Be Thankful

I put up my one and only holiday decoration today! Before Charley was born, I made a holiday banner for each holiday. Here is the thanksgiving one! When I had Charley I wasn't quite done with them and so my mom helped me finish them! I love how they all turned out and it is nice to have at least one decoration up! They are perfect for a small apt. with no storage because they fold up snug and small!

 This weekend was another success! I made a bucket-list for things we want to do in NYC and a restaurant bucket-list. I think it will take us about 2 years to get everything done, but I'm excited to start to slowly check things off! We are going to try to do something each Saturday we are here.. come visit and you can check some things off with us!

 This weekend, we walked the Highline and it was amazing! It's this really cool old railroad line that they have re-vamped into a linear park. It's a mile long and you can walk along it and see cool street art, plants and flowers they have planted and NYC from above. It has some great views! We then made our way to Chelsea Market, which is a must if you are visiting New York. There are tons of restaurants, shops and art. It reminded me a lot of Pike Place Market in Seattle. Lastly, we went to Macy's to buy Spence a nice warm (but trendy) coat and we succeeded! Macy's is the one of the world's largest department stores and is 10 levels and covers a block and half!

Charley was a champ. It was pretty cold, but we bundled her up and she did great!

On my run the other day, I had to snap a few pics of Brooklyn. I love the brownstone apartments that line the streets and the beautiful fall colors that are out!

 

 I am thankful for bath time when I get to see this cute little nugget! I love her cottage cheese on her bum and her smooth skin! Bath time is just about my favorite time of the day! It's second to when Spencer is done with work and comes out of our bedroom (his home office)!:) When we were in Utah, I would always jump on him when he came through the door after work, so the other day he pretended like he was coming home from work and went outside our apartment and then opened the door and came inside so I could jump on him.. love him! :)

my little girl

 Gosh I love this girl! Tonight while I was feeding her, I thought about all the wonderful and amazing things this girl has done for Spencer and I. She really has brought a lot of happiness and smiles! She is growing up so fast and I wish (like a lot of people) I could stop time and just have her be this age forever. She is at the perfect age! She is alert and calm. Content doing her own thing in her bumbo or on a blanket. She can reach for things and suck on her thumb for hours! She loves to smile and laugh. She knows when it's nap time and when it's bedtime and goes down without a fuss. She knows when I'm changing her to lift her legs up so I can put the diaper under her and then stretch her legs out to Velcro the sides. She knows when she is in her car-seat to just be still and enjoy the view. She loves her bath time. She loves her daddy's voice and her mommy's smile. I think just about my favorite thing is when I'm nursing her and she looks up at me and smiles the biggest smile! :) ah melts my heart every time! Love this little girl of mine!

 

I don't think I will ever get sick of this view at 4am.

 

 4 months old!!

soup's on!

Butternut Squash soup with Shrimp

I LOVE this soup! Spencer and I both have made this so many times and love it when butternut squash is in season to make it! We found this recipe from an Everyday Food subscription that we used to get but they discontinued it! sad day!
Ingredients:
2 TBLS butter
1 lb shrimp
1 medium yellow onion
2 1/2 cups butternut squash (medium sized one)
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 sour cream
salt
 In a pot melt 1 TBLS butter over medium. Add shrip and cook until opaque throught, 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover.
Increase heat to medium-high. Add 1 TBLS butter, onion and cook till onion is softened, 8 minutes.

 Add squash (and hot your hot husband cut it for you since squash are a beast to cut!

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, 20 minutes. Season with salt. Transfew half the mixture to a blender. Add sour cream and puree until smooth. Return to pot along with shrimp, stir to combine.

Divide among 4 bowls and ENJOY!

banana bread with strawberry chobani yougurt

So I found a banana bread recipe online a few years ago and from trial and error have changed a few things around to make it healthier and yummier! I am here to share that perfected recipe with you!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup applesauce (or butter)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup mashed banana

1/3 cup yogurt (any kind!)

2 tsp. vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine flour, soda, salt in a bowl. In another bowl put in applesauce (or melted butter) and sugar and mix. Add eggs- beat well- add banana, yogurt, vanilla)

 Mix with flour mixture and put in a loaf pan, greased. Bake for 1 hour (sometimes a little longer if you used applesauce) and enjoy!

runner's corner

    I need to start training for Boston... I don't know what it is, but I don't have much motivation for this marathon. It's probably because I just had a baby, I like eating nutella too much, I don't have a running buddy anymore, and I don't know the cool places to run yet. This marathon has been really hard to get in the mood for. I know it will come, but I'm feeling slow and out of shape. I remember my first run after I had Charley was super hard for me.. I think I walked more than I ran and my run was slower than my walk. I was shocked at how slow I was! I thought for sure I would jump back into running without skipping a beat.. but I had to keep telling myself that my body just went through a lot, give it some time and it will come back. I feel like this is just starting to happen. I can keep up with the fast girls. I can run the whole time. I don't have to walk up the hills. I can wear my Garmin again telling me my pace without feeling disappointed. It's slowly coming back! (yay!)
   I usually follow one of Hal Higdon's (http://www.halhigdon.com/) marathon training guides VERY loosely. I don't like to be super strict and hard on myself if I don't get the exact run in that he suggests, but it's nice to have a plan and a goal.

So here is to yet another marathon. Number 6! wish me (and Charley.. my favorite running buddy) luck!

our week

 This week went by super fast! I am still wondering where Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday went.. maybe even Monday and Friday. I swear it was just Sunday yesterday... that's okay, because this week was fun anyway! I'm not sure what made it fun, but I feel like everyday is just a huge vacation for me. Something about renting a place.. no yard-work, no fixing things. Also something about a big city.. I can't just run to Hobby Lobby real quick or JoAnn Fabric (they are in New Jersey I already looked) so I am left with other (still fun) things to do like walking to the grocery store with Charley, shop at lulu lemon (promised Spence it would be my one and only time..maybe), finding new restaurants and still putting together our apartment. I had to order some fabric to make curtains for our room since there is more window than wall which I LOVE!
It might just be the season, but some days I just want to stay in the house and bake! I am finding some great recipes that I will post later of some things I'm going to make this week. Wish me luck.. I am slowly learning how to be a good baker.. slowly.

 

lulu lemon swag

an outing with Charley all bundled up

 

this looks a little weird, but we went to lovely Costco the other day and went crazy.. like $500 crazy. I thought it was insane since we don't even have 5 kids where you would expect one to drop that much money, but we stocked up on all our favorite Costco goodies. Like Chia seeds and Almond milk, whole wheat bread and frozen fruit. I can thank Costco for this breakfast. I made eggs and put 1 TBLS Chia seeds in my eggs. Yummy way to get protein, fiber, and omega-3.

 

 Saturday, we did our first exploring bucket list item. Brooklyn Heights Promenade. It was beautiful!! You can see the whole Manhattan skyline and the newly rebuilt World Trade Center. It was Charley's first time on the subway.. and as you can tell from the picture, she found her thumb!

Brooklyn Bridge

Skyline

 We stopped afterward and got some yummy ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.

Our Wedding Video

My very most amazing sister Bailey, who also created my new blog design made our wedding video for us! In her spare time, along with the million other things she needed to get done, she made our wedding video and gave us the finished product a few weeks ago. I love love love it! It's fun to go back to those days of being newly married and watch our video. Thanks B! You amaze me with your talent and creativity. Enjoy!


The Ellingson's from Bailey Stewart on Vimeo.

my brother, Elder Bradshaw

I love my brother so much! He is the youngest of 8 children and the ONLY boy in the family. He has had 7 sisters to deal with his whole life! I can't really imagine what it was like at times to have 7 menstruating girls in the house giving him their opinion, telling him what to do and what not to do. He was such a good sport about it and life in general and I really admire him and his upbeat personality. He has grown up to be one fine young man. He is serving a mission right now in Torreon, Mexico and I LOVE reading his letters each week! This last week, he sent a letter to his wonderful, amazing sisters and I thought it was super cute! You can still read his humor in his letters and I love that he hasn't lost that while on a mission. He is in a pretty tough area and so I am sure he is a breath of fresh air to his companions to have such a light-hearted, fun, hard working companion to be with! Here is his letter to his sisters..

 

"This is just for you sisters!!! Again I couldn't be more thankful to have all of you as my sisters! All of you have taught me different things that help me so much!! Even when they are confusing sometimes! ;) No but seriously thank you so much! I love your emails! Remember that I love you all so much. Thank you for always setting such a wonderful example for me!

I love you all to the moon and back and to Mexico and back! Jajajajaja (I love how this is actually hahahaha in Mexico) 

 And someone please forward this to DANI!!!
Mondays really help me out cause I am able to talk to you and know that you guys are doing awesome! I miss you guys like crazy sometimes but I know being here is great for me and you. I love being a different person in Mexico. The gringo in these parts, its fun, and I am starting to love it more and more. Its tough right now, and will be tough alot of the time but knowing that I have you guys just makes me stronger and want to do better! GO TEAM GO TEAM GO!!! ANIMO por diazzzz! Stay safe and stay classy! :)"

with a cute little girl he met while teaching

his caption "random goat selfie"