Hey!

Hey everybody!! My name is Brianna and this is my very first post for Shelf Reliance Mom. I am super excited to be joining Tiffany! I just thought for my first post that I would do a little write up about me and some odd but hopefully fun facts about me.

This is my little family. It's from 2 Christmases ago...as in 2011. We're a little behind. Pretty sad that this is the most recent family photo...

A lot has changed since this photo was taken. Jaxon had his first and second birthday. Jacob has a new job. We bought our first house (scary and exciting!). 6 months after this picture was taken I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. We're also expecting our second baby!

Part of the reason I'm excited to be joining Tiffany is because I am always looking for ways to be more self reliant, feed my family good food, and control my diabetes. I hope that I'll be able to share what I learn with you and that in turn we can help each other! So to conclude my first post I wanted to share 10 facts about myself with you.

1. I love making lists.
2. I use exclamation marks A LOT.
3. I don't have a favorite color. How can you pick just one?
4. I am addicted to Hulu and Netflix.
5. Once I get into a book I have to finish it and will spend every spare minute reading.
6. I sleep a lot. I'm talking at least 8 hours a night and usually a nap during the day, but hey I'm pregnant!
7. I practically live at Target.
8. I love having a clean and organized house, but it rarely is.
9. I pretty much live in my pajamas and only get dressed when I absolutely have to leave the house.
10. Diet Dr. Pepper is heaven sent.

Welcoming in my good friend Brianna

Meet Brianna

My beautiful friend, Brianna.

I apologize that I have not been up to snuff on my posts but with the help of my friend, Brianna, we should be rocking and rolling with a much smoother journey here on out. I am so excited for you to meet her and see the things she will be bringing to the table.  Is anyone interested in Diabetes friendly meals once a month... I thought so! She will be doing some introductory posts to help you get to know her more soon so stay tuned.

Life Changes
While some of the news is happy and some of it is sad, all of the "challenges" being thrown our way these past few months will make us stronger.  I won't bore you with all of the details, but here are the two most important life changes we are currently experiencing:

Courtesy of http://www.freeclipartnow.com

We found out that we will be having another baby in June of this year- Woohoo!  This little booger has kept me pretty sick this pregnancy but we are getting excited for the ultrasound in only 1 week!

Photos of our cuties taken by the very talented
Melissa Dean at Sweet Spot Photography

Some sad news is that my sister has hit a bumpy patch in the road and she and her kids have moved in with us.  We are happy to have them with us and are learning new ways every day how to get life's necessities for as cheap as possible. We unexpectedly potty trained little Laylah lou the first week she arrived and she is down to only wearing diapers at night (which she occasionally keeps dry- win!)

Me (on left) and my sweet sister

Recipes Coming
I am cooking from my food storage more than ever and if I can find my camera's battery charger, I will start getting some pictures and recipes up in no time.  Although she already looked fantastic before moving here, the lack of eating out and increase of eating back to the basics food storage allowed my sister to lose 7 lbs in 2 weeks.  I tell her its unfair that I'm pregnant and required to gain weight while I watch her get all skinny!  Anywho... cooking with more grains, veggies and fruit, less meat and processed food really works. Who knew?!

By the way, my hubby tells me not to tell people this because it makes it sound like I'm a horrible cook, so if your thoughts of hoping to score good recipes are now crushed because you might lose weight in the act of eating them, sorry!

For links to some of my new favorite websites or oldies but goodies I've discovered as I've commenced back upon my old couponing ways and more homemade based food calendar, stay tuned for more upcoming posts.

Thanks for stopping by!


Question of the Day:
What are your favorite comfort food recipes that you'd love to see turned into THRIVE-ing meals?