A couple months ago, in the midst of being a new mom and desperate for more quick & easy meals to prepare for dinner, I did what every female does when she wants answers... I posted a Facebook status. :) I asked for ladies to send me their favorite crockpot recipes (because when I said easy I meant easy, and we all know there's nothing easier than throwing-it-all-in-a-pot-and-letting-it-simmer!) I received nearly 50 replies (yay, Facebook!) And ended up trying almost all of them (some of them were duplicates - don't worry, I didn't cook 50 new meals!) We loved a lot of them and eat a few regularly. But the ONE recipe that I make pretty much every week (and look forward to eating every week, because it's seriously THAT good) is a simple, delicious potato soup.

This isn't an original recipe - I found it via this blog. But there are a few things I figured out while preparing it (nearly a dozen times) that I thought I would pass on to all of you! It's sooo great. I make it every Wednesday night at our house, because Josh doesn't get home until around 9:00pm after work/church and it's the perfect meal for those nights when we don't want to go to bed with a whole lot of hard-to-digest food in our tummies.

What you need:

30oz. bag of frozen, shredded hash browns (I use Ore Ida)

(3) 14oz. cans of chicken broth

(1) can of cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese (NOT fat free, it won't melt!)

Prepare:

1) Combine everything (except the cream cheese) in a crockpot. Simmer on low for 6-8 hours. 2) About 1-2 hours before serving add room temperature cream cheese to pot. Stir in well. (This has required multiple attempts to get right - my best advice is to put the cream cheese in a bowl and laddle some soup out of the pot over it and stir together until it's nice and creamy) 3) Top with shredded cheese, bacon bits, green onions and we like to add a little bit of Tony Chachere's seasoning.

That's it! SO good!! Hope you all enjoy this easy and yummy meal!

Thanks to my friend Amber for the recommendation via Facebook. 

Our baby is four months old!

He's sitting up with the help of mommy or daddy's hand. :)

He wouldn't take a pacifier until THIS WEEK. He still prefers his fingers though. :)

He's not sleeping through the night yet... but he is sleeping in his own CRIB!

So thankful for four months with this little bundle of joy. He blesses me every day.

My husband is a great daddy.

We have been blessed to spend the past week together, just the three of us. It has been wonderful. Lots of relaxing, watching Smallville reruns and doing a lot of snuggling with our little boy. It's special to be able to wake up and enjoy each other's company, without feeling the need to "put on" a face or even change clothes. I think that is one of my favorite things about marriage. I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with their best friend in their PJ's all day? It's amazing.

But one of the best parts of being together this week, has been seeing my husband as a daddy. He's really good at it. Micah laughs almost immediately when he sees him. Josh has a "daddy voice" that is just perfect. And one of my favorite things to hear him say is, "Micah, I'm your daddy!" It is just adorable. He sounds so excited and proud! And he definitely should be.

I love that we have made this transition into parents with such a natural chemistry. I always wondered if things would change between us when we added a baby into our family - like maybe we wouldn't be able to joke around as much, or we would be so tired we wouldn't have time for meaningful conversation anymore. But that couldn't be further from the truth. Micah brings Josh and I closer together. We may butt heads at times over what to do - or miscommunicate on who is taking the car (with the carseat) in the mornings - but adding a child into our lives has brought more joy than we ever had before. That is the truth. We loved having three years together as a couple, but these are exciting days!

I am so ready to see where the Lord takes us this new year together as husband and wife and as parents. It is the first year where we have nothing HUGE on the horizon... life is an open book. How will God work through us? What will He do around us? My prayer is that I will be more intentional in doing what God has called me to do - daily. Whether that is being a wife to Josh, being a mom to Micah or ministering to others through music and relationships.

What are you looking forward to in 2013? And what do you want to see God do in your lives?