What We Ate Last Week - May 2017 Week 2

So, this was kind of an exciting week on the job hunt front...

Brent was contacted on Monday by someone form DaVita and had a phone interview Monday afternoon.  The rep emailed him a couple things to study and then set up an interview for Thursday morning.  Brent said the second interview went okay.  He doesn't think he rocked it, but he thinks he might still be in the running.  They have other candidates to interview and then they'll (hopefully) get back to him about a third interview.  Fingers crossed.  Even if nothing else comes of it, it was nice to finally get a positive response back after all of the jobs that he's applied for with DaVita.  Also, nice to get a better idea of what the interview process is going to look like so it's not as nerve-wracking the next time.

As far as other leads, Brent is still waiting to hear about the Lacey/Olympia job opening back up, which would be awesome.  He never did hear back about his in-person interview, but we're not too terribly upset or surprised about that one.  Brent's instructors are also working with on a few internship options, so if he doesn't get a job right away he'll still be able to get some good experience (which could lead to a job).

We had plenty of leftovers this week, and we both kind of hit a wall energy-wise over the weekend.  So, we mostly did leftovers or stuff from the freezer for meals.  I did try a new muffin recipe this week though!  These Blueberry Almond Muffins were pretty tasty!  They're not very sweet, so I'd most likely add a little more honey next time I make them.  I liked how filling they were with all the oats, almond butter and almond meal.  I don't think Calvin was a huge fan of them though.  Ah well.

I hope you all had wonderful week and a great Mother's Day.

Keep giggling!
Michelle

What We Ate Last Week - May 2017 Week 1

Brent had his interview in Seattle this week and it went okay.  It would appear that it's actually more of a data-entry position and less of an actual Biomed Tech job, so that's kind of a bummer.  Given that little detail, they're also not really wanting to pay as much as we would like Brent to make if he was working/commuting in Seattle.  He hasn't heard back from them one way or the other, but he did send them a thank you email a day or two after his interview.  So, it's back to applying for jobs all over the country and hoping/praying that the Lacey/Olympia job opens back up soon and wants him.  We'll keep you all posted and ask for your continued prayers and good thoughts. :)

In the meantime, here's what we ate last week!

Monday 5/1

Breakfast:  Fruit, Yogurt, Carrot Cake Muffins - These were pretty good, I think...  Calvin needed a diaper change while they were baking, so I ended up accidentally over-baking them.  They were a little dark and dry, but the flavor seemed good.  I'll have to try them again.

Lunch:   Leftovers

Dinner:   Salad, Garlic Bread, Pressure Cooker Split Pea Soup - I'm borrowing a pressure cooker from my mom and was really excited to use it, but then I read in the manual that you shouldn't cook split peas in it because they foam too much.  So, I ended up cooking it on the stove, which took forever.  My grocery store didn't have any ham bones and I didn't want to buy a whole ham, so I bought a package of smoked ham hocks from the freezer section.  The soup was good, but it was too smokey and not as good as my mom's.  Kind of anti-climactic after all the time on the stove and all the time/effort to get the meat off of the ham hocks...ugh.  I'd like to try making it again, because I do like split pea soup.  I'll just have to either plan a ham dinner sometime before I want soup, or find our nearest Honey Baked Ham and buy a soup bone from them.

Tuesday 5/2

Breakfast:  Fruit, Avocado Toast

Lunch:   Sandwiches, Chips, Fruit

Dinner:  Salad, Birdseye Frozen Fajita Skillet Meal - Love these things!  We've tried a few flavors and they're nice to have in the freezer for those nights you don't feel like anything else.

Wednesday 5/3

Breakfast:  Fruit, Yogurt, Muffins

Lunch:   Sandwiches, Fruit

Dinner:  Salad, Leftovers

Thursday 5/4

Breakfast:  Fruit, Yogurt, Muffins

Lunch:  Sandwiches, Chips

Dinner:   Toasty Bread, Grilled chicken, Strawberry Poppyseed Salad - This was super yummy!  Our feta was old and not so good, so we skipped that. 🙁 I'm sure it would be really good though!  I added a little avocado and that was delish!

Friday 5/5

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs

Lunch:   Leftovers

Dinner:   Fiesta Friday!!  Tacos!

Saturday 5/6

Breakfast:  Pancakes

Lunch:   Leftovers

Dinner:   Fruit, Turkey Avocado Bacon Ranch Wraps - We ended up spending the afternoon and evening with family, so just had hot dogs and boxed mac & cheese.  Oh yeah! lol.

Sunday 5/7

Breakfast:  Pancakes

Lunch:  Car snack on the way to church

Dinner:   Salad, Fruit, Roasted Broccoli, Cheddar and Sweet Potato Stuffed BBQ Turkey Meatloaf - This was really good!  We invited Brent's parents over for dinner and we all enjoyed it!  I was worried about it being dry since the turkey was pretty lean and the only added moisture was from an egg and some bbq sauce, but it was plenty moist!  I'll definitely make it again!  In addition to what's already listed, we also had garlic bread since there was a loaf on the bakery clearance at Fred Meyer this week. :D

Well, it looks like we should have some more nice weather the first half of this week.  I hope you all get a chance to enjoy it!

Have a great week and keep giggling!
Michelle

What We Ate Last Week - April 2017 Week 4 / And a Little Update! :)

I feel like we've been busy this week, but it was really only Friday and Saturday that were busy.

Brent had a random bonus day off on Friday, so we enjoyed having him home an extra day.  While he was home, he got a call from Fred Hutch in Seattle to come in for an interview!!  We've been kind of playing the waiting game ever since he found out that there's a hiring freeze for the job in the Olympia/Lacey area, so it was nice to get a positive response back after all the applications he's been sending out.  So, he's going in on Tuesday for a job interview in Seattle - any and all prayers/good thoughts/positive vibes/etc. would be much appreciated.  He's only got 5 more weeks of classes left and then it's off to work (hopefully) or an internship.
On Friday we also went down to Auburn to have a family dinner at Rio Blanco to surprise my Aunt Linda for her birthday, which was Thursday.  I love going to Rio Blanco - it's so yummy!  It's my family's favorite restaurant, so it's a fairly common pick for special family dinners.  It's nice to be able to live so close to extended family and be able to celebrate with them!  I'm really hoping that Brent can get a job locally so we can still be around the majority of our family.

On Saturday, we had a family BBQ to celebrate my Grandpa's birthday!  Grandpa is my dad's dad, and he turns 94 today (May 1st)!!  As usual, his birthday "cake" was strawberry shortcake - it's his favorite dessert!  We also brought some A&W root beer.  His mom used to work for A&W, so it's his favorite brand. :)
Saturday was also a special day in our little family!  6 years ago, on April 29, 2011, Brent and I went on our very first date.  It was half blind date since I knew who I was meeting up with, but Brent didn't.  He had suspicions, due to the mutual friend who set us up, but wasn't 100% sure.  Some day I'll have to put our story on here. :)

Here's what we ate this last week, enjoy!

Monday 4/24

Breakfast:  Oatmeal, Fruit, Yogurt

Lunch:  Salad, Fruit, Leftovers

Dinner:  Salad, Garlic Bread, Spaghetti Squash Casserole - This is one of my favorite ways to eat spaghetti squash. I crushed some croutons up and sprinkled those on top with the cheese that's called for and broiled it for a few minutes at the end.  Yummo!

Tuesday 4/25

Breakfast:  Frittata and Fruit

Lunch:  Fruit, Chips, Tuna Sandwiches

Dinner:  Fruit, Salad, Leftovers

Wednesday 4/26

Breakfast:  Avocado Toast and Fruit

Lunch:  Salad and Leftovers

Dinner:  Salad and Hawaiian Hamburger Steaks - These were pretty good, although I'm not sure how I liked the Italian seasoning in there...it makes me feel like I'm eating meatloaf with pineapple, which is a little weird...  Still good though!

Thursday 4/27

Breakfast:  Fruit, Yogurt, Oatmeal

Lunch:  Fruit and Leftovers

Dinner:  Leftovers/Clean the fridge!

Friday 4/28

Breakfast:  Fruit, Yogurt, Oatmeal

Lunch:  Salad, Sandwiches, Chips

Dinner:  Family Dinner at Rio Blanco to celebrate Aunt Linda's birthday!

Saturday 4/29

Breakfast:  Fruit and Pancakes

Lunch:  Birthday BBQ lunch for Grandpa!
Dinner:  Leftovers

Sunday 4/30

Breakfast:  Fruit, Pancakes, Yogurt

Lunch:  Sandwiches and Chips

Dinner:  Migas!!

Well, we're off to a new week friends!  If the weather report holds any truth, we should actually start to feel like spring this week - there's even a chance of hitting the high 70s!  I hope you can get out and enjoy the spring, wherever you are!

Have a great week, and keep giggling!
Michelle

What We Ate Last Week - April 2017 Week 1

Can you believe we're a quarter of the way through the year already?!  Time sure does fly - and the older I get, the faster it's flying...

Brent only has eight more weeks of classes and then it's off to an internship or a job!  He's been applying for jobs as a dialysis biomedical tech, but there's not a whole lot of openings on the West coast unless we want to live in the LA area, which we don't.  So, he's been applying for a lot of jobs back east:  North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, etc.  He hasn't heard anything back besides the automated rejection reply, but we kind of expected that since he still has two months of school left and we're all the way on the other side of the country.  Last week he did hear back from a regional recruiter for one company though who wanted to talk to him about a job here in Washington.  After a day of phone tag, he talked to her for a bit last week and she said she'd pass on his info to a hiring manager out here and that he'll probably have an interview in the next week or two.  We're still waiting to hear back on the interview, but still!  We got a bite and it's exciting - especially since it would mean we could stay in state.  We're definitely willing to move where ever the right job is, but since the majority of both of our families are here it would be really nice to stay in Western Washington.

Also on the (potentially) exciting news front - we bought big boy underwear and a toilet insert for Calvin...he's not super interested yet, but he's starting to show interest and tell us when he needs a diaper change, so I'm pretty sure potty training is coming up soon for us.  Wish us luck!

Here's our menu for last week.  Brent finally kicked his cold and my back is feeling much better, so we actually stuck pretty close to our plan for the week.

Monday 4/3

Breakfast:  Leftover Muffins, Yogurt and Fruit

Lunch:  Grilled Turkey Patties and Salad

Dinner:  Salad and Baked Potato

Tuesday 4/4

Breakfast:  Yogurt and Grapefruit Yogurt Coffee Cake - This was okay.  It's a little underwhelming though.  The grapefruit flavor could be stronger and/or it could be a little sweeter.  I think if you upped the grapefruit it wouldn't need to be sweeter and if you upped the sweetness you wouldn't need to up the citrus because it would taste like cake.  I think I'd prefer more grapefruit.  I wonder if reducing the juice down would help...

Lunch:  Salad and Leftovers

Dinner:  Fruit, Chips, and Pesto Avocado Chicken Salad Sandwiches - These were so good!  I used butter lettuce instead of arugula since it's what we had on hand and arugula isn't my favorite.  It would probably be good on these sandwiches though.  I ate the leftovers the next day in a whole wheat wrap.  These will definitely make an appearance on the menu this summer when it's too hot to cook. :)

Wednesday 4/5
Breakfast:  Fruit and Avocado Toast
Lunch:  Tuna Sandwiches, Chips, and Salad
Dinner:  Salad and Migas - I forgot to get cilantro and jalapeno, which are key components of this recipe.  So sad!  We love these though.  Make them! :)

Thursday 4/6
Breakfast:  Yogurt and Grapefruit Coffee Cake
Lunch:  Grilled Turkey Patties and Salad
Dinner:  Fruit, Salad, and Leftovers

Friday 4/7
Breakfast:  Scrambled Eggs, Fruit, and Grapefruit Coffee Cake
Lunch:  Tuna Wrap, Chips, and Fruit
Dinner:  Salad, Fruit, and Avocado Tuna Cakes - We've had these before and they're tasty!

Saturday 4/8
Breakfast:  Fruit and Whole Grain Pancakes - The usual Saturday morning breakfast, made by Calvin and Brent as usual. :)
Lunch:  Fruit and Broccoli Pizza - We ran out of time for these on Saturday since we needed to go get some interview clothes for Brent.
Dinner:  Salad and Leftovers

Sunday 4/9
Breakfast:  Fruit and Pancakes
Lunch:  Sandwiches
Dinner:  Gunnell Family Dinner

There ya go!  I hope everyone had a great week!

Keep giggling,
Michelle

Once Upon a Time, I Blogged...

Like I've said before, I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing....but you can't say I didn't warn you! :D

So, what have we been up to, you ask?  Well, let me tell you!

Last time I blogged I shared a delicious recipe with you - did anyone make that ice cream?  It was seriously to die for!  The best ice cream of my life!  I can't wait until next Easter so I can buy more of those mini creme eggs and make it again! :)

Before that post though, there was a recap post leaving you hanging with what happened to our lives after our trip to Utah in October and our adventures in Seattle to see Wicked!  A lot has happened since October, and I'm not very good at blogging so nobody knows!  Okay, so chances are that if you read our blog you are family or we know you in real life and we're probably Facebook friends so you really are privy to what's going on in our lives (I really just wanted to use the word "privy"...).  And our lives are so exciting...let me tell you...*cue crickets chirping*...Okay, so yeah...we're actually kind of boring.  Anyways, enough of this rambling paragraph.  Here's what we've been up to since October (yikes!  That was forever ago...)

So, the holiday season was lovely.  We did Thanksgiving out in Port Townsend with family on my mom's side.  Delicious food and good times were had by all. :)  Christmas we stayed pretty local.  Brent's family, except for his oldest sister and her family, came over for a few days leading up to Christmas and a day or two after.  We had a full house!  People were sleeping in every room, including the laundry room/pantry!  It was crazy and fun and wonderful!  We did Christmas Eve and morning here and then we all went to go see Les Mis - which was amazing!  After Les Mis, Brent and I made the rounds to go see my family and finally came home and passed out - it was a busy day!  New Year's Eve was just a quiet night at home, watching the Space Needle Fireworks on Komo and toasting with Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. :)

I continued to work at Eddie Bauer through the holiday season and into the new year.  I quit at the beginning of February after 2.5 years back from school and almost a year before going to school.  I originally put in my 2 weeks because I thought I had another job lined up, but that fell through.  I probably could have stayed on at EB, but you know how it is when you've already mentally said goodbye to a place - I was done and a little burnt out on retail.  Since then, I haven't really been looking for a new job.  We only have one car and live almost 3 miles from the nearest bus stop, so I've just been staying home and trying to be all Suzy home-maker. ;)

On Valentine's Day, Brent interviewed for a new job in downtown Bellevue and then we headed down to Sumner for a Valentine's tea at The Secret Garden Tea Room.  I've been there several times with family and friends, but this was Brent's first time there - and I'm so glad he enjoyed it! :)  It's an old Victorian mansion turned into a tea room and gift shop and it's just lovely!  They serve full English High Tea  services, along with light teas and a lunch menu.  I highly recommend checking it out! : )

My husband is kind of a ham...and I love him, a lot. :)

About a week after Valentine's Day, we took a weekend trip down to our honeymoon spot in Gig Harbor.  It was so nice to just get away and celebrate us for a few days!  We stayed at the same place that we went to on our honeymoon, The Waterfront Inn and in the same room even (they only have a few rooms).  It's a cute little place, right on the water and down the street from Anthony's.  The only bummer was that since our honeymoon they've stopped serving breakfast. :(  We are so glad that we chose to go somewhere close and affordable on our honeymoon - it's so nice to be able to go back and not break the bank doing so!

This is the view from the door of our room - isn't it wonderful!

Night time view of the harbor.  Gig Harbor is such a cute place!

This is the back of the inn.  Our room is the bottom left of the picture.

They have kayaks available for the use of the guests, so Brent took one out for a bit.  I stayed firmly on solid ground, although he did manage to coax me out on the scary, unstable floating dock to help him get the kayak in and out of the water.

He went pretty far out into the harbor.  He had a good time out there. :)

I promise he wore a life jacket - you can see it on the dock in the lower right corner of the picture!  He took it off to make it easier to get out of the kayak.

Brent got the job that he interviewed for and started work as a valet for the Hyatt at the beginning of March.  So far, he's doing great there!  His good work ethic and responsible nature are being recognized and he may end up with a promotion soon, but nothing is for certain yet.  It's not the easiest job and the environment is definitely not as wholesome as his last job (which was working in the cafeteria at the LDS temple in Bellevue), but we have definitely felt like he was lead to this job for a reason!  What a blessing to be able to rely on the Lord to help us in all aspects of our lives! :)

Brent is still doing school through Brigham Young University Idaho's online program.  Things are going well there and and he is working so hard!  I'm so proud (in a righteous way! ;) ) of him and all his hard work as he balances almost full time work with online classes!  He's such a wonderful example to me! <3

Since about March I have been helping out Brent's older brother and his wife by watching their little girl, Edie.  I watched her for a few weeks when they were between nannies, but now I just look forward to spending most of my Fridays with our adorable niece.  She is almost 18 months and when she says "Aunt Chelle!" my heart kind of melts. :)

How adorable is she?! :)

On March 26th, Brent's sister, Julie, had a lovely baby girl!  A few weeks later their son Henry, who is 4.5, came to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house for his spring break!!  It was so fun to have him here with us and to get to play with him.  Grandma was able to be home from work Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but I got some one-on-one Henry time on Tuesday and Thursday. :)  We watched Star Wars III and went and saw The Croods.  We ate at McDonald's and played in the Play Place and we bought sidewalk chalk and played Hopscotch!  Edie joined us on Friday and we all had so much fun playing together!  I just love all of our nieces and nephews so much - I'm so glad that I became an aunt when I married Brent - it is so much fun!  It kind of blows my mind though when I think about how I can love our nieces and nephews SO much....I have no idea how my heart is going to avoid exploding when we have our first child...the amount of love parents have for their children is beyond me!

My sweet Henry!  This was our Star Wars night, complete with popcorn and ice cream! :)

"Letterscotch!  I love letterscotch!" 

He told me to draw Snow White's castle.  I think it looks more like Rapunzel's castle, but it was acceptable. :)

We went and saw The Croods, which was actually a pretty good movie!  Henry had lots of fun eating popcorn and playing the race car game in the lobby. :)

On Friday, Grandma made a small fort for Henry and Edie to play in - they had so much playing together and later Henry got to eat his pizza in the fort! :)

So, that pretty much brings us up to speed!  I do have a few recipes I want to share with you, but that will have to wait until another post, because this one is getting pretty long For now, we're just hanging out at home (well, that's mostly me) and working and schooling (and that's all Brent). We do have some fun things coming up in the next couple of weeks.  My Grandma's birthday tea party that my sisters and I are putting together is this coming weekend.  Brent's oldest sister and her family fly in from Boston in about a week and a  half and they'll be here for a few weeks.  Brent finishes another semester of school at the end of this month and then we'll be moving!  Not very many people know about that though, so...SURPRISE!!! :D  We're going to try not to make a habit out of moving ever summer, but so far we're 2 for 2.  This next move should last us a while though.  Brent's parents have bought a second house about a mile away as an investment property - and they want us to be their first renters!  It has been absolutely wonderful living here with them (we all get along great!), but it will be so nice to have our own space again!  We plan on being there for the next 3-5 years and it definitely gives us some room to expand our family (this is NOT an announcement, just so you know!) since it has 4 bedrooms.  It also gives some extra rooms for when all of Brent's family comes for sleepovers - yeah!!  Party at Uncle Brent and Aunt Chelle's house!!!  Haha!  We'll post more pictures once we get the keys, which should be in a few weeks!! :)  Until then, here's a picture of the front of the house. :)

Soon to be Home Sweet Home! :)

Well, my dears, I think that's about all for this post!  I'll try and blog again soon!  Until then...

Keep giggling!

 <3 Michelle