Yum!

Michael and I went to dinner over at some friends from Michael's work last night. For dessert they made us these apple dumplings. I'm not really an apple dessert kind of a person, but these were AWESOME! I know the whole Mountain Dew thing sounds a little weird, but give them a try. You will not be disappointed.

Um, just a little FYI: peel your apples. I know, I know - obvious right? I guess I just wasn't thinking tonight. Oh well, they were still good.

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

* 2 (8 count) cans crescent rolls

* 3-4 tart apple

* 1 1/2 cups sugar

* 1/2 cup butter

* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

* 1 (12 ounce) can Mountain Dew soda

Directions
1. Spray a 13x9 baking dish or pan.

2. Peel and slice apples into 16 pieces.

3. Roll each apple slice in 1 section of crescent roll.

4. Place rolled slices in pan in two rows, put extras along side.

5. Melt butter, add sugar and cinnamon and pour over apples.

6. Pour can of Mountain Dew over all.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

8. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

I Miss California!

Don't get me wrong, I love it here in good old Idaho too. But I just get in such a dilemma as to where I really want to end up someday. There are good things about everywhere I guess. It's just hard to find the right balance between affordability, good work environment, good area to raise a family, and on and on. A lot is just going to depend on where we get job offers. But how can you not love the beach, the awesome weather, the fact that there is always something to go and do, etc etc. Yeah, I'd miss snow... on Christmas. But I guess in a bigger city I'd miss Michael more, since he's probably have to work a lot more hours. We'll see. Why can't there just be an easy answer? Maybe we'll just move to Honduras, like Michael wants. Oh the decisions!! :)

Michael Insert: Well, about this Honduras thing...I think the only time I want to LIVE there is during law school finals when I just feel the need to throw the books away and live in the jungle (like those Brazilian, "lets shoot the airplane with our bows and arrows" tribe). However, once finals are over, I'm content to just visit my beloved Hondo. Just wanted to make that clear.

My New Do

I did it. I went and got some hair chopped off. We kind of used the pictures from the last post to go by and went from there. I really like it. I think I'll like it even more once my new bangs learn how they're supposed to hang and once I get back a little bit of length. It sure does feel good to have a change!

Time for a Haircut

I've decided that it's beyond time for me to get my hair cut. Someone told me once that if you haven't gotten a complement on your hair in the past month, it's time for a change. Now I'm just kicking myself for putting it off until now when I don't know of a place that would do a good job. Kristi, I need you to come to Idaho to do my hair!!! Stupid me. Oh well. Here's some pictures of what I've been thinking. Any thoughts?

Photoscape and Blurb

I'm toying with some new things. A friend of mine just got a Blurb book printed. Basically you make your own book using their software, etc and they print it out in a nice book. It would be so nice to be able to do digital scrapbooking (I HATE having to drag everything out to do normal scrapbooking, only to have Jessica wake up 2 seconds later or have her try to get into everything), AND be able to have a good way to have it printed up. I've been using Photoshop to do my stuff so far, but my friend told me about this free editing software called Photoscape. It doesn't do as much as Photoshop, but the more I get used to using it, the more I like it. Here are a couple things I made today during Jessica's nap.

Softball

I was really hoping to have some pictures of Michael's work softball game last night. But rather than take pictures, I had to play. Let's just say that I am NOT a softball player. Michael did a really good job. When I was up to bat not only did I strike out, I struck out on a swing to a very over my head ball. The ref was like, "Well... she swung at it, so I guess it's a strike." :) Luckily my next time up I actually hit the ball and eventually scored. Hopefully me playing will not be a trend.

Jessica was super funny the other day. At breakfast she looks over at Michael and says, "Daddy is so beautiful!" I just love to see how her sweet little mind works.

More about Jessica

OK, let's face it - pretty much 99% of this blog is dedicated to Jessica. But that's ok. She's the cute one. :) Summer is in full swing (even though it was snowing here like a week ago). Jessica is LOVING the whole yard thing. She's had the chance to try out all kinds of fun new things. First off, we got out an old tricycle to let her play one. She still has some time before her feet will reach, but it's fun to watch her try.


Our next-door neighbors have these great push cars for little kids. Jessica was SOOO excited when they told her she could come and play on them whenever she wanted. She spends more time in their yard than ours! :) She's still figuring out how to go forward instead of backwards, but she loves every second of it.

Jessica also learned the joys of ice cream on a stick today. We just sat her outside in her diaper and let her go to town. She was one happy little camper.

Afterwards she played in the hose and got clean-ish. I think after all that cold water from the hose she was happy for her nice warm bath.

Adjusting

Jessica is in the process of adjusting to life in Idaho. Michael and I are also. But the inevitable happened today. Jessica walked up to me and was all, "Mommy, go to the beach? Play in the sand?" Poor girl. How do you explain the fact that you are hundreds of miles away from the beach to someone her age? I just pointed out the fact that it was raining outside and would be much too cold for the beach.

Speaking of the rain... once it had stopped raining there were a decent number of worms out on the sidewalk. Jessica was very excited about these "snakes." I explained to her that we shouldn't touch them, but just look at them. She understood and every time she pointed at one she'd say, "don't touch it!" Then she noticed a new one and without thinking she reaches down and grabs it. I immediately tell her not to touch. She dropped it in a heartbeat. Then she did something that totally surprised me - she started to cry. Not because she was upset, but because she was so sorry to have done something she knew she shouldn't have. It was like she was apologizing. I had to spend the next couple minutes reassuring her that it was ok, that she forgot she wasn't supposed to. Poor thing. Such a sweety.

There is something else I have to mention because it is just so darn funny. Michael joined the law firm softball team today. He said he figured the last time he played something even similar was back in elementary with T-ball. Let's just say that I am super excited to get pictures at his game next week.