Six Months

In honor of my wonderful husband I am posting this picture from our wedding!

We are celebrating six wonderful months of marriage today. It's hard to believe that we were in Vegas with our family and friends just 20 weeks ago. I apparently didn't get the memo for how big six month wedding anniversaries are. Doug surprised me at work this afternoon with flowers and a lovely lunch. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful and caring husband. Even better, a one with a great sense of humor. When I told him I didn't think it was that big of a deal he responded, "It's a huge deal when you consider how long your first marriage didn't last." I was rolling on the floor laughing after he said that. We've learned to laugh at our mistakes and take life one step at a time. Otherwise, it just gets too serious and there's no time left for fun. So, for my wonderful husband on our six month wedding anniversary, I love you more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow. Thank you for being my rock and my best friend. I don't know what I would do without you!

Family

I’ve had an amazing opportunity over this past week to reflect on a single word, family.


According to Wikipedia, In human context, a family (from Latin: familiare) is an exclusive group of people who share a close relationship —a unit typically (or "traditionally") composed of a mated couple and their dependent children (procreation) in co-residence.

Blake, my cousin from California, recently stayed with us for a few days. It’s funny how a change in routine/pace can shape your whole attitude. Blake’s attitude is contagious. From the moment he landed in Des Moines I wasn’t able to wipe the smile off my face. Blake and I are more like brother and sister then cousins. For a period of time, it felt like he was the only family I had. We’ve been through so many ups and downs together in the short 25 years we’ve known each other.

Anyways, Blake was in town and was super excited to meet the women I play football with. He joined us at our Friday night practice to meet the team. Watching my football family and my real family come together was such a treat! It’s difficult for me to describe how much Blake means to me and what an influence he has had on the person I’ve become. I wasn’t expecting my teammates to understand exactly what I was feeling but somehow, someway, they just did.

Blake was able to make it to our game on Saturday against the Nebraska Stampede. I felt anxious, nervous and exhilarated all at the same time during that game. We had some healing to do as a team and I also had some healing to do with my family. For the next two hours we all played our hearts out. We finally got all eleven of us out there on that field to click, it was absolutely the most fantastic game I’ve been involved in since joining the Iowa Thunder back in 2008.

So I’d like to give a big THANK YOU to my Thunder Family. Thank you for helping me heal and thank you for being there. All of you hold such a special place in my heart and I’m so proud to have you as my FAMO!

Football Is My Life and I LOVE It!

Wow, I haven't been on here since March?!??? I can't believe where the time has gone. Football has defiantly taken over my life right now and I love it. Parker and I will be celebrating our six month wedding anniversary on the 14th of this month. We were trying to plan a dinner date to celebrate and we don’t have an available evening together till the 24th, crazy!


I know so much has happened the last two months but for some reason I don’t know what to write. I’m keeping busy with my monthly BUNCO and book club meetings with the girls. This portion of the month helps me keep my sanity. It’s amazing what good conversation, good food and GREAT wine can do to improve the work week! 

On top of the BUNCO and book club I’m also playing in an over the hill soccer league on Tuesdays, football practice Wednesday/Friday with games on Saturday, and finally, Doug and I have sand volleyball on Thursdays. As you can imagine, this leaves very little time to get things done around the house. We hope to have the landscaping in the back yard completed by the end of June. I’ll have to post pictures as this should be a major transformation! I used to love cleaning the house but our schedule has given me a distaste for cooking and cleaning the past few weeks. All I think about is sleep and when the next few moments of rest will come.

Doug is doing really well with his knee therapy. He continues to make great improvements and is now able to walk on the treadmill at 3 MPH. I know this doesn’t sound like much but it is completely awesome! We are hoping to have him cleared for running by the end of September. I know he’s really looking forward to getting back in the gym.

Sophie continues to be as cute as ever. Her little brother should be here by the end of July or August. We’re trying to work on training with her so she doesn’t teach the ‘lil guy a bunch of bad habits. Her favorite activities at the moment are playing in the pond in the backyard and then running through the giant sand pit where the patio used to be. Have I mentioned how excited I am to have this landscaping done? It’s hard enough wiping up muddy paws due to all the rain in the Spring, but sandy paws on top of it all is enough!

My cousin Blake is coming to visit from California in two days. I’m excited to have him back and also have him watch me play football. Hopefully we can pull off a win and show him what Iowa Thunder football is all about. Doug and I are looking forward to all the vacations we have planned this summer. I’ve never been to a MLB game so we’re going to three this year – Cubs vs. Cardinals, Cubs vs. Rockies (in Colorado) and Yankees vs. Royals. We also have a vacation planned to California to see my family and I hope to take Doug to see the local wineries. We hope to top off the year with a vacation to either Las Vegas or back down to Mexico for our one year anniversary. Between all the tailgating for college football and vacations we hope to start planning a family sometime this winter!

ima b.....waiting for 3:30!

So excited that today is finally here. This has been a crazy busy week with work and football. Tonight I'm meeting up with some of the best friends a girl could ask for. We're going to one of my favorite restaurants downtown, Fong's Pizza. I know what you're thinking, "That's a strange name for a pizza place." and you're right, but it is so darn delicious! http://www.fongspizza.com/ After we have some yummy drinks and a slice of pizza we'll be heading to Wells Fargo for the BEP concert!
The Iowa Thunder are still continuing their fundraising efforts with Wells Fargo, so, I'll also get to see my teammates while I'm at the concert :) couldn't ask for a better night. Speaking of the Thunder, I've been asked to write a blog about our season. It's supposed to be written from a captain/player/female athlete perspective. I'd love having you check out that blog as well, http://iowathunderfootball.blogspot.com/, and keep track of our progress this year!

Why do you hate me daylight savings?

This is the time of year when I struggle the most. Take an hour of sleep away from me and it takes me a week to recovery. Should be interesting when we finally decide to have kids! I couldn’t seem to get myself out of bed this morning. It could be due to the fact that Parker’s alarm went off every 15 min. between 6:15 and 7:00 this morning. Not to mention there is a good possibility that the entire neighborhood heard said alarm, it’s a wonder I could even fall back asleep between the glaring noise of it all, but I did and it only made for a worse case of the Mondays.


After finally pulling myself out it was time to head to the office. Walked downstairs and pulled up to the table, I love work from home days, normally. This turned out to be an exceptionally busy day. Sophie, conveniently, slept the entire morning and afternoon in our bed. Every hour I thought about joining her for a quick snooze to get away from it all. Here I am, it’s almost 9:00 in the evening and all I can think about is sleep.

Food journal entry is going to have to wait another day because I simply can’t stay up to write it all out. New recipes we tried this week:

BBQ Ranch Sandwich, Egg Bake (super easy and awfully yummy) and last but not least – vanilla bean strawberry cake with homemade frosting. I would have eaten the entire cake had I not felt like I was developing type II diabetes. I’ll hopefully get around to posting pictures tomorrow.

Another big work day ahead and preparing for St. Paddy’s day! Good Night <3 The Parker’s!

Finally Feel Energized

For the first time in a long time I woke up feeling completely energized and it’s absolutely fabulous! I can’t remember the last time I felt this good. Surprising too since Doug got a new phone and his alarm sounds like a nuclear weapon is being fired. It about shot me out of bed the two times it went off.

Anyways, got up and ready for work and was on the road by 7:15. Got into the office early and made my Chai Latte, thank you to our fantastic single serving coffee maker, and now I’m currently participating in our monthly team conference call….well, maybe not so much participating as multi tasking. Have to pick Doug up in an hour for his six week follow-up appointment from surgery. I cannot believe he’s been on crutches for the past six weeks. It will be so wonderful when he can finally walk without all of the hassle with the crutches. He’s really looking forward to getting back into a normal routine. We’re planning on joining a new gym, preferably one with a pool since it would help with his rehab.

Last night for dinner we tried a new recipe – Salsa Burgers and Creamy Cheese Corn, yum!



Salsa Burger:

1 lb ground beef or Turkey

1 cup favorite salsa

¼ cup water

Chili Powder

Hamburger Buns



In medium skillet brown ground beef and drain. Return meat to pan and stir in salsa, water and chili powder. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes or until desired consistency is reached. Serve on hamburger bun and add sliced cheese if desired.

Cream Cheese Corn:

16oz package frozen corn

½ stick of butter

4oz cream cheese



In medium sauce pan and all ingredients and heat stirring occasionally. Cook till corn is thawed. Add salt and pepper to taste.




Tonight is my monthly book club meeting and we’ll be discussing the book The Help. Highly recommend reading this book if you haven’t done so. Dinner is going to have to be quick tonight so I can finish up laundry before heading to the meeting. Tonight’s recipe is Tomato Soup with Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

TGI - The WEEKEND!

I can’t believe how busy the month of March has been! Thank goodness for the kitchen, it’s become my sanctuary with all the chaos going on. With Doug being on crutches since his knee surgery he’s left unable to do….just about everything. I try and have as much done around the house for him before he gets home as possible. I was able to sneak home over my lunch break a few times this past week and get dinner made ahead of time. My crock-pot just might be my favorite cooking friend. It’s so nice to leave in the morning and “POOF” dinner is ready when you walk through the door. The crock-pot recipe this week was: Ham & Potato Goodness


Servings: 4

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High

Total time: 4 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients:

6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced

1 pound of ham, cut into small pieces.

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 onion, diced

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

paprika

Directions:

In your slow cooker layer half sliced potatoes, ham, cheese, diced onion and one can of soup. Then layer the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker. Sprinkle a little paprika on the top.

Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours

Parker review: BEST DARN SCALLOP TATERS