Girls Night Out

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Karmen and I headed to Seattle to see the Nutcracker and eat dinner at P.F. Changs one Saturday in December. It was a great girl's night out and a reminder that we need to do that more often.

MMM...lettuce wraps!

I had never seen the nutcracker before. It was a weird story and not easy to catch what was going on if you didn't know the story. Luckily I read the story at intermission and then understood a lot more of what was going on. Still, a very weird story!

Wine me, Dine me, Over the Rhine me

Last year I was pretty bummed when Over the Rhine came to Seattle on Jake's birthday. I hadn't really made friends yet and it just didn't feel right going without them. I had been looking randomly to see if they were making another trip but had never found anything. A couple weeks before our anniversary Jake sent me an email with tickets to see them at The Triple Door in Seattle. Best concert and concert venue ever...hands down!

A little taste of our evening!

Having a Ball

A few pics from the military ball we went to in November (found the camera cord so I'm catching up)

Thanks Lindsey for my cute hair!

Pumpkinlicious

Friday, November 19, 2010

Several weeks ago we made a trip to the pumpkin patch to pick our favorite jack-o-latern material. My over zealous husband, who was excited to spend his first holiday with the family since being back, told Manuel to pick not one, but two unnecessarily big pumpkins.
Turns out, we're not real big fans of carving pumpkins around here so we ended up with 5 pumpkins that weren't carved, including one that was big enough to become our new home. The thrifty side of me could not stand to see those pumpkins turn into pumpkin bowling material so, I spent an amazing amount of time slicing, steaming, and pureeing these pumpkins!

A slice of the monster pumpkin! (this is only a slice of a half of the pumpkin)

The mountain of chunks

My wonderful food processor

That is a lot of puree (one of many pans)

Now I know that the experts say that the bigger pumpkins have less taste, but honestly I didn't notice a difference. It wasn't stringy, it has the same texture, taste and color as pumpkin pie pumpkins. So, my labor might not have been in vain. We've already enjoyed some

That's a look of approval if I've ever seen one!

Pumpkin yogurt

and the all time fav...

Pumpkin Milkshakes!

I'm sure I'll have many more pumpkin recipes to try, as we might be enjoying this pumpkin for the next year. What's your favorite pumpkin recipe?

Thirty and one!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Happy Birthday to the best guy ever!

One and One

Makes 11!

Yep, as crazy as it seems, Karmen turned 11 last week. I was crazy enough to take her and four of her friends out to dinner at Red Robin. They did pretty well until one girl could no longer stay in her seat and kept ending up on the floor. That's when I decided we should head home!

Karmen, You are definitely growing up. You have a sweet smile that matches your caring heart for others. I have loved watching your passions grow over the last year. It's been fun to watch you try so hard at soccer and do such a good job. You have also tried harder at school than ever before.
Karmen, we pray that God will continue to heal and comfort you. We pray that you would continue to fall more and more in love with Him and that you may find all your needs in the only one that can provide them.
We love you so much and you are our favorite daughter! We hope this year is filled with joy, growth, and more positive changes. We love you. Happy Birthday!

Famiversary

Monday, September 27, 2010

Four years ago we began the crazy adventure of parenthood. It's hard to believe that it's been four years. It's been four years of ups and downs, highs and lows. We are truly happy to have Manuel and Karmen as our children and know that their journey is far from done.