This soup was SO good! This recipe made enough for our little family of 2 to eat for 4 or 5 meals...but I loved every bite of it! It had the perfect spice and so much flavor............
Italian turkey Sausage soup with Cheese Tortellini
adapted from The girl who ate everything who adapted it from Allrecipes :)

1 lb Italian turkey sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 t. minced garlic
6 C. beef broth
1/2 C. water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian diced tomatoes
1/2 T. packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 t. dried oregano
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (16 oz) bag of frozen veggies
8 ounces fresh cheese tortellini pasta


1. In a large pot, brown turkey sausage.

2. Add onions and garlic to turkey sausage a couple of minutes before its browned and saute. Stir in beef broth, water, tomatoes, basil, oregano, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

3. Stir in veggies. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Serve with warm garlic bread.

*the other recipe said to put carrots in during step 2 so I picked all mine out of the frozen veggies and threw them in..but I think they would turn out fine if you threw them in in step 3....I'm going to try it that way next time...

Saturday was a gorgeous day.......It was 77 degrees!! In January??? So we decided to spend it outside of course! We went to Pinnacle Mountain State park....along with the hundreds of other people who also decided to enjoy the beautiful day and went on a little hike....

Trying to take a picture of ourselves....Take one....

.......there we go..... :)
The view on the way up...
everything was still a little dead....can't wait to see the view this summer

and......We made it!
After we hiked down we were STARVING! So we drove around and found this little burger place we just happened to have a coupon for....and had the most delicious burgers! We will definitely be back for more!!

Easy "pretend" Key Lime Pie
8oz cream cheese
8oz cool whip
3oz box of lime jello
1 graham cracker crust (homemade is the best, but store bought is good too!)

Mix cream cheese, cool whip and jello packet together with a hand mixer until its really mixed and fluffy. Spoon into graham cracker crust, spread out and refrigerate at least 4 hours...but its even better the next day.

I got to make a few arrangements this week....

My first bud vase...the picture is a little blurry and a little cut off the top :) but I didn't bring my camera to work so I got it from a friends cell phone...

I made this one today...with some help of course...but still very exciting! It was so fun!

Walking in a winter wonderland!!!! Christmas is over....I know....but we finally got snow!

Here is Joel in the middle of singing........"there is beauuuty all around".... :)

P.S.....2 snow days in 2 weeks!!! For 1-2 inches of snow!! I'll take it!

Home for Christmas!!!

We got to go home for 2 weeks! Of course it wasn't long enough.....but we got to spend a lot of time with our family. Even though Joel got sick on Christmas Eve and I got sick Christmas day, it was still so nice to be home!! Here we are at the airport awaiting our flight....and we are super excited!! :)

I got to decorate our Christmas tree with my family and Ciana....

Sadie was a good sport and let me take tons of pictures of her with her little antlers....

Cute little Rachel in her cute little cupcake pajamas.....

Cute Gramma giggling away like always.....

Even after all the fabulous presents Rachel got....she still ended up playing in a box.... :)
Cute little momma and daddy......
Michael showing us how strong he is....... :)
Sadie loved her new bed from Santa....
Cute Miss Kinley......

Mr. Caden......

Joel and Kin having a tea party.....
Oh.....I chopped all my hair off!!! 12 inches!!! Its cuter than it looks in this picture.... :)
We went to dinner with great friends....
And laughed and played silly games.....

We got to hold Pete and Courtney's teeny tiny adorable baby Madison....she is 7 months old and 11 lbs!!! TINY!
We went downtown with Byron and Colin and Ciarran and had dinner at Bittercreek ale house. So yummy!We had such a good time with all our friends and family, it made it really hard to leave....we love you all! We didn't get enough of any of you.....and didn't get any of some of you! Can't wait to see you again!