Change and a Recipe

Sometime change is wonderful.  Sometimes it's not.  Sometimes it has to happen, but that doesn't make it easier.

Yesterday I saw my grandpa and he got to see his Great Granddaughter!  It's hard seeing people get older, but it was so fun seeing him hold my baby!

This morning I had coffee with my friend Erin.  She's taking on an adventure and moving to Iowa!  Even though we don't see each other often, it was a little bittersweet this morning, knowing I might not see her for awhile.  One time she borrowed my sweatshirt. 

Good luck with everything Erin, and keep me updated : )

And this weekend Brent's brother Scott is getting married!  It will be a great weekend!

So, knowing we'd be out of town for a few days, I had to use up some tomatoes because they wouldn't be good by the time we got back.  I cooked some noodles and tossed them with some olive oil, 1/2 cup pesto, chopped tomatoes, and fresh mozerella!  It was so good!

"joy will do that to you..."

Whew.  What a weekend!  A few highlights and random thoughts from the weekend.

• I got an old wooden bread box to refinish at a garage sale!  And a cd player/stereo.... that doesn't have a power cord.  Oops!
• Jenny and I went to a photography class.  We didn't learn anything new (because I learned it already- shout out to Miz Booshay!!) but it was so fun to be around people talking about photography and looking at lenses, flashes, and other accessories in the store it was held at
• Brent and I went on a date!  We went to a hibachi place where they made a volcano from and onion

and then we went for a walk down by the river.  And I took Brent's picture because that's all I do lately!   (this shirt was from the garage sale!  A little big, but I like the color!!)

• After our date we watched the last two episodes of Friday Nigh Lights.  The show was amazing and I was sad to see it end.  Texas Forever.    
• Sunday My mom, Brent, K and I went to watch a horse show in Preston!  My horse Callie was being shown and I wanted Kira to meet "her" horse!  The girl showing Callie did SUCH a great job and it was SO SO SO fun to see my horse friends. 

I hadn't seen Melissa in so long!  Melissa- you make me laugh!  I am so glad I got to see you and chat a bit! Here are a couple pictures of Melissa's girls, who were also my flower girls : )

 I like the above picture because it reminds me of me and my mom.  Not in looks, just that bond between a mom and daughter and horses.   And check this out!  Kira's first ride on Callie!!

• K better like horses since I've saved this one for her for so long! 
• And Callie... it was so fun to see my girl yesterday!  This horse is like a family member to me!  Look how good she and Rachel look!!

• They won several classes and got second in a few others.  Is it bad that I feel super happy when they do well??  
• When we got back from the show we just threw everything in the entry way, and I did two photo shoots yesterday evening.  I'll share some of those photos this week!  Photography is super fun, but it's really challenging... I expect to take only amazing photos so I get way too critical, I need to remember to chill out!
• This morning K and I went to visit Heidi and Cooper.  I blogged about them exactly two weeks ago when this little guy was born.  Still precious, I just can't get over how amazing this mama and baby are together.  I love it.

I've had a few headaches that haven't gone away for the last week or so.  Nothing major, just kind of there.  Last night, when our busy weekend was complete, Brent asked if I still had a headache.  I smiled when I realized I didn't and told him no.

He said, "Well, joy will do that to ya."

Blueberry Jam, Peaches, Corn, and Happiness

I love canning.  I've said that about 12 million times, but it's true.  I love every part of it, especially the "pops" some of the jars make when they seal.  I was going to go watch my horse at a horse show today, but the show was postponed because of the heat.  So, we canned.

beautiful blueberry jam...

delicious peaches...

and we also did freezer corn; no canning involved with the corn.  There is no way to photograph sweet corn already in a ziplock bag and make look good.  See?

but look!  Bonus corn!

and a happy baby completed a happy day!



JF and JT

and part 2.  Love it!

Nose Picker

My baby hasn't been feeling too well lately.  I took her to the doctor, it was nothing serious, and probably teething.  But, I've spent a little extra time rocking her and cuddling with her.  And when I look down at my precious baby sleeping in my arms, I can't help...


but to notice her boogers.  And I want to pick them out of her nose.  I tell myself I shouldn't; she's resting peacefully.  But, I always pick them out.  And then she wakes up, and looks at me like this:

Lesson of the day: leave boogers alone.

music for an air conditioned day

I've always thought that the songs I totally fell in love with were kind of weird.  I don't really have a type, per say.  I once stood in the 4th row back from the stage at a Kanye West concert before he was cool... which was even before he is whatever he is now.  : )  I listen to country music every May through August because it feels like horse shows and rodeos.  I listen to Christmas music September through January first.  I can sing words to songs on Christian radio, and have had a rap song or ten on my ipod to run to.  See, kind of weird.  Anyway, Kira and I went to a coffee shop today to get out a little, and to use their free Internet.  We have Internet, but it has a limit, so for big downloads (like the newest version of photo shop) we hit up Dunn Brothers.  You know how they have that constant music playing?  I heard a few songs that make me remember I loved them.  So, here are the links to a few youtube videos of songs I will always love.  Guess which one was playing at Dunn Brothers?

Killer Moths, an Anniversary, and Salad Tips

Moths doesn't look right.  What is the plural of moth?  Anyway, this morning I was sweeping and this big black moth flew up from behind the couch.  Gross.

Then yesterday when coming back from cub foods, a HUGE beige colored moth started flying around in the cab of my truck.  It was enormous.  I rolled down the window and was trying to shoo it out.  I may have swerved a bit in this process because a man passed me and flipped me the bird.  I'm sorry sir, but your fist and middle finger do not scare me, I have a moth the size of your head trying to eat me and my first born!  Hopefully my moth encounters are over for the rest of the weekend.

Moving on.  Today is the one year anniversary of the wedding of Rachel and Matt!  It was a warm day that ended in hail and bad storms, but it was a beautiful wedding and a wonderful day.  I was honored to be a bridesmaid- even K was "in" the wedding.... in my bellly   : )   Congrats again Matt and Rachel!

We hung out with friends both Friday and Sat. night of this weekend, and I cooked a little for both occasions.  Friday night we got together with some friends to celebrate Steve's birthday!  It was super fun to hang out, sit around a fire, and relax.  I made potato salad.  POTATO SALAD TIP:  when making the dressing to pour over the potatoes, celery, egss, whatever you put it, it's usually made up of mayo, mustard, ect.  ADD a 1/2 cup of buttermilk.  It makes a total difference and tastes delish!

Last night we had Scott and Kerri over.  Kerri is a fellow teacher, lover of the pioneer woman, and just a really fun girl.  For Scott's birthday a few weeks ago, she got him a nikon 3100, which is the first camera I had.  They came over for dinner and I showed Scott one or two tricks on shooting in manual.  I grabbed jalapenos, a green pepper, and 3 big tomatoes from my garden for a salad.  LETTUCE SALAD TIP:  combine all of your chopped veggies in the bowl you'll serve your salad in.  Add about 1/2 cup of dressing to the veggies, stir, and let them hang out.  The juices from the tomato will thin out the dressing and kind of "marinate" the veggies.  Stick the bowl in the fridge and then at the very last minute, add the lettuce/spinach/romaine, toss and serve!

Last night we also grilled up some cheese brats.  They are totally under-rated.  Go get some. 

14 on the 14th for Jenny's Birthday

My beautiful little sister turns 25 today.  Here are 14 facts/stories about Jenny.  I love you Jen, and am so glad you're my sister.

1.  When Jenny was younger she had two imaginary friends, Lottie and Lollie.  When she played restaurant she would call herself Monica P.
2.  When Jenny was in high school she broke her finger.  Playing soccer.
3.  Every year Jenny makes the thanksgiving turkey and always tries new things:  brining, injecting, creole flavor.  Every year we make fun of her techniques, but every year she blows us away at how good it turns out!
4.  Jenny used to sit on the armrest between the front two seats of our family's station wagon when riding in the car.  She said she got to sit there because she was the youngest, and called it the "perch"
5.  Jenny once caught two fish at the same time on one bass lure.
6. Jenny always tried to teach our collie Cookie tricks.  She had a promising career as a dog trainer, but chose Occupational Therapy instead. 
7.  Jenny once won her age division of the Slice of Life 5k in La Crescent.
8.  Jenny had some sinus problems as a kid and could pinch her nose together, breathe in, and it would stay like that.
9. Jenny took violin lessons for awhile. I don't actually remember this, but have seen pictures of her holding a violin.
10.   For Christmas a few years ago Jenny gave my brother a chicken-  he didn't get the chicken, it was donated to a village somewhere.  I think my dad might have gotten a goat.
11.  As a child Jenny used to jump from the side of the bathtub into the water. She called them swan dives.
12.  When at a restaurant, Jenny is the best orderer.  She gets things I would never think to order... and I'm usually jealous.
13.  Jenny was rear ended three times in a 2 week period, or something close to that.
14.  One time Jenny and I got tickets to a Miranda Lambert/ Blake Shelton concert.  It was random, but one of the best concerts, mostly because we were there together.


Jenny, you are a wonderful sister and a great aunt to K.  We love you so so so much and hope you have a wonderful birthday!!

We Can!

My mom, sister, and I can.  We can tomato sauce, jam, pickles, jalapenos, and last year, even eggs!  It's super fun, and not really hard if you have all of the equiment ready to go!
You need a few things to can successfully.  In this picture is a jar lifter, a wand to get the lids out of the hot water, and a funnel for getting the jam into the jars.  The West Ladies love their lid wands.  If you want some joy, google the West Ladies.  They also think wooden spoons are "a blessin'"  I agree.

My mom, sister and I like kitchen gadgets. Jenny likes new ones like you'd see on the food network.  My mom likes older ones that kind of look antique, especially rolling pins.  One time we saw old rolling pins displayed in a wine rack.  Not big wine drinkers, my mom and I bought the "rolling pin holder" and 5 antique rolling pins.  I'm not exactly sure when it was that we realized there probably was no thing as a rolling pin holder.

You'll need a mom to hold your baby and wear a sweet canning shirt.  You also need a big canning pot with a can lifter/rack thing.  Fill it about 1/2 full and heat that water up!

We made strawberry jam, so we crushed and measured out 8 cups of strawberries.  I like jam thicker, so I left some big chunks in there!

Can you see that sugar in the background?  You need to measure out 3 and 3/4 cups of sugar and put it in a bowl.  In a smaller bowl, combine one package fruit pectin and 1/4 cup of sugar  (that's 4 cups sugar for those of you good at fractions, and this was the reduced sugar pectin recipe!)
While doing all of this, put your clean empty jars in the hot water.

In another big pot on the stove, put in the 8 cups strawberries and the 1/4 cup sugar/pectin mixture and bring it to a rolling boil.  Take the jars out of the hot water.  In a separate bowl or sauce pan, warm up the lids (not the rings) but don't boil them.
When the strawberry mixture reaches a rolling boil, add the big bowl of sugar in, stir it, and bring it to a rolling boil again.  After it boils for one minute, turn off the heat, ladle into hot jars leaving 1/8 inch of space on top, put on a lid, and screw a ring on tightly. 

Return all jars to canning pot, lift the rack and lower it to the bottom of the pot, and boil for 10 minutes.  This is called processing.  After ten minutes, use the can lifter to take them out to cool!  You can tell if the jars are sealed by pushing in the middle of the lids after a few hours.  If they pop back up, they aren't sealed and you better put those in the fridge and use right away.

Beautiful!

Fresh Beef and Friends

Growing up, Tricia was one of my best friends.  One summer in particular, I spent almost all of my time on her family farm.  We rode on the fenders of tractors, practiced volleyball on her lawn, washed our hair in the huge bathtub, made homemade pizza for her hard working (and sometimes scary) older brothers, drank diet mountain dew, and listened to the latest Shania Twain CD over and over... and over.  It was amazing. 
In 2007 I got my first full time teaching job at a small catholic school.  That's when I got to know Theresa.  She is 3 years older than I am, so I knew who she was from high school and being friends with her younger brother, but we became good friends fast.  Theresa married Tricia's oldest brother, Tim, and now they live on that wonderful farm.  I went up the other night for a girls get together with the other women I taught with at St. Pete's.  We always have the BEST time when we get together.  We laugh so hard my face hurts and I'm worried I'll pee my pants.  One conversation from last night:
A few months ago Sherry called me and was very upset because her mother had just passed away and Sherry was having trouble with some of the issues that arise surrounding an event like that.  I hadn't heard how things had ended up, so last night I asked her, "how did things go with everything with your mom?"

Sherry looked at me, paused, and said, "Oh.  She died."

Probably inappropriate, but I laughed so hard I almost spit out my steak.

There are 6 of us that get together on a regular basis- Me, Theresa, two Rachels, Sherry, and Linda.  We could not be more different, but somehow we are perfect together.  So even though this blog is already 10 times longer than normal, here's a little about my amazing friend Theresa, and what she cooked for us last night.

If you have ever been lucky enough to eat steak that is like, DIRECTLY from the cow, you know what I mean when I say how delicious is it.  Theresa made steak, salad, pasta salad, and dessert, and it was amazing.  But more amazing than the food is my friend Theresa.  She is one of those women who is strong, but sweet, smart, but adorable, a farm wife with style, and one of those people who, even if you haven't seen them in a long time, you can chat with as though you never missed a moment.  She has two kids and is such a good mom.  I love the way her kids run barefoot and semi-naked around the farm.
And oh, that farm.  So many of the things are the exact same from when I was there growing up.  My favorite is the kitchen, and I love that the floors and the table are the same.  It brings back so many wonderful memories as we sit around and make new, also great memories. 

Here are a few other pictures from last night. 

Theresa has this sign on her wall.  I would have stolen it but I couldn't reach it.

                       Simple Joys really are some of the best things in life!



Welcome to the World, Cooper!

I've known my friend Heidi for a long time.  When I got my first horse, we boarded the horse at her family's farm.  We both competed at horse shows and Heidi was always very good (usually beat me) but she has always been and continues to be a really good friend. She has the most genuine smile and is one of the sweetest people I know.   Heidi and I talked awhile ago about me coming to the hospital to take pictures of her newborn baby when he arrived.  Though, at the time she didn't know if it would be a boy or girl.  Yesterday she texted me she was having contractions, so I charged up my camera battery and got ready! 

I always hated when people said to me, "enjoy every second, they grow up so fast."  I was determined not to say that to Heidi and her husband Pete.  But, when I got to the hospital and saw Heidi as a mom holding her tiny, tiny baby, Pete as a proud father, and Heidi's parents beaming with joy, I just wanted to say, "enjoy every second."  That's why I love taking pictures.  It freezes those moments in time you want to remember, even though new, also great memories are to come.  So here are a few pictures of Cooper... he's even more adorable and perfect in person, and I'm so happy for Heidi and Pete!

Happy Birthday, Cooper. 



A Better Person

When we first get to Door County, we always drive up to the tip of the peninsula.  We drive past all of our favorite things and remember all of our favorite memories.  We drive by Peninsula State Park where we have camped, biked, swam, kayaked, and gotten sunburned.  We drive past various restaurants, like Jo Joes, The Old Post Office, and Al Johnson's.  We drive past stores such as Tannenbaum, Wood Orchard, the Trillium Shop, and the Scandinavian store whose name I can't remember.  There is no real way to describe how I feel when we first drive through Door County.  It's like Christmas, and the first day of school, and how you'd feel when people yell "Surprise" if you had a surprise birthday party.  It's like that.   On this trip, it was no different.  My parents, sister, husband and baby all piled into my parents CRV and took the drive to the top and back.  There are people running, biking, sailing, and people are eating, drinking, slurping ice cream cones.  The mood is just .... happy.  I loudly exclaimed, "Door County makes me want to be a better person!!"  My family laughed, and my sister probably rolled her eyes. 

But it's true.  I've had some tough times in the past 2 or so years with body parts... specifically knees.  I tore my acl, had surgery, had trouble with the pin and my shin bone, got pregnant, had a pretty bad pregnancy (pre-eclampsia, seizures, migraines, not being able to breast feed, and was on crutches for 2 weeks for a knee injury that happened when I was 8 months pregnant), and a few weeks ago had more trouble with my knee.  It looks like surgery number 4 will happen this fall.  I don't mean to use these things as an excuse, but I've gained some weight.   And it's time to lose that weight.

Door County makes me want to spend more time outside and be more active.  So, I signed up for a 5 mile race at the end of Sept.  in La Crosse.  That might seem like a foolish idea being that I have two bad knees, but running is ok, things like jumping and landing, and tennis, or any activity with pivoting would be the problem.   So, if your read this blog, let me know what has worked for weight loss for you in the past!  Running tips would also be appreciated.  I know there's a lot more to losing weight than exercise, but that's just the part I'm letting you all in on for the moment.  : )  

And after all of that serious stuff, here are a few more pictures from my wonderful vacation.  I'll be writing a more in depth Door County post for those who would someday like to visit the greatest place on earth  : )