Let Us Resume- 2013 recap

Don't judge me. When my computer broke, all I've had to work with is my iPad and I hate HATE typing on touchscreen. Everyone who knows me knows that I am even too chicken with touch screens to go to a smart phone. Hate em! Anyway it's caused a bit of a roadblock in my blogging in the last 6 months or so. Sorry. But I'm here to correct that and if there are any typos along the way, blame it on the flawed system of touch screens and not my lack of intelligence. Please and thank you. 

 So much has happened so let me start by saying, I am not going to talk about absolutely everything that has happend in the last year but I will do my best at touching on the important stuff to me. 

I need to do my "summary of the year" for 2013 so badly before I forget about what happened. Let's start with that and I'll add on posts as we go on. Forward March!

January

Remember this little guy? This was in January where he was just the sweetest little ball of fur you've ever seen. You couldn't take him anywhere without being stopped. 

In January I stopped wotrking at harkins (thank freakin goodness) and went back to babysitting for awhile. I needed work but harkins was horrible. The weather outside was always awful and cold. Odin and I went on lots of walks and runs to keep our blood moving and there was never a night where the fire wasn't going. 

February

In February, the weather was still pretty bitter cold but we survived. I attended a baby shower for my friend Jessica who I have known for at least 8 years. All my friends decided to have babies in late 2012/ early 2013 apparently because there were over 10 babies born in that time. All to friends of mine about the same age as me. Crazy! Baby fever didn't get me though:) In the picture above, Geneva and I were in the process of helping my father in law, Craig, move his things from his house to his patents house next door. The property was selling and he needed help moving. Seems like this was just yesterday! 

March

Okay, I'm not going to lie here: I have absolutely no recollection of what happened in March. I think there was a lot of time of mine house hunting and cleaning and going on runs with my puppy and praying that the sun would come out.

April

Now April was a different story. A ton happened in April. It was the start if spring and suddenly. The sun came out. I ramn my very first documented 5k race, The Color Run. Rd and Andy and Kelsey Jordan were nice enough to throw colored powder at my face and we all ran like champs. 

Also in April, dugan and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary. It was amazing! We went to Sedona and took a beautiful hike with Odin and had a delicious dinner and got sublime mesages from a middle aged woman named Gigi who gave us wayyyyy too much hot tea. It was awesome. 

Also, this doesn't probably matter to anyone but me but in April I died my hair for the first time. It's not a big deal to anyone else but to me, it was a feat conquered. 

May

May was great! Insane, but great. Our friends James and Amanda Mocco came to Arizona for a visit and we had such a blast with them, we did all kinds of fun stuff! we went to the Grand Canyon where Dugan got to see that grat big hole in the earth for the first time. Odin was terrified of the edge, as usual, and the sun came out to play just as we had hoped.

In late May, I took a trip to New York to visit my dear friend Elyse and her family. I had the pleasure of watching her graduate and celebrating that with her. I had the opportunity to soak in sol the New York flowers, grass, rainy days, and great bug hugs from my best friend before returning to az.

June

When June came around my days were busy as busy can be. Dugan went to drill for two weeks at the most inconvenient possible time. We began our move from our 2bedroom apartment to our house while Dugan was gone. We finally got our keys the day we got back and went to work on the new home. The days were beautiful and I spent every morning on long runs with Odin. I have photos but I don't want to bore anyone with pictures of an empty house. 

July

July felt so great! It was the first time we got a bit of a break as a couple. Dugan and I went to phoenix with us to celebrate Independence Day and we stayed for about a week. We hung out at our families places! ate good food and had good times. We worked on our garden in the back yard and made our house feel like home. In July, I also had the pleasure of attending my long time friend Jessika kasl's wedding to her great husband, Troy. The wedding was small but so beautiful and I was so lucky to be a part of it!

August

In august, I began work at two different locations. The Crown Railroad Cafe (horrible) and I began work as a nanny for a wonderful little boy named Grayson. Dugan left Late For The Train and began work at The Home Depot. Days were warm and beautiful in the mornings and cool and rainy in the evenings. We spent as much time as we could doing fun activities like going shooting, going hiking, and spending time at the park.

September

Work, work work. Dugan went to school full time and went to work part time. I took on work full time at my two jobs. Life was chaotic and wonderful. Since the month was so busy, there is not a whole lot of photographic evidence. 

October

October looked a lot like September with a bit of a chill in the evenings. Dugan and I ran a glow in the dark 5k where everyone wore glow sticks and we ran a dirt trail in the dark. It was silly and I didn't love it. I like to run where I can see the trail. Oh, also, i tried participating in Halloween by waiting with a crap ton of candy for all the kids in my neighborhood to come ring my doorbell aaaand nothin. I hate Halloween. This year I'm going to bed early. 

November

Ugggggggh, November. November ALWAYS sucks. The month started out well with a fun trip to phoenix for Hillary's birthday and then about 4 days later, Dugan and Andy discovered bed bugs in the upstairs bedrooms. This was followed up with excruciatingly expensive treatments and washing every article of clothing and bedding and the like in the house. Word of advice; TRY ALL YOU CAN NOT TO GET BED BUGS! It was stressful and embarrassing and just awful. We all went about our daily lives working and going to school and trying not to think about all of our clothes sitting in trash bags in the garage waiting to get washed. Blegh. Good riddance. Hopefully this years November is a little better to us. Happily, the month ended with a wonderful experience at thanksgiving where my father in law came to our place in flagstaff and the roommates went to payson for the holiday. I cooked my very first thanksgiving meal all by myself and it was so gratifying to accomplish this. Thanksgiving was the best holiday I've had I a while. Thank goodness for that.

December

December was lovely. It snowed a few times, we celebrated dugans 24th birthday by going downtown with great friends, the semester came to an end and as did my nannying job for the semester. We sent out Christmas cards, and tried our hardest to stay home for Christmas. The national guard had different plans, however and had Dugan go to Florence for drill on Christmas Eve so we went to phoenix and stayed at Hillary's and Seth's. That ended up being great, too. The year wrapped up and, as usual, I felt odd saying goodbye at New Years. 

2013 was wonderful. I will begin to be better with my posts so we don't forget what happens in 2014.

Thanks for following along in my ramblings.

Stay tuned for more happenings of what's been happening since New Years til now.  

Serious slacking

My goodness.

 There was once a time where I was good at keeping up with my good ol blog .  That time is behind me and now (especially now that I don't have my computer anymore and my iPad is what I have  to work with) my posts will be full but most likely farther apart.

Anyway, so I can catch up with those of you who are my few readers, instead of boring you with the silly unimportant stuff, I'll just skim over the holidays for ya!

Thanksgiving: 

Thanksgiving was great! The roommates were out of the house for the holiday and my father in law came up to flagstaff for the day so it was just me, Dugan and Craig and it was fantastic! I cooked my very first turkey and it turned out more perfect than I could have imagined. We had everything from appetizers to pumpkin pie. I was so satisfied with the whole day.

Dugans 24th birthday:

I don't have any good pics from his birthday. Shame on me. But just to sum it up, I cooked dinner for everyone- home made garbage plates- burger patties, macaroni, roasted potatoes, and chili all thrown together into one mess of a plate. Dugan would divorce me for this meal. After dinner we took a bunch of friends downtown and dugan got a bunch of drinks paid for. It was a blast, and he turned one year older. Mission accomplished.

Christmas: 

Christmas was... More crazy than we had wanted but it was still nice. From the get go I had wanted to stay at home and just relax for the holiday. Dugan and me, pajamas, hot cocoa, presents, and Christmas movies. That's what we had planned. Dugan got called,to drill on Christmas Eve so we had to drive to Phoenix. Oh we'll. we woke up,at Seth and Hillary's apartment, watched some Christmas movies there and then headed to pine. I always feel bad because we can't physically spend equal time with all of our friends and family. 

New Years:

A good handful of friends came up to flagstaff from Phoenix and we all celebrated the new year together. It was a blast!

I know I've been bad about keeping up with my posts. I'm trying the best I can to keep up. I have a few more posts to post but just bare with me here. Ipad is frustrating. 

Peace love and all that good stuff.

Recipe Sharing Time: Paying it Forward

I don't have cable. So, unfortunately, it is rare that I get to enjoy some of the (very few) good things that come with cable. Like: the news, new episodes of the shows we follow (parks n rec, new girl, walking dead, etc), and- getting to the point- cooking shows. The treadmills at the gym have a television equipped with cable and while I was on it yesterday morning, Rachel Ray came on and I learned a new recipe that I was determined to try so first thing this morning before I prepared my Primary lesson for church, I got up and made breakfast for the household. Here goes:

French Toast Casserole with Peaches and Sausage

Ingredients: one loaf of either french bread (fresh, preferably)
2 peaches
 citrus juice (lemon or lime)
Sausage (I chose a smoked turkey sausage because it is more lean than pork)
Everything you need for french toast: eggs, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg

First, I cut up the peaches and threw a little bit of lime juice ontop to keep them fresh and to help ripen them for the casserole.

Then I cut up the sausage and threw it in a pan to braise a bit

Next is the bread. I just took a fresh loaf of French Bread from Safeway and ripped it up into semi big chunks.

The last step before slapping it all together is making the cream mixture. Take about 2 cup of milk ( I did 1 cup of milk and 1 cup half and half to make the mixture more thick). Add three eggs, a tsp of vanilla extract a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Whisk it all together:

That's about it, folks. Take all the ingredients and mix them together with the cream mixture poured ontop evenly throughout the dish.



Throw it in the oven for about 45-50 minutes at about 375 degrees. Here's the finished product!




Let me tell you. The combination of the sausage and the peaches contrasting together with the cinnamon taste was marvelous. I highly recommend this casserole to anybody. As a breakfast meal, we drizzled syrup ontop and ate it but you could also have it for lunch with a salad on the side or paired with some veggies for dinner. It's such a versatile dish, it would be sinful for me not to share. If you try this one out, enjoy and pay it forward!

peach, love, and all that happy stuff
Till next time, friends  

Sleepy Week

I'm not complaining because this is what I wanted for this semester (right?). I wanted to take on work like a steam train so Dugan could focus on his school work and homework and not stress so much about money. In an ironic hilarity, Dugan told me yesterday that this has been the "easiest semester he's taken". Joke is on me! This week I have been working every day for no less than ten hours a day between the restaurant and the babysitting and when I come home late at night I lay down in bed and struggle with falling asleep. I'm not sure if my brain is on overload or if the change in the seasons is messing with my head or what the heck is going on but i'm not regenerating over night and I am still heading off to work each day.

Again, I'm not complaining im just updating the times of whats going on with me and whats happening this week with me. Last week in September: spent not sleeping and away from home. If anyone feels the urge to come take me away from myself for a day or two, follow that urge. Today i'm running on fumes and coffee. Wish me luck!

Craft Project: Autumn Wreath

I don't quite remember where this idea came to mind. Maybe my mom showed it to me, maybe its from Pinterest, who knows. But I got this idea in my head and I wouldn't quit until, I had accomplished it. I went to Joanne's and bought some fabric and set the project aside to do with a friend. Well, I successfully waited for I think 4 days and then I couldn't take it anymore so I caved and went to work. I made an Autumn Wreath for my front walk way out of only a wire hanger, strips of material and a ribbon for the top:

The instructions are so simple that it hardly needs to be said. You bend the hanger into a circle, then tie the themed strips of material onto the metal. Easy. Awesome. Beautiful!



Could it get any easier then this?

So cool, right? I over-guessed how much material I was going to need for it so I had enough left over for a whole other wreath so I have two. (Don't worry, Julia, the other one is for you since I did the craft without you). I will be doing this again for all the seasons! Try it out, it's fun!

A Much-Needed Day of Lazy

I say "lazy" in the loosest way possible because while, yes, we are taking the day to relax, we are in no way neglecting more important or productive things so we can relax. I don't upload quite as many photos as I have known to in the past because not much new stuff happens for me to document. My crafts have been very few and far between and our adventures are getting smaller as time billows past us. The time spent together is in the late evening after long all-day shifts at work and all we want to do is eat and go into a long coma of which we wake from and start all over again.

 Our mornings have been starting at 5:00 AM since both Silas and I have to be at work by 6:00. He is working 5 days a week at Home Depot and spending the other two days of the week on school. I am working 5 days a week as well spread out among my two jobs; at the restaurant serving old people their coffee and pancakes and at the Lemke household sitting a sweet 4 year old three times a week. Many days, we start first thing in the morning and don't get done until late at night. We still find time somewhere between shifts and classes to take the pup to the park and every once and awhile, fit in some time at the gym or on a bike ride. Like I said, after work and school, our energy is low so there is not much activity in our day to day. I have been doing quite well, however, going on long walks with Grayson when I am nannying on those days.

These summer days are just about tucked away for the year behind the late evening breeze and the color-changing leaves. The sunshine is still peaking it's stubborn head out from behind the clouds around mid day giving us a very good sizzle and a great big blanket of warmth as if to say "I'm still here... I'm still here". I made a bargain last winter that if the sun would come out and stay out for a great long while this summer that I would try my best not to complain about the heat and I feel that I have done my best at accomplishing this. There may have been a few complaints while I was in phoenix here and there but... it's phoenix... Can you really blame me?
Though winter is about to barge in through our front door with it's teeth bearing and it's claws out, I am still basking in this Autumn air with all that is in me. I am a forever lover of Autumn. The colors, the breeze, the smell of cocoa and tree sap that fills the air as the leaves and pine cones start jumping from their branches all seem to astound me and leave me grinning from ear to ear.

Today we decided to make into a "pajama day" at home. Neither Dugan or I are wearing our pajamas but our bed remains unmade and little to no chores have been done today. We woke up, went to breakfast, came home and nestled ourselves into our books, video games, and art projects. Dugsan is currently poking around in his garden which, if I may add, is probably his favorite place on earth. I have completed a few projects I have been meaning to do for awhile and felt inspired to blog about current events. Here is us on our "pajama day" soaking in our version of what lazy is:

As a testimonial of other current and recent events here are just a few things that have transpired since my last post:

Odin got snipped. He was very brave and very um... drunk... for the first day but healed up quick and now he is good as new. Poor Puppy.

Our living rooms is almost completely done being decorated and rearranged. I am happy with the way it is now. We finally have a working tv, our pictures are up and autumn decorations are set out.  Done and happy.

See, not much happens here but the small thins that do happen bring warmth to my heart and I think those are the important things to share. I am blessed with many good things. Lasting summer sunshine, a family that loves me almost as much as I love them;), jobs that help me pay my bills and keep me busy and my days full, and much much more. I am doing better at keeping my head on screwed tight as long as I am getting enough sleep and getting my exercise. Things are good. Autumn, I welcome you with open arms... as long as you hold off winter as long as you know how.