The Springs - Day One & Two

Well, okay. I didn't make good on my promise to update you guys on what was going on as quickly as I'd hoped. But better late than never, huh? :) Brad and I left on Thursday, May 12 for a little mini-vacation. We knew in April that we had a small window of time to get out of town and that we wanted to go somewhere "new." Brad had never seen the mountains and I hadn't been to Colorado in years, so we decided to go to Colorado Springs. It was BEAUTIFUL and a much needed getaway for us. 

DAY ONE:

We left at 7am on Thursday morning and had almost made it to Kearney, Nebraska when Brad got pulled over for going 8 over on the interstate. (Come ON! Everybody speeds on the interstate a little....dang it.)  If you look closely at the ticket, you'll see that the lovely officer circled the damage. That's right folks, $73.00. Barf. He must have been really super bored. Anyways, enough whining.

The drive in was pretty funny - kind of eventful, actually. We had been told that Denver had  been in the 90's all week (weather wise) and that it was supposed to be kind of warm. Having been to Colorado before, I know that it can get pretty cool at night and snow in May...all sorts of crazy weather. So, I packed everything from shorts and t-shirts to jeans and sweatshirts. Unfortunately, while I was worried about my own packing, I neglected my poor husband. I didn't ever tell him about the crazy weather changes, and having never been to the mountains, he was none the wiser. When we hit Castle Rock (between Denver and the Springs), it was snowing. I mean...heavy, wet snow. Needless to say, we stopped and bought Brad a sweatshirt.

We made it to Colorado Springs by about 3pm mountain time, but we were hungry. So, we dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed out to find something to eat. We landed at a little pizza shoppe downtown. By far, the best pizza I have had in a long time.

After dinner, we were pretty tired, so we stopped and got some local beer and went all "white trash" on our vacation. We laid around in our hotel, watched tv and hit the hay pretty early so we'd be up and ready to hit the town on Friday.

We both woke up pretty early (obviously, Brad was up, but even I was up this early!) and were ready to leave the hotel at 7am. We planned on making the most of our day and were ready to get started. We began at Garden of the Gods. It's beautiful - but nothing like I remembered from when I was a kid. So, it was just like a whole new experience. Brad was very excited to be in the mountains!

 

After we left Garden of the Gods, we headed to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They were built about 700 years ago and inhabited by the Anasazi tribe. (Impressed with my knowledge, eh?) They were pretty cool, just because it wasn't like a normal museum. You could go inside the dwellings and touch the walls.

 

We then went to Seven Falls. It is a natural waterfall and it's pretty. But that's about all I have to say about it. Not too exciting. Oh, but there were about 8 millions stairs you could climb to get to the top. Mixed with the high altitude and lack of gym time lately, I felt like there was an elephant on my chest. Brad, however, is the stair climbing master every morning at the gym, so it was quite a bit easier for him....

After Seven Falls, we stopped and ate our lunch we had packed in the cooler (Deli meat sandwiches, bananas and juice boxes! Note: I'm actually the only one that drank the slightly childish juice boxes - Brad drank vitamin water). We then headed for our tour of Pike's Peak. You can either drive up the mountain (which takes a long time and is slightly dangerous) or you can ride the Cog Railway. It only took about an hour and was actually pretty fun. When we got to the top, it is LITERALLY breath-taking. Obviously, the scenery was beautiful, but there is not an excess of oxygen when you get 14,000 feet in the air. We popped in the gift shop and got one of their world famous donuts. I must also admit that on the way down, I gave away Brad's donut. You know, the one that he was waiting to eat until later....the one that you can ONLY get at the top of Pike's peak and will probably never find another like it. Yeah. That one. I'm an idiot. When the lady across from us was saying she didn't have time to get a donut, I offered to give her our "extra." Moments later, I remembered that it wasn't an extra donut - it was Brad's donut. Luckily, Brad was very gracious and kind about it. Thanks honey. :)

After we got back from Pikes Peak, we stayed in Manitou Springs (the most adorable little town) and hung out, drank some beer, and ate chips and salsa at our favorite place there...The Keg.

 

We also found this cute little outdoor arcade that used nickels and pennies. It had apparently been around since the 1930's and had most of the original games. I unfortunately talked a lot of trash, but got my butt whooped at Skeeball. My husband has a lot more humility when it comes to skeeball. :) 

We left Manitou Springs and went to dinner in downtown Colorado Springs at "The Ritz." I wish I had gotten a picture of my meal, because it was the BEST meal I have ever eaten. Oh my gosh - I could barely walk when we left...which was unfortunate, because we had parked several blocks away. :) That's all for now. I'll be back later with days 3 & 4!

It's a Roast!

Hey there folks - it's been a couple weeks, but it's been busy! So, to kick start my blogging again, I'll fulfill the request of my friends, Amanda and Kevin Kohler, to give my "recipe" for a roast. (You can check out Amanda's blog - which is much cooler and way more interesting than my blog - here.) No worries, I'll be blogging about how life's going in the coming days, but until then...It's a Roast!

It all starts with a crockpot. Not the most glamorous or trendy of all kitchen utensils, but definitely a tried and true tool for any "real," non-Martha Stewart/Good Housekeeping, working girl. ;)

Then, you've got a roast! This is a sirloin tip roast (Brad and I invested in a quarter of a buffalo last fall and are still not through all of it.) My favorite roasts to use are arm roasts or rump roasts - both of which are a little more tender. 

 

I believe that it's pretty stinkin' hard to mess up a roast. So, the instructions may seem short and simple, but that's because it's all I do for one. I always wake up, throw the roast in the crock pot. Then I peel some potatoes, chop an onion in half and throw those around or on top of the roast. I pour about 1 Tbs of "kitchen bouquet" (which is a browning, seasoning liquid) in about 2 cups of water and then pour that over the top. Note: You don't NEED the kitchen bouquet stuff, it's just something my mom always used from my childhood, so I use it too. Also, for added flavor, I sometimes cut little slits into the roast and stick peeled garlic cloves down into it (as seen in the top left picture below).

I throw in a little salt and pepper and WABAM! The prep work is done. I turn it on high until I leave for work (about 2 hours) and then bring it down to low until I get home (6-8 hours).
After you pull the roast out of the crockpot, you have the option of making the drippings into gravy (which I prefer, but my waistline doesn't, so we rarely do it). Just pour it into a saucepan, bring to a boil and thicken with a mixture of cold water and cornstarch. Yummy!

Oh and this may seem a might bit stalker-ish for Amanda and Kevin, but when I was over at their house the other night, they had the most delicious looking dinner. So, without asking for the recipe or looking it up online, I tried to recreate it...I mean, the entire meal, asparagus and couscous too. :) It was great! And Brad really liked it as well. Neither of us had had couscous before and we both REALLY enjoyed it. We'll make it again!

Jesus Juking

Jon Acuff

I was recently introduced to a blog written by Jon Acuff called "Stuff Christians Like." That blog actually sparked him to write a book by the same title - basically just poking fun at all the stupid, stereotypical things that Christians do. He, himself, is actually a Christian, so no one needs to go egging his door. Also, he is the right hand man to Dave Ramsey (famed author of "Financial Peace University").

Anyways, one of his blog posts, which you can find HERE is called "The Jesus Juke." With most of his blog posts, I laugh - but man, I LAUGHED when I read this one. I think Jesus Juking is something we're all a little guilty of and quite frankly, need to stop doing... So, what is Jesus Juking, you may ask? Well, you are more than welcome to read Jon's full definition, but I'll pull out the one paragraph that says it all.

"Like a football player juking you at the last second and going a different direction, the Jesus Juke is when someone takes what is clearly a joke filled conversation and completely reverses direction into something serious and holy."

I'll be honest - on many occasions, I have nearly drop-kicked anyone who Jesus Jukes me. It is annoying and rude and like Jon said, kind of like Debbie Downer off of SNL....waaaah waaaaaaaaaah! And now, a recent example from my life:

Recently, a couple of colleagues and myself were in my office joking about something...I can't even recall what it was. Anyways, we were all laughing and having a good conversation, when an older gentleman stopped in and said, "If only the plight of the lost souls were this funny, then maybe we'd have all your guys' attention to do ministry." WHOA! I think people are way too intense - WAY too intense. I know God has a sense of humor and I know that He appreciates when those He loves can laugh and enjoy life.

I really like Jon's 3 "things to know" about the practice of Jesus Juking...
1) It generates shame.
2) It never leads to good conversation.
3) I've never met someone who was juked to Jesus.

Anyways, please read his article - it's so funny and so true and he explains it all in much further detail. I hope you all can enjoy his blog as much as I have!

Beef Enchiladas = Comatose Husband

If I haven't informed the blogging world yet, I am officially down to ONE job. :) It's been the biggest blessing and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. My favorite thing that has happened is that I've been able to use my kitchen and all my fun wedding gifts! I was so busy working two jobs that I had no time to cook - which is one of my favorite things to do! I had always dreamed that when I got married, I would make dinner and have it ready for when my husband came home from work...I hadn't been able to do that more than a handful of times because of our conflicting schedules, but now it's a priority. My mom swears that the excitement of cooking every night will eventually fade...apparently almost 33 years of making meals has her a little burned out. Ha!

Last night, I made one of my (and my family's) all-time favorite meals: Beef Enchiladas. At this time I am going to give a shout-out to my Aunt Frances! She had us over for dinner one night a long time ago - she made these enchiladas and started the addiction. She gave us the recipe for them and it's one that I'll keep handy for the rest of my life! Thanks Aunt Francie - you are one of the best cook/bakers I know! (And now that I know you're reading my blog, you may get more shout outs in the future!)

This recipe is by far the BEST enchilada recipe I have ever had - and I've tried a lot. In fact, this was the first meal I ever made for Brad when we were dating - he raved about them then and he got very excited when I mentioned making them last night. :) Unfortunately, Brad ate these and then slept for over an hour - missing the better portion of the movie we rented. If you choose to make these, you may end up with a very unproductive husband for the evening. You have been warned. Ha! Well, without further ado, here's the original recipe (with a few of my personal changes in purple)...and a few pictures!

Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients

10 large or 16 small flour tortilla (8 burrito sized)

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (2 lbs - for meatier enchiladas)

4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3/4 cup green onion (1 cup)

3/4 cup sour cream (1 cup)

3 Tbs. parsley

1/4 tsp. pepper

24 oz. tomato sauce

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

3 Tbs. chopped green chiles (5 Tbs.)

1 Tbs. chili powder (2 Tbs.)

1/4 tsp. ground cumin (1/2 tsp.)

Directions:

Cook and stir beef until light brown; drain. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 cups cheese, onion, sour cream, parsley, and pepper. Cover and reserve. Heat remaining ingredients in medium sauce pan to boiling. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Spoon 1/4 cup beef mixture (I used a heaping 1/3 cup portion) onto each tortilla; roll tortilla around filling. Arrange in 12x7x2 dishes (I used one 9x13 baking dish). Pour sauce over enchiladas, then sprinkle remaining cheese (2 cups) over top. Cook uncovered in 350* oven for 20 minutes. (I left them in for 25 min)

VOILA!

 

 Hope you all get to try them sometime! They are truly delicious! Thanks, again, Aunt Francie!

Sandwich Perfection

There are 4 things in my life that make me unavoidably, incandescently happy. They go in the following order...

1) My husband.

2) My family.

3) My friends.

4) BLT sandwiches.

Really, Stacie? A blog about BLT sandwiches? I know, I know. It's a sandwich, but I love it and I made one for dinner recently and haven't gotten it off my mind. For those of you that don't know what a BLT consists of, it has 5 ingredients: toast, mayonnaise, and of course, bacon, lettuce, and tomato (hence the name BLT). Bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches are pretty hard to mess up, so they are my "fallback" order when eating out at restaurants. (Note: Jason's Deli has unfortunately messed it up. Yuck.)

It's a simple sandwich, but people have tried to add other ingredients to it over the years. Everything from cheese to ranch dressing to fried eggs to peppers. The only ingredient that I have ever added and been okay with is avocado, known as the BLTA.



Even with all the crazy variations, the old traditional BLT is my favorite. Even better, is the homemade BLT with garden tomatoes and a healthy serving of mayonnaise. :) Here's a picture of my homemade BLT from the other night. It doesn't look as amazing, but it sure did taste good. Of course, there weren't garden tomatoes available, but we made do.




Call me dorky, but I did a little research on BLT's and I found out a few interesting facts. Here we go:

- The BLT is the second most popular sandwich in the United States (behind the ham sandwich) and the MOST popular sandwich in the UK.

- The first recipe for a BLT sandwich appeared in the 1903 edition of the Good Housekeeping Everyday Cookbook.

- BLT's are most popularly eaten during the summer, reducing the stockpiles of pork and causing a spike in pork prices towards the end of the season. That's a lot of bacon!

- Iceberg lettuce is the most common choice (and experts agree best choice) for the "L" part of the sandwich. It adds little flavor and lots of crunch!

- Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, named the BLT the "sandwich to unite all social classes." Talk about pressure for the BLT!

How about everyone else? Do you love BLT sandwiches? If not, what is your sandwich of choice?

Easter Weekend (Part 2)

Easter morning, Brad and I woke up and went to church. Brad got up a little earlier and headed to worship practice, since he was playing drums that morning. He really is a good drummer and continues to get better and better over time. It's interesting to me that he had never once had a professional drum lesson - completely self taught. I'll have to get some pictures of him sometime...he looks pretty cute behind a drum kit. :)

Anyways, I woke up and, truthfully, worked. Sunday mornings are like work for me - finding substitute teachers for last minute Sunday school call-ins, etc. Overall, it was a good service and I received LOTS of compliments about my "amazing husband." The people at Wildewood really appreciate him and his skills. He has even been given the nickname "Animal" by some of the church members. Recognize the Muppets character they are referring to? --->
We were blessed with the presence of Cheryl and Wayne (Brad's mom and stepdad) at the service and I know Brad was happy that they came. It was good to see them, if even for a little bit!

After church, Brad and I headed over to my parents' house for Easter lunch with my dad's side of the family. It was a lot of fun - seeing lots of family and holding lots of babies! They were all so cute! Of course, I am personally a little partial to one baby in particular. His name is Cooper and he has red hair. :) He's getting very big and starting to really focus on you when you talk to him. He's smiling and cooing...I love him.

To the right is a picture of Uncle Brad - not too excited that Cooper's going #2 while in his arms. :) Ha! Little Stinker!

Photos of the family!

Brad hung out with this little guy for quite a while. Noah is my cousin Jacquelyn's little boy - such a happy baby. You may remember seeing pictures of him from this earlier post. It's so cute to see how much he's changed in these 4 months!

Overall, our Easter weekend was very good, but exhausting in the same right. We are ready to relax! We have a few mini-adventure trips planned for May, so we're gearing up for those and looking forward to the time together!

Easter Weekend (Part 1)

To say our Easter weekend was busy is an understatement! Whoa! We had a lot going on! Friday night, we had Good Friday service at Wildewood (which I spoke at). Brad had to miss it because of work, but it worked out for him to pick up one of our favorite kids, Taiden, so he could spend the night at our house. Taiden's mom, Tara, had to work the next day and had no one to watch him, so we decided to take him. Here's Brad and Taiden on our wedding day - he was one of our ring bearers!

Friday night, we went and picked out a movie and some snacks so we could veg out in front of the TV and finish stuffing the last of the 6,000 eggs that would be spread out the next day at the annual Wildewood egg hunt! That's right....I said SIX THOUSAND EGGS. I think Brad and I got to bed around midnight and were up at 6:30. Ughh.... Not to mention, as much as we love Taiden and kids in general, we sure weren't used to being woken up 3-4 times in a night to help someone go to the bathroom, get a drink, rub their back.... :) It may have (most definitely) changed our "baby timeline" a bit. Ha!

Needless to say, we were tired when we woke up on Saturday morning. I had to be at the church by 8am to meet with volunteers who would help with the egg hunt, but Brad was nice enough to wake up and make breakfast for all of us. Taiden requested pancakes (which I was secretly excited about because I never get those anymore - Brad's blood sugar issues mean no mass carbohydrate meals if you plan on being productive). He made some eggs and sausage for us too!

 

Taiden LOVED the pancakes - he even had seconds!

 I headed off to the church to get things set up. Brad and Taiden joined me a bit later and were both really good helpers! The festivities began at 11am and were over by 11:35am. Those eggs go fast! Brad snapped a few pictures of Taiden at the egg hunt! He was a little shy - but eventually got in there and got some eggs!

After the egg hunt, the three of us went to lunch and then headed to the park to play before Taiden had to head home. It was so fun - Taiden is a total ham for the camera and kept saying "Take a picture of me over here! Look at what I'm doing! Take a picture of this!" It was a lot of fun - and with such a photogenic kid - it was even more fun!

 

After the park, Brad took Taiden home and I made 2 desserts (Coconut cake and blackberry cobbler - both were DELICIOUS if I do so say myself!) and then we took a nap! We headed to an Easter dinner with my  mom's side of the family and had a good time - I unfortunately forgot my camera and have no pictures from that event. :( Dang it! That's it for now - this post is getting pretty long! More Easter weekend news to come!