I try to put fruit, veggies and some protein together for each lunch.
Baked avocado fried are DELICIOUS!!! Who knew?!
Carrot cake protein pancakes recipe are in a previous blog post of mine! They are a HIT with cream cheese frosting!
Baked mac n cheese cups are SO simple and yummy! I made a big batch of homemade mac n cheese using wheat noodles and broccoli, poured them into cups, topped with cheese and baked until crispy.
Breakfast veggies and eggs are a favorite of ours as well. 
Overnight oats are super good and easy to make and take on the go in the mornings!

• Overnight oats- 1/4 C. oats + 1/4 C. plain greek yogurt + 1/2 C milk + cinnamon + vanilla + 1/4 C. blueberries + shredded coconut + 1 tsp. honey
• 1 egg plus 1 C. egg whites
• 2 oz. turkey sausage patty OR turkey bacon

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 C. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C. sour cream
• 3 1/2-4 C. flour or until it forms into a ball
• 1 tsp. baking powder

1. Mix together butter and sugar, then add vanilla, egg and sour cream.
2. Mix together flour with baking powder, then slowly add it to the wet ingredients.
3. Mix until dough forms into a crumbly ball and no longer sticks to sides of bowl.
4. Bake on 350℉ for 12-14 minutes for big cookies. 10-12 minutes for smaller cookies. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

• 1 stick butter
• 1 8oz. package cream cheese
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 C. powdered sugar (or until desired consistency)

1. Mix together butter and cream cheese until lumps are gone
2. Add in vanilla until well mixed
3. Slowly add in powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached
4. Spread a thick layer on a room temperature cookie and ENJOY!

My 2017 goals:

• Collect less things
• Be aware of unnecessary money spending
• Save more money
• Find the positivity in my own pessimistic views 
• Less screen time
• Keep up on household chores
• Organize EVERYTHING in the house
• Better consistency in nutrition and exercise
• Serve 100% in my church calling
• Study scriptures and pray daily
• Find happiness in simple things
• Be more grateful and less entitled 

• ¼ cup old fashioned oats
• ¼ cup cottage cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 TBSP coconut (OPTIONAL)          sorry mom, i know how much you hate coconut
• ¼ tsp baking powder 
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of allspice (optional)
• ¼ cup shredded or grated carrots {from ~1 sort of small carrot}

• 3 TBSP cream cheese or plain Greek yogurt (for less fat and extra protein)
• 1 tsp maple syrup or honey
• 2 tsp milk
• dash of cinnamon

Remember this before picture???? Yikes!!

As most of you probably know already, we bought a house! We have been renting since moving to Twin Falls since we weren't sure how long we would be here for. When Justin took the job offer in the Twin Falls ICU we knew we would be here for at least a few more years before we take off to Anesthesia school and thought we might as well put our money into something that is going to benefit us rather than throw it into rent for a house that isn't ours. Our plan is to either sell it for more than what we paid for (it was a foreclosure so we got a pretty good deal on it) and pay for anesthesia school. Or rent it out while we are away. We would love to keep it while we are in anesthesia school and eventually move back afterwards if Justin could get a job in the Twin Falls hospital again.
So like i said, the house was a forclosure. Which means lots of unknown history! Yikes. It came without air conditioning, luckily fall is just around the corner and we can live without it. We have to replace plumbing pipes due to corrosion in the old metal piping. FUN. After ripping out carpet in the basement that was full of cat pee, disgusting i know, it smells a lot better but we found some forest green paint over the cement that we weren't anticipating. We would love to strip the paint and stain with an epoxy seal over the top. It's a good thing we will be here for a few more years to work on lots of projects in the house and hopefully increase the value of it. It needs a LOT of work but we fell in love with it as soon as we walked through it. I'm excited to share lots of "before" and "after" photos with you all of our projects!

Main fireplace "before"

Work in progress! Not finished yet

a cute baby!

She is climbing on everything!