Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Menu Plan & Life Thoughts

12 days ago I came online and blogged about how I was going to write more. Ha! And radio silence ever since. Oh Tara. Such good intentions. But I have been resting, and working really hard at work, and enjoying thanksgiving, and working on projects, and spending time with my sweet love. So I consider the last two weeks a win anyways. 


Menu Plan Monday with Laura at Org Junkie
Upcoming week: 
Tuesday: Turkey Taco's
Tuesday night I have D group at 8 and lots of leftover turkey - turning it Mexican will be a nice break from all the leftovers! 

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Chicken 'n Rice
Wednesday night I won't be home for dinner, neither will Paul. This dinner can easily be served by our students. Paul is away hunting until Sunday and I have a doctors apt (my 15 week appointment, and will book my gender ultrasound!!) and will be skytraining to Surrey to pick up our car where Paul will leave it for me. 

Thursday: Slow Cooker Spinach Lasagna
Thursday is sister night so an easy dinner means I can get out of the house to see my nephews in time to read with them before bed. I haven't seen them in a couple weeks as they were sick then away so I am stoked to see them! I miss them tons. 

Friday: YOYO
Friday I have an airport pick up at 9am to make for my sister but other than that I have the day off and free! Since the weekend will be busy I plan to rest, and nap, and rest. Oh joy. 

Friday night I'm meeting up with two amazing girls from church, Anacat & Shei, for dinner and a hang out. I can't wait to hang out with these two amazing ladies. They happen to be fabulous and I am so glad for time with them.

Saturday: YOYO
Saturday is a church vision retreat for leaders from 9:30am to 4pm - I'm so excited to join with other leaders in our church to pray and talk and strategize. We have Pastor Kevin York coming to join us as well from Nashville, which is always a treat. 

Saturday evening I get to spend some time with some old high school friends! We're doing dinner and a movie and I'm really looking forward to seeing these girls.

Sunday: Slow Cooker Corn Chowder
Sunday is the final day of the vision retreat, from 9:30am to noon, then it's off to have coffee with my friend Kathleen and then rest before picking Paul up at 4 from Hunting and then off to church! I'll have pumpkin soup going in the crockpot for after church. 

Week in Review: 
Monday (Sept 29th): Spaghetti
I chose to rest and recover this night - I made a simple dinner and then took a nice nap, before eventually going to sleep. #pregnancychoices

Tuesday (Sept 30th): Slow cooker spinach lasagne
This dinner sure was popular! The house loved it and it made for great lunches! Tuesday night only Ana and I could be at D Group so we met up and had a really, truly lovely time. And she re-introduced me to the joys of steamed milk. I am so thankful for this friend! She is also my pregnancy buddy! She's a couple months ahead of me and it's so fun to walk this out together. 



Wednesday (Oct 1st): Cheesy Potato Soup
This soup was a real win! I added potatoes as called for but also half of a chopped cauliflower and it was fabulous. I made sure to blend the soup before serving and it was super super tasty. 

Then it was time for another relaxing night - I'm making restful choices being pregnant, it seems wise!

Thursday (Oct 2nd): Slow Cooker Bacon Corn Chowder
Thursday is usually sister night but that's bumped to Friday so Paul and I ventured down to Mom's residence to read her some more Narnia. It was a lovely time. On our way home we stopped in at Craft Beer Market for a flight of beer for Paul and a decent non-Alcoholic beer for me. It was a fun little adventure on our way home. 



Friday (Oct 3rd): Easy Garlic Chicken Leftovers!
Friday ended up being busier than I thought! I met up with a friend in the morning as well as in the afternoon, but managed to squeeze in a nap before dinner. I was supposed to hang out with Jenna for the evening but her kids were still sick so I stayed home until around 9:30 when Chapel was over and joined Jenna, Paul and a bunch of other awesome friends at the Lim's. Paul and I didn't leave until 2am. It was a fabulous night. I love the Lim's and their many awesome friends, who are thankfully also our friends. 


Heather, myself and Gina. 

Saturday (Oct 4th): Honey BBQ'd Chicken White and Green Enchiladas
Saturday Paul was out sighting his bow or something hunting related (cause I listen to him, I swear) and I spent the entire day in bed reading. I slept in until 10, then read until 2. At three I got out of bed and put on sweat pants, then read on the couch until 3. It was fabulous. 

Then I tackled dinner - I made White & Green Enchilada's (with no recipe, just guessing) which was served with mexi-rice. We were having the Whitton's over and they always loved Mexican - even my fake Mexican. We had a lovely evening with them - we played board games and chatted. 

Sunday (Oct 5th): Morgan Family Dinner
Sunday we had church IN THE MORNING, it was surprisingly lovely. I was worried it would be hard to wake up for and stay awake through but it was great. It was so joyful being with Culloden church as well. Then a big group of our friends headed off to White Spot for lunch - classic after church lunch spot. Then it was time to head home to cook food for family dinner! I made two dishes - roasted vegetables and mustard roasted carrots & brussel sprouts. Dinner was lovely - it was our Thanksgiving Dinner and it was really nice having it a week early! We headed home but needed to stop at Walmart on the way home - while I was grabbing the groceries Paul, his sister (Katie) and her boyfriend (Joel) stayed in the car. Also I left my phone in the car. I returned to these (and more) lovely photos. 




Monday (Oct 6th): Trader Joe's Tomato Meatball Soup
I left these ingredients out for my student to make. Seriously, it was that easy. I left out a few cans, and let her know where the frozen meatballs were. Then she just put it all in the crockpot with water on low. Easy Peasy. And sooooo tasty. I prepped food and lunches for the week ahead, and got ready for Chicken Pot Pie night. 

Tuesday (Oct 7th): Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
Tuesday night was Lifegroup - I was stoked for the meal as it was using up leftover veggies from the family dinner. It was awesome. Really, this dish is so easy and can use anything you have handy! Lifegroup was also great, Paul did a bible study on John and I learned a lot of things! I like listening to Paul teach. 

Wednesday (Oct 8th): Crockpot Chicken Taco Chili
Wednesday night we drove in so we stopped at Home Depot on our way home for some errands - we're making a mug hanging project. This Taco Chili was a big hit on a rainy day, especially when served over leftover Mexi-Rice from Saturday. I was craving an egg breakfast sandwich with ham & cheese so I made one without the English muffin and it was fabulous! Paul was out for dinner, so I finished prepping food to send to friends who just had a baby then hit the hay by 9. 

Thursday (Oct 9th): Crockpot Ham & Potato Soup
Thursday is usually sister night but it was bumped again as I had some lovely ladies coming over to help plan Ana's baby shower. We made a great plan. After the meeting Hanne & Drian stuck around to play  a new board game with us, which was super fun! Settlers of Catan, Star Trek edition. It was a perfect start to a holiday weekend.



On top of that I made this Crockpot soup and man, was it fabulous!!! Seriously, I will make this again. and again. and again. 

Friday (Oct 10th): Vietnamese at Pho Hong
Friday was a lovely day (after an early start driving friends to the airport at 4:30am) - I spent the morning with Shannon (after ages of not seeing her, tragic), and the afternoon driving my cousins around. My cousin LeAnna has been living in England for the past 5 years but has been in Canada for the past 8 months. She's just gotten a job over on the mainland and we were looking for houses for her and her husband and two kids. We had a great day looking and managed to find them a wonderful place. Then it was back to my house to rest after a busy day and then out for dinner (Mmm Lemongrass Pork) before they headed to the ferry. 

After they left Paul and I had a nice date night in - we watched Kings of Summer, which was a great movie and enjoyed our time together thoroughly. It was a lovely way to spend a night. 

Saturday (Oct 11th): Thanksgiving Dinner
Saturday we slept in, then I re-read one of my favorite books of all time (Blue Castle by LM Montgomery) and at 2pm I started the work of making Thanksgiving Dinner for 12. Our student Xiao helped (she is amazing) and we were ready to eat an hour before anyone arrived! The tables were set and the food was in the oven keeping warm. It was a real victory. I love the decorating scheme I came up with, and the people invited were so so so lovely. After most of the guests left there were still 6 of us remaining so we played board games until midnight. It was a great holiday.






Sunday (Oct 12th): Leftovers
Sunday we visited with friends in Tsawwassen (and swung by Pt. Roberts to get gas and dairy). It was so nice to see Rebekah, Tony, their little girl Amariah, and Rebekah's sister Lori. It was a great visit. Then we headed home for a bit and worked on a big project - more to come when it's complete - though I also learned to sand for the first time using a sander! Woot woot. Then it was time for church and after church my Dad came over for a bit to help us figure out some of the finer points of our project - Paul and I definitely needed his work working help! We also took some time to catch up on Psych and enjoy staying up late.



Monday (Oct 13th): Mitchell Family Dinner
Monday was another lovely day - we slept in, then made breakfast together and then headed off to take my Grandpa out for coffee. After coffee with him we swung back by Home Depot to get some more stuff we needed for our projects, and then it was time to go home - I prepped dinner stuff for that night's contributions and then rested and watched Friday Night Lights. We headed over to the Mitchell's for dinner by 5 - I made Green Bean Casserole and Mashed Potatoes and brought Drian's Carrot Cake. The evening was super fun - great food and lots of silly games. I really enjoy my family. 

And that was my Thanksgiving! Busy, but fun with lots of rest filled in as well! Thankful for a wonderful husband to spend a ton of time with, as well as amazing family and friends to fill out the rest of life. Thank you, Lord!
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