The Fire Station.

I've been trying to do some act of service with the girls each week this summer. Nothing big or amazing, just something small and simple and usually involves a baked good.

I've been thinking for a few weeks about taking the girls to the fire station with a thank you card. Yesterday we baked a ton of white chocolate macadamia nut cookies to take.

First off, the inside of our fare station is gorgeous with a lot of neat things on display. The first fire engine in Middleton is refurbished and inside along with some pictures of it while it was in service. There's also the bell that used to call in the fire fighters and a beam from 9/11.

We met with a gal who took us on a really cool tour. We got to see all of the different trucks, and Claire even got to get a closer peek. Claire got a good look at all the gear, though she wasn't interested in trying any of it on. It was really interesting learning about the different trucks and how everything works.

It turns out only the chief and two supervisors are paid full-time. The rest (over 100) are volunteers. I knew a lot were volunteer, but I had no idea that many were. We've been fortunate enough to have never had the need to call 911, but I'm still so grateful for all of the sacrifices fire fighters make. Plus we got a fun tour out of it.

We had enough time afterward to explore and play a little bit so we went over by the high school and checked out Fireman's Park before I had to get ready for class.

And some sister snuggles. Cause what's better than that?

Sausage, Noodle, Broccoli thing and Chow Mein.

The last couple days, I've been one of those annoying people that posts pictures of their food. I took pictures for the sole purpose of trying to entice Ross into coming home early from work. I was not successful. But a bunch of people asked for recipes so here we go!

We'll start with a dish we don't have a name for. My family whipped it up in the kitchen out of random things we had in the house and it's been a family favorite ever since. Ross and I have taken to call it the 'Sausage, Noodle, Broccoli thingie'.

Here's what you'll need:
1 box penne, rotini, or bowtie pasta (any bite sized pasta will work)
1 pound hot Italian sausage
Sun dried tomatoes
Broccoli (In the past, I've chopped a head of broccoli, but I've found frozen pre cut was faster and easier)
Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo (Really, you can use any jar of Alfredo, but the most amazing one for this dish is the Roasted Red Pepper by Classico.)

Start cooking your pasta. In a large frying pan or skillet, brown the sausage. While it's cooking, I like to drain and rinse the tomatoes. I don't like the heavy oil taste so I prefer rinsing them, though it's not necessary. drain the meat. return meat to pan. Add broccoli and tomatoes and heat through.

When your pasta is tender, drain and put back in the pot. Add in your Sausage/veggie mix, add your sauce, mix it up and you're done! Generally I've found everything is already hot enough where I don't need to heat up the sauce. It's a super simple tasty dish that we love to serve whenever we have company. My parents like to add in capers and artichoke hearts, too.


Now for the Chow Mein: Remember when I did my 30 Day Vegan experiment? I came to really appreciate vegetables.  I felt amazing, and I had the best body I had ever had. There were a lot of great things about the plant based diet, but there were a few downfalls. I like to do a vegan/vegetarian dish once a week to get my vegetable overdose. It's a great way to get in a low calorie meal that's high in nutrients and super healthy. I've found a lot of new tasty recipes this way.

Chow Meain-

Here's what you'll need:

13 oz box whole wheat spaghetti (normally I wouldn't push my whole wheat everything on people, but for this dish, the thicker/denser noodle makes all the difference.)
2 C broccoli florets (Again, frozen is nice and easy)
1/2 C frozen peas
1/4 C Hoisin sauce (you'll find it in the Asian aisle by the soy sauce)
1/4 C vegetable broth (Any broth will do)
3 T Soy Sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
2 T Oil (canola, coconut, olive, peanut, take your pick)
1 onion thinly sliced
1 carrot cut into matchsticks
4 green onions thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic
1 t ground ginger
1 C bean sprouts (optional)


Start your spaghetti. (again, I'm assuming we all know how to cook pasta.)Add in your broccoli and peas during the last few minutes of cooking. I was short on my frozen broccoli when I made this, so I used a lot of peas. The girls seem to like peas more than broccoli anyway. Drain and set aside.

While your pasta is cooking, mix the hoisin sauce, broth, soy sauce, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl. The red pepper gives it a slight bite.

In a large skillet or frying pan, heat oil and saute onions and carrot until they are lightly browned and slightly tender. Add green onions, garlic, and ginger. It should be smelling pretty fantastic by now. Let cook for just a few minutes longer.

Add the spaghetti, broccoli, peas, and sauce and cook until pasta is heated through and coated with sauce. And you're done!

CrossFit.

I heard about CrossFit a couple years ago and have wanted to do it ever since. I love everything that CrossFit is about. I checked out multiple affiliates, but they weren't in our budget. That was always my excuse: That CrossFit was too expensive.

I looked around our gym and decided there was no reason why I couldn't do it on my own. The WOD is posted every day, and it's scaled down in a forum when there are exercises I can't quite do yet.I've been doing CrossFit for about a month now. Ross joined me a couple weeks ago and we get to work out together on the weekends.

I have a pretty good routine going. After Aoife's morning nap, we go to the gym. Then we do lunch and both girls nap again. I've noticed major changes since starting this a month ago. Not just physical changes, but other beautiful, important changes have been going on.

I don't make excuses anymore. I am strong. There is no reason why I can't do something. My house is cleaner. I'm happier. I don't yell at my kids anymore. We have fun and we play together. I'm more confident. I feel so much better about myself. My days are more productive. My kids are happier. I cook great dinners. And I still treat myself to a morning Diet Coke and I don't even feel guilty about it.

A lot of good things have been going on.

My first workout looked like this:

My palms and knees were destroyed, but I loved it. And I've come a long way since then. I've had a few workout where I've barely made it to the toilet in time to throw up. This is probably the hardest I've worked. Ever. And it feels amazing.

Summer Bucket List.

The problem with having young kids, is that you don't really get out much. They have nap times, and they NEED naps, and I feel incredibly lucky if I can get them to nap at the same time. I was excited about summer. I was looking forward to hot sunny days spent at the pool. Come to find out, we decided Wisconsin doesn't have summer. It has winter, more winter, and monsoon season. Followed again by winter. Most days we've had thunder storms and pouring rain. Which spoiled my pool plans.

It's only the end of June and I'm ready for fall. If it's going to rain, I might as well get some cider and fall fashion out of it, right?

In an effort to get excited about "summer", I made a summer bucket list. I made sure to include plenty of indoor activities, as well as the places I've wanted to visit, but haven't had the chance yet. I'm looking forward to some adventures and being able to explore Wisconsin more. Hopefully I'll learn how to balance the things I have to do, nap schedules, and adventures and make it a fun summer.

Strawberry Season.

Something I've missed about Portland is berry season. I'm telling you, there is nothing like an Oregon berry. In Utah, I couldn't find a berry farm to save my life. But here in Wisconsin, we not only have berry farms, we have berry websites and hotlines.

The girls and I drove out to a farm not too far away. It even had a little country store that reminded me of home. Unfortunately, they were closed and I'm sure I looked like a crazy woman wandering around with my loaded stroller. The next day, we decided to try a different farm. It was a little further away, out int he middle of nowhere. It was one of those towns where the city hall was about the size of a gas station.. It was right up my alley. The girls were fantastic. Claire was more interested in the dirt and rocks than picking, but luckily they were patient enough to let me pick a couple buckets full.

They were eating them faster than I could pick and their clothes and faces got stained red. It was perfect.

After we got home we decided we needed more. I had Saturday off from school, so we planned to take Ross and go pick more. It was pouring when we got to the farm, but we decided to pick anyway. Aoife was content in the covered stroller, and Claire had fun getting dirty while Ross and I got to work. We were SOAKED. Claire ended up jumping in puddles and got covered head to toe in mud. She thought it was hilarious. I tried to take a picture, and I thought it took, but when we got home I realized my finger was too wet and it didn't actually take. But we had a blast. It was the perfect morning.

I spent the next couple days making jam and we've been eating toast for every meal since.

Wicked.

Last night Ross and I got to go on a hot date. We found out Wicked was coming to Madison when we first moved here. As soon as we got our tax refund we bought tickets, and have been counting down the months ever since.

I had seen it before in high school, but Ross had never been. And it was in town over my birthday, so it was perfect! We snagged ourselves a fabulous babysitter. (Seriously Maddie, Claire was talking about you this morning and how much fun she had.)

Anyway, unfortunately, Ross' phone was just about dead when we headed out, and I left mine with the babysitter. (We don't have a land line.) So we don't have pictures to share. BUUUUUUT it was SO fun getting all dressed up. Some gals even wore floor length gorgeous dresses. 

We loved it. It was fabulous.When we came out, it was dark (obviously) but the capitol building was lit up and it was gorgeous. And we felt like such party animals being out past 10:00.

Fiyero wasn't amazing, but Glinda and Elphaba were fantastic. We really had the best time and woke up with songs still running through our heads.

Speaking of birthdays, I turned 23 last Tuesday. We celebrated with cake banana cream pie and presents on Monday. School days are kind of crazy. Ross comes home from work and I rush out the door for class, so I wanted to celebrate on Memorial Day when we were all home. I got to take a nap, got my Sonic, and got lots of fun presents. It was wonderful.

On my actual birthday I took a lazy day. I cleaned only a little, and then had a doctor appointment in the afternoon. Ross came home early so I wouldn't have to take the girls, which was really a blessing. The doctor was really behind and the appointment took a lot longer than planned. I ended up having to rush off to class straight from the appointment. Pretty low key day, but I guess that's what you hope for when you're all grown up. Last night's date totally made up for it anyway.

The last few years have been more than eventful. I'm excited for what 23 has to offer!