Cherry Picking

I love cherry season in the Flathead Valley. The Rainier cherries you can pick up at stands on the way to Glacier are the only reason I started eating cherries to begin with when I was 14. Now I'm a die hard fan. 

Assisting the little guy with picking his own

The fruit of our labor. literally. 

Evidence. And no he didn't cut himself. 

El Quatro de Julio

I always forget that I love the 4th of July until the day of. As a family we've never had traditions for the day, we didn't live near extended family and I would generally go to whatever barbeque and fireworks were around (or not if there was a fire ban....). However, I do love any excuse for a little celebration and love being reminded to be thankful that I like in a country with freedom and democracy. This year happened to be particularly fun to be with my whole family. After I worked at the gift shop we headed up to Desert Mountain (which we look at from our windows) for a picnic/smores/fire then headed to our backyard for fireworks, which I love. 

(the view)

 (mom + picnic)

(homemade baked beans. really delicious and I may share the recipe next week)

(fireworks in our backyard....literally...we set them off)

(sparklers + long exposures are awesome)

Road Trippin'

As you probably know, my husband and I drove cross country from Lubbock, TX to Coram, MT. Our route took us through the panhandle of Oklahoma, to Denver, CO, along the Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, camping in the Tetons, stopping/napping in Yellowstone National Park and finally to Coram. We had some lovely picnic places, ate a lot of pb & js, and listened to some new music. I also did some crosswords and slept. Fantastic. Enjoy these pictures. 

OKLAHOMA where the wind blows free! 

 Memorial Park in Colorado

Wash Park in Denver with one of my BFFs, T Hack

Orange Italian Soda, Iced Soy Late, Iced Lavender Mashmallow Mate 

(and a hot one, which sounds gross but is quite tasty) at Wash Perk in Denver.  

Along the Trail Ridge Road

My soy latte from Old Town Coffee in Lander, WY.

I definitely recommend it if you're in the area :)

 Our campsite at Colter Bay in the Tetons. 

The view from our campsite 

One of our very few self-portraits 

In Yellowstone (with Timothy)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I wrote you some haikus for your birthday. Enjoy

Mom, its your birthday.

Why do you still look so young?

I hope it's good genes

I learned much from you

Folding sheets and making buns

You're really the best

Can't wait to celebrate with you in just a few days! Love you so much!

I'm a happy Mishi

These are two of the most precious people in my life. One is brand new and has stolen a little piece of my heart. The other loves making rock piles and taking pictures on my iPad. By the way, Mishi is the Bangla word for aunt and my official title.

Birthday: Knox style.

What, this old thing? I made it.

Birthdays are pretty awesome in my mind. One day a year a person gets everything their way. This past Friday/Saturday we celebrated my husband. His day included a new kindle, surprise balloons at his school, and a chipotle/movie/ice cream/telephone pictionary party with friends.


The next morning he got french toast breakfast in bed (a family tradition, which is one of my favorites). I would have included the picture of him but there was too much armpit hair for the internet.

My parents have this set of dishes which is the "celebration set" which we use for all breakfasts in bed. I figured we'd carry that on, so the birthday plate (which you can't really see) was a gift from my bff she had handmade for us.

It's Here!

My favorite time of the year!

Attitude of Gratitude

Thanksgiving. It mostly represents the beginning of the Christmas season for me. But I do love the food, the Macy's day parade and spending time with some of my favorite people. To help myself reflect I decided to write about things I am thankful for today, in list/picture form.

0) God. He is inherently a part of and the cause for all of these.

1) My husband. I'm thankful we're married. I'm also thankful he'll spend all Saturday cleaning with me, then yell at me for wearing my dirty socks on our clean floors. I'm thankful for the ways he challenges me and cares for me and loves me. I'm one lucky girl.
2) My family. Particularly my nephew, who is awesome. I'm thankful for my parents who are more adventurous than I am and show me you should always go for your dreams. And my sister and brother in law who love me deeply and give generously. You cannot get any better. 2b) My new family! I am beyond blessed with such fantastic in-laws, from super fun new sibs, to amazing grandparents and a lovely mother and father-in-law. God is good.
3) Friends, new and old. It is so good to know you have the best friends in the world, who despite thousands of miles, still respond to my ridiculous emails about Ryan Gosling, know what to say when I'm in spiritual crisis, and are in general amazing people.
And new friends who do crazy stuff with you, including braving harsh winds, sleeping in the same tent and playing Tiddlywinks.
4) Traveling. I love that I'm a plane ride away from new experiences and I was blessed to get to go to some sweet places this past year (including AZ, Cancun, and more places in TX)!

5) My house. Which means a place to cook, do crafts, sleep, spend time with friends and laze around. This rental will always be the first place I lived with my husband and I genuinely love it. And now, things that don't need explanation/pictures
6) Good books
7) That I have a job
8) My health
9) Shows like Parks & Rec and Modern Family
10) My mattress. I love it.
11) Pictures
12) Camping
13) Online banking
14) Cranberry Banana bread
15) New clothes
16) Laughter.
17) you!

Bottom line here, I'm crazy blessed.

Homemade Granola Bars

Lets be honest, I'm sure you've got tons of extra time and lack of ideas for things to bake/make today, right? I mean, its not like there is a holiday completely based on eating delicious things soon... haha just kidding. But I did want to share these super delicious homemade granola bars I made because I just uploaded the pictures.

I modified this recipe from Smitten Kitchen (which is a superb website, btw).


Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flaxseed (I took whole flaxseed and used by coffee bean grinder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (I chose sunflower seeds, dried granberries, golden raisins and regular raisins)
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey

**differences from the original - I added more regular oats and used flaxseed and wheat germ instead of oat flour. I also used brown sugar instead of regular sugar.
To start I just dumped all the ingredients together in a bowl in whatever order I happened to grab things in and mixed away with a wooden spoon. The original recipe calls for dry vs wet ingredient mixing, I just skipped that.

Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and dump the mixture in. and press it so its even. Now, I turned on my oven to 350 since I forgot to preheat it. I baked mine for 30 minutes since I think my oven is a little hot-tempered. Just got for a little brown on top. Then they'll look like this:


Super delicious looking. Now I let mine cool in the pan all the way, pull out the parchment paper and cut into bars. I wrapped mine in plastic wrap and enjoyed them all week long!

Delicious autumn

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

Today my delicious autumn involved pumpkin biscotti and homemade chai. Yesterday I got a craving for anything pumpkin so I looked up about eight or so recipes and bought a few cans at the grocery story, so that's how the pumpkin biscotti came about. And my sister made this chai sometime ago and said it was delicious and now I may be hooked.

The Happy Dual Personality

Dinner is in the oven. It's rosemary chicken legs with roasted veggies. I had planned on making it just for Seth and I and now it's going to be for dinner with some of our friends. This is our fourth meal with friends this weekend. The extroverted me is so happy right now.

I also have had some time with Jesus, some gym time, gotten a few errands done, and some meals just for my husband and me. The introverted me is pretty content as well.

source

P.S. in the midst of writing this I set off the fire alarm. A little smoke never hurt anyone right?
P.P.S. Seth and I set up our tent today in the backyard (that's the picture). our first trip with it is in 2 weeks and we didn't want to look like idiots when we set it up. Aren't you proud, Trisha?

Nectar of the Angels

If you know my dad, you know what I'm talking about.

Coffee.
Finally, after 3 months of owning it, I finally figured out how to use my espresso machine. I had psyched myself out with the thought of it being super complicated despite having been taught by my dad to use his multiple times. (Lets be honest, I may have "forgotten" just so he would keep making me caramel lattes...) but I DID IT. hooray. Cappuccinos for everyone!

Good Morning

Amen.

Distracted...

...By this kid that flew in yesterday.

Fort Worth For The Win

I just came back from a very cozy weekend with one of my very best friends and fellow nursing school survivor. It is so comforting to be in the presence of someone you are totally comfortable with and can just chat about anything and everything with. We went to a fantastic dinner Friday (more below), and spent Saturday in really great yoga class, at a super cool market, by the pool eating frozen yogurt and finally eating a delicious home-cooked meal (which will be its own blog).

We had an incredible dinner at Tillman's Steak House. It was a phenomenal and trendy restaurant in a really cool area of Fort Worth. And because I love good food and reminiscing about said food I'll tell you about the menu:

• Prickly Pear Margarita
• Pork Tenderloin with a side of Mac & Cheese
• Honey, rosemary and lavender salmon with creamy asparagus and rice and sauteed field mushrooms

And the real kicker:

• S'mores for dessert, complete with a mini personal fire, homemade graham crackers, chocolate and flavored marshmallows

Why my life is good.

Here are a few of the things I'm thankful for today:

• Thai for dinner with a new friend
• Nestle Caramel Hot Chocolate - it has officially brightened my winter
• New house decor (which will probably be blogged about later)
• Cool fall weather
  

• This cup that reminds me of living with my bffs in the TEAS.

• That I get to see my fiance in 2 day!
  

• Friends that will stay up late talking to my on skype :)

• My new coffee pot :)

• Grace, mercy, and a God who always loves me.