Snap Shot

Life is so happy and good! I am living my life-long dream of being a stay-at-home mom, and it is amazing. Sam is not quite living his dream yet (of being a doctor) but is working hard to get there and hopefully having fun along the way. He really has a gift for enjoying whatever he is doing. He came home from his new job a few weeks ago and said, "I just love being a blue-collar working man!" Oh how I love him.

Here is a little snap-shot of our lives right now:

-Claire and I go running together most mornings. I have dreamed of being able to work out in the morning everyday for years. School & work always made it tricky, but now I have no excuses. I love it, and Claire loves it too! Actually, I'm often quite jealous of her set-up in the jogging stroller as I'm pushing her along...bottle, blanket, comfy seat, looking for birds and dogs. We both have a good time! 4 miles is about as long as we can both last, which is good enough for me. Sometimes I get to go without the stroller when Sam is home, and I feel like I am running on clouds. Ha :)

-Sam is working at Zerorez in Draper, so Claire & I are usually home without a car. On days we're just home we love reading books, playing in the backyard, going on walks to the Cascade park or to Grandma's house, and watching for cars/birds/dogs/people out our front window. It's really exciting :)

 

-Most nights these days, after Claire's in bed, Sam and I work on his med school applications together with a show on in the background. He is applying to 25 schools both MD and DO programs, and we are really excited to see where we end up going! Our first choice right now is University of Texas San Antonio.

-Claire loves to eat whatever I'm eating. I have been trying to have a fruit or vegetable with every meal, and I usually share whatever that may be with her. Some of our usuals are strawberries, bananas, apples, and carrots.

-One of our favorite dinners lately is fajitas. I just slice a red onion & a couple of bell peppers and sauté them in a little olive oil w/1 clove garlic. Then take them out of the pan and cook sliced chicken seasoned with cumin/garlic salt/chili powder in the same pan. Once chicken is cooked through, add the peppers & onion back in and stir until combined. We usually put this mixture in whole wheat tortillas or sometimes the uncooked tortillas you make yourself. Really good with sour cream & salsa. :)

-Saturday night is becoming our family movie night. We get special drinks and a small treat from the grocery store and make homemade popcorn, seasoned with salt & pepper. (The popcorn always reminds me of weekly planning on my mission. Good times!) We love it, even if our movies are always on mute with the subtitles on to keep Claire asleep. #lightsleeperprobs

-Everyone says it, but 3 hours of church with a baby is interesting. Gone are the days of keeping Claire neatly on a little blanket and carefully sanitizing every toy that drops on the floor...Claire just crawls all over the floor and picks up everything in sight. There's no stopping it. :/ 1:00 church actually isn't too bad for a baby her age. She gets a good morning nap in, powers through church, and then comes home a crashes at 4 for a short afternoon nap.

-Speaking of Sunday...it's my favorite day of the week. We sleep in, somehow, miraculously Claire usually does too, and Sam makes a big breakfast. It's kind of his thing right now. (In fact, I think a whole post on that topic is in order.) Our favorite is waffles and sausage. We go to church at 1 and then go to my parents' house (most weeks) for dinner at 5. After dinner, we always go on the same walk (my dad, my mom, Tara, Sam, Claire, and me) around my parents' neighborhood) and then come back and eat dessert. I live for Sundays, especially when the weather is nice!

One of our amazing Sunday breakfasts by Sam: Carmel Pecan French Toast