{birthday cake batter cookies}

I made these cookies for my sisters birthday this year & had to share the recipe.

They were so yummy! 

& best of all they looked pretty cool :) 

I kept seeing the recipe on pinterest & finally decided to give it a try, & i am so glad i did.

We changed a couple things around, but they still turned out wonderful! 

This recipe will be a birthday regular in our home from now on 

{Original recipe}

You will need:

1 & 1/4 C all purpose flour

1 & 1/4 C yellow boxed cake mix 

3/4 C or 1.5 sticks of butter softened to room temp

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C brwn sugar

1 egg at room temp

1.5 t vanilla 

1/2 C choc chips

1/2 C white choc chips

1/2 C sprinkles 

Sift together your dry ingredients:

flour, cake mix, Baking soda

& set aside

In a mixer, cream together your butter & both sugars on Medium speed.

Then add the egg & vanilla & continue to mix until creamy.

{This is where I made the first change. I used earth balance dairy free butter instead of regular butter}

Add your dry ingredients to the wet mixture & mix until just combined. 

Then add your sprinkles, choc chips & white choc chips.

Refrigerate your dough for at least an hour!!!!

{This is where i did the second change, I used dairy free choc chips & dairy free white choc chips}

Preheat your oven to 350.

Scoop rounded tablespoons of cold dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Shape your dough balls to be Taller than they are wide {as pictured above} 

Bake for 10-12 minutes

keep the unused dough cold until next batch. 

Let cookies cool on a cookie rack

& Enjoy!! 

They were seriously so good, & no one even noticed they were dairy free 

{We did dairy free so our daughter could have one :) }

Happy Saturday!

{happy birthday sarah}

My little sister Sarah is not so little anymore

She's almost as tall as me, she is starting to get her own style, She plays a mean guitar, She knows good music..

& today she turns 14!

Its been so fun watching you grow into the beautiful young woman you are today!
It seems the older you get, the closer you & I get, & i love that!
You are the best sister anyone could ask for :)
Love you to pieces Sarah!
Happy 14th Birthday!
xoxo

{old wax new wick}

ya.

I went there :)

ok now that i'm done trying to be cool, 

I would like to show you what to do with that annoying leftover wax around the edges of your yummy smelling expensive candles.  

You know what i'm talking about right?  

the wick is burned all the way down, but there is a TON of useful wax left on the sides of the container. 

What can you do with this leftover wax? 

Well, when life hands you wax, make a candle!

{ok ok i'll stop trying to be cool}

This is what I do :)

You know those big bags of 200+ tea light candles they sell at IKEA for like $2? 

We buy so many bags of them and always have them on hand.

They're great... but.. they don't smell nice

Actually they don't have a smell at all! 

so i like to spruce them up : )

I take a candle, remove it from the little metal round container, then remove the wick.

I remove the wick by using a lighter to melt the wax on the bottom so it easily slides out. 

place the wick back into the original container

Get a flame going in your yummy smelling candle container to begin melting the wax, move the container sideways so the flame hits right on the wax and melts it.

 pour the melted wax into the empty tea light container 

{use a towel or oven mitt to protect your hand from burns!} 

Let your new little candles sit & harden.

I got 6 little tea lights out of left over wax

Once they are fully hardened, 

You can enjoy many more hours of your expensive yummy smelling candle, in new little candles you can spread all over your home :) 

Happy Saturday! 

{4 years}

On Friday {March 8th}, William & I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary 

I cant believe how fast time flies! 

This year, to celebrate, we left Giuliana with my in laws ..OVER NIGHT. 

We have never done this. I have never been away from giuliana for longer than 3 hours at a time!

When we dropped her off, I cried as we walked out the door... I was sad i had to leave her,

 But i was so excited to have some much needed time with my husband.  

After dropping her off, we went home, got dressed up in our sunday best, & headed out towards scottsdale.

We walked around the Kierland commons for a while, people watching & talking. 

Then went to dinner at Maestros Ocean Club, one of our favorite places for special occasions. 

We ordered WAY too much food, laughed a little too loudly, & all in all just had a great time! 

at the end of dinner, our waiter brought out a yummy warm celebratory butter cake. 

But we were stuffed!

So we took that butter cake home & ate it in bed while we watched Harry Potter :) 

Maybe that sounds strange to you, but for Willy & I,  it was a perfect ending to a perfect day. 

It really was the best day ever! I didn't realize how much i missed my husband. 

It's crazy how, once you have kids, you have so little time for each other. 

This day together reminded us of how much we Love & miss one another, & how important it is to strive to cherish every moment that we do get together.

I Love you William, so very much, & I cannot wait to see what the next 4, 10, 20, 50+ years have to offer. You are the most amazing person i have ever met, & I am so happy to spend my life with you.

Here's to many more years! 

xoxo

& Happy Sunday :) 

{Sick baby, Sad mama}

I have been a bad blogger

a bad bad blogger 

My last post was over a month ago

& before that, a month gap again!

Truth is, i just haven't really had anything to write about. 

I haven't really been working on any projects, &

The past few months have brought on a whirlwind of changes for our family

but the changes are not really things to blog about, so..., you see my dilemma :) 

But anyways, I am back, & i am going to try to post at least once a  week... at least thats the plan :)

on my first post back, i will just start with reviewing the last couple of weeks.

Our house was plagued by the cold/flu bug that was going around.

First my husband got it, then i got it, & then our sweet little Girl got it. 

After her cold cleared up, she suddenly just wanted to lay around all day.... which is SO not like her.

Then she woke up with a Temp of 103.5.. not good.

She kept the high fever for 3 days. 

Her Dr. said she had an ear infection & an upper respitory infection, poor girl! 

This is the first time GIuliana has really been sick, so naturally, we were freaking out! 

I've spent the last 3 days trying to keep her fever down & keep her comfortable & hydrated. 

Today is day 4, & after 3 days of lots of rest,  cool showers, ice munching, & antibiotics, she seems to be feeling so much better! She actually walked around smiling & playing today, which she has not done for 3 days. 

Its nice to see her finally acting like herself. These last few days have been so hard to watch,
just look at her sad little face

{Doesn't this just break your heart?}

Well, Stay healthy everyone! :) 

Happy wednesday!