Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Another Update Post

Since it has been so long since I posted any news, I should start back where I ended with my last "update post"

I got the job! I'm working at the CDC (Child Development Center) on base. In fact, I've been working there for about 16 months! It's a great job and wonderful to be able to work on base, but it's not quite what I had in mind for myself when I went to college to get a math degree. But at this time, it works for me! I work in the 1 year old room and have decided that age is the absolute CUTEST age for kiddos! But don't worry, no little Maggies or Jakes will be running around any time soon!

We are still loving the house in Montana! Last summer we did some work inside. We painted the living room and guest bedroom, and did quite a bit of work in the bathroom. Each room will later have individual before/after posts.

As for the rest of our summer, we pretty much hung around Great Falls. We ventured to a few other cities in Montana, and each of us got to go home for a visit, but my visit was for a funeral, so it wasn't exactly a fun trip. I did still get to see the family and feel the Missouri humidity for a few days!

In August Jake left for a deployment to Afghanistan. He was gone for 7 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days...not that I kept track or anything! Really though, the time did fly by! I have a great group of friends in Montana that kept me pretty busy! I'll post photos of some of our fun events!

My friend Jamie's husband was also deployed so we joined Weight Watchers together and both lost a lot of weight! I lost 26.8 lbs total. I'll admit that I gained a little back since he got home, but I'm still feeling good about it!

Jake bought me a kindle! I love it! I used it all the time while we was gone, and even joined a book club, but for some reason now that he's home, I just don't get the time to read as much.

Jake got home in April...and he got straight to work on his baby...his 2000 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Honestly, I'm glad he has that thing because while he is in the garage, I can work on my own hobbies....sewing and now card making. Jamie sells Stampin' Up products so I've become a papercrafter! I'll post some of my creations in a future post!

That brings us up to this summer. I'm still working days at the CDC, but I got a part time job for evening and weekends selling tickets at the Voyager's games. The Voyagers are a minor league team affiliated with the White Sox. It's a pretty short gig, 53 games from the end of June to the beginning of September. I've only worked 3 games so far, but it seems like it will be fun and it will be great to have that extra play money! I sit in the ticket booth for a couple of hours and then can get into the games for free!

Next week, the 4th of July, will be our 2nd anniversary! We are celebrating again with the 3rd Annual 4th of July BBQ! I'd like to keep the tradition going and have a BBQ every year. I got Jake lots of Trans Am related gifts, some vinyl decals shaped like the firebird emblem, a nice metal sign with all 4 generations of the Firebird, a neon Pontiac clock, a Trans Am coffee table book, and a Fossil Chicago Cubs wallet. They are slowly being delivered and I'm so bad at keeping presents a secret that I've been giving them to him as they arrive. He already stuck one of the firebird stickers on his laptop and loves the metal sign! The book and clock should arrive today!

Now that you are updated, here come the photos!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Easy Beef Burritos

I'm a lame blogger. I haven't posted in over a year, but I finally have internet at home, so I'm planning to try to get back into blogging.

As my first post back, I would like to start off with an awesome easy recipe. Jake found this crockpot recipe and it became a new favorite.

Ingredients:
2-3 lb boneless beef chuck shoulder
large jar of salsa
flour tortillas
optional toppings (we had shredded cheese and sour cream)

Directions:
Cook beef and salsa in a crockpot for 8-10 hours on medium heat.
Take beef out and pull apart with two forks, then mix back in the salsa.
Cook another 2 hours on high. (we only cooked an additional 30 minutes because we were hungry!)
Serve on tortillas with your choice of toppings.