Merry Christmas X3

We always have Christmas with my parents before Christmas, because we celebrate Christmas with all of my extended family on Christmas Eve at my aunt's house, which is a 2.5 hour drive for us.  We open all of our presents at my parent's house so we don't have to travel with them.  Then on Christmas Eve we celebrate with all of my mom's side of the family.  We play a "chinese christmas" game and pick numbers and choose a gift or steal one.  It is fun and someone always brings a funny gift or a really awesome gift everyone wants.  Then the kids open all of their gifts, but usually they open them so quickly they hardly even know who they are from.  Anways, we enjoy spending time with all of my family.  We then woke up on Christmas morning at my Nanna's house and Santa brought us a few surprises in our stockings.  We left on Christmas morning and had lunch with Karson's parents.  It is usually just the four of us and we enjoy spending time with them as well.  I love Christmas!  It is a great time to spend time with your family and reflect on Jesus's birth and how he has blessed us. 

Sisters

With Dad

My Family!

Dad & Mom

cousins.....

and more cousins.....

 

Aunt, Nanna, & Mom

 

Sisters

 

Karson & I

In our matching pajamas

Karson's parents 

Merry Christmas!

Love, the Swartz family 

 

Atkins friendly & delicious!

Recently, Karson went to the doctor and we found out that he has high blood pressure.  This is rare for someone his age, but it is hereditary.  So with that plus the recent weight gain, he decided to get back on a low carb diet.  I have tried to think of meals that are low carb and delicious.  It is hard for me since I love carbs, but we have adjusted well.  I usually give him larger portions and then I have smaller portions with a baked potato or something (got to have to the carbs).  Anyways, here are some of my latest meals.  They are all pretty easy and we have been using the heck out of our electric skillet.  We got it as a wedding present and never used it before, but now I use it at least 3 times a week.  It's large so I can actually cook the meat and then add the vegetables to the side and cook them.  Karson even uses it sometimes for breakfast to cook eggs and bacon.  It also uses less electricity than the stove, which saves us money.  Enjoy!

sirloin steak w/ bell peppers & broccoli

chicken w/ mixed vegetables

 chili

fish & zucchini

FALL is here!

I know I haven't posted in a long time, so I wanted to show you what I have done to decorate for fall.  I love fall and this weather feels great! 

This wreath I made with fabric for only about $4, I copied my friend Amanda's. 

The wreath I have on the front door.

Happy Anniversary!

A couple weekends ago we celebreated our 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Wow, I can't believe it has already been a year. We decided to go eat at Oasis, a restaurant we like in Austin. It's on the lake. It was fun and a beatiful view, however, we have never been in the summer and it was so HOT outside. We still had fun though. On the way home, when we were by Salado, the traffic was so backed up that we probably went 4 miles in an hour. Then, out of no where, Karson's 06 mustang started overheating; shouldn't be doing that. It started smoking, I started to freak, and we were also on empty. It could have been really bad. Thankfully, we were able to make it to Salado and fill up the car and let it cool off while we ate some ice cream at a local store. We eventually made it home. We were tired, but later ate from the top tier of our wedding cake. The lady showed us how to wrap it up really good and after being in the freezer for 1 whole year, it was GOOD. We were surprised and have been eating a little bit all week. We also watched our wedding video that night. I hadn't seen it since we got married and it brought back great memories. So our day didn't really go the way we had thought it would, but we still had a great anniversary. Karon- I am so blessed to have you as my husband and can't wait to celebrate many many more years with you. I love you!

Time for change!

Thanks to a blog make over I won, Cristin, at Creative Creations by Cristin, created this beautiful blog design for me.  Thank you so much, I love it!

Craft Time Anyone?

I have had the urge lately to be crafty and make things out of stuff I have around the house and left over things from other projects.  Here is what I came up with:

I love making something out of nothing and the best part is since I already had the materials it was basically all FREE!

Cooking!

Since I'm off for the summer, I have been cooking more. I'm starting to really enjoy it and if I say so myself, I've made some pretty good meals lately that are appealing to the eye. It makes me feel good when I prepare a meal and it looks pretty on a plate and tates good. I don't like cleaning, but when the house is clean it makes me feel good and appreciate what we have more. So anyways, here is some of our recent meals.

Baked chicken with green beans & new potatoes

I just seasoned the chicken with s & p and tony's creole (our favorite) and then I mixed the green beans and new potatoes in italian dressing. Then poured them around the chicken. To finish it off, I sprinkled some french's friend onions on top and then baked it at 350. for about 45 minutes.

Blackened Pagnasius, tortilla crusted Tilapia & mexican rice

For this meal I actually made two differnt types of fish, only because I had always seen this tortilla tilapia in the fresh fish section of the store and always wanted to try it.  So I also tried Pagnasius, instead of the usual Tilapia I cook.  It is a white fish & tastes just as good as the Tilapia and it was actually half the price too.  Anyways, I seasoned the Pagnasius with s & p, tony's creole, & a little lime juice and pan fried it in a skillet w/ a little olive oil.  The tortilla crusted tilapia was baked in the oven.  The mexican rice is yummy and one of our favorites (thanks to colleen for the recipe), we actually make it about 2-3 times a week.  I recently changed it up a little though, from white rice to whole grain brown rice, to make it healthier.  Then all you do is add a cup of rice to a skillet, and add chopped jalapenos (1-2), cilantro, onions, garlic (1-2 cloves), and I also just added to the recipe about 1 T of caldo de tomate.  My friend, Megan, let me try it and it gave it a lot of flavor.  So anyways you add it all to a skillet w/ butter and pan fry it until it browns then all you do is add a can of chicken broth and let it simmer for about 40 min for the brown rice, 20 for white.  Then it is done and delicious!  By the way I much prefer the blackened Tilapia or Pagnasius then the tortilla crusted tilapia.  It could be because it was baked, but we didn't like it as much and I won't cook it again.

Also, for a quick topping for the fish, all I did was cut up a couple of peaches and then chop up some cilantro and mix it together and put it top of the fish.  It makes it look pretty and tastes good!

Blackened chicken, mexican rice, stir fried zucchini, & baked sweet potato

This meal was probably my favorite.  I seasoned the chicken the way I do everything, with s & p and tony'c creole.  I pan fried it in a little butter or olive oil, can't remember which, I use both, then when it was cooked I added some cilantro (my favorite) and jalapenos to it.  Then I cooked the rice the way I explained above and pan fried the zucchini the same way I did the chicken.  The sweet potato took about 1 1/2 hours in the oven at 350.  When it was done, I just put a little butter and cinnamon on it.  Delicious!

I hope you enjoyed my cooking and it inspired you to go cook something or try something new!

South Padre Island Vacay!

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you.
Click here to view photos

I'm at my parents right now and don't have access to my pictures, so I thought I would post them this way and it saves a lot of time. I made a really cute book on snapfish and I was hoping that would post, but I guess not.

Anyways, we had a great time on vacation. We spent most of the time laying out on the beach and eating, haha. It was relaxing.

God's timing, not mine!

We go through life seeing bits and pieces of God's plan for us, but I feel like I have come to a place in my life where I'm starting to see part of the bigger picture. God has truly blessed me in so many ways, and I'm starting to see how his timing is perfect and that doing things our way is not the best for us. If I would have had things my way I feel that I wouldn't have had them to the fullest. You might get something right away and it is good, but if you just wait a little while longer it could be greater than you ever imagined. That's what God says he will do for us, give us the best if we trust him and wait on him. Three years ago, when I decided to go back to school to teach. I just kept wishing that I could go back in time and already be done with school and been teaching a few years instead of going through cosmetology school, doing hair, and now finishing school. However, if I would have done that I know that I would have the job I do now or be at the school I am now. I absolutely love the school I work at and have made such great friendships there. Everyone works together and the administration is so supportive of everything we do. I feel so blessed to work there and hope to teach there when I'm done with school in a year. I know that God has placed the right person at the right time in my life for me to achieve everything I have today. Also, I know that when I do start teaching I will have so much more experience and maturity than I would have if I started teaching a few years ago. God's timing in perfect. Also, if I would have had it my way Karson and I would have gotten married a few years ago instead of almost 1 year ago. However, because we waited we have so much more than if we would have gotten married then. Not to say that material things are everything, but it is nice to start a marriage with a new house and a feeling of security. Once again God's timing is perfect. I just feel like I'm starting to put all my puzzle pieces together to see the big picture. I feel like I have been handed great opportunities in my life and great experiences to provide me with everything I need to be a great teacher when I graduate. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm bragging but I just feel so grateful of the things God has done in my life and I am just very content and hopeful of my future right now, that I have to share. Thank you God for everything you have given me!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)

 

Almost 2 months later!

Yeah, I know I've really been slacking when it come to writing the blog. It has been a busy past couple of months with work and school and all. Here is what has been going on:

We got a new kitty! He is about a year old, Karson got him from a friend who just had a baby so they didn't want the cat anymore, he is super sweet and cute. His name was Alex, but we call him kitty, sugar, bubba (Karson), sugie, and boogie. Anyways, I have fallen in love with him.

We celebrated Easter with our whole family (mine & his)

We turned 25! I can't believe it, it sounds so old. Oh well, at our school carnival a parent thought I was one of the highschool cheerleaders. HAHA I said "no I work here".

We celebrated Mother's Day and I cooked for Karson's parents. My parents went to see my grandmother. I am going to see them in June, so we stayed here. Then for my mom, my sis and I took her out to eat and to a movie last weekend.

I finished my school semester. I don't go back until July and then I will graduate next May!

My work had our end of the year party. We had a fajita bar at George's Too, it was fun. I have really enjoyed working there this year and I love everyone I work with and the kids too. There are even a few of us Midway girls too. I love CCE!

So anways, there are only about 12 more days of school (work) and then Karson and I are going on vacation to South Padre again and then I will have the summer off! I'm excited!

A trip down memory lane - I love you baby! I've enjoyed the past almost 7 years of my life with you.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook design

Monday night goodness!

So I have been very busy lately working everyday and going to school three nights a week. Not the most ideal schedule, I know, but I only have another year then I'm done. Yeah! So anyways, due to that I haven't been keeping up with my wifely duties as well as I use to. Cleaning for me is pretty much just on Saturday's and I usually just cook about once a week, besides the weekly pizza or skillet meal. Well tonight we didn't have school so I told myself I would go to the grocery store and cook for my sweet hubby. So here is what I made.

Blackened tilapia, shrimp, salad, sweet potato, and bread.

Looks pretty good right?

I was pretty proud of myself, considering I never cooked when I lived at home.

We both enjoyed it!