Not fair!

Tim gets to go to sunny Southern California tomorrow for the second time this year! In his defense, it's not strictly for pleasure.

He is flying out to San Diego tomorrow to tour the Naval base and hospital. "Why?" you ask? Well, for about a year now, we have been toying with the idea of Tim joining the military upon his completion of pharmacy school. The Navy has an amazing loan repayment program that only requires a 3 year commitment. Tim has always wanted to join the military. Originally he wanted to join right out of high school, but decided to go to college and meet the love of his life and get married. He then thought about joining after college, but the love of his life sweetly suggested that he go ahead and go to pharmacy school. So now, the love of his life is fine with this possibility of joining the navy. He wouldn't be a pharmacist who just counts pills and checks prescriptions. He actually doesn't know exactly what he would be doing, which is one of the big reasons for this trip. While he is there he is going to tour the housing, the base, and also go ahead and interview for a position. We might not necessarily be based in San Diego, although that would be one of our top picks. We would be at one of the 5 main naval hospitals. Out of those 5, our top choices are San Diego and Norfolk, VA. I love that area of the country and all the history around there. We feel that either of those places would be fun for our families to come visit, so maybe they won't complain TOO much when we move even further away than we are right now.

We don't know if this will be a career commitment or simply the first 3 years. We will make that decision when the time comes. We are praying seriously about this decision. We are hoping that this trip will show Tim what the job would be all about. We are also praying that God gives Tim a clear answer about whether this is the right thing to do or not. If you think of us, please pray too!

If he does join, I will be sure to post a picture of him in his uniform!

Stupid Reality!

Well, I have completed my first 3 days of being back at work...and it stinks as much as it did before! Just kidding, it's not too bad. At least everyone is nice for the time being! :-)

But seriously, Tim and I are back home, together for good (well, until Tim leaves for a couple of days next week, but I will explain that later). Last week, Tim's parents came for a visit along with their newly acquired dachshund, Luke. I have only one picture from their visit and it's of Annie and Luke on Leo's pillow. That is quite pathetic. What is even more pathetic is that I'm too lazy to get up and get my camera to download the one picture so I can put it on here. Just picture it in your head: two wiener dogs, redish brownish, curled up, on a giant blue pillow. There ya go, I didn't even have to get up!! Anyways, we had a wonderful visit with them and are grateful they made the long drive out here! Last Wednesday, Tim and I left for vacation in Colorado Springs. We go every year because it is only 5 1/2 hours away and we love to get away to relax just the 2 of us. We saw more movies in the 4 days we were there than we have in the last 6 months! We also ate more than we should have...which is why we are on a little diet right now! I love traveling with Tim. He always knows where he is going, which is so amazing to me. We also get to spend a lot of time just being together. In the car, I entertain him with my singing and dancing. In the hotel, we just lay around and watch tv. At the movies, we share a drink and popcorn. At the outlet malls, we enjoy walking around holding hands. I just love spending time with him. Sometimes we get so busy and overwhelmed with everything we don't take as much time as we should to just be with each other. When we're home at the same time he's usually in his office working on something and I'm cleaning or doing laundry and we don't just enjoy each other's presence. Going on vacation allows us the time to do just that, and I love it!

But now, we are back to real life. I'm working again and Tim is doing his rotations. Hopefully, this year we will be able to spend more time together since he won't have homework at night to have to do. We sure are looking forward to next May, though!!

Grand Opening!

This Wednesday was the grand opening of the newest Walmart store in the world and the most prestigious Walmart Neighborhood Market ever built. And why does this matter, you ask? Well, my dad, who put in 30+ years with Kroger only to be treated like crap, has worked for Walmart for less than 3 years and was given the privilege of managing this store. He has been working tirelessly to get this store open and it's his little baby! It looked amazing and I know he is glad to be back in a strictly grocery store environment, because that is where he thrives. He is also able to spend the majority of his time on the floor greeting customers and making sure everyone is happy, which are his favorite things about his job. If you are up in Northwest Arkansas, this is the new Pinnacle Neighborhood Market on Whitaker. I'm very proud of all his hard work! Here are some pictures from Wednesday.

All these pictures might seem like overkill, but if you would have grown up in a grocery store like I did (or if you are related to Monk) you can truly appreciate all of the produce stacked perfectly and all the labels on everything else facing the same way. Also, if you know my dad, you know it wasn't just like that for the grand opening...it's like that every single day!

My little cuties!

I thought all of you who are not my family and do not already know my niece and nephew would enjoy some pictures of the little sweeties I've been taking care of the past 2 months!

First, my nephew Ethan just turned 6 and can tell you all you have ever wanted to know about Mount St. Helens. What, you don't want to know anything about it? Well, too bad, he's going to tell you anyways! He likes to talk all the time (I don't know anyone else that was like that growing up) and does not like to clean his room.

My niece, Elizabeth (we all call her Lizzie) will be 3 in a couple of months. She loves all things girlie and gets overly excited about things (again, no one else that I know of was like that). She likes to line up all her toys and follow me around "helping" me clean!

I am leaving on Tuesday and I am going to miss them tremendously. I have bonded so much with them and I hope they will remember this time I've spent with them forever! I also hope Ethan remembers to clean his room!!

Here are some other pictures from throughout the summer I've spent with them.

Oh no! Not another RECIPE!!

Ok, so I don't only make baked goods with cinnamon and sugar in them, that's just all I've made recently that I felt was worthy to share! Maybe one day I will share my foolproof chocolate chip cookie recipe with you! We shall see. Anyways, this recipe is a great thing to make for a brunch, Sunday School breakfast, or as a dessert when paired with some vanilla ice cream. Oh my, I have gained weight just thinking about that one!!

Monkey Bread Muffins (the easy way!)

-1 cup sugar

-1 tablespoon cinnamon

Put these in a gallon size zipper bag and shake to mix together

-4 can pack of buttermilk biscuit dough

Open 2 cans and separate dough. Using a pizza cutter, cut each biscuit into 6 pieces. Place pieces in zipper bag (I usually add the dough in quarters) and shake until pieces are covered in cinnamon sugar mixture.

-1 cup brown sugar

-1 cup butter

Combine in a microwave safe bowl (or you could melt it on the stove top, but this is just faster) and microwave for about 30 seconds-1 minute. Stir well to mix it all together (This caramel sauce would also be good to pour over the above mentioned vanilla ice cream for dessert another night!)

Coat a 12-muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Distribute dough pieces evenly among the 12 spots. I use a soup spoon for the following part, but you can use a teaspoon if you don't want your muffins to be too gooey or a tablespoon if you love the goo! Using your spoon of choice, spoon the caramel mixture on top of each muffin top. Bake for 12 minutes or so at 350, letting the muffins cool in the tin for about a minute. Be gentle when tipping the muffin tin over to get the muffins out because they dough can still separate while they are warm.

Repeat with the rest of the dough. Remember to re-spray your muffin tin so your second batch doesn't stick. I hope you enjoy these as much as I am right now! :-)

And, no, that is NOT my personal plate and I will NOT be eating all those...well, at least probably not!

The Coolest Aunt Ever!

So today, I impressed both my niece and my nephew.

First, I dug through a tin of alphabet cookies so I could spell out my nephew's name while he was having a snack. He got so excited you would have thought I told him he could have ice cream for dinner.

Second, I opened a jar of sauce and my niece squealed, clapped and said "You did it!" I guess she heard me say that a few too many times last week in my attempt to get her potty trained!

That was my self esteem boost for the day! I can spell and open jars!!

Something yummy!

I thought I would share a recipe that I have made several times and just love! I LOVE sweets, and this is definitely sweet!

Cinnamon Roll Cake

-yellow cake mix

-4 eggs

-1 cup sour cream (I use fat free)

-3/4 cup oil

Mix together and pour in 9x13 pan.

-1 cup brown sugar

-1 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together, then spoon into piles on top of the cake batter. Then take a knife and swirl into the batter. (I swirled too much this time and it looked kind of silly when it was all done baking!)

Bake at 325 for 30-40 minutes. I usually check at 30 minutes, then every five minutes after that if it isn't done.

-2 cups powdered sugar

-4 tablespoons milk

Mix together and pour over cake after it has cooled for 10 minutes. I think I have decided that I will actually cut the icing in half (1 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons milk) because it was a bit much tonight! Let cool a little longer then DIG IN!!

I hope you enjoy trying out this recipe!