PUMPKINS + A VIDEO

Our friends Charity + Jordan live right next door to us. We planned a wonderful evening of "fall activities" which included a pumpkin patch, hot chocolate and carving pumpkins. Everything worked out except the pumpkin patch. We decided to just buy one off the side of the road in a trailer to save time for homework! 

^^ They had a Labradoodle! Charity + Anna's dream dog!

While we were there we also made a little video of our night at the park with our pumpkins. 

wordless wednesdays

I have created a new weekday theme and this one is: wordless wednesdays. Here I will show lovely pictures from my iPhone throughout the month/week. Happy Wednesday!

Name that Blog

Coming up with a name of a blog is probably harder than naming a child. I'm not too sure about the child naming thing because i've never actually had one, but I've been thinking for YEARS about a blog name and with a baby it seems like you get 9 months and then there's a deadline for the name. I finally gave myself a name for this blog and I came up with "ordinary love".

I have been following some of my favorite blogs and for a while I would get hard on myself. Why wasn't my life that perfect? Why didn't I fall in love in some fantastic way? Why aren't things turning out so perfect like their life is turning out? I needed a slap to the face because I realized that everyone goes through hard things. Those amazing bloggers out there just choose to post the happy things. I wanted to help fellow readers out by stating that this blog is just an ordinary blog with ordinary people living an ordinary life. I'll try my best to focus on the happy too though :)

I was sitting in class, looking for blog design ideas on Pinterest and came across a pin with the word "ordinary" in it. It finally clicked! I put that in front of love and found the name!

I also discovered that "ordinary love" is a song:

"We can't reach any higher if we can't deal with ordinary love"
I sometimes have expectations of our relationship that exceed where I should really be putting them. I've imagined our perfect life up here when really the better and best life is a little further down here.

Here's to our, honest, "ordinary life", while focusing on the happy.

live a life you love

+ while biking uphill through a crowd of people, a biker with a yellow helmet zooms by on my left and says, "race ya!"
+ seeing my sister before our parenting class together and laughing on the byui lawn
+ writing in my new journal
+ eating the last bit of the chipotle burrito kent surprised me with
+ taking a long, hot shower after a crazy day
+ supporting sweater weather, even though it was 70 degrees
+ snuggling with kent
+ reading a good book

find those moments that help you live a life you love.

Best Salsa Recipe!

Ever since I found this Pioneer Woman Salsa recipe, I have been making salsa on a monthly basis! It's fast, easy and I have the recipe memorized because it's so simple. It takes me about 15 minutes to make! Kent and I love it - definitely a go-to home movie snack. 

Here is what you'll need:

• 1 can (28 ounce) whole tomatoes with juice
• 2 cans (10 ounce) Diced tomatoes and green chillies
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/2 whole lime juice

Begin by throwing all the cans into the blender or food processor. Sometimes I think my salsa is a little too juicy so I don't add all the juice from the whole tomato can. 

Cut up part of the onion, you won't need very much.

Throw it in.

Cut the jalepeno in half

 and then in half again for each piece

 Then make thin slices. Leave in all the seeds!

 Mince the garlic

 Throw it all in!

 Add 1/4 teaspoon sugar

  Add 1/4 teaspoon salt

 Add 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

 And the lime! Squeeze it all in there.

 I go crazy with the amount of cilantro. I probably added about a cup. Do how ever much you would like. The more there is, the more the flavor!

Pulse seven or eight times

 Do a little taste test, refridgerate for at least an hour to make it cold (warm salsa is not bad, but that's weird).

 And there you go! Add chips and enjoy!