Cadance the Explorer

The last few weeks Cadance has had a lot of fun exploring our apartment. She's gotten quite good at it, actually. Here are a few pictures from of what she's discovered.


She has also discovered bathtubs and likes to push things off the sides. But, dogs are her favorite. Sometimes we'll go sit by the volleyball court and watch people bring their dogs out. She gets so excited.

In other news, at school today someone came and delivered some mushrooms. He made the comment that it wasn't that hot outside. When I left I saw a sign that said 97. Only in Texas is 97 "not that hot."

Steve is studying hard for his boards. He's technically is a 4th year (have a party in your head!), but until he completes his second round of boards it doesn't mean much. July 21st here we come!

And just because it's fun, here's a video of Cadance eating a strawberry. She become quite jealous when we eat without her, so she's been getting a lot more snacks lately, usually fruit, but yesterday I gave her a pretzel rod while we ate dinner- an entire pretzel rod, usually I break it into pieces. She ate the entire thing. I was shocked. I didn't know you could go through food that fast without teeth.

An Update on Cadance

Mostly people look at this blog to see pictures of Cadance. Sorry I don't post them very often. I know most people have already seen pictures from our trip to PA, but here are some that I took

My First Recipe

Last week in class we did recipe development. I was so excited to create a recipe for baked goods. I think it turned out pretty good. This is my version on test 6

Cheesy Sun Dried Tomato Muffins

Notes: If using non-oil packed sun dried tomatoes only use 1 oz. Pour boiling water to cover and let soak until soft, about 10 minutes. Chop and proceed with recipe.

1 oz. block parmasen cheese, divided
1 1/2 C. flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T. sugar
1/2 C. mozzarella
1 C. milk
1 egg
3 oz. butter, melted and cooled
2 oz. oil-packed sun dried tomatoes, chopped into 1/2" pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 6 muffin cups.

Cut Parmesan cheese in half. Cut one half into 6 pieces, shred the other half and set aside until needed.

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add in mozzarella cheese and stir to combine. Make well in center.

In a separate bowl, beat egg into milk. Stir in Butter. Pour into well of flour mixture. Mix together just until wet. Add tomatoes and fold in.

Spoon batter into muffin cups until 1/3 full. Place one piece of Parmesan cheese in each cup. Place another spoonful of batter to cover cheese. Cups will be almost full. Top batter with shredded cheese.

Bake 15-20 minutes.

Swim Baby, Swim

Yesterday Steve and I took Cadance swimming for the first time. We went to a natural springs that's been turned into a public swimming area. It was really cool. They have diving boards, water slides, and a trapeze. Plus, lots of space to swim. Cadance wasn't really a fan of the water at first. She shrieked bloody murder the first time her feet touched the water. But, she got used to it and really enjoyed herself, especially when we brought out the blow up boat.


Cadance has also been practicing crawling a lot lately. This is a video we took today.

Wedding

My brother got married last weekend! Yeah! Cadance and I spent the week beforehand at my parents to help get ready for the event; the reception was in their back yard. While my mom and I spent hours cooking, cleaning, and shopping Cadance had fun being a baby

I'm not sure where this expression came from, but it's hilarious

The sealing was really nice and the weather cooperated- humidity a minimum, no rain, and not too hot. This is us outside of the temple.


Cadance had a lot of fun at the reception. This is her with a strawberry. Yes, a whole strawberry. She ate almost the entire thing. She was eying it on my plate ans I acquiesced. I'm pretty sure she's never been happier.

Final Project

Last Friday I completed my third course in culinary school. For the final we randomly selected three components to make and then randomly selected three different components to build a finished product. I chose spongecake, Italian meringue, and lemon curd for the second round and put together a lemon thyme cake. I thought it turned out pretty good!

We Made It!!

Steve is officially done with surgery! He took his test on Friday and turned in his last assignment on Saturday. It's so good to have a husband again and Cadance loved spending more than 5 minutes with her dad this weekend. He now has 8 weeks for family medicine and then he will be a 4th year med student. How crazy is that?

In other news, having a 6 month old baby is fantastic. We've been having a ton of fun together and it seems like she's changing even faster now. She's eating really well and her first tooth popped in last week. She's sitting up really well and wants to crawl but mostly just wiggles around. She also has fast hands. One thing I wasn't anticipating about motherhood is having my baby swipe her dirty diaper while I wipe her bottom. She's discovering swings and slides, leaves and grass, faucets and water. It's so fun.