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Graduation Pics

Sunday Afternoon Snack

I was craving something sweet and baked this afternoon. I had all of the ingredients to make chocolate chips cookies but strongly considered walking up to the grocery store to get the break and bake kind (I know, I know...pathetic) because chocolate chip cookies have never turned out the way I want them to...until today! I remembered a batch of cookies a good friend of mine, Deidra, had made for a party. I called her, got the recipe, and started baking...these cookies are delicious. Chewy (even after they had cooled), the right amount of melted chocolate chip 'stretch' (you know what I'm talking about), and perfect for a lazy Sunday.

Here's the recipe:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 Tablespoons white sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso (or coffee) powder
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.

2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and instant coffee powder. Stir into cream mixture. Then, stir in chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough by heaping spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. (Make sure you leave enough space in between them).

4. Bake for 8-10 min (or 12 min for crispier cookies). Remove and cool.

Enjoy!

I think what makes these so yummy is the brown sugar to white sugar ratio (brown sugar makes the chewyness perfection) and the espresso/coffee powder really brings out the chocolate.

The Best Birthday. Ever.

So May 17th, my birthday, was an amazing day. It all started like this...We went out to breakfast at an organic, sustainable, cafe called Portage Bay. They have a THE best breakfast. Its the kind of place where people stand around outside waiting as long as it takes, with the smell of cinnamon rolls making you that much more hungry. After a long breakfast of eggs over easy with chicken sausage (Leah) and Banana Fosters French Toast (me) with an all you can eat fruit bar, we went back to our place to meet our friends and head to the Red Sox v. Mariners game. At home waiting for me was a brand new LONG BOARD. Its like a skateboard with better wheels and trucks for long relaxed rides on beach boardwalks or anywhere long and flat. This, I did not expect. What a great suprise. Tim, Ash, Jordan, Caitlin, Seth, Anne, Leah and myself enjoyed an unusually warm (74 degree) and sunny birthday baseball game and cupcakes. Mariners hit a walk off double to win it in the 9th. We finished with a patio dinner on Lake Union and a long board ride with Seth and Anne. At the end of the day my heart was so full. First, I want to say that it was an amazing, perfectly planned day by my sweet wife with friends, food, and playing. Gosh it was amazing. I praise God for it all because its all His and He loves giving it to us.

Warm and Sunny Saturday

This weekend was Rick's birthday weekend...and the sun decided to celebrate with us. This is really exciting! Thanks, SUN! Rick wants to tell you about his birthday later, so I'll take Saturday...I don't know if there has ever been a more perfect day. We woke up to the sun, Rick actually ran with me!!!!, we made smoothies, got on our bikes, stopped at the market for a picnic lunch and headed to the "beach." It wasn't really a beach seeing that the water you see is Lake Washington, but it was good enough. We enjoyed the sun, each other, a frisbee and reading a book we've been reading together for the last year, A Severe Mercy by Sheldon VanAuken...we're nearing the end and it is delightful, the whole day was!

Tulips!

One of the perks of living in the great Northwest is amazing flowers, and the state of Washington is one of the major tulip growers in the US...who knew? The fields are in a small town called LaConner and that is where we decided to celebrate Ashley's birthday. There were 9 of us that packed into 2 cars and got out of the city for an afternoon...among many gray days in May, the bright colors were more than welcomed!

Hey Family

As we are here in Seattle with about a week of snow interrupting our normal days we have had more time to think. I have been thinking a lot about our family. From this we really just want to say that we really love you guys. Whether or not we get to see you we really miss you and cant wait to be together again.
I have also been inspired by the message of hope of this season. This has come from a number of places. Some from the church and the usual building up of the advent season. Also through a musician, Rosie Thomas, who displayed her hope to the point of tears through her words and music at a recent Christmas concert we went to. Maybe because of these messages or because of where we live the hope that Christ coming to the world is becoming more relevant. Not because he came but because he is still entering our lives. He is still hope for darkness, trouble, discouragement. I hope you take the time to find the hope of Christ for you.