Roasted Pork Loin

I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'm not a very good cook. I try. But I'm just not good. My husband is a great cook! And lots of nights, we cook together. He does the actual cooking. But I help him. Cutting things, mixing, generally just helping him.

Our families are already gone. And I want to make a special dinner for Jacob tonight. So I took to All Recipes for an idea. And I found this recipe.



Doesn't it look yummy? I don't think I can mess this up too bad. And I can roast some potatoes with some other veggies. But I'll probably just buy a pie and some fresh bread. Because I'm not even going to attempt the bake. But I will post the recipe here. :) ★



Roasted Pork Loin

Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 2 hrs

Ingredients
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped green pepper
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (4 pound) boneless pork loin roast

Directions
In a skillet, combine the first 12 ingredients; saute until the vegetables are tender. Untie roast and separate. Randomly cut 20 deep slits, 1 in. wide, on inside surface of roast. Fill slits with some of the vegetable mixture; retie roast. Place on a rack in a shallow baking pan. Spread remaining vegetable mixture over the roast. Bake, uncovered, at 325 degrees F for 2-3 hours or until a meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees F-170 degrees F. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day. Jacob and I enjoyed our day with our family. Yes, both of our families are here with us. And we really wanted to enjoy all of the details of our holiday. The lights, gifts, people, and especially the food!

We got so many amazing gifts. And enjoyed a lot of fun times with our families. Our holiday meal was incredible! But like good hardworking people like our families, they're already fast asleep. So Jacob and I are just enjoying a nice Christmas movie by the fire. Dreaming about next Christmas, when we have our baby girl here with us. Celebrating the birth of our Dear Lord. ★

4 Trees

I'm not going to lie. We have 4 Christmas trees. Why? I don't really know. We have 1 in the living room, and 1 in the den. Oh and we put a pretty tree in the dining room. And a really cute 1 in the kitchen. Why? I don't know. We usually don't get this into decorating. But it's been fun.

Our "formal" tree is in the dining room. Mostly because it's the formal area of our house. And our Christmas tree in the kitchen is fun a quirky. We got those ornaments at Hobby Lobby. They're all farm, garden, and ranch themed. So much fun!

I'm not sure if we're going to do this every year. But it was so fun this year. We really have gotten into the holiday spirit. Oh, and we bought everyone in our family a stocking. Because we're doing Christmas at our house this year. I can't wait! ★

Peer Pressure

I'm giving into "Peer Pressure" again. I swear, I never did before. Now I have a blog and a twitter. Someone help me! I'm going to blame it on "Pregnancy Brain." Anyway, you can find me here. Tweet, tweet! ★

Big Surprise!

Today, Jacob decided to start "putting" together some of the baby's nursery furniture. It honestly wasn't hard. But when Jacob was putting together the crib, we noticed it didn't look like this. Instead, this is the crib we got.



Actually, we like this one much more! And it was a little more expensive than the one we had picked out. This crib just seems much more versatile. And we like it a lot! This one wasn't even available when we ordered our furniture. So it was a nice little surprise. We checked everything else. Made sure the extra bed pieces would work with this crib. And we made sure the mattress fit.

Everything was perfect! And we have some furniture up in the "soon to be" nursery. Now I have a lot more shopping to do. Oh, and we need to paint. But I'm so excited to see our little crib all put together! ★

Peace Lily

OK, technically, this isn't about gardening. More about house plants. We're I seem to be having some serious issues! My garden is brilliant. Our yard is gorgeous. But my houseplants beg for help. Especially my Anthurium. Which is on it's last leg. No lie.

But I've had a Peace Lily forever! And it's never been pretty like this one...



Mine is more...um, what's the word? It only blooms 1 bloom a year. If that! And the leaves get brown at the tips. No matter what I do. It hasn't grown in size. But it's still alive. And 98% green. I just wish I could figure out this plant. It has such a temper! ★

We're Having a Girl!

I just can't keep it a secret anymore. Yes, we're having a little girl! It has been so tough to keep this secret. Jacob and I have known for over 2 weeks now! So many times I've almost spilled the beans. But it was important to us, that we tell our families first!

Now all the fun stuff begins. Like buying cute dresses and and tiny shoes. Oh and the bedding! Now I'm really excited about our nursery. Just a few months until we meet our little princess. And already, she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. :) ★

Nursery Furniture

Like I mentioned, we're expecting our 1st baby. In April. I'm actually 22 weeks today. And I have to say, I've been shopping a lot! Buy lots of clothes, blankets, toys, etc. Things like that. But we hadn't really bought any of the big things. Like furniture, bedding, car seats, etc.

We hadn't done that, because we just found out recently whether our baby is a boy or a girl. More on that later. Because we still need to tell family. But a month ago, my in-laws called us. They wanted to buy the nursery furniture. All of it! And they had no budget for us!

I can't lie, I had been looking at furniture. And I found this set. It's a mix of 2 collections I think. But all in the same finish. And at the time, I felt like both a boy or a girl could use this set. So we ordered it.




And we got it last week. I believe the entire set was around $1500. That's for 7 pieces! And the crib is a 4-in1 crib. :) Plus the price for the mattress and a set to turn the crib into a little bed. I'm not sure. But I think it came out to around $2000. Which I don't think is bad. But I want to Thank my in-laws. It means so much to us! I know you already love our little one. But you are just amazing for doing this for us! ★

Let's Start Writing

I'm giving in. And starting a blog. I know, I know. I'm years behind. But I'm starting.

Here's a little background information on me and my family. My husband Jacob and I got married on November 17, 2007. We're expecting our first baby on April 10, 2010. I'm so excited!

Other than that, we're a pretty simple family. My husband is a real cowboy. No lie! And he plays the guitar. I love it! And he sings. I like to garden. Scratch that, I LOVE to garden! My college degree is in horticulture. And honestly, I spend most of my days digging in the dirt.

We live in a small community, near a small town. The small town that Jacob and I went to college. Where we met. And we have a group of really close friends. They are more like brothers and sisters to us! All of the guys and Lola play in a band together.

That's about it. We're simple people. We like country music, rodeos, and the great outdoors! I'm not the best of cooks. And my husband is an amazing cook. More on that later. I hope you come back for more! ★