A Sneak Peek: Wednesday

Today was a beautiful day! It was almost 70 degrees! It was so nice to be able to go outside and not need a jacket. It was a bit windy, but it's a warm wind unlike the bitter wind that comes off the ocean on Whidbey.

Gauge stayed at the vet overnight, so he was picked up this morning. He was SO happy to be home. He was fixed, had his dew claws removed, plus the normal shots. Aside from the bandages on his legs, you wouldn't even know he had been through all of that. He's as hyper and active as ever!

Yep! That's painting tape keeping his bandages on...haha!

Let's see...I cleaned my room, worked with the dogs on some different commands like, sit & stay. They've got 'sit' down for the most part...but 'stay' has been a bit challenging!

I got a book from the library today...in the mail! When you request a book online you have the option to have it sent to your home. How neat is that? In came in this nifty bag that you send the book back in when you're done...free of charge. 

Now I'm off to watch Tangled and have some Peach Crisp. Mmmmm....

Behind

Last week was supposed to be your "Sneak Peek Week" into my life, but I forgot about it until Mon or Tues and decided to do it this week instead. Well, I'm not in any better shape this week...here it is already Tuesday and I haven't posted yet.  I'm going to go ahead and combine Sun-Tues and hopefully do better the rest of the week. Forgive me? =)

SUNDAY:

Went to church. (It was snowing up on the pass. I'm so ready for spring!) After that we spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home. Dad and Josh were sick, but are feeling better now...Praise the Lord!

MONDAY:

Ran some errands in town, and then since it was such a nice day we took the dogs out to get some exercise. You may have already read Maggie's blog about our adventures! Here are a couple more pictures and a video.

I made BBQ Ranch Shredded Chicken Burgers for dinner. Yum! As Maggie mentioned, we did a video chat with Alyssa for 2 hours last night! It's so nice to catch up with friends!

TUESDAY:

Today I had an interview! It was for two different companies that are hiring in the area. One is an office assistant position with a paving company, and the other is a personal assistant position with Lifeline Ambulance. The lady thought I was a good fit for both positions, so we'll see if the employers decide to interview me or not. The paving company is a part-time position and the ambulance company is full-time.  Both jobs come with benefits which is a huge plus! We'll see what happens!

I watched Braxton this afternoon, and now I'm just hanging out. =)

Brothers

For the first few days, Charlie & Gauge were very nervous about the stairs. Here's a picture of us trying to trick them into coming down. :) Unfortunately it didn't work.

However, on Monday they finally decided to try them out. It was hilarious watching them go down. They were slow and very careful about it...it looked so awkward. Now they just run up and down. They often run down the first flight and stop waiting for you to come down and trip over them. :) Speaking of tripping, it seems that they're always at your feet. They like to follow you wherever you go and are constantly moving back and forth. At times I've had to hold onto the wall just to stay up!

We've been spraying them with a water/vinegar solution to teach them that certain things are not ok...such as jumping on the french doors that lead to the deck. We'll put them out on the deck and they'll jump up on the doors only to be greeted by a spray.  Charlie does not like being sprayed...Gauge could care less. :) On Thursday, one of them was jumping up and I was trying to quickly get to the door, open it and spray the culprit. In my haste I whacked my forehead with the door! It hurt really bad and I had a goose egg for a bit! LOL Thankfully even though it felt bruised, it only left a minor red mark. 

We take them out to the bathroom separately and the other is almost always waiting at the door for their brother to come back. It's so cute!

If one has a toy, the other wants it. They're usually chewing on or fighting over the same toy. They even try to get the treat out of the others mouth when being rewarded for something. It's hilarious!

Charlie snores (I'm not sure if Gauge does or not) and has had the hiccups just about once a day!

They're so much fun! They're definitely a handful and quite frustrating at times, but I love them despite how many times they've gone to the bathroom in the house!

...All The Time!!

Monday I went to work and received quite the surprise...they let me go...fired me...whichever way you prefer it. "Let go" doesn't seem quite as harsh, but it's the same thing.  Honestly, it's kind of embarressing...but I know that I gave my best so I have no regrets about it. It was just one of those situations where they didn't feel I was the 'perfect fit'. Oh well, the Lord obviously has something else in store for me. As much as I loved it, I'm relieved to have the door shut. There were some less than ideal things that I'll no longer have to deal with which is a blessing. So, for now I've taken over babysitting Braxton once again :)until the Lord opens the next door for me.

The title of the post I wrote when I got the job was God Is Good. It only felt appropriate to title this post All The Time! God Is Good...All The Time!!!

Puppies!!!

We got 2 puppies today! They are 4 month old, male, chocolate labs and OH.SO.CUTE! One is a family dog...Charlie (red collar) & the other is Josh's dog which he plans on training for hunting...Gauge (black collar). They are so much fun to watch and play with. There are certain things they are definitely not used to right now, such as collars & leashes. When you are trying to get them to go outside or even pulling on their collar to bring them downstairs they turn into bucking broncos...it's hilarious! Here are a couple pictures for now...I'm sure you'll be seeing lots more and some videos too!

Me & Charlie

<3 Brothers <3

Rachel's Banana Bread

This is by far the best banana bread I've ever had! We often refer to it as "Rachel's Banana Bread" since we got the recipe from our friend Rachel D. I made some today so I thought I'd share it with you! 

BLEND:

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 c butter, softened

1 1/2 c mashed bananas (ok, you may think this is weird, but when bananas are starting to go bad at our house we stick them in the freezer...when we want to make bread we pull them out and either let them thaw or defrost them in the microwave. they're perfect for banana bread and we usually always have some on hand!)

ADD:

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

ADD: 

1/2 c sour cream

chocolate chips are really yummy addition too!

Divide between 2 greased pans. Bake at 325 (glass dish) or 350 (metal dish) for 45-60 minutes. Enjoy!!

Going Green!

No, it's not quite what you think! As you all know...tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day (or as we refer to him at BBC...Baptist Patrick's Day!) Since Thursday can be kind of crazy with work/church schedules, we decided to "celebrate" a day early...and when I say "celebrate" I'm only referring to have green food. We've never done this before, but we thought it would be fun. I'm thinking it needs to become a tradition. =) 

We talked about doing green pancakes for breakfast but decided to go with Lucky Charms!

Lunch...green egg salad sandwiches, granny smith apples, green apple dip & green Kool-Aid!

Dinner and Dessert were very green as well...but you'll have to go to Maggie's blog to see what we had!

Happy Birthday Braxton!

Today is Braxton's 1st Birthday!! 

On Saturday was his party and I had the privilege of making his cake! It was challenging because the fondant wasn't cooperating with me, but it was worth it! A LOT of prayer went into this cake!!! :)

Pedicures

When I left for work today, Maggie was giving herself a pedicure and telling Lilly & Olivia that she would give them one too. What about me?! =) When I got home I jokingly asked Maggie if she was going to give me one, and Lilly offered to do it so I let her! Nice for me...fun for her!

Thanks, Lilly! You did a great job!!

A Letter From Max

Today we are grieving yet another loss...our dog, Max. I won't go into all of the details because Maggie did a great write-up, so I'll just send you over there for a minute...be sure to come back though. :)

At the end of Maggie's post she mentioned how my Grandpa often referred to Max as "his dog". Tis true! When we sent out a family Christmas letter this past year, my Grandpa wanted to know why there wasn't a picture of "his dog" in it...whoops! So I had this grand idea to do up a Christmas letter from Max to Grandpa. :) Unfortunately, it was never sent...so I'm going to post it here!  (click the pictures to enlarge)

I'm really going to miss him...

A Sneak Peek: Idaho

Due to the circumstances of the week, I didn't feel up to blogging everyday...so I'll do my best to recap the rest of the week for you.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for the kind birthday wishes and especially the prayers for our family during this time. We could definitely feel the prayers! 

Wednesday we woke up to snow (go figure) and were on the road by 7:20. The drive was long...11 hours. We ended up with two rooms that night, so the guys were in one room and we had a sleep over with the girl cousins in our room...so much fun!

Thursday people did their own thing. We had more family roll in, some things at grandpa's needed to be taken care of, some of us went shopping, etc. It was a pretty laid back day.

Friday started bright and early. We all met in the conference room that the hotel let us use...this was a huge blessing since there were 33 of us! After we ate breakfast we all got in one big circle, joined hands, prayed over the day and shared things about grandpa...it was a really special time. After finishing up there the 7 siblings went to grandpa's apartment and then the rest of us followed. We were able to look around and see everything the way he left it before we started packing things up. It was SO hard to take in. Everyone was able to take something(s) to remember him. I was able to get one of his dishes that I plan on putting in my 'hope chest' and his road atlas too. When he found out we were moving he would always ask us about it and look it up in his atlas. He even has the cities circled in it...so it's pretty special. After that we went to the viewing. I had no intentions of seeing him, but once I got there I decided to do it.  It was the first time I've ever done that...I've always been set against it.   It was the strangest thing though, because it was him but it wasn't. Does that make sense? He had this peaceful look on his face, yet you knew he wasn't there.  We all just sat around the room and started singing hymns, it was an amazing time. It was like our own little pre-memorial service. I cried so much that day...grieving for us, yet rejoicing for him!

Saturday was the memorial service. Besides a couple of things, it was pretty much run by the grandkids which was really neat. It was a great time to be together to celebrate his life and share with others the hope that he had in Christ. We had a reception time back at the hotel where my aunt Dora (the oldest sibling) was presented with the American flag honoring grandpa for his service in the military. Also, we were able to watch a video of my grandpa talking about different things that Jason (my cousin) took a couple years ago. That was SO neat!

Everyone left on Sunday except for us. We decided to stay one more night for which I am thankful. It gave us an opportunity to go to church on Sunday rather than travelling the day away, and we got to go see Shoshone Falls!

So much happened over the course of the week, it seems like a whirlwind.  I feel like I've barely even touched the surface. We had such a wonderful time remembering/celebrating grandpa's life and spending time with family. It's been a long time since that many of us were all together...and that's not even ALL of us! :)

A Sneak Peek: Tuesday

Today is my 24th birthday! It didn't quite turn out the way I expected, but it was still a good day.  Let me explain...

I woke up to the normal "Happy Birthday" serenade from my family, phone calls & text messages.  (I was showered with birthday wishes all day long and I thank each and every one of you for them. You truly made me feel special today!)  I was served breakfast in bed...Oatmeal Bake...yum! The plan was to go to work at 1, but that changed. The phone rang and we received some most unexpected news. My grandpa (my mom's dad) went home to be with the Lord this morning. :( I'm happy for him, but sad for us. It still doesn't even seem real. We're heading out tomorrow morning for Idaho and won't be back until Sunday or Monday. I would really appreciate your prayers for all of the family during this time.

Brother Majors came over this morning and was a huge blessing. He stayed all day long, made my birthday dinner and cake! Later Selena, the girls, Tiffany & Braxton came over for dinner and cake.

Now I'm off to go pack for our trip. I just praise the Lord that my grandpa was saved, because that's the one thing that does bring comfort amongst the heartache. I miss him, but I know I'll be seeing him again someday!

A Sneak Peek: Monday

I supposed to go to work at 1 today, but got a call asking if I could come in earlier. No problem, means more hours, which means more money! The only thing was it meant my morning got cut short a couple hours. 

As of last week, Teresa and I are starting to work out together. She had been going to the Community Center, but after one visit there I was not comfortable going back.  So when the weather's not nice enough to take a walk, we'll be doing a video at my house.  I bought this new video by Leslie Sansone.  Have you heard of her before? She has videos for an indoor walking program.  I got the Fast & Firm! 4 Really Big Miles. The 1st mile is a 15 min warmup...Mile 2 is a 12 min mile...Mile 3 is a 10 min boosted walk mile...Mile 4 is a 15 min mile while using the firm band.  So far I really like it. You can do all 4 miles together, or pick which one(s) you want to do. Today, I only had about 10 minutes to workout but I wanted to do something, so I did Mile 3. It was great!

I worked today for 7 hours! It was a long day and quite frustrating at times. Let's just say I was glad to get home. :) Today I made pie crust, scone mix, apple pecan muffins, choc chip cookies & and washed dishes. Thankfully there were a couple of girls that came in to help out though, because there were ALOT of dishes.  Why? Saturday was the event that we catered for the Rocky Mountain Elks Foundation.  It went really well! There were 314 people and we were told by several people that it was the best food they had had at the event. Get this! Last year their caterer didn't show up and so they had to get food from KFC for 300+ people! Anyways, we washed dishes at the event, but needed to do it again because we ran out of soap. Whoops!  

That's about it for today. Happy Monday!

A Sneak Peek: Sunday

Today was spent the same way we spend every Sunday...in the Lord's house! Selena and I were with the kids for the Sunday School hour.  The message during the morning service was from Psalm 8...Brother Majors showed us just how small the earth is on the scale of things in the universe.  It amazes me how small the earth is, yet God chose to put life on it and invest SO much in us! 

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. (vs 3-5)

After lunch we had a cheesecake to celebrate my birthday (this Tues) and it was delicioso!

When we got home we all took a nap, and I'm telling you it was much needed! I was really tired. It's been a long week working Mon-Sat, but a good one! After I got up I decided to make Corndog Muffins. I think I'd use a different cornbread batter next time.  We like a sweet cornbread and I think that would be better.  

Maggie & I had a video chat with Alyssa which was really nice! Other than that, we're just relaxing and enjoying the evening! 

This and That

Last weekend we had the youth from BBC come over for their 'Winter Retreat'.  It was a great time! So much fun to see everyone again and spend time with them!!  On Friday we went snow-tubing and had so much fun! After climbing up the hill multiple times, I was pretty sore that night. :)  Probably the best part was when we put 4 tubes in a square and had 7-8 people go down at once...it was so.much.fun! *Be sure to check out Maggie's blog for pictures!*

As we were saying goodbye to our friends from OH, more visitors started showing up for our very first ladies meeting!  The ladies of the church, plus one more, got together for lunch and fellowship, while the menfolk watched the kids. =)  It was really nice!

I'm writing this post from MY laptop!!  A guy at my dad's work fixed it for me for only $30!!! Yay!

Work is going really well! It's very busy this week though. I'm working Mon-Sat since we have the big event this weekend. I started making tortes last week and have been everyday I've worked since then. I'm kinda getting bored with it. All I know is people better appreciate them. ;-) jk.

Last, but not least, I've put a poll on the side. Last month I gave you a closer look at my life for a week.  Did you like it? Should I make it a monthly thing? If I get enough positive responses, I'll go ahead and do it starting this Sunday even though the week will bring us into another month. From then on, I'll do it the last full week of every month.  What do ya think? Yay or nay?! 

Tired Feet

Going into this job I knew I was going to need some good shoes since I'd be on my feet the whole time.  I searched the internet hoping to find the perfect shoe. I wanted one that would give me the support and comfort I needed, plus look nice with skirts...I didn't want to wear just an average tennis shoe. :) I came across these and liked them right away!  They cost a pretty penny, but it's worth it if it means my feet will be comfortable. 

I'm always kinda leary about ordering shoes online, but they came today and fit perfectly! Yay! Now I just have to wait till next week for the real test...will my feet hurt after work...:)

Swedish Meatballs

2 slices fresh white bread
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons clarified butter, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
A pinch plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 pound ground chuck (I just used reg beef)
3/4 pound ground pork
2 large egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef broth
1/4 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Tear the bread into pieces and place in a small mixing bowl along with the milk. Set aside.

In a 12-inch straight sided saute pan over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and sweat until the onions are soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the bread and milk mixture, ground chuck, pork, egg yolks, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and onions. Beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes.

Using a scale, weigh meatballs into 1-ounce portions and place on a sheet pan. Using your hands, shape the meatballs into rounds.

Heat the remaining butter in the saute pan over medium-low heat, or in an electric skillet set to 250 degrees F. Add the meatballs and saute until golden brown on all sides, about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the meatballs to an ovenproof dish using a slotted spoon and place in the warmed oven.

Once all of the meatballs are cooked, decrease the heat to low and add the flour to the pan or skillet. Whisk until lightly browned, approximately 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add the beef stock and whisk until sauce begins to thicken. Add the cream and continue to cook until the gravy reaches the desired consistency. Remove the meatballs from the oven, cover with the gravy and serve.

*Recipe Source*

Valentines Dinner

Since we weren't able to be a part of the Annual Sweetheart Banquet at BBC, I thought it would be fun for us (and nice for our parents) to do one over here...on a much smaller scale. :)

I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures. I thought of it beforehand, but got busy and never got my camera out.

We went witht the same theme as Oak Harbor, which was Dinner Theatre.  Swedish meatballs, rice, salad & rolls were on the menu with Tiramisu Toffee Torte for dessert. It was delicious! Josh, Maggie & I manned the kitchen and we had Lilly & Olivia serve. :) It was so cute! They did really well too! We didn't have any mishaps with food spilling or anything which was a blessing considering we had our parents dining at a table in the living room!  Well, there was one plate casualty...Olivia was just about to take a plate of food out when Max's tail swiped the top of it...haha...good thing I saw it happen! After dinner was finished, we did the theatre portion of the evening. We all sang a song together, and Lilly played Mary Had A Little Lamb on the piano! It was alot of fun, and the easiest Sweetheart Banquet I've ever done. ;)

The Big Day

Today was my first day of work at the bakery! It was great!! It's kind of intimidating though learning all these new things and figuring out how they do things. I'm just praying I catch on quickly and meet/exceed their expectations. All I can do is my best, right?!

Today I...

~ washed dishes ("the best way to get to know a new kitchen")

~ swept

~ ate a banana choc chip scone...they want me to try everything so I'm able to recommend things to customers...it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it ;)

~ helped make a scone mix

~ helped make cookie dough

~ watched Joelle (boss) make a cake with a senior that came in to work on his sr project (he's been coming in a few days a week to learn different things)

~ helped shape bread loaves (that was probably the most challenging part of the day...trying to learn how to shape the different kinds of loaves...practice makes perfect)

I think that was about it. I did learn a bit more about the end of the month catering event though! Looks like I'll be in charge of making enough chocolate tortes for 300 people! After doing 15 or so of those I should know how to do it pretty well. :)  They're even going to have me back in the kitchen with them at the event helping plate the tortes with the fancy berry sauce design on the plates! Yesssss!!! It's going to be so much fun!!

Twenty-two...

years ago I lost my status as an only child. *grin*

That's right, today is Josh's birthday! We did the traditional wake up birthday song, had lots of yummy food [I made him biscuits and chocolate gravy (yes, you read that right!) for brunch] and then sent him on a scavenger hunt to find his gifts. The very last clue led him to everyone armed with marshmallows for our first ever marshmallow fight! It was so much fun...we'll definitely be doing it again. [It was so funny to watch Max...almost immediately he started going around the room like a vacuum cleaner sucking up marshmallows. We ended up putting him outside before he went into shock from all the sugar. ;)]

It was a good day, in my opinion at least! The best part of it was that we got to spend his birthday with him! (For those who don't already know, Josh moved here this week!!) It's strange, but SO good to have him home!

Happy Birthday, Josh! Love ya!