Summer, go away!!! ;)

I don't know what has gotten into me lately, I can't seem to keep myself out of the kitchen! I'm sure it has to do with being hungry ALL the time due to my Insane workout and nutrition suppliment, making me long for all the things that spit in the face of toning and chiselling my muscles :) I really have tried to be good, but summer just makes it so darn difficult!

My sweaty work-in-progress

Let's begin with my grandmother's homemade plum jelly, from plums she hand picked from her own orchard just last month--how do you NOT eat toast and jelly every morning when you have something like that. My Shakeology is/should be my morning meal every day. This leads me to the next problem...

I unfortunately, got the recipe for my all time favorite childhood bread from my mother. Now, this is far from a low fat recipe, and I'm sure I will think of ways to lighten it up soon, but not on the first batch! I've made two loaves of 'Mom's Monkey Bread" this week, because I really needed it to go with my grandmother's homemade plum jelly---it just fits together, how can I help that, right?

Chase helping roll dough.

And, here's the final problem with summer and fitness goals--peaches are now ripe at my grandmother's house. You may say to yourself, "peaches are fruit, that's ok", well not in my head! My thoughts can not stop leaning toward peach cobbler, peach crisp, peach pie, and peach ice cream---that can't be good for the midsection!!!

Now, if you throw in things like hot dogs on the grill, trips to Sonic, and late night pizzas after long days out in the pool with friends, I'm doomed!

Late afternoon at the pool.

So, there you go, I don't like (meaning, I LOVE) summer...and can't wait for it to go away (please stay here forever!).

Mmmmm, peaches....

4th of July FUN!

We had so much fun this weekend! My awesome hubby took a few extra days off to hang out with us. We got to eat out at BJ's Thursday night, and Chase ate BOTH of his burger sliders. In true Chase style though, he shocked us by only wanting one or two bites of our oreo pazookie (which we couldn't finish either!) Friday we went to spend some time with my grandparents, and had a great time fishing, and running from the sporatic rain storms (ie. puddle jumping!). Chase got to help Granny with some planting, but didn't want to get his hands dirty too much. I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!

We fed the bull and hung out in the barn while the strongest storm passed, which is Chase's favorite thing to do. I really enjoyed chatting with both Granny and Grandaddy, as they were both feeling very energetic! After, we headed over to my moms for a quick jump in the pool before heading home. On Saturday, we had my new stepmom (ha!) and my dad over for the afternoon. Made fajitas, and hung out...when it was time for them to leave, they took Chase with them--SURPRISE BABYSITTER, yay! We headed over to a friend's house for some UFC sans kiddo! Sunday morning, we taught at church-or we were scheduled too, but it seems everyone was still out on vacation-so we got to hear a great message from Nathan Johnson from Galations 2. It's funny how God uses parts of the bible that you KNOW to show you something new about yourself. Nathan did a great job explaining that being a true Christian doesn't mean you have to DO anything, but that you WILL make changes in your life because you are living for GOD instead of yourself. Also good to remember that we will never be God, and we will fail, but those failures NEVER mean that you no longer have His love, or His Grace. Grace is freely given through your faith in the gospel message. Ahhh, isn't it great to know that it's not up to your actions!

Here are some pics of our 4th of July fireworks with our fam, and our friends Heather and Bobby!

Sean, being an excellent driving buddy-we had a long drive home from Rockwall after the fireworks. (good thing I like late-night driving!!)

I am thankful for the freedom in this country to start random fires with falling debris too.....jk :)