Wedding at the Beach

Last weekend we took a trip to Cannon Beach for my cousins wedding. The weather turned into a beautiful sunny and warm day. It was wonderful!! We enjoyed a very comfortable ride in the mini van (we are LOVING IT!!), had lunch at a seafood restaurant and took a long walk on the beach near haystack rock before heading to another beach for the ceremony. We had a great time seeing the Pugerude family and enjoying the beautiful wedding in our gorgeous fall weather.

Dominic LOVES his backpack!!!

Jen & Jon

The little cousins

This little monkey loves climbing over my shoulder!

He managed to sit still for a second for this shot!

Our attempt at a quick family photo...again Dominic is non-stop!!!

A beautiful end to a wonderful day!

Books

I recently set up a shelf in our living room with just Dominic's books. It is now one of his favorite places to play. He will sit there for a long time, pulling the books off and climbing onto the shelf. It's pretty cute!!

Pizza

Almost every Friday night we have homemade pizza. It is soo easy to make and really cheap too!

Cute Video

Dominic thinks that everything Ramsey does is hilarious...especially the things that Ramsey KNOWS he is NOT supposed to do! Dominic is taunting Ramsey with something he is not allowed to have!

Best Waffle Recipe

We love waffles and this is the BEST recipe out there! Dom did some research online to find out how to make them really crispy and this is the recipe. It's a lot of extra work, but sooo worth it. Dom loves these and we have them on special occasions. Try it out, they are amazing!!!

Ingredients
3/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
6 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 large egg, separated
1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract



Directions

Heat the oven to 200°F and heat the waffle iron. Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Measure the buttermilk, milk, and vegetable oil in a Pyrex measuring cup; mix in the egg yolk and set aside.

In another bowl, beat the egg white almost to soft peaks. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until the peaks are firm and glossy. Beat in the vanilla.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until just mixed. Drop the whipped egg white onto the batter in dollops and fold in with a spatula until just incorporated.

Pour the batter onto the hot waffle iron (mine takes about 2/3 cup) and cook until the waffle is crisp and nutty brown (follow the manufacturer's instructions for timing at first and then adjust to your liking). Set the waffle directly on the oven rack to keep it warm and crisp. Repeat with the remaining batter, holding the waffles in the oven (don't stack them). When all the waffles are cooked, serve immediately.
Variations

Whole-Grain Waffles
Add 1/4 cup wheat germ to the dry ingredients.

Chocolate Chip Waffles
Stir 1/2 cup coarsely chopped chocolate chips (or 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips) into the batter.

Cornmeal Waffles
Substitute 1/2 cup cornmeal for 1/2 cup of the flour (keep the cornstarch).

Cranberry Orange Waffles
Stir 2 tsp. finely grated orange zest and 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried cranberries into the batter.

From Fine Cooking 47, pp. 62-65

My experince with cooking

Growing up, I was never really interested in cooking, despite the many attempts my mother would make to encourage and teach me. I just did not put in the effort.
It was August of 2007, Dom and I had been married just about two months when I realized I needed to figure out this cooking thing. He was really the better cook, but I knew that I needed to improve my skills and take over this area.
One night I had made a simple meal , rice a roni, battered chicken and corn. I served it up and we sat down to eat. He took one bite, managed a swallow, looked at me and asked "Are you ready to hear this"? I wasn't sure what he was getting at, so asked him to continue. His next words shocked me: "this is the worst meal I have ever had in my life"! I am not exaggerating. And as a newlywed, trying to impress my husband, I immediately started crying. Honestly I don't blame him though...I burned the rice a roni, the battered chicked tasted like really dry chicked covered in burned flour and the corn was way overcooked and tasted like nothing! I knew I needed to change this and it was a good wake up call.
The next day I called my friend and she gave me a super easy crockpot pot roast recipe that you can't go wrong with. Dom came home that night to a wonderful smellling house and food that he could actually swallow!!
Our first year of marriage I didn't have much of a chance to work on cooking because we were on the Dave Ramsey money saving kick and ate a LOT of salmon (thanks to his fishing expertise), beans and rice and tuna. So it was definitely a bland year in terms of cooking. But paying of $15,000 in debt definitely made it worth while!!
Fast forward to this year, I will take a mintue to brag because of the horrible beginning I had in cooking...Dom LOVES everything I make and prefers it to going out to eat (which is kind of a bummer because I love going out to eat...but it saves money and we have a tight budget). I also LOVE cooking. When I was in France I lived in the gastronomical capital of the country (Lyon) and they have the best restaurants and the best chefs there. So that year I tried AMAZING food (and wine!) that I have yet to beat here. My goal now is to work on cooking and maybe not mirror what I at there (hard to beat), but learn to cook things that I enjoy. I'm having fun.
I have been attending a free cooking class at William Sonoma (thanks for the info Julia!) and this last week I stood next to a woman who was French and now lives in Portland. It was so cool to be able to talk in French and find out extra tips about French cooking from a native!! It was a treat.
Anyway, all of this to say that I am working on my cooking, have improved from our first year of marriage (not hard to do though!) and I enjoy taking pictures of some of the things that I have made. :)
Here is the most recent one:

Sauteed chicken in a white wine sauce...sooo yummy!!

Labor Day Weekend

Summer flew by!! We decided to stay home over Labor day weekend and relax before the craziness of the new school year started. Friday night Dom and I went to one of my favorite outdoor shopping areas, Bridgeport Village, to walk around. I found a coupon online for free coffee from Seattle's Best and then we used our gift card for happy hour at PF Chang's, so we were able to enjoy our outing without spending anything (and on top of that, our waitress brought us an extra entree free!!). :) Dominic was so cute in the restaurant! His favorite thing to do was pound on the table!


It was so sunny and beautiful outside. And the pretty flowers and cobblestones reminded me of France. :)














We also had a family dinner at Kathy's. Dominic loved seeing his Nanny again! This is the cute blanket that Kathy made for him! He loves it!!














Later that weekend I decided to put some little slippers on Dominic's feet. I rarely put socks or
shoes on because his feet are so fat, they just look uncomfortable on him. It was so cute when I put them on him though, because he sat there for the longest time looking at his feet and touching the design on them. It was really cute!!











A picture of me and my sweet little boy. I love him so much and am so thankful that I get to stay home and take care of him!! I am so blessed!!!

I love 6th Grade!

Yes, these words that came out of Dom's mouth after the first day of school. This is his 5th year of teaching and these have been very challenging years for him. So hearing this was an answer to a 3 year prayer for his job! And although this is still the "honeymoon phase" of the school year, there have already been instances that have confirmed that this is the right fit for Dom.

1. He made a student cry on the first day of school! (the boy was acting up, and so remorseful for his actions, he cried. With his previous high school students, they would have mouthed off and blamed the teacher or anyone for that matter....I don't know how he put up with the high schoolers!)

2. They went on a field trip today and the kids that were assigned to go with Mr. Herrick cheered, and the ones that were assigned to other teachers complained that they couldn't go with him.
3. When the kids gave highlights of their week, math class was their favorite.
4. Dom has a textbook this year (can you believe he taught for 2 years without one!!) and great resources. He also using some really cool technology in his class that the students LOVE and it is keeping them engaged!

When Dom and I were talking at the end of his first week, he said in passing "I'm not worried about this year". WOW!!! We are so thankful to God for this!!