Budget advice from a new bride

First off, picking a budget for your wedding is HARD.  I really underestimated almost every aspect so our budget has already increased by about $3,000.

I know there are so many articles out there on Pinterest for how much to expect for each category/what percentage of your budget to allocate to each, however, I assumed those were not applicable for the Midwest. Wrong.

So, this is what you should expect to spend in Iowa..and we are still going fairly 'cheap' with everything so if you're wanting something that resembles a Pinterest wedding, double this!

Guests:  BE FIRM! We started with a strict 300 people and suddenly we're inviting nearly 375.  What we didn't consider when adding to the guest list was each person is 1 more mouth to feed..aka $13.92.

Venue: Originally I really wanted a hotel, but I quickly found out even with the waived rental fee the prices of food were around $20-30/person.  We are renting a reception hall at our local fairgrounds for under $1,000.  Make sure you consider additional costs for your venue, for example, we are required to pay a security guard as well as rent our linens from the venue.

Food: I think this is where I saved the most money from not choosing a hotel venue.  We're saving about $15/person by veering from our original plan.  Be sure to ask your caterer about a kids buffet! We are saving some money by having chicken nuggets & mac and cheese for the littles who aren't going to want the pork roast and vegetable medley anyway.

Flowers: Whatever you have in your mind to spend on these, double or triple that number! This was the area I underestimated the MOST.  Also, Pinterest flower creations are expensive and most likely unattainable for the average bride.  I took a few Pinterest pictures to my florist but I was flexible with the specific flowers, I just wanted the general look.

Photographer: This is an area where I was OK with splurging a little, after everything is said and done pictures are the one thing you'll have forever.  I ended up finding a photographer that is fairly new, but still takes amazing pictures.  So, her prices were more reasonable than the seasoned photographers who can charge $3,000+ for the day

DJ:  I think this is another one that I was surprised at the cost (I'm surprised at ALL wedding costs haha).  We went with a friend, but I've found DJs are all just about the same cost.  I'd suggest asking for references or being familiar with their work, a DJ is the one who keeps the party going so they can really make or break your reception. 

Most importantly, enjoy this time! Planning can be stressful, but also really fun!

Meet Gus

Long time no see! I'm just stopping in to introduce our newest family member..meet Gus!

 

 

He is an 8 week old Lhasa Apso, the same kind as our other baby Nala. He currently weighs 4 pounds and I am obsessed!

 

 

 

Nala is slowly learning to love him..even when he tugs on her butt fluff :)

 

 

His favorite toy is this stuffed duck that is the same size as him.

 

On Friday he will have been home for a week and he's adjusting well! We finally have moved from crying for 20 minutes at bedtime to only crying for about 5. He usually wakes up once during the night to go potty, and after I get up with him I let him sleep with us.

 

Hopefully Nala and Gus grow to be best friends!



Healthy Ice Cream

Good Morning! First off, I must live in a cave because just yesterday I heard about the plane that has been missing. Clearly I need to read/watch the news more often!

Last night Kendal and I rented a movie and I wanted a snack to munch on while I watched but I'm really trying to stop eating like I'll never gain weight. A friend had mentioned she makes 'ice cream' out of bananas so I gave that a try. It was really good, even Kendal liked it!

I had 2 bananas in the freezer that I peeled (that was pretty impossible at first, but I got the hang of it) and cut into slices. Throw those into the blender with some almond milk (or regular milk would be fine), I added a little more than 1/4 Cup of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. Once it was all blended I put it in the freezer for a few minutes and then it was ready to eat!

Ours tasted pretty banana-y but I'm sure you could add fresh or frozen strawberries, chocolate syrup, or other toppings to add some extra flavor.

Anyone else have some heathy alternatives for sweet tooh cravings??

Cheesy Chicken Tatertot Casserole

Happy Monday! Our oven is finally being delivered Wednesday, so for the last week and a half our crockpot has been in high demand. Saturday I made this recipe I found on Pinterest and it was another hit with both me and Kendal! I followed the recipe pretty closely, but there are a few things I will do differently next time I make this.

 

Cheesy Chicken Tatertot Casserole
1 bag (32oz) tatertots
1 bag (2 cups) shredded cheese of choice
1 lb cubed uncooked chicken
1 lb cooked bacon
3/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

The recipe suggests a bag of precooked bacon bits, but we had bacon in the freezer, so I cooked up the whole pound and used all of it except for a few pieces. I also used more chicken, about 1.5 pounds.

 After cooking the bacon you layer the following: tater tots, bacon, cheese, chicken, bacon cheese, tatertots, bacon cheese. Pour the milk over everything and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours.

I cooked this for about 5 or 6 hours and everything was done just right. Kendal mentioned the tater tots that were on the bottom got pretty soggy, they kind of turned into a potato hash. So, next time I am going to try not putting any on the bottom to see if more of them will be crispy. Overall we really liked this and it will be moved to my 'Successful Recipes' Pinterest board!

Chicken and Dumplings

Good Morning! It's supposed to be in the 40's tomorrow and then snow more..Happy Spring.

 I found this Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings recipe on Pinterest and we LOVED it! I think this is one of the first Pinterest recipes I was 100% happy with the outcome. It even inspired me to organzie my boards a little so I created a 'Successful Recipes' board. Check out my Pinterest here, I have a million and two recipes I haven't tried, so lemme know if you have!

Anyway, of course I did not take one picture..but the finished product was pretty similar to the picture on the recipe. Kendal even commented that it looked like something Nala puked up last week...yum.

I made a few minor changes so here is what I did:

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings
4 chicken breasts (I have no clue if it was anywhere near 1lb)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 14oz can chicken broth
6 Refrigerator biscuits

Put everything, but the biscuits, in the crockpot and let it cook on LOW for 7-8ish hours. By the time I got home from work I think it cooked for 8.

After 8 hours, shred the chicken. Cut up the 6 biscuits, I cut each one like a little pizza so 8 pieces each. Throw those in the crockpot (I made sure they were spread out a little so they didn't all stick together) let them cook on LOW for 1 more hour.

Thats it, this was one of the easiest things I've made! When it was all done I added a pinch of salt, but I'm not really sure it was needed because of all the salt in chicken broth. The original recipe says it serves 6-8 but I think Kendal and I will be able to make it into 4-5 meals.

The only thing I would change for next time is maybe add more chicken, like I said I have no idea how much I used, I just know it wasn't quite enough.

Only 1 more week of crockpot recipes before my new oven arrives :)

I bought a house..and it sucks

Buy a house they said..it will be cheaper than renting they said. Well, that may be true but then the furnace broke the day we moved in. The downstairs bathroom SINK was clogged with what looked like hotdog chunks and the upstairs bathroom toilet would not stop running. Give me the papers and I will put this place back on the market!

Luckily, I have a very handy dad so all of the above problems were fixed, but not before it dropped down to 64* and I was home alone frozen. To top off the cake I tried to be a nice girlfriend and bake some brownies, until I opened the oven to put them in and realized it was cold. Awesome. Handy dad swooped in again and we decided it would be best to just buy a new oven. So now I'm ovenless for another week and its surprisingly hard to think of things to make for dinner that don't require an oven! I've got some Chicken and Dumplings in the crockpot for tonight, I found the recipe on Pinterest so we'll see how that turns out.

Stay warm, and pray for no more snow!

Polar Vortex 2k14

Lets take a second to talk about how awful this winter has been.  I've lived in Iowa my entire life, and ususally winter sucks. But, this year I feel like it is the worst one yet. It's been dangerously cold..like -40*, SO MUCH SNOW and I'm really over it.

 

K and I just bought a house and we are moving in 9 days..I was hoping I would not have to purchase a shovel/snow blower until next year but it's looking like we will be getting one this year.  Luckily, at the beginning of this whole process, I agreed to make all of the phone calls as long as K would shovel for all of eternity and mow the lawn the first 5 times.  I hope he enjoys this huge corner lot we are going to be living on!

 

Other than the snow I'm starting to get excited that this house will be MINE! I can paint whatever I want, tear down whatever I want..and try to convince K we cannot survive without a hot tub.  I'm also really excited for Nala, shes never had a yard to run around in. So, this will be fun for me her..I'm hoping she gets a lot of her energy out in the yard, instead of all over my brand new couches.

 

She looks so sweet when shes asleep

Good luck to everyone in the Midwest trying to survive the Polar Vortex..only 40 something days until Spring!