Saturday- And I don't have to work!!!

So I made a coffee drink again in my vitamix... maybe it's not really meant for coffee- at least the kind I want to make. I know if I put a ton of sugar in it, it will make anything taste good, but I don't want to do that. I try to make my food in the vitamix as natural as possible- I don't even like to use the agave, which I know tastes great, but it has a higher level of "hidden" high fructose corn syrup than other fake sugars. 

 Ok, so I got Kent's graduation announcements and stuff! So exciting! His are slightly different than Jade's were 2 years ago.

 I also got his senior pictures back a couple of days ago! So adorable!!! He looks so handsome! Love that boy... cannot believe he is almost 18 and about to be finished with high school. So glad. Even though he's a full time running start college student, we're still tied to the high school and have to meet certain requirements to make sure he's eligible to graduate thur the school district. Will be so nice in June when I can delete the high school and off-campus numbers from my cell phone!

 Taking pictures of his senior pictures doesn't do them justice! But most of you reading this will get your very own when we mail them out. What a handsome boy...

 Here's the big one I got that matches Jade's... how cool is that? It's hard to see, but with-in the black matte each of their names are spelled out and their graduating year. Love these pictures... in 6 years we will get Aurora's done. And what's great is the photo guy has everything he does saved, so 6 years from now he'll be able to look up Jade and Kent's and make sure they match, fonts and everything. I have a love/hate relationship with technology... right now I'm loving it.

 Jeromy finished his first paper for his college class on-line, that's he's taking thru the Tyndale Theological Seminary and Bible College, this is his 4th class. So to reward himself, he's playin' around in the garage working on another puppet. Eventually he wants to make short videos of Bible stories... so creative.

Now you will not believe this next story... so I had an appointment for my car friday afternoon to get some things looked at. Namely: the engine light was on (for several months-woops!) and then all last week the triangle light with the exclamation point came on- might be serious now. Also it has been getting hard to just start the car up, and it seems to be burning thur oil very fast! And now my cruise control is having issues- I love my cruise control!! So my car is a 2005 Honda CRV and I got it when it was only a few months old. I loved that car, but I did not take care of it. When the mechanic came back and said it would cost over $2000- that's right that was three zeros after that 2! And I just put over 2 grand in it a few months ago for maintenance. I told him "thought Hondas lasted forever!" and he said they do when you take care of them. Guilty. I was not a happy camper, not to mention I didn't have that kind of money. So the guys said I should just trade it in a start over. Well, they must have saw me coming, cause that's just what I did... but I need a reliable car people- you understand right?

So Jeromy met me at the car lot. I felt kind of bad cause it was his turn for the next car upgrade, his truck is holding on for dear life as well. I was not even thinking I would be leaving the car lot with a new car. But I did. I got a 2012 Honda Fit- I think that name is perfect for me, cause I'm always working at trying to be fit! So after 5+ hours at the dealership (lame) I left with this cute little car. I will miss my sunroof, but I'm excited to have a car that works and better gas mileage- woo-hoo!

 It's so tiny, but still 4 door.

 Inside, it has gps- I'm so excited about this cause my sense of direction is horrible, I can easily get lost out side of our county so I'm going to love this feature!

Ok, tried a new recipe in the ol' Vitamix. It's  called "Artichoke and Roasted Red Pepper Soup"- doesn't that just sound delicous? It has the above ingredients plus, whole garlic cloves, onions, chichpeas-yum, chicken broth and milk. This recipe was a little more involved, I oven roasted the peppers and garlic. Then I sauted half a chopped onion. These 2 steps alone made the kitchen smell delicious! Then after all that, it all went into my Vitamix.

 I poured it over yummy brown rice, Jeromy cheated and used some left over rice that already had chichen and some vegetables mixed in. Over all I'd say 3-4 stars. It was kind of bland tasting even with all that yummy stuff in it surprisingly. But it still was pretty good and great for us. Nobody hated it. Jade said it needed meat, Jeromy was the only one who got the chicken/rice mixture. But I am typically a bland eater, so I was able to make 3 more work dinners out of this- awesome!

Also going to make the tortilla soup again to get a few more dinners for the end of the work week. Like I've said before I'm not really a fan of soups, but pouring it over a bed of rice makes it alot more heartier! YUM! After making that dinner, I will have used my Vitamix 5 times today:

1. Fruit Smoothie

2. Vegetable Smoothie

3. Coffee Drink

4. Artichoke and Pepper dinner

5. Tortilla Soup