penne with spinach sauce- thanks Giada.

I feel like it's been ages since I've posted new recipes. This week I'm determined to try some new ones!
Thanks to the food network for showing me today's simple dinner. It really was outrageously easy and pretty tasty. It will also most likely be our St. Patrick's Day dinner in years to come. It turned out ultra green.

I abhor cream (just ask cousin Justin who snuck it into my food once) so usually my pasta must be topped with marinara, but this lovely pasta sauce was made without cream and I decided it was worth trying. All in all it is a very healthy and tasty pasta. I'm rather uncultured and very non-gourmet so the goat cheese spooked me a tad. When all was said and done it tasted just fine- not goaty at all.

1 pound whole wheat or multi grain penne
3 garlic cloves
2 ounces goat cheese
1-2 ounces reduced fat (I used whipped) cream cheese
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces fresh baby (or grown up) spinach leaves
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
I also added (without these additions it's more of a side than a meal):
sauteed yellow squash and zucchini
cooked chicken pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the penne and cook until it is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Mince the garlic in a food processor. Add the goat cheese, cream cheese, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and half of the spinach leaves. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Set the cheese and spinach mixture aside. I did it all in the trusty magic bullet!

Meanwhile, place the remaining spinach leaves in a large bowl.

Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Spoon the pasta atop the spinach leaves in the bowl. Scrape the cheese and spinach mixture (I didn't use all of the sauce) over the pasta mixture and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten (I didn't use too much of it). Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the Parmesan over and serve.

faces of Zeb

Just a happy wake up face of Zeb. It is WONDERFUL when he wakes up from naps like this! all smiles and freaky hair.

I can't stand when he tries to slither out of his high-chair. He gets in these precarious positions and then FREAKS.

hey- and all you cheesy cousins - Robert and Laura have a bloggy now! Check out their link on my sidebar :)

the crawler.

For some reason our weekends have been so mellow lately (Kent may beg to differ- his weekends still include much studying). The dullness is actually pretty nice. There's nothing better than having no obligations and having Kent home to relax with. With that being said, here is the height of our excitement this weekend.

disclaimer: the video is pretty dull unless you have a vested interest in Zeb.



I have been requested to show the rugrat in motion. Here he is heading for the sound of water- always his greatest motivation to move. My favorite part is watching his little bum move back and forth. I also love the phase he's been going through- he looks for our approval for everything. He also shakes his bum when he gets really excited. You can see it at the end when he's standing against the tub. He wanted in so bad.

Why is it so cute when babies do this? You'd think we'd be accustomed by now- but it just gets cuter every time we find zeb in this position.

Today playgroup was at a park on the Maumee river- and was great. It was a little chilly but Zeb didn't seem to notice. I miss the Utah mountains tremendously but I love having the river here.

The rugrat LOVES to swing- here is he is with his pals Sam and Hailey. He was in heaven swinging and crawling around the playground. I think he may have Pica. The boy eats everything. Not only will he eat anything, but he'll actually choose toilet paper or woodchips over grahams or cheerios. I guess since him eating these weird things is "at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally appropriate," he may just be going through a phase! I feel like he is growing and developing in leaps and bounds everyday lately. I'm sure that Kent is going to come home after his month away (in June) and have a different little boy than the one he left!

After playing at the park Zeb trucked along with me to our favorite park for a run. He was so good. He waved and yelled to the people we ran past and babbled to himself the whole time. He loved all of the dogs that were out on their walks too. We even ran through a group of snakes! It was such a great day for a run. Even the bridge was totally water free.

toilet baby

oh, this guy makes me so mad sometimes. Last night we played in the front room from 2-4, yep, that's AM. He woke himself up coughing and then coughed so hard he vomited all over himself. He was entirely awake at that point and the crawling around and reading books helped the mucus loosen so he could go back to sleep (2 hours later, of course). Other than the nighttime cough and mucus this kid has no symptoms of being ill.
Besides making me so mad, he really makes me laugh so hard. He is the master mimic-er (is that a word?) and has begun to speak! He now says mom, dad, up, and hi. He also just yells a lot. We are working on the word "ball" but he can't seem to master the "L" sound. His favorite room is still the bathroom. He especially loves when I flush the toilet. I absolutely love watching him dart for the toilet as fast as he can when he hears the flush. I got it on video this morning for you all to enjoy as well. You can also hear his fabulous elocution of the word "hi".

Conference has NEVER been so difficult to listen to. I'm pretty sure that part of it was because I kept waiting and anticipating President Hinckley's talk- and it never came. It was really weird to not have him speak- I missed him. Perhaps more than that, this conference was so difficult because we have "the little hellian that whined" (instead of the little engine that could).
He is such a busy body, crawling everywhere, attention seeking, slobbering, teething, coughing, fun, and crazy little rugrat (I still love him, I promise). He cannot be appeased right now. He wants EVERYTHING constantly. He's got bruises all over his forehead (I'm sure somebody has already called DCFS on us) and yet continues to pull himself up on everything and then fall head first as he reaches for faraway objects or tries to walk away from his handholds. He somehow manages ubiquity as well. There's toilet paper all over the bathroom floor, the pots and pans are out of every cupboard, my sock drawer has been completely emptied, and ever cord near the computer desk is out of place. The only room not a disaster right now is his bedroom- funny how that works, huh?
Here's a little video of him doing his stuff- kinda boring but good stuff for gmas, gpas, nanny annies, aunts, and uncles.


Even with Z's antics, I did love the last session of conference. Elder Ballard's talk could not have come at a better time- and I'm so excited about elder Bednar's talk.

and we also had the lovely chance to go on a long walk between sessions! Our favorite park has finally thawed out (only a few puddles left) and we, along with the rest of toledo, decided to head over for a nice Sunday walk. It did turn into quite the adventure! The bridge was out of commission due to the raised raging river waters (okay, it's just a slow moving creek, but the bridge was slightly covered) but we decided to cross anyway! I made Kent cross first to make sure it was safe and sound and then followed with Zeb and the stroller. He zonked halfway through our trek- it was quite pleasant.

Two wonderful conferences!

This morning I (Kent here) attended the 10th annual medical missions symposium. Students for Medical Missions is a student group here at UT that focuses on medical missions to developing countries. I was always impressed with my Utah doctor, Dr. Bingham, who took time off of work every summer to serve in Africa. We have a few amazing doctors like him who help keep this club functioning. I have been excited to get involved in this group and was recently elected to be an officer in the club next year! (Not a huge accomplishment by any means but I'm hoping it will give me a chance to go on one of these missions. It's harder for first years to go since we basically have no clinical experience).

During the symposium a number of doctors were inducted into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame. They shared experiences and stories from their lives and service to medical missions. The keynote speaker was John Bul Dau. This man is amazing and his story helped me to see that my training as a physician is more of a calling than it is a career. John fled his native country of Sudan during civil war, lived as a refugee in Ethiopia, traveled to Kenya as one of thousands of Lost Boys, and finally was selected to come to the States to be educated. He wrote a memoir, God Grew Tired of Us, which was also made into a movie. The movie was presented after John's first hand account. It was emotionally moving and inspiring! He is working now to set up a medical clinic in Sudan. It would be so amazing to be involved in something like that!

Another great thing about the conference: free breakfast and lunch for Leisy and me!! Leisy was there while Zeb was compliant. He had to go home for a napski, but I really enjoyed being with Leisy so much today! I guess I should have studied, but I came home to listen to general conference. Our church leaders are amazing and it's neat to receive direction and guidance from them. Two amazing conferences - and three more sessions to go!

Happy 1 year

Today marks exactly one year of blogging for us. The blog has definitely shifted its focus a bit over the past twelve months and sixteen hundred miles. We've come from the early days of Paris Hilton and Hare Krishna festival coverage to extremely biased reports of the rugrat 's developmental milestones and strange behaviors. Also included are the sporadic Kent and Leisy happenings.
Here are the good old childless times (if you look closely you can see that zeb is hanging out in utero already seven months. I'm the one standing dead center with the bright orange spot on the head) at the Hare Krishna festival of colors- almost one year ago today! It was an annual tradition back home! If only they had a Hare Krishna temple here in Toledo.
Times have changed and I am enamored with our new little addition so he does get most of the blog space these days. I'm always looking for ideas on Zebless posts though :) If you have any, let me know.
Here's to another year of good blogging. Let's hope for some grand adventures and good recipes.

I think it's really here...

Hello spring. We went outside and played at the Heather Hills playground today. Z loved every second of it. I'm already getting nervous about the dishwasher weather (hot and stinking humid) but it was so nice to take zeb out to play. Today he finally started using the sign language we've been teaching him for months :) He been doing all sorts of tricks with his hands for quite some time now- but only if they involved him making sounds of some sort. He definitely has an ear for music/rhythm and sounds in general. This morning he finally did the sign for milk- no sounds involved. He's been doing it all day to get drinks.

577

Today we went to the 577 foundation for playgroup. The place is really great. It was donated to the city by the same lady who donated the bed and breakfast place where we stayed for my b-day. Toledo really does have all of these hidden treasures! The 577 foundation is an amazing garden/greenhouse/museum/nature center/playground for kids! They even have these ginormous nightmare enducing koi fish in the pond that the kids can feed.
The weather was amazing today (almost fifty degrees) and Zeb was SO SO SO excited to be outside with other kids. He's been a little crabby lately, but as soon as the apartment door opens he cheers up and begins smiling. The first picture may not portray his excitment- but trust me, the kid was in heaven.


















Here's a pleased shot!




Z and I even got to go running outside today! and then join Kent for free dinner (olive garden-Kent's favorite) at a pediatric doctor's panel at the school this evening. Zeb was in heaven flirting with all of the female med students. They all loved it as much as he did--many of them are interested in Peds. I cannot believe what a people person he is. I am so lucky that he is happier when he gets his outside people time. I don't know what we'd do if we had opposite personalities. We'd have given up on each other by now I'm sure.

happy ten months

He has now lived one month longer out of utero than in. I think this birthday officially makes him a real person.
Thanks for the birthday book, auntie laney! "That's Not My Dragon" is his new fav. I love how his tubby little fingers scratch and point to each feely part of the book. He's obsessed. Kent is especially glad for this new book. He was worried because Zeb has recently put aside his favorite "That's Not My Monster" for his new favorite "That's Not My Mermaid" that we checked out of the library. The dragon one is just a smidge more manly and, thankfully, has replaced the mermaid.