My Happy Place!

I LOVE the beach, like can't wait to move there one day!!!  It is the most relaxing place ever and I wish I could go every month!!  Life would be complete! 

Mexico is the place I go to most.  Cancun and Playa Del Carmen are were we visit.  I am a water girl and pick the place with the BEST water!!  I love crystal clear water.  Cancun water is pretty clear, Playa....not so much but still nice.  We honeymooned in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and that water was the CLEAREST water I had ever seen!!   It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!

See what I mean about the water in Punta Cana!!  This picture does not do it justice!!!

Visiting Isla Mujeres while in Cancun.  This is a MUST if staying in Cancun!

Mommy and Ridge in Cancun for New Year's 2014.  It was Ridge's 1st time at the beach and 1st vacation.  He turned 4 months old while we were there.  It is some of the best memories I have with him as a baby.

Ridge playing in the sand in Destin.  We went with my Sister's family for summer vacay in June 2015.  We rented a condo on the beach and loved the fun in the sun. 

Picture in Destin with My sister and her two kids, Luke and Lily. 

Ridge and Lily!  Ridge loves him so Lily!!  In fact, it is the only name he says!

Family picture in Destin!

At dinner in Cancun on my Husband's Company trip to Cancun in January 2016. 

Me at the beach in Cancun at Live Aqua.

The beach is my happy place and I hope that Ridge loves the beach as much as his Mommy and Daddy do.  So far, he is a little beach bum!!  I can't wait to go to the beach with him in a few months since it will be the first time at the beach for him since he could walk.  It will be very interesting for sure!!  Can't wait to share that will you guys! 

Until next time,

Lesley

Toddler Life

My Son is 17 months old and ALL boy!  He loves to challenge me, daily!!  If I tell him to get out of something, he will turn around and go right back to it.  It can be SO frustrating!  Then, I look at his little face and it is SO hard to be mad at him!!!

The pantry is his favorite place to "play" and it makes Mommy, crazy!!

But then he does this and I can't possibly be  mad at this sweet boy!!!

My desk his his second favorite place to "play"! 

I can't even!!!! 

Being a Mom is the GREATEST job of my life and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  It is also the most challenging job ever!  My sweet boy definitely keeps me busy.  There is never a dull moment in my house with this little guy around!!  He melts my heart!!!

Until next time,

Lesley

Favorite Easy Weeknight Recipe

One of my favorite recipes to make when I am having a not so super healthy dinner is.....

Mix and Match Mama's Spinach Pesto Baked Tacos!! 

They are super easy to make a full of flavor!!  You must make them!!

Shopping List 1 pound ground beef (or you could use ground chicken or turkey)
1 package taco seasoning
1 box frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed of all the excess water
1 cup store bought Pesto
2 cups salsa
2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
5 taco shells (I used the "stand and stuff" ones...but regular will work)
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat a tablespoon or so of EVOO over medium-high heat in a skillet.  Add in your ground beef and cook until browned and crumbly.  Stir in your taco seasoning, spinach, pesto and salsa.  Reduce heat to low and simmer 3 to 4 minutes.

Meanwhile, in an 8x8 inch baking dish, line your 5 taco shells up.  Divide the ground beef mixture between all 5 shells.  Top tacos with cheese and pop dish in the oven.  Bake about 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and brown.


That's it!  Simple, right?  And of course...you can mix and match this a million different ways!  Trade out your fillings for beans, chicken, fresh spinach...go nuts!  The tacos get so crispy when you bake them that you'll never go back to unbaked tacos again.  Trust me...this method is life changing :).

Until next time,

Lesley

Friday Favorites

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

I absolutely love Fridays!  I start my day with my Favorite Trainer to kick off my weekend. 

The Beach......I LOVE the beach!  I am a beach bum and plan to move to the beach when Ridge is off to College.....in 18 years!!! 

This was the view from our room at Live Aqua Cancun. 

If you are a busy Mom and love to cook and back, but have no time, you need these cookbooks in your life!!   They are by my FAVORITE Blogger, Shay Shull of Mix and Match Mama.  They have very quick and easy recipes for life on the go!  Nothing fancy, just easy meals!  The Cakes book is fantastic for a quick and easy cake for any last minute party.  I can't wait to get my baking on!! 

If you know me well, than you know I am OBSESSED with The Kardashians and especially Khloe!  She wrote a book called, Strong Looks Better Naked.  It is actually very inspiring!  You can tell she put her heart and soul into writing this book. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Until next time,

Lesley

Boy Mom

The life of a Boy Mom is so much fun!  I love love love having a Son.  He is the sweetest little guy around.  He just LOVES to LOVE!!  He is so happy and everyone notices it.

A few years ago before I got married, I moved in with my Sister to help her with her Daughter, my Niece, Lily Grace.  She is my first little love for sure!  She and I share a VERY special bond and I cherish her so much!!!  I got to experience the life of a girl "Mom" since I spent every day of the first year and a half of her life.  The difference between girls and boys is CRAZY!! 

Lily and LuLu (this is what she calls me)

Lily loves to play dress up!  My other niece, Finley in the background.

Boys are SO mischievous.  :-)

They get into EVERYTHING!!  I mean EVERYTHING!! 

Ridge standing on the dishwasher.  Silly boy!

They LOVE hard!!  This is my favorite about little boys.  They really do LOVE their Mamas!!! 

My little guy is SO cute!!

I just LOVE his face in this pic!

Until next time,

Lesley

It's Been A VERY Long Time!!

Well, I decided my break from blogging about my life needed to end.  So, here I am again to blog about my life as a Mom in Dallas!  I never thought I would be a Mom much less living in Dallas and not the suburbs.  But, here I am and I must say, I love it!!!

So much has happened in my life since I stopped blogging so long ago and I would be here all day if I tried to catch everyone up.  But, here is a snippet of my life the past year and a half....

My HANDSOME son was born on August 29, 2014 and my life was forever changed for the better!!  He was such a good baby from the beginning and LOVED to sleep!!  He is now almost a year and a half old and is still a pretty good Toddler with the exception of his little temper tantrums when he is told NO! 

Ridge Ryker just a few minutes after being born!

Our 1st Family Photo!

Mommy and Son!  He melts my heart!!!

My FAVORITE picture of him at 4 days old!

We also moved into our new house shortly after Ridge was born, so not only was a busy with a brand new baby, I was also extremely busy trying to finish the building of the house with a sweet little baby in tow!  It was VERY EXHAUSTING!!  I was SO glad when we FINALLY got moved in to the new house in November 2014!

Then we had Thanksgiving at our house and Christmas came!

Ridge's 1st Thanksgiving with his Cousin, Luke who is just six months older! 

Ridge's 1st Christmas!

Our Family Picture on Christmas Day!

After Christmas, several of the family members went to Cancun for NYE.  It was very relaxing and a much needed quick getaway!  Ridge LOVED the beach. 

My Little Beach Bum!

Just chillin' after dinner in my pj's after dinner!

Mommy and Baby ready for the beach!

Family Picture in Cancun!

2015 was a year of getting my house together, soaking up my sweet baby boy and just living in the moment!  It was also the year I decided to take something for me.  I hired my Personal Trainer I had before my wedding.  I got my tired self in shape for the first time in my life.  Have you heard the term, "Skinny Fat?"  Yep, that was me!!!  I might have looked relatively small in clothes and worn a size 2, but I was VERY out of shape!!   As I continue my blog posts, I will share with you all my journey of getting into shape. 

Now that we are in 2016, I am still on my journey to be the healthiest I can be.  This year is going to be a VERY busy year of travel for my household.  I am SO excited to make some wonderful memories.  Jason and I spent a few days in Cancun while Nana (aka my Mom) stayed with Ridge.  He had so much fun with his Nana and Pawpaw! 

At Dinner in Cancun

Until next time,

Lesley

Update Part 2

So, July was my first month EVER to set goals for myself.  I may have bitten off more than I could chew for my first month.  But, I was pretty happy with myself for what I did accomplish the first month of goals. 

The first goal I set for myself was to get in shape.  It is REALLY important to me to stay in shape since I am getting older and menopausal.  It is a lot harder to lose weight when you have both of these things against you, BUT I am not going to use that as an excuse.  One can still get in shape and be healthy.  So, I did go to the gym a lot as well as yoga with my Sister in Law.  I actually LOVE yoga.  I love it more than just going to the gym and getting on a treadmill and lifting some weights.  But, the Hubby LOVES lifting weights and I wanted to do something with him.  But, I did learn that yoga is what I want to focus on so I do feel like I accomplished my first goal! 

My second goal was to eat healthy and only have one cheat day.  This was REALLY hard with trying to sell a house and never being home.  But, I did do pretty well and even managed to drop 5 pounds eating better.  I typically do eat pretty healthy during the week anyways, but the weekends do me in!! 

My third goal was to only drink alcohol once a week.  I will go ahead and day now that I FAILED this one REALLY BAD!!!!  Let's just keep in at that!

My final goal for July was to practice walking away from idiotic comments and I will tell you all that I did accomplish the goal I set for this one!!  I am pretty proud of myself because there were a few times when I could have indulged in this one!  But, I didn't!  YAY!!!!

So, for my August goals I wanted to make my goals a little bit more relaxing and obtainable since this is the month that I will be REALLY in deep with the house wrapping up and Little Man's arrival creeping up! 

My first goal is the MOST important.....Getting my house packed up.  I really want to get this done way before Little Man arrives so that I don't have to take time away from him to pack.  I started packing quit a while ago, then stopped but I am back at it!  I can do this one for sure!!

The next goal is to continue my workout regimen which is going to focus on yoga.  I want to spend this month really getting my practice in so I can have a routine when Little Man arrives as I will have to practice at home after he arrives. 

The next thing I want to set for myself is the direction I want to take this blog after Little Man arrives.  I want to turn my blog into a fashion blog with some of my life in it as well, but mainly just fashion.  I am excited about sharing all my outfits I have pinned on Pinterest that I am going to re-create from my own closet. 

My last goal is more about a matter of necessity.  I MUST get ready for Little Man's arrival at home.  It has been really quite depressing not being able to have a room set up for him when he gets home.  I learned back in early June that there was NO WAY possible the new house would be ready before Baby.  It really devastated me because it was the one thing I wanted to happen before he arrived.  But, it was something I had to accept and get prepared for.  So, I changed gears and just went ahead and moved forward with the décor I wanted for his room and just put it in a closet to pull out when we did finally get into the new house.  I placed the order for the bedding, had the drapery Lady get going on making the drapes for his room (which I can't wait to see) and get the furniture for his room.  I also knew he wouldn't be in his own room for a few months anyways, so it did help knowing his room wouldn't be used anyways.  I didn't want to waste time setting up a room in our current house just to take everything down when we moved a few weeks after he arrived anyways.  Plus, I am not a fan of the wall color or trim color in the two spare rooms in our current house, so it was easy to not fret over making a room in this house for him.  The crib was actually delivered yesterday and I had them set it up in our room.  I am sure the people that tour our house are like, WTF???  HA!!!  So, I have half of his stuff in one of the spare room and his crib in our room.  It actually looks like a baby store blew up upstairs.  There is stuff everywhere up there.  I sure hope whoever the random people looking at our house, like Baby stuff......