Hellooooooooooooooooo

There are not going to be any promises made today, but I am going to try my hardest to be more consistent with keeping you informed about my adventures, my perplexing experiences, my awesome cooking journeys and everything else that keeps my life in orbit.

However, I regretfully admit I have some catching up to do…………

The past three weeks have more or less been a blur, between my new job,


Training in Dallas,


Outing…….some like to refer to them as dates,


Meetings, events,



And moving (I had a lot of little hands helping),





I am not sure at this point which way is up or down.

Love,
JB

What a blessing

To finish up my Easter whirlwind of a weekend......only a week and half late.

Easter weekend tends to be a tough one for most of the family. All of us for different reasons but those reasons all focus on one little boy. A little boy who brought so much life to those around him, a little boy I will talk more about in August, a little boy by the name of Bryce who lost his battle to a brain tumor on March 30, 2002. With that said there was no better time for his little sister to get baptized than Easter weekend.

Maggie is Bryce’s little sister and Mark is their oldest bother. As a side note, they are three of the most amazing kids you will ever meet.

Each person who was baptized on Easter 2010 had a sponsor; Mark was Maggie’s sponsor and read her account of when she asked Jesus into her heart.


Once Mark had finished sharing what Maggie wrote, what brought a tear to my eye, and what was filled with love and emotion for Jesus she was baptized……….



To finish out the service each child of God who was baptized was awarded a certificate…



Then it was family picture time (plus Maggie’s friend Andrea).



What a blessed ending to an outstanding Easter weekend.

Love ya,
Jen

A day for the record books.

Last Saturday I pulled myself out of bed super early so I could head to Fairview America, not only did I need some serious family time, I also was in charge of picking up the grand prize gifts for the towns annual Easter Egg Hunt. Oh how I love being with my family in Fairview, but oh how I do not like embarking on the 3 hour drive. Saturday provided an even greater passion of dislike for the drive, when I was awarded this ……………

Yes, that is a speeding ticket I received just outside of Enid. I do have to admit I was speeding I was going 55 in a 45 but the kicker is I was about 20 yards from the 55 sign indicating the increase in speed limit. Because I have been over the moon happy I was not disappointed that I got a ticket, that is until the reality of it set in. Once the disappointment set in I found I was frustrated for one because it is the first speeding ticket in 9 years for me but also with myself for speeding and also with Mr. Officer for feeling obliged to issue me a situation. He did mention however, that I could show up at traffic court on April 28 (yes that is a Wednesday) and have it dismissed. It will cost me just as much if not more to take the afternoon off of work, drive to Enid spend who knows how much time at traffic court, and then drive back.

Anyway enough about that silly ticket that still shows up in my dreams from time to time. Amidst all the craziness that was my morning, I managed to make it to Fairview with the grand prize gifts in hand before the Easter Egg Hunt began.

The Easter Bunny was hoping around getting pictures with great friends……


hunting participants……..




and a cousin.


The eggs were scattered and hidden and the kids were lined up and ready to go………





they were off……







This little guy was not interested in hunting the eggs with his age group he was jumping the rope to the age group above him.


Kids of all ages had a great time!

Being it was Saturday before Easter there was no rest for the weary once the egg hunt was over it was time to get in the kitchen and start cooking. Our family…..we like to cook enough for a small army my aunt is no exception to this thought process.

We had a small cast of wild hooligans in the kitchen last weekend.

Maggie and her friend Andrea


Mark.....don't let this picture fool you into thinking this 17 year old was actually baking.


Refer to this picture for the actual work he was doing......

yes, licking the pan was his job for the day.

It is slightly amazing with this bunch that anything got finished and that there is still house standing.

Love ya,
Jen

It was a Good Friday.

Last weekend was a wild mess. I was planning on summing it up in one post, however as I began thinking about all the adventures I decided each days deserves it own recognition independently.

Friday was nothing short of a great day. Most importantly it was Good Friday, which resulted in reflection and having the day off of work. Well I should say a day off from my job, not really work I am in the process of moving after all. I spent the day doing just that……….moving, with a few breaks tossed into the day here or there. One of those breaks was when I took my friend Brad to a doctor’s appointment. Due to pain medicine and the shot they administer in his back he is required to have an escort, oh wait that doesn't sound right, maybe I should be more clear, a driver…so I filled that role this past Friday. I was able to get caught up on all the celebrity gossip while sitting in the waiting room thumbing through magazines.

Brad had to sit for a few mins after his shot before he was released to leave the office. I kind of felt like we were sitting in the refreshment area following the process of giving blood, although we didn’t have any Grandma’s cookies to eat, but we did have to wait until his doctor gave us the okay to leave. Following our outing to the spine clinic, I took Brad by for a tour of my future stomping grounds and as any great friend would do I asked him if he wanted to help me pack up some more things at my apartment and make another trip to the house. Did I mention he just had a shot in his back do to an injury sustained from a car accident, oh I did mention that…..I guess that makes me look like a pretty bad friend for trying to recruit an injured friend to help me move, but he said sure. However, once we got back to my apartment he sat down and ended up taking a shot nap as I packed up the rest of my kitchen, hauled all the boxes down to my car, and broke a nail. I don’t blame him though; he had no business helping me move heavy boxes with a poorly functioning back.

Being it was Easter weekend I wanted to get to Fairview on Friday night, but due to rain in the morning, a friend’s doctor’s appointment in the afternoon, and moving, I was not able to get out of town at a decent hour so I decided to simply head out Saturday morning (this is critical information needed to be remembered as your read tomorrows post). Brad has been waiting to take me to dinner to celebrate my new job, so I thought what better night than last Friday. We had an amazingly scrumptious dinner at Ted’s then went to see Bounty Hunter. I was a bit disappointed in the movie I am not sure if the disappointed was because I thought it was going to be better, or because I was so tired and could not really enjoy it, whatever the case I was disappointed.

It was an extraordinary Good Friday and a great start to Easter weekend. Stay tuned for more Easter weekend adventures.

Love ya,
Jen

Happy Easter

A day at the park.

Last week my friend Bethany, her kids, and I went on walk. The kids were rewarded with fun in the sun at the park at the end of the walk.

There was plenty of time spent on the slide....








on the swings......



lots of fun was had by all.







Check out these precious faces!!





It was an awesome morning, full of fun, sun, friends, and lots of smiles.

Love ya,
Jen

What trying to multitask will get ya….

I set out a couple days ago to conquer Tomato Basil Mozzarella pizza. I am quite positive I could eat this combination of ingredients at every meal of every day, I love it!! I love it on sandwiches, pizzas, paninis, you name it. The fresh basil is the key in my book.

I started out by making the pizza dough…………

1pkg. dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 ½ cups flour

I dissolve the yeast in warm water then stirred in the remaining ingredients. After letting the dough stand for 5 minutes, I spread out the sticky dough on a pizza stone, drizzled olive oil on the dough, pilled on the cheese, fresh basil, and tomatoes. I then baked the pizza at 400F for 10-12 minutes.



Well, let me be honest for a minute. The above description is how the preparation and baking of the pizza was supposed to go. However, I was on the phone with one of my really good guy friends when I was preparing this, with luck, monumentally amazing pizza. My friend was providing me a slight lecture on dating and how I need to put the pain of my past relationships behind me and look beyond the fear I have regarding letting people get close to me. I pulled the salt out of the cabinet to add to the dough recipe when I heard this “Jennifer you are great, I want you”. I nervously continued tossing the ingredients into the dough bowl, and found I was completely speechless. I listened to him for a bit longer when I said “I need to go, I need to get dinner made and eaten, it is getting late”. So we said good bye, I finished the pizza, put it in the oven and began to replay in my mind the conversation I just had. I was not sure what to think, and I have to say 6 days after the conversation I still don’t know what to think or feel.

Back to the pizza…….I pulled it out of the oven as the timer went off.



I could not wait to take that first bite. That anticipating first bite was not quite what I was hoping to find, it did not ignite my taste buds into an exciting frenzy. It actually tasted a bit metallic, and I did not uncover the reason until I spoke to my mother a couple days later. I mentioned the pizza and she asked how I made it, I gave her the list of ingredients, and her response was “what is salt substitute and how much did you say you added?” The case was cracked wide open, rather than the recommended 1 teaspoon of salt, I added 1 tablespoon of salt substitute. I am not sure how that happened; after all I was completely focused on what I was doing. I will not be multitasking next time I make this dish.

Love,
Jen