Call Me for Your Photography Needs :)

I wanted to spread the word that I am now pursuing my passion of photography :) I have been wanting to do this for many years, but have just put it off, especially with a new addition. Then my husband pushed me one good time and said now is as good a time as any!! So if you will please spread the word that I am available for any style photo or portrait, excluding weddings, and on site. I am willing to go up to 25 miles out of our town, Loganville, and will consider further distances for an additional trip fee. I would love to capture the memories in your life and look forward to your or any refferals you send my way. Thank you,
~**~NICOLE~**~

New Recipe

We had the most tasteful dinner tonight, so I just had to share it :) And the best part of it was, it all cooked itself in the croc pot!!

Slow Cooked Enchilada Dinner
6 Servings, 20 Min prep, 2 1/2hrs cook

1lb lean ground beef/turkey
1 sml onion, chopped
1 can (15oz) ranch style beans, undrained
1 can (10oz) diced tomatoes with mild green chilies, undrained
1/4 cup chopped green peeper
1 tspn chili powder
1/2 tsp each salt, ground cumin, pepper
1 cup (4oz) shredded mont jack cheese
1 cup (4oz) shredded cheedar cheese
6 flour tortillas (6 inches)

IN a large skillet, cook meat and onion over md heat until meat is no longer pink. drain.
STIR in the beans, tmtoes, grn pepper, powder, salt, cumin, and pepper. In a small bowl, combine the cheeses, set aside.
IN a 5qt slow cooker coated with cooking spray, place two tortillas side by side, overlapping if necc.
LAYER with a third of the beef mixture, and chese. REPEAT layers twice.
COVER and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until heated through.

TIPS:
*As always, make it your own and do the meat of your choice and add and take away ingredients that you like
*I exchanged taco seasoning for the chili powder for more of a mexican taste.
*I did not want to by mont jack cheese and reg. cheese, so I just bout a taco blend and did 8oz of it
*Since this meal is mostly cooked on the stove top, I only put my croc pot on keep warm. I have made this once before and when put on low, I noticed that the edges burn.

Floyd Family Beach Trip

We finally got to go to the beach this year after a two year wait!! We were so excited to get there esp since this would be HB's first time! We left out friday and met up with dustins grandparents and camped with them for the night. It was good to get to see them on the way :) We left first thing on Sat for Flagler, FL Beveryly Beach Campground. I wanted everyone to change in their bathing suits as soon as our feet hit the ground!! I could not wait to see Hailey at the beach. She LOVED it and (the first time, but this will be later in the story ;) ) was pointing and laughing the whole time. She even sat down in the sand and started petting it. We gave her the shovel and bucket and she would dig it up and then put it in the bucket! It was so cute and I got a couple of cute pics of her doing it :)

The second day she HATED the sand. haha!! It went like this the rest of the week. She loved it, she hated it, she loved it, well you get the point. The third day that we were there, Nini (dustins mom) got shoulder deep in it with her building a sandle castle and she was having a ball! After about 15 minutes she realized what was going on and immediately wanted to be washed off!!!... but the again I don't blame her! :) Glad Nini jumped in there with her, cause mommy def. wasnt :b We traveled into St. Augustine and Daytona two of the days we were there and had fun viewing the towns :) Wednesday was Ann's bday we went to a good fish house and eveyone got fish sandwiches (if shrimp counts ;)) We got some family pics the last day we were there and enjoyed a late night on the beach followed by a good camper cooked steak meal :) We had so much fun and were ready to be back Thursday night when we got in. So glad that we got to get away for a while and bring HB to the beach!! :)

Floyd Beach Trip

(click on album to view all pics)

Menu Monday!!

IT'S BACK AGAIN!! Yay, I am finally taking the time to do a Menu Monday!! This week I thought I would do one of my favorite types of food, Mexican!! Can you tell from the previous post!! haha. This dish is like not other of its kind and makes for a great summer dinner. It is pretty simple and not too many ingredients, but just enought to make it burst with taste! I love how it takes a traditional taco salad and turns it into a curious adventure for your taste buds :)

Crowd Pleasing Taco Salad

1lb ground Turkey (or your choice of meat)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tspn dried oregano
1 tspn chili powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 small bag lettuce (shredded)
2 md tomatoes, diced
1 can shredded taco (mexican blend) cheese
1 can (2 1/4oz) olives *optional
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup taco sauce
1 pkg (10 1/2 oz) corn chips

Tips:
*As always, choose the meat that you like best, turkey, pork, chicken, or beef
*For a little less spice, try using taco seasoning instead of chilli powder
*For a cheaper way out on lettude, get a head of lettuce and shred
*If you keep diced tomt's on hand, you can substitute one can for the 2 fresh tomt
*As always with my recipes, I like to encourage you to make it your own.. so add other ingredients, such as onions or bell peppers, that you think would compliment this dish :)

Glad to be helping you out at the dinner table again!!

~**~ENJOY!!~**~

Nicole

4th fireworks

Fireworks

I was anxious to see how HB was going to react to the fireworks... and we would see as the day went on. First we headed over to mom and dad's for some fun in the sun and swimming. It was a HOT day, so we pretty much stayed in the pool the whole time. We had fun with family and friends at dinner... the good ole tradition 4th of july staple food... HAMBURGERS!! They were delicious :) we got Hailey to get in an extra nap so she could make the late night and enjoy the fireworks :)

We went and sat on the lawn at my parents church to watch the big fireworks display from the church a quater mile down the road... we had the PERFECT view!! Hailey had SO MUCH fun running around on the lawn and playing with the kids. She is such a social butterfly. She would get mad and cry if I tried to make her sit down or pick her up! haha. Finally it was dark and time for the action! Soon as the first one popped off, she started looking around like "what was that"??? Once they started going back to back, she caught on and started clapping her hands. I must say it was SO PRECIOUS!! After about a minute and half of sitting still, she started talking to them and then wanted out of my lap. So I put her on the ground and she starts walking towards them and trying to touch them, haha, it was hilarious!! They were a little longer than could keep her attention span, and she was getting a bit tired since it was close to 10o'clock... WAY past her bed time!!

We had such a fun weekend and glad we got to relax a little and enjoy each other :)

(ps... sorry for the delay in posting) :)

"Sweet, Little, Beautiful, Perfect, All American Girl" :)

4th of July

A Sunday afternoon

Hailey seems to be turning into a little girl who is so independent. I know it is just me being that first time parent who now has a toddler, but I feel like she is changing and learning new things everyday! Each day she changes her mind as to what she needs help with; She now thinks that she can feed herself, get in the bathtub by herself, brush her on teeth, brush her own hair, take off her clothes AND her diaper, and even likes to put on bracelets and carry her own purse ;) It is all still so surreal and hard to grasp. She is doing great with learning new words and understanding commands. And sometimes just because she understands them doesn’t me that she is going to listen to them! Haha She has been teething really bad the last few days and we had to stay home from church because of a temp. She just isn’t feeling great and you can tell she isn’t herself. She has had a terrible diaper rash and is is a lot of pain. She just screams when she has to get her diaper changed and it breaks my heart :( I am hoping that the devil tooth is going to pop thru soon so we can move past it :) Here are a few pics that I have taken of her. I love the one in her rocker watching tv. She is doing better and better with sitting in it to watch her shows (instead of the usual, climb in, climb out, climb in, climb out… etc etc repeat!!). Once you can get her to relax in it, she will just sit there for 15 minutes or so and sometimes 30 for a good movie!!:)

A Sunday afternoon :)