A Perfect Evening

We had one of those perfect evenings on Saturday. It was a nice 85 degrees with light breeze. Perfect for grilling and eating outside. Mark loves backyard BBQ's and is always up for using his new grill. It has been so hot and humid in Va this summer.

 We made one of our favorite meals so far on the grill. We grilled fresh Alaskan salmon on cedar planks, wild rice salad (from my favorite Ina Garten), roasted green beans and a tomato, sharp white cheddar cheese bread pudding. It was so good! Our son tried his first piece of salmon ever and he is 12. Then he ate the entire piece. It is starting to cool off in Va. We are hoping for more evenings like this before school starts.

My Busy Spring

I have been having lots of fun staying busy with a million different things. I am happy to say that I have taken advantage of every opportunity to hang with friends, go shopping at my Pottery Barn Outlet, go running with friends and lots of coffee dates esp. Ghost Light. Our moving date is approaching so quickly. I ran my first 30 K trail race in March with a couple of friends. Loved the experience of running in San Francisco but came away with an injured knee. That led me to the next 6 weeks of little running, PT and lots of exercises to get my knee back on track. I had been training for my second Team In Training marathon called the Flying Pig. It came down to the wire and I wasn't sure if I could do the distance with my knee not being normal. After praying about it and talking to my Dr's I decided to forge ahead. I ran the race and finished in a fine time. It was such a different run then my last marathon. Because of my knee I knew that I wouldn't do any personal records but wanted to enjoy the experience of this race. I ran for my sister Steffy who is doing amazing. It was quite the emotional roller coaster for me. God is good even when we don't understand why things happen the way that they do. We are moving in 4 short weeks. I have been blessed with amazing friends that have supported and loved our family over the last 4 years. We are sad to go but excited to see where God leads us next.

Pioneer Woman's newest book

I love that you can make the topping ahead of time!

Yum!

Pioneer Woman's newest cookbook came out a few days ago. I want to make everything! I decided to try the Make Ahead Muffin Melts for dinner last night.  Be warned! Do not make these for your family for dinner on a night when you have to run 60 minutes of hills! I couldn't help myself from sampling a few too many bites of these before I headed out for my run. Lets just say that I didn't do so great on the run last night and leave it there. The muffin melts were divine. A great hearty and filling dinner for everyone. I did enjoy one when I got home at 8:30 last night. I just know to not make anything that tempting before a run. I halved the recipe and still had leftovers. Everyone enjoyed one for breakfast this morning.

A great way to start February by making Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies.

So happy that it is now February! January seemed like a really long month to me. I found this recipe today and couldn't wait to try it.  The dough turned out great and I can't wait to see how they taste. I might have to do a tasting of these with the kids when they get home from school.

The dough turned out really dark from using all brown sugar.

These cooled for 15 minutes before I took them off the pan.

My little book worm!

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup dark brown sugar; firmly packed
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate, cut in small coarse chunks (Lindt or Ghiradeli
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixer, cream the butter with both sugars until very well blended. Mix in the vanilla and the egg very well. Then fold in the salt, flour and chocolate chunks.
Form into small or large balls (walnut-sized or golf-ball-sized, as desired).
Place on the baking sheets and press down slightly. Bake on upper rack until done, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on racks.
Makes about 2 dozen large cookies
Disclaimer-
I love fresh baked cookies from the oven. I froze half of the dough for a later use. I also let the cookies cool and placed them in ziplock bags to go with the kids lunches later on this week. We all tried a warm cookie with cold milk and loved them! Yum!

Christmas Vacation

We were able to go home for the first time in 7 years at Christmas time. It was so nice celebrating Christ's birth with extended family. We had such a great experience with both sides of our family. We were able to go on lots of family outings, watch our niece's Christmas program, celebrate 2 family Christmas parties and have many lovely, family dinners. We even got to go to downtown Portland for a date night and movie!  I loved getting to go on running dates with Mark, hiking with family and enjoying the beautiful weather in Central Oregon. It would be chilly in the morning and up to 50 by mid-day.  The most important part was just being together. I continue to be amazed by my sister Steffy and how well she is doing. Thank-you God for the special time we had with our families! It was such a blessing to all be together.
Now back to school and the real world as of tomorrow morning!


Anna and her sweet cousin Calvin





One of my favorite memories was sitting and talking with my precious sister.





Jonathan and Sawyer were great  buddies.



My handsome boy!



My sweet and lovely sisters!



Hiking in Central Oregon





Beautiful day with my family.



Cousin time at the top of Beacon Rock





Hiking at Beacon Rock in Wa.