8 months...

No Tigger or Snowman in this post. Sigh. Time got away from us, but we did snap some cute pictures of Ruby while we were in Jackson Hole, WY during her 8th month of life. :)

 A few 8 month highlights-
- Loves Puffs
-Finally took the last step to really start rolling all over
- Lots of new sounds
- Gets excited to see other little kids (especially Ty!)  instead of being scared of them!

The mountains are calling and I must go.....

At the end of September C had a conference in Jackson Hole, WY.  Jackson in the fall? Yes, please. Dreamy. Not only did we enjoy the autumn weather and beautiful fall color, but we rented a great little house and had a family reunion. Such a great handful of days.

First time on a plane. Ruby did a great job and loved when she had a seat to herself to play.

Oh my heart....I couldn't get enough of the scenery.

A bit of exploring...

Reunited with Uma!

One of my favorite pics of the trip.

Uma and her Ingoldsby grand-babies!

Riding the Tram up Rendezvous mountain...

Chocolate Love - Perhaps the best chocolates on the planet. And that was just the beginning of Jackson's great food. Other highlights: awesome steak, sweet corn risotto, rabbit gnocchi and more...Jackson did not disappoint.

BABIES! (and Marie's foot.)

Grandpa!

Classic Jackson shot!

Family walk. Lovin' it.

7 Years....

Has it really been seven years? I can't decide if it feels like it's been longer or shorter than that. Either way, it seems strange. As I thought about my Dad this morning, I looked at Ruby and smiled. She was born on his birthday. I love that. I think she'll love it too.

When asked for a piece of advice to pass on to posterity my Dad replied, "Avoid the urge to judge others or consider yourself better and therefore worthy of more blessings The Lord loves all of his children equally and wants us to help each other. Helping those less fortunate is critical to our own salvation."

A wise man. And help others he did. In fact, I'm sure he's still doing so and I'm grateful for that, but oh how I miss him. 

7 months...

At 7 months old Ruby weighed 15 lbs and was 25.5 inches long (around the 12th percentile) and so cute and fun.

Highlights:
Little bird sounds
Wanted to be sitting up as much as possible
Rolling over from back to tummy to grab toys, but rolling right back over to her back

Food, glorious food.....

I know what you're thinking, 'wait, is Hilary REALLY going to post about something other than Ruby?' I promise my life does consist of more than just telling Ruby how cute she is all day - its just not as fun to blog about. :)

After returning home from our summer travels I was determined and excited to start trying out some new recipes. Here's a few that hit our plate and our thoughts. Our favorites are starred.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms-
C's always been a big fan of mushrooms and I've been a bit of the opposite. Lately, however, I've been giving mushrooms more of a chance and have been pleasantly surprised for the most part. These stuffed portobellos were really rich and really good. Really though, I think you could stuff anything with sausage and gorgonzola and be happy with the result.

*Leek, Chard and Corn Flatbread-
This dish was one of our faves. Really fun, light, delicious and different. This dish is probably best in the summer so you can use fresh corn, but with a few tweaks, I'm sure you could eat it year-round. I took the easy way out and grabbed some pizza dough from our favorite spot in town. Someday -  maybe - I'll venture into making my own dough. Anyway, this dish made us super happy.

*Zucchini Rice Gratin-
I have to admit - the deliciousness of this dish surprised me. We really liked it. The thyme in the rice was especially good combined with the roasted veggies. Next time I'll do more of the rice mixture so it yields more.

*Bacon Corn Hash-
I LOVE a good hash. I just can't help it. I think it's the Idahoan in me. And this was a delicious hash - especially with the fresh corn. This is a recipe you certainly don't need to follow exactly, but gives you a good base of ideas for any hash. And topped with an egg? Delicious.

Pasta with Garlicky Broccoli Rabe-
This pasta isn't necessarily anything special, but it's good if you like garlic. And like garlic we do! I couldn't find any broccoli rabe, so I just used some type of green - mustard greens perhaps. I'd like to try it again with broccoli rabe to see if that heightens it a bit.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken-
C and I don't eat a lot of chicken and when we do it's usually in the form of a pour-on (curry, tikka, strogonaff, etc). Soooo, I was determined to try a new - of all things - chicken recipe! And I'm happy to report that this recipe was a total success. I love doing a bunch a prep the day before and - as promised in the recipe - the chicken turns out really moist and delicious. Next time I'll try smoked paprika in the marinade for a fun switch.

Caesar Style Kale Pesto Pasta-
This was a good dish. Not necessarily anything mega-special or the best pesto variation in the world, but good. Pine nuts are expensive, but delicious.

Roasted Eggplant with Tomatoes and Mint-
I want to like eggplant. I really do. I've liked it in dishes before (grilled veggie sandwich etc), but after making it a few times myself in a few different applications, I think we're breaking up. It's just so-so to me. Not worth the effort. So yes, the eggplant in this dish isn't anything special, but the tomato and mint salad on top was delish. We'll definitely make that again.

*Roasted Tomato Soup-
I tried homemade tomato soup a year or two ago and it was a FAILURE. But I super love tomato soup, so I didn't want to give up. We had some extra tomatoes around so I decided to give this recipe a try and we LOVED it. Really tasty. Really easy. And the basil? A must. A hit.

Silky Cauliflower Soup-
Super easy and a fun flavor if you like cauliflower (which we do.) We didn't get the exact texture we were hoping for, but we both really enjoyed the soup. Tastes a lot like when we do mashed cauliflower - which I might prefer - but tasty overall. 

*Wild Mushroom & Apple Grits- 
I have long wanted to add grits and polenta (which, I just learned, are essentially the same thing) into my cooking repertoire and this recipe did not disappoint. We LOVED it. I couldn't find any of the fancy mushrooms, so we just used more of your run-of-the-mill 'shrooms and it was great. And we added extra bacon. (Obviously.) So fun. So different. So delicious.

See here for other recipes and our thoughts.

PhD!

The good times continued when we returned to Texas after our summer in Idaho and Utah. On August 10, C officially graduated! C earned the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environment Geography. It's hard to believe we started this PhD journey four years ago. I'm so proud of C's dedication and hard work to his education and career. It's been a great experience.

We loved having Ralph and LeAnn with us to celebrate C's big accomplishment. The graduation ceremony itself was really great. Afterward we celebrated Texas-style with some of our favorite central Texas barbeque.

We are happily still in San Marcos this year. C is working at Texas State as a full-time lecturer and we are grateful for the awesome opportunity - and grateful for more time in a place we love.

Such hard work. Such a big accomplishment. Such a great celebration.