Our new love...most of the time!

We recently adopted the cutest little Jack Russel puppy. We love her to death but we had no idea what we were getting into. she is so full of energy and even though we take her running twice a day, she doesn't slow down. She also used to be a lot cuddlier, but now she wants to play all of the time and she likes to bite our hands when we play. We are taking her in to get trained but we are really not doing very well trying to be the alpha dogs. Anyway, thought you would enjoy some pics.

More!!!

Lime Cilantro Rice

1 c. white rice 2 cups Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp. Lime Juice ½ Tbsp. Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp. Minced Dry Onion Pinch of Salt

Cook the listed ingredients to the rice directions (substituting broth for water)

When rice is done add: ¼ - ½ c. fresh Cilantro, 1 Tbsp. Lime Juice,

½ can Green Enchilada Sauce Serving suggestion: Put the pork, rice, and some

black beans together in the 'cook at home' tortillas from Costco, and pour

enchilada sauce on top, sprinkled with a little cheese. Bake it in the oven until

the cheese is melted.

Lime Salad Dressing

1 pkg. Hidden Valley dry dressing mix
1 Tbsp. green salsa verde 1/8 tsp. Tabasco
1/3 bunch cilantro 2 minced cloves garlic
3/4 c. Mayonnaise 3/4 c. buttermilk
1 lime juiced and zested

Combine in a Blender

Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing:

3 fresh tomatillos, cut into quarters juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup buttermilk (or make w/dry buttermilk mix)
1/2 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup sour cream
1 pkg. dry Ranch Buttermilk Dressing Mix
1 cup fresh cilantro (about one bunch)
6 stalks (1/2 bunch) green onions, w/ends
2 cloves crushed garlic 4 tsp. sugar
5 (cross section slices) jalapeno pepper

Combine well in blender and refrigerate one hour.

Café Rio’s Pork Barbacoa

My awesome aunt sent me this, Enjoy!

2 ½ - 3 ½ lbs Pork Loin Roast ½ cup Dark Brown Sugar
½ cup Worcestershire Sauce
½ tsp Dried Oregano ½ tsp Powdered Ginger
1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Dry Chile Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder 2 Tb Dried Minced Oni

Cook all of the ingredients in a Crock Pot approx. 4 hours on high.

Shred Combine 1 can of Red Enchilada Sauce and ½ cup Dark Brown Sugar.

Pour over the top.

Lonesome

SO tonight is Dustin's first all night shift at the hospital, 7pm-7am, and I am not liking this too much. I have gotten used to not having him around on Saturday because he had to work, I am used to not a lot of date nights because of late shifts and homework, I am used to staying up late with him when he studies for tests...but this is a whole new bag of chips. I attended a Stake primary training meeting at 7 and came home to an empty apartment, not that that in and of itself is all that unusual, but it is stranger when I know it is going to remain just little (figuratively) old me.
Now I know I could be working on my talk for Sunday (how to teach children to learn how to recognize the spirit...any ideas would be helpful), I could be trying to implement all of the new secretary ideas I received at the meeting, I could do laundry or pack for my trip to Utah tomorrow, I could organize my photos, put away the last box from moving that has gone untouched for the last 3 weeks or actually do my ironing (which never gets done unless I wear the item that needs ironing usually causing me to run late to work or church). But no, I sit here and blog, or should I say whine, when really I should be thinking about Dust. The poor guy was up at 7 this morning and only got an hour nap in this afternoon before going to work. Then tomorrow he has to go to class after his shift. Of course I am not worrying that he will be home alone for the next two nights while I am off galavanting around Utah while visiting my sister and attending her baby shower.
OK, so I am lonesome, lazy and a bit of a self-centered wife. Don't worry, I taped The Office and that will cheer me right up!

Check It Out!

We have added music to our blog! Scroll to the bottom of the page and check it out. It is on random so you could hear anything while you are checking out the blog, but there are a lot of songs on there so play around and let us know what you think. We are always up for recommendations and perhaps we will influence you with some of our favorites. Oh yeah, just like with politics, our music tastes are not always alike, so there is quite a variety.

Just to clarify...

I just read Dustin's post and I just had to verify that we do not necessarily share political views...in fact I think his personal views change from day to day so please take it with a grain of salt. His studying of the Vietnam War has definitely put a fire in his belly about war. So I guess you will start seeing more than just my mushy posts. Have fun!

Crazy days

Lyndzee has finally allowed me the right to post on our family blog, and for some strange reason I am a little excited. This new interest in blogging might stem from my apathetic mood toward school, as things begin to wrap up with my time at ASU, but oh well, at least ya'll get a different voice to listen to. I was just reading the last entry Lyndz made, and it might seem like our life is really depressing, but we are holding up. We still have not had any huge victories (Biochem still is a struggle, Teach for America outright rejected me, and we still have no children to speak of) Nevertheless good things are on the horizon. I was walking out of the temple this evening, and noticed several stop lights illuminated green all the way up 1st Avenue, with the exception of one red light, the one closest to me (naturally). I feel like that is our life together so far, we have been sitting at a red light for a little while, but soon the whole road is simply going to be wide open. Like Lyndz said we are trying to enjoy the journey, and recognizing all the while that these trials are some essential lessons that we need to learn.
The business is going along well, if anyone needs a pool guy in Scottsdale give me a call (I am OCD so you are guaranteed the cleanest pool on the block). I was up until three in the morning draining a pool last Thursday (no one was home thankfully, hope I start work at Scottsdale Healthcare in the NICU, I am doing my first night shift (7PM-7AM), which I am dreading I am not a night owl, so steer clear for the next few months if I happened to have pulled a night shift the previous night. I am excited though, we get to work real close with the premature babies, and the ones coming off drug addictions. I am accustomed to cleaning up really old people that are at the end of the line, so this will be a nice change, go from the end to the beginning. Despite all my endeavors, Lyndz is still the big time breadwinner, in fact I dont bring home much bread at all. She is an amazing worker bee, loyal and committed to the core of everything that she is, I am lucky to have her as my own.
On a final note I have been learning all about the Vietnam/Cold war this semester in my history classes so if anyone wants to discuss how we keep electing mentally handicapped, warmongering Presidents I would be happy to ramble.
Peace--

Bigger Than US

So on Friday we had our homestudy with our case worker for the adoption process. He basically asks us more specific questions then we have already answered in our paperwork to make sure the judge gets all of the correct info. Then he looked over our house to make sure it was clean and child friendly. We just moved into a 2 bedroom apartment so we were up late on Thursday unpacking and putting on the final touches. My mom came over and I would not have been able to finish it without her. She has that mother nack and could put away things that I would just stare at...I was a little tired and fried that night. So now we just need to get a fire extinguisher and baby proof our cabinets with chemicals.
Our case worker was great and answered a lot of our questions and got us revved up again after all of the tedious paperwork had worn us down. He also, however, put a bug in our ear about foster to adopt programs though the state. It is a tough route to go because the goal of foster care is to return the baby to the family and you can end up taking care of an infant for 2 years and then have to give them back to their birth parents. The upside is that once you are certified through the state, you can receive a child to foster rather quickly.
Can I say that as my case worker described this to me it felt great! Dustin felt differently though. He looked at it all more practically and doesn't think we should foster until we have been able to adopt a child of our own. While our case worker described a family that had adopted 4 children through the foster to adopt program, they did have to give their child back the first two times they fostered and he said it was devastating.
I don't know. I can't let go of this feeling that this might be the way to go and it is bigger than us. we would be giving a home to children that really need it. As I looked at the LDS profiles of people looking to adopt, the numbers amazed me. There are so many wonderful people open to adopting, waiting to be chosen, hoping to get picked by a birth mother. And yet there are so many children in the state who need a stable home, who need the love and support that I know we can give. I know it could be challenging, I know we could have our hearts broken, but I can't let the idea go.
So it would be great if you could way in. We are going to an information meeting this Sat. so I will have more to report after that. And I know Dustin's feelings are valid. We are going to have to really pray about it all and be aware of all of the options and consequences before we make a decision.

Girls Night Out

A few friends and myself decided to get together for a girls night and to watch Girls Just Want To Have Fun. Bethany said she thought we should go all out eighties style...so that is what we did. These are some cute pics of us all. We had a great time eating from a chocolate fountain, drinking strawberry daiquiries and chatting. Our topics ranged from families to religion to sex (modestly so) and it all made me love hanging out with girls..something that I hadn't loved doing so much after years of roomates in college. Anywho, enjoy the pics.

Fun Rockband Memories!