Jammin'

Jonah is obsessed with drumming. He loves to smack things together, and his face just lights up whenever Jordan is in the drum room playing. 

Every now and then, Dad lets him throw down some beats, too!

I see a lot of noise in my future.

What We've Been Up To

Last weekend, we went up North to Flagstaff to spend time with friends. Jordan and his long-time buddy Ammon did a triple pitch climb in Sedona, which is seriously one of the most beautiful places ever. As soon as we get his pictures and video uploaded, we will share them! Jordan gets so little time away from work that it is always nice to take a trip somewhere together as a family! 

Things are finally cooling down here in Gilbert, and we have been able to get out and enjoy the nicer weather a little bit. This means, we have finally been able to hang out together in the backyard! It has been no man's land for the past few months, as we tend to hole up in the air conditioning of our home, Hobby Lobby, Target, Lowe's, or any other place in which we can entertain ourselves for a little while and not sweat our guts out. The other morning was so nice that we all played and relaxed on a blanket in our grass.

Roughhousing!

I have also been trying to take Jonah to the park more often. He would go down the slide all day long, but when it comes to the swings or sand, he could kind of do without them. Homeboy's going to have to get over it if he ever wants to survive Kindergarten!

Buddy and I spent this past weekend with my family up in Anthem while Jord took a boys' trip to St. George. We also both got nasty colds... Why is it that whenever the man of the house leaves, we both get horribly ill!!? I will never understand it.

I know we have been in our house for, oh, four months now and I still have not posted pictures. I also know our friends and family have requested them about a hundred times. Sorry, guys :( I am working on it!

Most days, I am lucky if one room of the house is clean enough to take a photo of because of the little one-man tornado, so we are going to have to do this gradually. Also, I still have yet to hang anything on 89% of the walls.

Mostly, life is great, and we are loving every day! :)

 

 

Tunes

What I've been listening to lately...

Typhoon-White Lighter 

Xavier Rudd-Spirit Bird 

The Civil Wars 

The Avett Brothers-Magpie and the Dandelion

Lorde
(who I may have to pretend I never liked if she becomes the next M.C. or J.B. :)

Camera Obscura-Desire Lines

Phantogram-EP



Others that I want to check out soon but haven't had the chance:


Volcano Choir-Repave

Amos Lee-Mountains of Sorrow, Rivers of Song



Recommendations for more welcome! (we are always looking for new music)

Jonah turns ONE!

We're almost a month late on this post, but let's be honest here. I think it's no secret that I am a slobby blogger. A slogger.

At this rate, we are lucky if I get one a month in. Sigh... 

Anywho, our little guy turned one on September 20th, and it was nuts! I still can't believe he is a year old. This has been both the longest and shortest year of my life, and I can still remember that day when he was born at Women's East in Chattanooga so vividly. Honestly, it's hard to look back on that day and this whole year of crazy ups and downs and not feel like an Amazon warrior queen(if that existed, which I'm pretty sure it does not) who can do anything. Motherhood is insane and hard, but so rewarding and sweet and wonderful.

Jonah is the best; he is so hilarious, weird, stubborn, precious, and wild. We love his curly mullet hair and his jack-o-lantern smile. He still is not walking, yet, but we are getting closer every day! He says mama and dada (and I swear he says "yeah" all the time, but maybe it's just wishful thinking), but he is still a little slow on the talking front, no matter how hard I try.

At his one year check up, Jonah weighed exactly 20 pounds (28th percentile), which I thought was kind of funny because he was exactly 9 pounds when he was born. He was 30 1/4 inches tall (65th percentile) and his head circumference was 18 (38th percentile).

For his actual birthday, Grandma Mabry, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Gary, and (great) Aunt Robin came over for lunch. He got some fabulous toys to play with and got a Wendy's Frosty. We will post more pictures of the day and his birthday party soon!

 

Spicy Vegetarian/Vegan Quiñoa Tacos

So, I have been trying to be better about stretching groceries and making meals out of what we have left to help with the budget. You know, like my guy Tim Gunn always says, "Make it Work!"

Occasionally, it makes for some veerrry interesting combinations. And by interesting, I mean pretty bad. And by pretty bad, I mean tasteless and/or cardboardy.

However, every now and then a star is born, and we have a fantastic dinner! Enter, these tacos. I think it is more appropriate to call them, "Hobo Tacos" but that doesn't sound too appetizing. It's also probably not P.C. Sorry. I highly recommend just grabbing whatever you can that sounds good and mixing it in!

We are trying to eat less meat (the whole grocery budget thing, again), but if you have any leftover chicken or beef, throw that in as well! This meal can also easily be made vegan if you pay attention to the tortillas that you buy (or just use lettuce leaves), use primarily fresh or frozen veggies that have been thawed, and forego any dairy additions.

All of these amounts are estimated and are just what we happened to have on hand. You can add less or more to your taste and according to how many mouths you need to feed!

Spicy Vegetarian Quinoa Tacos

1/2 c. cooked Quinoa

1 can black beans

1 c. cooked corn (I used thawed freezer corn)

1/2 can diced green chilies

1 can garbanzo beans

2 tomatoes, diced

3 or 4 leaves Romaine lettuced, chopped (not chopped if using as tortilla substitute)

1 cloved garlic, minced

1/2 c. cilantro, chopped

1-2 tbsp. olive oil

8 tortillas

(I prefer corn, but flour or whole wheat work, too!)

optional: vegetable oil to cook/crisp tortillas on stovetop, salsa

Other things that we might have thrown on, had they been in our sad, empty fridge: avocado, red onion, cheese, sour cream, bell pepper (any color), a chipotle pepper in adobo (minced), a little bit of jalapeno pepper, other beans or lentils

Cook the quinoa according to the directions on the box (don't forget to rinse it beforehand! This is the secret to making it fluffy and delicious). While it is simmering, add the black beans, corn, green chilies, garbanzo beans, and garlic to a big bowl and mix. When the quinoa is cooked, fluff it with a fork and add it to the bowl. Let it sit and cool a little bit while you chop the tomatoes and cilantro. Add those both, along with the olive oil, and give the whole mixture a good toss, making sure that everything is incorporated.

We like to have our tortillas a little warm and crispy, so we heat them over the stove with some oil until they are browned and bubbly. This is just us being tortilla snobs, though. Plain is just fine, too.

Enjoy!:)