jenni posted the recipe for this kale and roasted vegetable soup on facebook and we made it the next day. we FREAKED OUT, because it is insanely good and has to be outrageously healthy. It takes a while to make, but much of the time is hands-off so you can do other stuff. I URGE you to make this soup as soon as you can and then repeat as often as possible. (Alisha - this is WAY better than that other vegetable soup we make!) And don't fret if you don't have a food processor - a blender works just fine.
I'm posting this out of chronological order in all the catch-up posting, because its seasonally appropriate. Last weekend we took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! Last year we went to the Pumpkin Festival which was awesome, but G was out of town for it this year so we had to settle for a local patch. It was nice, but I have to tell 'ya Missouri needs to get it some more patches...there were hardly any patches to even go to and then when we got there we only had baby pumpkins to choose from. We had fun anyway and the weather was really nice...almost too hot!
lots of cute animals and photo-ops. This annual tradition always gets me in the mood for all the fun holiday stuff to come - thanksgiving yumminess and all the decorating for Christmas! We won't be with family for any holidays this year so we are going to have to make it extra special with just the two of us.
this was such a crazy day! it was a monday. the friday before i had driven to st louis for my first interview at children's. they asked me to come back for an interview the following monday (the day of this concert). it was an early morning interview (7am) so grant and olive and i decided to stay sunday night in st louis so i didn't have to drive over really early when i was nervous. i had the interview monday morning (went well, i thought), we drove back to columbia which is two hours west of st louis. grant worked for a few hours and then we packed up our stuff and drove to the other side of the state for SHE + HIM in Kansas City. and it was a REALLY hot day and if you remember we didn't have AC in our car most of the summer - we were a hot mess. on the way there children's called to offer me the job - we were so excited we pulled over to absorb the news! anyway. this concert was AWESOME!
It was awesome for a number of reasons - one being the venue. it was very historic and intimate - we got to stand close to the stage!
The best part was how much the music sounded JUST like their CDs. I love them SO much i wanted to go up there and hug them! Zoe is adorable!
See... sounds good, huh?
if you ever have a chance to see them I guarantee it will be worth your time...
This is what she does EVERY TIME we go to the dog park. She is like a pig rolling in the mud. She is the only one who chooses to torture their mom like this AND she refuses to go in the water to rinse off. Usually resulting in a full on bath when we get home. Its all good though because she LOOOOOVES the dog park SO much. If you tell her we are going she flips - just can't contain herself.
All the other dogs wondering what the heck she is doing. You like how her legs are all sprawled out back so she can get maximum belly to mud application?
She is LOVING life.
Always with the tongue.
Olive and the Pellingers were best buds by the time they left - she cuddled up with them and was totally over G and I!
Mid-August we had the pleasure of hosting a whole gaggle of friends from our days in Oregon - one from each pair got a PhD at the University of Oregon (home of the #2 football team in the NATION - NO.BIG.DEAL). The first to arrive and travelling the farthest were Tom and Donna in from Massachusetts. We started off by introducing them to Flat Branch and YogoLuv.
Then we introduced them to Olive and she, being the exceedingly well mannered dog that she is, proceeded to jump all over them and lick them profusely. we are so proud. PS this post has a ton of pictures but there were over 200 so I did waht I could to cut it down.
The next day we set off on the Katy Trail to bike to Rocheport - our fav little town we have told you about before. It was HOT that day. yuck.
We brought a picnic and bought a bottle of wine to enjoy at the winery. We got a flat tire on the way home and almost missed the time we had to turn our rented bikes in by...we were exhausted! 32 miles is a lot! We got in our jammies and ate shakespears - it was awesome.
The next day we laid low since we had been so active previously. I really wanted G to bake with me, but he never will - Donna helped me convince him and we made these AMAZING oatmeal cookies. I make them all the time because I am obsessed and everyone always can't get enough.
That evening Brett and Beth arrived from Kansas and we had an awesome dinner off the grill. Even later that night Jon and Jess arrived!
The next morning we ventured to the farmers market - it was a perfect morning for a visit.
Yumm - fresh fruit and veggies!
The whole gang with our loot! I LOVE this picture.
Then we drove to Rocheport and took everyone to our favorite restaurant that all of our guests have to visit - Abigails in Rocheport. The food is SO good and fresh and the restaurant has the best kitschy ambiance.
The whole gang! Soo good to all be in one place!
We went back to the winery for the afternoon and enjoyed good conversation and spirits.
We made more yummy food for dinner and then played games. Its our favorite thing to do when we are all together. Well - its my favorite at least.
as Tom demonstrates - things got intense. It was such a fun weekend with everyone! We wish it could have been longer, but we are so thankful for what we got! Before Tom and Donna left we took Olive to the dog park - there are a few funny pics I will post tomorrow.
Life has significantly calmed down and I FINALLY (after three weeks and two rounds of antibiotics) am free of ear infections! I am going to get this blog updated with what we have been doing the past few months. I'm going way back to mid-August with this one!
All summer we had more basil than we knew what to do with - our basil plants looked like bushes and there were four of them! I decided that I needed to spend an afternoon turning it all into pesto before the season ended.
I used this recipe - except that pine nuts are like a gazillion dollars in the midwest (maybe because we don't have lots of pine trees??) so I used walnuts. When I ran out of walnuts I used almonds and I can't tell a difference in the taste.
YUM! I LOVE pesto and it is so expensive to buy so I was pumped! I bought cute little jars to put it in and I almost fooled myself into thinking I was canning (something I really want to learn).
Really though I just put it all up in the freezer for safe keeping - and the recipe says omit the cheese if you are going to freeze - I really don't think its necessary unless you have a really sophisticated palate or something. Tastes good to me!
This makes me SO happy! Seriously there were goosebumps the first time I watched it. Remember the version from last season? They do such a good job!
In other news I passed the Nursing board exam last saturday! I am officially a nurse! NOW THAT FELT GOOD - I was so stressed about that test! The bad news is that I've been sick for like 12 days and don't seem to be getting better even after a round of antibiotics. The lesson... stress does bad things for the immune system. I have soooooooo many pictures to post. Its ridiculous...maybe later this week? There is light at the end of the tunnel of craziness that we have been calling life lately - I really can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to down time and feeling better!
Our Little Life is a blog used to keep our memories and pictures in one place. We are Grant and Nicole - married since 2008. Olive, our puppy, came to us in 2010. And Edrie, our daughter, came along in 2011! We are expecting Baby #2 in November 2014!
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