delicious peaches I've had in a long time. I wish I bought 2 boxes! The hubby's favorite dessert is Peach cobbler and mine is Apple Crisp so I met in the middle and made Peach Crisp. He wasn't to happy about that but oh well! He can make his own cobbler next time. I'm not a fan of biscuits at all and I think that's how you make a cobbler?!
So, with the help of my little man we started using up our peaches!
As I write this I realize someone deleted my prep work pictures, so just imagine all the beautiful ingredients lined up and nicely pictured in my bowl waiting to be mashed up...

Now imagine the most delicious looking crisp you have ever seen...Yep that's how mine turned out! This pan of crisp didn't last long so I didn't get the final pictures I wanted.  But no fear I got this recipe from Ree so mine turned out JUST like hers...



I'm sure it tasted the exact same too!   { pictures from her website }

My printer also decided not to print out the recipe in black ink but very pale blue so I'm just going to post the link  http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/desserts/peach-crisp-with-maple-cream-sauce/?print=1/#size3x5  instead of writing it all out. I'm sure you all don't mind this time!

Enjoy this warm and delicious dessert!

xoxo
-N

Awana

When I was a young girl I attended Awana. Well that's what my mom says. I have no memory of going but I'm sure I liked it. I like all things church. I was pretty involved with church until my Junior year in H.S when I met "the boyfriend" and he steered me down a different path. I attended church a lot less. My parents didn't attend so there was no pressure to attend.
Being that I am back in the church, I really want my kids to be more involved so I found an Awana at a church close by our house.
Tonight will be their third night attending and they already have John 3:16 memorized! They have partial 1 John 4:14 memorized too. I'm just so proud and it helps me memorize the verses too. I'm so happy with the church as well. Very well organized and very friendly.
I do hope this is something my kids will want to do for a very long time.

xoxo
-N

How to fill your time when kids are in school

I have two boys 6 & 8. When D was in half day kindergarten I enjoyed my 2 or so hours alone. I got a lot of things done. Then I spent the rest of the time with him. Now that both my boys are in full day school 1st and 2nd graders (time flies) I was frequently asked, "What are you going to do now"?
Well for the longest time I just didn't have the answers. Here and there I said I would volunteer and workout. But people wanted to know if I was going to get a job. I really cringed at the thought of getting a job. The first week back at school I met up with some mom's for coffee. 3 of them already had jobs!!
I thought I was losing all my SAHM friends until things just fell into place! I'm a true believer in things happen for a reason.
Here is how I'm filling up my time away from the boys:

*Volunteering at there school (40 hrs per year is required)
*Volunteering at my Church
    *Answering phones
    *Crafts for Sunday School
    *Projects from the Pastors
    *Organizing and Stocking supplies
*Volunteering for Cause I believe in . Check it out and see if you have a center near you. Feel free to donate or buy the coffee!
*I also got a very part time/on call job at the Tanning salon down the street from my house. May not come to a surprise to some of you! (I worked in a Tanning salon most of my young life)
*Clean, Laundry,Dust, couponing you get my point
*Blog
*Bake or Cook
*Set Goals
*Read
*Coffee dates with friends

Some more ideas could be:
*Take up Gardening
*Join a Gym, Running Club
*Take longer at the Library and explore
*Learn something new
*Study a new language
*Babysit for someone to help them out
*Form or join a coffee or breakfast club
*Take a class (I've always wanted to do a cake decorating class)
*Go back to school part time
*Become a part time consultant doing something you love
*Form or Join a freezer cooking group

I hope that these will help or inspire you to do something new or go back to something you loved doing before. One major advice I would give is to also Pray about it, GOD will put in your path what he wants you to do. Oh, another important thing....ENJOY YOUR FREE TIME DOING NOTHING TOO!

God Bless and Good Luck

xoxo
-N

Canning Peaches

I remember growing up and watching my mom can fruits, jam/jelly's in our kitchen. She made some great stuff. I've decided as one of my kitchen goals is to learn and start canning my own foods. I'm hoping this will help in being more frugal.
Ace Hardware was running a great special on canning supplies, so I knew I had a sure sign that I needed to learn this. Then the boys' school had Peaches on sale by the box for $28, locally grown!
Third sign that I was meant to start canning was my girlfriend Amanda was canning plum jam Friday morning when I arrived to her house for coffee. She asked me if I wanted to go pick plums and learn to can?!
I couldn't believe it. So, she showed me how to do it! I'm so excited for this new "kitchen adventure"!
Come back soon for pictures!

xoxo
-N

New Workouts

I started a new gym this past Saturday, let's just say OMG!
Here's the full scoop. From Sept 10th to October 22nd, I am being challenged to lose as many inches as I can. Which I don't think is much at this point, so I'm already in the mind set of not winning. So if I do win, it will be a huge surprise.
The classes offered are:
Tae Bo, Tae Bo extreme, ripped, and impact
VERT
Yoga
TRX, strength and stretch
FITMMAX
VertMax
and a few more combo classes.
Everyone pretty much knows kickboxing and of Billy Blanks right? Thought so. I have seen the commercials and thought that looks easy. WRONG, it was pretty hard. I wasn't sure I even liked the class either. I've now taken it 4 times and I'm thinking I may end up liking it. You also burn like 550-1000 calories in an hour! Who wouldn't learn to like it.

I took VERT after doing Tae Bo.. in lamest terms it's full body circuit training, and sometimes your legs are in straps...in the air! It was pretty much the hardest workout I've ever done. At one point I was out of breath and I told the instructor, I just ran a 1/2 marathon 2 weeks ago, how in the world could I be so out of shape? Pretty much cause I'm working totally different parts of my body then when running.
Great I'm pretty much starting at square 1. This all should be very interesting.

Friday morning I attended the 6am TRX Strength and stretch. Now I really liked this one. This also had you in straps hanging in the air but so much better. After all the strength stuff we did Yoga. I've never done Yoga before just Pilate's. I think this may be my favorite class so far.

Yesterday morning I did another Tae Bo class with a friend, it was packed. Not one person left that room dry. Man you sweat a lot! During our forward and back kicks I managed to kick the instructor in the leg. I didn't see her behind me. I was so embarrassed! But on a positive note she told me I had "One hell of a back kick"

 I haven't run in a week or so and I don't want to lose my speed. I'm going to run a race next Saturday and I'm hoping to get a 28 min. time.
Any CO friends wanting to take this fitness challenge with me, contact me and we will get you set up!

xoxo
-N

Secrets of Eden

A few months ago I wanted to blog more and thought adding book reviews would be a great way to fill up my week. After reviewing a few books and looking back, I'm not good at it. So I'm going to change the way I review my books. I would still like to share what books I'm reading, cause I just love the referrals and hearing about what others are reading.
So for September I finished reading Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian. This book started off with the major plot right at the beginning to keep your interest. I love that.
You didn't really get to know the whole story until the end, so it kept your attention.
I recommend reading this one. This also would make a good Book Club book.



So instead of me telling you what it's about, I'm just going to let you know if I recommend the book or not. I do belong to a company I have to do a full review on, so those will be a little more in depth.
I hope this suits my readers better.

xoxo
-N

My 32nd Birthday

Well I made it through another year. I turned 32 on Saturday and it was one of the best birthday's I've had in a long time.
Well, last year was great too but that was a whole weekend getaway and we had my mom here to babysit my boys. This year no family help.
I started the day making myself coffee and my boys French Toast. Not how I saw my birthday morning starting but whatever! I then went to my first ever Tae Bo class at 8am! It was hard...
I chilled around the house for a bit then went to the mall. Roger had planned on letting me pick out a white watch that I've wanted for a while. I had a really cute Coach watch picked out, then before I even bought it I had slight buyers remorse. I had just bought myself a new IPhone, ordered cases and signed up for a new gym membership. I felt like I already got my gift. Plus I really want to ski this year, so I rather save the money....But we will see. I just love Coach stuff!
After walking the mall a bit we ate lunch on a roof top patio for some delicious Mexican food. I was so full, I took a long nap and then enjoyed a few more margaritas with my neighbors before heading out for the night.
I gathered some dear friends of mine along with my hubby and we went drinking and dancing at a bar close by home. It was the funniest night  I've had in a long time.
Every 15 minutes I got a shot and a small gift delivered to the table from my BFF Lisa. The best idea ever!
We danced until 1:30 in the morning and headed home.
Sunday Roger made me a green chili casserole, got me Gatorade, an icee, and my favorite chips.For dinner he picked up my favorite Chinese food. I layed around catching up on the Kardashians.
It was a great birthday with great people!

xoxo
-N

Corn Muffin Dogs

I believe that Corn dogs are not only disgusting but really bad for you. So I stopped buying them for my boys. I was blog hopping and I ran across Corn muffin dogs. I thought that is a healthier and more frugal way to serve Corn dogs, so I gave it a try.

                                             Make corn muffin mix according to the package.

                                                  Slice up your hot dogs of choice.

                      Put some muffin mix in cup, then a slice of your hot dog. Add more Muffin mix.

                                              Bake according to the muffin package as well.

I personally don't eat  Hot Dogs, so I'm not sure how this turned out. My husband said they were ok. My kids refused to eat them after one bite. So, I have no plans on baking these again. I threw them out and was really only out like $1.00 so I'm not to sad about it. Feel free to try this with your kids and let me know what you think.

xoxo
-N

The Lies Chelsea Handler Told me..Review

If you have not read Chelsea Handler's books yet, you are missing out on a great laugh!
Start with Hello Vodka, it's me Chelsea then proceed to My Horizontal Life, end with Lies she told me. You may just pee your pants laughing.
The books are a lot funnier then her on her TV show, trust me!

The Lies Chelsea Handler Told me is a collective group of family and friends that Chelsea has F*&$ed with and they tell there side of the story. I found the book very entertaining and wish I could think of pranks as well as her and get away with it. What's gross is that when people find out they have walked right into a Chelsea prank, she's right there peeing in her pants, Literally! But Chelsea does have a very sweet side, she pays for all her friends vacations, who wouldn't love that?! I'd be her friend to travel the world just for taking a joke.
I read the book in 2 days while at the gym, it was hilarious. Except the ending, the last chapter is from her dog. Why would you have an insert from your dog? I found it boring and skipped most of it.

So if I prank you, you know know where the idea came from ;)



Buy the book here!

xoxo
-N

August Goals Review/ September Goals

My Updated August Goals are ready for viewing.

Personal:

Run a 1/2 marathon Results
Start a new weight training class...Signed up
Fix up basement..In process
Purge old magazines..still in process(I own like 300)
Prepare to consign old clothes, kid toys(started)

Kids:
Continue Bible verse teaching...With school unfortunately we haven't done this
Start a new sport

Books:
Book Club Book....Didn't finish because it was a bad book
Blogger book...Never showed up
Purpose driven life...Sorry not this month again

Kitchen:
Granola bars...Found the recipe I want
Homemade Oreos  Recipe

As much as I would love to sit here and say I have time to do all this in a month, it's just to hard. My days are so full of driving everyone places and doing for others that I just don't get small things done. I rather be with my kids having fun then cleaning. Dishes can wait, life can't!
There is always next month right!
 
September Goals

Personal:
Start Fitness Challenge
Treat myself to a race or something special for my Birthday

Kids:
Take them on a fun outing
Awana

Books:
Secrets of Eden
Book Club Book
Blogger Book

Kitchen:
Granola Bars
Another batch of Homemade Graham Crackers
Homemade noodles from scratch

WO 8/29/11

8/29 I skipped due to babysitting
8/30
 Today I stepped on a treadmill for the first time in 2 weeks (since my race). I had mixed emotions about this because I couldn't decided if I had grown to hate running and I really didn't want to. I stretched for a minute and started my music up. I turned that treamill on and took off. The smile on my face surprised me a minute. I do LOVE to run and I don't think I could ever hate it. I'm unofficially back in training. I have tentative plans to run a race in September but the 2 I have chosen are at Noon. Who wants to run at 12 on a Saturday in 95 degree weather, here's a hint......NOT ME!
So, I did 40 minutes of interval running. 5.0-8.0 MPH with a .5-4.0 incline. I should of really just did an easy run getting back into things but I can't help myself I love the speed!

8/31
 I'm sore today from my speed run yesterday so I did the stationary bike.
Aerobic hills 35 min. lvl 3
Treamill 30 min. at 4.0%-10% incline 3.2 mph

9/2
I ran! I ran outside in the most perfect weather. I even had to wear a long sleeve shirt it was just the most perfect fall running weather. The paths were full of runners, dog walkers and strollers, so I'm not the only one who thought the same thing.
I ran 5 miles in 55 min.

Winter Park Weekend

I would have to say I'm pretty addicted to Groupon. There are the other daily deal sites I have too. I don't know how I'm going to use all of them by the end of the year but I will.
Most of my adventures are because of Groupon or such. For instance we went on a weekend getaway to Winter Park a few weekends ago.
We only went for a few reasons:
1. Groupon: 2 night stay in a Condo in the heart of WP, with $20 GC to local restaurant (didn't use), and a few other small perks $100!

2. BRET MICHAEL'S!!!

Yes, I can 100% be a Bret Michael's groupie! I have seen him twice now in CO, this time was the best. I nearly lost my voice from screaming. I was screaming, singing, jumping up and down, I freakin' love him!

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and checked into our Condo. The boys were so cute checking out every tiny thing. They found a radio they screamed about it, they found a shower and bath separated they screamed about it and jumped inside, they opened a patio door and we over looked the hot tub...Yes, they screamed about it!! You get the point! I didn't get mad from all the screaming cause it's the little things that give them joy, which in return makes me happy.

Here's the weekend:
Walk Village
Skid Row Concert
Walked downtown WP
Dinner in village (very expensive and busy)
Hot tub
SLEEP!
Went to Fraser Rec Center: worked out, did the pool slides, lazy river etc.
Warrant & BRET MICHAEL'S CONCERT
Village: Dinner, arcade, park and more
Hot tub
Sleep
Village
drove up and through Fraser, Tabernash and such to Grand Lake. Boys played at the beach
Lunch in Winter Park (best Mexican food)!
Home
Here's the highlights in Pictures.