MIA

You may have wondered where I have been (or not, this blog really isn't too interesting). I have been putting my nose many a books, studying like mad for my family nurse practitioner exam. After much prayer, study and help from family I have the good news that I passed. YAY. I only have to take it once as long as I keep up with continuing education. Now what's next? Cleaning out the pantry, blackberry picking, planning a one-year-old boys birthday party.


I wish I could capture the squeal that goes along with this face. It's his new thing.

I am embarrassed to say this is the only "professional" photo I have ever done for Jacob. I am cheap. My mom offered to pay for it. How could I resist?

Steamboat

We spent 10 days in Colorado visiting my parents. We fly standby and had a 6 hour layover in SLC. So, we took the free Temple Square shuttle and met my cousin there. I was in desperate need of a haircut and the girl has skills. I felt kind of silly wetting my hair in the visitor center bathroom when the sister missionaries greeted me with dry hair, then wet hair, but oh well.
Jake had fun crawling around temple square.
Finally we made it to Steamboat and let the games begin. Bike riding, tubing the Yampa river, watching the ski jumping, walking, hiking--
I love spending all day outdoors here.


My brother and sister in law drove over from Utah to spend the 4th with us. Their baby, Ellie, is 2 months younger than Jake and such a cutie! Thanks for coming you guys, it was super fun.
Lastly we drove through Rocky Mountain National Forest to Estes Park and stayed the night there. Lots of elk, deer, and other wildlife. Also reached 12,800 feet where we all had some level of altitude sickness (headaches, nausea, vomiting) which all resolved when we came back down.
Eli sat in on one of my dad's sales appointments and now plan's to move to here to begin his own sales career. I knew he would fall in love with Steamboat in the summertime. It is so fun here. I highly recommend it.

Non-potent Potables

Summertime makes me thirsty. The intensely hot sun beating down makes my mouth long for a refreshing beverage. A few things I love lately are Wild Sweet Orange Tazo Tea, Tazo Passion Herbal Tea (both chilled of course), Fruit Punch Crystal Light, the orange colored Slurpee at 7-11. The problem is there are these commercials for things like a Bailey's Freeze or Smirnoff Ice Twisted that look so refreshing as well. If I was someone who consumed spirits I would definitely be trying these products. Meanwhile, here I am looking for something new (and low calorie) to try to satisfy this parched palate. Any suggestions?

The Joy of Cooking

So I have found myself in somewhat of a cooking frenzy the past few weeks. I think I am overwhelmed with the thought of taking my certification exam the end of July and have the horrible habit of stress eating. Plus for me cooking is way more fun than studying and something to do when I need something to do. Therefore we have enjoyed several things I'd like to share.
-Strawberry Jam- We just ran out of last years (oddly enough dated 6/07) so I guess we were due to build our supply. If you have never made it is super easy and so good. In early fall I make blackberry jam too. Blackberries are weeds here in Washington and free for the picking.
-Lentil soup- Ina Garten is one of my idols. I want her home, her garden, and her cooking abilities by the time my kids are out of the house. This is one of her recipes that I halved, but was pretty darn good.
-Humitas- Eli had these on his mission often. I had a soup version in Argentina and remember it being awesome. They are like fresh corn tamales and SOOO good. Now is the time to make them while fresh corn is available.
-Tamales- I have always wanted to make tamales. I have been buying them at Trader Joe's. I love them, but have heard the process is so long and time consuming. I learned it is. I can see why they are only made on special occasions.
-Chicken Stock- Another one of Ina Garten's recipes. I used the chicken left over from the tamales to make stock. Man, I feel good about purchasing an entire chicken, I squeezed every penny out of that six dollar chicken.
Next, I want to make this with the strawberries I have left over from making jam.

Weekend Update

- First and most importantly, I had the follow up blood draw from my needle stick injury. My blood work came back nonreactive for Hep C or HIV. So far so good, I have another blood draw in 6 months.
-Lauren came for a few days last week. She watched Jake while Eli had finals and I worked. It is nice to have family available. Jacob loved the coconut creamcicle. Too bad she had to leave to go get a real job. - We went to the beach over the weekend. For those of you who have never been to the beach in Washington I must explain that it isn't the warm sand, warm water, sunshine filled sky that most often think of. It is a cold, windy, over cast, gray filled day, but fun none the less. The campfire on the beach and singing songs was the best part.
-In other news, Jacob can finally wear his " I make crawling look cool" Shirt because he is officially crawling, not rolling or scooting actual hands and knees crawling. And yes, I must agree he does make crawling look quite cool.
- And the final story, Jake French-kissed George. It was too graphic to post, but lets just say Jacob is one handsy kid.

How embarassing...

Legs of an obese woman or a 10-month-old boy?Those would be my son's chubby legs. Poor kid.

Sneezing or smelling stinky feet?
Apparently Jake has a thing for smelling feet. I another photo he tried tasting stinky feet.

And my favorite, (and Jacob's) going for a stroll in Kylee's pink baby doll stroller.

10 months is a fun age. Crawling, climbing, and entertaining us daily.