3 Cheese Garden Pizza

A delish take on pizza, courtesy of the Pampered Chef.  So yummy, and not too bad for you either!  The veggies on top crisp up just right, and the cheeses make it extra gooey and stringy.  Plus, it makes your house smell divine!  Recipe follows for those that are interested!  The recipe calls for mushrooms, but I leave those off because I hate mushrooms;o)

Ingredients:
1 package (10 ounces) refrigerated pizza crust
1 small onion, sliced into rings
1 medium zucchini, sliced
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll pizza crust into a 14-inch circle on pan. Bake crust 7 minutes. Remove from oven; place on cooling rack.

2. Slice onion, zucchini and tomatoes, and mushrooms.

3. Using Garlic Press, press garlic over crust; spread evenly. Sprinkle mozzarella and cheddar cheeses evenly over crust; top evenly with onion, zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes. Grate Parmesan cheese over vegetables. Sprinkle with seasoning mix. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown; remove from oven. Cut into wedges using Pizza Cutter.

Yield: 8 servings

A Little Taste of Fall

During one of Jason's double duties, I was super bored and decided to do some baking.  Being so impatient for fall to arrive, I figured why not make something that reminds me of fall?!  Sooo, I made jumbo pumpkin raisin muffins.  Hot out of the oven with butter, yummy!  It was food for my soul that day.

Sneak Peak

Our house has been put on our land, and they finished the underneath supports on Friday!  I will try to post update pictures as it comes along.

View from the cul-de-sac:

Some of my favorite features!

My walk in dressing room closet with TONS of storage:

My ginormous tub and make up counter:

Part of the kitchen with my awesome side by side fridge and freezer, I can't wait to fill those babies up!  And you can see my wood burning fireplace in the back..I'm super excited about cozy fires this winter!

Kitchen/Pantry from the front door:

Our bonus room with built in desk and storage.  A.K.A. my scrapbooking nook:

I will post more soon, but I figured I'd give you a peek at a few of the things I'm most excited about!  Not too much longer now!

My Poor Baby

My sweet Jason is just so tired these days.  This month was his first full class as a MCT Instructor.  Being the new guy is not a fun place to be in.  They are giving him all the crap jobs, and have been making him pull double duties where he is gone for 2 nights at a time, and alot of times, they don't allow him to go to sleep.  Alot of the things they are doing very closely resemble hazing, and I am so tired of it, and I know Jason is tired of it.  He keeps hearing that it gets better...it has to, right?  At least this class graduates tomorrow, and he won't pick up another one for 3 weeks.  We are hoping for a break and some time back home with our family very soon!

Here is my poor fella after pulling one of those 2-nighters.  As I was making him breakfast, he fell asleep sitting up at his computer.  You have to be pretty exhausted to fall asleep like that...

Hoping that this is not how the next 3 years are going to go...

I have to keep reminding myself that it is better than him being deployed again.

Lil' of this, Lil' of that...

Can you believe it's August!?!  I'm so excited!  Fall comes with the promise of several new photography gigs!  I've already got about 5 people interested in Autumn photoshoots.  Good for the vacation fund!

95 days 'til Tennessee and counting!  I am SOOOO ready for a vacation and cooler weather, as if I haven't already mentioned that!

It's looking like I will be hosting Christmas this year!  Jason will have a class over Christmas, which sticks us with staying here.  My family will probably be coming in the Thursday before and staying through the weekend.  I know it's an inconvenience for them, but I'm kind of excited since I've never hosted Christmas before.  PLUS, it will be in our NEW HOUSE!  Yep, we are "under contract" for a new manufactured home and 2 acres of land.  Our house is being built right now!  I already have the perfect spot picked out for the Christmas tree.  And I have brand new side by side fridge and freezer (the freezer is a separate unit and they are both the size of a normal side by side)  They are huge!  Plenty of space for all the food:)

We are busy pulling out all of our unused treasures to put together a yard sale.  We are trying to get rid of anything we don't use anymore to avoid moving any unncessary stuff!

I'm having a Pampered Chef catalog party, so if anyone wants/needs any kitchen supplies, you can order online and not have to worry with making it to a party!  The show will be open through the rest of August!

The neighbors have recently gotten some new dogs or either put their indoor dogs out.  They are yappy and annoying, and they drive my dog NUTS!  They do nothing but bark at each other through the cracks in the fence.  I do not like them.

I am so excited to decorate the new house...so many ideas swimming through my head!  I can't wait to get it all in there and post pictures, it's beautiful!

Plus, because Jason was deployed in '09, we still qualified for the first time homebuyer's credit.  Yay for extra moolah!

Alaina was with us all last week, it's always fun to have her here.  She is such a good teenager.  I'm proud of the girl she has become.  Such a big heart, and a desire to help animals.  She will do big things.

Then Daddy, Momma, and Grandma got here Friday night.  Momma, Grandma, and I went shopping at some favorite local spots on Saturday, and Daddy, Jason, and Alaina headed to the beach where Jason fell asleep and got sooooo sunburned.  He was in a lot of pain this week, but it is finally healing and peeling!  Plus we took everyone by the model of our house, and showed them the land.  On Sunday, we headed to Topsail and Surf City.  Two places we had never really explored.  Both really neat beach towns, and not nearly as crowded as other, larger beaches.  Plus I found some new photography spots!  It was a cloudy, cool day, and we really enjoyed our time together exploring and visiting the Wings store, eating at a "local" dig, and walking on the beach.

Ash, Matt, and Austin are trying to plan a trip down at the end of the month or the first of September.  This summer has been so busy for everyone that it's been hard to coordinate trips, but things are slowing down and getting back to normal, and we are excited to get them down here...SOON!  Austin has gotten to where he loves the beach.  He used to HATE the sand and scream until you picked him up, but now he really does enjoy being there.  Ashwee and Matt have their SIX year anniversary coming up the 14th..I'm so proud of them, and of the parents they have become to sweet Austin.  We love you guys, congratulations on 6 years!

At a new found antique store in a nearby town, I found the cutest retro salt/pepper shakers on Saturday.  And they have...what else?!...cherries on them!  So cute, will post a picture soon!

Well, I think that's enough of my rambling for one day.  Hope everyone is having a good week!