Five Loves on Friday // Gift Goodness, Baby Robins, Delicious Meals, & Fun Food Finds!

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Happy FRIDAY, friends!  Who's excited for the weekend?!  I can hardly wait to welcome my hubby home today and enjoy a couple days of family fun, but first, let's talk about some lovely loves from this week!

One  //  My Husband's Thoughtfulness & Generosity

A few months back my sweet hubby posed a question that I wasn't sure how to answer.  He asked, "If you had __ (amount of money) to spend on anything you wanted what would you buy"  I wasn't sure.  He went on to suggest that it be something I wouldn't typically want to budget for.  I had a difficult time answering.  I'm such a bargain shopper that thinking of wanting something that I wouldn't budget for was a challenge.  Anytime I mentioned something that we needed (like new bedding) he said, "No, we'll buy that anyway."  He insisted that he really wanted to treat me to something that I wanted, but thought was more than I'd want to spend.  At first my bag-loving brain went to a pretty new purse.  I wasn't really in need of a new one though and hadn't had my eye on any one in particular.  Then I mentioned something I'd swooned over, but just felt it was a bit more than I wanted to spend for that particular item.  He said, "That's it!  That's what I want to buy you!"  It was way under what he'd offered to spend, but it wasn't so much about the price tag as it was the sweet gesture to get me something that I wanted, yet wouldn't splurge on for myself.

What was this item?  The Keepsake Kitchen Diary from Lily & Val!  A place to store and preserve family favorites for years (and hopefully generations) to come!

(We actually ordered it months ago, but its popularity had it on back order for quite some time.  Receiving it after much anticipation made it all the more exciting to open!)

Photo courtesy Lily & Val

Lily & Val is known for their gorgeous illustrations, so naturally that loveliness is incorporated in this beautiful book!  Each new section begins with a lovely themed page!

Photo courtesy Lily & Val

The recipe pages include space for the basics of recipe, notes, and on the page opposite those details is a sheet for memories of when the dish was first tried and occasions that follow when it was enjoyed.  What a special keepsake kitchen diary this will surely be!

Photo courtesy Lily & Val

Now that mine has arrived I can hardly wait to fill its pages with our own family favorites!  

Two  //  A Delicious Day with Family

Jason's sister invited us over on Saturday and prepared a super delicious meal of smothered baked chicken burritos!  Yum!  (Recipe linked below photo)

Smothered Baked Chicken Burritos | Carlsbad Cravings  {Image via recipe source}

We spent a beautiful afternoon together chowing, chatting, laughing, and enjoying each others company!  Hooray for fun with family!

Three  //  Baby Birdies

We have some fine feathered house guests right now!  I just love seeing baby birds and am so glad to have captured them being cared for by their mama.  The beauty of creation makes my heart sing!

Four  //  Chick-Fil-YAY!

Friday night Little One had a youth group event at church and on the drive to pick her up we noticed a brand new Chick-Fil-A that just popped up and opened without us even noticing!  We were very excited, yet knew that the days of being near it while it was open were limited as they're closed on Sundays and this week was the last Wednesday night of youth group for the girls until next school year.  So, we celebrated the finale of this youth group year on Wednesday with a scrumptious supper at Chick-Fil-A! YUM!

 

{IG stories from Wednesday night}

Five  //  Fun Food Finds!

If you follow along on instagram you also may have caught one of these in an IG story Wednesday night...

Y'all know I love trying limited edition Oreos!  Toss in one of my childhood faves, pop rocks, and you have the perfect combo to get this girl giddy!  

The girls and I laughed so hard as we tried these that night!  They seemed to continue popping even after we'd swallowed the cookies!  Oh the simple joys of childhood (and being a child-at-heart)!  Another thing I loved about these, I'd find it hard to overindulge with them.  Even just one cookie gave me the satisfaction of eating an Oreo, with the added fun of all that popping action.  I felt no need to continue on with a few more as I would a typical package of Oreo that may have me reaching for a couple more to dunk.  All the fun, much less calorie temptation! Win/win!

Secondly, you may remember me raving about Sargento's Balanced Breaks when they came out a while back.  I love having them on hand for a grab and go snack or light lunch.  Well, I saw a commercial this week that had me doing a happy dance!  It said something like "real cheese people sometimes need something sweet".  Yesss!

Sargento // Sweet Balanced Breaks

These new additions to their Balanced Break line were created with people like me in mind as they feature two of my favorite things, chocolate and cheese!  We hadn't noticed them in our area until last night!  Jason said, "You're going to need to try them all, right?"  He knows me so well!  He also checked to be sure that I had added all the different varieties to our cart.  He has my heart, friends!  What a man!  *Happy sigh*

Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today!  Wishing you a beautiful Mother's Day weekend!

Earlier this week at Chatting Over Chocolate ...

Direct Link:  Trip Report Tuesday: Cali Day 11 {Part 1} // Disneyland and Lunch at Carnation Cafe

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Direct Link:  Throwback Thursday // Oh, How Pinteresting! National Chocolate Chip Day Edition

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be sure to say, "Hello!" I'd love to come check out your Friday favorites too! ;)