I really do love to cook. What I don't love is deciding what to cook (or cleaning up after myself but it's part of life). So last week I was making my grocery list and having a hard time actually putting anything on it. I opened up my Pinterest food board and told Aaron to pick two things he wanted me to make. I didn't have to decide and I still got to cook delicious food. Win-win. 

My husband is from Kansas City, Missouri and they take their BBQ very seriously there. He spends the entire summer grilling for me and I love it. When winter strikes I rarely get home cooked burgers, steaks, or ribs and I definitely miss it. So when Aaron said he wanted me to make him ribs I was a little nervous. He's very picky about his BBQ (and now so am I)! But I found this recipe for crock pot BBQ ribs and decided I'd at least give it a try. Now I'm so glad I did because we definitely have a new favorite in our home.

Crock Pot BBQ Ribs

• 2.5 lbs ribs (approx)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp paprika
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 cup BBQ sauce (your favorite kind)

Mix paprika, brown sugar, chili powder, and s&p together in a small bowl. Rub the mixture all over your ribs, covering both sides. 

Put the ribs in your slow cooker by propping them up against the sides, thicker side down, meat side against the wall. Pour BBQ sauce all over the ribs. Cover and cook for 6-7 hours on low. Line a baking sheet with foil and move the ribs from the slow cooker to the baking sheet, bone side up. 

Strain all the remaining juice from the slow cooker into a small sauce pan. Bring it to a boil and simmer to reduce the sauce, about 15 minutes. Turn on your oven broiler. Brush the ribs with your sauce and broil about 4 minutes. Flip the ribs over, brush them (generously!) with sauce and broil for 8-10 more minutes. 

Serve any remaining sauce on the side with the ribs. And enjoy! Seriously, these pictures do not do the ribs justice (sorry, they're from my iPhone!). If there is one recipe from our blog that you ever try this should be it. Aaron is already asking me to make it again.

xo Sue

Every morning I walk by her room and this is what I see. 

And every day it gets just a little bit closer to the day we get to bring her home. 

This will be her special place. 

I want her to always feel safe here. 

The world is a big, scary place but her home will be a happy one. 

I've taken so much joy in creating a room for her.

I've put together a place where we can spend time together as mother and daughter.

A place where we can laugh and play and read and sing.

A place where we can snuggle together as a family and forget everything else.

I can't wait to share it with her.

I can't wait to bring my daughter home.

xo Sue

Today I was feeling a little creative and wanted to do something fun for dinner. I have made pizza plenty of times and thought that would be a good option since I didn't have much time to make something fancy. So... I pulled up my trusty Pinterest boards and found the idea of making a Calzone! I pulled out my Momma´s pizza dough recipe, threw on a few ingredients and put it in to bake. It was quick and easy. Best of all it tasted delicious! Hope you enjoy!

Yummy Calzone!

Becky's Pizza Dough:

1 cup warm water

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

Toppings:

Marinara sauce

Cheese

Pepperoni

(Anything you really want!)

1 egg

Parmesan cheese

Italian Herb mix

Directions:

1- Mix water, yeast, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Let it rise for a few minutes.

2- Add flour and salt. Mix for 3-5 minutes. Roll out dough into a rectangular shape (mine is not the best example...!) Preheat your oven to 425 at this point. Transfer to a baking sheet with a little bit of corn meal on it for easy removal- trust me! I forgot this step and regretted it later when I had to after I had made it all pretty!!!

3- Add your sauce down the middle length-wise. Sprinkle cheese on top of that.

4- Place pepperoni along the top of cheese. (Add any other ingredients that you would like in your Calzone) I put a little extra cheese I had shredded on top of the pepperoni. 

5- Cut slits into the sides of your dough along both sides of the toppings. Try to make the same number of slits on both sides and keep them around the same width as much as your can.

6- Start folding the slices one by one, weaving them together. 

7- Tuck the last slice under the bottom when you get to the end.

8- This is when I had to transfer it... but hopefully you did that before it looked this pretty! Mine stretched all funny once I moved it... Anyways, I will remember next time! Back to the recipe... Whip the egg in a bowl and brush it over the top of your Calzone. (My egg mixture got a little messy... sorry!)

9- Sprinkle a good amount of Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning on top.

10- Bake on 425 for 15 minutes. Pull it out when the crust is looking brown and yummy!

11- Let it set for a few minutes so the sauce doesn't spill all over the place. Slice it up and enjoy!!!

Though eleven steps that I have listed may seem like a lot, it really isn't. I just broke it down really simply so I could add all the pictures that I took! It took me less than 15 minutes to put it all together and another 15 to bake. While it was baking I cleaned up my kitchen and had only a few small dishes left once we finished dinner. It worked out really well for a busy night!! Thanks for reading!

xo Shelly

My Growing Bump

We have less than 12 weeks left until Baby Girl's due date. When I think about that I freak out just a tiny bit. Mostly it's a good freak out, but it's a little bit nervous/scared too. I think I deserve the nervous/scared bit though. In 12 weeks I have to physically shove 8+ pounds out of my body through a hole that isn't exactly sized properly for that. Sorry. I tried to make that as non-gross as possible but we all know it is. And that's just part of life, right? 

Moving on... I thought it would be fun to put together a collage of my baby bump so far. I have no idea why I decided to turn the opposite direction in week 20. Maybe I was feeling rebellious. Also, at the beginning I was planning on wearing the same outfit each week to watch it grow. Obviously I got bored of that pretty quick. I have pictures from before 14 weeks, but I feel like 14 was when there was a "real" bump there and not just something you pretended you saw to make me feel better, so that's where I started. And at the beginning I only took pictures every few weeks. Mostly because I felt like CRAP all the time and taking pictures was not my main priority. I've started to feel better in the recent weeks and although my nausea/vomiting isn't completely gone, it has become much more tolerable and I have no reason to complain. It's certainly better than back in July when I took a lovely trip to the hospital. It does get better! Sort of. (Can you tell I originally wrote this Saturday night just hours before my second trip to the hospital? Well played, life.)

So here she is. Our growing Baby Girl. 

*If you read my baby blog I'm sorry for the duplicate post. This was something I wanted to share on both! 

xo Sue