The Ridge

We have some good friends that have a lake house on Truman Lake! (The address of the lake house has the word "ridge" in it... thus the title) We've been out a couple times this summer already and we definitely look forward to more fun lake weekends. For the Fourth of July we ventured out to enjoy the lake and had a blast!!


Definitely enjoy spending the lake weekends with these ladies!



We had a small group that went out to the lake on the Saturday before July 4th, so I had the opportunity to learn how to ski! It was awesome! Here I am getting ready to try this out for the first time!



Trying, trying, trying so hard to get up! Either that or I'm falling backwards after getting up!



I finally got up for about 10 seconds or so before I fell again. I was satisfied with my attempts and really tired, so I decided to give it a rest after this last attempt!



Then the boys got to ski! Jacob's been skiing all his life and definitely seems happy out there!


My handsome husband is a great skier! (Jacob's in the background trying to catch the waves)



Jacob's hair was quite the site!



Brett and Jacob tried to stay on as John tried to throw them off!



Marina and I just going for a nice peaceful ride in the tube! Thanks John!



Later in the day, I tried a second round of skiing! Finally got up successfully! I stayed up long enough to enjoy a nice ride around the lake!


Considering it was my first day to ski... I thought I did pretty well! And definitely enjoyed it!



Festive Watermelon for Fourth of July weekend!



Love the wind blown, pinky skin, after-the-lake type of picture!



Another friend picture!



After a long day in the sun... this was a beautiful way to end the day!

Theater in the Park :: Les Miserables

This past Friday night, I went to the second play of the season at Theater in the Park. It was my first time to ever see Les Miserables!! I really enjoyed the show and I love the atmosphere. If you live here in Kansas City area, you should definitely check out Theater in the Park. The first show of the season was Sound of Music (which I saw two weeks ago). Second show was Les Miserables, Third show will be Aida, and the Fourth show will be Seussical. I hope to see many more play/musicals at Theater in the Park. Here's a few pictures...


::And this is only a portion of the crowd


::Our group that attended together-



::Love this guy!



::Enjoyed this scene!!



::A little girl played the role of Gavroche (a little boy in the play) and she did a great job! You can see Gavroche on the shoulders of the men in the middle of the picture.



::The entire cast singing the last song... did I mention all these cast members were in High School or younger!


::Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, love the atmosphere, and can't wait to go back!

If You Have Ripe Bananas, Make Banana Muffins

Recently the bananas we have been buying from the local grocery store have not lasted as long as we would like. We buy bananas one day and turn around to fine them too ripe to eat the next day. So the solution I've found it to make Banana Muffins!! Problem with these, though, they don't even last a long as the bananas because we gobble them up right away!!

Here's a tried and true recipe from Better Homes::
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil
3/4 cup mashed banana (or about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 chopped nuts (optional)
handful of chocolate chips (optional)

1:: Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
2:: In a separate bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil.
3:: Add egg.milk.oil mixture to the bowl with flour and other ingredients.
4:: Add mashed bananas to the mix!!

5:: If desired you can make muffins with both chocolate chips and nuts,
or make them half and half like I did. If so, split the muffin mix into two bowls and add chocolate chips to one bowl and nuts to the other bowl.

6:: Spoon muffin mix into a greased 12 muffin cup pan.
7:: Bake for 18-20 mins at 400*
8:: ENJOY!!!

Happy Kitchen Makes a Happy Wife

Cabinets are in... and are starting to get organized!!
There are still a few more dishes to put in the cabinet below, but for now it makes me really happy to have them organized in BRAND NEW cabinets!!



Baking Supplies along with other goodies in this cabinet!!



Canned Goods, Pasta, Spices (just for now until we get a spice rack), and the essentials of Peanut Butter and Honey!!




The cabinet on the Left is the top portion to the tall pantry cabinet and the cabinet on the Right is the lower portion of the same pantry cabinet.

Left Top= chips, onions, potatoes, rice, etc.
Left Bottom= cereal, oatmeal
Right Top= coffee makings, tea, hot chocolate, etc.
Right Bottom= trash can for now, we'll see if it stays long term




I'm so very glad to have our food and dishes back where they belong!! Thanks to Brett, Jacob, and Steve for all your hard work!!

Moving Along...

For the past few weeks we've been working on our kitchen. Talk about a real challenge! We've discovered nothing in this house is normal, standard, or easy. We've had issues with electrical, plumping, walls, doors, floors... everything really. A job that seems fairly easy (like painting the walls) turns into a multiple step process... Here's what we've been doing these last few days!

Step One:: spray walls and remove any remaining wallpaper from the past 50 years as well as layers of glue upon layers of paint.

Step Two:: wash walls really, really, really well.

Step Three:: try to be very patient with spouse, and continue working hard, remind each other we are doing the best we can.

Step Four:: apply a coat of drywall mud by rolling it on all of the walls, then squeegee the mud in order to make wall as flat as can be. Repeat this step three times.


Step Five:: sand all the walls by hand


Step Six:: enjoy white walls while they last (this is the first time in 3 years the walls have all been the same color and texture!)


Step Seven:: remove light fixture in order to paint ceiling


Step Eight:: prime all the walls in order to seal drywall


Step Nine:: gather many paint colors, purchase samples, ask friends for advice, decide upon color with husband


Step Ten:: PAINT WALLS!!!


Step Eleven:: invite friends over to help install cabinets! (don't forget the pizza!)


Step Twelve:: put kitchen back together... this includes bring canned goods back into kitchen from the linen closet, bring back all dishes that have been stored in guest room, bring back all baking supplies from the guest room closet and find a place for all these items in the new cabinets!!

Step Thirteen:: finish kitchen... there's much, much more to do... putting in more countertops, flooring, trim, light fixtures, microwave (plus one more cabinet), buying more things for kitchen

Step Fourteen:: work on the rest of the house (paint living room and hallway, replace front door and door to garage, possibly other projects, and clean house!!

Step Fifteen:: invite friends and family over for an open house!!!

Jobs for the Summer (and beyond)

This summer I will begin a new adventure! As of now, I have three new jobs lined out for this summer and they could potentially last longer. I'm excited about having a few things to occupy my time this summer as I do not have classes for the next few months. Within the past few years, I've discovered that I need responsibilities to keep my mind and body active. I've learned I don't like sitting at home for hours on end without interacting with others. That being said, I am really excited to start a few jobs this summer!

1) "Transitional Living Specialist"- This will be my title as I work with individuals with traumatic brain injuries through an organization here in Kansas City. Ideally I will work close to 20 hours a week going into the home of consumers who need guidance getting back to their everyday lives. The heart of the position is to support individuals that have had a brain injury to attain independence and to achieve the goals they set for themselves. Tasks might include: helping consumers fill out job applications, guide consumers in initiating appropriate social interactions, and encouraging consumers to reach for their goals.

2) I will be working with a family to provide therapy supports for their son with Autism. I will be trained by the parents and other therapists to learn how to best support their son in his daily routines. I am excited about this opportunity in order to learn more about Autism and see how therapy services affect this family. I expect to work with this family about 6 hours a week.

3) "Community Outreach Program (COP)- Student Director"- I have accepted a student position through the Office of Student Engagement at KU Med for next year. This position is really self-driven in a lot of ways and will hopefully grow my leadership skills even further. COP is an organization that recruits students to be interns who volunteer with various community agencies. My job is to recruit students, recruit agencies, and connect the student interns to the community agencies. I will also be responsible for training student interns and creating a group community service project for each month of the school year. I will be responsible for all the administrative work as well as completing my own volunteer hours. I'll begin working on things this summer and continue through next May.

I am excited about what lies ahead. I'm nervous in some regards, but overall I feel ready for the challenge and adventure. These jobs really do provide what I've been looking for in a summer job... I want to work with adults to get experience in that area, I want to work with a child with autism to see if that's really what I want to do, and I truly want to be more involved in the community. And I'm sure each of these areas will enhance my professional growth as well!!

Focus

:: Why do I so easily forget where my focus should be?

:: It really is a beautiful thing: we were created to love God and love people.

:: That should be my focus.

:: Some days it is really challenging to remember to praise God. Why? Because my heart is seeking the adoration for itself. I sinfully seek to find meaning in other people or things. I promote myself more than God. I often do not give God the praise, honor, and glory he deserves.

:: I want to engage in a relationship with him to the point where he is my supreme focus.

:: Some days it is really challenging to remember to focus on people. Instead my days get consumed with grocery shopping, homework, cleaning, cooking and at times leisure activities. Even when I'm around people or even talking face-to-face with people... I still am thinking about tasks or things.

:: I want to actively listen, truly see the person, and know their heart.

:: I want my focus to be: Love God, Love People