love me some cheesy smiles.

And I also love me some hands-in-pockets roly-poly-Oly.  Just can't get enough of this guy.

now we're talking...

Tonight, for the first time, I used some of the beef we purchased (1/4 of a cow) to make dinner!  I mean, seriously, I hardly ever cook during the work week, so this is exciting.  Olaf and I mostly subsist on leftovers from the weekend, mac and cheese, pizza, and relatives taking pity on us and inviting us to supper (thanks Mom and Christie...).  It is just so un-inspiring to cook for just myself, since the chances of Olaf eating whatever I put in front of him are only in the 50% range, it's all for me and then I end up eating it for like 4 days straight.  BORING. 

And try as I might I just can't get Olaf to just put the food in his mouth if he doesn't like the look of it.  I mean seriously.  I have tried force (no good), tricks (no good), bribes (no good) and talking logic to him (no good).  The thing is, he actually understands that this is dinner, and he can't have anything else, but he is happy to just say "All done mommy, please scuse table mommy."  And he'll be just fine until breakfast with no food in his belly.  Sigh.  So... back to the subject at hand.  I cooked!


I knew it was going to be good when I opened the white paper labeled "stir fry" and saw a bunch of super red colored meat with (Kendra shut your ears) blood still on it.  I am not going to lie, I don't much like the sight of blood either, but I do like knowing that the meat is that fresh to be that lovely red!  After sizzling it up with not a single spice, I snitched a piece and boy did it have flavor!  I may be hooked on this grass fed Yakima valley beef thing. 

Then I simply grilled up some peppers and onion in the same pan, added the meat back in, and tossed in the good old McCormick seasoning and voila, fajitas for me!  I am sure there are better spice mixes out there but I have to give it to good old McCormick.  It never fails to come through for me. 

mmmm, supper.

So anyway, if you are ever wondering how exciting my life is... cooking dinner is enough of a storyline for me to blog about :)  I pretty much rock.

PS.  I even got the cheeseball to eat some steak, cheese and tortilla.  Success!

this just in.

Apparently Olaf has re-written the lyrics to some beloved kid songs.  From upstairs I am currently hearing: 

"Ol MacDonald had a farm.  EIEIO.
Ol MacDonald had a farm.  EIEIO.
and on that farm he had a....           LAMB!
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Errywhere Mary went, lamb sure to go.
Old MacDonald had a farm.  EIEIO."

a few more gems

Here's a few more picture off my little camera. 

LEL and I.

All the L.Town gals!  Amy, Mariya, Ariyl, Rebecca, Shannon, Monika, Jaimi and me!

Who can resist that face?  Seriously?

Um, Olaf is IN LOVE with Mariya AKA "Riyah".  No seriously.

Me and Kimberly Suzanne :)  Love you Kimmy.

finally, wedding pics!

I am FINALLY posting some pictures from Ariyl's wedding!  I had to steal them off her fabulous photographer's (Heidi Michelle) facebook page.  We took pictures in downtown Madison (Capitol Steps), in the U-District by the lake, and at a great park by the lake.  Then we headed out to Badger Farms for the ceremony and kick-a** reception. 

I think we were all laughing at some crazy dude dancing behind Heidi...

UM, Ariyl's brothers are so cute.  Seriously.

 Note the beautiful dandelion bouquet.

The ceremony was so special and wonderful to be a part of.  We all walked in to the ceremony to the song Amazing Grace.  Beautiful Ariyl walked in to the last verse

when we've been here ten-thousand years
bright shining as the sun
there's no less days to sing God's praise
than when we've first begun

Oh dear... I loved watching and being a part of two people (who I love) loving one another and joining together in marriage....  More on that in a later post.

 This is one of my FAVORITE pictures from just after the ceremony - I don't know why but Travis in the background showing off his ring just cracks me up!

The food  at the reception was great.  I had to laugh because when the caterers arrived to set up they were all looking like college hipsters - you know skinny jeans, vintage tees, chuck taylors, plaid shirts.  I thought "THESE are the caterers?"  But seriously, they know how to cook!  So good.

Also the DJ rocked.  Once we got all the old-people songs out of they way (you know what I mean) he really hit a lot of new, awesome songs to dance to.  I stayed there until 1:15 dancing it was so good!  And that was completely sober!  But let me tell you - my body was SORE the next day from babydos bouncing up and down inside me all night. 

Funny story - instead of hiring a babysitter we put Olaf to sleep in his pack and play in a closet next to the dinner room and the dancing room.  He was content in there.  He watched the movie Cars for an hour or so and then passed out sleeping.  It was nice to not have to worry about him at all since he was there the whole time!  Big points to Steve for being awesome daddy all night and wrangling him while I was doing my bridesmaidly duties (aka a lot of gabbing and dancing).


A few additional things to note. 
1.  Ariyl = Quite possibly the most photogenic and BEATIFUL bride ever!
2.  Heidi Michelle is amazing.  I wish I had known about her when I got married!
3.  I am not a huge fan of pictures of myself.  Especially while preggo.
4.  Ariyl did ALL her own flowers.  Seriously.  Can you believe how beautiful they are? SO jealous that peonies are already blooming in Wisconsin.

Wishing I could have taken that bouquet home with me.

LOVE these girls.

tour de midwest

We started off our midwest tour by flying to Chicago last Tuesday.  Olaf was a peach on the flight - No seriously I could hardly believe it!  No crying at all and he even took a 2 hour nap on daddy's lap.  Seriously awesome.  Although I did read the same Berenstein Bears book about 8 times on the same flight.  But who can resist that face saying "read this book mommy?

That evening, we stayed with Steve's good friends from college, Chris and Kate, in their apartment near downtown Chicago.  It was nice for him to get to reconnect, and for me to hang out with them for the first time besides our wedding.  Olaf was a big fan of Kate :)  What a flirt he is!  Of course I have no pictures because I forgot to take them - sad day.  We really had a nice time visiting them.

The next morning after a fantastic breakfast in the "Greektown" part of Chicago, we hopped in our sweet KIA optima rental car and headed to Iowa to see the Wallaces and new baby Liam. 

LIAM IS A DOLL!  Nice work Chad and Kristy!  I loved getting to meet him so much.  He slept most of the time, as most 2-day old babies do, but it was just a treasure to get to meet him.  Chad and Kristy were wonderful (and crazy) to let us stay the night with them so soon after their bundle had arrived. Sadly I am still lame-o about the pictures, but I will post a few once I can steal them from Chad's facebook page :)



While in Iowa, we got to take a trip out to the Pederson farm (Kristy's folks).  Farmer Randy took Oly for a sweet ride in the tractor and out to the hog barn.  BEAUTIFUL farm and country.  Seriously.  The farm has been in Kristy's family for over 100 years.  They grow corn, soy, and raise hogs on over 3000 acres.  So beautiful out there! 

to be continued...