Biltmore Mansion, Asheville NC

For my birthday, I received 2 wonderful tickets from my in-laws to visit the Biltmore Mansion. It was gorgeous! It is so fun for me to think about how a building was designed and the intricate details and designs that go into them. I love architecture and interior design and even better, I got to spend the WHOLE day with Adam. We drove the 2 hours to Asheville, enjoyed the house tour, some delicious hot chocolate & apple cider, had a little picnic lunch that I packed in the car, then went to a restaurant a friend of ours recommended for dinner. It was such a fun day & I am so glad we got to go!

Favorite food blogs

Lately I have been trying to mix it up and not make the same meals over and over again. I have some amazing cookbooks, (my sister in law made one for us for our wedding & I use it on a weekly basis for ideas on what to make. I also like it because I can trust it! I know that they have made that recipe before & that it is yummy!) but I was wanting to try some new recipes. So, I started to search the internet and I found some awesome websites/blogs.

Here are my favorites:

1. http://www.ourbestbites.com/- This one is by far my favorite. I have made a few recipes from this site & have loved all of them. My favorites are the Chicken Tortilla soup recipe and the bread-sticks recipe. Delicious!
- This site just printed a recipe book that I think you can purchase through Deseret Book.2. http://rhrecipes.blogspot.com/- My favorite thing about this blog is that she posts what fruits/vegetables are in season that month. It helps me know how much I should be paying at the grocery store for fruits/veggies and how I can plan my menu for the week. She has some great recipes, but she also posts about her family life - so its not completely focused on food.
3. http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/
- This one I don't use quite as much, but I found a few fun recipes. Like the ever-famous BYU mint brownies! I haven't made them yet, but when the right occasion comes around I will.So- i thought it would be fun to share these. Do you have any favorites?

Cute Kids!

In November I took these cute photos & I love the way they turned out! Kids are always an adventure to photograph because their real smile, turns quickly into a fake smile. I think the best way to get them to smile is to let them play with something, and then catch them while they are happy.