26 posts from April 2009

Today i was in the mood to cook and create something new. Well at least new to me. Daniel and I love Greek food and recently Daniel had a Greek burger at Daphne's, and he loved it. So I thought I would try to recreate it and make it better. The burgers came out amazing, and I would highly recommended making them to anyone who loves burgers. I served them with a side of garlic fries from Trader Joes. They went together perfect!

Greek Burgers:

Burgers
4 prepared hamburger patties (fresh or frozen)
2 tablespoons steak seasoning
4 crusty buns (toasted)

Sprinkle meat patties with seasoning and grill to desired doneness.

Olive Spread
1/2 cup kalamata olives
1/2 cup canned artichoke hearts
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Puree ingredients in a food possessor until smooth.

Tzatziki Sauce
1 cup of Greek style yogurt
1/2 a large seedless cucumber (grated)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/4 onion (grated)
2 gloves of garlic (crushed)
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar 
1/4 cup feta cheese (crumbled)
1 teaspoon of salt
pepper to taste

Grate cucumber and onion with a box grater, at to mixing bowl with any liquids that have formed. Combine all ingredients and stir. Let sit for at least one hour in refrigerator, it gets better the longer it sits.

Toppers
4 pieces of Lettus
1 cup of Feta cheese

Building Your Greek Burger
Once burgers are off the grill top with 1/4 cup of Feta cheese, let cheese melt a little. Take your toasted buns and put the Olive spread on the bottom bun and Tzatziki sauce on top bun. Place burger with feta on bottom bun and top with a piece of lettuce. Cover the burger with top bun and EAT! The only thing i think i would have added would be a nice ripe tomato, but other than that this was an amazing burger. Messy and good. Salty and savory. I love the combination of the hot burger with the cold Tzatziki sauce. Everything worked together perfectly. And my husband said it was ten times better then the burger he had had at the restaurant. I think this will be our new summer special! I can't wait to make these for company.

So PLEASE make these and let me know how you like them.

Today Sienna and I spent the day with my mom. We had a lovely lunch together and ran some errands. It was wonderful to have my mom for the day. We just talked and had fun with Sienna. It was a day spent well. After dinner we decided to go out side and play with bubbles. I love bubbles! If you have been reading my blog for a significant amount of time you would have read all about my love for bubbles. I bring the to my youth group a lot and i have a big basket full of bubbles and bubble accessories. Ok back to today. Sienna loved getting to play outside for an extended period of time. My mom and I would blow bubbles and Sienna would run around and pop them. And now she is big enough to blow her own bubbles and she is getting really good at it. We still need to work on not spilling them everyone where. hehe! It was a great end to a sweet day, it felt like i was a little girl again. And shouldn't we all feel that way sometimes! So go out and spend the dollor on a bottle of bubbles and make memories with you kids! It's worth it.

Today Sienna, Grandma Rissa and I went on a field trip with Sienna's Preschool to a local Farm to pick strawberries. Sienna was so excited to have Grandma with us and loved doing everything with her. We enjoyed a short tracker ride out to the strawberry fields and had a ball picking strawberries. These are both Sienna and I's favorite fruit so we loved eating one, then putting one in the basket, eating another one and then putting one in the basket. We are lucky we didn't end up with a tummy aches. hehe!

After our baskets were full we got back in the tractor and went to the animal farm. Sienna loved getting to feed the farm aniamls! She also liked talking to them, it was so sweet the voice she used when speeking to the animals. She also enjoyed going on a pony ride and getting to pet animals in the petting zoo. It was a beautiful day spent at the farm. My only wish would be that Daniel would have been able to come. He so would have enjoyed watching Sienna have so much fun. But maybe we can make another trip when he has a day off.
Once we were done at the farm the three of us had lunch together at Panera. Sienna loved extending her time with Grandma and loved the treat of eating out. Sienna had a great day, thank you Rissa for coming with us, I know it made her day!

Today I got to spend the entire day with my Youth Group kids. My best friend Veronique who is an amazing photographer did a photo shoot for me and my youth group. We started out at the church and went on a little hike where I grew up. It was neat to bring these kids back to my childhood, running in fields of grass and climbing rocks. Also while we were out in the field we stopped and did some worship together, Aimee brought her gutar and we sang songs to our Savior. It was a wonderful time spent in the presents of our Father! That was my favorite part of the whole day. Being out in God's creation worshiping Him was indiscribable.

Veronique did an amazing job with the kids and got some great shoots. However I don't have her photo's yet so these are the one's I was able to get. I don't have any full group shoots because i was in those. hehe! But these will do as a preview to all the wonderful photo's Veronique got. This was such a wonderful gift for me. I have always wanted professional photo's of my youth group. These kids mean the world to me, and i know that whenever i look back at my life in youth ministry, it will be this group of kids that I remember.

After the shoot we headed back to the church and I made everyone a big pasta dinner. Everyone was starving from all the hiking and being out side. ALL the food was gone, I'm glad I made so much. hehe! It was a great time spent having fun and capturing memories. I just can't wait to see all the photo's Veronique took and then be able to do something special with them for each of the kids. After dinner we had youth group as usual games and lesson time. It was a long tiring day, but I am so thankful for having done it. 

Check out Veronique's Photography www.streetpoet.org.

Today was the annual Mother Daughter Luncheon that Rissa (Daniel's Mom) and I go to every year. I think this was our eighth year going together. I so enjoy this tradition we have and savor our time spent together. This years theme was "Flowers in the Desert". The church looked stunning and they served great food. Rissa was part of the team that created the menu and made the food. The speaker really spoke to my heart. She talked about being content in everything and thanking God in all situations. I have tried very hard to do those things, however i know i can be better at them. The whole luncheon was just as it should be.

Mom, thank you for always making me feel like your daughter. I love you and I am so proud to be a part of your family!
(sorry there are no pictures, i forgot my camera )

We spent Thursday and Friday in the mountains of Idyllwild visiting family. It was truly short but sweet. We got up there early on Thursday afternoon and stayed until nine on Friday night.  I had a wonderful time and felt so loved. My only wish was that we had more time. However I look forward to many more fun times spent together. Love all of you! I am so tired from the experiance, maybe i will write more later. 

Daniel and I are reading through "One Month to Live: Thirty days to a no-regrets life". We are also going to a small group study using this book with my sister Dawn and her husband. I read the first chapter today and it really got me thinking, "Why do i live my life the way i do?" and "What would I change if i knew i only had a month to live?". The verses for today are:

"Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should." Psalm 90:12
"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" James 4:14 

I have three Challenges for today:

Challenge #1
Make a list of five things I'd change about my life if i knew i only had a month to live.
1. Have more alone time with Daniel (my husband) and just love him the way he should be loved
2. Take Sienna to the park or outside everyday to play and run and laugh
3. Spend one on one time with each of my youth group kids
4. Make special lasting memories with each of my sisters and my mom
5. Write a letter to all the people who have encouraged me and inspired me to be the person I am today. Thank them for the time and energy they put into my life. Let them know they made a difference.

Challenge #2
What do I want my life to look like at the end of this study?
I want to be refreshed and excited about what God has in store for the days He has given me. I want to feel energized by the Holy Spirit and ready to met the challenges ahead. I want my family to know how deeply i love them and how much I want to glorify the Lord in all i do. I want the fire back that has been smothered by resent events. I want to live each day with a purpose and shine brightly for my Savior!

Challenge #3
Tell someone about what I am doing...
This challenge is the main reason I am writing this on my blog today. I could have written it in a journal and told one of my family members, but instead I am taking a leap and letting the blogging world know what I am doing. I will also be posting this in several groups to tons of people will know and maybe keep me accountable. Please feel free to ask me questions or find out more on my progress. I hope to write something whenever I feel lead. If you are at a point in your life where you wonder, "What am I doing here?" Please check this book out at your library or buy it, along with a bible. I think it's going to do great things in my life, maybe it can light a fire in yours.

I don't bring my camera to Sienna's Preschool. She has me taking pictures of her all the time and i think she deserves some space that is camera free. However the school year will be ending soon and I wanted to get some pictures to remember her first year at Preschool.

We attend a co-opt, Sienna goes to school one day a week and I go with her. Since the parents help out in the class the cost is lower. I wanted to let my friends and family who don't live here know what a day at preschool is like for Sienna. So here we go! We get to school at 9am and we have free play time inside. Sienna loves playing in her classroom. We are always greeted by her teacher Stephanie and head over to the "kitchen" area. This is her favorite spot, she loves to cook and clean. She also adores playing mommy. She carries one of the baby dolls around the room as she plays. We play at the manipulative table and then it's off to art. Sienna loves to paint and almost always makes two or three pieces to take home. After art we play on the floor building with blocks and pushing cars. Sienna is one of the few kids who likes to do everything during her free time. She likes to play at each station and experience all of the toys. After free time we clean up and have snack. This could be Sienna's favorite part of the day. Her teacher is great at having the kids try a variety of foods and teaches them that it's good to try new things. After snack we head outside for play time. We have a great play yard with swings, slides, climbing structures, sandbox, bikes, and cars. Sienna loves the slides. She can run up and come down so fast, it is where she spend most of her time when we are outside. After a tiring time outside we come back in. Sienna almost always has red cheeks when we get inside, weather it has been hot outside or not. She likes to play hard. Once inside we have circle time, the teacher sing songs and reads stories to the kids. Sienna loves to sing and dance and really enjoys circle time. However most of the time she likes to watch the teach and the other kids and not participate. But once we are home, she can't top singing the songs or dancing. hehe! Today she was really out going and participated in circle time. I was proud of here, she is becoming a big girl and growing up. The after circle is over we head home. It's a fast three in a half hours, but Sienna learns so much and enjoyes her friends.
So I hope that helps all of you family and friends who have been wanting to know what we do at Preschool. Oh by the way Sienna has a lot of friends at school, but i didn't want to post their pictures on my blog with out permission so that's why she's by herself in all the photo's.   

After a two week break we got to have youth group again. I miss these teens if i don't get to see them every week. And knowing that most of them are graduating so soon i don't want to miss what little time I have with them. To night we played a fun game called "Tell Me Who". I had everyone write down the names of ten people that everyone in the room would know, it could be friends, family or someone famous, the only requirement was that everyone would recognize the name. After everyone gave me their list i cut them into individual pieces and put them into a can. We broke up into two teams. Then each team takes turns having one person pull out a name and tries to get there team to guess who the person is. They could describe the person or act like the person, you just couldn't say their name or any part of the name. It was a fun game that caused everyone to laugh and be silly.

After our game we read and discussed chapter 10 of Ecclesiastes. We talked a lot about making choices in life and how one mistake can lead to another. The kids really asked good questions like, "how can i fix my mistakes?" and "How can God keep forgiving me if i keep skewing up?" It is amazing to see their hearts and their thirst for knowledge. WE talked about how God is the only one who can fix things, and that the more we try the more we mess things up. The kids were shocked that we only have two chapters left in this book. At first they didn't love Ecclesiastes, but now they don't want it to end. Which is always a good thing. I love when teens get excited about God's word! We also celebrated Mackenzie's 18th birthday. I can't believe they are all turning 18! I remember when they turned 13! Time goes by too fast. But it's been great being a part of their lives for so long!
  Now i am thinking and praying about out next series, if we will read another book of the bible verse by verse or if i want to do something more topical. So please pray for us as we come to a close in the book, and pray that the Lord will lead me to what He wants me to teach the kids. Happy Sunday All!