Lamar Cooks!

Lamar tried his hand at making Beer Butt Chicken. We have friends who make this often and Lamar wants to master the art. I made a rub for the outside of the chicken and he sacrificed a beer to cook the chicken on. All looked great. When we came back to check on the bird, this is what we found. A very well done bird! There should not be flames. At least it was done outside on the grill.

Lamar is in charge of cooking after this baby comes, should I be worried?

In his defense, he did make a wonderful meal for us on Sunday night. I know that we will not starve in August. He does have the pizza delivery number memorized!

TWD: A change

I joined the baking group Tuesdays with Dorie about 8 months ago. I have really enjoyed it and I have tried some recipes that I would not have made without the challenge. I am feeling really overwhelmed by the number of desserts. We just do not eat this many sweets normally. Also, many of the ingredients used are not ones that I like to feed my family. This has brought me to the conclusion that I am leaving TWD. I am really wanting to expand my bread baking skills and cook more savory items. Don't worry, there will still be some desserts coming from my kitchen, just not as many. Tuesdays with Dorie is a great group and I highly recommend it, but it is just not the perfect match for me right now. Best of luck my fellow TWD bakers!

I will post next week about the new baking group that I have joined. I am really looking forward to it.

TWD: Perfect Party Cake

I have been waiting for this post for over a month. I am still drooling over this cake. Carol of Mix, Mix...Stir, Stir picked an amazing cake for her challenge week. I made this right after we returned from Hawaii. It was Jan's birthday so it seemed very appropriate to make a party cake for her.

The recipe called for using lemon juice and zest in all three elements (cake, frosting and fruit layer). I chose to eliminate the lemon in exchange for coconut extract. Instead of using raspberry preserves, I used some lilikoi curd (passion fruit) that we had brought back from Hawaii. I did not use coconut on the outside of the cake, although I really wanted to. Lamar is just not a coconut fan and I did not want to make it obvious what was inside of the cake.

This cake would have been much easier to make if I had a stand mixer, but the kitchen fairy has not produced a new one yet. Someday she will wave her magic wand and the new Viking 7qt mixer will suddenly appear on my counter.

The cake itself was easy to make. The frosting did not "fluff up" like I hoped it would. I felt like I barely had enough to cover the cake, but that probably came from the fact that I had to make it by hand, sans mixer! The lilikoi cream and frosting blended together when I put them both on the cake, but oh well, it tasted delicious.

I will say it again...this cake was DELICIOUS! We all devoured our pieces and then could not wait until the next night so we each could have another piece. I will make this again. Thanks Carol for an awesome choice!

Pregnancy Photos!

This pregnancy is going by so fast. I am in the final month now. Our little guy will be here soon. Today is the last day that Lamar and I have off together without other plans so we are going to spend the day doing baby stuff. We are going to register for baby stuff today. I have been very reluctant to do this. We are so fortunate and really do not need anything outside of a few baby basics, but there has been an overwhelming request for us to go do this.

I am feeling good. Baby is so active, my most active child so far. He has been very happy to be in a breech position, either Frank breech (butt down, legs up), or transverse (laying across my belly). Both are very uncomfortable for me. I have felt like I have a bowling ball resting in my pelvis. So much discomfort in my lower back. No position is comfortable. I am also carrying this baby so low.

For my birthday, baby gave me the best present of all. He moved!! After crawling into bed he had this episode of extreme movement. Lamar and I were just in amazement of what he was doing. I eventually fell asleep and when I woke up I had a butt and feet in my ribs. He finally went head down!! Do the happy dance. I was suddenly so much more comfortable. Lets hope he stays this way. He has moved a few times in the past two days, but he goes back head down after a few hours. I will stay on top of this situation.

I am really tired. I remember having so much more energy with the girls. Maybe because I am older this time or I just have more things on my plate. I am waiting for that nesting urge to kick in, maybe I will have energy then. I could literally spend the whole day sleeping right now - in fact, some days I do. I just got out of bed an hour ago and I am already looking forward to my morning nap.

I am ravenously hungry for hamburgers and fresh fruit. I think I am eating half a watermelon a day now. They taste so good to me. Berries are just coming on this week, so I am sure that I will be buying those on a daily basis also.

I went and did some maternity photos with Lora last week. Here is the sampling, as promised. I can't wait to see the rest. We went up to her family cabin in the woods. It is a beautiful setting with trees, open space and a river.


Here I am sitting next to the old wood shed.



There was a patch of clover next to where I was sitting. I plucked one leaf since it had a heart shape.


We climbed down the rocks to the river. The girls had so much fun doing this.



Lora got me to laughing and quickly snapped this one. I just love it.



This one makes my belly look HUGE! Well, I have to admit... IT IS! But I do not have a double chin in the picture, so it is a winner..LOL!

Another Year

Saturday marked my 34th birthday. The number itself does not bother me. It is just a number and does not define me. I am neither young nor old...it just depends on who is looking at the number.

It really was a wonderful day filled with sunshine, good wishes and surprises by friends. I was able to spend the morning with my family, take a wonderful nap in the afternoon and spend the evening with friends. We went out for cake at Konditori and shared many laughs.

I think the biggest thing that is hitting home is a realization that I came to recently. I looked in the mirror a few weeks ago - you know, one of those really close, examine your face with bright light and magnification types of looks. What I saw was my grandmother looking back at me. More specifically, her eyes looking back at me. I saw the beginnings of the same lines she had around her eyes, just a much smaller version. This called me in into immediate action. I purchased an overpriced tub of ultra moisturizing eye cream that I am sure was the equivalent of a down payment on a small house. I even got the intense eye mask to go with it. How did I go from trying to dry out my skin to needing eye cream OVERNIGHT? Is this a sign of things to come? Anyone else notice these changes recently?

Summer Fun

Fresh Oregon strawberries are the best!! This is no understatement. Strawberries are in full force right now. I picked up a couple of flats last week and made strawberry jam. I hosted a jam making demonstration to show people how easy it is to make jam and put up food for their families. This is part of the Master Food Preserver program I am in. We sampled the goods with some fresh bread that I made that morning...mmm!



We went to Saturday Market this morning. Nora Beth was so excited to see her favorite balloon clown there. She had no problem waiting in line to get a creation just for her. She choose a ladybug today.


Later this afternoon Nora Beth wanted to try out her new pool. I got it for her almost two weeks ago, but the weather has not been warm enough for her to use it. It has been taunting her in the garage...until today. She wanted me to place it at the bottom of her slide so she could slide into it and make a big splash.


She had so much fun. Amazing how just a simple activity can lead to so many giggles and screams of delight!

The value of insurance

Shianne's recent trip to the ER:

Midnight trip to the ER.... $1201.86

Doctor bill....(have not seen it yet, but we can only imagine)

Prescription.... $5.00

Our co-pay.... $103.20

A healthy child....PRICELESS!

I am so happy and grateful that we have insurance.....Lamar CANNOT leave his job!