Growing up before our eyes!

Jeremy and I were just talking this morning over coffee about how fast Harper is growing up. She is already 16 months old, trying to talk, climbing on everything and extremely independent. Right now she is all about feeding herself, "reading" to herself, walking by herself and if she could she'd probably change her diaper by herself... Before we know it, Jeremy is going to be walking her down the aisle!

We love, love, love the spirit and love for life that Harper has! There is never a dull moment with her, whether she's laughing or crying. We are reminding ourselves to cherish every day and every change we experience with her as this time is precious. Here are a few pictures of what Harper's been up to lately.

Yes, that's our daughter with ALL of my credit cards in hand. Shopping spree anyone??
Harper has adopted the Rice Krispies box as her own "possession"... We don't dare try to join in. She walks all over the house with it, leaving her mommy sweeping quite often!
Since we don't have a swimming pool, we make up our own water fun for Harps.
Harper LOVES to pretend to drink coffee like mama and dada. Don't worry folks, it's empty!
Harper is into wearing whatever clothes of mama's that she can find within reach.
Hats were the old obsession... now on to wearing sunglasses!

Here's Harper about a month ago, wearing mama's sunglasses and trying to talk. We have found that she isn't shy to "try" to say whatever we suggest to her - for good or bad ;)

Sweet Family Time

Over the past few weeks, we have been blessed to have both my cousin and my mom come to visit us. Family means so much to me, so to get a double-dose over two weeks was wonderful!

My cousin Kelly took her sacred vacation time and stayed with us for a week. It was wonderful to spend time with her and get to know her sweet heart even more. Harper especially LOVED Kelly and even said her name by the middle of the week! I took her around to see different parts of San Diego, we went running often, cooked together, and had many great conversations!

One of our favorite nights... we took Kelly out to the hotel Del in Coronado for drinks, yummy food and a gorgeous sunset.
Love this girl ;)
We had lunch up in La Jolla and walked around seal beach. So much fun!

My mom came the following weekend for a few days while Jeremy was away, which gave us an all girls weekend! It was a special time for Harper to spend some quality time with her Mimi and for me to get some much needed "mama time" too. My mom means the world to me - she is my best girlfriend, easy to spend time with and always an encouragement. Thank you mom for loving Harper and I so much on this memorable trip!

Harper gave her Mimi lots of sweet kisses, which Mimi says was her favorite part.
The three of us girls enjoyed going to the park to eat lunch and play before Mimi had to fly home.
Harper and Mimi shared a "baba" moment, which are becoming few and far between.
Mimi made Harper laugh harder all weekend than I had heard in a while...

Trying out Specialty Produce

These past couple of weeks, I have tried buying some of our produce through a local company called Specialty Produce: www.specialtyproduce.com. For the everyday consumer they offer something called the "farmer's market bag". Each week it contains an assortment of fresh, seasonal produce from multiple California farms and farmers. The cost is only $20. For many, it poses a challenge and excitement as you don't know what your bag will contain until the day before it's ready for pickup. So... creativity and spontaneity is a must.

Since we had heard from a few others that it was a lot of produce to get in one week, we decided to share the bag with our friends Brad and Kristy Heinrichs. Here are a few of things I made using recipes from http://allrecipes.com. If you haven't used this site, it's great for finding recipes according to the ingredients you have.

I forgot to take a picture, but with a bunch of arugula we received we made a homemade arugula pesto sauce and put it over pasta. It was beautiful and had a nice spicy bite to it from the arugula.

This is a salad I threw together with a number of greens we received in our "bag" that I can't even begin to name. We added tangerine slices from our yard as well as some dried cranberries and walnuts (for their omega-3's).
Zuppa Toscana. This soup reminded me of something you'd find in Eastern Europe. The ingredient I was trying to use was kale. It was a yummy combo of potatoes, kale, onion, chicken sausage, broth, and a bit of cream.
Radish spread. This picture doesn't do it justice. It's a mixture of cream cheese with lots of radishes, garlic, salt and pepper. Wonderful on sandwiches and broiled bread.
Roasted beets. They were supposed to have goat cheese crumbles, but I forgot to pick it up. It was still delicious!

I can't say that we'll always buy our produce this way, but I highly enjoyed the challenge of trying new recipes and eating LOTS of greens and things I might not otherwise purchase. If you're up for an eating adventure... go ahead and give it a try!

Home Garden

One of the ways that I have begun to explore feeding my family locally grown, organic produce is through growing a small garden in my backyard. With the help of my good friend Kristy, we did just that... along with her promise to kill ANY and ALL spiders we came across! We spent one day weeding and buying the plants and another day planting them. The planting boxes in my backyard already contained strawberries, mint, parsley and one tomato plant. To boot, the house we rent already has orange, tangerine and lemon trees! We added to the mix: cucumber, red and yellow bell peppers, squash, jalapenos, one more tomato plant, basil, cilantro and thyme. Here's to healthy eating and hoping I don't kill them ;)

Here is Kristy, with Josiah and Harper, who were eager to play in the dirt.
We hope in the future they will eat more produce than dirt!

Our beautiful orange trees... fresh squeezed juice anyone?
This box contains all the vegetables, as well as the cilantro and basil.
We planted the thyme in the box with the strawberries, parsley and mint.
Jeremy is feeding Harper fresh tangerines picked right off the tree, YUM!

Harper lately

We are working on our coloring skills. "The crayons are for coloring Elmo... not for eating".
Yes, she is still obsessed with wearing her hat all around the house... even if it's 75 degrees outside!
Mommy and Harper hanging out together after going for a run. Love my little girl...

I looked away for a quick moment... when there was silence in the house, I knew Harper had gotten into something. She has a sweet tooth just like her mommy!

Healthy Eating and why I choose mostly organic...

Over the past few months, I have had countless conversations with friends and family members who are trying to navigate through their belief system of what healthy eating is. We read books and articles, overhear conversations, and see news segments and documentaries... but still there lingers questions between all the floating theories over what we should and should not eat. Where does this leave us? Often confused. Trying to sort out between organic, local and seasonal shopping... low carb, high protein, vegetarian, non-dairy diets. The list goes on and on.

It may take me a few posts to sort this out... heck, I may not figure it out for a while. But I am committed to my husband and daughter to find the healthiest, livable solution for eating well.

I'll start with what I have come to a conclusion on. I do buy organic when shopping for certain produce and I do buy all organic dairy products. Much of why I have chosen to go this route comes from my educational background in Dietetics. One basic belief I gained through my learning is that, no matter the confusion brought on by todays society, it all comes back to this: the best diet points back to "real" and natural foods (i.e., non-processed, not genetically modified and not contaminated with harmful toxins).

So, for those who still aren't clear on what "organic" means here's a basic definition: Organic means that they do not use synthetic chemical fertilizers or genetically modified organisms to influence the growth of the crops. These farmers do not use artificial fertilizers or harmful chemical pesticides to help them grow. Organic ranchers and dairymen raise their livestock free of antibiotics and hormones. Checkout this website full of information on Organic living:

http://www.living-organic.net

All of this helps ensure that my family doesn't get exposed to extra toxins just by eating. Another influence that pushed me to buy organic dairy products is a little less scientific. My mom is a first-grade teacher in a low-income school district in Oregon. When I was pregnant with my daughter, she told me that she couldn't believe it... but she had had two of her female students start their period that year! Yes, I said 6 to 7 year olds... starting their periods! I learned from some of my education, that girls were starting their periods earlier and earlier than they used to years ago... but first grade? I'm sure their are many factors that go into this occurring, but the extra hormones we get in our animal products are not helping prevent such a premature event from happening.

Preventative measures to maintain our health makes sense to me and for our family that includes buying certain products that are organic. Now if I could decide the best way to purchase organic and local meat...

Remembering Jeffrey...

April 14, 2005... how can I forget that day? Today marks the 5 year anniversary of my brothers' passing away. It feels so strange to write that... Wasn't it just yesterday I sat in his room as we confided in each other about life's ups and downs? Just yesterday... and yet it seems difficult to remember some of the memories.

For those that knew Jeffrey, know that my brother had his share of "rough" years. Years that caused him to be rather absent from our family once he graduated high school. Today it feels frustrating that there is a gap between my memories of him. I have many memories from years ago and some from just before he left us. It's hard not to wish there were more somehow...

I have the most amazing memories of him in our growing up years. He was the big brother that the younger three of us looked up to. We were proud of him - he was smart, endlessly funny, and always made us feel safe when we needed him to. He also played the role most older brothers "have to" play... he tortured us relentlessly! He teased us, wrestled us, and made us do the dishes when my parents left him in charge. In our younger years, he and I butted heads most out of the four of us - I think mostly because he and I were similar. We had strong personalities that had a tendency to be stubborn, yet we were sensitive. In the end, those commonalities were what ended up bringing us closer as brother and sister in his last year he was alive.

Those years while Jeffrey was away, he contracted the flu virus that ended with a rare outcome. The flu virus settled in his heart and caused him to eventually have a condition called cardiomyopathy, a serious disease in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and doesn't work as well as it should. As Jeffrey was an adult, he took care of his own medical business. All we knew is that he was sick and that he was not a transplant candidate. We never dreamed that this disease was terminal for him... especially not that suddenly. He was 27.

I think it's safe to say that my parents, siblings and I all see my brother as a very real life "prodigal son". He walked away from everything for a period of time... from God, from his family and friends, from his values. But, by God's grace, his story did not end there. God did an amazing work in Jeffrey's life before he died: He brought him back to his faith, back to our family, and brought Jeffrey peace with himself. His life always makes me think of 2 Corinthians 12:9, which says "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness".

I miss my brother deeply... I wish I could give him a hug... and have one more conversation with him... and tell him I love him just one more time.

Jeffrey's life has made two things most clear to me: to cherish those dear to my heart and never take them for granted, and just how thankful I am for the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. It is because of that I know I'll see my brother again someday...