A salad recipe for Ashley and how my week has been

I made this salad to take to a Thanksgiving dinner a couple years ago in Colorado. It was really good. I haven't made it since because I'm really not a salad kind of person. I'd rather eat raw carrots, peas, broccoli etc than eat a salad. The dressing is really good that goes with this recipe. It's sweet but tangy.


Orange Avocado Salad
(Taste of Home)
Dressing:
½ c orange juice
¼ c vegetable oil
2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. grated orange peel
¼ tsp salt

Salad:
1 medium head iceberg lettuce, torn
2 c torn red leaf lettuce
2 medium ripe avocados peeled and sliced
¼ c orange juice
1 cucumber, sliced
½ medium red onion thinly sliced into rings
1 (11oz) can mandarin oranges, drained

In a jar with tight fitting lid, combine dressing ingredients; shake well. Chill
Just before serving, toss greens in a large salad bowl. Dip the avocado slices into orange juice; arrange over greens (discard remaining juice). Add cucumber, onion and oranges. Serve with dressing. Yield: 6-8 servings.


This week was kind of a mixed emotion week for me. Jacob didn't have work for the first half of the week and our stupid internet modem went out AGAIN. The first modem we had when we originally gout our internet plan was broken a couple weeks ago by a psychotic stray cat. We were sent another modem and had it a week before it crapped out. This third modem seems to be working great. We've only had it for a few days though. I was not happy the begining of this week.

My dog is in heat right now which means I get to mop my kitchen floor a few times per day. When Annie turned 6 months and was old enough to get spayed we didn't have any money because that was during the slow time of Jacob's work. So now when she's done doing her thing we will hopefully get her spayed.

The last part of this week has been great though. Jacob had work again and the sun decided to shine! Today was gorgeous! Emma and I went down to pick up my pay check this morning. Emma is quite the charmer. She had all the ladies in the office in love with her. She is such a sweetheart! I also picked up some of my sub reviews and my boss told me I was doing an awesome job. That's always good to hear! So far the teachers have had good comments and so have the principals so that's encouraging.

My brother Tyler comes home in 21 days! I am so excited to see him. He is one of my dearest friends and I love him so much! He's so goofy and I have missed spending time with him. We have our own language and just have a lot of fun together.

We've decided to name the baby Linnea. As much as I love the name Elsa, we already have an E name and I really don't want to start that trend in our family with 2 Js and 2 Es. The next step is picking a middle name. So far we haven't been able to come up with one that we like. Any suggestions!? I like Linnea Rose but Jacob doesn't want her name to have 2 flowers in it. Here is a picture of a Linnea flower for those of you who are curious.It's a small pink mountain wild flower and I think it's so pretty! Such a sweet little flower which fits perfectly for my sweet little girl.

Tomorrow we are going to get our family picture taken. I've been meaning to do this since Emma was born but it just never happened. I figured time was running out before we become a fmaily of 4 and we'd better capture the family of 3 while we still can. I want pictures to show how our family has grown. I love looking back at family pictures of my family and seeing just me and then me and Tyler and a long while later me Tyler and Kaleb. It's fun to see. Hopefully I don't grow a massive zit over night! Wish me luck!