We have arrived!

This is what we saw on our flight up:

San Antonio to Las Vegas:

Edge of snow and dessert

Grand Canyon

Closest Michelle has been to the Vegas strip. :-)

Vegas strip from terminal in airport

Flight from Vegas into Spokane, WA:

Lots of pictures of snow on the ground.

Getting closer to Spokane. Snow stops and mostly brown with some green.

More to come soon!

Good bye and hello!

We leave today to go here

Monday we will go here




Tuesday we will hopefully go here



and Jason will get to do this
And hopefully not this

Where as Michelle will be doing this



Then off to here



Rest of the week heading to here


Will be back here on Monday


Finally back here Tuesday!
And then we rest!


Stay tuned to updates coming later, they will explain the photos!

No, we haven't dropped off the planet ...

I know a few people have been wondering where all my posts have gone these past few weeks. We've been busy, and sorry, the blog isn't at the top of the list of things to keep up to date. I'll work on that.

Jason has been busy with work and Men's Ministry. I've been busy getting a new women's Bible Study set up on Tuesday mornings for our church. It is a great group of ladies, about 26 have committed to coming each Tuesday for 8 weeks. We are doing a Focus on The Family study, Women of Worth. We've only had 2 meetings so far, but they have both been awesome! In between I've been doing the administrative side of it with attendance lists, who's at which table, and money for the books coming in. Our Financial Peace University class we co-lead is going very well too. MOPS has been busy for me too. We've had new moms come, so I have new babies and toddlers to play with. Our group had a booth at the Sombrero Festival that takes place each year during Charro Days, we set up a changing and nursing station for any moms that needed to change diapers or nurse their child while the festival was going. We had quite a few come in, including dads, that were very surprised to have such a great amenity available to them. My friend Becky and I took a two hour shift on Saturday afternoon. Luckily we go there just early enough to watch the Jalapeno eating contest before our time began. I was excited to see it because one of the guys from our church was the champion 2 years ago! He came in 2nd this time (his brother was 3rd). I think he ate 35 this time? I don't remember the exact number, I just know that it was way too many!! And it was only 2nd place! We were able to see lots of people we know and enjoy some good music. Maybe next time I'll take one of the 10 pm - 12:30 am shifts so I can enjoy the live concert. This year was Tracy Lawerence.

That is about what we have been up to. Today is a nice CHILLY day, it's about 53 out there. We're going to enjoy this nice cold snap since it may be the last one before temperatures start going up and staying up. On Sunday I will be watching Isaiah while Alex & Becky go run a half marathon in Harlingen. Then it's Spring Break down here! We're looking forward to the end of March when we drive up to San Antonio to stay with my cousin Erin & her husband Brian before we fly out to Washington for our week with Brian and Emily. We'll be doing a road trip over into Oregon so they can see their parents and we'll stop and see Jason's parents too. (Jason's live in between Brian and Emily's so it is perfect!) We'll drive the coast and hopefully make it up to Tillamook for some yummy cheese, yogurt, and ice cream.

That about sums up what is going on for us these past few weeks. Life... just moving along like it does for everyone else.

Anyone else have plans for their Spring Break week?

Pasta Florentine with Meatballs

Dinner Tuesday night was homemade sauce with the last of our IKEA meatballs.

I used the extra diced tomatoes from the Tortilla Meatloaf plus another can. I added some frozen chopped spinach, Italian seasoning blend, one clove minced garlic, dash of dried onions, sea salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary. I added the frozen meatballs and let everything simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Then I heated some heavy cream and thickened it a bit then added them together and served it over penne pasta.



It was very good!

Tortilla Meatloaf

This was dinner on Monday night. Jason made it!

Recipe is below, SOOOO EASY!!!

Tortilla Meat Loaf (in crock pot)
Serves 4

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef (or turkey)
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 cup chunky-style salsa
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup tomato sauce

1. Unless your slow cooker is oval in shape, tear off a 2-foot piece of aluminum foil, cut in half lengthwise, and fold each piece in half lengthwise, forming strips.
2. Crisscross the strips and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker and up the sides, to be used as handles.
3. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the tomato sauce.
4. Form the mixture into a ball, and place it on top of the foil strips, pressing the mixture down to fit the bottom of the slow cooker.
5. Spread the tomato sauce on top.
6. Cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours. Remove the loaf using the foil "handles."

Tip: Omit the foil basket if you have an oval-shaped slow cooker, and simply form the meat into a loaf and place it in the slow cooker.

This is approx. how Jason made it:
1 lb ground turkey and divided ingredients above. Instead of tomato sauce he used some diced tomatoes. (I think salsa up on top would be better.) We have oval cooker, so it looked just like a loaf when we took it out. Could use some sour cream and cheese or something to be served with it.