If you don’t want to read the whole post here is a quick link to a post I did a couple years ago on how we celebrate Father’s Day the whole week leading up to it. It makes Father’s Day so much more special and gives my kids a chance to really think about all the amazing reasons they love their Dad and to show him in sweet little ways throughout the week.

This sweet little girl (she’s 2 now) is named after her daddy and he’s the best man I know. My sweet friend Jessica who is an amazing photographer caught this shot shortly after Hadlee was born. I am sure these two were speaking spirit to spirit and this just melted me after I saw it. About a month before Hadlee Jo was born we had a different middle name picked out for her and one quiet Sunday afternoon (which is unusual at our house I’ll be honest) I was sitting in my rocking chair just thinking about this sweet baby girl of mine that I couldn’t wait to meet and I had the impression come to me name her “Hadlee Jo” after her daddy. I had never ever thought of the name Jo as a middle name for one of our girls but this struck me in a profound way. I told Joe about the sweet experience, he was so touched but not convinced we should name her after him. I continued to stand by that impression and when she was born he said “you choose”, so I chose Hadlee Jo. So fitting being the sixth girl this man is the father of. He is the man of my dreams and the best daddy in the world. My girls are so blessed to have him, they’ve all told me they wish he was theirs and I don’t blame them. I hope someday they get someone just as amazing as him. Hadlee and Joe have an amazing connection and someday it will be extremely important that she bear his name, but for now they just speak spirit to spirit and have the sweetest little bond you ever did see.

I am so grateful for all the amazing Daddy’s out there, you’ll never know the difference you make in the lives of your kids and your wives. A good Dad who does all he can for his kids and wife is rare to come by these days and so needed, so hang in there on the hard days because it’s worth it and we appreciate all you do.

Here’s an early Happy Father’s Day to all the the amazing Dads out there including my husband and my own dad. And again here’s a link to a post I did a couple years ago on how we celebrate Father’s Day and how we celebrate the whole week leading up to Father’s Day.

What are your Father’s day traditions? I’d love to hear them.

I am not a food blogger but I make a lot of food (I cook most everything from scratch) and I try a lot of recipes so when I find ones I love I am going to post my own picture that I take of the meal here on my blog and then instead of retyping up the recipe i’ll just give you the link to where I got it from, that way I can give credit to the blogger who posted it and I don’t have to change the recipe because, well, let’s be honest if it’s already amazing why would I change it. I have my own favorite recipes up my sleeve too and when I post one of those I’ll just add the recipe right here on my blog.

As far as this Black Bean Quinoa Enchilada Bake goes, let me just say it’s amazing, so delicious. My family all LOVES it. Here is the link for the recipe and for sure don’t go off my picture (I am working on my photography skills) the pictures on the blog (two peas and their pod) are way better than mine so go to their blog to see the real deal. For sure serve it with tortilla chips and I also pulled back on the chili powder and only added about 1/2 tablespoon. Other than that I made it just like the recipe reads and it was amazing. I love that it is meatless and so so healthy. I haven’t tried it but I know this meal would freeze super well so give that a try when you need a good freezer meal. When my sister in law Pam ranted and raved about how good this recipe was and how much everyone in her family loved it, I knew I had to try it. It really is so so yummy, It won’t disappoint.

You guys, (if there is even anyone who still reads my blog) I am sorry I have been so absent. My only really good excuse is the 8 little people that are mine, this picture pretty much sums up what I do all day so it makes sense why I have little spare time plus that cute little 2 year old who is swinging in the picture pretty much makes me follow her around every second of every day for fear of what she might do if my eyes can’t see her. She really is cute and worth it but it allows for little spare time around here.  I do want to change things though and post a little more often. I hope a few of you are in this for the long haul with me while I figure the whole blogging thing out and get better at it. I really do love writing and sharing and talking with you and even though I’ve been a sporadic poster, I still get people asking me about things I’ve posted about or things they’d love for me to share so if you hang in here with me I have some fun things in store and I am so excited to share them with you! I am hoping to start a you tube channel where I can share some workout videos and every day life stuff, my kids want to share some things too (lets be honest it might be a while till I do that, but I am optimistic it will happen sometime in the next 10 years:). I have lots of posts in my head about healthy (clean) eating, kids stuff, things I love, exercise, summer activities, favorite recipes, etc. you know everything. So please excuse my absence this last long while as I try and get back at this… My goal is to post once a week so hold me accountable to it even if I just post a short one. Leave me a comment if you are still around and reading this every once in a while. I can’t wait to start sharing again!

*Those were peppers from my garden, store bought peppers will be a lot larger, I also used my big 15X10 inch baking dish I talk about in this post.

If kitchen gadgets could be best friends this strawberry huller and the strawberry slicer I talked about in this post would be just that. They double as two amazing kitchen gadgets to have if you love strawberries. Seriously they will make  your life so much easier! If we are giving awards to strawberry gadgets the winner of the best strawberry huller goes to this beauty you see pictured in this post. This baby is amazing at removing those strawberry stems with out cutting off half your strawberry (see pictures below). I’ll admit I was skeptical of this little guy at first, I thought, how can it really be faster than a knife, and how does it really work just getting the stem and not the strawberry but much to my amazement after I tried this thing out for the first time (thanks to my sister in law Pam) It worked like a charm, for real, it is awesome, go read the review’s on Amazon if you don’t believe me, I love it and totally recommend it. Here’s the link to where you can buy it, it’s pretty cheap there and I honestly have never seen it anywhere else but I bet specialty kitchen stores might have it. The other bonus is it is really small, so it’s not a huge gadget to store. My family and I obviously love strawberries and I make a ton of strawberry jam (see my post) every year so these little gadgets will come in handy for sure.

It’s Important to me and my kids that we do something to show our appreciation to each of their school teachers.  Showing grattitufe is one very important thing I feel like I need to teach my kids and I know my example is so important in fostering that. My kids teachers also mean the world to me and it’s so important to me that I hand pick their teachers each year because they have such an influence on my kids as they teach them for a whole school year. But sometimes my not so craftiness comes out at the end of the year when I want to show my gratitude and I’ll be honest, I love Pinterest but I can’t always re-create their sometimes crazy over the top ideas (you can find easy ones on there too, I know but this just happened to not be a Pinterest find) Because I have 5 kids in school I have to do my best to be fun and cool but practical. I saw this on Joanna Gaines blog real quick today as I was looking for something and thought it was a great idea. If you haven’t ever watched the show “The Fixer Upper” you should, it’s one of my faves, you’ll understand all the reasons why if you watch it. So I got this idea from her blog but my kids and I tweaked it a little. Here is the link on her blog so you can print off the template for the card, which says “Thanks for helping me grow” and here is a link to her cute post if you want to read it. I went to our local grocery store bought $2 flowers (Dianthus’s to be exact they are another fave of my, they are a beautiful flower that is easy to grow and even though I don’t think they say they are perennials they come back every year, they are beautiful, colorful and as they get bigger they form a perfect ball/bush of flowers, I just love them, try them sometime). I came home and we printed off the tag, we got some cute scrapbook paper I already had glued the tag to that, the kids did all the cutting and the writing and then my 11 year old had the perfect idea to tape the tag to a Popsicle stick and stick it in the pot with the flower.

So there yo have it a sweet little teacher appreciation gift for right around $2 a piece that those teachers can plant in their garden and remind them how great their job is as a teacher and what an impact they have on the children they teach.

Happy end of the school year, I can’t wait till these kids of mine are home for the  Summer one of my favorite times of the year!

This Strawberry Slicer is amazing, well in all honesty I can’t speak first hand about this, normally I would NEVER post about something I haven’t tried and loved myself but because my dear sweet mom (who I adore, seriously one of my very best friends) has this slicer and LOVES it I decided it was post worthy. My mom bought me one for my birthday (along with my sister and sister in laws) so I can’t buy one for myself now (but my birthday isn’t until August) and I am dying to try it. my mom said my sister in law (who’s birthday was in February) is loving her’s and she’s using it to slice way more things than just strawberries, like olives and mushrooms and my mom said it would be great for slicing other fruits like peaches (you would have to cut them down a little), I think this is an awesome little kitchen gadget that is worth a little room in the drawer (I am picky about what kitchen gadgets are drawer or shelf worthy at my house), I hate having useless kitchen gadgets laying around not doing much, but I think this one earns it’s keep.

My mom and Dad along with a couple of my siblings own this amazing store/fruit stand in Washington called the Country Cousins (see the picture at the bottom of the post), their vision was to provide opportunities for their grand kids, a place for them to work and earn money for missions and college. Okay back to the slicer, sorry for the sidetrack the Country Cousins is just a darling little place so it’s sidetrack worthy. My mom found this little slicer at a kitchen store one her way to my house of all places and she bought it and fell in love with it, she said its amazing and slices strawberries in no time. I mentioned Country Cousins because they are looking into selling this little gadget in their store, it is that good. Because she liked is so much I ordered one for my sister in law Pam for her birthday and she has been ranting and raving about it as well, she’s used it for sliced strawberries for a dessert, on top of waffles, and to make homemade strawberry jam so it’s a handy little guy. It gets great reviews on Amazon as well so it must be amazing. I am dying to try mine out and think I’ll beg my mom to give me mine early. It’s strawberry season folks and almost mother’s day and if your like me you’d love something like this so here’s the link where you can buy it. If you order this I would love to hear how you like it.

*quick tip, my mom said if the strawberries are huge slice them in half and they fit so much better in the slicer

You guys, do you know how good honey is for you?? Honey has some serious secrets and I wish it could talk but since it can’t I’ll do some talking for it. The stuff is pretty amazing, over the years as I have gotten more into clean eating honey and it’s awesome benefits have been something I have slowly learned more about, I now ALWAYS have a bucket of raw local honey in my pantry. I use honey daily at my house it’s been a life changer for me and my family, the stuff is amazing. I’ll let you read the list of why this stuff is awesome but i’ll tell you what since we started to use honey almost daily at our house I have noticed a significant difference in how often my kids get sick. We are a family of 10 so really someone should be sick most of the time but over the last year and a half I am not kidding we have stayed so healthy. Call it the honey or call it the fact that I do cook a ton from scratch (not always) and clean a lot (never enough) but seriously I am giving the honey and homemade yogurt (the recipe is on my blog) most of the credit, there’s no science behind what I am saying obviously it’s just me guessing but it’s just awesome that we haven’t been sick much over the last year and a half and we use a lot of raw local honey so I am giving it some credit. Here’s the skinny on the sticky stuff…

1. Honey is antibacterial when used for wound care and is also a natural antibiotic both internally and externally, externally it seals out bacteria and contains enzymes like hydrogen peroxide that can disinfect wounds. It can also help speed up the healing process and help reduce swelling. Put a small amount on a bandage and you’re set to treat burns, scrapes, and cuts. There was a study done in 2005 where a group of people who suffered from wounds and leg ulcers used honey topically and all of the patients in the study except one showed very significant improvement after applying honey to their wounds.
2. Honey is an excellent source of all-natural energy it has 17 grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon, its a natural unprocessed sugar that directly enters the bloodstream and can deliver a fast kick of energy it’s great as a short term energy source for workouts especially when the workouts are long and a lot of endurance is involved.
3. Honey is a great sore throat reducer it helps soothe the irritation in your throat that causes you to cough.
4. Honey is a natural moisturizer it pulls moisture from the air and binds to it so it makes a great skin softener, keep a small bottle in the shower and when you wash your face use a small amount of honey on it as well. Use it on your hands too it will make your skin nice and soft.
5. Honey can be used to treat allergies, it may not take away all the symptoms but it should help reduce them. It’s important to use local raw honey to help with the allergy effects because the bee’s use local pollen and by eating the honey it allows you small exposure to the pollen that causes you to flair up helping your body build up defenses towards those allergies.

These are just some of the benefits, I’m telling you it’s awesome you need to try it, make it a staple and part of your everyday cooking and use. It is super important to buy RAW LOCAL honey to get some of these benefits, the little honey bear from Wal-Mart won’t give you near as many benefits as raw local honey that is un-processed. Raw means it wasn’t processed (only heated just enough for it to pour) and local helps with those allergies that are all around you in respect to your location. Just google raw honey in your area and you should get some options of where to buy it around you to pop up.

If you are local to the Boise Idaho area here’s two honey farms I would recommend. Steele farms in Eagle, Idaho and Treasure valley bee’s in Parma, Idaho. I have bought honey from both of these farms and the honey is delicious and raw.

Here are my bread recipes, here and here, I use honey in both of these recipes. Another tip to using it more is try substituting honey in place of sugar when cooking and baking so often you can substitute it in recipes and you will never know. You can even sweeten your smoothies with it instead of using sugar. I’ll give you a recipe for easy amazing honey butter soon that my kids use everyday on toast.

I love the little honey jar that I used in the picture at the top of the post, I don’t have one yet but I will be ordering that one soon, here’s the link, Le Creuset has one on Amazon as well for more than triple the price and this one got great reviews and they look very similar so that’s the one i’ll be getting, I can’t wait to buy it, it will be a great way to store some on my counter instead of all of it in a big bucket in my pantry.

*The information from this post came from an article I read from the Costco Connection magazine (that magazine is amazing, read it sometime), www.diynatural.com and from information I have gathered and stored in my brain over the years.

I know, I know, you are all thinking lentils, really?! They are amazing, seriously, and I have a 10 person house hold that gives you raving reviews ( I know the almost 1 year old’s vote shouldn’t count but even she loves them too, so so much), my sister in law Pam told me about these a few months ago and after I bought them the first time they have become a staple in my house, seriously TRY THESE I am telling you they are delicious. First of all they are delicious, second, they are clean (which we all know I love, I’ll explain more what I mean by clean in a later post but for now, very few real ingredients) third, they make a mean SIMPLE, FAST meal. We all love delicious right? And healthy is super important too, right? And on those nights where there is soccer, dance, piano, and a meeting and you have to be 5 places at once, we all need fast right? So here’s your solution. Lentil tacos or taco salad, or whatever you can think up to use them on/in. And to add a 4th this makes a meatless meal which is a plus, sometimes it’s good to go without meat!

Here’s what we do (I took a picture for you because we ate them for dinner today but I can’t get my camera to let me put the picture on my computer tonight so you’ll have to imagine until I can upload the picture) grab a good corn tortilla (one made with clean ingredients you can use a flour tortilla as well) cut up lettuce, grate some cheese, cut up some cilantro and some tomatoes (you can use any taco toppings your family likes), top the corn tortilla with the lentils, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, cilantro, green onions, put a dollop of sour cream on top if you’d like and enjoy. I often skip on the tortilla and make a salad for me. Start with a plate full of lettuce, add the lentils, tomatoes, cheese, onions, cilantro, and then top with Herdez salasa for an amazing dressing. Its delicious I promise I can’t wait for you to try them, and one of the best things about this meal is it’s fast, on all the nights you are in a rush and can’t think of what to make keep these on hand and you’ll be mom of the year and you didn’t drive through the drive through, all 8 of my kids love these and I can’t say that about all foods we eat. I meant to post this a couple weeks ago but time slips away from me, these babies are on coupon at Costco right now for $3 off per box (six pouches come in a box and our family of 10 eats 4-5 pouches per meal) this makes them a great deal so hurry and go stock up because the sale goes off on Sunday May 1st. I am sure you can get them at other stores as well I just wanted you to know they were on coupon at Costco because saving money is a huge favorite of mine too so I had to share while they were on sale.

*the ingredient list is: water, tomatoes, lentils, red beans, onions, cream, butter, salt, sunflower oil, chilies, and cumin

I ordered my new running shoes yesterday, my old Brooks have been worn for over two years and they have terrible holes and are worn out because I have ran so many miles in them and wear them so much, I am embarrassed to post a picture but they have been very well loved. Someone recently asked me what my favorite running shoes are and hands down Brooks are my favorites. Here’s a post I did a while back about why I like them so much. I’ve ran a lot of miles and lifted a lot of weights and worked out a lot of times and worn a lot of different shoes and brooks are my faves. I ordered the shoes in the picture from www.brooksrunning.com I also ordered a couple pairs from Amazon, the ones from Amazon were last years model but they were a great price with free returns if they don’t fit or I don’t like them. Here’s the links to the ones I got from Amazon here and here. Brooks website also has an amazing return policy where they let you try out the shoes for 90 days and if you don’t like them even after running in them for a while then you can return them for free, you don’t even have to pay shipping costs. I love that guarantee and it means Brooks loves their product enough to back it up with an awesome guarantee like that. If you are looking for new running or work out shoes, give them a try, and if you hate them you can send them back.

*The 90 day guarantee is only if you order from the brooks running website if you order from Amazon their return policy is different. For return details go to www.brooksrunning.com or www.amazon.com