Pumpkin Bread

I had to share this recipe with you today- it was so very tasty! Also, with fall before us, it proved to be the perfect fit on a chilly morning. I took a look at a few different recipes and made a few tweaks. I hope you enjoy!! The following recipe will make two loaves.

Ingredients 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon of salt 2 cups sugar 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups canned pumpkin 1 cup olive oil 4 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup water 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon allspice Topping Ingredients ¼ cups Butter, Softened ½ cups Brown Sugar ¼ cups Oatmeal ¼ cups All-purpose Flour 1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.  Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.
2) Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients and mix.
3) In a separate bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Mixture should be crumbly.
4) Pour bread batter evenly into two greased loaf pans. Cover each with half of the topping mix. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Enjoy!!

Tomato Basil Soup

Okay, DO NOT miss out on this tomato basil soup!! It's a SOUPER easy recipe and I'm not kidding, it's delicious!! The recipe calls for canned tomatoes, but we used the fresh tomatoes from our garden- just "guesstimate" how many of your garden tomatoes fit into a 14oz. can.


Tomato Basil Soup
(from Jenny Steffens Hobick)

3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 - 14 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
1 - 14 oz. can of whole tomatoes
2 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable)
1 tsp of sea salt
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup of heavy cream
3 tablespoons of fresh basil, julienned
parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat for 1 minute - being careful not to burn the garlic.  Add the crushed tomatoes.  Add the whole tomatoes one at a time, squeezing them into the pan to break them up.  Add the juice from the whole tomatoes, as well.  Add chicken stock, salt, pepper and sugar.  Cook the soup on medium at a simmer for 10 minutes.

To finish, reduce the heat to low and stir in heavy cream and basil.  Serve topped with parmesan cheese

A Reason for Nine Months

Life has been filled with many adventures...both the seemingly small and significant. I have found that life has brought many "milestones" in this stage of life filled with lots of joy, fear of the unknown, laughter, tears, and excitement. It's a bit overwhelming at times, but then again, what adventure is not, right?

Our future home site!!

We will be closing on a new home in Cottage Grove in December (hopefully!!) and are looking forward to starting this next journey in a new place. I'm really hoping the home is finished before the baby comes (fingers are crossed). It's bittersweet for me. It will be hard to move out of the town home. It's really been my only other home besides the one that I grew up in. There have been so many wonderful memories here. However, I know that there will be many wonderful times in this new home and we look forward to having a bit more space to grow our family in and have all of you over for great food and conversation.

Noah and I are doing what we can to "prepare" for all that lies ahead, but it really makes me laugh out loud because...well, "preparing" seems like a bit of a joke. It's difficult to comprehend how much our lives are going to change when baby comes. I know it. I'm not naive. One can only "prepare" for the chaos that lies ahead and then once the chaos gets here, well, I have no clue what we'll do then.

A few weeks ago we found out that the baby coming in January will be a boy! To hear the words, "It's definitely a boy" was a little strange to me. A boy? Uff-da. I didn't grow up around boys. My cousin Chris was the only one of the male species that I had much interaction with as a kid (besides my dad of course). I loved playing with him, but he would do all the "icky" and "gross" things that I as a girl didn't do (at that time anyway). It's safe to say that since then I have learned how to bait my own hook, and I don't mind getting my hands dirty, but that took me a little while to learn and find the joy in that. LOL...I think God is playing a joke on me because I really don't know much about boys except for the fact that I married one. They have a tendency to be messy and they are really active. I hope that I can keep up with him.

We've also experienced baby's first kick and I have no doubt that this boy will be an great dancer (hopefully taking on more of his mother's sense of rhythm than his father's) and an awesome snowboarder!! :) I'm noticing that in the womb he's already very active. Ha! Oh dear.

As for the two of us? I'm continuing to learn what unconditional love looks like. I am humbled by the grace I receive from Noah each day. Pregnancy does not have it's most graceful moments and yet I'm seen in a light filled with love and grace. I've had to learn how to reciprocate this grace through Noah's example. Just as I am growing and learning how to adapt to this new life, I know that Noah has to also. It's not something that happens overnight, but he's trying and in those moments where I wish that he would just, "get it", I have had to learn to be understanding that there is a reason that we have 9 months of pregnancy before a baby arrives.

We now have 16 weeks left. Oh gosh!! Only 16 weeks! I feel like we have so much learning, growing, and preparing to do in those 4 months. Keep us in your prayers. Your love and support means so much to us.

Oh, and If you have any insight on marriage after babies start entering the picture, we'd love to hear it.

An Attempt at Putting a Crazy Event Into Words

We've all had those moments I'm sure. Those moments that you will remember for a lifetime. Those moments when you realize life will never ever be what it has been. Those moments when you can't believe, understand, or even get a grip on what is happening. Moments when you cry tears for the loss of how your life has been with tears of joy for all that is to come.

Our lives forever changed on April 26th, 2012, when we unexpectedly found out that we were "expecting". SURPRISE!!!!!

Words could not explain what a surprise it was. When Noah and I together looked at that pregnancy test that exclaimed in giant letters "Pregnant" a flood of shock ran through our bodies. "WHAT? No way! This can not be?!?"

And then the flood of tears filled with fear, happiness, fear, joy, more fear, and every other emotion that one could feel, flowed for what seemed hours as I sat there on the tub and Noah stood near me with the "deer caught in the headlights" look.

We had been thinking that we may begin trying to get pregnant in August. Knowing us however, that would have been pushed to months later since that was exactly what we did when we originally said we'd start trying last February. God just must have known what we would do and thought, "Enough you two...it's time for you two to 'getter done' and have a baby already!"

Now, a few months later, we are coming to terms with the adventure that lies ahead of us. What an adventure it will be!

Today marks the beginning of week fourteen and the end of the first trimester! Whahooo! The nausea has passed and I'm looking forward to having some energy again here in a few weeks. We are really looking forward to week twenty when we will find out if it's a girl or boy. Whatever our lil' peanut is, we are excited to meet them and to invite them on this adventure that Noah and I have started.

There has been another blessing among all of this. We found out we were pregnant two days after my sister Emily found out her and Dustin are pregnant! Our due dates sit two days apart; her's December 30th and mine's January 1st! How cool is that! We are so excited to be able to do this together and it's comforting to have my sister pregnant with me. Oh what fun we will have!!!

So look forward to hearing all that Noah and I will be experiencing together in this thing called pregnancy. I have no doubt there will great stuff to write and read ahead!

A Bit of Creating Together

Noah and I have become gardeners!!!

Now if you know me at all you'd find that I'm not much of a gardener. I've tried...oh, have I tried, but it seems that every time I've tried I've only come up with a bunch of shriveled up plants. They're touchy things those plants and if you are not there to give them the right amount of sunlight, water, and fertilizer at the right time, you could be doomed.

I'm going to try again though. And who knows, maybe Noah will have the green thumb in the family. If nothing else, creating our garden and planting together was a blast.

LOL.... except for the part where we were trying to constantly tell each other what to do and how to do it, as if some how we were the "gardening expert" that the other needed to listen to. Man oh man, you would have thought both of us had grown up on a farm, planting and gardening every day. We both seemed to know a lot that day about growing the perfect tomato. It must be the Scandinavian in me and the German in him. Uff...we can butt heads sometimes. :)

There was of course a little bit of snubbing over who was right. It didn't take long for us to realize that neither one of us were experts, that we needed to put our pride aside, and just hope that we end up doing our best. Wow....gardening sounds a lot like raising kids. This may be a good test for us!


So stay tuned. This summer we hope a have a plethora of tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, watermelon, lettuce, cilantro, basil, dill...I think that's all. Uff-da. I hope we didn't over-do ourselves.

We hope to have enough to share with all of you!!!

It should be an eventful summer!

A Visit From Poison Ivy

The other night, Noah was itching a spot on his wrist like crazy.
"I think I got bit by a spider!"

As he continued to itch a second spot showed up about an hour later.
"Man, there's another bite!"

Soon there was a third red spot a little further up his arm.
"Noah, I'm not sure those are spider bites. It looks like it may be poison ivy."
"No, it couldn't be." he said.

The next morning, Noah dashes into the bathroom with his boxers in a bunch.
"Is this what I think it is?" he asked me in a very worried tone.
"Yes, Noah. That is poison ivy."

It had spread overnight to a much more "delicate" area.

I stood there not knowing what to say. I'm so glad that within a few seconds he was able to laugh about it because there was no way I was going to be able to hold it back for very long. It was pretty funny.

So this weekend, we've been nursing his sores. The poor guy.
These are the humble moments we get to experience together as husband and wife.
I'm loving every minute of it!!

The Great Egg Hunt!!

This year's egg hunt did not disapoint, both the kiddos and the adults! The most memorable part of the day was when we found out that Brock (my cousins oldest) burried the eggs that he was in charge of hidding for the adult hunt. The best part is that the adult eggs contained cash, lotto tickets, and pocket shots.

We all had quite the laugh!
Here are a few pictures hightlighting the day!

	I don't remember egg hunts ever being this easy as a kid!!
	I love this picture of Elaina checking out Brianna's loot.

	We loved being able to spend some time with grandpa! Wow! Ninty-three Easters for him!!! He looks great!

It was such a fun Easter with the family! We are so blessed to have such a great family that has a good time together. Can't wait until next year!!

Strawberry and White Chocolate Mousse Cups

Oh yes, yes I did just make the best dessert ever!!! Not to be boastful or anything, but I was pretty proud of this one! It is a bit time intensive, but it is so worth it!

Strawberry White Chocolate Mousse Filled Chocolate Cups
•12 oz  chocolate, chopped (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
•8 muffin liners
•1  lb. strawberries
•1 Tbsp lemon juice
•8 ounces white chocolate finely, chopped (I just used the Baker’s squares and broke them in half)
•1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
•2 cups whipping cream, divided
•2 Tbsp powdered sugar
•red food coloring
Makes 12+ cups



1. Place the muffin liners inside a muffin tin.

2. Place the 12 oz of chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds and stir.  Microwave in 20 second intervals until melted and smooth.

3. Using a food safe brush, like a pastry brush, paint the inside on the muffin liner with melted chocolate. While painting the inside, it helps to go around the sides first and the center of the cup last.  Place the muffin liners in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

4. Paint another coating of chocolate inside the muffin liner.  Chill in the fridge. Repeat if necessary. Keep in the fridge until ready to fill them with the mousse.

5. Set aside 6 of the best looking strawberries.  Clean and hull the remaining strawberries then cut them in half.

6. Place the prepare strawberries in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
7. Using a fine sieve or nylon bag, press the puree through the sieve into a bowl.  This is to remove the seeds.  You want to have 3/4 a cup of puree.  Once you have 3/4 cup puree, stir in the 1 Tbsp lemon juice.  Set aside.

8. Place white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 30 seconds and stir.  Microwave in 20 second intervals until melted and smooth.  Set aside.

9. Place 1/4 cup cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle with gelatin.  Let sit for 5 minutes.
10. In a small sauce pan, heat 1/4  cup of the cream with the powdered sugar to a simmer over medium heat.  Add the gelatin and stir until dissolved.
11. Remove from the heat and add the melted chocolate.  Stir until well blended.  Then whisk in the 3/4 cup strawberry puree.  At this point you can add a few drops of red food coloring to get a nice pink color if needed.

12. Whip remaining whip cream with a hand mixer.  Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the chocolate mixture and whisk together until smooth.

13. Next, add the chocolate mixture to the remaining whipped cream and lightly fold in using a silicone spatula. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

14. Remove the chocolate cups from the fridge and carefully remove the cupcake liners.  Pipe the refrigerated mousse into the cups.  Cut remaining 6 strawberries in half (leaving the stems on) and place 1/2 on top of the mousse in each chocolate cup.

Orange Chicken "Delight"

What a delight it was!!!! I came home from a long day at work and one of my latest wishes had come true. Noah had decided to have dinner waiting for me when I got home! It was truly delightful.

What did he cook you ask? Well, he decided to cook Orange Chicken! "Wow," I stated. "That is quite the task! Where did you find the recipe?"

"I didn't use a recipe. I just made it up." THAT is how awesome my husband is! Cooking has never been one of his strongest suits. A majority of the meals that he has made come out of a box...and I'm not being mean when I say that. He openly admits this fact. For some reason, however,  with all of  his "extensive" cooking experience, he can just "make up" recipes!! For this particular meal, he decided to peel an orange, put it in a casserole dish with a few frozen chicken breasts, and sprinkle it with a touch of rosemary.

Looks pretty tasty, doesn't it?

Noah's proud moment!!

I will admit, it was interesting, but to me, it was the best meal EVER. Not because it tasted like orange chicken that you would get at a classy restaurant, but because he put so much heart and creativity into it! The best part is that Noah and I had a good laugh together. I praised him for his great attempt at orange chicken and his statement was, "Yea...I think next time I may try using an actual recipe."

My hope is that as we continue on in life that we may always be attempting to make the other smile. Having dinner ready to go on the table that night was the highlight of my day!

The Letdowns of BINGO

Recently, one of the things that we've enjoyed doing with friends is going out to restaurants that offer the wonderful game of BINGO. You relax, have a great food, great company, great conversation, and of course play BINGO and hopefully win a round that will pay for your tab. It's a great way to spend time with friends and catch up.

We enjoyed one such adventure not too long ago at "Lucky 13's" in Bloomington. The food was great. The place was packed and everyone was having a great time. They play a total of about 15 rounds of BINGO on Sunday afternoons. Each round, the winning BINGO receives $100. I was pretty excited because most restaurants offer a $20 prize each round, which for me is amazing! Winning $5 is amazing to me. The fact that it was a $100 prize was very, very, exciting!!

On this particular round, we were playing the "arrow" round which means your winning BINGO has to form an "arrow point" facing any direction. As each number was called it seemed like Noah and I were getting closer and closer to winning this round. I'd look over at his card. He'd look over at mine and we would nearly shriek with excitement. You know that feeling right? When you only have a few numbers left. Then finally, when you only need one number and you mention that fact to everyone that you are sitting with.
"I only need one more!!!"

As we are sitting at the table, whispering that last number that we need to our selves...."B10...B10....B10" it happens. "O77" the announcer calls. A second later, someone yells, "BINGO" and everyone else in the room lets out the "bummed out sigh" at the same time. Darn it!!!

So, we disappointedly pile our used BINGO cards on the table with their pretty, colorful dots and we imagine what we would have done with the $100 if we would have won. As we are chatting, something grabs my attention on Noah's last BINGO card and as I take a closer look at the card, I ask, "Are you kidding me??"

There it was. Noah's WINNING BINGO CARD!!!! He had the winning BINGO half way through the round and he didn't even notice it!!! Seriously, how could he have missed that? Uggghhhhh. It of course was too late for him to go up and claim his prize. Someone else had already done that. Noah just hung his head in dismay. I couldn't be frustrated with the poor guy for too long.

In the end, we of course just have to laugh at it. I had to learn to swallow my frustration (I know it's just a hundred bucks, but to me that's a lot of money), suck it up, and laugh it off. It just wasn't meant to be.

Maybe next time. If this is what we have to be most disappointed in right now...well, I'd say we are doing alright.

When You Can't Help Falling in Love

I have heard people that have been married for fifty plus years say it quite often, "I fell more in love with him/her every day that we were together". I'd think to myself, "Yea right." How could I ever be more in love with him than on the day that we share our wedding vows. How can you fall more in love with someone?

Well, I once again have been proven wrong. I am more in love with Noah today than I was the day that we got married. They were right.

To say that there have been times that I didn’t feel so in love with Noah would be an understatement. I’m sure that he would have the same to say about me. We all have our “not so loveable” moments. I’ve started to understand however, what these wise couples have meant all this time. As you start sharing your lives together, the good, the bad, the ugly, the very humble moments, you start seeing how unconditionally you are loved. When you notice the simple, little things that your spouse does to make you smile, ahhhh….my heart melts all over again.

The other night, it was nothing special. I was turning onto our street and there was Noah in the Subaru on the corner. He had a grin from ear to ear and he waved, rolled down his window and said, “I am going to go double couponing now. See you soon. Love you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Not because he was going double couponing (although that was wonderful too), but it was just his smile. When Noah smiles, it’s like looking into the kindest of souls. I fell in love even more.

As I turned the corner and pulled into the driveway, I realized that they were right. You really can fall more in love with someone. I can only imagine the love I will have for him fifty years from now.

Just Another Year?

As I reflect on the year 2011 and our first year of marriage, I have to say that this past year was not just another year. There have been years that I've looked back and have noticed that not much had changed in a year. In previous years I had been working the same job, living in the same place, etc. Two-thousand eleven however, is a year that I will always remember. It was a year packed with challenges, adventures, and great lessons learned.

In January I married my best friend; someone that I will share the wonderful and not so wonderful moments with, but will love all the same. I learned what it means to love and to truly be loved.

In February I learned to NEVER use spreadable butter to make frosting for cupcakes, but also that I can not control everything and not everything can always be perfect. Life is meant to be lived freely and when we try to control every situation, life isn't fun anymore. There are things that we can control and things that we can’t. It’s important to know the difference, allow space for change, and try not to get bent out of shape when something happens that was outside of your original plan.








In March I started learning what's it's like to share space with someone. My townhome went from being "my" house to "our" house overnight. It took me a few months to get used to things (and I'm still working on it today) but sharing space became a bit easier three months in. I even learned how to stay on my side of the bed!!!

In April I once again learned that not all things go as planned after I lost my job due to a restructuring of staff. I learned how to hold my head up high and be graceful even when I didn't necessarily feel it all the time. Noah and I learned that support and encouragement are two pieces that hold a marriage together.

In May I learned to "dance" when things are not going right and to live in the simple and joyful moments.
I also learned how to budget well and even though we were only taking in one paycheck, we were able to make things happen and not fall behind on our financial goals.

In June I loved the show Extreme Couponing and learned how to get great deals on items when they are on sale!!! No, I didn't become crazy like some of the people on the show (I don't buy 47 bottles of mustard) but I did learn how to use my coupons at the right time. Since then, Noah and I have saved nearly a hundred dollars a month on groceries!!

In July hiked to the top of Mt. Elbert at 14,447 feet. I learned how to keep going when you really just want to quit and how to encourage someone else to the top of a mountain. July was also the month that we had to say goodbye (for now) to Noah's amazing grandpa Dewey.

In August I started a new job at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley and I've loved every minute of being there. It's a wonderful fit for Noah and I. As I look back on my first six months there, I am surprised that it has only been that long. The friendships that we have built and the encouragement that we have received makes us feel like we have been there for much, much, longer.

In September I started classes again at Luther Seminary and took on one of my heaviest loads as a graduate student working full time in ministry. It was a challenge, but I got through it. The classes stretched me on so many levels and it has been exciting learning so many new things and thinking in new ways.

In October I learned that weekend get-aways really can rejuvenate your soul and help you reconnect with your husband. We didn't have to go far...all we needed was a little wine and eachothers company. Our get-away to Red Wing was a blast and we would highly recommend the Hungry Point Inn to anyone looking for a quick romantic getaway.

In Novemeber we started brewing our own beer!!! We picked up a kit at Midwest Brewing supplies and made our first batch of Irish Red!!! It was a great thing for us to do together and being able to enjoy the beer together a month later (that is how long the entire process takes) was also a huge plus.

In December we celebrated Christmas and the New Year for the first time as husband and wife. We look back on 2011 as one of the greatest years filled with so much joy, celebrations, laughter, and tears. We both have grown so much and in ways I don't think we would ever dream of. It' been exciting though and I am so looking forward to many more adventures.

Our First Christmas

Needless to say, I have some catching up to do. After finishing up my semester at Luther Seminary, I finally had the opportunity to fully enjoy the season. The last month or so has been wonderful having the opportunity to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with friends and family. Noah and I really enjoy spending time with our families and we are blessed to live close to them. Our first Christmas it was so great to be able to spread the Christmas celebrations out for a week or so. It allowed for a less stressful holiday, and an opportunity to really be present with the people that we love.

We also made sure to think about what traditions we want to start as a family and felt that this was something important for us to do our first year together. We don't know exactly what that will look like in the future, but this year, we decided to worship together on Christmas Eve and spend Christmas morning just the two of us, cozy  in our pajamas, gazing at the tree, and opening the gifts we had for one another.

Christmas was everything is is meant to be. Here are just a few of the highlights:

 

Elaina had received a kitchen set from Santa so Noah and I thought I would be appropriate for her to have her very own chef's hat and apron. It was so much fun seeing how excited she was about it. I love the picture on the left...it looks like she is being "crowned" as a new chef!

Of course there was also lots of time for play! I can't get over the relationship between Elaina and Noah! Those two are quite the pair!

Our first Christmas did not disappoint and I am so excited for all of those yet to come!