46 million reasons .....

to raise awareness and money to fight Arthritis.

Arthritis affects 1 out of every 5 people, children included. There are over 46 million people that have been diagnosed with a form of arthritis .... 300,000 of them being kids.

While Andrew and I don't have a ton of money in the bank : ) we donated what we could and dedicated ourselves to participate in the 2008 Arthritis Foundation Walk.

So ....

the three of us (Andrew, Louie, and myself .... yes, Louie! We will get to that!) woke up at 6:30 this beautiful Saturday morning to walk with about 300 others. While it was tempting to stay in bed, sleep in late, and watch senseless television we pulled ourselves out of bed and got on our merry way! And every minute was worth it!

I am sure most everyone knows someone that suffers from arthritis. When I saw this event online, I automatically thought of my Granny, Sadie Mae. I signed up right away and dedicated my walk to her.

We read online where nice, calm dogs were invited to participate too. Well, we decided Louie was out of the picture for this walk. She is still very much puppy, and her social skills with people aren't very acceptable. She has some social anxiety, to say the least. Well, she used to anyway.

We decided to take her at the last minute and we are so glad we did!! She was fabulous ... she let people pet her, give her treats, and she had no issues walking by them! We were very impressed ... she is growing up to be a wonderful, playful, and SOCIALABLE dog.

(this is Louie getting some air after a good, long walk ... she is currently passed out from her eventful morning)

What a great start to the weekend .... what's next on the list?!

Pass it on, friends!

My Dear Friends,
Don't you hate when you check your email and you notice that a friend or family member sent you a chain letter? You open it up, read the words, look at the pictures, and then debate whether or not to pass it along. After all, if you don't you will have bad luck for 10 years, lose all of your friends, or never find that perfect someone. Or even worse, that one chain letter that you don't pass along automatically means you don't believe in God or you don't support our troops.

Well, get ready .... because I am passing along a 'chain letter' to you.

WAIT .... keep reading .... I promise this isn't bad!!

You don't have to send it to 10 of your closest friends (only 4, if you so choose), I won't doubt your religious beliefs, and I won't accuse you of not being patriotic.

But what if I told you that you can eat your 'chain letter'? huh?!?!

That's right .... this chain letter is so good ... you get to eat it and pass it along to your friends.

At the bottom of this post, you will see a recipe for Amish Friendship Bread. My SIL (sister in law) gave me my starter last weekend and now I get to pass it along. I have chosen 4 people to physically pass this along to (they get their starters on Tuesday!) but I wanted to share it with everyone.

Why? Because we are friends, I love you, and want you to be happy all day and everyday.

Happy Friendship and Happy Baking!!
Your friend,
Kristin

Please note the following:

DO NOT use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing.
DO NOT refrigerate
If air gets inside the bag, let it out. It is normal for the batter to rise and ferment.

You will have to create your own starter ... but think of it as though it is from me. After all, I am the one passing this along to you. : ) This is a good website to create your starter: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Friendship-Bread-Starter/Detail.aspx

Once you have your starter you are set to go!
Day 1: Do nothing
Day 2: Mash the bag
Day 3: Mash the bag
Day 4: Mash the bag
Day 5: Mash the bag
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Mash the bag
Day 7: Mash the bag
Day 8: Mash the bag
Day 9: Mash the bag
Day 10: Follow the directions below:

Pour the entire contents of the bag into a NON METAL bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups milk. Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into Ziploc bags (gallon size). You will have extra in your bowl to make the bread. Keep a starter for yourself and give the other 3 to friends along with a copy of the recipe. You can give away all of the starters if you don't want to make it again

Note: If you keep a starter, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes great gifts! Should this recipe not be passed on to a friend on the 1st day, be certain to tell the friend which day the bag is on when presented to them.

BAKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:

3 eggs ... 1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce) ... 1/2 cup milk ... 1 cup sugar ... 2 tsp cinnamon ... 1/2 tsp vanilla ... 1 1/2 tsp baking powder ... 1/2 tsp baking soda ... 1/2 tsp salt ... 2 cups flour ... 1 large box of vanilla or chocolate instant pudding (or two smaller boxes)
**optional**1 cup raisins or chopped nuts

Grease 2 large loaf pans. In a separate bowl, mix an additional 1/4 cup sugar and 3/4 tsp cinnamon. Dust the greased pans with half of this mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the two pans. Sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the top. Bake for 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens evenly from the sides of the pan. Turn onto serving dish.....and ENJOY!

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, and goodbye

Well, today is the day I finally post a serious post. This is long and overdue but I waited for a good reason. Pretty soon one of my really good friends will be Oregon trailing it and starting a new great adventure. Time has gone by and I wish I made more trips into the county to visit before he takes off. It would have been nice to sit on the bench on Sunday morning feeling right, waving to eager church goers as they leave one more time. Well best of luck on the trail. Always take the ferry, never ford the river.

Soon you'll ride a black tornado, cross't the western sky.

Oh if somebody happens to read this that lives in Vegas, don't be afraid to help a brotha out.

By the way, my buddy's name is Nips and he is the one on the left.

Stay in touch!

The Rudy's .... but mostly Chase

Well, this three day weekend went by way too quickly. Our tiny two bedroom apartment was a house for seven people and a dog. We were cramped ... but we were with family. The phone and email is always a quick way to catch up and keep in touch ... but there is something about getting together and sharing quality time together. There was lots of laughter and plenty of stories to share, but we were all consumed with the tiniest person of them all ... Chase, our nephew. It was so amazing to see how this little baby has become so independent and develop his own personality. He is on a constant move and just talks and talks and talks. He was definitely the center of everyone's attention (we even watched him sleep). And we weren't the only ones to give him all of our attention. Louie LOVES him. She was constantly watching and following him ... gave lots and lots of kisses from top to bottom, and even shared her food with him. Oops!!

It was wonderful to be able to host our long distance family for just a few nights. And though we are about to down size to a one bedroom ... our door is always open to another weekend just like this past one.

I'm a BIG boy now

Well, this is my very first attempt at this thing called blogging....
Dear blog,
Today was super awesome. Kristin let me post my very first blog post ever. It was super. Things are going good. I can't believe Louie played with that toy today. OMG, I was like uuuhhh and she was like uuuhhh. Whatever.
Vote his play list for 2008.
David Archuleta 4 American Idol 08!! Rock the Vote

His and Hers .... song choices

So, we (yes, Andrew too) decided it would be more fun to make a 'his' and 'her' play list of our favorite songs. Hope you enjoy our selections ... he thinks his is better. Obviously it's not.

Time for Change!

Well, after settling into our apartment, getting married, and raising our beautiful lab, Louie - it's now time for some changes.

We're moving!! Don't get too excited or sad ... it's only to Matthews. However, we are very excited for the new change. We have decided to rent for one more year so we can work on lowering our debt (we realize it will never go away) .... and so we can save for our first house! Matthews has a cute little downtown with their own parades and celebrations, a local pub, and movies in the park. I think we might have found our niche ... it is definitely a town we see ourselves living in for a long time. : )


Louie is getting bigger every week ... I talk about her (and to her) as though she is my child. I guess in a way she is. She is just over a year old and weighs a whopping 67 pounds! She still has her cute puppy face and we think she might be on the short side. She has learned all types of new tricks - sit, lay down, stand, high five (other paw), stay ... and now we are working on roll over. But it's kind of hard with such a big dog - but we are determined to achieve that new trick! We try to take her swimming atleast once a month and she loves the water ... she is a natural.


Job changes are also in our future too ... we have been lucky to get raises and potentially new positions. We are both still with the bank and, for the most part, pretty happy.

Andrew has also decided it's time to sell the truck. HAHAHA ... totally kidding on that. But ... she will be out of a garage and will have to suffer with my little Jetta during the changes of weather. I think they will both manage just fine. (Andrew and his truck) ; )

We are looking forward to our new changes and are thankful for all of the positive changes that have happened to us already. Life is good.