Dinner Diasters (yes, plural)

I decided to try a new recipe tonight. It did not go well. The recipe sounded delicious and was easy enough to make. However, when it came time to eat it, it was apparent that the amount of onion in the recipe needed to be drastically reduced. We're talking eye-watering onion here, folks. Husband woke up with a slight cold this morning, and after one bite of dinner he stated that his sinuses had cleared! He wasn't joking. Tossing that dinner in the trash, with the determination to try it again in a few weeks (with less onion), we decided to pop a frozen pizza in the oven. After the suggested cooking time, the pizza crust was still slightly doughy. I had already turned off the oven, but we put the pizza back in, figuring that the heat in the oven would cook the dough. We set a timer and sat down to watch some TV. A couple of minutes later, Husband exclaimed "I smell burning!" I smelled the burning as well, and we both sprinted to the kitchen where our pizza was now a blackened mess. It turns out that I did not turn the oven OFF, but had, in fact, turned the oven to broil. Oops! After opening every window in the house--and praying that the smoke detector would stay silent--I scrounged around for something suitable for dinner. Since it was 8:00pm and Husband had banned me from cooking anything else, I pulled out the peanut butter and jelly. Thankfully, my third attempt at dinner went off without a hitch! 

Bottom Creek Gorge

With the end of summer looming (boo!), Husband and I decided to go explore nature. We headed out to Bottom Creek Gorge to hike to a waterfall (hiking to waterfalls seems to be our thing here in Virginia). It was a perfect day weather-wise with the temperature around 75*F (about 25*C), and we enjoyed a fairly easy hike as the trail wound its way through trees and meadows. If you ever find yourself near Bent Mountain, Virginia, check this place out. It's a little hard to find and out of the way, but I think it's worth the effort.

A puzzling situation

At the beginning of the summer, I thought it would be fun to put a puzzle together. We bought a puzzle from the Dollar Store (because that is where we were when I had the idea). Over the past few weeks, we have been working bit by bit on the puzzle. Today, we finished it! Hooray! After the first step of assembling the borders, we realized that we were missing a piece. We had hoped that it would be found by the time the puzzle was completed. However, much to our frustration, the missing piece did not make an appearance. We have a sneaking suspicion that whoever boxed the puzzle left the piece out intentionally. That's what I would do if I was a puzzle boxer!

Strawberry Picking

It's pretty much the end of strawberry season here, but Husband and I were able to find a U-pick farm that still had some nice berries, although we had to search for them. As we picked, I told Husband stories about the family garden we had when I was growing up. I told him about the raspberries that seemed to take over the fence line. I told him how we would sneak strawberries off the plants while we were playing outside. I told him about the hot summer days spent pulling weed after weed after stupid weed from between the plants. I told him about going outside to cut some lettuce and pull some carrots for our salad. I told him about how I hated that garden at times...okay, pretty much all the time. But standing there, in the middle of that strawberry patch, I told him how much I missed it. It's funny that you never realize how important something is until you don't have it anymore. As a teenager, I would do everything possible to avoid working in the garden. Now, I would give anything to be back there.

The Chocolate Anniversary?

Husband and I decided that we would not exchange gifts for our anniversary. We were going camping and figured that was enough. However, Husband felt compelled to do something, since it was our 5 year anniversary, so he got me chocolate (smart man!). Each type of chocolate corresponded with a year of our marriage and as he gave them to me, he explained how it represented that year. Now, without further ado, I share with you our marriage, according to Husband, summed up in chocolate:

 The first year was sweet.

 The second year: Something about Canada...not really sure what he was trying to get across. He was coming up with these things on the fly. Apparently his thought process ended with "get chocolate".

 In the third year, he orchestrated all the love in his heart for me.

 The fourth year was like a cool, minty breath of fresh air.

The fifth year was full of laughs and Snickers.

A little cheesy and lame? Yes. But very sweet!

5 year anniversary photo shoot

We are coming up on 5 years of marriage! Crazy! We haven't had any pictures done since our wedding so I thought now would be a great time to get some. I asked a friend with great photography skills if she would take them in exchange for us watching her kids sometime. She quickly agreed...a little too quickly! We had fun taking them and I love how they turned out!

Graduation day!

He's finished! He's finally finished! Husband completed his Master of Divinity and graduated! Oh happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy day!

With his happy graduation balloons and treats.

He got a really bad cold a couple days before graduation, which caused us to miss the church service on Friday night and the Commencement service Saturday morning. No worries, though: We watched the Commencement at home!

However, he got medicated enough to feel up to going to his actual degree presentation ceremony. Here he is getting congratulations from the director of the MDiv program.

The medal around his neck is for graduating with high distinction. The red, white, and blue cord is because he is a military grad.

With one of his professors, Dr. Roden. This is the professor who taught Husband the Hebrew alphabet song, which he then taught me. I hate them both!

Hooray for graduating!

I am so proud of Husband! He rocks!

Husband and our friend WVL, who graduated with her Bachelors degree! Way to go WVL! She was too lazy to get back into all her grad regalia.

He's pouting because now he has to get a job!