Recipes

Here are the recipes a few people requested!! ENJOY!

Poppyseed Chicken:
2 lb uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 can of 98% fat free Cream of Chicken Soup
1 c. fat free sour cream
2 c. crushed Reduced Fat Ritz Crackers
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 stick of light butter

Grease 9x13 casserole dish. Cook chicken, shred it and put it in the bottom of the pan. Mix cream of chicken soup and sour cream together until smooth. Pour over chicken. Melt the butter; add crushed crackers and poppyseed. Mix well and pour over soup mixture. Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Makes 8 servings.

Oven-"Fried" Chicken
1 c. fat free buttermilk
1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce, or to taste
4 (1/2lb) chicken breast halves
2/3 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. cornflake crumbs

Preheat oven 400. Line baking sheet with foil and spray
Combine buttermilk and pepper sauce in a large bowl; add the chicken and turn to coat. With a fork, combine the flour, paprika, garlic powder, and salt on a sheet of wax paper. Spread the cornflake crumbs on another piece of wax paper. Take 1 piece of chicken from buttermilk, dip both sides into the flour, shake off excess flour. Dip the same piece of chicken in the buttermilk again and then in the cornflake crumbs to coat. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining pieces of chicken.
Spray the chicken with nonstick spray and bake until golden and cooked through, about 40 minutes.

Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells
1 jar if light (fat free) spaghetti sauce
vegetable cooking spray
1 (10oz) package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 c lite ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 c. Parmesan Cheese
12 jumbo past shells cooked

Spoon half of the spaghetti sauce into a 11x7 baking dish coated with cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine spinach, ricotta cheese, 1/4 c. Parmesan Cheese, pepper and nutmeg, stir well.
Spoon Spinach mixture evenly into past shells. Arrange shells over sauce in baking dish. Spoon remaining half of spaghetti sauce over shells. Cover and bake @ 400 for 35 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 c Parmesan cheese.

My Truck is Officially A Texan.

So I am on my way to officially becoming a Texan. My truck is already there. I have registered it in the state of Texas and have a "TEXAS TRUCK" license plate. **by the way...this isn't my actual license plate. I found it online**
Only in Texas would trucks have their own special license plate. It wouldn't really seem right to have a license plate that says, "Oregon Truck" or "California Truck". But "TEXAS TRUCK" just sounds GREAT! I'm thankful for my truck! Here is the amazing story behind my truck...Back it up about 4 years ago (I think). I purchased my first car. A red Saturn. Sporty looking thing...His name was Rodney...Rod...Hot Rod. I had the car for 2 years...I think. Then it completely died on me. In a HUGE way. Leaving me with a car loan that was beyond what the car was worth and repairs that were beyond what the car was worth. I felt really stuck. I couldn't afford to be making two car payments, one payment on a car that I didn't even have. AND I couldn't afford to buy a cheap used car. I had no clue what I was going to do. So...I decided to PRAY! I had nothing left to do. I LOVE how God works. He brought me to my knees and I was humbled asking Him to provide and to be amazing so that He would get the glory. And...He did! There was a guy that was selling his car for $1,000. It turned out that with the money that I was getting back from my tax return and the money that was set aside for me when my dad died equaled to $1,000! Hmmm, interesting huh?! THEN...the girls that I was leading in a bible study organized a pool of money from my friends and family to give to me. They gave me a check for $1500. I still don't know who all was involved with that. The card was signed...from the people that love you. So I was able to put that money towards my car loan. It took a chunk off of the loan, but I still had a big chunk left over. So I had a Red Hyundai that was a blessing from the Lord. It lasted a year! Then it died! In a major way! Again, the cost to repair it was far more than the car's worth. Again, it brought me to my knees. "Lord, here I am again! You have provided for me in the past You will do it again!" So this is about two years ago...
I have been blessed over and over again by an amazing family who showed me grace and showed me love. Who have taught me what it means to live holding onto this life and it's things loosely. Mark and Sharon walked through some really tough times in my life and gave great counsel and loved me like one of their own kids. They saw my need and they offered to let me borrow their truck for a little while until I could get something figured out. They didn't want me to rush into anything quickly, they wanted to give me some time to pray about what to do, take a good look at my finances and see what would be the wise thing to do. It turned into letting me use the truck until I could get my loan paid off. Then it turned into letting me use the truck so that I could save up for my move to Austin. All the while, feeling bad for the inconvenience I felt like I was putting on them and wanting so badly to repay them somehow. They just kept reminding me of grace. What a beautiful picture of grace. So when it got closer to moving time I knew that I needed to figure something out. They decided that they wanted to GIVE me the truck. GIVE it to me! Mark said, we'll give you the "kids" discount!
I felt so undeserved of such a gift. It is amazing to be blessed in that way. It is just not normal for someone to just give away a vehicle in the worlds eyes. These people are not of the world. They know that their home is eternal...there will be no need for a truck in heaven. They saw a need and were quick to give. They had and they provided. God provided through them. AMAZING!
So...there is the story of the truck. And now it's a Texan! I LOVE the truck. It has been amazing being able to use it for HIS glory too! People need trucks to move things, to carry big loads...I love being able to serve people because it's a blessing to me, I want to bless people with it! It's not mine...it's the Lord's! The Lord loves a Texan TRUCK!

Melody Update

Here is a picture of Hilary, Melody and I at the baptism last weekend. The more I get to know Melody, the more amazed I am of her strength. November 1st she is having a bilateral masectomy. It was originally supposed to be just one, but with the confirmation from the doctors and from God, Melody decided to go ahead with the bilateral. I talked with her tonight and she shared that a couple of years ago she prayed that God would use her and her weaknesses for His glory and that His strength would be made perfect in her weaknesses. She said that she has to trust that this is what God is doing. He is wanting to be strong in this weakness. She said that the hardest part is still yet to come. After her surgery she will start chemo. PLEASE pray for her. Pray that God's will would be done. Pray that most of all His glory would be made perfect in her weaknesses, and that His name would be made known through this situation. Pray that Melody would feel God's love in this, and that she would be reminded that He loves her so much more deeply than she can comprehend.
The Race for the Cure is this Sunday. Depending on how Melody is feeling after her surgery she said that she might walk it! We will walk it together!
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I reached my goal to raise $200! So I raised my goal to $400 knowing that this money is going to help lots of women get free mammograms and education and eventually a cure. If you would like to contribute go to my personal page.
Check out this precious blog post and picture of Dian and her grandaughter Eden. Dian passed away from breast cancer and is one of the reasons I am doing this race. She was an amazing woman who has left a BEAUTIFUL legacy in her family.

Halloween on 6th Street

As we drove home last night, we drove down 6th street. (that's the street with all of the bars and live music venues) There were so many people out AND people in costume for Halloween. It was hilarious. But also disturbing. Girls wearing hardly anything to "dress up" for Halloween. Sad.
But we did take note of some pretty funny costumes we saw:
"A Kissing Booth" --this guy was wearing a box around his head and a big sign that said, "Kissing Booth".
"Twister Game"--a guy dressed in white with different colored dots all over and then on his face he had a spinner.
"Lego guys"-- There were two guys that had yellow lego heads on. They looked exactly like the little lego guys! It was GREAT!
"Rainbow Brite"--I got to see her completely WIPE OUT! She was walking and must have hit a crack or something, (she was wearing some really high shoes) and she totally biffed it. It was pretty funny! why is it so funny to see someone trip and fall? As long as they don't get hurt...maybe it's just me!"
"Mario Brothers"--From Nintendo
It was pretty funny! I guess on Halloween night they block off 6th street and there are thousands and thousands of people that come down with full costume on and take a tour through all of the bars. I guess it is insane. I don't think I will be going down there for that! Although I'm sure I would come up with some more really great costumes!

Imogen Heap - Just For Now (live at Studio 11 103.1FM)

This chick rocks my face off! Seriously, this video is SO cool! If you don't understand what is going on, she is recording herself and then building onto it by singing over her recorded self. This is the coolest thing. I haven't been able to stop listening to Imogen Heap lately. "Hide and Seek" and "Say Goodnight and Go" are somre more of my favorite songs! Check out her other songs on itunes.

Sarah McLachlan, "World on Fire"

Click here

So It Turns Out...

So it turns out that Hilary and I do have a life!
For the first time since we have been in this city (almost 3 months) we finally "went out". Friday night we met up with a friend of Hilary's from when she was in Mexico. (He is now living in Austin) We were going to meet him at the Shoal Creek Saloon to listen to a band. ( I have been dying to see live music, since Austin is the "Live Music Capital of the World") So we were very excited to actually go out and do something on a Friday night! AND...it was just a couple of blocks down the road from our apartment! Here are some views as we walked to the bar:
I LOVE our apartment!! So we got to the Saloon, and noticed that there wasn't a band listed for Friday night and there were only about 4 BIG trucks in the parking lot! So we decided to NOT go in and wait for John, as we thought about who would be driving those BIG trucks. We met at Austin Java instead. By the way, Austin Java...my favorite Austin coffeehouse/bar, is only 3 blocks down from our apartment!! LOVE it!!
We decided that we were going to go downtown instead and find a good place to listen to live music. We walked back up to our apartment and got Hilary's car and made our way downtown. It was so fun to see so many people out and to drive down 6th street and hear live music all over the place! We ended up on 4th street at a bar called Cedar Street.

They had a band playing called "Mingo Fishtrap"
They were awesome! It was a jazz band/rock band/big band kind of group. They had horns, saxaphones, trombones, guitars. They were tight. The lead vocalist was really good too. People were dancing and have a great time. It was a lot of fun!





The venue was really cool, it was outdoors between two buildings. It was a beautiful night, and they also had little heat lamps that were above the tables so that you didn't get too cold. The sad thing about the evening was seeing so many people indulge in drinking. It was sad to see the amount of people trying to satisfy their thirst with the things of this world. It gave me a lot to pray for that night.


Tonight, Saturday, the couple that lives above us came down and hung out for a little while. They wanted to try our Poppyseed Chicken (see Meal update post). Matt is a huge fan and wanted to see how it tasted without all of the fat in it! (again, see Meal Update post) So that was fun hanging out with them for a little bit. Then Hilary and I went to Progress Coffee to listen to "Rufus McGovern" aka Andy Melvin (worship leader at the Stone). He was the opening act for Amanda Leggett. It was REALLY good! Amanda is a singer/songwriter and does a lot of stuff around Austin. She has a great voice and sweet lyrics. Andy produced Amanda's CD and recorded it in his basement. Tonight after the concert I couldn't help but feel a weight on my heart to sing. I haven't been singing that much since I got to Austin. Just a little here and there...in the car, and every once in awhile I will pull out my guitar and play the 3 or 4 songs I know how to sing and play. This evening put a stir in my heart to break out my guitar and start getting better at playing. It put a desire in my heart to write more songs. It made me appreciate music so much more and appreciate muscians, especially songwriters. Music is amazing and it does something in me that I can't explain.
I think I am starting to like Austin even more now that I have experienced just a taste of this music town.

Meal Update

So here is an update on the meals! Hilary cooked Oven Baked Chicken with a cauliflower dish and zucchini. The chicken was AWESOME! I wasn't a huge fan of the cauliflower dish. It had a bunch of different spices in it and dates. I'm not a date lover...or am I?!?

Then I cooked Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells with Cheddar Bay Biscuits and a salad. It was VERY good! We are trying to cook healthy stuff so all of our recipes that we have been doing are either healthy, low-fat recipes or weight watchers recipes. We have been pleasantly surprised how good they have tasted and they are healthy! YEAH! Although you could definitely tell with the biscuits.

Tonight Hilary made her famous "Poppyseed Chicken", but since we are trying to eat healthy she tried making it with low-fat stuff. We thought, for sure, that it would not be as good as the real thing. But, again, we were pleasantly surprised!! It was INCREDIBLE!!! I think it's one of my favorites!! I didn't get a picture of it. But let me know if y'all want the recipe. Delicious!

Even in junk...I'm still loved

So I need to catch y'all up with my life. I have not been blogging in a week.
So last Tuesday I met with Denise for lunch and we are going to be meeting every Tuesday to live life together. I had gotten to a point in my life where I am realizing lots of strongholds and lots of junk in my life. It seems I've let some areas of my life get a little out of control. We have been talking about community in church and talking about how important it is to have people in your life that you can let in on those things in your life that you don't want anyone to know about, or those things in your life that need to be dealt with. I have been praying for someone like that here in Austin, someone that will get into my life, even in the junk and love on me, and even love me enough to speak hard truth into my life and ask me hard questions. I had the privledge of meeting with Sharon, back in Iowa, for a couple of years. She took me into her family and her family became my 2nd family. I miss them and I miss our times of sharing and doing life together.
It has been amazing how God has answered that prayer and has provided an amazing woman who is going to be investing in my life. Denise and her family took Hilary and I in when we first moved to Austin, when we had no jobs, no place to live four days before we were to move!!! I saw her live her life as a wife, a mother, a friend, a woman who is in love with Jesus...for two months! I have learned so much from her and I'm excited to have this weekly time with her to be taught, to be challenged and to be shaped into who God wants me to be. It freaks me out to think of being that vulnerable with someone...to let them in on all of the ugly stuff that no one else sees. But because it freaks me out and it makes me feel uncomfortable...I know that it's supposed to be. It's a good thing...to let someone in on the junk and still be loved.

Hey Micky you're So Fine!

Tonight in Austin, the Rolling Stones were giving a concert at Zilker Park (the same park where ACL fest was). So again, when I came into church tonight I could hear the music from the parking lot since Austin High (where Austin Stone has services) is across the lake from Zilker Park. So during bible study tonight all of a sudden we hear this loud, really loud sound and pretty soon the Stones start playing. We could hear them so clearly, it was so loud! Even when Mick Jagger was just talking we could hear him clearly.It was AWESOME! It sort of ruined the moment in bible study though. We were very distracted. Thankfully we were almost done, so it didn't ruin the whole class, but it was pretty cool that we could have a free concert in Bible Study! Hilary looks over to me and says, "This is the closest I've ever been to Mick Jagger!" It was hilarious!

The Race for the Cure®

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This month has brought lots of memories of a dear sister of mine that went to be with the Lord after battling breast cancer for about a year. Her name is Dian Grimes-Hughes. She amazes me still. I got to know her through my friends Dan and Shadley. Dian is Dan's mom. She was such a great band mom! She had spunk and she was always smiling and it seemed like everytime I saw her she was wearing some sort of animal print! When she was diagnosed with breast cancer we started emailing quite a bit back and forth and I had the intentions of encouraging her through this time, but it seemed that I was the one getting the encouragement in her responses to me. I loved our friendship and miss her precious emails of telling me to "Keep pressing on".

She was so passionate about Jesus and about living for Him even in her last days. She recorded messages to her grandkids that talked about how amazing it is to live for Jesus and to love Him and be loved by Him. She continued to live full out for Him and would not let the cancer stop her. God had great plans for Dian and that included being full of cancer so that she could be used by God in her weakness, so that the strength that everyone could see in her was from God and not from herself.
She has touched MANY lives.

I have also been touched by a young woman, Melody age 33, who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. She goes to our church and Hilary met her a couple of weeks ago. She has an amazing heart and loves Jesus and is standing firm on His promises of His complete love for her. It's amazing to hear her story, she wrote a moving article, check it out here


I have decided to join in The Race for the Cure® on November 5th to support Melody in this fight and to represent Dian's life. I am also raising money for the further research and eventual cure for breast cancer. If you would like to join with me in supporting this team or if you would like to donate, check it out here

Friday Dinner

I cooked dinner tonight and it was excellent! (Not bragging or anything!)
The first thing was "Open Faced Crab Melt Sandwiches" and the side dish was "Feta & Veggie Stuffed Zucchini". With, of course, some pineapple!
It was really really good!
So here are the recipes...for those who are interested...

Open Faced Crab Melt Sandwiches
Serves 4; Prep 12 min; Cook 2 min
2 6oz cans crab meat, drained
1/3 c Fat Free Mayo
1/4 c Roasted Red Peppers, minced
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp salt (I like using sea salt)
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 slices pumpernickel bread
4 slices low-fat swiss cheese

1.Preheat broiler
2. Combine crab meat, mayo, peppers, mustard, salt & pepper in a medium bowl; gently toss to combine. Divide crab mixture among bread slices, transfer to a baking sheet and top each with one slice of cheese.
3. Broil until cheese is golden and bubbly about 1-2 minutes.

Feta & Vegie Stuffed Zucchini
Serves 2; Prep 15 min; Cook 2o min
4 medium zucchini
4 large tomatoes, cored and finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 c mushrooms, finely chopped
2 tbsp basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 c Reduced Fat Feta Cheese, crumbled
8 tbsp fat-free Ranch dressing

1. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise. In large pot of boiling water cook until tender about 8-10 minutes. Drain well. Scoop out & discard pulp in center.
2. Coat a large nonstick skillet with spray. Add tomatoes, onions and mushrooms. Cook over medium high heat until pulpy. About 5 minutes. Stir in basil, salt and pepper.
3. Generously spoon filling into 8 zucchini halves. Arrange 2 per plate.
4. In a bowl stir together feta cheese and salad dressing. Drizzle over stuffed zucchini.
Yields 2 stuffed and dressed halves per serving.

Pineapple Update

The Pineapple has been overtaken!
Here is what remains!
I took Kelli's advice and let it ripen a couple of days and that let it sit upside down for a day so that the juices could move throughout the pineapple. It was absolutely delicious!

Swiss Raclette

Last night Hilary and I went over to the Stephens'
house for dinner. One of the things that we didn't get to do while we lived there was experience the Swiss Raclette Grill. So they invited us back!

First you take little pieces of cheese and you put them on this little pan.










Then you put it into the Swiss Raclette Grill until the cheese is melted.














Then you drizzle the cheese over vegetables and potatoes! It was delicious!
I miss Denise's cooking! It was wonderful!





Denise was enjoying it too!




After dinner we decorated Halloween cookies!! There was purple frosting! Fabulous!

Hyper Hypo

This is one of my favorite SNL skits!! SO funny!

Home Sweet Home

My tickets have been bought! I'm going home to Iowa for Thanksgiving! Bring on the pickles and buns!

They Have Added the Pumpkins.

Some Things that I am Very Excited About

There are some things that I am very excited about lately.
#1. I am going to go home for Thanksgiving. I have not bought my plane ticket yet, but I am going to and I can't wait!!!! I miss my family so much and can't wait to see them all. I'm not excited about the cold though. (It was 92 today in Austin! YEAH!)



#2. My good friends Christy and AJ are coming to visit!!!!!!!!
They are coming at the beginning of December. I am so excited!! It will be so much fun!!!!!




#3. Our neighbors, Matt and Erin. They are a young couple that live above us and are christians. They are so sweet! They came to the Chris Tomlin night of worship at my church and we have gone over a couple of times and gotten to know them. They are so sweet and so cute. I am not only thankful that they are a brother and sister but I am also so thankful that we have a lot of things in common. They are fun. They brought us cookies on Sunday, and Hilary has a rule that when someone brings you something, you don't give them the plate back empty. So they had been admiring our glass vases with beans and flowers and so this is what we put on the plate.




#4. I bought a pineapple at the store. An actual pineapple. I'm not quite sure how to do it. But it looks really fun!


#5. Our apartment, our neighborhood, this city.
I went for a walk today after work and I not only LOVED the fact that I was in shorts and a tank top, but I LOVED walking through our neighborhood. It was such a beautiful night and there were so many people out going for walks, walking their dogs, going to the park with their kids. It was so fun to look at all of the unique houses throughout the neighborhood. I could seriously live in this part of town for the rest of my life! I love Austin.

Christmas is coming...sort of.

Christmas vacation has got to be one of my favorite Christmas movies! I found the trailer online. Check it out! Also, check out the classic A Christmas Story
Funny!

Really good recipes!

Many of you have asked about the recipes...so here they are

Spinach and Cheese Torta
1 (6 ounce) bag baby spinach
2 large eggs
1 egg white
1/2 c. shredded reduced-fat Mexican four-cheese blend
1/2 c. fat-free milk
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
4 (8 inch) spinach or whole-wheat flour tortillas
3/4 c. diced roasted red peppers (not stored in oil).

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9 inch round cake pan with nonstick spray.
2. Put the spinach in a large microwavable bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; prick a few holes in the plastic. Microwave on high until hte spinach starts to wilt, 2 minutes. Uncover and let cool. Squeeze the spinach to remove the excess liquid; chop coarsely.
3. Meanwhile, put the eggs, egg white, cheese, milk, cilantro, salt and ground pepper in a bowl, beating with a whisk to combine.
4. To assemble the torta, place 1 tortilla in the bottom of the pan. Layer with half the spinach, 1 tortilla, then the roasted peppers. Top with 1 tortilla and then the remaining spinach and tortilla. Pour the egg mixture over the top.
5. Bake until firm, about 20 minutes. remove the torta from the oven and increase the heat to a broil. Broil the torta 5 inches from the heat until just browned on top, about 1 minute. Let stand 5 minutes. Invert the torta on a cutting board and cut into 4 wedges.

Prep time:20 minutes
Cook time: 23 minutes
Serves: 4
***I did not use a 9 inch cake pan because I didn't have one. That is why, if you see the picutre, the egg cheese mixture was all around it. If it's in a 9 inch cake pan it will be more centered to the tortillas.***

Miso-Glazed Cod
2 tbsp miso (in a packet in Asian food aisle for seasoning)
1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp hot water
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, crushed through a press
1 (1 1/4lb) skinless center-cut cod fillet (1 inch thick), cut into 4 pieces
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
Lemon wedges (optional)

1. Preheat the broiler. Line a small baking pan with foil; lightly spray the foil with canola nonstick spray.
2. Combine the miso, vinegar, hot water, oil, ginger, and garlic in a cup; beat with a whisk until smooth.
3.Place the cod in the baking pan; sprinkle with the pepper. Spread the top of each piece with one quarter of the miso mixture. Broil the cod 5 inches from heat just until opaque in the center. 8-10 minutes. Serve at once with lemon wedges (if using).

Prep: 10minutes
Cook: 8minutes
Serves: 4

Work

I have ended my first week of work. It was good. Some of my co-workers took me out to lunch. We have an hour for lunch and even with that it's laid back. So that was a nice break in the day.
It was nice to get to know some people that are my age in the office. We are all SO different. But it was fun to just hang out. It makes coming to work a little more comfortable. I'm thankful for the way that God provided this job. He has provided not only financially, but also in ways that I wasn't expecting. I'm excited to see what he does with the friendships that are starting.
I still miss my Peds friends though. You guys can never be replaced!

Again...Hilarious!

Check this out...again hilarious!

Miso-Glazed Cod (Mi-so Tasty!)

Hilary is amazing! She cooked an incredible meal tonight! Miso-Glazed Cod, green beans and Whole wheat blended Grains (brown rice, bulgar, wheat, pecans).
It was soooo good! It tastes better than it looks!
Day two of cooking on our own and so far so good. Hilary also had to call her mom for a cooking question!! She wanted to know if she could thaw fish in the microwave! We are both works in progress!

Weather Update

Today in Austin, Texas, October 12, 2006 6:00pm...80 degrees.
Today in Iowa City, Iowa, October 12, 2006 6:00pm...41 degrees.
I love Austin!

Hilarious!

Check this out!

Baby Guillermo!

My sweet Meghan is a mom!!! Meghan and I were roomates for several years. She is one of my best friends and we have walked through a lot of life together. We have such a fun relationship! We laugh about everything, we can share anything with each other! ANYTHING! I miss her and I miss the old times of the Scotsdale apartment! But I am so thankful for what God is doing right now and what He will do in the future with her and her family!
Here is little Guillermo Emanuel Moreno! So precious! What an amazing gift!! I love him! It's hard to be away, but I can't wait to come home and see him!!






He had a collapsed lung so he had to be on oxygen for a little while. ohh, he's so cute!





Here is the Moreno family! Francisco is going to be such a great dad! He has such a huge heart and he was so excited all through the pregnancy! I know that he must be so proud of both Meghan and Guillermo!
Love you guys and hope that you are settling in and getting some sleep! I wish that I could be your nanny!!

Spinach and Cheese Torta, and LESLIE!

Hilary and I have decided that we are each going to pick a day to cook. So we have two nights at least out of the week that we come up with a dinner plan.
So tonight was my night.
Some of you may know that I am not a cooker. I like to microwave things and eat from boxed things or go somewhere to eat. This is all changing folks.
I have realized that someday, Lord willing, I will marry a guy that likes food. I want to be able to cook for him, so I'm practicing now.
Tonight I made Spinach and Cheese Torta.
It was actually really good! I am trying to eat healthier and so this was a weight watchers recipe. 4 points a serving.
If you would like me to post the recipe let me know.
I wasn't quite sure what to have with it, so I decided on some corn! Just your good 'ole standard corn in a can. I had to call my mom to ask her if I was supposed to drain it or not. Again...I don't cook! Some of you are probably laughing right now. I'm learning though!
I made a turkey wrap thing the other day and the recipe called for Arugula. I had no clue what Arugula was. I'm thankful for Whole Foods! It's my new favorite place! I had to also get an ingredient that Hilary is using in her dish tomorrow night, Miso. I had no clue what Miso was. The lady that I asked at whole foods giggled when I asked her if she knew what it was! It was in the Asian food aisle and it's a type of soup, but you can get it dry to put in as seasoning.

As I was going to Whole Foods I ran into someone who is very well known in Austin. Leslie.
"He" is the token homeless guy of Austin. He likes to dress in women's clothing and walk around town.
So as I'm driving to Whole Foods I see Leslie walking down the side walk trying to hitch a ride. So I quickly lock my doors, while contemplating on whether or not to get my camera out. He was wearing a leopard print mini skirt...I'm talking MINI skirt! With heels of course. And an off the shoulder fur leopard shirt that was showing his belly. This is the second Leslie sighting for me. Some people live in Austin their whole lives and never actually see Leslie, they just hear about him. I feel honored that I have seen him twice now! Although I didn't end up taking a picture, I found one online that I thought was nice! Laura, this is probably how he would have responded if I were to take a picture! I was a little nervous searching online for a picture, afraid of what I would come across! He did run for Mayer one year! I heard that he got 2nd place! YIKES!! I love Austin!

Melted Undies and Leather Chairs

Tonight was our first night of doing laundry at our apartment. I have never done laundry in an actual laundry machine. It was funny when Hilary and I were running around finding as many quarters as we could. Quarters are going to be priceless things these days.
We met a lady that was finishing up her laundry, her name is Sissy. She warned us to not put the dryer on high because it melts your clothes. She shared a story about her undies melting in the dryer and how she had to call in for help! We are thankful for the warning!

I started my new job today. It went well. I get my own desk and a leather chair! yes, it's true...a leather chair! Something I had always dreamed of at the Pediatric Clinic that I was working at in Iowa. So when I saw that I actually had one, I had to chuckle inside! Also, we have jean day on Fridays! That makes me very excited also!

Cool Quotes

Some cool things that I read today.
2 Corinthians 3:4-5 "Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God."

"Brethren, if Paul (the writer of 2 Corinthians, who wrote the above verse) is not sufficient of Himself what are you and I? Where are you...do you indulge the dream of self sufficiency? Be ashamed of your folly in the presence of a great man who knew what he said and who spoke under the direction of the Spirit of God, and wrote deliberately 'Not that we are sufficient of ourselves'"--Spurgeon

"Our sufficiency is of God; let us practically enjoy this truth. We are poor, leaking vessels and the only way for us to keep full is to put our pitcher under the perpetual flow of boundless grace. Then, despite its leakage, the cup will always be full to the brim."--Spurgeon

"The preacher should either speak in God's name or hold his tongue. My brother, if the Lord has not sent you with a message, go to bed, or to school, or mind your farm; for what does it matter what you have to say of your own? If heaven has given you a message, speak it out as he ought to speak who is called to be the mouth of God."--Spurgeon

My Room

My room is finally together! It feels so good to not have any boxes, any piles. Things have there place and it feels GREAT! Here are some pictures of my room.











Here is my big "E" that I purchased at Goodwill with my friend Kinsey!











Here is my bathroom, Hilary pointed out that my toilet looks like Neopolitan Ice Cream! HILARIOUS!

Some of My Favorite Things...

This is a picture frame that my good friends Jenni and Amy got for me before I left Iowa. I LOVE these gals. Jenni is now a freshman in college and is going to school in Chicago. Amy is still in High School back in Iowa. This last year was amazing walking through life with them, reading the bible together, being goofy together, eating a pound of butter together, running in the rain together! Oh, the sweet memories. I love you girls!


I love this picture. Amy made this for me for my birthday, she had taken pictures of me one night while I was playing my guitar. It was such a sweet present.

This is a picture that my mom had give us girls for Christmas one year after my dad died. My dad drew a picture of his feet. It's a signature piece, because when we look at this, we know it's my dad. That's the way he sat. So my mom made a copy of it for each of us girls and wrote this verse around it. "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 116:8-9

Here is another "Dad" present from my mom. This is a picture that was taken the Christmas before he passed away. I LOVE this picture of him! He is reading an art book of course!

This is another favorite "Dad" present from mom. She found this in a letter he had written to her. She made copies of it for each of us and made a little hanging thing. It is in his handwriting. It is so sweet!

Here are some OLD pictures that I have of my dad. They are so funny, but I love them! They are sitting on my dresser! I think I know where I got my hair from!

My mom made this for me. It's me! She has brown curly hair and complete with a nose ring! I love her!