$3.65/gallon

Back in April the husband decided to purchase a Jeep, which is great, because they are so much fun! I knew this purchase was coming for about 7 months.  We had taken a trip to Cozumel in September 2010, we rented one when we were there and the obsession began the second we returned the keys. Well as with all new things I was hesitant to drive his new "toy" and after about 3 months those feelings wore off. It is amazing how YOUNG I feel in that thing:) So it became the "when Brian is at work and I have a lunch date with my gal pals" car, which one week was 3 times, tee-hee! So my time of reckoning came when my pal asked me to dinner and when she came to get me nonchalantly asked if we could take the Jeep. Sure, why not? At that moment my wonderful husband comes around the corner and opens the door for me *swoon* IT IS the little things, right? My girlfriend gave me the " you are so lucky googly eyes" and I had to admit that I felt lucky he was being so sweet in front of my friend. And with that he leaned over and said "this thing does not run on hopes and dreams, fill it up on the way home." Ahhh , there is the man I married:)

If i had it my way...her name would be Harper Harper.

Many years ago as a newlywed i was consumed with the idea of getting pregnant. So much so that, seven months before i even conceived, i purchased our future child's baby bedding from Pottery Barn on a whim. It was very gender specific, i just knew we would have a boy. Fast forward seven long months of fertility tests and treatments and TA-DA we got a positive test result. Now the waiting game began, 20 weeks and i would get the answer i already knew in my heart. Fast forward 20 weeks and our son was clearly visible on the screen, it was one of those defining moments of my life, i would have a son. So life continued, a wonderful pregnancy and easy labor and we began our life as a family of three. 
After all we had been through with medical science you can imagine my shock when two and half years later i awoke...Pregnant!!! Even more so i had no idea what the gender of this baby would be...my only clue (and not very reliable) was a pink glitter Hello Kitty lip gloss that i found one night as i was making a late night take out order from Olive Garden...could this be the sign i was looking for? Anyhow 20 weeks later we were surprised to find out our newest family member would be a girl!!! AND here is where this story truly begins for me BUT i had to give you some background, ya know?
Anyone remember the show on NBC in the 90s called ER? George (hubba hubba) Clooney made it famous. Anyways there was a nurse that had a small part on one of the seasons and her name was Harper. As a young girl i sat watching that show thinking to myself "one day when i grow up and get married and have a little girl, her name will be Harper" Done! just like that, i had predicted my future OR had i?
Now here comes the universe and drops the man i will marry in my lap and guess what his last name is? you guessed it,Harper!
Throughout the rest of the pregnancy our friends thought we were holding out with some fantastic name, cakes and cards all read "baby girl Harper" because no other name seemed as good as her last name.
So to conclude, this whole story was brought on by Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham for yes...stealing my name. Now certainly it will be everywhere, there will be a boom of little girls named Harper.
Maybe it is the universe or just luck, but our beautiful little Layla Harper still bears the name i wished for her...even if it is not her first name:)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I made this and all i gotta say is...this is our new favorite bread! Plus i am not a fan of "hiding" ingredients in food, our kids love zucchini and they helped me grate it to put in the bread. This really is a recipe that the kids can easily help with.



Chocolate Zucchini Bread:

1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini

1 cup  all-purpose flour

1/2 cup  unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup  granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Bake 350 degrees for one hour

I was saved by a man with two words, medium heat.

First blog ever! I am feeling enormous amounts of pressure seeing as I have, oh wait, ZERO followers! alright now that I have that out of the way I can begin.
In the words of Sophia Petrillo ( my favorite from the Golden Girls)
Picture it, Corpus Christi Texas, it was the year 2000 and I had been dating a young man for about 5 whole minutes when i decided it was time for me to cook him dinner. And what more says I am super serious about you than Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper. I seared the meat and added all the contents of the box and let it boil, it was only when this young man came to serve himself from the stove did it occur to me that the bottom four inches of the pot were completely scorched. It was then that this man did something so sincere, he reached for the serving spoon and scraped a layer off the top and served it on two plates. One for me and one for him. Polishing off his "meal" he looked at me and said, "there is nothing wrong with using medium heat." And the rest is history.
There it is, my first blog. I could get used to this. Here we go, off into the cyber universe.