The Big .33333333

Our little man is already four months old. He has changed so much in such a short amount of time. I set out to take some pictures to document this milestone, which turned out to be quite a task. It seems that once that little red light is in his face it is awfully hard to crack a smile. We did manage to get a few accidental smiles. He is now rolling over both ways. His world is about to grow exponentially in the next few months! We saw the doc for his check up and he is 15 pounds 9 ounces and 25.25 inches long. A far cry from his 7 pounds and 19 inches. We have also been able to get some good laughs – mama is pretty funny, for now. I love his innocence. I also love it when he sleeps 7 ½ hours like last night :) I’ll take more of those!

Pics from Chicago

Two and Counting

Corey and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary this week!!!!! We enjoyed an adult dinner out at a quaint Italian restaurant called Luciano’s (I totally recommend it by the way). My friend Nicole was so sweet to come and hang out with Lawrence. I feel like I should comment on how fast the years have gone and that I can’t believe we’re already on number 3. Well, it has gone fast. But it feels like a lot longer than 2 years. You’re probably saying “ouch, Abby, doesn’t Corey read this?”, but I mean it in the most positive and respectful way (and before you get too mad at me – Corey does agree). SO MUCH has happened in two short years.

We have honeymooned in Costa Rica, skied in Colorado, canoed in West Virginia, celebrated in Kansas City, snow shoed in Grand Lake CO, danced in Chicago, shopped in Osage Beach MO, played in Marion IL… I can’t wait to see what we’re up to next! We have lived without common amenities in our own home, put everything back together in a working order, and then moved into the basement to start again. We hosted our first family holiday dinner (that’s a big deal for a youngest child!). We have made some great friends through our couple’s bible study. We have experienced the joy of pregnancy and childbirth. And we have shared our love with our little man for almost four months! Not to mention the countless laughs, dinners together, chats, dreams for the future, reminiscing of the fun times we’ve experienced…

The Lord has built a wonderful life for us to appreciate. Here's to the upcoming 222 years. Or however many we’re given :)


Engaged on Pikes Peak





Dinner in Costa Rica














Church in Denver


Hiking 14ers

Zucchini Overload

One of my new favorite things to do is to go to the Farmers Market in Andover. Each Wednesday Lawrence and I venture out in the 100+ degree heat to check out the fresh produce, pastries, salsas, jams, and pastas. Corey and I have hopes of having our own garden next year; but with the arrival of the little man, we didn’t have the time to commit to it this year. So instead we enjoy the crop from our neighbors while we strategize our own planting for next season.

In case you have ended up with an abundance of zucchini in your own garden, I thought you might enjoy these new recipes that I have tried recently. They passed Corey’s inspection; although he is a pretty easy judge. And I thought they were pretty good myself!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
½ t baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
3 t vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini1
½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 can (8 oz) unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained (I vetoed this ingredient)

In a large bowl, combine the flower, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and baking powder. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the remaining ingredients.

Transfer to two greased 8 x 4 inch loaf pans. Bake at 350* for 60 – 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Be sure to adjust cooking times if your pan is a slightly different size. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack.


Southwest Zucchini Boats

4 medium zucchini
1 lb. ground beet
¾ cup salsa
¼ cup dry bread crumbs
¼ cup minced fresh cilantro
1 t chili powder
½ t ground cumin
¼ t salt
1/8 t pepper
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, dividedSour cream, optional

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise; cut a thin slice from the bottom of each with a sharp knife to allow zucchini to sit flat. Scoop out pulp, leaving ¼ inch shells.

Place shells in an ungreased microwave safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender; drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat; stir in the salsa, bread crumbs, cilantro, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and ½ cup cheese. Spoon into zucchini shells.

Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Microwave 3-4 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and zucchini are tender. Serve with sour cream if desired.

Shi-Town

Although Shiloh is a dear friend of mine – this blog is not a shout out to her :) Sorry Shi!

Our family headed to Chicago last week for my cousins wedding. It was great to spend some time with my parents, sister and her fam, and aunt and uncle. And it was our first vacation as a family of three (Copper got demoted). I have only spent about 4 hours in Chicago previously (remember our night out, Jamie?!)-- so I loved seeing a practically new city. The wedding was outside on Lake Michigan which was fabulous and the reception was a grand event at the historic Palmer House hotel. I would say the highlights were my parents hittin’ the dance floor and me getting poo down my nice dress. It wasn’t my poo. I guess that’s what I get for wearing a dry clean only dress with a 2 month old. I may or may not learn my lesson. Other highlights were the 5 course meal and dancing with my 3 year old niece (with our shoes off of course).

We enjoyed some classic Chicago cuisine while there. Valois Cafeteria was wonderful food in Hyde Park. Supposedly one of President Obama’s favs. And you can’t leave Chi-Town without some Chicago style pizza – although we almost did due to the wait. Giordanos had fabulous pizza – thick crust, lots of cheese, and the sauce was on top! We were also able to tour the University of Chicago campus, take an architectural boat tour of the city, and meet up with some friends of Corey’s for breakfast. We really made the most of our time! I appreciated the fact that we could get so many places on foot. I also appreciated the fact that my husband has an internal navigation system in his head that got us everywhere that we couldn’t reach on foot. Oh yeah, we were also extras in the upcoming movie Transformers 3. They were taping the movie while we were there and had roads shut down. We saw the set and explosions from the 4th floor of the parking garage in Trump Tower. I imagine that’s sort of like being an extra.

The train was the way to travel with a little one. The “sleeper” cars allowed for some privacy and a way to lie down horizontally. Not much sleep for me though. But it was an efficient 12 hours since we did not have to stop for feedings and dirty diapers. We had 3 meals on the train. It was kinda cool because you made a reservation and went to dinner just like you would at a stationary restaurant. The food was edible; what you would expect when they start out with a mobile disadvantage. And the “sleeping” came a lot easier after a very busy four days in the city.

Here are a few pictures. I’ll post more once I get them from my mom.

Our "Dining" Car

Our "Sleeping" Car - they are bunk beds. You can see the strap on top that kept Corey from rolling out!

Our beds could also be made into 2 seats

The night wasn't complete without getting to hold Baby Lawrence "all by myself". Lynn owns 2 dolls - both of which are named Baby Lawrence! He is so loved.

Lawrence waiting patiently for his pizza! More patiently than the rest of us!

Cruising the rails with Grandpa John!

We were really packing it from both ends!

Plum Pickins

The state of Kansas is well known for its Sandhill Plums. Okay, maybe the only people who know about the plums are Kansans or those related to a Kansan. So I guess that wouldn’t really make them ‘well known’ by anyone other than us. The point being that there are these plums that are unique to the hills of Kansas. They grow on thorny bushes in the ditches or in fields and are super tart to taste. Now that my out-of-stater’s are up to speed…

I remember my grandmother having Sand Plum Jelly on the farm. My grandfather told me that she made it every year that there were plums. I don’t really like jelly and can’t distinctly remember ever tasting Sand Plum Jelly before, but I decided that this would be a wonderful opportunity to make jelly for the first time! My mother-in-law and mother and myself (none of which were avid jelly producers) got together and made some jelly last week. I have to say it was a lot of work, but with 3 of us it was manageable. Tacy (mother-in-law) did the hardest part of picking the plums ahead of time. We had 3 gallons to work with and no idea how much juice this would make. We washed them and got rid of the bad plums. Then boiled them to extract the beautiful pinkish reddish juice. Of course it was over 100 degrees that day and soooo hot in the kitchen. After that we used a nifty metal “seeder” (I don’t really know the technical name) that they used back in the day. This allowed us to squeeze every ounce of juice and pulp out of the plums and leave the seeds and skins inside the metal cone. Then there was the discussion of how much sugar to add. Side note – if you are a jelly lover, then there is a reason that the serving size is 1 tablespoon. We used 11 POUNDS of sugar! After sampling the juice (I thought there was no way that it could really be tart enough to need that much sugar) we determined that it really needed that much sugar. So we cooked up the juice, sugar, and pectin – and poured our jars of jelly. For not really knowing what we were doing or if it was going to be any good, we sort of went all out. We ended up with 39 jars of jelly! Since the going rate is $5 a jar, I figure we can sell them 2 for 1 since it is our rookie batch. We will collect some feedback and jack the price up next year based on "overwhelming popularity".

A Special Introduction

Lawrence was able to meet his sweet cousin on his one month birthday. It was such a special few days. My sister and her family were passing thru Pratt on their way to their new home in Illinois. We got to spend a few days with them and they got to cuddle with Lawrence. Lynn turned 3 and we helped her celebrate her birthday. She was SO good with the baby and was so much help in taking care of him. Auntie Abby has been trumped and is no longer the popular choice. I suppose I can live with that!