Crock pot Chicken and Rice soup

Lately I've been attempting to create my own recipes. Just basing them off a recipe I'm already familiar with  but trying to do them a little different. Well let's just say we've had some not so delicious dinners lately;) However I finally had a success! This soup is super easy and delicious so if you need an easy yummy soup for these cold winter nights I highly recommend this one!

Crock pot Chicken and Rice Soup
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
6 Chicken Tenders
1 Onion
1 1/2 Cups Chopped Carrots
5-6 Celery sticks Chopped
2 cans Chicken Broth
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2tsp Seasoned Salt
2 bay leafs
1tsp Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cooked brown rice

Directions:
Place all ingredients except brown rice in Slow Cooker. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 6-7 hours. One hour before soup is done cook brown rice (unless it's minute rice then of course just cook it a few minutes before it's done). Add cooked rice last 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Once upon a time I had a blog...

I often imagine myself posting things on my blog. Funny things my kids say, exciting things that happen to us. And then when it comes down to my 30 min. of free time do I a) shower b) pick up my house c)read a chapter of my current book or d) blog. I'll tell you which one never gets picked anymore and that's D. I really should be picking A today but for some reason I decided to blog. So here we are. The biggest reason is February has been an exciting month for The Paytons.

Exciting thing #1: For Brock's birthday we went downtown and stayed over night at a hotel. Way exciting right? Well I realized this is the FIRST time in almost 5 YEARS that I haven't put kids to bed. We've never gone anywhere by ourselves since Isaac was born. This blew me away, so needless to say our one night away was Fabtabulous! (those moments when 1 awesome word just doesn't do justice). Anyway, we were having way too much fun to take any pictures so we don't have any to capture this monumental moment.



Exciting thing #2: My Bro is getting hitched !?! What! How is my little Colton old enough to get married! Well let's face the facts when I was his age I had a 7 month old baby. So that's cool...Well I love my new sis in law to be and I couldn't be more excited for the happy couple! The big day is set for May 28th! I love weddings:)


Exciting thing #3: This is by far the topper of the month! We bought a house! We bought our condo when we were first married (coming up on 6 years ago!) and we rent that now but we have been renting a house for 2 1/2 years and we are THRILLED to finally own our own casa! We decided to head up to Davis County so we could be closer to Brock's work, I think it's going to be an adjustment for me but I am excited to start our new adventure! We'll probably move the first week in April or somewhere around there so let the packing begin!

Possibly I may blog again in the near future, but I won't make any promises I can't keep! I am however very excited to start decorating my new house and may do a before and after segment...but we'll see.

Welcome to the family!

I know it's been ages since I've blogged! Just haven't had the time/energy/desire to blog lately. But my little sis welcomed her first baby into the family and this is news to be blogged about;)

 I can't believe how much I love this little man baby! His blonde hair is so adorable! And I think he looks just like Ari, he has a big square jaw, and some huge lips! He is so stinkin cute and I love him so much!

 My mom and I headed up to the hospital as soon as she was admitted. She let us stay in the room until it was time to push and then she had us wait out in the hallway. I knew this was what she wanted, but it was truly the hardest thing of my life to leave and go out in the hall. I just wanted to be there to support her and welcome this little baby into the world. But of course she's the mom and I respect whatever decision she wanted. But it was very emotional and difficult to leave. It was great to hear his little cry, and the longest hour and half of my life to wait to see him.She had him at 3:00am he weighed 7lbs 2 oz 20 in long. I really do love him so much already! Here are a few pics of Brigham W. Messerly, the newest member of the family!

Pouty lips! 

Lots of hair!

Beautiful Baby Brigs

Bridal Shower

We threw a bridal shower for my new cousin to be. It turned out adorable! Thought I'd post some pics to share some ideas... 

Favor's table

Welcome table...

Food table....

Yellow and Blue is her wedding colors, I loved how it turned out!

Candy table...
 I am seriously obsessed with paper straws! They are so cute! 

Cute banner my mom made, she's so crafty! 

Super delicious bundtlets my Aunt Shaunie made! They look amazing
and they tasted great too! 

The favors. 

It was so fun to put everything together for this shower! I love doing stuff like this, and my mom is so talented  she put most of this together, and it all turned out great! I am really excited for the couple too, they are so adorable!

Books of 2012

I haven't posted the books I've been reading in a while. I now have a sidebar that tells the book I'm currently reading which is great and all but I thought I'd quickly take a moment and list the books I've read this year. In my life before 3 kids I could easily read a book a week, ah good times. (I say this with hesitancy because I really do LOVE having 3 little kids, and I'm sure one day when my kids are grown and my house is quiet I will have plenty of time to read all I want...) Even though now I am reading more like less than a book a month I still enjoy that time, it's my me time, how I relax and escape for a moment in my crazy world. I usually just read late into the night and occasionally during nap time. But when I read during nap time sometimes I feel guilty because there are 10 million things around the house that I should be getting to (actually I really should be doing some of that right now.) ANYWAY here's my list of books I've read during 2012...

Great book! I would recommend if you're an avid reader and love a good  mystery story. I loved the twist at the end.

I loved this book as well! It's a great historical fiction book, about the titanic, and it's based on true characters.

This one is a life changer. I loved it. Also historical fiction, the characters are amazing, they stay with you long after the last page is read.

Such a great book. I was hesitant at first but I really loved it. 

Just finished this and it was really good. I randomly picked it up at the library in a hurry (my kids were destroying the library and I had to grab the first book I saw). It's a book of Mormon fiction story. It was surprisingly  well written. 

Well there you have it, 5 books in 7 months. Not my usual turn out but that's okay, like I said one day...If you're looking for something fun to read this summer maybe this will help you make your selection:)

4th of July Dress

I saw this cute little skirt on pintrest and knew Sadie had to have it! So I actually followed the tutorial and made it and I cannot believe how good it turned out! I can't wait to see how cute it looks on Sadie tomorrow at our 4th of July celebrations! 

Skirt

I needed a shirt to match so I used a long sleeve onesie that I didn't need and I made it into a short sleeve onesie. 

And of course the butt needed ruffles so that when she kicks her legs you can see ruffles under the skirt! 

I loved how the short sleeve turned out. I love little details. And the rosette looks perfect too!

 I followed this tutorial for the sleeves. 

The whole outfit.

I cannot believe something I did actually worked, and it really wasn't that hard, I did struggle with the binding and had to have some help from my mama. But overall it was pretty easy! I can't wait to make a few more dresses for my Sadie girl.

Week in review...

Well, we hit a lot of milestones this last week. It was eventful to say the least. Some good, others not so good. Here's the bigger events that happened....

-Isaac learned to swim! So proud of him, he was his usual timid self for the first few lessons but he really liked it once he got comfortable.

-Isaac learned to ride a two-wheeler! Wahoo so proud of him! I can't believe how big he is getting...

I thought I'd get the good one's out of the way first.

- I got to call poison control for the first time! This not so good... Thank you Luke for finding a bottle of children's acetaminophen (the lid was on just not on all the way) and drinking 1/3 of it. And Thank you for giving me the great opportunity to call poison control and feel like a completely incompetent mother that leaves medicine out for her 2 year old to get into. All is well though, with his weight he needed to drink 2/3 of the bottle in order to have serious problems. So Thank you again Luke for being so chubby!:)

-: I got to take Sadie to KidsCare for the first time...also not so good. She's had a fever since Tuesday, and Thursday night it spiked to just under 103 :( poor baby. She was just diagnosed with a virus and told that she should be feeling better no latter then tonight. I hate sick baby's, nothing is worse. And I sure hope she feels better soon!

Well these are the bigger things that happened, all of that filled in with a visit to the zoo,a hula hooping class,eating, sleeping, playing, cleaning etc etc.... My life is crazy, and slightly out of control, especially now that Sadie is awake a lot more during the day. But I really wouldn't have it any other way!