Baby Jax

These pics are a few days late, as baby Jax was born on June 20th.  He is a good sized little guy, weighing in at almost 9lbs when he was born!

Look at his sweet peach fuzz and round little cheeks!

Sorry those photos needed some serious editing. I am not good with the backlight. But holding a brand new bambino is the best! Look at Caleb's sweet smile...awww.

With his dad, Ben

Look at them! Crystal is a total rock star for sure. Those wee little ones make my womb ache. But then I took them some food after their first night at home. And my womb stopped aching after I heard about the long night.

In other, not important news, I had a good work weekend. My patients were adorable. Except for this one guy who drove me nuts. He was still adorable, just crazy. He finally zonked out for a few hours on Sunday afternoon and then woke up crazier then ever. This is how our convo went down at 6:30pm:

Patient: "I need to go meet my brother outside for a cigarette."
Me: "Nope, you can't go outside, you are too sick. Plus, your brother was here this morning and knows you can't go out to meet him."
Patient.: "You can't keep me locked up in here. I'm going to put my clothes on and go smoke a cigarette."
Me: "You have two options: sit in your chair or lay in your bed."
Patient: "I'm leaving to smoke a cigarette."
Me: "Listen. I am the boss and you are not. If you go out to smoke a cigarette with your oxygen on, you will blow up and die. If you go to smoke a cigarette without your oxygen on, you will probably die before you get outside because of lack of oxygen. I don't want you to die tonight because I want to go home soon."
Patient: mean glare


I love nursing. It is so full of hilarious things that other people cannot picture happening.

Now I'm off to do my wifely duty of folding laundry and making dinner...Happy Monday!

Twenty Five

Happy birthday to me! I had a Reece's Cup cupcake from Babycakes this afternoon. Also I bought five other cupcakes that do not contain peanuts so that I can share with my hub. But let me tell you, that is a freaking good cupcake.

Today marks 25 years of life and 1 year of working for Mountain States Health Alliance. One year ago today I was celebrating by sitting through orientation with people I had never met. And then I came home and unpacked our apartment that we had just moved into. And I didn't see Caleb because he was working night shift. This year is much better. We celebrated on Saturday night with friends and had a blast!

We went to Stir Fry and ate lots and lots of sushi and crab rangoon. So so so yummy.

I could eat sushi every day.

As we all know, Caleb hates smiling for pictures so this is as good as it got.

And a super lovely group photo. You are welcome, friends.

Yliana and Joe brought their sweet baby girl, who eats with chopsticks like a pro.

After Stir Fry, we decided to go to the Cowboy Cafe and Saloon. Which is exactly as awesome as it sounds. It's within walking distance from our apartment and in a year we haven't gone there. It was time. (Photos courtesy of Emily Robertson.)

There was country music, beer, small children, mullets, and more. Just like a good saloon should have. My hubby decided to really class up the joint by challenging everyone to arm wrestling matches.

Check out my guns.

I actually felt a little ridiculous because I knew every single word to every single song. Thank you, Kansas upbringing. One guy even did "Elvira," a song that my dad did a rousing rendition of at a talent show one time. We decided to close out the night with a duet of Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman." If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Emily and I belting it.  Our husbands are now shaking their heads in embarrassment. 

It was a great night and I am so thankful for such good friends to celebrate with!

Caleb got me a Kinect for the Xbox and the game Dance Central, so we have been dancing it up in here. That game is a little addictive.  We stayed in on Sunday and alternated eating Zaxby's, watching Big Bang Theory, and dancing. Good weekend. I love my husband.

I was reading in Matthew this morning and came across this wonderful verse: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8). I love this reminder that all I need to do is look for him, and God will be right there. He will give me whatever I need and more. I am so blessed with a sweet husband, a wonderful job, and a supportive family. I don't know where I'll be on my birthday next year, but I can be sure that God will be there too!

Twenty five feels kinda old, btw. It's like I am fully committed to the 20's.

Monday Lists

It's storming like crazy this morning. Perfect for sleeping in, drinking tea, and not going anywhere. I'm trying to knock a few things off my to do list (laundry, laundry, more laundry. How two people make so much laundry is beyond me). So this is a blog post of lists. I'm in the middle of a five day off stretch which makes me forget all that is work and nursing. I love it.

1, On Friday, I had lunch and a mani/pedi with Crystal, the wife of Caleb's boss Ben. She is having a baby TODAY and needed an outing before she is trapped inside with an infant and a two year old for the rest of the summer. I took my camera along to snap some pictures of her in her final pregnant days but she was pretty miserable so I spared her. Check out this post from Christmas, she looked pregnant six months ago! We walked around the mall and people looked at her with pitying expressions. Ah, the beauty that is the final days of pregnancy.

I do love red nails.

2. We went out on Crystal and Benny's boat on Friday night. Because that is where a 10-month-pregnant woman should be: on a boat.

Cash looking sweet.

Caleb and I got to wake board some more and we are getting better. Caleb looks like a stud out there.

Hot.

Really, we just love being out on the water. Our new motto: always have a friend with a boat.

3. Caleb had to work on Saturday, which was sad. But I went to the farmer's market and got a ton of good stuff. This inspired a farmer's market dinner menu for the week. I hate wasting food but it's hard to get the best out of produce with only two people. My loot: peaches, nectarines, corn, tomatoes, basil, carrots, zucchini, squash, white onions, red onions, and potatoes.

Farmer's Market Menu

Monday: Corn Chowder, bruschetta

Tuesday: Margarita pizza

Wednesday: Burgers, potato salad, roasted veggies

Thursday: Stuffed Zucchini

Friday: Pasta Salad (for all the leftovers)

Yum. I love the farmer's market.

4. Then I took myself on a shopping trip to the mall in Johnson City. Reason #871 why June birthdays are the best: everything goes on sale in mid to late June. Also, everyone sends you birthday coupons. So you get tons of stuff for cheap-o! Just because I love a good bargain, here is my list of purchases and savings. Because you know you care about sweet deals.

From Bath and Body Works:
Lay it on Thick hand cream (the best hand lotion ever made), a large three wick candle, a medium candle in a tin, a medium aromatherapy candle, and some foaming hand soap. Original price: $56.50. Sale price:  $26.37+$2.50 tax= $28.87. Amount saved: $27.63. Cha-ching.

From Express:
Two Express favorite tee's: originally $24.90 each, on sale for $10, with $15 birthday discount+tax= $5.48. Amount saved: $44.32

From Aerie:
Five bras, seven pairs of undies, one cami: Original price: $250.50. Sale-20% birthday discount+tax=$92.16

Total spent: $126.51. Total saved: $230.29. Seriously awesome.

Ok, I'm off to bask in productivity, listen to Adele, and play Dance Central. Check back tomorrow for a birthday post! And have a great Monday.

Happy Father's Day!

To my dad:
Who missed a golf tournament 25 years ago for my birth, who taught me to ride a bike, throw a ball less like a girl, drive a car (way before the legal driving age), who paid for me to learn all the things he couldn't teach me himself, who came to all my concerts, musicals, and even my sporting events, who told me I could be anything I wanted, who taught me how to pray, how to stand up for what is right, and how to admit when I am wrong. I love you, Daddy.

To my father-in-law:
Whose patience, understanding, wisdom, trips to the emergency room, and probably a lot of prayers shaped the man who is my husband. Thank you. Don't worry, you will probably get to enjoy payback to your son in the form of grandchildren some day.

We wish we could be there to spend the day with you! We love you both!

Home Alone

Hi, my name is Lorri and I'm addicted to chicken salad. 


Caleb was out of town for a few days last week. And I made a batch of chicken salad and ate it for dinner a couple nights. And it was delicious. Secret about me: sometimes I like being home alone. Not for long. And it helped that I worked all the days he was gone. But sometimes I just like doing whatever I want and not cooking or cleaning (or feeling guilty about not cleaning).

What I did while home alone:
1. Ate popcorn and M&Ms for dinner one night.
2. Watched "Valentine's Day." That is such a darn cute movie. I do love me some Bradley Cooper.
3. Do excessive skin care. Exfoliation, creams, lotions, rubbing lemon cuticle cream into my nails. And Biore strips on my nose. Those things are addictive: I love seeing the plugs of dirt that come out of my skin. Gross, but awesome.

4. I do not eat fast food. Because there is no boy to be a bad influence on me.
5. Listened to the Glee station on Pandora. Really loudly.
6. Watched hours of Cupcake Wars.
7. I still slept on the right side of the bed. Habit.

Caleb came home yesterday and I was so happy to see him. A little jealous that he got to see baby George though.

Sometimes alone time makes me appreciate him more! (Just a little mush for your Monday morning!)

Wake boarding, strawberry pretzel salad, Dance Central=Summer

I love summer. And it is here, finally. Ok, not officially until June 21, which just happens to be my birthday so start planning. Anyway, we have had the wonderful perfect ideal summery weekend. Yesterday we woke up early to go boating and we both learned to wake board. I was unaware that the plan was to wake board, I thought the plan was just to go out on a lake on a boat and relax. So when asked if I had ever been wake boarding before, I said, sure. Which was actually a lie. Partly because I didn't really know what wake boarding is and I was thinking of body boarding which is really nothing like wake boarding at all except that they both include water and a board. So Caleb and I both learned and both managed to spend a few minutes zipping around the lake on top of the water and many more minutes falling down and swallowing lake water. We actually had a lot of fun and today we are insanely sore. Mostly me, because I'm kind of a wuss. I took pictures, but with someone else's camera. Darn, you can't see us falling in the lake a million times...

But on to the main event: strawberry pretzel salad. We went to a bbq last night and this was my contribution. It's a good southern girl recipe by Paula Dean. It accounts for all of her favorite things including butter, sugar, and cream cheese.  I've been making this with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law long before they ever became my in-laws. And it is just delicious. This time around though, I had a major revelation about the recipe that I will share...

Here is a link to Paula's recipe.

1. Crush up your pretzels. FYI, 2 cups crushed pretzels=4 cups non crushed pretzels.

2. Stir the melted butter, three tablespoons sugar, and pretzels all together in the pan and then press down to make the crust. Let cool completely before moving on the next step. (I actually made the crust on Friday and the rest on Saturday)

3. Cream together the softened cream cheese and sugar. (You could use light cream cheese and it would be just fine.) Fold in the cool whip. (Again, light or free cool whip would be fine. And you would feel better about yourself later.) Spread over the pretzel layer. Refrigerate until firm. (Or stick in the freezer if you are in a hurry like me.)

This is the best layer. You could just make some of this and eat it, minus the jello or pretzels.

4. Ok this is where things get tricky. Add 2 cups boiling water to the jello, stir until dissolved. We always used to skip the fruit, I don't love pineapple and I honestly don't love whole strawberries mixed in things. At this point, all you have is boiling jello and it melts down your cream cheese layer and gets all in the crust which makes the crust soggy. And it would take hours to set up. But yesterday it dawned on me: you need the frozen strawberries to make the jello cold so it won't melt every thing down and so it sets up quickly. Who knew? Probably everyone but me. I had a pint of frozen strawberries in the freezer so I threw them in the blender and grated them up to a tiny size. Then stirred them in. Perfect. And awesome texture.

Only a tiny bit slipped in the corner. 

5. Then refrigerate until ready to serve. Or freeze. Again, in a hurry. But it set up in less than an hour. And the ground strawberries gave it awesome flavor. So good. I've been eating leftovers all day.

My hips hate you, strawberry pretzel salad.

This doesn't even count as dessert because it has the word "salad" in the title. You are welcome.

And for your Sunday night viewing laughter, a picture of me playing Dance Central at the bbq last night. Again, you are welcome. I don't mind making fun of myself.

Baby shower! Don't drink the water at work...

There is a baby epidemic at my place of employment. I bring my own water. Because I don't want to catch it. But I'm all about baby showers and buying baby things. I do like shopping for babies. Yesterday we had a shower for two of my coworkers, Gracie and Stacey. Gracie is having a boy in July and Stacey is having a girl in August. So much fun!

Love that cake!

The mommas-to-be: Gracie on the left and Stacey on the right:

Look at those bellies!

They got tons of cute stuff!

Gracie is a pro at the posing.

Stacey posed because I made her. Ha.

The cake was delish. I took a corner piece because I love icing. An abnormal amount.

Yum.

And I renewed my gym membership this morning after seeing this pic of me with a double chin.

With one of my coworkers, Vickie.

But we had fun! Can't wait to see those babies!

I'm on day 2 of my five day weekend. I'm excited to spend some time with the hub and be outside in the sun! (With my sunscreen on, like I promised the doc when I went in this morning for an annual skin check. I'm pale, ok?)

It's Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...Happy Friday!