Pictures and musings on this adventure we call life.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Graduate School

University of Minnesota, Oregon State University, Tufts University, or Portland State??

We have finally made a decision. After much deliberation, lists and lists of pros and cons, etc...we have decided on Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon!




Here's a link to a slide show of photos of Corvallis:
http://engr.oregonstate.edu/advantage/slides/index.html

Sunday, March 09, 2008

UNI Climbing Competition

Two weekends ago we participated in the annual UNI climbing competition in Cedar Falls with some friends of ours from Iowa City. All of us University of Iowa climbers did really well and had a fun weekend! We've posted a few of the photos below.

UNI Climbing Competition

Pet-sitting

We spent a week hanging out with Bailey the dog and Bonzo the cat while we were pet-sitting for friends. Here are a few funny photos of our time with them!

Pet - Sitting

Dave's Birthday at Home

We spent a weekend in Des Moines to celebrate Dave's birthday with family. We were dog sitting for friends of ours, so Bailey had a lot of fun meeting the family too! We enjoyed getting to spend time with everyone and seeing how much Amos had grown!

Dave's Cooking Skills


This is Jamie writing.

One day, as I was walking out the door for work, I asked Dave if he wanted to whip something up for dinner when I returned since he would be home before me. He said, "Sure, I'll see what I can find when I get home tonight." Upon my arrival, I was amazed (but not really because he's brilliant like this all the time when it comes to food) to find a fabulous meal waiting for me.....a meal that he just "threw together."

Toasted french bread with olive tapenade, a stir fry of snap peas, peppers, zucchini, and carrots, and broiled parmesan, garlic eggplant over a bed of wheat pasta....wow!

Dave's Birthday

For Dave's birthday we decided to try and bake a vegan cake...and it turned out absolutely delicious! We took it into the climbing gym and all shared in Dave's celebration of being a quarter-century old.

Dave's Birthday

Friday, February 29, 2008

News Flash #2!

Jamie has been accepted at Tufts! Now we actually have to start making some decisions...choices, choices!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

News Flash!

Jamie has been accepted to Graduate School at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon! It is the only school that we have heard from thus far but we're excited at the prospect of moving to beautiful Oregon!

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Sledding!




Iowa City got hit this afternoon with a ton of snow... so we decided to bundle up and go sledding - what fun!!

Jamie's Birthday

Groundhog's Day was Jamie's birthday - we were so happy that people could join us to celebrate! Jamie's parents and Natalie came to Iowa City from Des Moines and luckily left on Sunday before the 6-8 inches of snow hit!

Jamie, Lori, Jessica, and Natalie enjoyed tea and snacks at the Leaf Kitchen!

A delicious dinner was had at a great vegetarian restaurant called the Red Avocado, and a few friends met up with us afterwards for good beer at Old Capital Brew House.


Jamie's Birthday

Monday, January 28, 2008

Amos Christian Hanser




Amos Christian is here! 3 1/2 weeks early but healthy and beautiful - and he has red hair! There is a slide show below of some photos of him at 26 hours and 34 hours old.
We were lucky enough to be able to drive to Des Moines and see him and Heather and Ryan twice before heading home.



You can click on the slide show above to actually view the photos on Picasa.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Winter Sunset



Just a beautiful winter sunset in Iowa City, seen from our apartment window.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

New Recipe


This is our version of a "Spicy Peanut Noodles" recipe. You can make it as mild or as hot as you like, so it is very versatile.

The rice wine vinegar (or brown rice vinegar) and chile (or red curry) paste can usually be found in the Asian section of a grocery store.

The linguine cooks really fast so it's best to have the vegetables chopped and sauce made first before you start the pasta.


Spicy Peanut Noodles


8 oz. linguine
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp rice wine vinegar (brown rice vinegar works fine too)
1 to 2 tsp chile paste (or red curry paste) depending on how hot you want it
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
3/4 cup chopped cucumber (can seed it if you wish)
2 green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/4 inch pieces


Combine 1/4 cup water with peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, chile paste, and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until blended and creamy. If sauce is not the consistency of light cream, thin it with a little water or it will be chunky! Add bell pepper, cucumber, and green onions to cream mixture. Cook linguine according to package directions (approximately 4 minutes) and toss with mixture and serve.

Serves 3-4 people.

Nutritional Info per serving:

234 Calories
9 g Protein
8 g Fat
33 g Carb
0 mg Cholesterol
270 mg Sodium
3 g Fiber

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Christmas in Colorado



Rick, Lori, Jamie, Jessica, and Dave traveled to Colorado for a fast trip to see the Nelson side of the family for Christmas.


To enjoy the photos, click below.

Christmas in Colorado

Heather's Baby Shower



On the day of Christmas Eve we convened at La Mie Bakery for Heather's Baby Shower! We had delicious food and enjoyed each other's company.

Click on the photo below for more pictures.

Heather's Baby Shower

Christmas with the Petts



We had a great Christmas spending time with family, eating delicious food, and relaxing.

We took quite a few photos!

Christmas with the Petts

Christmas with the Nelsons



We had a great Christmas spending time with family, eating delicious food, and relaxing.

We took quite a few photos!

Christmas 2007

Christmas at Thelma's



We had a nice Christmas dinner at Thelma's on the Saturday before Christmas with the Browers and Petts.

Click on the photo below for a few pictures from the evening.

Christmas at Thelma's 2007

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?

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Thanksgiving


We enjoyed a few days of bouldering/sport climbing in Southern Illinois with Jamie, Josh, Jon, Gabriel, and Drew. The weather was perfect for climbing! Then we headed to Des Moines for Turkey-day.

Please keep Dave's family in your thoughts and prayers as they mourn the loss of Grandma Petts.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

St. Lucia




Jamie has just found out that she will be going to a village in St. Lucia (in the Caribbean) to work on a Community Based Health Care Intervention in Decemeber and January with three other people from the University of Iowa...hooray for great opportunities!