Then and Now

How our little angel has grown. He was such a precious, fragile little newborn. He was the cutest little miracle we'd ever seen. The best part of every day was just sitting and holding him, taking it in that he was really here and we were going to have him for so many years to come, and then forever.

 The apple of our eyes.

Now, our little Jared has learned and grown so much. He makes us laugh every day. It's still the highlight of each and every single day to be able to just hold him, to take care of him, and to make him laugh and smile. He's our special little Goober and we wouldn't trade a single moment we've spent with him for anything.

Wedding Ring

Today, I finally got to wear my wedding ring again. I haven't been able to wear it for almost a year now. Several months ago, while I was at work, my ruby fell out. I noticed it while I was in the middle of screening a patient and, then, as soon as I was done I searched every where for. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone I'd lost it yet, so I just searched everywhere I'd been that morning. I started worrying about how expensive it would be for us if I didn't find that ruby. After a few minutes of good searching, I decided to go in the kitchen and shut the door and say a prayer. Before I was even done praying I realized just where the ruby might be. After my prayer, I went straight to the spot and sure enough, my ruby was sitting there right where I'd been impressed it would be. That was a big relief and worth losing my ruby so I could have that experience. On Saturday, we brought the ring to Aaxis Fine Jewelers at the mall. We'd talked to them earlier and were now bringing the ring in for their jeweler to look at. After taking a look, the jeweler said the crown wouldn't need to be replaced (yay!!), the prongs just needed to be carved in a little deeper so they could wrap around the gem better. That was definitely in our budget and didn't take too long at all. =) It's nice to be able to where my ring again instead of a fake one!

Jared's First Tattoo!!

Jared's little cousin, Reagan, gave us a Tangled Valentine last month. It came with Tangled tattoos, so last week we had fun putting our tattoos on.

What studs!!

Pi Day!

Yesterday was Pi Day (3.14), so our friendly, upstairs neighbors/family/friends invited us to come up and have pie and visit to celebrate. Coincidentally, I was planning on making pie today anyway since I'm a slacker and didn't make one on Sunday. This was my first time picking a pie that didn't have a cookie crumb crust, since my birthday, so I got to try out some of my new pie baking supplies, all Mrs. Anderson brand. ;)

One thing I got was this pie crust bag. It was pretty stink'n sweet! I just put my ball of pie dough in, with a bit of flour, and zipped it shut. Then, I used my rolling pin (which stayed perfectly clean) to flatten the dough out. I've had to deal with pie dough before and it can be kind of sticky sometimes. It also made it much easier to put the dough on the pie pan. It was so stink'n easy!

I decided to make an Apple Cranberry Spice Crumb Pie. I've been wanting to make this pie, but Ryan doesn't really like cranberries. So, I took this opportunity to make this pie when I'd have others, besides Ryan, to share it with. The smaller pie on the right is Ryan's pie, made with the same filling before the cranberries were added.

 Before putting the pie in the oven, I lined the crust with this really nice, rubber liner I also got for my birthday. It worked very nicely, and was so much easier than tin foil. =)

 This was a fun pie to make and I think it turned out pretty good. For the top crust I took the pie out half way through it's baking and sprinkled a sugary, buttery mixer over the top and put it back in. It was delicious!!

Scratching

Jared is really good at grabbing onto and holding things now, but if he can't grab it, then he scratches at it. It's usually pretty cute. =)

 Sometimes I wonder if we're raising a cat or a baby boy. :)