Birthday flash back

Birthday flash back!?!??!
From baby hood till my freshman year of college...get ready!


I was a cute blond baby :) Yes Blond.



I always had lots of energy!


I liked to pretend to be like my big brother!



I liked to take naps (and still d0!).


My grandma Colvin and me at age 4.


At age 5 the whole family went to Disney and I got to meet my idol a teenage mutant ninja turtle!


Kicking back on the job.


When I was in 4th grade our family took a trip to Europe and I sported my fanny pack- lookin' cool.


In 8th grade I was in the nutcracker as a mouse, can you tell which one I am?


In high school my brother and I threw our parents a surprise anniversary party. This is a bunch of our family.

In high school I had some great friends- Mindi and Bre are two of them. Here we are on a band trip in high school (Colorad0).


Another band trip to Chicago. Mindi and I almost blew away.


Senior prom with Mindi and Kat.


Senior dance recital with my 'daughter' Kelly. She was a dwarf and I snow white in the ballet.


High school graduation with my best friend Mindi.



Dress up day at school for homecoming with Rachel, Stacie, Bre, and Katie.


Family graduation picture.


My first big date with John at Freshmen band banquet.


Freshmen year band banquet here with the insperatble flag from MWL Jenni, Stacy, and me.


All grown up my brother and I where is marching band for a year together.



How time flies. All the wonderful things I've done and all the wonderful things I'll do. Happy Birthday to me!

Montgomery tries to escape

While eating breakfast I head a lot of scratching and find Montgomery doing this:
That is some strength the little guy has. We've never seen him do anything like this before. He had to climb up straight out the water to do this. Wow!
So then a few hours later John and I where washing the car and come back into find him like this:


We think we had tired to climb up his wire from his ledge and fell over. Usually he can flip himself over but this place he couldn't move around to make it work.
What a crazy day the little guy had!

A trip down the mightie Iowa River

Today Zac, John, and I took a canoe trip from the south side of Iowa City to the Hills access. About was about 8 miles of river and took about 2 1/2 hours. Here are some fun shots I took on the trip (as that was my job :) )

2nd year family pictures

As you many know I love my pictures. I carry a camera with me at all times and am ready to strike when ever the mood may hit. So after having all of our wedding pictures done 2 years ago John and I decided to do family pictures every year. So last year we started out and every May/Early spring we will do a new set of shots. At first I was a bit concerned about the cost of taking on such an adventure but quickly found out of my co-workers, Anna, loves to do pictures, and has a nice camera. She did our pictures last year and this year as well. She does a great job and we have a lot of fun. Here is a few of this year's favorite pictures:



Show me some love by please vote on your favorite by leaving me a comment.

the yard work must be done

The yard must be mowed! Not that I'm complaining at all because I love my yard! I love it a lot more when John mows it :)
Here is a snapshot of the first yard mow at the Saxton house:

our gardens are in

John worked on digging up the sod in garden 3 while I planted garden 2 on Tuesday.


Diggin'
Garden #2 all set out to plant
Garden 1 is still looking good!
Planting #2
look at my tomato! (this morning I went out to find blooms on it!!)
Planting garden #3 on Wednesday
Finished garden #2 on Wednesday


Finished garden #3 on Wednesday.
All we have left are some Roma tomato plants which are not big enough to go into the ground yet. Where are we going to put them you might ask? I haven't got a clue yet :)

Oscer meyer has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A

As promised the wiener mobile picture.
Orignally spotted May 6th 2009. Please refer to that blog for more information

finally some finished projects

Its been a long week so far however I'm proud to announce that all of our veggie gardens are planted!
Pictures will be coming later.
Also I'm proud to announce that our kitchen is 100% done put away and cleaned up! YEAH! I spent tonight getting that done and am happy to have a clean workable kitchen :)
Pictures to come of that later as well.
Have a great beautiful night!
K

What does a vegetairan eat

Today's recipe:

Fiesta Tamale Pie

This recipe is from John's Uncle Brent Taylor. Originally a 'meaty' recipe I have changed it to be veggie friendly. I do this with lots of recipes as most recipes are easy to change if you know what to sub.

Recipe

2TB cooking oil

1 medium sized onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed (or garlic seasoning to taste)

1 12 oz can black beans (also you can add tofu crumbels as an additional protein)

1 cup cheese (of any kind that you like)

1 can (28 oz) tomatoes

1 can (1 lb) whole kernal corn, drained

1 TB chili powder

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon ground cumin

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk (regular or soy)

1 cup corn meal

1 ½ cups (6 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat.

2. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft.

3. Add in beans
   

4. Stir in tomatoes (break up with a spoon) and their liquid, corn, chili powder, oregano, cumin.

   

5. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in cheese.

6. Spread mixture in a shallow 3 pt. casserole or 9x13 baking dish.

7. In a bowl, combine eggs and milk. Stir in corn meal.

8. Sprinkle top with cheese.

9. Spoon evenly over bean mixture, making sure corn meal is well distributed.

10. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until top is set and lightly browned.

Makes six servings