THE WINDY CITY!!

A few weeks ago Nolan and I had the opportunity to take a free trip to Chicago. We had SOO much fun! I had never been there and it was so awesome! We had so much fun together in the big city and I experienced "city life" like never before!

Our last night there, we went to Navy Pier and rode the Ferris wheel at night AND there was a firework show while we were on it! Talk about ROMANTIC!! It was awesome to over look Lake Michigan and Chicago. This was our view.

Us after kissin on the Ferris Wheel Ha ha!

Waiting in line for the ride Nolan took an abstract picture of the Farris wheel.

Famous CHICAGO PIZZA!! It was worth the hour long wait.

Nolan's favorite...famous Chicago hot dogs!

Went to a knock of show call Cirque Shanghai and it was AWESOME!!! It was amazing the things these people could do with their bodies!

My outgoing, cute husband got called on stage!! He helped them to a trick! It was pretty funny!

CHECK THIS OUT!!! INCREDIBLE!

NAVY PIER

Nolan and MR. SAILOR

The whole football team at NIKE town lining up for me :)

US!

This is me in a taxi expressing my strong feelings about taxis' I hate them!they are a germ-infested, creepy, stinky, expensive drive. GROSS!

This is the view from our hotel on Michigan Ave.

Thanks cutest husband for the great trip! I LOVE YOU!!! I mean seriously how could you not love this face??

I can dream right?

So lately Nolan and I have been entertaining the idea of house buying. Well actually we have pretended for the last year or so by going to look at houses and model homes. We aren't really serious about it, but we like to go look for fun! We are atleast a few years away from doing it for real! But it's nice to dream right? Well I just wanted to know from those of you who have experience in this whole thing what advice, or things you didn't know before you bought your first home? Or things that surprised you when you did? Unknown or unthought of expenses?? Thanks! (I am really posting this to keep you occupied till I actually get around to posting about our Chicago trip! COMING SOON) But really I would love to hear the things you all have to say about this?

Summer Happenings

This is what we've been up to during our busy summer. I used to be proud of myself for posting often..yea well not anymore! So here's a few posts into one!



CAMPING WITH FRIENDS:

We dicided to go camping with some friends up in Monte Cristo! All the places were pretty packed but we finally found a deserted campsite that was actually semi-real (one with trees) We had such a blast!

My message in the fire from Nolan

Our friends Travis, Addie, Lauren (prego one), and Jared

Sittin by the fire

THE LADIES!

Lauren's feast! ("I have to gain 4 lbs by the next time i go to the doctors!!")

We were teasin her that she had to eat all of her tinfoil dinner!

BEARLAKE QUICK TRIP:

My friend called and asked if Will and I wanted to go to Bear Lake for the day so we went! 3 kids in carseats in the back of a small car..for 4 hours...mmm...it was interesting! But Will had fun playing in the sand and the freezing cold water! He is getting so big!

VISIT TO SALINA:

We went to our families in Salina for the 24th of July. We had fun doing the road rally A POULSON FAMILY TRADITION. This is something the city does and they give you clues and places to stop, they calculate your mileage and most of the time it ends up in water balloon throwing. I think that might be outlawed next year due to some inconsiderate guy who hit a child in the face going 30 miles per hour!!! My husband was in BIG TROUBLE and felt so horrible!

Visiting our favorite Verle and Wayne!! SO CUTE!!!

UNCLE NOLAN with McCoy and Allie

The woman who makes it all happen: my sweet mother in law!!

Practicing teaching a kid to ride a bike..maybe he should wait till she can reach the pedals!

Always keeping them intertained!

AUNT JANI and ALLIE 19 months

Us all singing I'm a little tea pot for extra Road Rally Points!

It started raining while we were in the back seat with no top!
Rain or no Rain the Road Rally Continues!!

So excited!!

LOOK HOW CUTE THIS IS!!! I have been working on this tutu halter dress and I LOVE how it turned out! I think I am going to add two more yellow flowers on either side to cover better, One works fine but I think I will be less worried about "showing" :) But I had to hurry because my CUTE little model Jayden was coming over. I will be selling these along with my bows and think it turned out cute! I think these would make THE CUTEST flower girl dresses. They would also work for pictures, formal events, dress ups, dance recitals, ect. Tell me what ya think!

Paradise Bakery Soup!

I LOVE the fire roasted tomato soup at Paradise Bakery..and trust me I hate tomatoes and tomato soup! But this is SOOO good! HOwever if you buy a cup of it at PB it cost around $4 sorry I am not paying that for soup! So I got brave and decided to try to make it! It was pretty easy to make and OH SO YUMMY!!! ENJOY! (i know my picture looks professional with my garnish huh?)

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

2 medium onions, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

28 oz can San Marzano whole tomatoes (I buy them at Fresh Market)

14 oz can Muir Glen fire roasted diced tomatoes (I buy them at SuperTarget)8 oz can tomato sauce

6 oz can tomato paste

4 cups water

4 chicken bouillon cubes (less or more to your taste)

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 cups milk

In a pan saute onion in olive oil until almost translucent. Add garlic and continue to saute a few minutes more. Add tomatoes, sauce and paste as well as water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Puree in blender, or with immersion blender until desired consistency. (I like mine slightly chunky but you should puree until your hearts content) Add milk and seasonings and continue to simmer for another 5 or 1o minutes. Add a littel sour cream and tortilla chips and enjoy! LOOK AT NOTES BELOW!!

NOTES: I added a pinch of basil. ALSO AND THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! If your going to blend the soup in the blender...make sure it is cooled quite a bit...TRUST ME I LEARNED THE HARD WAY!!! If you put it in hot, the steam plus a tight lid = PRESSURE....my blender lid came off and needless to say Nolan and I laughed and had a BIG mess to clean up...(he thought I didn't put the lid on tight enough) so he tried again and it happened AGAIN I wish i had a picture of the BLOW UP!!! ALSO i didn't buy either brand of tomatoes this recipe called for because they were 4 dollars a can and the target brand was 89cents!! However people have raved about that brand of tomatoes but i could not justify it! So let me know if you try them!

Weaning a baby is HARD ...PERIOD!!

So last night I had the opportunity to help a good friend wean her baby. She is 4 months old and the cutest baby you have ever seen! She is a breastfed baby ONLY. So the mom has tried to get her to take a bottle for her, but obviously she being the one with the "GOODS" the baby was a little confused. So that's where I came in...I took her yesterday afternoon to try and get her to take a bottle. Doctor said "if she is hungry enough she will take it" NOT TRUE!!!! This baby eats every 3 hours. When i got her she had not eaten for an hour and a half, and I had her for 6 hours which equals 7 1/2 hours she went with out eating!!! Poor little Avery did not take the bottle for the life of her! For the first few hours she was an angel, it did not bother her that she was hungry. She was a little fussy but still a VERY good baby. About 9:00 p.m. came and she was one Starving little girl! But still NO BOTTLE!!! 10:00 p.m. and few tears later shed by me (It was heartbreaking to hear her screaming the saddest cry!) Mom came to pick her up and rescue her from the MEAN people who kept trying to put fake plastic nipples in her mouth. This was an eye opening experience for me. I told Nolan: I am scared I a not going to be a good mom now!! I can't stand to her them scream, and I felt like I could do nothing for her. WOW WEANING IS HARD!!!!
However, she REALLY is one of the cutest babies I have every seen and enjoyed staring at her FREAKIN cute face the whole time and kissing her chubby cheeks! I will have to post some pictures of her soon, I was a little occupied last night and didn't have time to take any.