On the Menu Monday: Banana Nut Bars

In keeping up with my new plan to try a new recipe once a week, I decided to make this uh-mazingly delicious dessert that I stole from none other than Pinterest (originally from The Girl Who Ate Everything). Seriously...this is SO good...you must make it! Yesterday was Daniels birthday but today we were celebrating with my family so I needed a dessert. Every year on his birthday, Daniel likes banana nut cake with cream cheese frosting as his birthday cake so this year I decided to mix it up with these Banana Nut Bars with Brown Butter Frosting. Yum!
The recipe didn't call for anything I didn't already have and the brown butter frosting for the tops of the bars sounded awesome. Truly, I tell you these bars were for him and not me! ;)
They turned out so ridiculously good that I will definitely be making these in the future! The birthday boy was definitely happy!
I do reccommend that you make doubly sure that they are cooked all the way in the center as I did not and had quite a few non-edible pieces. I think it's REALLY important to make sure the batter is spread even to ensure this doesn't happen since it is so thick...live and learn! I hope you enjoy these delicious bars as much as I did. Enjoy!

Banana Nut Bars:
1-1/2 c. sugar
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. butter, softened
2 eggs
1-3/4 (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:
1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 tbsp. milk
*This frosting is SO delicious and easy I will most definitely be making it again.

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375F. Grease and flour 15x10-inch pan. For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts (optional).

2. Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

4. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

Makes: 2 dozen large bars

10 Tips for Taking Your Kids Pictures

Over the past few years, I have had lots of practice taking pictures of kids. My poor kids have had to deal with having a paparazzi like mother from day one. They will thank me some day right!? Well, regardless if they see the importance now or ever, they grow up SO fast that I just can't imagine not taking every advantage to capture their sweet little smiles. I have also been very fortunate to have my friends, family and friends of friends entrust me with taking their little ones pictures over the last few years. Now that I am moving I have had lots of people ask me for tips since I won't be around to take their kiddos pictures anymore. While I still have TONS to learn when it comes to photography here are some helpful things I'd like to pass along that I have learned along the way.

1. Get down at their level! Seeing things the way your child does helps make for a great shot.

2. Don't make your child say, "Cheese!" You will always get a cheesy, canned smile that's not natural. Sing them songs they like, or use funny phrases that get their attention. My kids always like, "1, 2, BUCKLE MY SHOE!" to get their attention and my 3 year old loves a good knock, knock joke. Another fun one for babies is just the good ol' fashioned, "So BIG!" This is especially true with older kids where they have always been taught to give the canned picture smile. For a more authentic smile...just talk to them.

3. Don't take their picture near nap time....before or after. Give at a minimum, a 30 minute buffer in either direction. I'm not happy when I am sleepy either.

4. If you want to take naked baby pictures make sure your house is warm! Who's happy when they are cold?

5. Take pictures in shaded areas or with the sun to their back. No one likes a squinty face or the sun in their eyes. Natural lighting is always best so if your in your home, look for an area with the best light. Kids aren't really fans of the flash....especially babies.

6. Try not to pose them too much. Kids especially toddlers don't like to be too contrained. Give them an area to explore, get down at their level and start snapping.

7. Remember that just because they aren't looking at the camera doesn't mean you can't capture a great shot.

8. BE PATIENT! Kids are especially sensitive to stress. If you keep the mood happy and lighthearted the chances are so will they. If they are absolutely not cooperating don't push it! It will only lead to them resenting the camera and be more likely to act negatively next time you pull it out.
               - A side note to this is know when to throw in the towel. You aren't going to get good shots with a tired, frustrated little one.

9. If you have a DSLR camera, don't be afraid to experiment with the manual settings. That's what they are there for. You will never learn anything new if you're afraid to move outside of the auto setting.

10. Keep snapping...and snapping...and snapping! Most little ones move a mile a minute. Your best chances to get that one great shot is to keep up with them.

Hope that all you moms out there find these tips to be useful. A few seem pretty common sense but they can be easy to forget in the moment. Feel free to ask me any other questions you may have. I'd love to help! Happy Snapping!

On the Menu Monday: Sausage, Bell Pepper, Tomato & Red Potatoes

With the amount of recipes I pin on Pinterest, you would think that our family eats ridiculously amazing meals every night but the truth is...we don't. I do however make dinner about 3 to 4 nights a week which isn't too shabby but most of what I make is the same ol' tacos, chicken and rice, spaghetti...nothing super fancy. Don't get me wrong, I do try out the occasional new recipe but I aspire to try more and more often. I want to make dinner something everyone looks forward to. But, baby steps. In an effort to ease my way into this I have decided to try something new every Monday thus, "On the Menu Monday."
(Feel free to hold me accountable)
So today, I decided to make my own creation based on what we already had in the fridge and pantry and I must say it was delicious!
First off, I had some bacon from this weekends breakfast as well as some sausage that I had a free coupon for (new Hillshire Farms brand, yum!) I also had a couple bell peppers, a few red potatoes and a can of stewed tomatoes with onion.
This dish can be made spicy or not but I definitely like it spicy and the sausage already had jalapeño in it so it had a great kick. All in all, the prep time was about 15 minutes and the cook time was 40 minutes so this was definitely not a quick dinner but believe me it was worth the time.
First, I cooked 3 pieces of bacon in a large pan. Then I cut the bacon up into small pieces but left the bacon (I drained some of the grease) in the pan. Then I chopped 2 green bell peppers and the whole package of sausage (4 sausages) and added them to the bacon. Then, I added the can of stewed tomatoes and let all the ingredients cook together for about 10 minutes.
While the meat, bell peppers and tomatoes were cooking up I finally sliced the red potatoes and lined the bottom of a large baking dish. I drizzled olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper on top. Before I poured the sausage and bell peppers on top, I seasoned with cayenne pepper, salt, pepper and a little garlic salt.
I poured the sausage on top of the potatoes and then covered with foil. I cooked at 400 degrees for 40 minutes until the potatoes were tender. Voila!
I ate mine just by itself in a bowl but Daniel ate his in a tortilla...both delicious.
So here is the recipe for my first "On the Menu Monday"

Sausage, Bell Pepper, with Red Potatoes Dish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Preptime: 15 minutes
Cooktime: 40 minutes
Serves: 4

*Package of sausage of your choice
*2 green bell peppers
*3 large red potatoes
*One can of stewed tomatoes
*3-4 pieces of bacon
*Salt and pepper to taste
*Garlic salt to taste
*Pinch of cayenne pepper
*Drizzle of olive oil

Yum!!

A Childlike Faith

As a Christian, I do my best to talk about God with Gianna as often and as truthfully as I can. But truthfully I don't talk to others about God as I should. In the last 6 months, her understanding and vocabulary have grown as has her curiosity for all things related to God. Before bed and in the car is where I find the majority of our conversations take place, mostly because I have her undivided attention here. One day as we were driving and Gianna was rattling off her new favorite list of questions to me, "Who made that tree? Who made that dog? Who made that shadow?" All to which I reply God of course, she stopped and said, "Mom, God is SO awesome! I want to see him!" I chuckled and told her that someday she could but that right now we just have to see him through all the wonderful things he has made. She said, "Well, lets call him on your phone!?" I told her that would be nice but that God doesn't have a phone. (This she couldn't believe) I said that God is always listening to her and whenever she wants to talk to him she can through prayer. I could tell she wasn't satisfied but the conversation ended here.
Fast forward a few weeks later, we are driving in the car one morning and Gianna tells me that she saw God last night. Aw, how cute I think to myself and tell her how awesome dreams can be. Then she tells me that it wasn't a dream, it was real. Without hesitation, she broke into a very long very detailed story about an angel that was SO big and SO beautiful that came into her room. The angels name was Pashio and she let her pick out her own wings and Gigi chose butterfly wings and then she flew her up to see God. When they got there the angel put Gianna on God's lap. God told Gianna that he loved her SO much and then kissed her on her head and her hair turned to gold.
Uh, okay. I must admit I sat there dumbfounded trying to process her elaborate story. I asked her, "So, what was the angels name again?" in an attempt to test her. She replied, "My angels name is Pashio. That's a nice name huh mom?" Yeah, its really pretty I told her kind of stuck on the fact that she said HER angel and that she repeated this very weird name to me again. My mind went in two different directions. First, this girl has a super good imagination. Second, I read the book "Heaven is for Real" (which is a great little book that everyone should read) and I am a believer, so why should I discredit this account?
In the book, "Heaven is for Real," a pastor, a man who has devoted his life to the teachings of Christ, has a hard time believing his son when he says that he went up to heaven and sat on Jesus' lap during a surgery that he had. The child then begins to recount things that he saw from his seat above on Jesus' lap which make the pastor really question whether or not it could be a true account. What I got most from this book was the fact that we as adults struggle with having a "childlike faith" free of skepticism. Mark 10:14-15--“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” I have since tried to have more of a childlike faith. Remove the skepticism and pessimism and replace it with an open minded optimism.
Later that day, I told my mom about the story and how her imagination or dream was so detailed. My mom asked her to repeat it and to our surprise she told the story over again almost exactly as she had told me hours ago. Did I mention she's 2? Even if it was a story she thought up could she really repeat it? Possibly, but I kept getting stuck on Pashio. Such a weird name to remember. She went on to tell her dad about it later as well and then we just kind of went about our way and never really talked about it again. Until yesterday.
When we were driving down the road a man pulled out on his bike right in front of me to cross the street and I had to slam on my breaks so I wouldn't hit him. Gigi looked up from her coloring and asked what happened. I told her, in absolute frustration, that some jerk had pulled out in front of us and I almost hit him with our car. She asked me what the mans name was. I told her I didn't know and she said maybe it was Pashio. What? I asked her, Pashio the angel? She said yeah. I said That man didn't look like an angel honey. She said Pashio could be anybody and went back to coloring. I sat there in silence....humbled by my 2 year old. Of course that man could be an angel, of course anybody could be and I should know better than to respond so negatively to anyone. To be so quick to anger. Wait a minute. Who's teaching who here? And where does she get this stuff!?
I laid in bed last night rethinking what had happened and being utterly shocked that Pashio's name had come up again. Why is this all so perplexing to me? Am I not a believer? Am I not on a daily basis teaching my child to believe that which she cannot see? Regardless of whether or not Gigi has a really good imagination and memory or not why am I so shocked by her telling me something that coincides with what I already know and believe?
Then, I thought about why as an adult we, or at least I, struggle with the idea of the unknown so much. As a child we are taught the stories of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, all along with the stories of Jesus. How magical and exciting it all is! Then as we get older we slowly are told the truth that the magic we have embraced and understood to be real is a hoax a farce...all just for fun. Oh, except Jesus, all that walking on water and what not, that stuff is real. Uh, what? See what I mean? Our adult sense of skepticism really starts the day we learn Santa is made up and you silly have been believing a lie. Now, I by no means think that the miracles and truths of the bible are equal to that of the make believe land of the North Pole. I of course know that is absolutely not true but here is what I do struggle with. Getting back that "childlike faith". Miracles happen every day, Gods love is revealed to us in many ways every day but if someone other than I child told me that an angel visited them and told them that God loves them, I might be quick to hand them the number of the closest looney bin....wouldn't you? And even when my own child tells me that she was visited by an angel I can't help but think man, she has a great imagination. But, what if? What if Gianna was visited by an angel named Pashio. Why should I or anyone doubt her?
What if we all lived our life with more of a childlike faith? I know I could certainly benefit from this. Seeing the innocence in more things, seeing strangers as angels instead of jerks. Its hard to say you really are a believer if you don't, well believe. I'm not talking about whether or not you or I believe in God, I'm saying believing 100%, all the time that God is interacting with us and revealing his love to us in ways that may not seem conventional. If we open our hearts and minds and have a childlike faith we will see the world for more than what our post-santa believing pessimistic selves may see it. We may read this and believe what Gianna believes that an angel named Pashio, "Flew me up to the air to see God."

An Ode to my Montreal Expos T-Shirt

I have a Montreal Expos T-Shirt. Don't ask me why, but it's my favorite shirt...ever. I bought it at a garage sale when I was 15 during my I'm kinda grunge (but not really) and secretly wish I was from Seattle stage of life. I was really into thrifting and I stumbled across two vintage sports tees. One a hideous orange and black Philadelphia Flyers tee the other my prized Montreal Expos tee. I absolutely have no clue about either of these sports teams (do the Expos still even exist...no idea.) This is completely irrelevant because at the end of the day who knows what happened to the flyers tee but I do know that at 30 years old I am blogging about my love of my Expos tee as I wear it. What's so special about this tee you might ask? It's only the most comfortable shirt ever! The cotton is so ridiculously soft after my 15 years of wearing it and who even knows how long it's been around before I owned it.
Truthfully, it's not even something I can put into words as I have tried to explain to my husband many many times why I insist on keeping this shirt despite the fact that it is now thread bare in spots. It's simply become a part of me. Who am I without my Expo tee? It's seen me through literally half of my life and for sure the more exciting half. I definitely write this with a heavy heart because after all these years and the holes showing through I think this might be the time, now that I go through all my things with our upcoming move, that we finally part ways. *tear*

So, to my Montreal Expos Tee I say, thank you for keeping me comfy as I cried over silly boys in high school, as I stayed up all those late nights studying through college, as we drove all those times to visit Daniel in L.A., as I sweated my ass off during spin class at the gym, as I traveled through Europe, as I started my career, as I married the love of my life, as I bought my first home, as I stretched you over my pregnant belly not once but twice (sorry about that), and as I sit here drinking my coffee and watching my two beautiful kids play together. You have been more than just a great thrifting find...you have really been a part of some of the best parts of my life and for that I say thank you. You will be missed.

We're Moving to Texas Y'all!

It's been a long time since I've blogged and as you can see from my blog title, a lot has happened in the last two months! In the middle of May one day I received a text from Daniel, "How do you feel about moving to Texas?" my response, "Call me..." :-)The funny thing was that on some level I think I sensed that change was coming. In fact, that week my weekly devotion had encouraged me to pray that God unsettle my life to help me be where and doing what I am supposed to be doing. And literally, days before this question, I asked Daniel what the odds were of his company moving us since when he started it was mentioned that moving up could mean relocation. Now, here we were with relocation looking us in the face.
Daniel recieved a call from the plant manager of their Corsicana, Texas plant and he asked if Daniel would be interested in relocating to take the position of the Inside Sales Manager. I have always told Daniel that I would be willing to relocate for his job if it made sense and if the kids were still young but truthfully Texas wasn't on my top 5 list of places I wanted to live. (We all know I'm a CA beach girl at heart and Texas is even further than Fresno!) I definitely didn't let that hinder my excitement for a possible new adventure so I told him that I definitely thought we should check it out and see if it was something that we wanted to do together as a family.
The next few weeks were filled with a lot of discussion and a lot of prayer...what if's and what not. And it was hard to think that very shortly we could be moving to Texas. Who do we tell? Do we keep it under wraps for now? What will our friends and family say? How will Gianna take it? Should I make plans to do anyhting in August? Agh! So much to think about it but definitely lots of excitement was discussed too about the possibilities. We did tell a few friends and our family, all of which were sad but extremely supportive.
At the end of June, Daniel and I flew out to Dallas which is an hour north of their Corsicana plant and drove down for Daniel to meet up with the Plant Manager and other managers within the company. Before flying out we had done some research and realized very quickly that we wouldn't really want to  live in Corsicana and Dallas was too far of a commute so next on our agenda was to check out some of the towns south of Dallas north of Corsicana. Let me just say first that while I was open minded about the idea of moving to Texas I definitely didn't expect to like it as much as I did and do. Daniel had never been to Texas at all and I had only been to Austin so we went in not really knowing anything. I must say we were both pleasantly surprised.
First and foremost, Daniel really liked the people who he would be working with, secondly the people EVERYWHERE we went were SO stinkin' nice, the schools are awesome, the houses we looked at that we could afford with our real estate agent were mansions compared to what we afford in California and the list went on and on. The icing on the cake is that my good friend Liz whom I have been friends with since junior high and her husband live in Dallas so we already know friends there! The downside, our friends, family, church, our entire support system is in California...definitely hard to be away from all of that.
But, we had a blast exploring the Dallas area for a few days and decided that we really like the town of Waxahachie (pronounced WUH-xahacie) which is about 30 minutes south of Dallas and has a population of 30,000 which is super small town compared to the 500,000+ in Fresno but it really had everything we would want for our family. And did I mention how nice everyone is!? lol!
By the time we boarded our flight back to California, it was really pretty much decided besides a few details and that has been the best part about it. There wasn't really much of a discussion after Texas, we both knew and felt it was the right move for us in our hearts.
Once we got back, there was a lot of details that needed to be worked out between Daniel and his company so we still didn't want to tell everyone about it but now it's official! Daniel starts October 1st (which thankfully is a lot further away than we had originally thought) and the Pearce family is packing up, dogs and all and headed out to Texas! I still haven't wrapped my head around it completely mostly because I don't think I can really know what we are getting into until we are there and living it. In the meantime, moving our entire lives from California to Texas is occupying a lot of my time and thoughts. There are times when I get sad thinking about leaving all of the amazing friends and family here...literally we have the BEST friends and family! And mostly, I get sad for Gigi because I'm not sure how much she will really understand and I know she will miss her grandparents, cousins, friends, church, gymnastics, etc. terribly. But the adventurer in me is excited about the opportunity for change and meeting new people and exploring new places. And most importantly, I have faith that God is putting our family right where we need to be. It might not be forever...it might be...but Fresno is a quick 3 hour straight flight away. :-)
And I gotta say it is pretty funny seeing how Daniel was born and raised a Dallas Cowboy fan...I guess it was meant to be! haha!
So, the next few months will no doubt be busy with packing and what not but I definitely want to take this time to spend as much time with everyone here that we love. It is most definitely going to be a bittersweet change for the Pearce family and I know that we will continue to recieve all the love and support that we are so blessed to have from everyone here even when we are in Texas. I will also make a point to be MUCH better about blogging and plan to blog our entire experience so stay tuned. Watch out Texas! The Pearce family is on its way! :-)