in loving memory.

For my family, we have a special memory and a heavy heart this time of year as we remember our sweet Aunt Betty.  September 9th, 2004, she was in a tragic accident and passed away.  Seven years later it seems like it's hardly been that long but forever at the same time.  We miss her and love her.  My heart is heavy for my mom as she misses her only sister, her friend, and her family.  I don't have any pictures here of my sweet Aunt but her face will always be in my heart and mind.

In loving memory... 

rainy day dinner.

It started raining on us Saturday while we were in Tennessee, and it has rained almost ALL day every day since.  This was day #6 of rain for us.  I won't complain though because we have friends in Texas who are worried about losing their homes and every material thing that is precious to them in fires.  We have friends and family in states who have not had much or any rain all summer.  We are thankful for rain.  Wish we could share some with them, but we will embrace the rain while we have it.

This rainy day with colder weather moving in reminds me that fall will soon be here.  Fall is my favorite season!  It's my favorite for many reasons including the break it provides from summer, the pumpkins, the squash, the apples, the feeling of warmth in our home as the heaters kick on for the first time, the smell of delicious baked goods- particularly of the pumpkin and sweet potato variety, the cold air and all that it brings- including sweaters, boots, and scarves!  Oh, how I love fall!

Tonight I made a rainy day dinner of soup because it just seemed right after a week like this.  For the first time this season I made potato soup.  To accompany it, chicken salad on a bread roll.  The perfect rainy day meal.  I used skim milk in the soup and limited how much salt I added.  I did not use reduced fat cheese because it doesn't melt, and that's just weird.  No cream or anything- just the milk and cheese and it was plenty creamy and delicious.  Also, since I'm a new mom and don't have lots of time to cook, I used canned already cut new potatoes; they taste good and save me lots of time!  For the chicken salad I used low fat mayonnaise and added lots of celery and grapes.  If the bread had been whole grain we would have been in business, but it wasn't.  Next time...

home again.

I wrote the title thinking of our trip to Tennessee as being "home again", but then it occurred to me that we are now home. We have arrived back to our home in Maryland after a wonderful vacation in Tennessee. We are filled with mixed emotions. Tennessee is what feels like home to us, but our life right now is in Maryland. Anyway, enough about that.


Our trip was awesome! We had a wonderful time with family, friends, fellowship, food, fun, football, & Boomsday {I can't leave out Boomsday}. It was the break from routine that we needed. It was filled with love from family and friends, and this time it was even richer watching our loved ones love on our sweet Jack. There is nothing better than that! I will have pictures to share from our trip but tonight am just unwinding from the 10 hour car ride in the pouring rain the whole way with a 3 month old. Although in fairness to Jack, he was amazing!

To everyone who visited with us and has loved on us-- thank you! We loved seeing everybody!

august fun.

August has been such a fun month for us so far! We have enjoyed summer, seen some refreshingly cooler days (in the 80s!), walked a lot, played and strolled outside, had visits from Grandma and Grandpa. We're watching with excitement as my brother goes to college, and I'm reminiscing every day about just how fun freshman year was. We're celebrating a birthday this week of that same little brother who isn't little. Then in a couple of weeks we get to go to our favorite place... Tennessee, for a much needed time of rest and community with our family and friends. So excited for that trip. This has been and will continue to be a great month! So excited for the fun we have ahead and thankful for a great weekend.

small fixes.

This may not look like much to you, but to me it is amazing. To me this is part of getting more sleep, having more quiet moments at night, and helping my marriage. You might be wondering how a light switch could do all of that. Well, let me tell you.


This is the new light switch in our bathroom. Our old one was big and chunky and looked like this set in our hallway except that there was one switch rather than three.




The problem was that it made the loudest noise when it was flipped on and off. Seriously, ridiculously loud. And many, many nights when Jack was finally asleep Tommy or I would flip it on when we went into the bathroom- just out of habit. And every time Jack would wake up. It's a shame to lose sleep over a light switch, so I got to the point where I would hound Tommy. "DO NOT touch that light switch." "You better brush your teeth now {at 6 pm} if you want to brush them in the light because that light is not going on tonight!" "If you flip that switch and wake our baby, I will come after you in your sleep." I'm a great wife, I know. Very encouraging. But you know how it is with a newborn, right? Please tell me I'm not the only one to ever sound like that.


So Tommy proposed the best solution-- replace the light switch. A trip to Home Depot and five magical minutes later, we were free to flip the light on and off as much as we want. We can see in the bathroom any time, I don't threaten my husband anymore, and Jack doesn't wake up. This light switch might be one of my favorite home improvements. And by the way, I never thought I would write an entire blog post about a light switch.

and the thunder rolls.

We had a bad storm Monday night. I was all set to cook dinner, too. Honestly, I was. But just before dinner time a huge flash of lightning struck our neighbor's yard, and I saw it strike. It was really scary. Instantly our power went out, thus ending the option of making dinner. So we went out to Chickfila, and I got a the-power's-out-milkshake. It was awesome.

where the strike happened- huge burn mark.

my very first csa.

If I had to describe it in one word, it would be AWESOME {any How I Met Your Mother fans?}. Serious awesomeness. The people there were so nice! They walked us through and explained what we could get and encouraged me to taste the tomatoes. Little did they know, that was like a dream come true for me. Yes, I am a big dork. I wish I had pictures of us there-- me, Tommy, and Jack in tow, but I'm kind of glad I don't because who knows how weird I would have looked with my goofy I'm-at-a-csa-and-I-love-it grin. Here are some pictures {although bad and don't do the produce justice} of the goods.

Tomato and cucumber went in the wrap below.- so good!


Best corn I've ever had in my life! Until I had this amazingly sweet yellow corn, I thought the best corn was white corn. My world has been rocked.


And without a doubt my favorite take-home of the day. I was popping these things like candy on the way home. Tommy didn't get any, but I so loved the yellow, orange, and red!


We also made it home with a good handful of donut peaches {my first time trying these bad boys}, an onion, some red potatoes. 2 zucchini, and a picklin' cuc as my Mamaw would have said. The plums in the pic were too ripe, which was disappointing. Everything else has been awesome.



I know what we're signing up for in the fall. We missed the late summer share sign up by 2 days. Ahhhh!!!