We just returned home from the most dreamy trip in Hawaii with Aaron's family.
I woke up this morning to find sand still in the boys swimsuits / suitcases and having serious pineapple withdrawals!

Hawaii is my all time favorite vacation, EVER.
Maybe it's because Aaron and I honeymooned in Hawaii, so it holds a really special place in my heart!
It's hands down one of the prettiest places on earth and being there as a family was perfect.
The kiddos were champs on the 9 hour flight and once we were there, it took a few days to adjust to the 5 hour time difference but they did it!
I had a wake up call at 5:30 AM to feed Luke, so the days definitely started bright and early!
It made for early morning workouts and sunrise breakfasts :)

Missing this beautiful place so much already! ^^
Ryan asked me about 25 times today when daddy was coming home from work.
We got spoiled and had him all to ourselves for 9 days!

Hope everyone is having an incredible week and gosh I'm SO SO excited about this new blog design!
Working through a few last minute details and a post on it will be live tomorrow morning! XO

Breakfast for dinner is our JAM.

If you have not ever tried Kodiak Power Cakes - You need to.
( I buy mine at Costco in bulk but they also have them at our local HEB grocery store in a smaller package! )

My family got us hooked us on them and we have never gone back.
They are honestly the best pancakes in the world!
PLUS they are Whole Wheat and have 14g of Protein a serving! WOOP WOOP!

There is an option to add "milk" and "an egg" to the mix and make it 21 grams of protein a serving!
I usually just add my mix with water but if I'm ever making them just for Ryan, I milk and egg away! - so good for the kiddos!

I can finally feel ok about him having pancakes for lunch every now and again because they are so protein packed haha!
So Ry's preschool teacher can be a witness to this, but we totally ran out of bread a couple times last school year so I made Ryan a PB and J sandwich inbetween these pancakes for school! haha! He LOVED it! #momoftheyear





Let's talk about syrup for just one minute..
Let me preface and say that generally everything; if eaten IN MODERATION IS OKAY.
In no way am I saying to "never eat syrup again!" haha

However, be CAREFUL with your syrup guys! What I didn't realize until I started counting my macros is how many CARBS syrup contains! I always knew it was packed with sugar and calories  ( and it is!! ) and often in the past had a hard time eating it early in the morning because it gave me headaches! ( No wonder! - The sugar content in one serving of syrup is more than a day's worth of recommended sugar intake! )

So, if you look at a nutrition label for syrup - It's generally around 44 - 54 grams of carbs per 1/4 cup of regular maple syrup! ( Next time you have pancakes measure out your syrup and you will find that 1/4 cup of syrup is really not that much syrup depending on how many pancakes / waffles you eat! ) That is almost double the amount of carbs that are in the actual pancakes / waffles! -- GUYS, That's so awful!

Just to give you an idea, 54 carbs is equivalent to almost 5 slices of bread ( * of some brands ) worth of carbs! So really, after adding 54+ grams of carbs ( from the syrup ) to the carbs of the pancakes / waffles you are eating; right there you have hit WELL OVER half of your day's worth of carbs in ONE meal!

So with that all sadness HA, here's a couple ways to minimize your need for syrup :

#1. Aaron puts peanut butter on his waffles and drizzles a TINY amount of syrup to give it a little "sweet taste". This puts on a little more "protein" with the added peanut butter and you definitely don't need as much syrup!

#2. I always pack my waffle full of fruit and that also helps to hardly need any syrup.
Bluberries, strawberries, raspberries - all of it!
I actually sometimes just eat mine plain ( no syrup ) with fruit and maybe a dab of cool whip and I love it! Once you get used to the taste of it, you don't crave the sweetness as much!
(( Of course fruit contains carbs and natural sugars, ( not near as many "carbs" ) so YES I am "in a sense" adding carbs to my waffles, however it is obviously GOOD carbs and and good sugars that will fill your body up and benefit you a lot more than a serving of syrup would ))

I know there are "light syrup" options ( that do have A LOT less sugar and carbs ) and people have mixed feelings about them, ( if they are really "healthier" for you or not with the added sweeteners etc. ) That's a topic for another day. However, I honestly don't love the taste of some of the lighter syrups ( weird after-taste! ) ... so I would rather barely drizzle a little of the "real stuff" on my food and call it good!

I feel like this is a Costco Ad post but I promise it's not!
We just love Costco so if you are going to splurge and have syrup that one right up there ^^ is our favorite ever!

So moral of the story, There really is no "GOOD SYRUP".
It's really quite depressing.
But of course a splurge here and there is obviously ok :)

Luke love these too! ^^ He's obsessed.


Thanks to people that commented on my Instagram,
I hear the Dark chocolate Kodiak power cakes are AMAZING!
I have yet to try them and am excited about it!

"Waffles for dinner" just make me happy. :)

I LOVE playing around with blender recipes. I never look at a recipe, just throw in what I have in the fridge and keep tasting it until I like it! HA 

I'm not kidding when I say this tastes like a vanilla milkshake! I LOVE milkshakes so this is heaven in a cup for me!

It's SO easy and takes literally 3 minutes to throw together!

Aaron and I hardly ever eat treats in the week ( we have cheat day on Saturdays! ) so this is definitely our TREAT in the week, if I'm craving something sweet!

If you have never heard of PB2 ^^ THIS is what it looks like! You can get it anywhere!

It is only 45 calories for 2 TBS, just 1.5 grams of fat and 5 grams of protein!

It gives you the "peanut butter taste" without the high fat and high calorie of actual peanut butter!

(( NOT saying peanut butter is bad! I LOVE peanut butter. This is a lower calorie, less fat option. ))

ALSO! WE get  THIS vanilla whey protein  at Costco and it is on sale right now for 8 dollars off a bag! It has 27 grams of protein a serving and It's our fav! I believe it's on sale until the end of the month! I went yesterday and STOCKED UP!
The cheapest way to buy protein is in bulk!
( I've also tried this shake with "half chocolate whey protein and half vanilla" and it tastes kind of like a Wendy's frosty! )

Happy Shake making and happy Friday friends! XO
P.S. I truly appreciate all feedback and comments! Means the world!

My sis-in-law is having a baby BOY ( seriously guys, we will be in desperate need of some girls in my families household soon enough! HA my parents will have 3 grandSONS! But I'm so happy it's a boy so Ry and Luke can have a partner in crime semi-close in age! )
Even though she is having a boy I LOVE how gender neutral you can make this shower- it could go either way!

My mom is queen of party throwing. She sees an idea and seriously makes it come to life.
I love being with her for stuff like this because I literally take notes on everything she does! Hoping one day I can be just like her and carry on her talent! HA

My younger sister, Lauren, did all the calligraphy and signs.
I told her she needs to open up a business - SO CUTE!

I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking! This was so fun to put together!

My favorite ^^ These cupcakes tasted just like my wedding! My mamma and her baking skills!!
If you look closely we found little tiny "gold star sprinkles" for the top of the cupcakes! ^^
( We used a star stencil to trace and cut stars out of gold glitter paper for the cupcake toppers and then hot glued "twinkle twinkle" to each star and toothpick )

One of the highlights were these little pudding parfaits! ^^

We just used white chocolate pudding, graham cracker crumbs and a little cool whip for the top.

Top it all off with 1/4 of a vanilla wafer! SO easy and so yummy!

She's putting on the finishing touches ^^ :)

Target does it again! ^^ $4 banner! Rather than pay for a personalized banner on ETSY we found the banner at target and put our own letter stickers on!

The woman of the hour and 'Mamma to be' ^^ and seriously, she does not look like she is going to have a baby in 4 weeks!



She is due the middle of August but I will anxiously be counting down the days until September when I head back to Utah and hold this sweet newborn! Ahh I can't wait to spoil this babe!

Party Details :

Banner and lettering -- Target
Mini Chalk boards and large sign chalk board -- Hobby Lobby
Diaper cake ribbon and Glitter paper -- Hobby Lobby
Miniature parfait cups -- Zurchers
Plates and napkins and cupcake holders -- Zurchers

^^ Similar Swimsuit found HERE


Auntie "La, La" ^^
We had a family wedding to attend within the first few days of getting there.  ( I love weddings! )
If you want to see the CUTEST most creative "first dance" watch my cousin and his wife HERE
( I think I hear my voice on the sideline yelling in the video! HA ^ )


We have very few pictures of ALL FOUR of us in one picture, so I cherish this! ^^


My sisters and mamma! ( my sis -in -law ( next to me ^^ ) is due in one month with a baby boy, I'm beyond excited to be an aunt and give Ryan and Luke a cousin!! )


I grew up going to Stadium of Fire every year! It was definitely the 4th of July highlight!
Tim McGraw performed this year and was incredible! AH I love him.
Ryan was obsessed with the fireworks! For days he couldn't stop talking about it. It is so fun to watch him light up when he gets so excited!





Spending the 4th by the pool ^^ -- Swimsuit found HERE






The 3 hour afternoon "date" we got one day while the babies napped. :) ^^ Thanks mamma!




Killing me ^^


Speaking of Chef's... My parents are amazing cooks! My idea of heaven on a plate... ^^


Daddio teaching us how it's done fire-grilling Italian pizzas!



The "Pesto chicken flatbread" ^^


Luke found the pantry within the first few days of arriving and never did a day go by without him finding his way back to the food!


And if he wasn't in the pantry he was raiding the cabinets..



A kid heaven. ^^
After my parents built their home, I envisioned my kids roaming this playroom and it's fun to see it actually coming to life as I envisioned it!


I was charged $100 ( fake ) dollars for this cupcake... ^^
When I asked him how much for the cupcake and he responded "one hundred dollars mommy" HA #awesome.
Good thing the baker is so cute ;)







A little blurry phone picture - but my youngest sister Megan is SO good with the kiddos.
They love her so much!


My favorite person had a birthday!! Aaron turned THIRTY!!!! ^^ ( more on that later - but my mom made him a cake before he had to leave back home and then we celebrated more when I got back to TX :)


ANNNDDD 5 pounds later... ;)
I have mentioned this before but my hair lady has cut my hair since I was 12 years old and I have yet to find any one else here in Houston that I trust cutting my hair.. HA.
So needless to say, it had been since December ( the last time I was in Utah ) that I had it cut and it was in DESPERATE need of a good chop!
I LOVE my hair dresser, so if anyone in Utah is in need of a good hair dresser - Message me!




Teaching them young ;) ^^



Mom life.. Everywhere I go, he goes HA. ^^ #noprivacy







Splishin' and a splashin'