VOTE FOR ME!

I am shamelessly asking for you all out in the blogging world to vote for our family's submission to the OKC Metro Family Magazine's "Exploring Oklahoma Photo Contest".  I entered a picture of Hannah and Leah at Robbers Cave State Park during the Summer of 2010.  That vacation was the last vacation we took with my mom and dad before my mom passed away in May of 2011.  We had such a wonderful time there together staying in a cozy cabin.  We disconnected from the world (no cell phones, internet, etc) and reconnect together by going hiking, exploring, horseback riding, swimming, canoeing, and paddle boating.  We cooked our meals together and played games in the evening.  It was a simple and sweet time for us and the memories we made there are especially precious to me.  Anyway, if you get a chance, vote for us. You can vote once daily until July Sixth.  Thanks, friends!

Go here to vote (you'll have to create an account with a user name and password):

Metro Family Magazine 

"Exploring Oklahoma Photo Contest"

Summer Cold

It started with Lucas, moved on to Hannah, and now has settled in on me. What is it? A lovely summer cold. My head feels like a bowling ball-- congestion, headache, low fever. So I spent most of today taking it easy. When my kids napped, I napped. I drank hot tea and let my kids watch more tv than usual. And I think it has paid off because I am feeling better, thank goodness. There is just something so wrong about being sick in the summertime.

Here's to a better tomorrow!

Recipe: Pasta Primavera

I made this recipe the other night and was reminded once again of how much I love it. My mom used to make it when I was growing up, and it was always a family favorite.  It is a simple, vegetarian dish that is a nice change from meat and potatoes.  And I think it could be easily "veganized" by using vegan cream, vegan Parmesan and Earth Balance in place of butter.

The creamy, delicious onion/garlic/mushroom/tomato sauce

First start by melting 2 Tbsp.of butter in a large pan over medium high heat.  Add a medium sized onion (chopped), 2 garlic cloves (minced), and 8 ounces of sliced button mushrooms.  Next add a half teaspoon each of salt and pepper, and let these ingredients cook down a bit. The onion will become translucent and tender, while the mushrooms will turn a nice golden brown (about 8 minutes).  To this mixture add one can of diced tomatoes, juice and all.  Then pour in a cup of heavy whipping cream.  Stir to combine, bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and set it aside.  We'll come back to this delicious pink, creamy mixture soon.

Pasta and green veggies all cooked together

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 12 ounces of fettuccine pasta..  Add 2 Tbsp. salt and 2 Tbsp. pepper (I know that sounds like a lot, but it is really necessary to season the pasta).  Let the noodles cook for about six minutes, then add a pound of chopped fresh asparagus.  Yes, add the asparagus to the boiling pot of pasta.  You can cook the veggies and the pasta all at once!  Genius!  Let the asparagus cook one minute, then add 1 cup chopped zucchini. Let it cook about 2 minutes, then add a cup of frozen peas.  Allow another minute or two of cooking time to pass, then drain the pasta and veggies.  Return them to the pot and then take your mushroom and onion mixture that you set aside earlier and add it to the pasta and veggies.  Pour in 2 Tbsp. of fresh squeezed lemon juice, a 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and a Tbsp. of chopped fresh basil.  Give everything a good stir to combine, and serve with a big slice of crusty bread and some more Parmesan cheese on top.  It is so, so good!  I think a light meal like this is perfect for a summer night.  

The two dishes before being combined.  I forgot to take a photo of the final product because we ate it up too fast.  You'll just have to make it to see for yourself! 

PS--I picked out the asparagus because I don't like it.  Mike loves it though, so I am a good wife and include it.  I have substituted fresh green beans, though, and it is good either way!

A Happy and Sad Dream

Do you ever have those kinds of dreams that are so vivid and clear that when you wake up it takes you a few minutes to decide if the dream was real or not?  Sometimes I have woken up from those types of dreams thinking, "Where am I?" I had a dream like that two nights ago.  It was so real to me that I've been thinking about it ever since.  It was a both a happy and sad dream all at once.  Here, let me just tell you about it.

In my dream, I was walking through my old house in Bluff Creek.  I lived in that house from 1987 to 1999, when I got married.  My parents still lived there until 2004 when they moved into the current home where my dad still lives today.  I was alone, and the house seemed empty, but I wasn't afraid.  I carefully walked through each room opening every cabinet door and kitchen drawer looking to see that everything was still in the right place.  I remember opening a door in the kitchen to see the bright yellow bowls we used for cereal still stacked right where they always were.  I opened the kitchen "junk drawer" and saw the orange handled scissors sitting in their place as usual.  I noticed every picture hanging on the wall and thought, "That's right where it is supposed to be."  Then something dawned on me, "Everything is still in its place, so I wonder if my mom is here too?"

Now at this point I want to stop with the dream and give you some background information that I promise is relevant.  Whenever I was a teenager and would be out with friends, my mom would always wait up for me. At least she tried to wait up for me.  More often than not, I would come home to find her sitting up in her bed asleep with a book open on her lap, surrounded by sleeping cats (we had four at the time).  A lot of times the television would be on, and the lamp on her nightstand would be on too.  I would come in and whisper, "Mom, I'm home!"  She would wake up and smile, then she would want to know all about my evening.  I remember so many nights sitting on the bed beside her chatting on and on about who was with me and what we did.  Sometimes my dad would wake up and join in, but mostly he would sleep through the whole thing.  It was a special time for my mom and me.

So back to the dream.  I decided to see if in fact, my mom was in the house in the same spot I had found her so many nights while growing up.  My heart started pounding as I walked down the hall to her room, and as I turned the corner, I saw the familiar glow of the lamp on her nightstand.  Then I saw her.  She was sitting up in bed asleep.  I gently touched her shoulder, and she woke up.  She looked right at me and smiled and said, "I'm so glad you're home!"

That was it.  I woke up and had to really think whether she was still here or not.  Of course I quickly figured out that she is gone.  I wanted so badly to go back to sleep and try to revisit that dream.  To sit beside her in bed and talk.  I want to fill her in on all that she has missed these past thirteen months.  Oh how I wish I could.

Giraffes

My dad had the day off yesterday, so we took the kids to the zoo for the first time this summer.  The day started off cool and overcast which is perfect zoo weather.  The animals seem to be out and about more when the weather is cooler.  A new addition to the zoo here is a feeding station for the giraffes.  I love giraffes.  At first glance, they look a bit awkward, but when they move, I think they look graceful.  They are gentle giants, and have noble, kind faces.  And their spot pattern is quite beautiful too.  With the new feeding station in place, we set out right away to check it out.  The girls were excited and Lucas was tentative, but eager to see what was involved.  We arrived and were handed a handful of "brows" or branches with plenty of large, green leaves just right for a giraffe's diet.  We were then introduced to three of our giraffes:  Ellie (the mom), Bogie (the dad) and Sergeant Peppers (the baby, born in January of this year).  We also learned a few interesting giraffe facts.

1. A giraffe's spot pattern is unique, like a fingerprint.  No two giraffes have the same pattern.

2. A giraffe's spots darken with age, so obviously the darker the spots, the older the giraffe.

3. A single kick from a giraffe is powerful enough to kill a lion or cheetah.

4. Their tongues are black to prevent sunburn.

We were only able to feed Ellie and Bogie since their baby is still drinking his mother's milk.  I thought little Sergeant Peppers was adorable, and he stuck pretty close to his mom.  The kids held up their leaves and the giraffes came right over.  Their eyes were big and doelike, with eyelashes to the moon.  Their noses were so soft, I had to use a lot of self control not to reach out and touch them.  Their tongues were super long and a bit freaky.  Gene Simmons would appreciate their tongues to be sure.  

 Mom and Baby

 "Leaves, my favorite."

 Hannah feeding Ellie

 "Uhhh, could you move that a little closer, please?"

Lucas feeding Bogie.  His dark spots showed his older age.

Overall it was a great experience and all three kids enjoyed it!

The Park Tour

Today turned out to be one of those days where we slept late, ate a leisurely breakfast, and then asked the question, "What should we do today?"  The world was our oyster. Sort of.  I wanted to keep in mind cost and time, so I suggested a few ideas, and we settled on simply playing at a park.  But which one to visit?  Decisions, Decisions.  Then I remembered driving through a large nearby neighborhood that had not one, not two, but three different playgrounds in it! Thus a park tour was schemed up.  We decided to start with the biggest one, play for awhile, head to the next one, play, then visit the last.  At the end, we would each vote for whichever was our favorite.

Park One

Here's playground number one.  We named it the Pirate Park because of the boats.  The kids immediately loved this one, but after only a few minutes I spotted something disturbing.  Someone had drawn a large male body part on one of the slides. Ugh. Then as I walked around some more I noticed that the idiot who had drawn the body part had added several choice words too (f-bombs included).  Lucas was oblivious, but my girls can read now, so I quickly told them we had to leave.  They were disappointed and asked for an explanation.  I thought carefully how to discuss it, so I told them that someone had written inappropriate words on the playground equipment and I didn't want them to know what it said.  We ended up having a good discussion about the choices we make.  Hannah actually said, "Mom, I think Jesus loves those people who wrote those bad things.  I think he is just really sad that they made such bad choices."

Park Two

On to park two!  We named this one Animal Park.  Lucas loved it, but the girls complained that it was a little too "babyish" for them.  Still, they played for awhile.  The bonus of this park was the pond that surrounded it.  We got to watch ducks, geese, and egrets as they swam and waddled around.

Park Three

We ended with the smallest park. The kids all liked it better than Animal Park, but less than Pirate Park.  We named it Spider Web Park.  We spent the most time here because there seemed to be something for each child to do that fit his/her age.  We even ran into some friends that live in the neighborhood while we were playing.  By the time we were done, the kids were ready for lunch and Lucas went down for a nap as soon as his head hit his pillow.  Minus the obscene words and pictures, the park tour was a pretty good way to spend a summer morning.

Thunder Up!

Y'all know I love our NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder by now, right?  Up until now, we have not had a professional sports team.  College football was (and still is) huge in our state, and that means that most people are either an OU or OSU fan.  You either wear crimson and cream or orange and black.  And most people are extremely passionate about which team they follow.  So you could say there has always been a bit of a sports divide here (I'm an OU fan, by the way.  Just had to throw that in there).  But now we have a team that everyone likes.  Gone are the days of division, and hello to unification under the new colors of blue and white and orange. There is something sort of cool about seeing an entire city come together to cheer on their home team.

Since having the Thunder in our city, Mike and I had attended a grand total of 1 game.  The first year the franchise was here we saw the Thunder play the Houston Rockets and our team lost miserably (like they did most games that first year).  Still it was fun.  I had never been to a professional sporting event ever, so I really enjoyed it and hoped to go back soon.  Well between ticket prices and a busy schedule, we just never got there.  In the mean time, though, our team got good.  Real good.  So good in fact that they made it to the NBA finals.  That's the Super Bowl of the basketball world.  Tickets for these games are off the charts expensive (for decent seats anyway).  So when Mike called me yesterday to say that his boss had given him two tickets for us to attend last night's first finals game, I was shocked!  I immediately called my dad to see if he could babysit, and thankfully he could.  It was on!

We arrived about an hour before the game was to start and found our seats.  They were not too far up, definitely not the nosebleeds.  In fact, as we sat down, we noticed the ESPN booth set up right behind us and who should we see there?  None other than Magic Johnson!  He was getting ready to do the pregame show and his cell phone slipped out of his pocket and down below Mike's chair.  Of course Mike picked it up and handed it back to him where their conversation consisted of Magic saying "thanks" and Mike just saying "no problem!"  Of course Mike and Magic are instantly BFFs now.  At least in Mike's mind they are.....

Anyway, the game was a lot of fun.  Extremely loud (the place is called Loud City for a reason, folks) and the best part of the night was that we beat the Heat.  Literally!  One win down, three more to go.  We ended up getting home at 11:30 and by the time we crashed into bed around midnight we were exhausted.  Even though it was pretty physically tiring, I am kind of hoping his boss hands us two more tickets for tomorrow's Game 2.  We'll see. :)

Me before the game started

Here you can see how close we were to Magic.  It was cool that when he wasn't on camera, he would turn around, take his jacket off and watch the game.