Pictures and musings on this adventure we call life.

Monday, December 17, 2007

More Wedding Photos



Sorry for the long delay, but here are some more of our wedding photos from the ceremony.

Click on the photo below for a slide show.
Wedding Ceremony Photos

Mexico - El Potrero Chico



After Thanksgiving in Austin we hopped on a Mexican bus to go climbing at El Potrero Chico in Hidalgo, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Natalie joined us there a few days later.

The weather could not have been more perfect and we had a wonderful time climbing. We met lots of cool people and ate delicious food. We wished we could have stayed longer - there is so much rock there!

The cold weather, ice, and snow of Iowa has been a shock to our systems and we're definitely reminiscing about our 80 degree temps....


Click on the photo below for a slideshow of some of our pictures
Mexico - El Potrero Chico

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Thanksgiving



We joined the rest of the Petts family in Austin, Texas at Abigail and John's house for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a few days of fun family time: playing poker, eating good food, shopping at Ikea and REI, a ladies-only tea room luncheon, baking pies, and watching Logan's baptism. Click on the photo below for a link to some of our photos of the week.

Thanksgiving

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

We're Going to Mexico!




Yep, that's right. We are headed to Mexico for 2 1/2 weeks directly following family time in Austin, Tx for Thanksgiving. We will be climbing at El Potrero Chico and are looking forward to an awesome vacation!

Monday, October 15, 2007

Our Wedding

Wedding


Here are Round 1 photos from our wedding reception
(courtesy of Jamie's Uncle Bill and family friend Kent)

If anyone has any photos from the wedding let us know, we'd love to see them!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Our Honeymoon



We honeymooned in San Francisco. We had a great time wandering around the city, finding Lombard Street and Coit Tower, staying at a fun eco-friendly hotel, walking through Golden Gate Park, hanging out in Chinatown and the Japanese Tea Garden, eating at a multitude of delicious restaurants, getting the royal treatment at a spa, visiting Alcatraz, hanging out at the pier, climbing at a gym, goggling at all the gear in an REI store, seeing the gorgeous Muir Woods, visiting wine country, and seeing Dave's family that lives outside of San Francisco. We couldn't have asked for a better a week...although we could have brought warmer clothes.

Honeymoon

Click on the photo of us above for a fully documented slide show of the week.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Jessica's Graduation Party

Jessica's graduation party was this past weekend in Des Moines. Lots of family and friends were there to help celebrate! Congratulations Jetty - we love you!

Jessica's Graduation Party

Natalie's Graduation in NYC

Natalie's Graduation


Jamie was able to make a second trip to NYC this year to surprise Natalie for her graduation from The New School....she had a wonderful time with the Hutchisons! You'll want to check out the photos as there are pictures from Staten Island, both graduation ceremonies, restaurants, the Strand Bookstore, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, etc.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Tuscan Spaghetti

By request...here is the delicious Tuscan spaghetti recipe!

We cut the recipe in half and still had 2 full dinner meals and one lunch meal. Here is the original recipe:

Tuscan Spaghetti
Serves 8

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
12 cups Kale, cut into small 1-inch pieces
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
1/2 tsp salt
1 15 oz can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (aka white kidney beans)
3/4 cup pitted black olives, thinly chopped
1 12 oz pack of whole wheat spaghetti (you really want to use whole wheat because it soaks up the broth you will be making)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion in oil for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes. Add 6 cups of Kale and cook for 2 minutes or until wilted, tossingoccasionally. Add remaining Kale, tomatoes, broth, and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes, tossing occasionally. Stir in beans and olives. In a separate pot, cook spaghetti according to package directions. Place cooked spaghetti in the pot with the Kale mixture. Cook 2 minutes over medium-high heat or until the pasta absorbs most of the liquid. Sprinkle withParmesan and serve.

Nutritional Information per serving:


270 Calories
10 g Protein
7 g Fat (1.5 g Saturated Fat)
2 mg Cholesterol
10 g Fiber

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Rainy Day



For us outdoor enthusiasts whose outdoor activities are not conducive to rain, days like today are difficult to handle. It's hard for us to enjoy the rain when it interferes with our climbing. We have to remember that the rain brings good things....

Nevertheless, it is testing our patience. With the rain thwarting our plans Dave has resorted to boredom at the computer. We must find something better.
Yesterday we went to the Lakehouse to help Skip and DeDe rip out the old floor in the basement of the lakehouse....what a busy day for us all! Dave worked in the closet putting a floor in while Jamie, Skip, and DeDe worked in the back room tearing floor out.

Lakehouse Floor May 5, 2007
On an unseasonably warm day in April we grabbed little Jon and headed up to Hoot Bluff. The weather could not have been nicer!

Hoot Bluff 4-5-2007

Spring Break March 2007

We're slowly catching up...only two months behind now on blog posts.

For spring break this year, we joined up with Jon, Talia, Jaro, and Drew for a bouldering trip to Rock Town in Georgia and Horse Pens 40 in Alabama. We've posted a ton of photos with commentary to document the trip - so read and enjoy!

Spring Break Rock Town and Horse Pens 2007

Friday, April 20, 2007

Bridal Shower

Jamie's tea party bridal shower in March was wonderful! With all the bridesmaids' help the day turned out perfectly. We all got to enjoy delicious hors d' ouevres and tea, play a "get-to-know-the-bride" game, and enjoy each others company!

Bridal Shower March 3, 2007

Dave's project: John's House

Dave has been keeping busy working with a friend refurbishing his house. They've been building walls, putting on drywall, laying tile, putting in an antique ceiling (and of course spending hours putting on layers of paint), putting on trim, electrical work, etc.

Dave's projects: John's House

Natalie's 21st Birthday

Jamie flew off to New York City for a long weekend in February for Natalie's 21st birthday. She got to celebrate Nata's birthday, see the city, see Natalie's school and apartment in Brooklyn, and basically just "catch up." As an added bonus, Emily came from Pennsylvania for a few days and got free tickets for a showing of a new play. What a wonderful few days!

New York City for Nata's 21st bday Feb. 2007

Dave's Birthday

We went to Des Moines for a birthday weekend way back in February. Heather hosted a marvelous dinner at their house and we got to enjoy hanging out with family for the weekend.

Edited Dave's B-day

Update

So we've been terrible bloggers the past few months...we really had good intentions to post our photos as we have had a lot of fun occasions of late. So here comes a slew of entries of different things... enjoy!

Monday, February 05, 2007

Jamie's Birthday


Jamie's 21st birthday was a blast. Rick and Lori came to Iowa City to help us celebrate. We enjoyed good beers at Old Capital Brewery and although the night was poorly docuemented photo-wise, there are actually quite a few pictures from the rest of the birthday weekend. (P.S. Don't let Rick tell you that he's no good at pool...he cleaned up!)

Friday, January 26, 2007

Cross Country Skiing


We had our first ever cross country skiing experience...what a blast! We enjoyed it so much we've already been back!

Jamie's Hair


Jamie got a new haircut!

Poker


Jessica and Adam came to Iowa City to visit the weekend Jamie returned from St. Lucia! Here's some photos of us playing poker.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Christmas 2006


We headed back to Des Moines for the Holidays. We had a great Christmas, got to see both sides of the family, friends, and even squeezed in a morning of ice skating in between wedding plans!

Graduation Celebration at the Pit



Josh and Jamie celebrated their graduation with a joint party at the Pit!

Monday, January 15, 2007

Pepper Plants

So it's official: our pepper plants have died. The short winter days were just too much for them...we will have to try them again in the spring.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Graduation


Jamie's Graduation, December 16, 2006 at Carver Hawkeye Arena.

Honors Commendation


Jamie's Honors Commendation Ceremony in October...better late than never, right?