Getting outside!

This weekend some good friends from college, Jeremy and Casey (plus their daughter Lily) came up to visit. With Saturday hitting 50 degrees, we all knew we had to head outside and do some hiking. My, how times have changed...we used to all hike in college but it is a whole other story with 2 children in tow (but so fun!) We went to Jefferson Memorial Forest (the closest place near Louisville with relatively decent hiking) and did a short loop. Lily was a trooper and with the promise of a playground at the end, she kept up the whole time. Most of these pictures are from Casey's camera and capture our weekend well!

Love that little smile!

Look at that chilly little nose...he didn't mind though!

 

 

 

 

 

What a cute family!

Another cute close up that Casey took

These two sat here like this for well over an hour and played!

 We had such a great weekend and, as I told Casey, it was nice that they understood how it is to organize your weekend around napping and feeding routines, to be content with staying in and ordering pizza rather than going out and how to have fun just walking in the woods. Good times!

My grandma

This picture of me and my grandma (Nanny:) was taken about a year and a half ago and I think it is one of the last ones I have of the two of us. She passed away two weeks ago after battling Alzheimer's for the last few years. To be honest, I am glad she is not suffering anymore and that she is at peace with Christ at this moment.  She was the quintessential grandma to me and my sisters (and other cousins) and a model of a Christ-like spirit in numerous ways. I have so many wonderful memories of her as she was able to be there to watch us all grow up and I already miss her lots.

Last weekend, the funeral was held in Louisville and my grandpa stayed with my parents for several weeks as family and friends came by to visit and plan the details. My mom snapped lots of pictures of him with Andrew and I think the two of them love each other a lot! I am sad that my grandma never got to meet Drew because I'm certain she would have loved her great-grandson!

 

In addition to seeing my grandpa we got to see lots of family and friends who knew and loved my grandma.

 

This one is kind of blurry but my grandpa is in the middle with two of his oldest friends (they've known him for over 70 years!) and I think that is just amazing that their friendship goes that far back.

All the cousins/grandkids (and spouses) made for a full picture! Even though the funeral was sad on one level, it was also good to see so many people who loved my grandma and to catch up with family members we don't get to see as often as we'd like.

Snug as a bug after a bath!

Healthy Cookies?

 I may or may not be addicted to sugar. It's kind of a problem...no seriously. Case in point: once in college I ate an entire cake my friend Katie made over the course of 2 days. In my defense, I thought  my roommates were "helping" the cake disappear along with me, but when I commented that everyone must have loved it as much as I did, I was met with the response that I was, indeed, the only person who had touched that cake. Yikes.
All that to say, I like dessert, but I also try to be healthy. Nothing too drastic; I'm not about to cut cheese out of my diet or swear off chocolate or anything that insane, but having a baby makes you first of all evaluate everything that goes into your body while you are pregnant and then everything that goes into your child. Therefore, I'm trying to reinvent some recipes I love to make them healthy too.

I love that little face peeking out in the background!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp of flax seed (found in organic section of the grocery by the seeds and nuts)
• 1/4 cup of wheat bran (found in the organic section of the grocery by bread mixes/flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• sprinkle of salt
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp of corn syrup (optional but helps hold it all together)
• 3 to 4 Tbsp melted butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/4 cup of pumpkin butter OR apple butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, but let's remember that chocolate makes everything better)

Wow that looks like a lot of ingredients but I tried to replace the  massive amounts of butter and sugar that most recipes call for with healthy stuff. They are very filling because of all that too!

--Mix dry ingredients together and then stir in all the rest. Mix in the raisins and chocolate chips last. --Drop by teaspoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-10 minutes at 350.  Enjoy!

Future Soccer Player?