Beach vacation...

Jonathan and I went on our first real vacation since our honeymoon. All other trips have been to see family, and that's not to say that those trips weren't fun or that we didn't enjoy them! We just needed to go on a vacation with just us. It was Emma's first trip to the beach and I think she liked it! We will better be able to tell next year when she isn't still napping two times a day!! :) We didn't go with the biggest expectations, since she had never been before. We are used to going on the beach and staying out there all day, but we knew this trip would be diffierent. It was...in a lot of ways! We took way more out to the beach than we usually do. It takes more stuff to take a baby, that's for sure! :) We also only got to stay on the beach for an hour and half at a time. We realized that next time we go to the beach, we need to take reinforcements! Babies are a handful! We also need a bigger blanket and a bigger tent. All in all it was a good trip and we were able to relax a little. We also scoped out places we think we'd like to stay next time.
 

My DH (dear husband) will be happy...

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

Me as coffee...

You Are an Iced Coffee

At your best, you are: hyper, modern, and athletic At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty You drink coffee when: you're out with friends Your caffeine addiction level: medium

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Been a while...I Know...

So it's been awhile since I've blogged. I know. And bear (or is it bare) with me. It will be a few more days before I can update. We've been to the beach and my parents are coming tomorrow. BUT...look forward to several posts and updates when I do get the time! :)

89 Degrees....

INSIDE our house (downstairs...who knows how hot it was upstairs) yesterday after the AC man left. We were without air in our house for 2 1/2 days. I've never been more thankful for air conditioning in my life!! Of course they were the hottest days of the year so far! Thank goodness we have friends that love us so much to ask us to stay with them. (Or maybe they just felt sorry for us ;) ...either way we are SOOOOOOO grateful!!) In our small group, we talked Wednesday about postmodernism and how America thrives on capitalism and technology. At this point in our history, our country would not survive without either of them. Here's an interesting quote from the book we are reading, "We have to live as luxuriously as possible in order to keep our productive enterprise from stalling." The saddest thing of all is that all the things we have and want are things we desperately think we NEED in order to survive. It made me begin to wonder if my "need" for air conditioning was truly a need. And I've thought about this a lot the last few days. I have to say, that honestly, for the sake of Emma that yes, it is a need. If it was 89 degrees downstairs yesterday, it was probably 95-97 degrees upstairs with no air circulation. That is not a safe temperature for a baby. This was at 3pm, if the air had not been fixed, it would have gotten hotter. If we had ceiling fans and box fans and every other kind of fan you can think of, we might have been able to manage a little better. But we didn't, so yes the AC was a need for us.

I'm interested in your thoughts about the quote from "Above all earthly pow'rs: Christ in a postmodern world".

More garden...

Here are some pictures of our garden taken last night. Notice the mutant squash...how does that happen???!! :)

 

Projects...

Emma gave me this picture frame for my birthday. I finally got the pictures put in it and got it hung. I think it turned out pretty good! I've been wanting something to put over the mantel and jut didn't know what. I think this frame is perfect! Way to go Emma!! I'm not sure that I like the the picture frame that's on the mantel with the big one. I may have to take that one down and put something else up there... 

CABBAGE!!

Here is the cabbage from our spring garden! This picture is a few weeks old. We now have squash! I picked the first one this morning! It feels like such an accomplishment when you finally get to pick the fruit of your labors! It's certainly not any skill that Jonathan or I have...it's only through God's grace that we are able to grow anything!!

I went to Concord Mills today with the girls and found trellis at the craft store (AC Moore) 50% off. I got 3 (all they had of one style) for $10 each! I was so excited!!

After the mall Kelly came over to get some of our rosemary. She took quite a bit, but our bush is so big that you can't tell any of it is gone! SOOOOOO...those of you that live in Charlotte that are reading this....come get some!!!!!!!!! We also used our first basil of the season from our garden last night. I made a zuchinni, corn and tomato salad that Kellyfirst made. You can find the recipe here. It was really good! Jonathan said it was in his top 10 things that I make! It's a great summer salad. I wonder how it would be with some baked chicken?????

Small Groupies...

This week was supposed to be a week off for small groups since a new study starts next week and we are all finished with the previous one. However, each group gets to choose what they want to do next and we got a few new members, so we decided to have another cookout, decide what we are going to study and watch a movie. I'm excited about the new folks and about the book we are going to read together Above All Earthly Powr's: Christ in a Postmodern World by David Wells.

 

Stawberries, strawberries and more strawberries...

We went to China Grove to pick strawberries yesterday with some friends. I started out with Emma in the Baby Bjorn, but I quickly realized that wasn't going to work. I was a little hesitant to use the stoller, because I didn't want to mess up the strawberry fields (o/~strawberry fields forever o/~ ...Beatles) . But there was a main "aisle" where the stroller didn't mess anything up and Emma and Mommy were much more comfortable!! We had such a great time and I want to go back next year so Emma can enjoy all the other things that are at the farm. They have hayrides and a petting zoo...next year! So...if you have any great strawberry recipes, send them my way. I have a gallon of strawberries that need to be used! :)

 

Stawberry Pickin'....

Here we are all finished. A good time was had by all!
 

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW ME?

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW ME?

Four jobs I have had in my life
1. Lifeguard
2. Grounds Crew at Eastern New Mexico University (for about 3 weeks)
3. Resident Assistant at ENMU
4. Assistant Dean of Students

Movies I would watch over and over.
1. Remember the Titans
2. Lord of the Rings
3. When Harry Met Sally
4. When a Man Loves a Woman

Four Places I have lived:
1. Sundown, TX
2. Portales, NM
3. Roswell, NM
4. Lubbock, TX

Four TV shows I love to watch
1. CSI: Las Vegas
2. Survivor
3. Seinfeld (reruns and have seasons 1-4 on DVD)
4. Just about anything on TLC (although we don’t have full cable right now, so… L)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. MSN Homepage
2. Charlottemommies.com
3. myspace.com
4. my favorite blogs

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Cancun, Mexico
2. England
3. Mountains of New Mexico for camping
4. Florida

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Anything Mexican
2. Crab legs with lots of butter
3. my mom’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes
4. my mom’s homemade banana pudding

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Any beach
2. Any pool
3. Boston
4. Anywhere in Europe

Three friends that I have tagged:
1. Lisa M.
2. Erin O.
3. Kelly K. (just copy and paste what you sent me and put it on your blog :) )

You've been tagged so here it goes. Copy on to a new blog post then delete my answers, replace with your own and publish to your blog.

One year ago today....

Jenn Unsell's blog inspired me to post some pictures from last year at this time. Exactly one year ago today, I was doing Orientation Counselor training. This picture is a picture of a scheduled mandatory fun break. :) Do I miss it? Not really! I don't miss the long hours or the really hard work. But I do miss the students and the great sense of accomplishment I always felt on the first day of SOAR. But even missing that is not enough to make me want to go back to work to leave this precious little girl. She's just as much hard work if not more than anything I've ever done. And just one smile or slobbery kiss makes it ALL worth it! I'm also including some pictures of me from one year ago. :) And one picture of Emma about a year ago! :)

Small group celebrations...

We LOVE our small group! Monday was Amanda's birthday, so we surprised her on Wednesday with a cake and other goodies. Albert brought his faorite drink to share - IBC Rootbeer and Nathan brought Krispy Kreme donuts. We didn't think to take a picture of the cake with the candles in it. Oh well! :)

We've been discussing Pastor Coty's sermons from Sunday at our small group. He just finished going through a sermon series on The Tragedy of Weak Desires. He spent five weeks on five different topics: money, sex, success, entertainment and family. I missed two of the sermons due to being in the nursery, but was very glad we were discussing them in our small group. This has been a good sermon series for me to hear. It was all about desiring other things more than God. I will admit that honestly this sermon series was very convicting. I tend to desire almost all of those things more than I desire God. I spend more time thinking about those things than I do spiritual things. My joy must first come from God. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalm 37:4) I KNOW this verse, but do I live it? No, not most of the time. Lord, I pray you will change my heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Give me the desire to follow hard after you. Teach me to love you above everything else, even my husband and my daughter. Show me the joy that only you can give. Father, I pray this in your son Jesus Christ's name. Amen. 

And she crawls...

Well, our little Emma is crawling. She doesn't crawl all over the place just yet, just far enough to reach whatever it is she wants at the moment. It's hard to believe she is big enough to crawl!! She is also almost sitting up on her own and she is trying to pull up. She's a little scaredy cat! But it won't be long. I will try to get some video this afternoon of her crawling and post it on her blog. She's also been waking up at 6:20am the past couple of mornings. This is TOO early for Mommy! I REALLY need to get her curtains up! I think it will help if it isn't so light in her room so early!

KFC Coleslaw...

Our neighbors also grew cabbage and theirs did MUCH better than ours. I think because their garden is where our new one is, but in their back yard. And it gets better sun. Anyway, they gave us a head of cabbage and Jonathan asked me to make coleslaw with it. He is pretty particular about coleslaw and only likes the KFC slaw and the Chick-fil-a slaw. I found the KFC slaw recipe online and made it. It turned out pretty good! Here is the recipe.




Authentic KFC Coleslaw: The Real Thing

4 1/2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar (key ingredient)
6 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used conola)
3/4 cup chopped onions
2 1/2 cups Miracle Whip (I used Helman's lite mayo)
1 cup sugar
2 carrots
2 heads green cabbage

Mix oil, onions and sugar. Add tarragon vinegar. Fold in mayo. Pour over grated carrots and cabbage. Fold in well. Refridgerate in and air-tight covered dish. Best if made the night before serving (I found this to be VERY true. It was SO much better the next day!)

Apparently the tarragon vinegar is the key. Also, you want to make sure the cabbage is chopped to the size of corn kernals and the carrots the same. This recipe make ALOT! You could easily cut it in half. Oh...and your food processor is your FRIEND in chopping the carrots and cabbage!! 

Secondary Garden...

This is where our garden has been the previous two years. We went ahead and planted a spring garden there this year. Our lettuce is almost gone and we aren't sure the cabbage is going to mature. We also just put in our basil and lemon balm. In the corner you can see our rosemary that we have had for three year. In the pot is our oregano. I know...it looks dead, and we thought it was, but it seems to be coming back!! We are excited!
 

Finished Garden...

Here is our garden all fininshed! We got dirt and plants last weekend. You can also see that Jonathan mulched with grass clippings this weekend. We really want some tall trellis for the back, but is is SO expensive. We planted 2 better boy tomatoes, 2 roma tomatoes, 1 stripey tomato, 2 long neck yellow squash, 2 acorn spuash, 2 green peppers, 1 jalapeno and 1 cilantro plant. YUMMY!