{homemade pasta sauce}

I have always found homemade pasta sauce to be better than store bought 

It tastes so much fresher, its not as heavy, & you know exactly what is in it! 

I made pasta for dinner the other day & thought i would share our favorite sauce recipe with you! 

It's super simple & super yummy!

You will need:
1 tbsp olive oil
3 minced cloves of garlic
1 (12 oz) can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp allspice
just a pinch of fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp freshly chopped basil
1 tbsp freshly chopped oregano
{Recipe taken from the True foods cook book}

 Place oil & garlic in a large sauce pan, & cook for about 2 minutes
add your spices & basil & oregano

 Then add the can of chopped tomatoes & stir

Bring to a boil & lower to medium heat.
boil on medium for about 20 minutes
After 20 minutes, remove it from heat & let it cool for 20 minutes

Then place your cooled sauce into a blender or food precessor & blend until the sauce reaches your preferred consistency .  I like it to be a little chunky ;)

Serve your fresh sauce with freshly cooked pasta & enjoy!

We love this sauce recipe, even our 18 month old daughter loves it!
Its light & simple, perfect for summer :)

In other news, Baby #2 is growing so fast! I am now 16 1/2 weeks along! It has been a lot of fun watching, my belly slowly start to grow :) I missed having a baby bump!
I'm at that awkward stage in my pregnancy right now where, when you look at me, you cant tell if i'm just a little pudgy or if i'm pregnant, which makes it kind of awkward at the pool, which is where we have spent most of the summer so far. But that's ok! Im showing off my bump with pride :)
G is loving the pool this summer. She's learning to swim & is having such a blast!

happy wednesday everyone! 

Stay cool in this horrid heat! {Its 115 here in AZ!!!} 

{a family outing}

Its very rare that our little family gets a whole day to just have fun.

My husband works quite a bit & then when he is home we are working on projects or doing chores.

so when we get a day to just do fun things together,  we really really enjoy it :) 

Yesterday was one of those days.

We took G to Arizona Mills mall to check out the "Sea life Arizona" display.

It's like a mini aquarium.

It was super cute! Definitely geared around little kids.

Giuliana loved it! She had such a blast! 

She loved looking at all the fish, Dancing around to the crazy music in the Jelly fish section, & touching the star fish. If you're in AZ you should definitely check it out with your littles :) 

She wasn't a big fan of the stingrays. She would whine when one swam by. Little goof ;) 

After the aquarium, we went to one of our favorite snack spots, Paletas Betty. 

Its a little shop in Chandler that makes Fresh home made popsicles! 

They are delicious! 

Yummy! Fresh coconut popsicles :) 

Putting a sticker on the "sticker wall" 

We had such a wonderful day. 

I love my little family so much :) 

Our little outings will be so much more fun once baby # 2 gets here! 

I'm 14 weeks & 3 days right now. 

This pregnancy is flying by! 

G still doesn't quite understand that there is a baby in my tummy.. but hopefully soon she will understand. Maybe once i start showing more. 

Well happy Wednesday everyone :) 

Spend time with your families, do fun things! Don't take any moment for granted. 

Kiss & hug them whenever you can. That's my tip for the day ;) 

{peach season}

It's that time of year again

It's Peach season!

Every year we pick peaches, LOTS of peaches. 

I brought my good friend Kelly with me this year. Our daughters are crazy about eachother
Pretty sure you could call them BFFs :)

We had a blast as always!

The girls ran around picking peaches & stuffing their faces

Autumn & Giuliana 

When we left the orchard, both autumn & giuliana were COVERED from head to toe in peach juice & dirt. 

They had soooo much fun! 

{& uhm excuse our disgustingly dirty car seat.. gross}

I have been waiting all year to take the first bite of a perfect, delicious peach.

The wait was well worth it :) 

Happy Friday Everyone! 

{more sensory play}

I've mentioned in past posts that we like to do a lot of sensory play.

We use rice, Millet, sand, play doh, corn starch, water, Anything! 

Our little girl loves it & she learns so much from it.

Our newest sensory play activity involves puff balls & an empty wipe box

I bought a $3 pack of puff balls from Target. Some are big. Some a re small. Some are soft, Some are crunchy & hard. I chose this pack on purpose so Giuliana could feel the different textures.

I already had the empty wipe box, So i only spent $3 for this activity :) 

Giuliana picks up the different sized puffs & puts them in the box.

As she picks them up, i tell her what color it is, or i ask her if it is "Crunchy or soft" 

She answers by rubbing it on her face & saying "Soft" or "ow! kunchy!" aka Crunchy  

It's super funny to watch :) 

So during this activity, she is learning so many different things! 

She is learning textures, colors, & the amount of pressure to apply to get the different sized puffs through the hole in the wipe box. 

She loves this activity. She will literally sit & put puffs in the box & describing the puffs for a half hour at a time. Its the perfect activity when i need to get some house work done :) 

She is almost 17 months old right now, in case anyone is wondering what age to start this activity

If your child is younger, you can definitely do this activity, just make sure they don't put the puff balls in their mouth :) 

Well, happy thursday friends!

{big news for the Johnstons}

Ok

so now i can be honest with you guys

I've been a bad blogger for more reasons than i have admitted in past posts

Not only have our lives been crazy busy,

I've been sick.

Like nauseaous sick...all day..everyday.. & so exhausted!

Why you ask?

well

I AM PREGNANT! 

That's right! 

Baby Johnston #2 is on the way :)

I am 10 weeks along right now, & baby is Due November 25th

We are so very excited! 

Giuliana doesnt quite understand what is going on yet, but im hoping that as my belly grows, she will start to understand enough to be excited. When this baby is born, Giuliana will be 23 months old. 

Perfect spacing, in my opinion :) 

They will be the best of friends !

G & I at my appointment this morning

We had our first ultrasound this morning.

Inside the lower round black shadow, is our sweet little 10 week old baby.

Do you see him/her? 

We cannot wait to meet our sweet baby!

Also, i talked to my Dr. today about doing a VBAC  with baby #2

It is something i am excited about yet so very nervous. 

If you have been following our blog for a bit, you know that i had to have a c-section with our first.

I am really commited & looking forwad to bringing a baby into the world the natural way. 

It is just something that is very important to me, something i want to experience so badly.

If anyone reading this has had a successful vbac, feel free to leave your story as a comment! 

I would love to read your stories :) 

Happy monday everyone  :)