Happy Photo Days #60 - 62

Day 62:  I rock at coloring :-) Storytime craft awesomeness!

Day 61: HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY TO MY MARGO!! She got some new toys (which she was afraid of at first) and some delicious treats.  My baby is all grown up!  How did that happen?

 Day 61: Chilling out in a nice rocker.  I need a front porch with a rocking chair!

Day 60- hilarious kites and GIGANTIC sodas -- if you don't notice the frog right away... somehow these kites seem obscene...and I don't think this picture does justice to exactly how LARGE this large soda was...

Happy Photo Day #59

Happy Photo Day #59 - I'm sharing more than one photo but hey - it's my blog and I make the rules here :-)

Saturday was a lovely day for hayrides, corn mazes, pedal tractor racing and hanging out with farm animals :-) I learned I am terrible at following directions (corn mazes are not my specialty) and that goats are still the awesomest animals ever! The goat below however was greedy and one person had to be feeding him if anyone wanted to feed any of the others.... hungry boy!

Happy Photo #58 -- TFIOS style

My very first Blu-Ray ever and of course its The Fault in Our Stars.  I saw it twice in the theater and I'm sure I'll watch it repeatedly...but I'm in the mood for a tear free weekend so I think I will just look at it's pretty box and the fun infinity bracelet that it came with that has quotes from the book on it.  Notice my awesome infinity ring as well... which did not come with my TFIOS movie but does accent the happy photo nicely :-)

Happy Photo #57 - Chicken Corn Chowder (with recipe)

Ingredients:

1 can chicken broth (I wound up using a tiny bit more than a can)

1 can corn (I drain the regular corn)

2 cans cream style corn

1 pint heavy whipping cream

Chicken breasts 

1 can Rotel (or can us a can of diced chili peppers or both)

Onion

Garlic

Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Rice if you like a thicker soup

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Chop onion and saute in soup pot and then brown diced chicken.  Add stock and garlic and let cook for a bit.  Add all corn and rotel/peppers and let cook for 20 minutes or so.  Add whipping cream and bring to low boil.  Add as much rice as you like to thicken.  When almost done add cheese and stir in to incorporate into chowder  (I just eyeball this too.. depending on how fattening I want it).  

Serve with yummy bread... I added chopped garlic to the bread too... need to keep the vampires away :-)

Happy Day #56 - Rainy Day Adventures Turned Sunny Day Exploring

We started our day at Washington Monument State Park hoping to do some hiking... but the rain got the best of us and after a walk to the monument and back we were water logged and ready to dry out...

We had a great lunch and the skies had mostly cleared so we headed over to the Monocacy Battlefield and checked out their museum while we dried out a bit.  This is us all cramming into their photo op spot which is supposed to be all of us looking out the space in the boards of our basement onto the battlefield with sadness and horror...

 Here we are walking around the battlefield with happy faces!

It was a lovely day of hanging out with friends, enjoying nature, learning to skip rocks (I have to relearn every time!) and relaxing.

Comfort Food -- Happy Photo #55

Happy Photo #55:

When I was a little girl I didn't like sauce on my spaghetti.. just butter and parmesan cheese.  Sometimes I still crave it that way and to make it better... it's super easy to make and cheap :-) Bonus happy because of the cool bowls I just got from Carrie that I am putting to good use.  

Halfway through Happy :-) Photos #49-54

#49 - Outside the post office where I mailed packages off to a good friend deployed to Afghanistan right now.

 #50 A new stash of yarn.. because I didn't already have a closet full of yarn :-)

 #51 First Christmas present finished... it was a quick project that turned out pretty cute :-)

 #52 I've been meaning to make a wreath for my front door for like forever... it only took about 15 minutes but it's always extra fun to check something off your to-do list!

 #53 Shes hard to see but there is a Margo waiting for me to get home from work in the window... when she sees me get to the door she runs out of the kitchen and is right at the door when I open it, a nice welcome home!

 #54 Crazy pic of me but I have declared it fall and I am wearing cords! YAY!  <3 Fall!

10 Books

The Challenge: List 10 books that have stayed with you throughout your life. Not necessarily "good" books; don't think too hard and don't show off.

1. Wizard of Oz (Little Golden Book)

2. Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

3. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

4. Looking For Alaska by John Green

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

6. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

7. The Giver (and Gathering Blue) by Lois Lowry

8. Kittens First Full Moon by Kevin  Henkes

9. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I don't have them in any order of importance except that the first book on the list is near and dear to my heart because my pop read it to me over and over and over again with me curled up in his lap when I was a little girl until I could "read" the book myself.  I love looking back and thinking about those moments.  He may not have realized then how important the memory would be to me now.  

Happiness come is bunches...Happy Photos 40-48

At least on my blog it does... because it seems I can't seem to regularly post one picture at a time :-)

#41 - State Fair Fun with Tyler

#42 - GOAT MOUNTAIN!  Need I say more!?

 #43 - Pretty flowers in DC :-)

#44 Dino-time!

#45 Pumpkin Spice

#46 - The Sandwich Fairy delivered a delicious sandwich!

#47 - Let there be light

#48 - Fierce!