Archives for January 2014

Enjoy Life Foods: Decadent Bars

Filed Under: Allergies, Food Reviews3 Comments

Enjoy Life Foods has added another delicious snack to their product line. If you haven’t yet tried their decadent soft baked bars, you must! Enjoy Life sent me a full sample of all the flavors of the decadent bars. These really satisfy a craving when you “need” some chocolate, or anytime you need a snack.

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As always, I know that I can trust the Enjoy Life brand to find recipes that will be free from all the most common allergens. I was really curious to read the ingredients on these bars when I saw the icing drizzled over each bar, but sure enough they were still allergy safe.

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The first flavor I couldn’t wait to try was cinnamon bun… and it did not disappoint. After trying all the flavors this one was still my favorite. It really does taste like a cinnamon bun. The best addition to this recipe is the orange peel flavor, it just makes it perfect.

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The next one I had to try was the cherry cobbler. I have to say, this one didn’t appeal to me all that much. It’s still tasty, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. There was just something about the cherry that didn’t quite make it for me.

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The s’mores flavor definitely did appeal to me. It’s super chocolatey! This one makes a great treat. It’s the perfect amount of chocolate.

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Lastly, the chocolate sunbutter is my second favorite flavor. This one is tastes somewhere between fudge and a brownie. It almost reminds me of eating a peanut butter cup, which used to be my favorite candy before food allergies.

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I would recommend giving any (or ALL) of the decadent bars a try. I’ve brought these along with me several times now when I know we’ll be somewhere that dessert will be served. I feel like I can enjoy my own dessert along with everyone else. Pick up a box to try and let me know what you think!

Project: Laundry Room Makeover – Part One

Filed Under: General2 Comments

Sometimes projects are planned and organized and completed efficiently. Sometimes… they are not. Sometimes they jump out of nowhere and demand your attention at the most inconvenient times. This was one of those unexpected projects.

We were finishing eating dinner and cleaning up when we sent A upstairs to change into his pajamas. He had not been compliant about anything all day and this request was no different. After some arguing he finally did decide to go upstairs.

Not more than a minute later we heard a large crash from upstairs. We jumped up from the table to go see what happened. By the time we got to the bottom of the stairs, A had started to cry. So then we started running even faster up the the stairs to his bedroom. I was sure we would find that he had either trashed something or hurt himself trying to trash something. We race down the hall into his bedroom where he is standing, perfectly fine and safe, wondering why we look so freaked out.

After seeing that everything was fine in A’s room, Jesse wandered down the hall to the laundry room. That was the problem! After living here for five years they shelf in the laundry room decided to come crashing down. We hadn’t been adding more weight to the shelf, it was just done being there. There was no serious damage, it was just so loud because the shelf with all the contents had crashed on to dryer. A reenactment of what we found:

broken shelf

The next morning started with Jesse planning to patch up the wall and install a new shelf. A few short hours later the scope of the project had changed drastically to include many more ideas for a whole new laundry room makeover!

To be continued, after project completion…

Girl Time in California

Filed Under: Family, TravelLeave a Comment

This came in the mail the other day:

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Reminds me of the fun times we had getting some of the wedding planning done. I left my boys at home to join my mom at my sister’s home in California. It was so fun to finally get to see her place and it was great to hang out and have a week-long sleepover.

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The main purpose of trip was to be able to attend Ashley’s bridal shower. Mom and I had quite the challenge planning her shower from the other side of the country. It turned out great and we had so much fun!

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My bride-to-be sister, excited that I get to be her matron of honor!

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My bride-to-be sister with her other bridesmaids, both life-long friends!

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We squeezed a whole lot of appointments in those few days! We confirmed the bridesmaid dress choice, met with a DJ, chose an excellent photographer, and had an adventure checking out a creepy second choice photographer… who was not hired. I think one of the most favorite appointments was the cake tasting, of course.

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We also enjoyed meeting the crazy but fabulous and talented flower lady. She put together a sample of what table centerpieces will look like.

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Mom and Ash pretended to be normal after they realized I was taking pictures.

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Ashley’s friends gifted to her an engagement photo shoot. They did an fantastic job, the pictures turned out amazing! Mom and I enjoyed watching them work. Especially since we previously tried to do our own engagement photos which were… a little less amazing.

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Finally, the trip ended with a surprise visit with my cousins, Thomas and Ben. I hadn’t seem them in almost fifteen years! They arrived in the area just hours before I had to leave to go back home. Dad and Andrew flew in to surprise mom so we could all see them. They rest of them enjoyed a baseball game and more time together, but I still got to fit in a quick lunch and visit before catching my flight back home.

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