Maui.

In November, finally, after many years of reasoning away the expense of a vacation, Colin and I decided to go to Maui for a week. It was a second honeymoon and also a celebration of my remission. It was perfect. You see, we went to Honolulu for our honeymoon some 15 years ago, but didn't experience much of the island. This time, we went to Hawaii to see as much as we could. I took a ton of pictures, so bear with me.

Here I apparently was bored on our 5 hour flight across the Pacific. We had a terrible time getting on a plane to Maui, as United kept having plane issues. After waiting a full day in the San Fransisco airport, we were on our way.

Ok, the water in Maui is breathtaking. I'm not sure what makes it such a different color than our water here, but I could just stare at it for hours. Colin actually went snorkeling in the location above - he had to swim around and out to it.

See the black sand? Isn't it pretty? This was one of those beaches on the Road to Hana.

We visited many different beaches.

Below was the view from our lanai (or porch). No kidding. We got a smoking deal on this condo and it was steps to the beach. We will be staying there again, that's for sure.

I couldn't get enough pictures of the water.

This one (below) was taken from the Ritz Carlton resort, which let anyone tromp around it's perfectly manicured grounds - I thought that was very nice of them. A very aloha spirit, that's for sure.

The rainbows here are amazing - it made me think of the Noah story in the Bible every time.

Sunsets were such a serene moment. I always had to stop and enjoy them - this also was a view from our lanai.

We hiked through a bamboo forest on the Road to Hana. I love hiking, so this was one of the more memorable days for me.

This waterfall was around 250 feet and so beautiful.

Driving back from the Road to Hana was desolate, but had a beautiful, desert feel.

Some portions of the Road to Hana felt like we were in the Garden of Eden.

Our guidebook told us to visit this tree house - to buy the world's best banana bread. No joke. Colin agreed - it was the world's best.

I did a lot of reading, and loved every second.

Hawaii has really interesting trees.

Maui also has a wild goat problem. Random, but true. See that black thing in the middle of the picture? That's one of the many goats we saw.

I saw a lot of this - Colin going out to go snorkeling. I had gear but didn't really do it - I don't love masks of any kind, so I stayed on the beach and read.

We saw Charles Lindbergh's grave in a tiny little cemetery.

Maui has a lot of these lava fields, which are very precarious to walk on.

Oh, the palm trees. I loved seeing them.

The last night we were there, we watched the cliff divers. People would sit on the beach an wait for sunset to watch this. It was a very relaxing way to end the trip.

I'm trying to negotiate another trip to Maui this November - just looking at these pictures makes me want to hop on a plane to that little corner of paradise.

My Sewing Projects.

For the last few months, I have been waking up before the kids and after reading the Bible, I have been doing some sewing. I gave some away as gifts and one I have actually sold! My goal is to open up an Etsy shop this year, or at least continue to get commissioned for projects.

As with any celebration involving my mom (birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day), I made my mom some aprons. I made her two for Christmas, since I didn't get her any for her birthday. Here is one of them:

Above are quilted potholders I made - I ended up making three sets. I had lofty goals to make more, but they took too long :)

I just finished this nursing cover this morning - I love how it turned out! It was an easy project, and my first ever sale.

I made these little ruffle leggings for my niece, Ella. Working with knit is a bit precarious, but I love how they turned out. I made Sissy a black pair as well, and she loves them! 

 

 

My Current Go-To Recipes.

I know. It's been forever. I'm finding myself neck deep in homeschool, laundry, trying-to-be-a-good wife/mom/friend/daughter and coming off a month of birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hawaii (the last one I'm sure you feel very sorry for me :)). My heart really has been the last few days to dive back into my blog, but time will only allow me to dip my little toe in. So, I will post what we have been eating, which is a quick and dirty way to update you on a small facet of our lives.

Since cancer, I have done a lot of research on nutrition. Over and over (especially after reading this book (there is a lot of language in it, but I waded through it to get all the good information)), I'm realizing it's all about raw, vegan foods. Now, I'm not here to start fights with you carnivores, I'm just saying what a lot of research has pointed me to. Do note, too, that our family is not vegan. I have just taken this information and decided to offer my family (especially my kids) multiple times a day, raw fruit and veggies, knowing that is where they probably are getting the bulk of their nutrition. I try to avoid to much wheat (like pasta), but we do eat spelt bread. I didn't say we eat perfect...

Picture from Real Simple

Just last night I discovered a new recipe from Real Simple (pictured above) that was extremely tasty, albeit a bit misleading on the time required to cook it. The turkey barley soup  had one very lengthy ingredient to cook: the barley. The recipe said it would take 45 minutes total, and my barley wasn't done for at least 1 1/2 hours. The soup is good enough to repeat and spend that long on for sure, I'm just throwing out that warning. I used Costco's organic chicken stock (it's the first time I have tried it) and it was crazy delicious. I also doubled the recipe.

I also, once a week, make a roasted chicken with some sort of smashed potatoes and veggie. And I always throw the carcass in the crockpot for one or two days to enjoy our own stock. My go-to roast chicken recipe is Barefoot Contessa's.

Once a week, I also make re-fried beans without the refry. It's quick, easy, and makes tons of leftovers. Sometimes I just do black beans and we throw those in burritos and Abe eats on those for lunch for a few days. It's a very budget friendly meal, that's for sure.

Picture from Whole Living

Because I'm on a soup kick (and it's freezing outside), I make white bean and kale stew. It's cheap and crazy healthy, and well, warm. I pair it with crusty bread from this book.

I usually make a fritatta at some point because they are easy and full of protein and I can clean the fridge out. This week I am making one with mushroom and spinach. The kids might get cheese on theirs, if they play their cards right :).

Picture from the Budget Bytes blog

Since Abe eats a humungous amount of food, I try to fill him up on oatmeal first thing, hoping that will last him a couple of hours. I like baked oatmeal - I recently discovered it and love that it lasts him a few days. I just made the pumpkin pie baked oatmeal, but Samuel's favorite is blueberry banana baked oatmeal.

So that's it. I have many other things I cook, but these are the latest staples. What are you guys cooking?