Meal planning..

So, we all know that I hate to cook. I really do hate it, there is nothing I genuinely like about it... even if the food comes out tasting delicious, I would really rather have just had cereal and not have worried about chopping up the chicken or vegetables. I do not get any sort of satisfaction from it, nor do I feel like I have "completed my wife-ly duties". However, I've been married for 4 years and some odd months so I thought I would give this home making thing a real effort seeing as how I now have an almost 2 year old and working/studying husband, both of whom need to eat--- more than cereal for every meal.

So this is the menu for this week:

(I spent Tuesday thinking it was Monday... soo we really started on Tuesday but I made the Monday meal. Also I don't cook on weekends, so it's a Mon- Fri sort of deal)

** I also did this so that we can efficiently shop for groceries, since both Jarom and I tend to go to the grocery store and buy pretty much anything we think we might need/like/want**

Monday: Chicken Tacos

http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-chicken-taco-meat-4957

Tuesday: Pasta with Broccoli Sauce

http://www.momswhothink.com/quick-and-easy-dinner-recipes/pasta-twists-with-broccoli-sauce.html

Wednesday: Veggie Burgers and macaroni salad-- (morning star veggie burgers with Cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion.) *I loveeee LOVE veggie burgers... Jarom not so much.. but he said he's willing to try them again.

Thursday: Coca-Cola chicken and potatoes

http://www.momswhothink.com/quick-and-easy-dinner-recipes/coca%11cola-chicken-with-herbed-potatoes.html

Friday: Pizza and Leafy Salad

I am just going to make my own cheese pizza and salad, I might make it into a BBQ chicken pizza, I'm not sure yet.

Anyway, feel free to use these meals, they are delicious!

Wine...

I do believe that if your relationship does not get better, or sweeter, or deeper with time... you haven't found the right person. Sometimes we might think that love is like a fantasy, where your loved one bring you flowers and plans romantic trips every weekend. We might think that they don't love us because we forget all the things they do for us. We might get lost in a false sense of reality, taking for granted how perfect our love is because we are always wanting more.

I'm just saying that sometimes I do those things, sometimes I might feel like my husband doesn't love me as much as other peoples husbands love them, or that he doesn't care about things I like or goals I have. But that is not true, at. all. Sometimes I'm selfish and rude, forgetting all the wonderful things he does for me everyday, how hard he works, how much he sacrifices just so I can have that new pair of shoes, or that 1 hour away from the baby, the times he blows off his friends to take me to dinner. I forget that he wakes up in the night if Fae is crying, or that he rubs my feet when I've had a long day. I forget that he helps me with homework even when he has his own things to work on. For just a moment, I may forget... but then I remember.

I remember the day we got married, the tears in his eyes, the way he held my hand and kissed me. The way his heart was beating when he first told me he loved me, and how supportive and loving he was when we brought our baby girl into this world. I remember his sense of humor and his amazing ability to make me laugh even when it is the last thing I want to do. Or how he is probably the only one that can say "no" to me without making me mad. Mostly I remember that he is my best friend, that he has always been my best friend. Even before we were dating, even when I was "in love" with someone else, he was there. He is the best man in the world, the one I would dream of, and pray for. He is an amazing example to me of patience, kindness, and selflessness. I love him more than words can really say. I am so happy he is mine.

I love my husband..

Lets just say that Jarom and I have had our share of "hard times" and "disagreements" but there is one thing that we always agree on-- we were made for each other! We don't have a ton of things in common, nor do we like to do a lot of the same things, but whenever we are together we have fun. Jarom is my best friend, he is the strawberry to my pancakes, and the meatballs to my spaghetti! He is so funny and so sweet to me (most of the time). I am so happy to be married to him, even when he drives me crazy--- for various reasons, too many to name :) He is the best dad, and even before I was pregnant with Fae, I knew he would be loving, kind, and sweet to our child(ren). Fae adores him, runs in crazy circles playing with him, screams when he leaves, and laughs when he comes home. Jarom is our rock, he keeps us together when life gets crazy, and I know he will always take care of us. He is always asking me why I am so confident in him, and I think it's pretty obvious! He is the smartest, kindest, most genuine person I know. Fae and I have full faith in him, we know that as long as we stick with him, we will always be happy. Thank you Jarom for being the best husband, and the best daddy! I am so happy we get to spend this life (and eternity) together! Love you!

We went to Raleigh

Today we decided to make the 30 mile trip to Raleigh! It was actually a nice ride, and we ended up really liking it there!

Raleigh was pretty big, but felt a lot like Boise to us because it wasn't super busy, and it was mostly- newer, nicer construction.

First we hit up the famous Raleigh Farmers Market... I like Farmer's markets and was first introduced to them when Jarom brought me to one in Idaho Falls.. since then we've been scouting them out wherever we live. (Also, on a side note, I am in love with freshly squeezed lemonade, which is actually VERY hard to come by... a good-tasting one anyway, so I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious the one I got at the Farmers market was!!)

There was an amazing, beautiful selection of flowers, and they were pretty darn cheap comparatively, I was almost able to talk Jarom into buying

me some.. but you know how he is... We ended up buying some yummy corn, fresh tomatoes, and basil. (And the lemonade). There were rows and rows of fresh fruit and veggies... Tons of samples.. don't worry Fae ate like an entire carton of strawberries for free today, not to mention the peaches and blueberries.. but oh well :)

After the farmers market we decided we would go explore the city, so we drove downtown, parked in a parking garage and started walking. Luckily, unlike NYC there were city maps everywhere pointing us in the direction of things we wanted to see. ((Could you imagine how big a city

map in NYC would have to be?? haha you want to see EVERYTHING there!!)) So, following said maps, we found two HUGE museums, the museum of History, and the Museumof natural sciences... being a science geek, I loved the science museum where I was able to "pretend to be a meteorologist".. which is my current aspiration- by the way. Fae loved it too, there were live animal exhibits and both museums were interactive and very kid-friendly. We also learned about a children's museum, that is supposed to be "SO MUCH FUUUN!" according to the museum workers as the History museum. So, Fae and I will probably go check it out.

I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures but here are some:

Soldier Fae :)

Soldier Jarom! Wouldn't he just be such a handsome soldier??

forest hills park

We were able to find a park that is about 3 miles away and relatively clean... I say relatively because none of the public facilities are very clean here.( also I would never use the bathroom at the public library, just sayin')

But anyway, this park is cute and small so it's easy for me to keep an eye on Fae and not get overwhelmed like I do when I take her to the pool! (Fae decided she would just jump into the 5 foot deep pool the other day...just jumped in, all by her self, no floatie or anything... luckily I was right there but she did swallow a lot of water and freaked me out. GOSH this girl!)

Classic Fae... pretending she is behind bars.. no just joking, they are wind chimes and she got the biggest kick out of them!

She decided she was too hot in her bathing suit... soo she took it off.

This is the splash pad they have... lots of leaves and sticks on it, but the kids don't seem to mind!

she is so cheesy, and yes, that is blood on her knee.. she has fallen... like 18 times on that same knee so it seems like it is always bleeding.. and forGET trying to put a bandaid on it.. geeze.. I bought the spray on neosporin though so it doesn't get infected... haha I love her!

Fae and Daddy <3 the two loves of my life... so cute :)

The streets at southpoint

Today we went to this super cool, and pretty darn awesome mall called "The streets at south point" It seriously was one of the coolest malls I've ever been to. It's not super big.. maybe half the size of crossgates, but it's classy and artsy and fun! There is an outside part (which i LOVE because it reminds me of the 16th St. mall in Denver *sigh* I love Denver) Anyway, there was a band playing in the outside part, and also a fire thrower.. I'm pretty sure he was an amateur but he was entertaining and Fae absolutely LOVED it.

Fae really liked the juggler.. she clapped every time he stopped, I think I will hire a juggler to live with us and keep her entertained! haha!

On a side note, one thing I have REALLY noticed since we've been here is that Fae is 10 million times wilder, 10 million times louder, and 10 million times faster than all the other kids. Seriously. When I take her to walmart she is THE ONLY kid screaming.. which is so awkward (shes not screaming because shes mad, she just likes to talk really loud). I have never in my life gotten so many looks! oh well.

Gardens, A la Duke

Last night Jarom Fae and I went and walked around in the Duke Gardens... normally I really could care less about pretty scenery and would prefer to be surrounded by a "concrete jungle" to avoid any sort of lawn work or bug infestation.. however, these gardens were beautiful! We didn't walk through the whole thing... I'm not sure how large it is but it was getting dark by the time we started leaving and we weren't even half way through! Anyway.. as long as I am trying to be more positive about this "experience" (as Jarom calls it) I took some pictures of the beautiful flowers, and the two people I love most!

Jarom trying to teach Fae about Frisbee.. I think she is too young for that, but soccer.. shes a CHAMPION at that... haha

My Favorites :)

My littlest love playing in the fountain...

Our little bird is still obsessed with picking up EVERY SINGLE rock she sees! She loves rocks, big small, whatever.. but now it's her favorite to throw them in the water which gives me a heart attack because she is not scared of water (or the pool) and will just jump in if she feels like it... and no matter what I do, she does NOT want to learn to swim.. ugh.Anyway I couldn't get a picture of her by the water because I was holding her away from it!

In the center of the gardens there was a fairly large area of grass, and lots of people were in there playing soccer, having a picnic and taking pictures. I thought this little bridge was so cute!

I don't remember what these flowers were called but I thought they were pretty!

It takes some getting used to...

I guess moving to a different city for 10 weeks (so far) has not been my favorite thing in the world. We were lucky enough to sublease from some friends, and the apartment complex is nice as well (there is a pool, tennis court, racquetball court, and club house). There are however, BUGS! and lots of them! It's wierd because all the windows are shut, doors closed and they still get in, so we had to buy some insecticide for the inside, and the complex sprayed some heavy-duty stuff on the outside, so it has been less buggy.

Mostly, Fae and I have kicked it pool-side and hung out at home, #1 because Jarom leaves for work pretty early and I don't want to get up and take him there, and#2 because I can't figure out the roadways here! You're either on a 5 lane highway or some back road and our GPS seems to think nothing exists! No matter what address you throw in there it pretty much says "there are no addresses found for that roadway". great. So I really haven't ventured out much- except to walmart, where we noticed that everything (with the exception of peanut butter.. which is 6.79 for the small jar) is cheap! strawberries are .99 a lb! so that's cool, because I love to make fruit smoothies for lunch.

Yesterday I did some venturing as well, Fae and I tried to get to Moe's for lunch.. unsucessful... so we went to McDonalds, where I got a salad and it tasted like dirt.. again. Then we went to 2 parks, both of which were DISGUSTING! I don't know what it is about this place but people just don't care about the environment I guess.. trash everywhere, bottle caps, fast food wrappers, even clothes were just everywhere... I'm just gunna say, NY might have high taxes, but the parks are CLEAN! and the roadways are clear of fallen trees/logs. AND my GPS can find ANY location. ANY!

Last night, we all went on a nature walk, it's pretty close to "home", and it was nice, but short.. fae ran the whole thing pretty much without stopping... this girl is going to run track or play soccer or something, she loves to run!

(these pictures are in reverse order-- still cant figure out this new blogger)

So, since this was technically a "Fitness trail" there were stations all throughout with different exercises to do.. so naturally I had to show Fae some of my awesome gymnastics skills hahahaha.. pardon my bum.

This camera makes it look like it was dark out.. it was around 6:00 pm, so the sun, I assure you, was out, I'm not sure why the camera took such dark pictures!

The beginning of the trail started next to a pretty busy highway...which was scary because Fae is FAST! Since we've been here we have gotten a total of 8 comments sounding a lot like this:

"Wow yall' that baby is fast! she gonna' run that track someday.. or play soccer, she like a bolt o' lightnin' that one!" hahaha I tried to incorporate the accent..

Anyway, it's going to take some getting used to for us... I really do love NY, and I will miss it terribly when we leave.. don't ask me why I love it, because I can't put my finger on it really.. I do love that my parents are there, but it's more than that, just not sure what! Better not get too attached though, Jarom's career is going to have us moving like every 2 years I bet!