Making Soup

It may be 90 degrees, but my calendar says October and after smelling my "Leaves" oil from Bath and Body Works all day and seeing a million fall leaves photos on the Instagram, I'm in the autumn mood. So I'm going to make some soup, dammit.

This is one of our very favorite soups, so I wouldn't be surprised if I've already posted the recipe before (and I'm just lazy enough to not want to look). But believe me, this soup is worth multiple posts.

Bean and Bacon Soup

3-4 slices of bacon (or more, if you're so inclined. I'm inclined to use 9. So I do.)

1 onion, chopped

2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced.

a few carrots, sliced

a couple stalks of celery, sliced

16 oz vegetable broth (water works, too, if that's all you've got)

2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

salt and pepper

some chopped fresh parsley

Cook the bacon until crispy in a large pot, then remove. Using the bacon grease (unless that weirds you out -- you can drain the pot and use olive oil), saute the onion, garlic, carrot and celery until they begin to soften. Add broth and beans and simmer until the veg please you with their tenderness. While waiting for this to happen, eat a piece of bacon if you made a lot. Then, use a potato masher (or the back of a wooden spoon) to smash about half of the beans. Chop up the bacon then toss in. Add salt and pepper to taste. Throw in some parsley for color and tastiness (yes, that's basil in my photo cause I had no parsley. Use your imagination).

I like to serve this with a chunk of sourdough bread, because that is a delicious combo. And, like most soups, this is even better the next day. I encourage you to make this sooner than later.

Iceland Again

We're in Iceland again! Blogging over HERE

Utah

We spent 3 weeks in Utah last month while John was in Thailand and Hong Kong. We came home just in time to be at home with him for 2 days before he was off again. This has been a very busy several months with very little family time! It's been hard, but it'll be worth it in the end. Luckily, we'll be together in Iceland for about week and it'll be no work and all play. Hopefully it will be a much needed break for John and some good reconnecting time for all of us. As soon as our trip is over, though, the madness begins again and John will be flying directly to Alaska, then on to Italy, Barcelona, and several other locations through November. It's impossible to keep track of his schedule!

Anyway, some things we did in Utah with my family...

Will chose to have Thai for dinner in St George
in honor of John being in Thailand.

A break in central Utah during our 15 hour drive.

Stopped in to visit Aunt Misty at her bakery in SLC.

Heavenly!

Trevor helping Will reach cherries on the tree in his backyard. 

Uncle Trevor and Vi.

OMG kitties! Alexa's cat gave birth to the cutest little babies.

Dinner on my parent's lawn on the 4th of July.

Sparklers!

Hiking in Logan Canyon.

Pretty and green.

Cousin Evelyn was born! Violet weighs about twice as much as her here.
They are exactly 14 weeks apart.

Wm and Ev.

Trev and Ev. She was born on 7/11 at 7:11pm! What a cool baby.

Catching up with an old friend over brunch.

Summer storms in Northern Utah are brilliant.

Insalta in SLC.

Uncle Greg and Vi.

Will at our hotel in St. George on the drive back to CA.

Virgin River Gorge. Always stunning.

Will, Ivan and Vi at lunch in Vegas.

This and That

Just a few things we've done this August. It has been very very hot and we've been spending as much time as possible outside the house. Lots of mall trips to walk around in the air conditioning. As well as: weekly beach trips, a fun art class with friends, planning our first year of homeschooling, cute babies, Griffith Observatory, and counting down the days until we leave on our trip to Iceland! John has been there for two week already and we'll be joining him in a week. Can hardly contain our excitement!

Kindergarten planning and a sleeping baby.

Beach baby.

Sweetest girl.

Counting down the days until we leave for Iceland!

Sandy feet visit me at the beach.

Zuma is becoming a weekly visit.

Griffith Observatory

Sending pictures to Daddy.

Will's cute little art class with friends.

Kids on the beach.

Leo Carrillo

A couple of weeks ago we went to the beach. This was a big deal for me. I don't really do the beach. I dislike having sand on me and in my things, I don't wear swimsuits or even shorts for that matter, the ocean freaks me out and the effort it takes to gather everything needed to spend time at the beach plus driving out to Malibu and parking just all seems like too much work to me.

William had been begging to go though for a while, plus my brother is staying with us and was interested in going. So go we did.

And...it ended up being easy and actually a lot of fun. We were able to park on PCH for free (instead of $12 in the lot) and it was just a short walk down to the beach. The little cove we were in only had a few other families. We took a little picnic lunch. There was a bit of a breeze and the air was pretty cool. Violet wore pants and a cardigan, I was wearing jeans and a light sweater, my brother wore a long sleeve shirt. And William wore a swim suit. How he was not freezing when he was soaking wet is a little boy mystery. Seeing the huge smile on his face and watching him have so much fun made everything worth it and I'm determined to go more often. While we still live so close to the ocean we need to take advantage of it (I've only gone to the beach maybe a dozen times in the 11 years I've lived in So Cal. Kind of sad.)

I need to just remind myself that it doesn't have to be a big production. The whole excursion, including stopping for picnic supplies, only took four hours. We'll be going back again soon for sure.

Journals and Journeys

They are the cutest things ever together.

I have realized recently that I miss blogging on a regular basis. I really enjoy going back through old posts like a journal. Since I don't write in a paper journal or anything, I'd like to make sure I have some sort of record to look back on. Especially as these little babies grow. My goal is to check in about once a week with some pictures and an update. So, if anyone is reading this ol' blog anymore, that's the haps. :)

We are driving to Utah tomorrow to visit my family. John will be in Korea and Thailand for 3 weeks on shoots so Will, Vv and I are hitting the road. My mom is flying down to drive back with us, which is super sweet and so helpful. It'll definitely make the 12 + hour road trip go more smoothly. We're going to take it nice and easy and do the drive over two days rather than cramming it into one. And Violet doesn't love the car, so I anticipate many stops. :)

Such tasty rolls.

I Like Stumps Quite A Lot

In December, my friend Dara dropped off a bunch of stumps at my house from some fallen trees. I was in Utah at the time, so it was quite the happy surprise when I got home. Well, since December, they had been sitting in the backyard since I was too pregnant to move them. Now that my brother is here, however, I was able to have him haul them to the front step a couple of weeks ago. Stumps + some succulents. Darling.

And I had to show off my new sandals. Cause I mean...come on.

Bike

For Mother's Day, John gave me the bike of my dreams! I didn't expect to be able to get this bike for a few more years, so it was especially exciting.

I have an orange baby seat for Violet once she's big enough to ride. John got a bike, too, with a seat for William. Those two guys go riding often to run errands or just for fun. I'm looking forward to the day when all four of us can ride to the park together! Our bikes are from Public Bikes. They've got quite the stand-up company over there and I really could not be more pleased with everything about them.

Oh yeah...

So here's the baby I made. Violet Elise was born on 4/4/12 at about 6:30pm. She was born at home, which was an incredible experience. Nothing can beat it! Violet is now 8 weeks old and is so sweet. She's very strong and curious and alert to everything going on around her. William loves her to pieces and is always giving her kisses and holding her hand and asking if he can "pet the baby". They are ridiculously cute together. Here are just a few of the many, many photos we have of this sweetie.