Big Girl Bike

Olivia has gotten so tall, lately. For an early Birthday present, she got a new big bike!!! She was very grown out of her other hand-me-down bike. It was exciting! She is so grown up. We took it to Davis with us. Davis has the most bicycle paths than any other city in the US. We loved hanging out there in between fertility appointments.

From New Album 12/7/08 7:10 AM

From New Album 12/7/08 7:10 AM

From New Album 12/7/08 7:10 AM

Mandarin Festival

These posts are a little out of order. Sorry, about that. We headed up to Auburn the weekend before Thanksgiving for the Mountain Mandarin Festival. I love Mandarins!!!!! It was so cool. Each farmer had a booth with samples at the front. You could just taste test your way around and pick which oranges you wanted. It was great! 

We were so happy to join some of our friends, Doug, Jessamyn, Oliver, and Franchesca. They were excellent hosts. Olivia LOVED that her and Oliver's names were so similar. They had fun together. We hung out at Doug and Jessamyn's house for take out sushi. Yum! What a great day! I feel like I've known Jessamyn for a lot longer than I have. She's great! 

Thanksgiving 2008

We had such a nice celebration with friends at our house this year. Some of my dishes turned out better than others. The Green Bean Casserole was definitely a hit. I should make two next year. It was pretty stressful leading up to the party. I managed to cook most of the food the afternoon and night before. But, it was still a sacrafice on Stephen and Olivia's part Thanksgiving morning being rushed and ordered around. I hope they thought it was worth it. Here are a few pictures from the party. It was a busy weekend but really fun.

 

Here Olivia had already ditched her cute little dress. She wanted her "play" clothes on.

From New Album 12/7/08 3:19 PM

From New Album 11/30/08 9:05 AM

Our Thankful Tree.

From New Album 12/7/08 3:19 PM

Julie, Sandy, Trish, Kristin and Zachary. 

From New Album 12/7/08 3:19 PM

I think maybe they are having fun. What do you think?

From New Album 11/30/08 9:05 AM

Olivia had get a little visit in with her friend, Jessica. 

From New Album 11/30/08 9:05 AM

Life...

Well, the title of my Blog is "Life, Love, and Veggies". Here's a little life for you. I'm swamped, overwhelmed and feel behind. This is why I needed to go to church, today. I was able to stop having a pity party in my head and reflect. What is this Advent Season all about? Preparation, anticipation, reflection, etc. I am feeling some major anticipation, right now, as we anticipate whether or not this fertility treatment is successful. I know that God is in control, so why even worry? Yeah, that's easier said than done. I pray for strength to deal with the dissapointment that might come. 

I have been reflecting, today, as to what kind of Mother, Wife, Sister, Daughter, Friend I am. How do I want to be? I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It's so easy to get caught up in the perfection race. Let me just tell you...my house is a wreck. I'm not organized. We just got our Christmas tree up and it's not decorated, yet. I just ordered my cards. Yes, that's ordered. Not out in the mail. :-) My friends set the bar really high. I was happy to go to a Christmas party, yesterday, where they had Christmas crafts, so Olivia could enjoy crafting and I didn't have to do any of it!!! I reflect on things I've done in the past few months that have taken up extreme amounts of my time. As Stephen tells me, I do too much. I need to slow down....start saying, "No". Yeah, it's not in my genes to say "No" or to not put every bit of my time into making my friends and their families feel special. Note to self- After Olivia's party on Saturday, don't host anymore parties for a long, long time. 

As we prepare for this Christmas and New Years, it's easy to get caught up in all the wrong things. Please, God help me focus on all the right things...Olivia and Stephen, preparing my heart to celebrate Jesus' birth, peace with who I am and will never be, giving to the less fortunate, etc. The list goes on and on. 

Life is filled with ups and downs...preparing for a Christmas without your precious baby boy, saying goodbye to your husband as he deploys for a year, Olivia's adorable giggle, being reunited with family for the Holidays, dirty dishes and clutter, losing jobs and businesses, a husband that cleans up after dinner, a husband that doesn't clean up after dinner, a failing economy, a great workout, hanging out with amazing friends at Beale, poop on the carpet, etc.

From this point on my blog will be real, not one dimensional, as I think it has been so far. Along with the joy and fun will be sadness and stress. I plan to show you all of it.   

Sweet Baby Nolan

Our family lost Nolan Michael Sitton Thursday, November 13th. It has been a sad time for all of us. We are very proud of Michael and Davra. Their faith is so strong and they are an inspiration for everyone. Olivia wanted to send Michael and Davra something to help them feel a little better. She drew them some beautiful pictures. Here they are...

This is the cover of our card. I was impressed with Olivia's name which she wrote very quickly. Very cool. Also, her faces now have more detail, including eyelashes!! Very exciting for anyone that has taked any child development classes. :-)

From New Album 11/18/08 8:28 PM

Here is the inside of the card. Olivia made most of the letters but needed a little help. She LOVED having her arms traced. I must do it everyday, now!

From New Album 11/18/08 8:28 PM

Here is a picture Olivia drew of Nolan in Heaven. He is with God (on the left) and Angels (on the right and at the top). Nolan also is playing with rattles.

From New Album 11/18/08 8:28 PM

Olivia continued to draw on the back of the picture above. She told me this one is her in the bathtub. I noticed the adorable little belly button she drew on her tummy. So cute!

From New Album 11/18/08 8:28 PM

Hopefully, Michael and Davra will enjoy our cards. We love you guys!

Puppy love...

Our little puppy is growing so fast. He seems to grow inches over night. He has a nice new fancy (and expensive) fence to run around in but has yet to stay in it. We plan on fixing that with chicken wire tomorrow. Let's hope! Here are some of the latest pics of Charlie. He's sleeping through the night, is house trained, and graduated from Puppy School. He loves to shake hands and roll over. The trainer took the cutest graduation picture with a mortar board and everything. It's currently displayed in the store but we get to take it home in a month. I can't wait to show off our little graduate. He cracks me up the way he contorts his body when he sleeps.

From New Album 11/1/08 7:06 PM

From New Album 11/1/08 7:06 PM

From New Album 11/1/08 7:06 PM

From New Album 11/1/08 7:06 PM

From New Album 11/1/08 7:06 PM

From New Album 11/1/08 7:06 PM

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

One of our favorite activities every October is going to Bishop's Farm. The best part is the time we get to spend with our friends. Here is a collection of pictures from our adventures at the Pumpkin Farm.

squash elbow

I've been cuttin' a lot of squash, lately. I was in the gym lifting weights and got a pain in my right elbow. I'm pretty sure I can be diagnosed with Squash Elbow! We've made squash soup at least twice a week for the past month. We love squash (that's including pumpkin, which is actually just a squash). Here are a few things we've made.

We love this soup with summer squash and with winter squash. This is an awesome fat free soup! Stephen could eat the whole pot.
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2008/08/sunny-summer-squash-soup.html

This is a fabulous not low fat soup. The cashew cream is amazing!
http://veganyumyum.com/2008/10/delicata-squash-bisque/

Here's a picture of a pumpkin...the type that they use in Libby's canned pumpkin. Jim so graciously gave me one. I cut into it and was in awe of the color. I had to take a picture of it. So, beautiful and vibrantly orange. Love it. I wish my photography skills and my camera could do it justice. 

From New Album 10/20/08 6:43 PM

From New Album 10/20/08 6:43 PM

Flat Stanley

We had some fun adventures with Flat Stanley in September. My soon to be sister-in-law, Jessica, was doing a school project. We toted him everywhere we went. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed his time in California. He can come back and visit anytime!

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

From New Album 9/5/08 1:33 PM

From New Album 9/18/08 9:16 PM

From New Album 9/23/08 2:27 PM

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays here. Well, okay it is Stephen's favorite but for me it takes second to Christmas. Anyway, we love to have fun on Halloween. Maybe Stephen just likes it because it's okay for him to mousse up his hair. His hair didn't move an inch all night. haha!

We trick-or-treated on our street, which is always fun and we got to do it with all of our good friends. This is our third year to trick-or-treat with the Kleist girls. We will so miss them next year. Belle was beautiful and our little pirate even got a few treats at friends' houses. Lucky Dog.

Happy World Vegetarian Awareness Month!

From New Album 10/20/08 6:43 PM

I'm a little late on this but every year, October 1st kicks off World Vegetarian Awareness Month. This month let's celebrate life, health, and compassion!!! The simple act of choosing vegetarian meals is a powerful force for positive change — impacting ourselves, other people, animals and our Earth. Celebrating this month will be a fun way to help everyone learn about the benefits of vegetarianism, which include (taken from http://worldvegetarianday.org/index.htm):

• reducing the risk of major killers like heart disease, stroke and cancers while cutting exposure to food borne pathogens;
• offering a viable answer to feeding the world's hungry, through more efficient use of grains and other crops;
• saving animals from suffering in factory farm conditions and from painful slaughter;
• conserving vital, but limited freshwater, fertile topsoil and other precious resources;
• preserving irreplaceable ecosystems, such as rainforests and other wildlife habitats;
• mitigating the ever-expanding environmental pollution of animal agriculture; and the list goes on.

So, have a great October! Experiment with a new meatless meal and eat A LOT of veggies!!! Yeah, veggies!

FYI: The picture above is of our CSA share, this week. I love fall!

When You Wish Upon A Star...

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires will come to you

If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme

When you wish upon a star as dreamers do

(Fate is kind, she brings to those who love

The sweet fulfillment of their secret longing)

Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you thru

When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.

Our wish (and prayer) was for our family to come together safely and have a marvelous time at Disney. Our wish definitely came true! We were all healthy and got there and back safely. It was amazing!

Here are a few of my most "magical" moments from the vacation:

1. Seeing our family for the first time and getting a huge round of hugs. (We like to hug in our family.) :-)

2. Watching Olivia (dressed as Belle on formal night) tap a little boy (dressed in a shorts suit) on the shoulder and ask him to dance. He accepted and they spun around a few times holding hands. It was soooo cute!

3. Seeing fireworks shot out of the smokestack of the Disney Wonder. It's the only ship that has a fireworks show.

4. Listening to the horn and chime on the ship. It was the first 7 notes of "When you wish upon a star."

5. Watching Olivia meet Belle for the first time and have her picture made with her.

6. Watching Mary Poppins outside on the cruise ship in the middle of the ocean with a nice breeze...and enjoying it with Jess, Mom, Dad, Olivia and Stephen. That was magic!

7. After the last production on the ship (called Dreams), Tinker Bell showered the ship with pixie dust (they showed it on a video screen), then the ceiling of the theatre began to sparkle spreading from the front to the back. That was a WOW moment!

8. Running into Shelly in the bathroom at the Magic Kingdom and giving her a big squeeze! Also, seeing Olivia and Kalei play together, again. They were so happy!!! Seeing Alice so shy about her Aunt Julie. I'll get a hug from you next time, Alice.

9. Watching Olivia throw down on the dance floor in Germany with her cousin Patrick. They held hands and frequently embraced. Those embraces often ended up with them on the ground. They were into hugging and falling together. :-)

10. Watching Stephen LOVE Epcot. He was just giddy after riding in the front of the Monorail!!! He loved every bit of Epcot. Well, except the Universe of Energy. :-)

11. Riding Soarin' with the family including Olivia. That was the coolest ride! Flying above California was awesome!!!!

12. Riding bikes together on Castaway Cay.

13. Seeing Olivia light up when every "Cast Member" called her Princess.

14. Eating a ton of awesome Vegetarian food that I didn't have to prepare!!

I'm sure I forgot a few. The whole trip was absolute Magic. Being with our family is what we loved the most! Enjoy the Disney tunes while you check out our pictures.

P.S.- When you are ready to book your Disney vacation just give me a call. I can book it for you! :-)

Belle

 Thank goodness I didn't order that Mermaid costume a few weeks, ago. Man, Olivia's tastes can change at the blink of an eye. For about a year, Olivia has been totally enthralled with everything mermaids. She didn't want to be a chef or a dancer or a softball player when she grew up. Those things were nice but not as cool as being a mermaid. I read her The Little Mermaid about 50 times and kept re-checking it out from the library. Well, all of that is out the window. I kept seeing pictures of little girls at formal night on the cruise wearing Princess dresses. I just knew there would be a lot of tears, if Olivia wasn't wearing one, also. So, we walked into the Disney Store....look it's Ariel's dress, and Cinderella's dress, and Snow White's. She passed all those by and went straight for the Belle dress. I kept asking if she was SURE she wanted Belle and not Ariel. I was soooooo confused. Apparently, Olivia and Kalei have a connection more than we thought because Kalei also got a Belle dress. I promise I didn't tell Olivia that Kalei was going to be Belle, too. All Stephen has been hearing is "Daddy, will you be the Beef?" That makes me laugh every time. We worked on pronunciation of Beast, last night. haha. I snapped a few shots of "Belle" in her new ball gown. It was Olivia's idea to pose with a book and the empty VCR case. haha. The more I see her in the dress, the more I just love it. I think it is the most beautiful of all the Princess dresses or maybe I'm just biased because I've seen it on my Olivia. 
We'll be on vacation for a while, so this is a preview of Disney pictures to come. 

From New Album 9/22/08 3:36 PM

From New Album 9/22/08 3:36 PM

From New Album 9/22/08 3:36 PM

Twisties and Gems, Please.

In preparation for our trip to Disney, Olivia and I got haircuts. It had only been 4 1/2 mos!!! We needed a little pampering. :-) Olivia had a new hairstylist, this time. Same salon but new stylist. She did an awesome job. She gave Olivia the choice of how she wanted her hair styled. Braids, pulled back, twisties, bows, butterflies, and gems. After a few seconds of thought, Olivia said "Twisties and gems, please." I had no idea what twisties were. I was a little scared. I think she made a great choice. It was nice to have her hair completely out of her face. I could see those big brown eyes and that beautiful smile. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She has become quite the photographer, so she insisted that I needed a picture of my haircut. She makes me feel so special. 

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

Grandaddy Myron

My Grandaddy was sick, last week, and had to go into the hospital for some tests. He's feeling better, now, though still low on energy. He gave us all a good scare! Olivia and I decided we should send him something to make him smile. So, we e-mailed him a special card. Well, Mom told me yesterday that he never got the pictures. I decided to post them on our Blog. I heard that he has viewed the Blog. So, Grandaddy...this is for you!

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

From New Album 9/17/08 2:32 PM

A Day In The Life of Olivia...

I decided to do a picture journal of one of Olivia's typical days. Just looking at the pictures makes me feel so blessed. I love being a mom and getting to be at home with Olivia. I'm pretty sure Olivia loves it, too. I think I might have to take pictures of her doing her chores everyday. You wouldn't believe how easy it was to get her to brush her teeth and comb her hair!!!! She is not one to shy away from a picture and that extra incentive just really got her moving through her duties.

A must for every morning is dressing up. Today, she was a ballerina!

We covered most of the day but forgot to take the camera into Spinning class at the Gym. Olivia accompanies me and is my personal trainer. "Faster, Mommy! Faster, Mommy!" She will often point out how fast other people's wheels are spinning and if I'm pedaling really fast, she'll give me a thumbs up! Watching her while I work out, really does make me work harder. I want to set a good example for her.

Here is A Day in the Life of Olivia...

Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

Olivia and I decided to make some cookies after dinner, last night. To encourage her to cook/bake with me...I tell her the best thing about cooking is that you get to taste what you make before anyone else. Olivia enjoyed the perks of baking last night. The picture says it all...I love chocolate! The cookies were yummy. I subbed Stevia for half the sugar and subbed applesauce for half the oil. They weren't perfect but they were baked with love by Olivia and I, so that's all that matters. I love my little sidekick! Don't you just wanta pinch those cute cheeks!

From Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

From Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

Dessert Party

Back in July, I hosted our Global Hawk Squadron Spouse's Coffee. We had such a nice turnout. Thank goodness because we had a lot of desserts. It was a fun night with old friends and new friends. And we all had sugar highs by the time we left! haha. My friend, Trish Larsen, was nice enough to stop by and take a few pictures for me. Thanks, Trish! Check out her website www.tlarsen.com. Stephen and I are on her website. She is very talented!

Let's get back to the desserts...my favorite topic. I've decided sugar is evil and one of the worst things I can put in my body. That being said, I love to bake sweet treats. I love to host parties, also. So, it was a perfect combination....a Dessert Party!!!!

I also have to give a shout out to Sandy and Jessica who were my party consultants. Sandy helped me bake all these delicious desserts. Thanks, Sandy! Your double ovens, rock!

The menu included...Mini Cookies 'N' Cream Cupcakes with a little Oreo (the vegan version) on top

From Dessert Party

Raspberry Blackout Cake with Ganache-y Frosting decorated with marzipan flowers

From Dessert Party

Mini Parfaits (No-Bake Pecan Crust crumbled, Vegan Vanilla mousse, blueberries, strawberries whipped, chocolate chips, and a cherry on top)

From Dessert Party

Also, we had Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. Olivia and I picked the flowers at Jim's Farm that morning.

From Dessert Party

These are the little door prizes I put together. They were filled with cookies!

From Dessert Party

Tahoe

There is no place like Tahoe...the fresh mountain air, the beautiful blue lake, the high altitude that makes Olivia's nose bleed. haha. We had such a fun adventure, last Friday. Our trip to Tahoe kicked off a great Labor Day weekend! We stopped at Squaw Valley first and headed up on the Cable Car/Gondola. Charlie accompanied us to this dog mecca. The altitude didn't seem to bother him but man, did Olivia have one heck of a nose bleed once we got to the top.

Picture this. Stephen is in the bathroom. I'm taking Charlie out for a potty break. Olivia is running around on the grass. I see a little blood, then a lot of blood! Aaahhhh! I have no wipes or paper towels or anything to wipe it on. I have no idea where the closest bathroom is and Charlie decides that he wants to exert his independence by refusing to move a muscle. So, we stand there trying to get control of the blood. Olivia has blood ALL over her face. I have it all over my hands. And finally, Stephen walks out the door. Hallelujia!!! The look on his face was one of terror. We started walking inside past the information desk. The girl there says, "Uhhhh, do you need a bandaid or something?" Uhhh, no! I said no we need some paper towels!!!! Anyway, we made it to the bathroom, got her all cleaned up, and I made Stephen promise he would never leave me, again.

We roller skated at the top of Squaw Valley. I have never laughed so hard. Stephen and I had flashbacks of Fun Time Skateland. Those of you from Jackson will know what I'm talking about. I love the 80's! We, of course, made time for a "couple's skate" and the Hokey Pokey. We also tried our hand at roller skating backwards! ha, yeah right! Olivia is way better than either of us!

Olivia got to bungie jump. No, we didn't throw her off the side of the mountain with a bungie. It was a trampoline bungie thingy. It was the best 10 bucks we've ever spent. You can see from the pics that she had a blast!

Then, we headed to Tahoe City to the park. My favorite park ever!!! You don't get any more picturesque than this park. I rolled Olivia's pants up and she headed into the Lake. I could have skipped the rolling of the pants because she just had a seat in the water, clothes and all. Boy, did she have fun! I was amazed at how tough her feet were. The rocks were so painful to me but she just trotted over them begging me to come out further and further. I couldn't take the pain!

Anyway, we loved getting out and exploring Tahoe, again. Enjoy the pics!

Charlie Brown

We have a new addition to our family and his name is Charlie...well, officially his name is Charlie Brown. Olivia chose his name. She couldn't decide between Spiderman, Peter Parker, or Charlie. Thank goodness she chose Charlie!

He is a 9 week old Black Lab that we got free from a friend of a friend. He needed a home, so we made the big leap into doggie parenthood. So far, so good. He is a smart and playful little pup that plays hard then totally crashes!

Olivia is just beside herself with excitement that she has a real puppy! She asked Stephen, "Daddy isn't this fantastic? We have a puppy!!!!" She is doing well with her role as big sister. She even read him a book about puppy housetraining today in the car and said "...and soon you'll be housetrained, too!"

I'm sure I will have more to blog about little Charlie but this is his introduction. Enjoy the slideshow!

Jim's Farm

Definitely one of the highlights of our time here in California has been Jim's Farm. We have been members of his Community Supported Agriculture for 2 years. We get a share of his crops every week. Basically, we get a box of veggies and fruit from him every Thursday. Olivia and I go to his farm Thursday afternoons and sometimes Wednesday mornings.

Olivia has become an expert tomato picker...um....or should I say expert tomato eater. :-) Often I will look over to her after about 20 min of picking and notice she has not put one tomato in her basket. They've all been put in her mouth. haha. She is so funny. Olivia's friend Caroline enjoys picking the tomatoes, too, however she doesn't like the taste, so she feeds them all to Olivia!!! What a hoot!

We took our 3rd annual field trip to Jim's Farm on Monday. We invite friends of ours from Base to tour the farm each year. The small organic farm is located on his family’s farm land. His family has been farming this land since the late 1800s! He treated us to all-you-can-pick red and orange cherry tomatoes. The orange Sun Gold tomato is my absolute favorite. When I say it tastes like candy, I'm not kidding. They are divine. He also picked flowers for us and treated all of my friends to bright, beautiful bouquets of flowers. Fun was had by all!

I don't know if the farm would be as much fun if Jim wasn't such an interesting and friendly guy. You can tell he loves what he does and is proud of his farm. He has a great website (www.JimsProduce.net) that one of the Airmen here at Beale created for him. It will be so sad to leave this area of California but I will always have these amazing memories of Jim's Farm.

Bridgeport

Olivia and I enjoyed a day at Bridgeport. It was a beautiful morning and afternoon. It was so quiet there. We enjoyed the beauty of the river, the bridge, the trees, the sky. You name it and we marvelled at God's creation of it. I think we covered about every topic from river currents to booty shaking. After 3 hours of splashing, swimming, and jumping in the water, Olivia tells me that we need to "bask in the sun." We spread out the towel and lay together, loving the rest (and Olivia loving her thumb) and she asks, "Mommy, are we basking?" I assured her that we were "basking". She has no idea how much I loved "basking" with her. Precious.

Mendocino

This past weekend, we enjoyed a trip to Mendocino, CA. It's nestled on the Northern California coast about 5 hours from Beale. If you've seen "Murder She Wrote", you've seen Mendocino. They filmed the intro to the show there. Thanks to Shawn and Shelly we stayed at the Inn at Schoolhouse Creek. We had an amazing time! I think we all fell in love with each other, again. You know...when you spend so much busy time doing life things at home you forget how much you truly enjoy each others company. I love that Stephen got to spend so much time with Olivia. He got to hear even more of her precious little voice saying the funniest things. 

We were checking out our room when we first arrived and I was amazed at all the amenities (microwave, fridge, white noise machine, endless supply of filtered water). Olivia walked in the bathroom and said with her innocent little excited voice "Mommy, they have a potty!!!!" Thank goodness. That would have made for an interesting weekend. She was also impressed with the number of garbage cans. She took me on a tour of all of them. I can attest that she is very thorough and an excellent tour guide.

Saturday, we went on a 4 mile (we think) coastal trail. Breathtaking! It ended at a lookout where we watched baby seals ride the waves. We were also enamored with the squirrels. Their fur was just beautiful. We went to Glass Beach after lunch. A glass factory a long time ago had dumped their rejected glass on this beach. That doesn't totally make sense to me. Why on a beach? Anyway, the glass is all smoothed over now. We enjoyed collecting red, blue, and green glass. Stephen found an awesome piece that was part of a measuring cup. Very cool. 

Olivia loved digging in the sand. She created Hook's pirate ship complete with Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and a few other Princesses. There were "a fundred people there, Mommy" as she held up all her fingers. When the masterpiece was complete, she stood up and said "Mommy, look at my imagination!!!" Precious. 

We ate at the Raven's Restaurant on Saturday night. Olivia was beyond tired and at one point just lay on the floor. She's a trooper. This restaurant is a part of the Sanford Inn By the Sea which is an all Vegan B & B. They grow most of their vegetables in their gardens. I was in heaven.

Sunday, we went to Van Damme State Park and rode the Fern Canyon Trail. There were signs up all over about Mountain Lions. We shared this info with Olivia. Big mistake! Bless her little heart...she was so scared. The sign said to make noise, so that the Mountain Lions don't get spooked. She sang for 30 min straight-"Do a Dear" tune with whatever words came out. Precious. She calmed down and resorted to sucking her thumb for the rest of the ride. 

Of course, I took pics of all the food we ate. That was hard. You can see that I would remember to take the pic after 1 or 2 bites. At the end of the trip, Stephen started reminding me. So sweet. Olivia is a budding photographer, so I have included her pics, too. Most of them are of me eating. Yikes! I guess I did a lot of that this weekend. 

What's Cooking?

Here are a few dinners we had in the last week or so. Well, okay these are the ones that turned out really yummy! The others I obviously will not blog about since they were only mediocre or sucked.  I had 3 nights of meals that were awesome! Stephen said I was on a role which was a super nice complement. Maybe, I'm becoming a better cook! I hope so. That is my goal.

1. Tomato and Arugula Pasta (rice noodles) with Roasted Summer Squash recipe courtesy of Farmer Jim's Newsletter. This was so super simple and Stephen loved it! Olivia kept saying that it was too spicy. I'm guessing that was because of the arugula and raw garlic...at least she tried it! I tossed her some noodles with a little olive oil and halved baby tomatoes. She liked that better. Roasted summer squash is my new favorite. I love roasting! I had never tried summer squash, though. I used the directions out of Veganomicon. I'm happy to say that I am totally caught up with all my squash from our CSA. Last year, I was so sick of zucchini and summer squash. :-) I also added Almesan on top. If you can guess it...it's parmesan made out of almonds. How genious! Thanks, Isa's (Veganomicon). I didn't get it quite as ground up as it should have been to imitate parmesan better but it still added nice flavor.  

Another note...the pic is so bad, sorry. I was super hungry and got impatient. 

2. Sunny Summer Squash Soup with side of Kale from Susan at fatfreevegan. Another great way to use my CSA squash. Stephen said "Honey, this is absolutely delicious." I couldn't believe it. I used all the optionals Susan listed on her site. I just steamed some Kale for the side. I think I should have had an additional side, though. I was hungry about an hour after I ate this. I needed a spoonful of peanut butter. I always need a spoonful of peanut butter (or two)! 

3. Mexican Lasagna (or Enchilada Casserole) from Susan at fatfreevegan. I have no idea how Susan was able to get her dish out in such a nice square. She's amazing. As you can see from my pic, it was messy but oh so yummy! The fam loved this one. I enjoyed it for days after on top of salads at lunch and Olivia enjoyed hers in whole wheat pitas. It needed some salsa when I ate it leftover. It lost a little flavor. Still a winner! 

Afternoon at the Park

Olivia and I spent the day together while Stephen had some Daddy time. We got to see The Little Mermaid on Base performed by the Missoula Fine Arts Camp. It was very different from the movie, so Olivia asked "Where's Ariel...Where's Prince Eric...Where's Ursula?" She really enjoyed it, though.

Then, we went to Ryden Park for a picnic. Olivia is very into pretend play. First, we built Noah's Arc with hammers and screwdrivers (a.k.a. sticks). She used the top of an acorn for a screw. Pretty clever! Next, I became Maria from The Sound of Music and Olivia was the policeman searching for me in the Abby. She, of course, captured me and sent me to jail. And finally, she was Spiderman and I was a poor lady being attacked by the Green Goblin. Spiderman saved me. Thank goodness! What a fun day with my creative little girl. She's precious to be around.

Compassion for Animals

We went to visit the Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA. It was awesome! Olivia LOVED the animals. Her favorite and mine were the pigs. So cute! So HUGE!

We fell in love with Lilly. I never thought an animal could look like their name but she does. That face is just adorable....all 800 + pounds of her! If I remember correctly, Lilly ran away from her farm where she was about to be slaughtered. Some locals found her and took her to the Farm Sanctuary. Lucky girl!

We went on a 45 min tour of the farm. It was HOT! As you can see from the slideshow at the bottom, we saw chickens, turkeys, ducks, cows, rabbits, pigs, sheep, goats. It was a very uplifting experience. I felt so good about my decision to be Vegan. Factory farming practices of abusing, neglecting, and torturing animals makes me physically sick. Hearing all about that, again, was not so pleasant but meeting the animals and seeing them so well taken care of was awesome.

A little side note...I couldn't believe how friendly the cows were. They came and rubbed our legs until we pet them, just like a cat. It was funny.

Olivia of course had a ton of questions. "Mommy why do they get killed?" "Mommy why do some people eat animals?" I got her a great video about the subject- My Friends at the Farm, cultivating compassion video. It showed thousands of chickens in one small warehouse and cows and pigs in cages where they could not even turn around. They spend their whole lives that way! It also showed how animals should live their lives....seeing the outside and how not eating meat and dairy is better for our earth.

On the way home, Olivia even told her Daddy they couldn't eat "Chicken Fried" (her name for fried chicken bites they got one time at KFC) anymore. haha.

Check out the Farm Sanctuary website. It's www.farmsanctuary.org. All in all it was a very fun adventure. Stephen enjoyed it, too. We ran across this Dam that was beautiful. Stephen was wishing he had a boat, again.

What's Cookin'?

It's funny that I titled this post "What's Cookin'?" because two out of the three dishes didn't require any cooking. :-) Oh well, it's catchy, so I'm keeping it. I'm planning on taking pictures of the food I make and posting them on a regular basis. It has really made me start thinking about food presentation and photography. Yeah, I'm pretty bad at it. Hopefully, I'll get better. The food doesn't look nearly as appetizing as it tasted. Maybe, I can get a few pointers from some photography friends of mine and the pics will improve. ;-) Let's hope!

Here's a Sunday lunch...I'm not sure what to call them....Lettuce Boats, maybe? The Peanut Gallery really enjoyed these. I was really impressed with how easy they were to eat. The ribbing of the lettuce was nice and firm. Here's what's in them: Lettuce from our CSA share (Thanks Jim!), White Bean Hummus from Trader Joe's, Chickpea Salad from veganyumyum, Avocado and Tomatoes

Here's a Dinner this week...Mexican Yumminess! I was really pleased with the flavors of this dinner. Here's what it is: Black Beans in Chipotle Adobo Sauce from Veganomicon, Soyrizo (I found a knock off brand at Trader Joe's. Yeah!), Mexican Millet with Cilantro on top from Veganomicon, and Guacamole

Here's Stephen's Birthday "Cake"...No-Bake Pecan Crust with Strawberries, Mangoes and Kiwi on top. I didn't have blue and blackberries like I usually use but I think it still turned out pretty. It was super yummy! Normally, Stephen would have gotten a homemade Vegan yellow cake with Chocolate Buttercream icing. His favorite cake! He was nice enough to say it was okay not to have that. I'm doing Kathy Freston's (author of Quantum Wellness) 21-day Cleanse where I'm not eating any sugar. That was soooooo nice of him. I have a hard time baking anything and not licking and tasting!