Back after a blogger hiatus

Apologies to the few (but loyal!) 

friends and family who follow our blog.  

The three month break in blogging

can be explained by the following

two pictures:

On August 22, 2011 I started a

Master's in Social Work program

at the University of Central Florida.

On September 11, 2011 I was 

confused and a little surprised to 

see the results of this pregnancy test.

And so, fall of 2011 was sort of one

big blur of lectures, papers, tests, 

nausea, fatigue and food aversions.

There was little time or energy left

for blogging.  But the good news is

that I got through my first semester with

flying colors, and the morning sickness lifted 

around the first of December.  

So stay tuned, and I will try to catch up

on life in the Deines home...at least until

school starts back up again next week.

Our Paper Anniversary

Can you believe it's been a year?
(well, a little over a year)

We celebrated with an

anniversary dinner at Margarita's:

Jake was very thoughtful and got

me all paper gifts: stickers, notepads,

and this giant poster of us.

I was not quite as thoughtful (I didn't even

know paper was a first anniversary theme!)

but managed to accidentally give the

right thing: paper coupons for a new tie

and a homemade anniversary meal:

(Hawaiian haystacks, in honor of

our honeymoon to Hawaii)

We sure had fun reminiscing about

our perfect wedding day and 

looking ahead to many more

anniversaries to come.

Escape from the humidity

Back in August, we went home to
Salt Lake City for a week.

Utah is so wonderful, and so dry!

It was nice to escape the Florida humidity.

As usual, we were pretty busy dividing time 

between the Poulter's, the Deines', friends, 

and our favorite Utah eateries (namely

Cafe Rio, Zupas, and Sub-Zero).

In the midst of such hustle and bustle, we 

sort of forgot to document our trip (oops).

But here are a few phone pictures

of some of our activities:

First things first, I finally got my tooth 

fixed by a competent and professional 

dentist (a nonentity in Orlando).

Jake couldn't resist this shot of my

movie goggles and laughing gas.

We also got to meet two new nephews!

Sweet baby Todd (pictured), and baby 

Miles (not pictured, but equally adorable).

Jake spent a lot of his time helping

his mom clean out his childhood home.

While I hung out with friends...

(Lisa and Hannah)

...and got pedicures.

(Just kidding, I promise I helped

out at the house too!)

We went to an awesome Bees

game for Deines Family Fun Night:

And held Poulter Family Fun Day at the

Kearns Oquirrh Park Pools, followed by

In-N-Out Burgers and Five Guys Fries.

(Holding that cute baby Todd again)

We enjoyed quality time with Jake's brothers:

...and my brothers:

Aren't their matching ties cute?

Don't be fooled.

Dashing gentlemen by day,

but raucous wrestlers by night:

We also managed to say hello

to our friends the Gravers:

And spend time with many of Jake's friends

at Seth and Penelope's wedding:

Thanks for such a great time everyone,

and we'll see you all in December!

Sethelope

This is Seth:

And this is Deborah:

Seth calls her Penelope.

So together, they are "Sethelope."

(Are you following me?

If not, see his explanation)

On August 5, 2011

they got married in the Bountiful temple:

And we got to be there!

It was a gorgeous day,
and a classy and beautiful wedding
of two special people.

In addition to the wedding day, we got
to spend time with Sethelope in July
when they came to visit us in Orlando.

Highlights included:

Going to Cocoa Beach
for the space shuttle launch.

(And some Florida beach fun)

Meeting Wolverine at Universal Studios.

Disney's not the only place
where dreams come true.

Jake and Seth's hair after riding
the Dragon Challenge roller coaster.

Devouring this feast, including Butterbeer,
at the Three Broomsticks Pub
in Harry Potter World.

Mailing some of their wedding
invitations from the Owlery in Hogsmeade.

A midnight snack at Jake's hospital.

Dinner at PF Changs.
The coolest part (besides free lettuce wraps)?
We ordered different things, but
our checks had the exact same total.

I think it's a sign that we were
meant to be friends. Thanks for some
great memories Sethelope!

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.