Book Review: Triumph

My fifth book for the year is called Triumph, and its author is Carolyn Jessop, a former member of the FLDS church (a fundamentalist sect that broke off from the Mormons a long time ago). And for those of you who are wondering, YES, I do have a slight obsession. It all started with Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven and grew even more with Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall. This book was no exception, as it definitely fueled my anger with the group and gave light to a world of evil that is STILL being practices right here in the United States.

Carolyn Jessop writes about her experiences while in the FLDS and after she fled. She wrote another book before this one, Escape, that I did not read. Reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Noble said that this one covers many of the same things, so I picked the newer one to read. Jessop, who was married to Merrill Jessop (who is now in trouble with the law along with Warren Jeffs -- you may have seen them on TV recently) while she was in the FLDS. Together, they have eight children. Carolyn details what it was like being married to a MUCH older man at such a young age and how she lived with several sister wives. She was treated poorly, but unlike most women in the FLDS, she resisted it. She realized that she was worth more than that, and she fought back. She stood up for herself and for her children, which got her into a lot of trouble.

Carolyn Jessop flashes back and forth from the past to the present. She tells what it was like growing up in the FLDS, being married, sneaking out to ork out at Curves, getting a college degree and then teaching, being forced to then turn over her entire salary to her husband. She writes about one of her children being extremely sick and not being allowed to take him to the hospital for treatment. She tells of the heartache she experienced when her oldest daughter, Betty, returned to the FLDS just after turning 18. Jessop's story is full of love, compassion, determination, loss, grief, and most of all WILLPOWER. 

Anyone who is interested in other cultures should read this book. It is a real eye opener about things you would never even BELIEVE happen in our country to this day. Children are being abused. Girls are being forced to marry men sometimes 40+ years their senior. They are turned into birthing machines, and they are worth nothing more than that. Women are made to feel horrible about themselves and show no emotions. It's difficult to get through some of Jessop's accounts, but it is a worthwhile read. I highly recommend this book, but I do enjoy almost every book I come across. 

This evening, I went to Barnes & Noble to purchase Jodi Picoult's new book, Lone Wolf. It came out yesterday, and since she is my favorite author, I had to buy the book as soon as possible. It is the first book I have bought that doesn't go on my Nook in quite some time, and I am ecstatic to delve into it. I will write a review when I finish it. 

Happy reading,

Janelle

Our Third Anniversary

On Saturday, February 25^th, Dan and I celebrated our third anniversary together. It was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed having the opportunity to spend the entire day together. We made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and cleaned up around my apartment. Then, Dan went to work out, while I watched the Mizzou basketball game, which ended in utter disappointment. During that time, I made a box to put Dan’s gift in because I had completely forgotten I needed to wrap it (oops!), and he had my car so I couldn’t go out to get one (double oops!). I will show pictures of the box I managed to put together in about an hour, along with pictures of the gift I made him, in another post later in the week.

On Saturday evening, Dan and I made a delicious dinner together. We started with a steamed artichoke to share as an appetizer, and Dan stuffed it with break crumbs and seasoning. We dipped it in a mayonnaise/lemon sauce, and it was amazing. Then, we had German Spätzle for our main course that we made ourselves. It was a lot of fun to make, and it tasted just like it came from Edelweiss. We added caramelized onions to it, and those definitely sealed the deal. Yum. For dessert, we had German chocolate cake with coconut/pecan frosting. Everything was wonderful, and there will be pictures at the end of this post.

After dinner, Dan and I jumped in my car and headed to the Colorado Springs World Arena, which happens to be less than two miles from my apartment. Dan still had no idea where I was taking him, but when we got there, I showed him the tickets I had for the Dralion show by Cirque Du Soleil. It was INCREDIBLE. We had a blast watching all of the extremely limber performers, and it was nice holding hands the entire time. We LOVED the show! When we got home, we ate banana split ice cream and talked about the performance. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and I feel blessed to have been able to spend it with my loving fiancé.

Our artichoke and dipping sauce

Spätzle!

German chocolate cake

Before our big night out! :)

More tomorrow,

Janelle

Runner's High

Lately, I have bee sick. A lot. I'm sure most of you know that because I have blogged about it constantly in a whining manner. I hate being sick. It made me exhausted, and since I could barely even breathe while simply sitting still, I knew I couldn't work out. I didn't realize how much I missed running until today. After reading my friend Michelle's blog posts about running, it made me eager to get back into it, but still, I had NO IDEA how much I truly missed it.

I am finally feeling better, so I decided to go for my first run in a couple of months. It felt NICE. I ran two and a half miles when I got home from work, but I had to stay on the treadmill because it was a tad too chilly for me outside this evening. I'm hoping to head outside for the majority of my runs very soon. I can't even begin to explain how GOOD I felt while running and afterward. My muscles are a bit sore now, but it's that good *I-worked-hard-and-I-know-it* feeling.

I've decided that I want to register for a 5K so that I will make myself keep doing this daily. Running right after work sure does relieve my stress, and I could use all the stress relief I can find right now. I found the perfect 5K to run. It is on Sunday, March 25th, and it's in Denver, an hour away. Dan and I are going to run it together that morning, and then that evening, my mom and grandma come into town! There is another one the following Saturday at the Air Force Academy, so I am hoping to be able to run both. The 5K I plan on running in Denver is the Stop TB Trot, and you can find information HERE.

The "high" that I always feel after a good work-out is what keeps me going. I'm sure everyone reading has experienced that at some point, but if not, please go work out so you can experience the feeling. I know it's easy to get distracted or not be able to make enough time in your day to work-out, but it helps in so many ways. Running boosts my confidence like nothing else can. It makes me feel GOOD about myself, always. It makes me think about healthy things I can do in my life, such as running races or wanting to go even further (such as eventually participating in a triathlon, but I have a long way to go before that's possible!). It makes me make conscious decisions about what to put in my body, and I ALWAYS eat healthier when I'm in a routine of working out regularly. Running isn't just good for the body; it's good for the mind.

I'll write more tomorrow,

Janelle

Our First Year

Dan and I endured a lot during our first few months of dating. We had been together for about six weeks when Dan had to leave for Air Force training in Texas for five weeks to be a B-2 Crew Chief. It was our first taste of long distance, and we thought that would be that. He would go, he would be trained, and he would come back to Missouri. We enjoyed getting to know each other even better on the phone and the one weekend trip where we each drove half way and met in Oklahoma City to see each other half way through his time away, but we looked forward to him being back home. 

Then, about three days before Dan was due to return home from Texas, he found out that he had been admitted to the United States Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs. I knew exactly NOTHING about the place, and I had only heard of USAFA once, when he mentioned that he had applied but also that I shouldn't worry because there was NO way he would ever get in. Little did we both know. He called me to tell me the news, and I broke down right away. Going to the Air Force Academy with a year of prep school before it meant that he would be living in Colorado Springs for FIVE YEARS. How would we be able to make our relationship work? We had only been together for about two months when he found out, so although we were already in love and happy together, we didn't know if we would last through the trials and tribulations that a long-term long distance relationship placed upon us. 

Dan returned home at the end of his training in Texas in May, and he was to report to the Air Force Academy Prep School on July 14th, 2009, a day I will never forget. We spent almost all of our time together before he left, and one of the hardest moments of my life was saying goodbye to him at the airport. We wouldn't be able to talk for at least three weeks while he was in Basic Training (his second one since he was already in the military—and he did a third when he got to the actual Academy… poor guy). We didn't know when we would be able to see each other again, but we decided to give our relationship a shot. Luckily for us, we made it through to Parents' Weekend, which is a three-day weekend in September when families may visit their cadets for the first time. I drove out all by myself (his family did not attend), and we had the best three days together! It reconfirmed that we WANTED to make our relationship work. We only saw each other a few times that year (Parents' Weekend, Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break, Valentine's Weekend, Spring Break, and Dan's birthday weekend), but somehow we fought hard enough to know it was worth fighting for. 

My mom and I drove out to Colorado Springs for Dan’s Prep School graduation (about a week after my college graduation from UCM that he had to miss for a silly parade – and oh boy was I mad!). She then flew home while Dan and I showed his mom around Colorado Springs. We had previously decided it would be best for me to move to Colorado after I graduated, so we got the keys to my new apartment and then drove back to Missouri to pack up my old apartment. We did that and then drove right back to Colorado with a Penske truck full of my belongings. Since then, our lives have been slightly more normal. We see each other every weekend, but we still do not have the same opportunities as other normal (aka civilian) couples. However, we like to think that we have even more unique experiences while dealing with the military, and I wouldn’t trade a moment of hardship for anything. Our relationship is perfect for us. We both like challenges, and the Air Force sure throws some at us, as it will continue to after he commissions as an officer in a couple years. We have to fight for our love, but it’s worth the fight!

If you would like to read our dating story, CLICK HERE. 

If you would like to read our engagement story, CLICK HERE.

Until tomorrow,

Janelle

Our Dating Story

Today is a special day in my heart. It was on this very day exactly three years ago that Dan and I went on our first date. We had been planning it for about a week and had continued to hang out as friends for that week. I had just got out of a relationship a few weeks earlier, and I had been going on dates with anyone who asked me. It had been a long time since I had gone on a date, so I was just having fun (and enjoying the free meals!) for a couple weeks. One day, as I sat in the Writing Center on campus (where I worked), I received a Facebook chat message from Dan, who was becoming a good friend and running buddy.

The message simply said, "So I hear you're quite the player these days." He was referring to my random dates with people. I laughed and said, "Yeah, you better watch out. You might be next!" Dan replied: "I wouldn't mind going on a date with you." And that was that. We agreed to go on a date and see what happened from there. We're still unclear about who really asked out who. He planned quite an amazing date for a Wednesday night. We confirmed everything the night before at our normal Tuesday night Phi Sigma Pi meeting, and he picked me up at 5:00 on February 25th, 2009 at my apartment in Warrensburg, MO. I didn't know exactly what we would be doing that night, but I was excited. Luckily for me, he has continued to plan amazing things for me, and he loves to surprise me!

As we began driving toward the highway, I inquired about where we were going. At that point, Dan told me that we were first going to dinner at Siki, a Japanese Hibachi Grill in Lee's Summit, MO, which is about 45 minutes from Warrensburg. I was excited to leave Warrensburg, and I told him that I'd been wanting to try Siki since high school. (I really had. I drove by it all the time when I left Raytown, but I had never been). He told me he had called ahead to make sure they had vegetarian options for me, and I foiund that INCREDIBLY sweet of him. When we got there, we were seated next to each other instead of across from each other. My first thought was that it was going to be weird since it was our first date, but it turned out to be just right. We talked, laughed, watched the hibachi chefs put on a show with our food while cooking it right in front of us, enjoyed the delicious meal, and got to know each other better. It was the perfect setting for a first date!

As we ate, Dan told me that he had other plans for after dinner. He said we would be going to a comedy club in Kansas City to see a comedian. I was ecstatic because I'd never been to one before. I asked him where it was, and he mentioned that it was at The Legends. I told him we better get going, then, because that's a pretty long drive. He had no idea, though, since he's not from Kansas City. He didn't realize how stretched out of a city it really is. He had assumed we would just drive right up the street, but it was, in fact, another 40 minutes to get to the comedy club, which gave us lots of time in the car to keep talking. When we finally arrived at the comedy club, we took each other's hand and walked in like it was natural. And it WAS! I knew then that he was special, but I had NO IDEA what our relationship would turn into.

We had a blast and laughed our butts off at the comedy show, and we drove about an hour and a half back to Warrensburg together, talking all the while. We decided then to make things official, and when we updated our Facebook Relationship Status the next day, we had all kinds of friends who were shocked but happy for us.

February 25th will always hold a special place in my heart. On our one year anniversary, Dan was at the Air Force Academy Prep School, and I was student teaching in Missouri. He sent me flowers that were delivered while I was teaching a 10th grade class, and they all got a huge kick out of it! They said, "Does this mean you two are getting married?!" We had previously had dinner at the Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, CO when I visited the weekend before, which was a huge surprise and the most romantic evening ever. For our second anniversary, I was already living in Colorado, so Dan planned a surprise get-away weekend to Alamosa, CO, where he took me on a winter wonderland train ride, a wonderful Mexican restaurant with giant margaritas, a hotel with an indoor water park, and a crocodile/alligator farm, where we got to play with the babies! It was a beautiful weekend, and this year should be amazing as well. I am taking Dan out tonight as a surprise, but we will be making dinner together before. I'll post more about that later in the week!

This is one of the first pictures we have together!

I will write more tomorrow about all of the difficulties we faced during our first year of dating. I guess you could say that this post will be continued...

If you would like to read the story of how we got engaged, please CLICK HERE.

Have a wonderful 25th of February, everyone!

Janelle

Finally Friday

Today is Friday -- hooray! :)

Work wasn't so bad today because the kids had themselves under (somewhat) control for a change. What a nice way to begin my weekend.

After work, I drove up the Academy to pick Dan up. He has the entire weekend free with no commitments to that place. It feel so nice to have him all to myself, even if it's just four a couple of days.

On the way home, we went to India Palace, a place we had a Rubber Dollar Coupon for, and had an AMAZING dinner. We shared an appetizer and entree, and they had just the right amount of spice! Yum! :) Then, we stopped at Blockbuster inside Safeway to rent a movie. We had a promo code for that (of course) so we rented The Change Up, which was hilarious. We laughed all the way through, and it was a good time. And it almost made me forget to write a blog post today -- oops!

We don't have too much else planned for the weekend other than my surprise for Dan tomorrow for our anniversary. We are also going to make a romantic dinner together, but we're not sure what we'll make for that yet. It will involve wine for sure.

I'm off to enjoy my time with Dan...

Janelle

Optimism

Well, it is Thursday yet again (how did it get here so quickly?), so it's time for another writing prompt. This week, it will be:

What do you or can you do to promote optimism in and around yourself?

When I saw this prompt, I knew I had to pick it to blog about today. Optimism is something that I have been lacking lately, even though so many amazing, beautiful things are going on around me. I am living in the city of my dreams. I am engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. I have so many friends to lean on. My cats are the cutest in the world. But it's tough to see all of these things when work has been so rough lately.

I have TWO plans to make myself feel happier and to promote optimism in my life:

1. I will stop writing blog posts complaining about work. I may create a new, private blog to vent and get everything out for myself, or I may even buy a journal to hand-write my feelings about work. Dan suggested that I do this to keep it out of the public so that I don't have to think about it as much. I'll still write about teaching; I just won't talk about everything that stresses me out about it, how the kids grate on my nerves, etc. Part two of this plan for optimism will tell what I'm still going to write about.

2. Instead of writing about the negative things, I am going to vow to write at least one positive thing that happened at work at least three times a week. This obviously will only happen on school days, but I know that in order to see the GOOD in these kids and in the job I am holding down, I need to SEE and appreciate the opportune things that happen during my long days. I have so many great kiddos, and I see so much potential in many others. I need to begin documenting that to make myself happier overall.

I'm sure my plan is not foolproof, so please stop me if you hear me talking negatively about work. Remind me that I am lucky to have a job. Show me ways that kids can be amazing. I DO want to see the bright side. I'll take all the help I can get!

In other news, Saturday is my anniversary with Dan, and he has the ENTIRE weekend off, free from the Academy for the WHOLE WEEKEND! I am ecstatic and so ready to spend so much time with him. We have special plans for Saturday evening, and I will post about that afterward! :)

Until tomorrow,

Janelle

Parent Teacher Conferences

Today it was back to school! After all, I had a three day weekend for President's Day on Monday, and then Tuesday we had parent teacher conferences... so I was at school that day, but I didn't teach all day, so I don't count it as a day. I got to go in at 11:30, but I had to stay until 7:00. I only had 21 parents show up for conferences, and two of those were different parents for the same kid... so really, I only had 20 DIFFERENT kids' parents show up. I teach 105 kids throughout the day, so to say I am disappointed with the turnout would be an understatement. I can't believe so many parents don't care about or prioritize their children's education. That just makes me sad. I promise to be at every single one of those for my future kids, even if they are passing with flying colors.

What conferences DID do for me, though, is show me that I do teach many GREAT kids. Whose parents do you think showed up for the most part? Those kids' parents. And it was nice meeting with them one on one and having nothing but positive, glowing reviews to give. I really did need to see that. Sometimes it's hard to remember why I'm doing what I'm doing, and that helped remind me.

Today, my sixth grade team had a meeting with one of our frequent flyers (aka he's in trouble all the time). He was last suspended for pulling out a knife at school. He came up with an AMAZING plan to keep himself on track and to do all of the work he needs to in order to catch up. He sounded genuine, and today he was a gem. If this ONE kiddo can pull himself through and make it to seventh grade happy and healthy, I will call this year a success.

This evening, I picked up Dan at the Academy, and we headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Springs, Amanda's Fonda, for a nice meal and margaritas. After all, today is National Margarita Day! Then, we went to Best Buy and played with their Wii and ventured through Barnes & Noble just because we could. It's nice to have random nights with him where we can have a blast together and I can get lost in our love for a few hours.

It's a late night for me tonight, though, as I didn't get home until 9:30 and had to shower. I am going to read on my Nook for a while and get some sleep.

Janelle

Great News for Military Spouses

Today, the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and the Second Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, announced that they will be rallying for careers that require individual licenses to do (teaching, nursing, etc.) to make their licenses / certifications universal, meaning that they carry over from state to state! Do you know what this means?! It's huge for all working military spouses everywhere. To transfer a license for teaching (unless the state already carries over, which is few and far between), one must usually take another test, pay a lot of money, and wait. And wait. And wait. It took me six full months to receive my Colorado certification after moving from Missouri, even though I had ALL of the paperwork they needed right away.

With frequent moves in my future, I was so ecstatic to see this today. I had thought that I wouldn't be able to teach in the future, especially while Dan is in pilot training and we move three or four times in just two years. However, with this, I will be able to apply to at least substitute teach while he is busy flying. That way, we will have an extra income, and I won't be bored out of my mind while he's working. I was just NOT meant to be a housewife by ANY stretch of the definition. Can you tell that I'm one happy lady? :)

To read the full article, click here.

I'll write more tomorrow!

Janelle

Vegetarian Lasagna = Success

As I mentioned yesterday in my post, Dan and I made eight servings of lasagna yesterday to individually package for me to take to work for lunch. Making meals in big batches and then freezing them helps me a lot during the week when I am stressed from working too much and not sleeping enough. We did taste test this lasagna when it was finished since we had never made it before. It was one of the best things we have ever made; I loved it. It was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of it during the process or afterward, so now it's all cut up into pieces and in my freezer (well, that sounds weird...). I will supply the recipe, though. Imagine it looking giant and tasty! :)

Zucchini Eggplant Mushroom Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant, cut into ¼ inch thick slices

2 medium zucchini, cut into ¼ inch thick slice

1 container fresh (small) mushrooms

1 tablespoon salt

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 tablespoons garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper

½ teaspoon oregano

1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 cup ricotta cheese

10 lasagna noodles

2 cups mozzarella cheese

cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Begin cooking lasagna noodles according to directions on package.

Line the eggplant slices individually on a layer of paper towels

Salt them, and let them soak up the salt for 7 minutes.

Flip the eggplant slices over, and salt them again. Let them soak up the salt.

Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high.

Add onion and garlic, and sauté them for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add salt, pepper, red pepper, oregano, and crushed tomatoes.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Combine basil, ricotta, and ½ teaspoon of black pepper in a small bowl.

Grease the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish.

Add ½ cup of tomato mixture to the bottom of the dish.

Arrange 3 lasagna noodles over the tomato mixture.

Top with half of the eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms.

Spread the ricotta cheese mixture over the vegetables.

Add 3 lasagna noodles.

Add 1 cup of tomato mixture over noodles.

Layer with remaining eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms.

Add 4 lasagna noodles over that.

Spread out remaining 1 cup of tomato mixture on the top.

Add 2 cups of mozzarella cheese over the very top.

Cover with foil coated with cooking spray.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Uncover, and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Well, it's back to work tomorrow. Today was President's Day, so we didn't have school. That was nice. I won't have students tomorrow either, though, because we have parent/teacher conferences. Here's to hoping the time flies! 

Janelle

Framed Engagement Photos (and more)

After having a fun game night last night with Ellie & Joe and Emily & Stephen, Dan and I got home close to 1:00 AM. We are old and never stay out that late anymore, so needless to say, we woke up after 11:00 this morning. It was wonderful sleeping in like that, and I cannot wait to do it again tomorrow thanks to President's Day. Unfortunately, Dan doesn't get the day off, so I will be spending it solo. That's okay, though. Since I'm still recovering from a BAD cold after a sinus infection, I plan to be super lazy and drink lots of hot tea. :)

Today, Dan and I cooked. A lot. We spent about four hours in the kitchen after all was prepped, cooked, prepared, and cleaned up. What had us in there for so long, you ask? Well, I was running out of my individually packed lunches that save me SO much time during the work week. I noticed that I only had two left, so I made a list of ingredients that I would need, and Dan stopped to pick them up after his work out on Saturday. We made me enough lunches to last five weeks of school, or until Spring Break. Today, we made Zucchini, Eggplant, and Mushroom Lasagna, Vegetable Stir-Fry with Brown Rice, and Spicy Vegetable Tamales with Enchilada Sauce and Refried Beans. We then dished them all into single portion servings and stuck them in my deep freezer (which we found on Craigslist for $30 last summer! It is such a blessing to have). I will be posting the recipes for those things later this week.

This post is going to be about a different type of project that we decided to undertake today. As you know, we had engagement pictures taken by Hannah Hendricks over Thanksgiving Break in Missouri. We had so many beautiful photographs to choose from, and it was tough to make any decisions as to which ones to frame. Instead of picking just one or two, we wanted to be able to display all of our favorites. I found an idea on Pinterest (of course) to make a sort of organized collage, so I decided to buy the materials. I ordered 12 of our favorite photographs from our engagement session in various sizes (four 4x6 prints, six 5x7 prints, and two 8x10 prints) in black and white tones. Then, I bought black poster-board at Hobby Lobby for only 50 cents. I ordered a black frame from Wal-Mart for $8, and with a little help from Dan (who is more technical minded and could help me keep all the photos even on the poster-board), I arranged them and glued them down. Then, we put the poster-board into the frame (and cleaned all the cat hair out that had snuck in while working on the project). Dan hung it up in my living room for me, and I think it looks really nice. I took a bunch of pictures, but the lighting made it very difficult to capture how good it really looks. I will share four different pictures of the photo collage that we framed. 

We absolutely love the way the framed photographs turned out, and now I can see them each time I walk into my living room. If you have several pictures you want to frame, I highly recommend doing this. It was simple and extremely cheap. Good luck! 

Janelle

50th Day

Today marks the 50th day of the year. That's right: already! I can't believe it's been 50 days since I was in Denver watching the Chiefs win their last game of the season. I can't believe that I have been sick for most of 2012, only feeling healthy for a few days every now and then. But most of all, I can't believe that it is already February 18th! Where is the time going? One week from today will mark three years for Dan and me. We can't wait for that celebration, and it's fun knowing that we are on the downhill slope to his graduation and our wedding. I'll write more about that NEXT Saturday, though.

This morning, Dan had squadron training while I slept in. I got up, showered, and cleaned up the kitchen, and we had lunch together when he got back to my apartment. It's been nice just lounging around with him all day talking on the couch. That's something we haven't made time for as much recently, but my stress levels lately are making it more important. Now he is out working out. I wanted to go with him, but I can still barely breathe from my cold. Maybe next time.

He's also running to the grocery store on his way home to pick up a large list of ingredients for our cook-a-thon we have planned for tomorrow. We are going to make seven different dishes and freeze them in individual tupperware containers so we have lunches ready to go. I have been using this technique since October, and it's so nice being able to grab one container out of the freezer in the morning and have it thawed by lunch. It saves a lot of time, and now Dan is going to keep some in his dorm room as well so he doesn't have to eat boxed lunches all the time when he's busy at the Airfield and misses lunch at Mitch's. I will be posting recipes for what we make throughout the week, so if you're looking to do this, you will have an idea. I make all vegetarian meals for myself, but I'm sure we'll be adding meats to some of Dan's containers.

Today, I caught the cutest picture of my baby boy, Gilligan, as he was playing on Dan's lap:

Gilligan keeping his paws up! He's such a cutie-pie! 

That's all for now. I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend!

Janelle