i'm in love...

...with this cherry dessert that is! My neighbor from just down the street has cherry trees. This last weekend he offered me some of his latest sweet & sour tasting red fruits. Oh, was I excited to try a new recipe!?! He brought them to my house and within 90 minutes I had thrown together this delicious cherry crisp dessert! I'm not a huge cherry fan. Actually, you could say most the time I don't like cherries at all. When I eat cherry cheesecake I take out the cherries themselves and use the syrup part of the cherry topping. When a recipe calls for cherry I usually replace it with strawberries or raspberries. When I go home for dinners at my grandparents I get really bummed when I see she made cherry pie and not apple pie. However, I watched my neighbor's cherry tree blossom this spring 9beautiful!) and every day I drive by I see the little cherry's start from beginning to today...ready and ripe and time to pick. Something about the home-grown, local, pesticide free, neighborly, up on a ladder picking yourself, and fresh feeling came over me and excited me to bake with these yummy looking berries (are they a berry or a fruit?). Anyways...I made this recipe below and it was YUMMY! I loved it so much I am baking it again today! I shared the first batch with the neighbor's across the street and behind us and they all asked for the recipe...so, since I am on a new recipe kick this summer I thought I would share my latest fav with you all. I hope you like it as much as we all did...it is best eaten warm right out of the oven. Can't wait for my oven to ding so I can take a bite again!! Happy cherry picking to you at your local neighborhood tree or your local grocery store :)

Cherry Crisp

ingredients: 4 cups pitted sour cherries. 1 1/2 cups white sugar. 4 tablespoons flour. Handful of chocolate chips. 1 1/2 cups flour. 1 cup old fashioned oats. 1 cup brown sugar. 1/2 cup butter. 1/2 cup margarine.

directions: In a bowl combine cherries, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and 4 tablespoons flour. Pour into 9 by 13 baking dish. Sprinkle chocolate chips through-out on top of cherries. Next, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut butter and margarine into this mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over cherries. Bake in preheated oven at 375 for 45 minutes or so (until golden brown on top)

rewind: back to Haiti

So I never really got around to getting any of Dave's Haiti pictures up here. Those of you that know my husband know he never carries a camera and winces in pain when I pull it out :-) Thankfully our friend, Doug Tensen, shared all of his with us! He took some great shots and has a real eye for photos I think! There are a lot here, but I was trying to pick from about 400 shots and they were all SOOOO good! Just a glimpse of Dave's trip to Haiti 5 months ago (already?) and some of the things he did. He'd like to go back sometime, together. Pretty amazing trip! And, his group was awesome!! If you are ever interested I have a whole file full of pictures to see :) Enjoy!

Boarding the plane that took them into the area where they stayed. Lots of turbulence.

Some of the school girls getting their mid day meal. Many of the kids sponsored are given their only meal a day at the school here. A privilege to attend.

Dave got a little hoop ball in during his visit.

Shawn, Randy, and Dave getting off the plane. They landed in a grassy field...it was their "runway".

Haitian women heading to market, I think?

Love this picture of a little Haitian girl.

This is considered a VERY NICE house in Haiti.

All smiles in the street. A lot of the children are naked and just wander through the village. However, crime is very low in this area.

An outside classroom.

The kids loved Dave's bald head! "tet-kah-lie" they called him (means bald man)!

They often had to get off and walk when driving from one place to the next because of huge ravines in the dirt roads. Their main passage routes.

The guys loading up the truck with rice. They usually traveled with anywhere from 1-20 people in a truck.

Dave passing out bags with school items in them for the students.

Riding in style again!

A friend of ours, Judy, giving the salvation message to a group of children. That is a translator next to her. At the end, each child raised their hand to accept Jesus into their heart.

A goat can feed a family for a long time when they are trained to care for them properly.

The group. Dave had such a great time with them! Really a fun crowd.

Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July! Hope you are all enjoying the holiday weekend wherever you are! It was beautiful weather here and the weekend looks to be just as nice. Dave spent the day golfing in the Bartlett Open with some friends and the rest of us joined up later for an early meal at the golf course with all the other wives and kids and parents. It was fun, as there are so many young kids anymore! We were joking that we used to all spend the day at the golf course...the guys would all golf and us gals would hang out all afternoon in the clubhouse...now, we all stay home to let our kids nap and are lucky to get there by 4pm! Ha! Boy, things change quick huh? :) We wouldn't change it for anything though.

After a nice afternoon we came home and hung out at home. Jaxon is not sure about fireworks still and really did not want to go. We watched them on TV from New York and DC. Uncle Augie & Aunt Katie came over and spent the night and grandma and grandpa McIntosh came over for some sparkler action and dessert. Jaxon fell into bed very late filled with fun & laughter from the day. Austin was a trooper and enjoyed the day in lots of different arms :)

I can't help but think of the blessing it is to live in America. There are so many wonderful things about being born here and raising our family here. It truly is a gift when you think of all the places God could have placed you. We're so thankful for this Independence Day and everything it represents. We especially thank all the men & women who have and are at this moment fighting for everything America stands for. God Bless the USA!

At the Bartlett Open

Uncle August (my brother), Jaxon, and me having fun with sparklers! Jaxon decided he did like these this year!

go, Cubs, go!

The music being sang in our house these days has either something to do with Wrigley Field or the Minnesota Vikings. Can't help but share this all time favorite baseball song with you all! Straight from our 4 year old! (yes, that is Mason Reisetter and Ahna Rosenau in the background playing the role as Jaxon's audience as he belts out his baseball tune...Mason argued with Jaxon that he sings it wrong...it's supposed to be "root, root, root for the Yankees" according to Mason :)

Favorite Summer food

I try to be an organized person. Even though at this moment I am failing miserably in certain areas of my life with this skill, there is at least a couple areas I try to keep organized at a rather high percentage level for the sake of my family's well being. One of these areas happens to be: meal time. I am a big believer that happy tummy's equals happy people. Most the time anyways. There is nothing better, if you ask me, then a good home cooked meal at the end of one's day. I really like food and I really like good food when I am hungry. I tend to get irritable and moody when I'm hungry and don't know what we're going to eat. I also like to know what my family is consuming and take a little pride in knowing they are getting a well rounded meal at least once a day, if not more. Now, of course this takes preparation and planning and grocery shopping and I am required to think about it at least a week or two in advance. Thus, the high percentage level for consistent meal planning and not the full 100%. Stuff comes up and life happens faster then I can keep up at times and this results in me throwing whatever together and hoping there is meat in the freezer or even better, thawed out, when I start to make dinner at 5:30 that night. So... this all being said. I love summer meals!!! and, as I start to plan our summer meals out I want some new ideas!!!

What is your favorite summer dish, grilled item, craving, or whatever! I am looking to expand my summer meals by trying some new things...so, dish them out! What do you like to eat??? Pass on a favorite summer dish recipe!!!

A few Simple Fav's at our house:

fresh strawberries and bananas cut up and mixed together. need I say more? yum!

grilled veggies: slice up sweet potatoes/yams, green pepper, green beans, asparagus. brush olive oil on them and salt & pepper. wrap in foil wrap and throw on the grill!

grilled potatoes: cut and dice up potatoes of your choice. sprinkle Lawry's seasonings on them and dice up some real butter to put on them. throw all this onto foil wrap and wrap up. place on grill for 20-30 min. double foil wrap so it doesn't char!

frozen fruit-cup: 1 can frozen pineapple juice, thawed, 12 oz
1 can frozen OJ juice, 6 oz, thawed
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 firm bananas
1 small container of fresh strawberries
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can crushed pineapple
18 clear plastic cups (9oz)
prepare pineapple juice according to directions. add everything else. spoon 3/4 cupful into each cup and freeze! Enjoy a freezer full of cold fruit treats for a couple weeks!!

grilled chicken: you can fix this 100 different ways...our most used is- place chicken in tupper-ware container in morning and add marinade sauce for it to sit all day in fridge like this. I buy marinade by the bottle at Aldi's for like 97 cents and they have 3 or 4 flavors to choose from. McCormick's also makes marinades in little enveloped packages at Walmart that you can make a marinade from. pretty good too. throw on some fresh lemon or pineapple when you grill to add some citrus flavor.

6 Months old...already?!?

My goodness, Austin is already 6 months old. The last 6 months have been full of transitioning to a family of 4, falling in love with a new little boy, watching our 4 year old step into a role as a protective big brother, figuring out how to get dinner on the table by 6ish with TWO kids to distract me, wondering how many baby items will fit into our house, and simply embracing this time period in our life! Words can not describe the fun and crazy times we've had these last few months. I remember being in high-school dreaming about being a mom and wife someday...and I must say, it's as great as I thought it would be and even more! The stressful twists and turns make it just interesting enough to keep us on our toes and down on our knees, desperate for direction and guidance, while the many joy-filled times outnumber the other moments by so much that it really is what I'd like to say as of now... "the best times of our life!"

Austin is happy and content still... finally is taking a bottle so I can leave for a bit longer times to do a couple things such as grocery shopping by myself, a little volunteering, and an occasional girls night with some other moms! He is not sitting up yet...his head is too heavy :) But, he is up and on all fours like he's ready to crawl! Crazy! He shimmy's all over on his tummy and has figured out how to roll from one end of a room to another. He also got his first tooth this week. He'll be running his first track race before we know it! I attached some pics of him on his 6 month day of life!

Jaxon... he is just too funny these days and I'm just going to write a few quotes for you to enjoy and so I don't forget them!

On the way to Sunday school one morning he is pouting in the back and telling me "I don't want to learn about Jesus today.... I want to learn about Baseball!" A true all American BOY!

When one of us is "stressing' a bit Jaxon will sometimes reply with a "Everything's great, your life is hard." comment in an all too familiar sarcastic tone like his dad!

A month ago Jaxon wanted to marry me someday when he grew up...after VBS last week I have been replaced. 5 days of last week he talked about his "two favorite teachers" at VBS...all the time! He couldn't wait to get to VBS and when it was over he told me "I wish I lived at VBS so my favorite teachers would know where to find me when they wanted to see me." He still tells me he misses them and that he's "too shy" to talk to them at the pool (where we see them some). First crush?!? I've never known this kid to be shy, but he was hiding behind my leg and eying these gals at the pool.... sigh, perhaps it's just begun!

Hope you are all having a good summer! Look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon!

Signs of Summer

Oh, summer is starting to take shape all around us! With such a loooong winter and short spring it seems summer has just sneaked up on us! (sneaked? snuk up? not sure correct wording here!?!) I forget it is June, like, every day so far. We haven't even bought our pool pass yet and usually we've purchased this sometime early May and are at the pool by May 31st! However, we are trying to catch up with the calendar date and fully immerse ourselves into summer mode. The last few days and last week or so we have had signs of summer creep up all around us and we are ready to embrace this season for a good 3 months! We love summer time at our house and have many great memories that we're planning on re-living again :) I'm sharing some pictures of the latest signs of summer we've had and I'm sure there will be more coming as we take in the lazy days of summer fun!

Austin discovered his outdoor swing yesterday. He hates his swing inside, but this wasn't so bad. Of course, serious as usual... he laid back and enjoyed the view!

Now, opposite of Austin...there is nothing serious about this kid! Jaxon is all personality! He couldn't wait to get a slip n slide this year. He saved some birthday money and together we went to the store and looked over all the options, counted what he had to spend and talked about how much he wanted to spend, save, and put in his Jesus jar. He came up with this slip n' slide for $6.99. A well thought out process on his part and he was quite proud of himself as he paid at the register and counted his money out AND got change back for something else! From the time we bought it until we got home and he got us to set it up, I think it was about 35 minutes! This kid was excited for good ole slip n' sliding!!

Slip N Slide :-)

The first sign of summer is often the My Waterloo Days parade that is usually first weekend of summer. Our good friend, Walt Rogers, is running for the Iowa Senate...so that means we were walking the parade this year! Jaxon was Walt's side-kick the last half of the parade...shaking hands, smiling, and giving his best effort to cheer his favorite politician on!

Austin also came along for the ride at the parade... though clueless about what was going on...he sure enjoyed the sunny morning and being cooed over by everyone! (here is Austin, with Walt & Jenny Rogers, and another little buddy Boaz Bartlett!)

And of course... my flowers! Our yard is starting to bloom in many places...one of my favorite creations is in full bloom right now! God is an amazing artist with all the world's beauty!


Side note... we know this summer for some people around here will be filled with rebuilding their homes and lives after the awful tornado that passed though the Parkersburg, New Hartford, and Dunkerton area this last week. As they finish clean-up and begin re-building or moving elsewhere we just invite everyone to join us in prayer as we pray for all those effected by this storm.