A good weekend...

We've had good weekends in the last three years, but mostly "good" has been qualified with how much stuff we were able to get done around the house as far as cleaning and laundry goes. Good means we did pretty well. However, with my new (awesome, I might add) schedule things just don't pile up like they used to and I think good will take on new meaning as far as time and weekends go. This weekend we had the house cleaned by Friday and the laundry done by Saturday morning. We had time to see our friends Sam and Andrada who came to visit us from Salt Lake and they even cooked us dinner (a very delicious curry). Then, I've been able to not only meet my goal of cooking family dinners again, but I'm really enjoying cooking again. Before the Ph.D, I could say absolutely that cooking was my favorite pastime aside from reading. However, that has not been the case in quite some time as I was always rushed and meals were culled from restaurants or whatever we had on hand. This weekend I learned that I'm coming back into my hobby...I have cooked and cooked and loved every minute of it. Two recipes that were successful were a great pot roast (how very traditional of me!) that was moist and melted off your fork and a really simple pasta salad that will be one of our go to recipes on busy nights...Here are the recipes if anyone wants to try them:

PEPPERY POT ROAST
4 lb. roast
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp onion salt
2 tsp. celery salt
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (I love how these two words sound together!)
2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T. liquid smoke
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. dry mustard
dash of nutmeg
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
3 drops hot pepper sauce (optional...we left it out with success because we're lightweights)

Place roast in slow cooker
Combine remaining ingredients and pour over roast.
Cover.
Cook on high 6-8 hours.

We have enough left over for dinner tomorrow! I haven't had this kind of bounty in awhile.

EASY EASY PASTA SALAD

2/3 c pesto
2 T white wine vinegar (we used rice...vinegar is what I crave with this pregnancy)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 T olive oil
3/4 lb. Orzo pasta (any small pasta would work though; or large, for that matter)
1/2 lb. tomatoes cut into small pieces
6 oz. spinach cut into bite size pieces.

1. Make the vinaigrette; in a large bowl, whisk together th epesto, vinegar, 1/4 tsp. salt, and a pinch of pepper. Graudally whick in the oil until smooth.
2. Cook the pasta; bring a large pot of water to boil. add 2 T salt and the orzo. Cook, stirring ocasionally to prevent sticking, until the pasta is al dente. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain again. Add the orzo to the vinaigrette and toss to coat evenly.
3. Add the tomatoes and spinach and toss generly to combine. Serve.

Done in 15 minutes...thank heavens for small pasta.

I'm off to grade a stack of high school research papers. One more week for this semester and then I'm done with this group of high school kids. I'll teach one section of English 1010 next semester and that's it at the high school for teaching. It's a work intensive class though with lots and lots of grading becuase I let them revise many times so that they'll learn that is the key to good writing. The research papers are long but will be done completely on Thursday so my evening is one small sacrifice to move them forward as writers and hopefully (?) prepare them for college. Though I think the stark reality of college itself will prepare them far better than I will.

All's good at the Hays. It's going to be a fantastic year.

His head will grow...

I always love it when Oliver wears headphones to watch TV...he insists on wearing them when he thinks his dad and I talk too much, which is most of the time because I have a short attention span when it comes to television. We should probably get him some that fit his head better, but it's just so amusing with these...

Friday and good news...

I guess we're to the point where we can advertise this as we've told employers, instructors, etc. and had medical confirmation...we're expecting a baby in July! I had my first ultrasound on Wednesday so I'm past the three month mark and things look good. We're very excited as we've waited a long time for this so I could finish my course work and get to a place where if I had a baby I would actually get to see the baby. I finish my course work soon after the baby is born, take my comps and defend my dissertation proposal. Then, I'm ready to write the dissertation. We'll have the office finished downstairs so I have a "room of my own" (as is so necessary according to Virginia Woolf) and will be able to write while the baby naps. We're dreaming in ideals at this point, but either way even if the baby doesn't sleep as much as we'd like we're close enough to the end that it will all work out the way it should. Anyhow, I wrote my Master's thesis shorty after having Oliver, so this one will be my dissertation baby. It's too bad I can't go farther with my education because I'm not sure we'll be able to have any more kids without a really big paper to write shortly after their birth. I'm posting pictures of Oliver who is getting way too old to be a baby--he'll be six in March and one of the reasons we just couldn't put this off any longer; we didnt' want the age gap to be generational!

Snow in Logan

It snowed today and I gave my students a test today so it seemed like the perfect way to continue to initiate them into the school thing. This semester ends next Friday, which has been weird because the kids just came back from a two week break to have two weeks in their classes to finish up. Mine are finishing up research papers and I hope they've learned something by being in my class, but I'm never quite sure because they just want to be out of school. They're all seniors and getting pretty tired of high school. However, I think I could say the same. I looked at the district calendar today three separate times and noted that I have less months to go than I have worked so I'm on the downhill part of the school year. I don't usually do this until March so I'm going to need to check this excitement for summer and put it in a box until March or it's going to be a long semester. Utah State starts next week and I got my syllabi completed for both classes I'm teaching. That feels good because I'm on top of things.

It's pretty outside though...it's always nice when a new coat of snow covers everything because after awhile it gets a little gray and icky in the winter and I know it's not going to melt for another couple of months so new snow is way better than no snow. And Wednesdays are always good because the week is halfway over and it's almost Friday. If you need to read a blog that updates you on what day of the week it is and how close that puts you to Friday and the summer, this is the place. I'm as anxious as my seniors to finish the semester, already! I'll try to sound less fixated on this and find more interesting things to post. That's the problem with regular posting...I'm not sure life is exciting enough to warrant the publication of each day. But...ahhhh, momentum, I'm going to keep it up just for that. Have a great day...Wednesday, that is. Two days before Friday, four months before summer.

The sweetest little boy...

So, just as I was leaving for work, Oliver woke up and told me that for his birthday he would like to go without presents (a big sacrifice as he asked for a bike---he learned to ride without training wheels this summer) and would just like it if I came to his school to help with small groups. Easy enough! I've been given permission to go over when I have prep time as it is in the same district I work in and I've just been waiting to get a time from the teacher to go in. That will be so much cheaper than a bike...though we'll probably get him one of those too.

Then, I got home from work early and went with Ben to pick him up from school and on the way out Ben told him there was a surprise waiting for him. Oliver said, "Is it that mom is home?" Ben replied that it was even better (of course...I was in the car! Who wouldn't love that surprise?). Oliver's reply, "Nothing is better than mom being home." He's such a delightful little thing and definitely knows how to make us happy.

We're also on three nights in a row of family dinners...it's so much easier to do these things when I'm not in class until 10 at night...domestic bliss is mine this semester!

Back to work..

It all went smoothly today, but boy was it a rough change! It's always hard to go back to work after a long and delightful break, but Oliver couldn't have been more happy to go back to school. He had a great time and came back from school all smiles. I wonder if my students left my class with the same? I think it's much harder to have seniors be happy about going back to school than kindergarteners. I'm enjoying not having to rush to night classes after the work day and am even sticking to my resolution to cook dinner so we can eat as a family. It's easy to stick to your goal on day one, but we'll see and hope it keeps working out. Either way, it's nice not be in class tonight.

Happy Holidays...

We had a great Christmas and are positively giddy about next semester. We were able to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas at home, just the three of us and though it was a teensy bit lonely, we didn't lack for things to do or enjoy one another's company less. It was really a great time and so relaxing after the busiest semester of our collective lives. We delivered Christmas treats to all of our neighbors and I discovered that my son is going to be quite the cook. He loves to help, knows how to read recipes and how to get the measurements just right. He rolled all the dough for the rolls himself and was persistent and consistent. At five, he's already making my job easier and I'm so glad for that because cooking with children can be quite the chore. We then went to see the Landon and Hays' families after Christmas. We had an enjoyable time visiting with each and were unable to spend as much with either as we'd or they would have liked, but we needed to get back to prepare for the beginning of a new semester of work and school. I won't have night classes next semester and we're ecstatic. It's also my second to the last semester of course work (with only one course to take this summer ---statistics---to finish it all out). I'm taking a grantwriting course and an independent study on theory and both will be super useful for future work opportunities. It's mind boggling to think that I'm almost done and have just a dissertation to write. It also seems silly to say "just" with a dissertation, but I can honestly say that after the rigors of my schedule the last three years (full time work, full time school, and part time University professor while still being a wife and mom) it will be nice to write that paper. I won't have to take any more classes, I'll go part time at the school district and will be able to be more flexible with my University teaching schedule. What a relief! I never thought we'd get hear after that second long semester. But, here we are. Ben will stay in school too and finish his bachelor's so we'll leave Logan in a couple of years with most of our loose ends tied up. Oliver, well he's a natural at school so we won't worry for the time being. He just adores it and is looking forward to going all day next year when he is in first grade.

As for resolutions, we're going to take advantage of some of this extra time and be better about updating friends and family on our whereabouts, while also staying better connected to them. We've really been out of the loop. Happy new year everyone!