In past years, when Micah and I celebrated our anniversary, I would write these thoughtful posts on marriage. Those days were good. But these days are better. These days I have no time for thoughtful posts. I just have a smiley, chubby baby, a home to manage, and a husband to love. I have diapers to change, meals to plan, and a full load of schoolwork that I juggle each day. And Micah is there through it all. He provides for our family, plays with our daughter, and tries to lighten my load as often as he can. We laugh, we fight, we sneak in date nights when we can. The days aren't glamorous, but they are glorious. This marriage is the best evidence we have to show the world God's glory - to show a love the persists in the mundane, in the messy, in the silly, in the serene. A love that fights, forgives, perseveres, and serves. I'm thankful for four years in the books and eager to see God's goodness and glory in the years to come. My blue top: LOFT Striped Henley Shell {sold out online, but on sale in stores} My red dress: Old Navy Hotel recommendation: Hotel Valley Ho ... Read more
1000 Miles
A couple of weeks ago Micah and I got the crazy idea to do a road trip with our nine month old baby. It actually happened on accident. We had planned to take a weekend trip to Las Vegas at the end of June to visit my grandma, Zianne's namesake. A couple days before we were scheduled to leave Micah remembered that he had Thursday, July 3rd off from work the following week, giving him a lovely, long four day holiday weekend. We began brainstorming how we could spend our extended 4th of July weekend and soon the word "California" was bouncing around our conversation, which is always our #1 destination if we need a quick getaway. For Micah, California means surfing and for me it means time with girlfriends, and we both like to go there as often as we can. But then it seemed silly to drive all the way to Las Vegas one weekend and then all the way to Cali the next. It didn't seem worth it in time or gas until we thought, "What if we just made it one big trip?" And so we did. Micah was able to work a half day on Wednesday, so that afternoon we headed across the desert to my grandma's house in Vegas. My dad was also visiting her at the time, so it was a fun little family gathering. The next day we took off to California and stayed with dear friends in Rancho Cucamonga for two nights, which included our 4th of July festivities. On Saturday, we all trekked out to the beach at San Clemente for the whole day, where another one of my girlfriends was able to meet up with us for lunch and sunbathing. That evening we headed down south and stayed the night in San Diego with friends, where we were greeted with homemade fish tacos upon arrival. On the way down the coast, we stopped at a few state parks to scope out camping spots on the beach. Micah is scheming a little yearly beach camping tradition in coming years and I'm fully on board. Zianne did great on the whole trip. It was fun to bring her to visit friends and family, and it was her first time experiencing the ocean. She is such a flexible little traveler and actually did better in the car as the trip went on. Her few whines were easily appeased with Ritz crackers, although her formerly clean car seat will never be the same... Before we left on this trip, we did the math and discovered our total journey would clock in just over 1,000 miles. We questioned our sanity for a second and then decided to go for it. As we drove that flat, sandy stretch of desert highway on our way back from San Diego on Sunday afternoon, we had smiles on our faces. As we chatted about our whirlwind five day adventure, we decided it was totally fun and absolutely worth it. Best thousand miles I've traveled in a long time. ... Read more
In the kitchen: Chicken dip
My first year of marriage, I was like a mad housewife trying out new recipes left and right. I like to cook, but I think I went overboard making these huge, hearty dinners most nights of the week. Eventually, Micah had to tell me to calm down in the kitchen a bit, because I was a) spending too much time there considering it was my first year of grad school and there was a lot on my plate {pun intended} and b) causing him to gain a few pounds with all my cheesy casseroles. On one of these fanatic cooking nights, I was trying a new crock pot meal in which you slow cook chicken all day and serve it over rice or pasta for dinner. It's technically considered a chicken stroganoff. I came home from school to my perfectly cooked chicken making our whole apartment smell delicious, but in true Jen fashion, I had crammed too much into my day and didn't have enough time to cook the noodles before our community group meeting that evening. Micah came home from work and it was time to go. I stood there helpless and frustrated. The chicken smelled so good, but the meal was not complete. I wanted to cook the pasta and take it to go, even if it meant we were late, but Micah vetoed that idea. Instead, he said he would use tortillas chips we already had in our pantry and dip them into the chicken concoction for his dinner. I was horrified. I had cooked this amazing-smelling new recipe and now he was going to dip chips into it instead of eating it as it was supposed to be served. I think a few tears were shed, and I refused to eat chips for dinner. He took a big pile of the chicken dip and chips to go and I stubbornly decided I would eat mine with pasta a few hours later when we returned home. When we arrived at community group, I stole a few bites of his dip to discover that it was, indeed, as delicious as it smelled, and that it also made a fantastic dip. Let's just say we've made this recipe so many times since that tearful newlywed night, and we've never once eaten it with pasta or rice. Micah was right all along, and I will forever humbly dip my chips into the chicken dip. What you need: 2-3 large chicken breasts 1/8 cup butter One packet dry Italian dressing mix One can Cream of Chicken soup 1 package cream cheese (8 oz.) What you do: Put chicken and butter in crock pot. Sprinkle Italian dressing over top. Cook on low for approximately 5 hours on low or 3 hours on high. (Add an hour if chicken is frozen.) About a half hour before serving, use two forks to shred all the chicken while it remains in crock pot. Add Cream of Chicken Soup and cream cheese, stirring until it's completely mixed in. Lower crock pot to "warm" setting or even turn it off, and let mixture heat throughout, approximately 20-30 minutes. Serve as a dip with tortillas chips. This makes a great appetizer for a party, but we usually just inhale it as a meal. Micah had a friend over for dinner last week on short notice, and I was a little embarrassed that I was only serving chicken dip, but it had been in the crock pot all afternoon, so a menu change was not an option. I'm pleased to say Micah's guy friend went back for seconds and thirds. This dip is just that good. ... Read more
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