The end of an era

On July 8, 2011 we gathered

with 1 million other people

(no joke) to watch the NASA's 

last and final space shuttle launch.

10

...

9

...

8

...

7

...

6

...

5

...

4

...

3

...

2

...

1

...

Blastoff!

As you can see, it was a cloudy day.

And we weren't super close.

But I still got chills.

It was an amazing sight,

and I'm sad we won't be seeing it again.

The drive home was comical.

I had only slept 4 hours the night before,

as I'd been up cleaning for guests.

However, the other 3 occupants

in the car had slept even less than me:
Jake had worked all night

and our friends had taken a red-eye

from Salt Lake to be there.

So I was the designated driver.

They all slept,

and I spent 3 hours 

in slow and go traffic singing,

dancing, and pinching myself

to stay awake.

Totally worth it.

Parenting 101

Our good friends from church 

asked us to baby-sit their 4 kids 

(ages 7 & under) so that they could 

go on a weekend getaway.

I'm a nanny and Jake's a 

pediatrician, so piece of cake!

Right?

Well, let's just say Jake learned

more about kids in that one weekend

than during all 4 years of med school.

And I learned that kids wake up 

really, really early.

And eat. a. lot.

Seriously though, we had so much fun.

We even took all 4 kids to Disneyland

for a day, and managed to keep everyone

together and having fun.

(on the parade route at Magic Kingdom)

So yeah, we'll think we'll still

have kids someday (but probably

not four all at once!).

A lesson in Lasagna

If you know me at all,

you know that
I DON'T EAT CHEESE.

In my attempts to be a good wife,

I have started cooking with cheese.

A few months ago, I tackled

lasagna (Jake's favorite food).

The recipe called for Parmesan, 

mozzarella, and ricotta cheese.

Excuse me, what is ricotta?

I went to the supermarket and 

found the Parmesan easily enough...

Then I went to the deli and they sliced

me up some fresh mozzarella 

(only the best for Jake!)...

Then I asked for this mysterious "ricotta."

The man behind the counter 

was stumped.  He said deli's

don't carry ricotta.

So he sent me to the fancy cheese 

section, and sure enough, I found a

wedge of "ricotta." The recipe

called for 16 oz. and this thing came in

lbs, but oh well.  I found it.  Great!

It was a little pricey, but

I bought it and took it home.

The recipe then tells me to combine

the ricotta cheese with an egg.

Strange...but hey, I've never

made lasagna before!  

So I grated up that ricotta cheese

and mixed it with an egg.

It looked very...clumpy.

A few hours later, 

the masterpiece was complete:

Jake and the missionaries loved it

(at least that's what they told me).

A day or two later, I was shopping

at Target and came across this:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh...(Picture the
proverbial lightbulb above my head).

So THAT's why my mom's

lasagna contained something

 cottage cheese-y. 

Well, lesson learned.

Next time I'm skipping the

fanciness and going straight

to this crockpot lasagna.

5 ingredients,

no ricotta,

done.