i am still here...

Sorry for being MIA! I am still here, but have been too busy to blog! I am taking advantage of Mark watching Monday Night Football to write a quick post about our drive. I would have more time, but I spent too long looking at recent pictures of my friend Megann's baby. Megann, if you are reading this I need to unsubscribe to your album site because I spend too much time looking at that adorable kid!!!

Obviously we have made it to Florida! Yay! The drive went a lot more smoothly than I had thought it would. Gavin did well!! I alternated between sitting in the front seat and the back with Gavin. The books, activities and especially craft supplies occupied him well. With breakfast, snack and naps in the car it was pretty easy... well... manageable. :) Here is a small snippet of our 4 days driving cross country...

We did some of this...

A lot of this...

More of this...



And yes, this...

Yes, this is Mark and my son rolling around on the floor in an Olive Garden some where in Missouri. Poor guy! We had been driving so much, stopped for lunch and hated to keep him confined to his highchair. We were THOSE parents with THAT kid running around and playing in a resteraunt. Who cares. He deserved it and we will never see those people again!! Actually we sat in an empty area of the restaurant and made friends with the waiter.

Since we have gotten back to Florida we have been working hard getting settled back into our life here. Ugh! Things are never as easy as you hope. Remember the tick situation? Well we still got 'em!! After 4 attempts of treating them ourselves we finally called a professional last Wednesday. Supposedly we have to wait it out as all the life cycles of the little buggers play out. We actually waited to move back into our house until last Thursday. We have been living out of boxes and bags at Mark's mom's house. Bless her for putting up with all of us! We are pretty much unpacked except for things under beds, floors of closets and pictures of the walls due to our pesky bugs. We do tick checks often throughout the day, but today I am excited to announce we found NONE! Yippee. I am looking forward to having no more unwelcome tenants. It is nice to be back though. I went out tonight with some girlfriends to see a speaker and I loved coming home to Gavin's life vest sitting on the kitchen counter. Mark took him paddle boarding tonight. He said Gavin LOVED it. Wish I could of seen my boys enjoying a Florida evening out on the water. :)

rollin', rollin', rollin'...

We are ready to roll! I am so sad to be saying goodbye to the mountains, but I am looking forward to getting back to our home in Florida. We are all packed up and the time is here!! I actually love road trips, as does Mark. I like seeing the changing landscape and having the time sitting next to my hubby sharing new experiences and talking... well maybe not as much this time! Gavin is riding along too! I know, wish us luck!! But I think I am well prepared and well stocked for our drive across the country. I have been collecting toys and activities from Target, consignment shops and from my own creations. I have many button pushing toys, which I usually hate, but they keep Gavin entertained. A keyboard/ "Brainy Baby" laptop toy, driving wheel that plays songs, animal see n' say to name a few.

I also have put together a lap desk full of paper, crayons and stickers and a magnetic board full of fun magnets to play with. We have Gavin's magna doodle, a dry erase board, cars and trucks and other small toys.

I also made a book of of pictures of everyone in our family. Gavin loves to look at pictures and name the different people in them so I thought this would help to keep him entertained too.

 

Oh, and I have TONS of books.

We are going to try to keep to a some what schedule-- breakfast in the car, 1-1 1/2 hour break at lunch time, snack in the car, 1-1 1/2 hour break for dinner and then hopefully Gavin will get tired for bed and fall asleep soon after.We may adjust this as we see how things go. I have a bag packed for picnics or just a stop outside with toys, hats and a blanket.

And this is our ride!! Imagine us for 4 days on the road in this!

Like I said wish us luck and if you have any advice PLEASE send it my way!!

Here we come Florida!!!

i heart fall...

Mark and I have often talked about how we LOVE fall. It is definitely our favorite season. Growing up in Florida I never experienced the changing of the leaves or the cool brisk weather, but I loved the feel of the season, the holidays, football and the cooling temperatures. Now that I have experienced the beautiful changes of this season I am truly in love. Mark and I agree, some day we are going to have to live somewhere where we can enjoy all of fall in all of its glory. I am so glad we got to enjoy a little fall color and flavor before heading back to Florida. Here is a small glimpse at our fall in the Rockies.

cheddar and hard cider fondue...

I have another very yummy fall recipe to share with you! Sorry, especially all the Florida people, for all the fall recipes. Fall comes early here to the mountains and I can't help enjoying it with food too! I know once I get back to Florida I will take a break from all this fall fare too!

Mark and I first made this fondue recipe last fall and fell in love with it. It is a nice change from the classic cheddar and beer, or swiss. The first time we made it we didn't want to shell out the money for gruyere cheese so we used all cheddar and it was still VERY tasty. I hope you enjoy it too! Let me know what you think.

Cheddar and Hard Cider Fondue

• 1 (12-ounce) bottle hard cider
• 3/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 pound Gruyere, grated
• 1/2 pound sharp Vermont or New York yellow cheddar
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon Bourbon, whiskey or apple jack, optional (we leave this out)

Fondue Dippers:

• Cooked chicken and apple sausages, chorizo, or mini hot dogs; sliced baguette or black bread, radishes, roasted shallots, roasted mushrooms or small fingerlings or baby potatoes, pears, apples, or pretzels.

Directions:

Heat cider, broth, Worcestershire, and garlic in a medium pot over medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Toss the cheeses together in a medium bowl. Sift the corn starch over the cheese, and toss to coat lightly.

Using a wooden spoon, sprinkle some cheese mixture into the warm liquid and continue to stir in small amounts of cheese until it is all incorporated and the fondue is smooth and melted, about 15 minutes. Stir in cayenne, salt and Bourbon, if using.

Transfer to a fondue pot or double boiler and serve with desired dippers.

Enjoy!

fall dinner coming right up...

Mark and I have been trying to make some favorite fall dishes this week before we head back to Florida. Last night it was beef and bok choy hot pot. An amazing recipe with the best flavors that I thought I would share for when fall heads your way.

Beef and Bok Choy Hot Pot

2 1/4 cups water
3/4 cup low-salt beef broth
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 pound beef stew meat, cut into bite sized pieces
1 1/4 cups chopped green onions
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. minced peeled fresh ginger
2 cups thinly sliced bok choy (I use spinach)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrot
2 cups hot cooked wide rice noodles or fettuccine

(**mom tip... Sorry to bore you non-moms. I try to do all of my prepping for dinner while Gavin has his snack. That way he is contained, I know... that sounds so bad, and when it is time to cook I can pretty much just throw everything in the pot,pan, bowl etc. to cook. We talk about the food and what I am doing. When he was little I would put him in his bouncy chair or later in his bumbo. Probably many moms do this and it is nothing new, but I like to share because I always like hearing other peoples' tips and secrets!! Help is always good! Feel free to share!! I need it too!!! This time Gavin was very into smelling the ginger. He had to share the experience with all his friends having snack with him!)

1. Combine first 6 ingredients, stirring with a whisk; set aside
2. Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add beef, browning on all sides. Add broth mixture, green onions, garlic, and ginger; bring to a boil
3. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until beef is tender. Stir in bok choy (or spinach) and carrot, and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Serve beef mixture over noodles in a bowl. A definite fork AND spoon meal.
Yield: 4 servings

As this recipe simmers your whole house smells so good! The cinnamon and ginger just make it feel like autumn!!

Gavin and I were VERY busy in the kitchen! He also helped me bake chocolate chip cookies to put in the freezer for our drive next week. Well... not all are going in the freezer. :) And I am hoping the whole egg scare is over because Gavin definitely got some dough in his mouth even though I said not to eat any of it!! The little pickle!



anxiously awaiting warm chocolate chip cookies. is there really anything better??



wanna go to the park...

The major hang out for kiddies and their mamas in Summit County, I have found, is the park. EVERYBODY goes to the park. A friend of mine and I were joking about it recently saying we never remember going to the playground growing up, but here it is all people do! It must be because in a few months everyone will be stuck indoors and the summer here is GLORIOUS. I don't complain! Here are some shots of Gavin and his buddies at a recent visit to the Dillon marina park. We actually were supposed to go to the park this morning with a friend, but the weather was nasty. We had freezing rain! The mountain peaks got snow last night!! We are going to try to head to the park with another friend tomorrow. See what I mean... whew!!

...notice all the boys are way to busy to pay attention to me :)

summer projects...

I know this will look like nothing to some people, but to me it is a BIG deal that I was able to complete some long over due projects this summer. With everything we have going on it is hard for me to find blocks of time to work on something. I am hoping to have more time this winter to accomplish more fun, especially creative, projects.

The first project I had to accomplish was organizing all my recipes. I love to collect tons of recipes from magazines, friends and the internet, but keeping them neat is a challenge. A couple of years ago I created these books to hold all of my recipes. One for recipe cards and the other for recipes pulled out of magazines. It helps to not have to write out the recipe on a new card. Instead I just three hole punch the page and into the binder it goes.

The problem I have, I think it is being right brained, I don't keep up with this system. I tend to let my new recipes pile up in a huge pile. You should have seen THIS pile before I tamed it!!

Along with recipes I also like to pull out other topics from magazines that I want to remember or do one day. I have a folder for decorating and design ideas (something I love to do), but I now had a whole bunch of other stuff. I created this file folder with headings- such as crafts, kids, holidays, organization (yes I cut out ideas for organization. I try!). Now I have all my ideas and things I want to accomplish in one place!

The last project I wanted to accomplish was my biggest priority. I had not done a baby book for Gavin! We moved when he was about 3 months old and with all the chaos of a new move and new business it never got done. I have felt SO guilty. So I took advantage of Mark traveling this summer and accomplished this...

I have to admit. Even though I love to do art I am not good at scrap booking. I have a hard time with all the stickers, paper, frames and such. It is all just too busy for my liking. But luckily I was able to find Martha Stewart's line of scrapbook supplies at Michael's Crafts. (I think it is available at Walmart too). Her line fit my taste perfectly and I came up with this book I hope Gavin will treasure.

i made this collage using kodak's website to conclude gavin's first year

Talking about projects I have to share this craft from my friends blog on felt monogramming. I LOVE this idea! After our move I am hoping to attempt this. Thought I would share! She posts the cutest things!
Well I am off to attempt to be productive today. I have had a hard time the past couple of days with SO much to do. We leave for Florida next week!! But how, when I am trying to pack, say no to this...

when he wants to play with these...

:) Hope you all have a good day and get sidetracked a little enjoying life!!