Ranch Pasta Salad

It may only be February, but I am dreaming of sunny days full of hot hot sunshine. Anyone else?

Winter hasn't been near as bad as past years, but I will take the heat over cold any day of the week. And because our summers fly by, I am making plans already to fill my days with lounging at the lake, relaxing in the back yard with a cold drink and lots and lots of play dates with kids screaming with laughter as they slide down the slip n slide.

One thing we do a couple times a year is have back yard bbq's with our family and friends. And I am always looking for the perfect BBQ food! Pasta salads are always a must and this BBQ Ranch Pasta Salad is definitely a favorite.

Originally I found a recipe for BBQ Ranch Pasta Salad over on Spicy Southern Kitchen, but after I couldn't find the same dressing I had to change things up a bit.



And because I had never had the original dressing, I wasn't missing out! This dressing was delicious!!



It really couldn't have been easier to make! Which are another favorite things of mine! Quick and easy pasta salads are awesome!!



This is all of the ingredients mixed together except for the pasta and corn chips.

• 16 oz pasta, cooked per package direction - I used elbow and sprial because that is what I had!


• 1 cup of Southwestern Ranch Dressing


• ⅓ cup sour cream


• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained


• 1 cup canned corn, drained


• ½ red bell pepper, diced


• ½ small red onion, finely diced


• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese


• 1 cup corn chips

1. Place cooked pasta in a large bowl.


2. Stir together dressing and sour cream and pour over pasta. Mix together


3. Add all remaining ingredients, except corn chips, and stir to combine.


4. Refrigerate until ready to serve and sprinkle corn chips on top just before serving.

I wish I had gotten a better picture of this when I originally made it! Because this picture doesn't really do it justice!  Maybe next time!

What is your go-to pasta salad?

Favorite Things {SIC Cup Edition}

This post has been compensated by IHelpMoms.com and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I love coming across awesome products. And these SIC cups from SIC - Seriously Ice Cold - are amazing. I have had my SIC cups for just a couple of weeks and I am obsessed. Zach asked if he could have one of them and I haven't let him yet because I can't decide which one I am willing to part with.



Anyone else out there like me with a cup obsession? If you do, try these SIC cups, you will not regret it and you'll immediately have a new favorite cup. One of my favorite things about them is how long they keep things warm or cold. The last few weeks of soccer have been pretty brutal with how cold it was during practice and games. I loved that I poured hot tea into them before I leave the house and long after I get home my tea is still hot!



Since I most always have a cup of ice water near me I love that my 30 oz tumbler will keep ice for 24 hours! Luckily I haven't had a reason to need ice in a cup for 24 hours yet, but I am thinking ahead to summer days at the lake with my ice cold cup of water while I am playing in the hot sun. (Yes, I know it is only November and I am dreaming of the hot sun... It is the only thing that will get me through the cold winter that is ahead of me! Guys, it is 18 degrees outside as I type this, so let a girl dream!)

These are the three that I have:



A 27 oz SIC Bottle, a 12 oz wine/coffee/cocktail cup and the 30 oz tumbler. Any guesses which is my favorite?

Check out my Instagram page where I will be sharing which cup is my favorite!



And how fun are these colors? Salmon, Seafoam blue and white. I love everything about them and I'm drooling over all the other fun colors!



Feel free to check them out the SIC cups in the Ihelpmoms Holiday Gift Guide as well ---> HERE



A few of my favorite things about the SIC cups:

• They stay super hot or super cold for ridiculous amount of hours! (24 hours ice cold is awesome!)


• There are a ton of fun colors like salmon, orange, lemon and sea foam blue.


• They fit in your cup holders - even the bigger cups!


• Lifetime warranty - Do I even need to say more?


• These cups don't sweat!

Something else that I thought was cool is that these cups are powder coated, not painted. Which makes them less likely to scratch or chip. And the surface is perfect for putting a decal on.... I'm already trying to decide what I want to put on it!



Right now you can get a 15% discount on your own SIC cups by using code: ihelpmoms

So now that you have the code, which cup do you want to get? Leave me a comment below! 

 

Dinosaur Birthday Party

My little guy isn't so little any more. Yesterday Tyler turned 7 years old. I know that he really is still "little" but such a big kid too!
He is loving first grade and I love to watch him grow. His reading and writing is so great and I love having him read stories to me. And he asked for notes cards and envelopes for his birthday so he can write notes. He is so my child.

For his birthday he asked for a Dinosaur birthday party and as soon as Summer's Mermaid Party was over I got to work on a few things.



I really wanted to keep food more simpler than I have before. We did food for Carivores: Chicken nuggets and pigs in a blanket. Herbivores: veggies and ranch. And Sweetivores: Dino footprint cookies.

We also had Dino eggs which were grapes. Dino bones that were pretzels and Dino teeth that were Bugles. We also had green Din-o-mite punch!



These plates I use are awesome and I use them for every party I have! I just get a can of spray paint and give them a fresh color for whatever our theme is! check out how I made them in this post from Summer's Tea Party.



We had several games that we played. The first was just "Pin the head on the skeleton" and I picked that up from Party City for just a couple of dol1ars. It came with 12 skeleton head stickers, a blindfold and the sheet to put up on that wall. The kids could see out of the bottom of the blindfold if you weren't paying attention. The we had a couple of non cheaters! (Ha!)



We also played another game where we tied a string to a balloon and tied the other end around the kids waist. Then once they were all ready we let them loose and they had to stomp the other kids balloons to pop them without getting their own popped. The last balloon standing wins. I think we only had three kids that cried..... The others seemed to enjoy it!



The last game we played was called Feed the dinosaur. Zachary drew this Dino for me and cut out the mouth then we just put a bucket behind it. We had a bag of plastic golf balls from a game we played over the summer that worked perfectly and the kids seemed to love it. They each took multiple turns!



Then it was time for presents and cupcakes. Tyler got tons of legos, which he loves so he was super excited and couldn't wait to get building!



And next was chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and I used candy corn to make spikes on the back of our Dino!



To make the leaves I just cut them out with my cricut. Such a time saver!



I also made shirts for my family. Getting a 15 year old boy to wear a shirt that says "brothersaurus" isn't easy, but he wanted to stay the night at his friend's so I told him only if he wore the shirt for the party. #noshameinmygame So here we are: mamasaurus, daddysaurus, brothersaurus, sistersaurus and Tylersaurus.



Tyler had such a fun party and I think all the kids had a fun time too! You can see the "binoculars" we made using toilet paper rolls, tape and string. Makes for a pretty inexpensive party and the kids enjoyed the time!

Summer's Mermaid Birthday Party

Last weekend my little girl turned FIVE years old!

We went back and forth a little on what type of party she wanted, but ultimately settled on a "Mermaid  Birthday Party".

Thankfully Pinterest is always my friend and guides me to the best of the best crafters with awesome ideas to create a great party.  Here are some shots from the day. And by "some" shots, I mean, I am sorry for an extremely picture heavy post.



Welcome Mermaid sign for the front door.



Summer helped me "design" her very own birthday shirt. She did a pretty good job.



One of my favorite things in our house has always been our chalkboard wall. The kids play on it all the time and it always gets used for birthdays and holidays.



Our party was mid day so we just did some finger sandwiches, and snacks.





I was going to make my own rock candy, but for real, after reading how to do it and that it can take a couple of weeks for the crystals to grow I decided to bag it and just buy them!



How fun are these marshmallow pops? They are super cute and the were really delicious!



The clam shells were also a big hit. It is just frosting in between two nilla wafers and a sugar bead for the "pearl"



Love my sweet birthday girl!





Everyone loves mermaids-- What is your mermaid name? Mine is Mara Aqua Rain



I got these hula hoops on clearance a while back so I grabbed them for "party gifts" for the girls!



Last minutes I decided I didn't want to make cupcakes myself. I was swamped with other things and was just running out of time. Walmart to the rescue and the colors were exactly what I wanted. I made these adorable little cake toppers to go with them.



A pinata was really the only "game" I planned and the kids all left with bags of candy!



Look at all these sweet girls (and one boy!)! I am so grateful for all of our amazing friends that gathered around my girl to celebrate!





After presents and some cake and lots of playing with friends it was time to wrap up our day of fun!



This little Mermaid was as happy as a clam! Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Redneck BBQ

A while back we were sitting around with friends, talking about the summer months ahead and somehow we got on the subject of a Redneck BBQ. Travis and I had talked about how fun something like that might be, so when we were talking with friends we decided we needed to do it!

I headed to Pinterest and did some google searching and found tons of fun ideas. I took ideas from several invitations and made one of our own to fit what we were looking for.  How fun is this invite??



We wanted to make a fun photo booth but was struggling on what exactly I wanted. I thought about making a "mugshot" back ground so people could each hold their own sign for why they went to jail. We also thought about using a piece of plywood and stringing up tin cans, etc. But ultimately just decided to use a backdrop that looks like wood and make some fun signs. Cardboard signs and sharpies make everything a little more redneck.



No redneck party would be complete without "Redneck Win Chimes" and a "Redneck Dream Catcher"



Games really keep a party going so I made "drinko" which is a fun drinking game. Who doesn't want to Take a Shot or Give a Shot? I also did a Ping Pong toss, an antler ring toss (not shown but we did attach actual antlers to the side of our house and threw rings at them) and a toilet paper toss (also not shown but we used a toilet seat that was attached to a metal bar and we tossed toilet paper rolls  into it.)



When we first decided to do a Redneck BBQ we started talking about what we were going to wear. I immediately knew I wanted to have a "pregnant belly", cans in my hair, a black eye and a fake cigarette. I also wanted to get a fake ankle monitor but they were $20 on amazon and I didn't want to spend that much on it!

We found Travis' wig right away and knew he was going to do cut off shorts, an armband tattoo and another tattoo with names crossed out, but the shirt was a late edition the week before the party. We just had a do it! Thanks Pinterest for that one!



We really weren't sure if our friends were going to dress up, or to what extent, but when they started showing up at our house it confirmed why these people are our friends!

These three ladies here with me are some of the best of the best. And this picture makes me laugh every time I see it.



Almost everyone dressed up! And it was 95 degrees that day so we were all on fire. That belly I was wearing was a heat magnet!! And my beer can rollers weren't staying in after a while so I finally had to just take them out!



How awesome does my husband look!?! I can't stop laughing over his look!



When my friend and her husband showed up we couldn't believe it. Travis and DJ had never met, but they dressed almost identical! We told no one what we were wearing so it was awesome that they were twinning. Right down to the same wig, cutoff shorts, arm band tattoo and a tattoo with names crossed off. One of the funniest parts was that on their name tattoo, DJ had the name "Daisy" crossed off and Travis had Daisy as his uncrossed off name!



It was such a fun day! Even though it was so darn hot we all had a great time!





Everyone voted on the King and Queen of trash. And Dalton and Faith won! Dalton won a "weener kleaner" and a back scratcher made with beer bottle tops. and Faith won dual back scratchers!



I think everyone had a pretty great time! We eat a ridiculous amount of food, ate twinkies, ding dongs and zingers for dessert, drank Coors light, margaritas and juice for the kids, of course! And visited and played antler ring toss late into the night.  It was a party for the books!