Cooking with Pinterest

I had been stuck in a cooking rut for a long time; we'd have spaghetti, tacos and some sort of sandwich every week.  I was tired of cooking it and I'm pretty sure my family was tired of eating it.  But lately, with Pinterest, I've been able to make fun and interesting and new recipes easily and healthily.

Here are a few of the recipes I have made in the last month or so for my family!  These have all been tried and approved by my family.  (These are not my original recipes, I have added a link to the original source below each picture. If I made any changes to the recipe, I noted those below each recipe.)

Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches
Verdict: These were delicious!  Tasted like a restaurant au jus!
Substitutions: I used dijon mustard instead of Creole mustard



Barbeque Turkey Burgers
Verdict: The flavor on these was really good. But the patties were too
wet and didn't stick together well.
Substitutions: I used 1.5 lbs ground turkey instead of 1 lb. Next time I make these I will only use
2 T BBQ sauce and will make sure the meat is really dry before mixing with other ingredients.

Ground Turkey Stroganoff
Verdict: Chris liked this more than me, but it was really good.
Substitutions: I only used 1 lb of ground turkey instead of 1.25 lbs.  I didn't have
red pepper, so I didn't add it, but I'm sure it would taste really good with this sauce.



Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Verdict: Yum, yum!
Substitutions: I only used 1/2 cup mayonnaise.

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad
Verdict: This was really good, full of flavor.
Substitutions: You could probably cut the dressing recipe in half
and still have enough, I thought it made way too much.

Mexican Slow Cooked Pork Carnitas
Verdict: Yummy, maybe a little too spicy for the kids.
Substitutions: I just used regular chili powder in place of the dry adoba seasoning.

Baked Spaghetti with Cream Cheese
Verdict: Spaghetti without the mess of 2 pots at the table.
Substitutions: I didn't add the green peppers, onions or french fried onions. I
would think it would taste too crunchy with that stuff added.

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Wraps
Verdict: These were yummy, the kids complained that they were too spicy.
Substitutions: I cut the butter in half and added less wing sauce at the end.

Crockpot Sante Fe Chicken
Verdict: These were so good in burritos topped with cilantro and avocado.
Substitutions: None!

This might have to become more of a regular post because I keep finding more recipes that I want to try.  I love Pinterest, I am officially addicted!

Brayden's 1st 14er

Chris and Brayden and my dad decided to go climb Mt. Bierstadt a few weekends ago, August 18th to be exact.  This was my dad's #? (he's climbed them all several times), Chris' 2nd and Brayden's 1st!!!   He now has climbed more than me, not that I'm much competition!  Brayden had a really good time and wants to do another one this summer if possible.  And now Logan wants to try it out too.  Who knows, with a family of hikers, I might just finally have to get on board?  Nah!

 

Chris and Brayden at the summit - way to go guys!

Thus far #2

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” 1 Samuel 7:12

I have been waiting for weeks to write this post, I'm so excited to share what's been God's been up to since our last "Thus far" update!

• We got assigned to a wonderful social worker for our homestudy.  Her and her husband have adopted 2 children from India, so she had a wealth of knowledge to share with us about what adoption really looks like.
• Our social worker apparently got assigned to 4 homestudies all at the same time (ours being one of them), so she was more than eager, just as we were, to get our all home study meetings finished up quickly.  We had 3 meetings with her in the span of 2 weeks, which, from what we heard, it usually takes at least a month to complete those meetings.
• We had some friends from church offer to help us fundraise and they ended up putting on a silent auction that raised more than $4500 towards our adoption costs!
• Remember how I was kind of stressed about that $17,000 figure that we had to raise before we could officially be on the wait list??  (I'm sure God was whispering to me the entire time "don't worry child, I've got this!"  I learned to relax and listen over time, it's a hard lesson. every single time I learn it.)  So, guess what!  God provided $17,200!!!  Isn't that just amazing?  Pretty much exactly what we needed.  He didn't really provide the way I thought He would, but now I know going forward that I should not doubt His provision, He's got this!
• God provided this sweet woman at our church who is a notary and who offered to notarize all our dossier documents, free of charge!
• We only had 1 correction to make on all our dossier paperwork, which apparently is very rare.
• Even though I was feeling rushed and stressed much of the last 3-4 months (sorry to those who have to live with me!), we finished our dossier way ahead of schedule, which just means that we are on the wait list sooner!
• Speaking of the wait list, as of 8/22/12, WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON THE WAIT LIST!!!  We are #138 in line for a little Ethiopian girl! 

So, some of you might be wondering how you can pray for us going forward?  (BTW - thank you to all of you who prayed for God to provide and for the process to go quickly and smoothly.)

• Pray that God would speed up the process if it is in His will.  We have been told the wait time for most people is right around 24 months, but obviously we would love to bring home our daughter sooner than 2014!  If it's in God's will that she be home sooner, we know it will happen!
• Pray for our family as we begin the long, unpredictable and uncontrollable waiting period.  Pray that we would not lose our focus and not get discouraged when it feels like no progress is being made.  Pray for our children that God would prepare their hearts to accept another sister into the family.
• Pray for God's favor to be on us as we now start the process of searching for and applying for grants.  As far as cost goes, we have another $15,000-$20,000 before all is said and done, with most of that being our plane tickets for 2 trips to Ethiopia. 

Happy Birthday Brayden!

Brayden turns 9 today! What a great boy he is growing up to be! 

Brayden is a natural born leader (which his brothers don't always enjoy about him) and he is definitely a logical/mathmatical thinker.  Brayden loves to socialize, he can find a friend in any group.  Brayden is very good at music, he plays piano and it comes fairly easily for him because he thinks in a logical, pattern type of way.

Brayden also likes:

• mountain climbing
• Lego's
• Ninjago
• bowling
• reading
• playing games
• basketball
• riding bikes

Happy birthday Brayden, enjoy your last year of single-digits.  Love you so much!!

1st day of school - 2012

Well it's back to school time again. This year I wasn't as sad about it as I have been in the past. I think even though we had a really good summer and we had some fun times together, the kids also fought more than usual and I was looking forward to getting back some normalcy in our schedule. The time apart has been good for the boys too - there is a lot less fighting in the afternoons now!

Brayden - 4th grade

Logan - 2nd grade

Preston - kindergarten

Oh I miss them, don't get me wrong....but they are all excited to be back at school and that makes me excited for them!  Here's to a great school year!

Lakeside

Chris was gone to see his brother a couple of weekends ago, so I decided to take the kids to Lakeside to use up our free library coupons from the summer reading program.  It was good for us to get out of the house and we ended up staying over 3 hours, so I think it's safe to say the kids had a good time!! 

I realized, though, that this is probably the last year Brayden and Logan will have any fun at all on the kiddie rides, I think next year we'll have to split up and take the older boys to the bigger rides.  Most of the rides were way too slow for them or their knees were practically up to their chin because the seat was so small.  But even then, I didn't hear one complaint about how babyish the rides were or anything, they had a really good time and if they felt that way, they definitely made the most of it!  Preston and Ashten on the other hand, were just the right ages and size, they loved it.  I was suprised, but Ashten did every single ride, even the roller coaster.  She had a blast!



Preston and Ashten didn't make it home before they crashed!

You want to know a cool little fact?  This is my 500th post!  Yahoo!

Dear baby of mine in Ethiopia,

Ooooh, I so wanted to post her name in that title. But we have decided not to share. Two years is a long time not to share though, so we'll see!

When I think of the months of waiting for you that we have ahead of us, it seems almost too much to bear.  How can I go through the next month or year or years with part of our family halfway across the world?  I have to admit, I didn't expect these strong of emotions this early on in the process.  I didn't really expect to feel a connection to you until we were referred and had your picture.  But I think about you all the time. I wonder if you are even born yet and if so, what you are doing today. I pray that you are safe and happy and enjoying life. I want to know you and bring you home now, I wish we didn't have to wait longer. I want so bad to kiss you and hold you and learn how to take care of your gorgeous skin and hair. 

A friend recently reminded me of how God's amazing plan of redemption is being shown through your adoption. At some point in your short life so far, you will experience pain and loss and feel alone. I'm sure you will feel scared and wonder who is going to take care of you. My heart breaks over you having to go through that. But, even in those times, God has an amazing plan of redemption for you. You will one day know love and family and security and happiness. You will one day know what it is like to have the unconditional love of a forever family. But there is no way for you to know this right now. You are too young and life has not taught you otherwise.  I know God will watch over you though, He loves you!

At this point in the process, we are probably only days away from being on the wait list and then they say it's about a 24 month wait time till we even get matched with you.  All I can do is lean on God and His strength to get us through this waiting period.  I will trust Him to keep you safe and bring you home to us.

I love you baby girl, I love you already,

Your Mama

4th of July

I lied, I'm going to do one more post about July because these pictures are really fun! We had to have some pictures of Chris and I alone and together and our whole family together to send in with our adoption paperwork. We were going over to my parents on 4th of July anyway, so we asked them to take them.

These last two pictures are just for fun!  Ashten was all into the red/white/blue theme.  She had her favorite dress on, we painted her nails red/white/blue and she even let me do her hair up!  Side note: doing girls hair is a new thing for me, I'm still learning, obviously!

My 2012 project

We moved into our house in 2003.  So it has been 9 years this year.  When we moved in we painted, refloored, remodeled, pretty much everything cosmetic.  And so it sat.  Till now.  Since I spend the majority of my time at home, I notice little things like this knick on the baseboard or that chip in the paint on the kitchen wall, or the stains on the kitchen cabinets that won't come out.  So I decided that this year I was going to do something about it.  I broke down all the painting I wanted to do into categories and/or rooms and then assigned each one a month.  Little things like the baseboards and trim need to be done just because they haven't been done in forever, but it was hard to push through on months like that. 

January - baseboards and trim

(no picture - just imagine dirty, dingy baseboards that are now sparkling clean and white!)

February - kitchen and dining room

The walls went from a dirty, dingy, boring light gray to a fun, vibrant, bright green!  I love the change.  It really makes the cabinets stand out more too.

new, green kitchen with old, white cabinets

March - hallway and living room, front door

The walls went from a dark, muted green to a light, creamish, taupe.  It's a little lighter than we thought it would be, but it turned out nice and it makes the room look bigger.  We also painted the front door a dark, brick red.  I love it!  I've always wanted a red front door and it looks so nice with our cream walls.

April - doors

Another boring month.  Just repainted all the doors a crisp, clean white to match the baseboards. Some doors, like the closet doors in the upstairs rooms and the outside doors in the kitchen were still the original, brown wood, so those look much better now that they are white! 

May - bathrooms

I had a hard time getting going this month.  I guess I finished the doors in April too soon and took too long off, so I was very unmotivated.  I'm glad I pushed through though.  The hall bathroom got painted the same color as the kitchen.  It's dark for a small bathroom, but a fun color!  Our bathroom stayed white, I just put a fresh coat on it!

June - vanities

This was an easy month....I painted the vanities in the two upstairs bathrooms.  The hallway bathroom's was already white-ish, I just repainted it white so it was clean and bright again.  In our bathroom, I painted the vanity a dark, navy blue.  Our bathroom is mostly white/cream with blue accents, so I thought something dark and colorful would make the room feel less boring.  It worked!  The color looks nice in there.

July - kitchen cabinets

This is the one that kind of started the whole "repainting the whole house" thing, but the one I had been dreading the most.  Our cabinets were dirty beyond cleaning, chipped and just gross!  I knew it would require a lot of work to clear them out, clean them, sand them and then prime and paint.    

Chris was so sweet to offer to help me.  He hates to paint, so I had purposely planned most of my painting for the months he was in school and I would do it during the day so that he wouldn't feel pressure to help me.  But, for the cabinets, having help was a definite plus.  It would have taken 3-4 times as long had he not helped.  He would roll and I would cut in on the places the roller couldn't get.  Each cabinet door and frame got 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of paint.

Progress - we were garage-less for almost 3 weeks while painting. :(

Progress -All the stuff that is normally in our cabinets was on the floor in our living
room or dining room - fun times!

I researched and found a paint that is highly recommended for cabinets.  Supposedly it is a water-based paint that acts like a oil-based paint, so it is easier to clean and is self-leveling, so there are no ridges to get chipped.  It came with a higher price tag, but I'm willing to pay it if will keep our cabinets looking nice longer.  We went with a bone white color this time.  Since our ceiling is white and our floors are white, the white cabinets just made it feel like too much white.  We really like the change, it adds some interest to our otherwise kind of boring cabinets.  It's hard to tell in this picture, but the cabinets are closer to the color of the stove than to the color of the ceiling or floor. 



All done!  (And a cute photo bomb by Ashten)

August-December - ALL DONE!!!!
I have no painting left, except for little touchups here and there.  I keep wondering what I am going to do when I don't have to paint or think about painting almost every time Ashten naps!  I am so glad we did it though.  Our house looks updated and clean.  It was definitely worth all the hard work, paint under my nails and sore backs.  The only downside to having fresh paint on the walls is that every scratch and chip stands out and it bugs me till I finally just break out the paint and fix it!

July in 1 post

July flew by!  I would wonder if we just skipped it, except for all the things we have to show for it!

• Chris and I celebrated 12 years of marriage!  Can't believe it's been that long, our marriage is almost a teenager!

• The boys completed 4 weeks of daily swim lessons and grew so much in their skills.  Going to the pool used to be super stressful since I felt like I was just looking around in the water and counting to 4 the whole time.  Now I feel pretty comfortable with 2 of them, so now swimming is fun again!!
• Chris and I took down and cleaned, sanded and painted all our kitchen cabinets.  This is a job I have been dreading all year, but having Chris' help made it much better, if for no other reason than someone to talk to while we painted!  They look so much better now!
• My grandma passed away July 15th.  This was my first real experience with loss since I have been an adult.  It has been sad, but I know she is in a much better place now and I will see her again someday.  It makes me appreciate the time I still have with my family here on earth and I want to take advantage and not put it off.  We traveled out to Grand Junction one weekend for the funeral and I got to see almost all my cousins and our kids got to play with almost all of their second cousins.  It was an impromptu family reunion - really fun! 
• On the way home from Grand Junction, we stopped in Glenwood Springs and enjoyed a day at the pool.  What a blast!  I wish it wasn't so far away and that it didn't cost so much or we'd be going there more often.
• We've been going to the zoo, the pool and hanging out a bunch as a family.  This is my favorite time of the year: no schedule, no expectations, just family time!

 

• Preston made a decision for Chris and got baptized!  Not a prouder moment as a parent, for sure!  Preston's friend Cody was baptized the same day, which was cool for Preston.

• We've been working hard on getting all the paperwork done for our dossier.  We've ordered documents, met with a notary and coordinated all the letters of recommendation and other documents like that that others have to do for us.  We are almost ready to send that in!

Phew!  Maybe August will be a little less hectic?  Hmmm....I'm thinking not!