Denver Botanic Gardens

Saturday we decided to go on a drive to see the changing leafs. Unfortunately we picked a really bad time to go. We got caught in this HUGE traffic jam of motorcycles. I have never seen so many in my life. I'm not sure what exactly was going on, but there were people on the side of the roads waving and some were holding up signs or American flags. Totally weird. Clark and I were happy to wave back to everyone. I'm sure the real reason they were waving was because they were thinking, "Wow! What an awesome Jeep Compass!" They probably didn't even notice all the motorcycles.

So, since the highway was so congested we turned around and went to the free admission day at the Denver Botanic Garden instead (good thing our phones have GPS to tell us where to go). It was lots of fun. Neither of us had been there before, and we were impressed, especially with the indoor tropical garden. I think that was our favorite area. Corbin's favorite thing was playing in a big grassy field.

best buds

A couple of weeks ago we took Izzy to the park and played with the frisbee.

Notice Corbin's right arm? That's how he walks 90% of the time.

I took this picture last night (oddly enough Corbin is wearing the same shirt). It was a beautiful evening, so we all went outside. Corbin loved throwing the tennis ball for Izzy, and Izzy was excited to have a new playmate. I am continually amazed at how well Izzy acts around Corbin. Usually when Clark and I play fetch with her she tries to keep us from taking the ball from her, but last night with Corbin she let Corbin steal the ball right from under her nose. I'm sad that Corbin is a little blurry in this pic. Someone (I'm not naming names...) dropped my camera and now the auto focus doesn't work, so I have been taking pictures the old school way and manually focusing all my pictures. It's kind of fun, but it is a lot harder to create a focused picture when the subject is an energetic toddler.

eating yogurt

Here is a cute little video of Corbin eating yogurt. It is the first time I have let him try to use the spoon all by himself. Usually I will load the spoon up with yogurt and then hand the spoon over to him.

And here is another video, just to give you a good laugh.

These are a few of my favorite things

I am copying my cousin and making a post about recipes. I am always looking for new recipes and if you have any good ones, please feel free to comment or send me an email. I thought it would be fun to share a few of my current favorite recipes.

* Pumpkin waffles. I found the recipe for these while surfing the web a while back. I finally got around to making them this week. They are really good.
2cups flour
1 TB sugar
2 TB baking powder
½ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
2 TB cinnamon
4 egg yokes (save whites)
1 cup pumpkin
1 ½ cup milk
1 TB vanilla
¾ cup melted margarine

Mix first 6 ingredients together, then add remaining ingredients. Beat 4 remaining egg whites until stiff and fold into batter. Cook in waffle iron.

*Mexican tortilla pizza. So easy, so fast, and so good.
1 can (10 ounces) chunk white chicken in water (drained)
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes and green chiles (drained)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 can refried beans
1 tablespoon butter
4 six-inch flour tortillas
1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese (shredded)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
black olives (sliced)

Preheat oven to broil.Combine chicken, tomatoes and green chiles and garlic powder in a small bowl.Mix well and set to the side.In a small saucepan, combine beans with 1 tablespoon butter.Heat on medium until hot, stirring occasionally.Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil.Place tortillas on baking sheet.Broil tortillas one minute per side until crisp.Remove tortillas from oven.Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Spread bean mixture on each tortilla. Spoon chicken on top of beans.Top with both kinds of cheese.Garnish with black olives, if desired.Bake five minutes or until cheese is melted.

*Mini Meatloaves

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix
1 cup water
3/4 cup shredded cheese
3/4 cup spaghetti sauce
1 tsp. Italian seasoning

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and Italian seasoning until well blended. Press evenly into 12 medium muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray; make an indentation in center of each with back of spoon.
SPOON spaghetti sauce evenly into indentations in meatloaves.
BAKE 30 min. or until meatloaves are cooked through (160°F). Top with cheese; continue baking 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

Note: You can substitute the Italian seasoning and spaghetti sauce for:
-3/4 cup chunky salsa and 2 tsp. chili powder
OR
-3/4 cup Barbecue Sauce and 1 tsp. garlic powder

*Cheddar macaroni beef casserole
Really fast to make, and easy on the budget :)

*Fresh green beans
I leave out the onions, and use dried basil instead of fresh.

*Crockpot recipes
I love the blog, A year of crockpotting. If you haven't heard of it, you definitely have to check it out. Here are a few of my favorites:
Indian Chicken
Tortilla Soup
Korean ribs
and of course, who doesn't love a good roast?

May I be excused?

I just got back from my individual questioning session for jury duty. Good news! I was excused! I don't think I would have minded doing a short trial, but a 10 week trial would have been way to hard to deal with, what with coybin and all.

what happened?

Over the last month Corbin has changed from a happy smiling baby, to a crying, tantrum throwing toddler. It's one tantrum after another. I feel like the phrase should be terrible ones, instead of terrible twos. I am starting to lose my patience. I think Corbin is just really frustrated that he can't communicate the way he wants to, and that he still can't quite get around the way he would like. Does anyone out there in the blogging world have any advice on how to deal with all this screaming and crying?

what's new pussycat

Here's an update of the last week:

*Bought a memory foam mattress topper. Wow. We love it. We have been contemplating buying a new mattress for a while now, but we haven't done it because we would like to keep this mattress and use it for a guest bedroom one day. And since we have absolutely no where to store an extra mattress, we haven't bought a new mattress. We finally decided to be brave and just buy a mattress topper that we could put on top of our old mattress. It works like a charm, it's like we have a brand new mattress.

*I got a job! Hooray! Out of the blue, my old job (I worked as a receptionist at a health clinic) called me to see if I would be interested in doing insurance verifications from home. Of course I told them I would love to do it. And even though calling insurance companies can be really annoying, I am really excited for this opportunity.

*The Jeep broke down, something to do with the electric starter thingy mabob. Clark had to come save me and Corbin at Walgreens. Luckily the car is still under warranty.