Minerals and Planetarium

We found a little treasure on the U of A campus at the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium.

The fun started with the sundial.  Super cool and, yes, it was about 1:30.

We saw a lot of beautiful minerals.  They had a special display of minerals from China, and most of them belonged to just one guy!

Matthew liked this one.

Loved this one's shape.

Yes, must watch out for those on early morning runs.

Down the stairs to see more minerals.

Super big rock!

I thought the shape of this one was interesting.

I liked how this turquoise was carved.

Meteorites.

Gold!

Radioactive!

Rocks from the moon!

Opal.  Just for you, Mom.

Turquoise, also for you, Mom =).

Fossils.

Fossils and dinosaur bones.

Inside the Planetarium, we learned about Saturn and various constellations and saw a laser patriotic show.

Summary view.  Learned some and much more enjoyable than college geology!

4th of July

We celebrated our first 4th of July in Tucson this year.  We joined in the fun of the neighborhood block party and had a great time and met some more of our neighbors.  We had a good view of the fireworks too!

I made American Flag Fruit Kabobs!

Summary view.  It was a good night!

Date Day

Today started with seeing a massive lizard in the backyard.

It ended with seeing a bunny eating our grass!

In between, we had a lot of fun.  First, we went to the zoo.  Matthew sure does like to make funny animal faces.

Next, we toured a rose garden nearby.

Finally, on our way back home, we stopped to see what is called "The Garden of Gethsemane".  It is sculptures made out of concrete, showing the last days of Jesus on earth.  We got to meet the artist that is restoring these sculptures, as they were originally built in 1944.  

Recipes for meals for the week

It's cooking day!  I thought I’d share the recipes I used for the meals I made for this week.

   1)      Potatoes 

a.      Substitutes: I used russet potatoes, canola oil, and dried parsley (1 tsp dried to 1 TBS fresh).
b.      Don’t forget to line the pan with foil and grease the foil.  It makes things much easier at the end!

   2)      Pasta bake

a.      I leave out the mushrooms.
b.      For the spaghetti sauce, I use my pizza sauce recipe.
c.     I used Penne whole grain pasta.  Shh...don't tell Matthew that it's whole grain!

   3)      Chicken “things”, as Matthew calls them.

a.      I use two chicken breasts and cut into bite size pieces.  I leave other ingredients and amounts the same.

   4)      BBQ Chicken

a.      I used 2 chicken breasts and baked at 375 for 20 minutes.
b.      Sauce was a little too liquid.  First time making this…I think I’ll change it up a little next time.

Happy cooking!

Celebrating My Baptismal Day

Today I celebrate my Baptismal day.  I will never forget a homily I heard at Mass when I was in high school.  The priest said that we should celebrate our Baptismal day, as it is just as important, if not more important than our Birthday.  It is the day I became a part of God’s family; the day I became an adopted daughter of Christ.  This should change the way I live and who I live for.

I am very thankful for the home I was brought up in.  As I continue to “grow up,” I see more and more the blessings of having such wonderful parents and the way they raised me.  They brought me up in the Church, and by God’s grace, I have seen how important it is to keep that faith.

You see, I have learned a lot about suffering since 2005.  I was diagnosed with a digestive disease in September 2005 and life hasn’t exactly been easy since then.  Dealing with it day in and day out can be hard.  I have learned, though, that I have been given the gift of persistence, so I am able to keep on keeping on.  The Lord has given me the strength and grace to be able to graduate with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree, get my CPA license, get married, work full time and be promoted, move to Arizona, buy a house, and those are just the big things.  He gives me grace each day to do the little things in life.

Through the suffering, I believe I am becoming a more compassionate and empathetic person.  I have also become a lot better cook (at least I think so =))!  God can use suffering if we allow him to.  It is a process in learning how to give this suffering to him and I’m still learning!  I say all of this to say that without faith, it would be very hard to see value in this suffering.  I’m so thankful for this gift of faith, which all started on May 4, 1986, the day I was baptized.