{My favorite new grain... Quinoa!

One of my favorite new magazine's is called "Clean Eating." I read the book The Eat Clean Diet last year and it inspired me (until little Sammy came along and you all know how a baby changes your life!) but I'm ready to be inspired again so I picked up an old copy and decided to make this Quinoa Black Bean Salad. It was so good! It is fresh and perfect as a side dish to fish or chicken. It would even make a great main dish for Meatless Monday's!

... this is best served cold!

Quinoa Black Bean Salad
1 cup quinoa, washed and drained
2 cups water
1/4 olive oil
Juice of 2 limes
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 can of black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
5 green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

-Wash and rinse quinoa. In a saucepan, bring quinoa and water to a boil. REduce to simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool.
-In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, cumin and red pepper flakes.
-Combine cooled quinoa, beans, tomatoes and onions in a large bowl.
-Drizzle dressing over salad and toss in cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.

{What a fabulous day...

What a great Memorial Day weekend! We feel so blessed to have been able to take baby Sam to the temple! It was one of the best, most memorable experiences of my life. President Baer was our sealer and he did a really fabulous job. He said some things that really hit home for me. After he talked to us for a little while they brought our boys in one by one and we left a family forever! It makes me a little bit sad for those of you that don't get to take each of your children to the temple to have them sealed to you. It is a priceless experience!

After the sealing we met up with Megan (Sam's birth mom). It was such a joy to be able to see her again! She truly is an amazing woman. Words can not express the gratitude we feel for her in our lives! We were also thrilled that her aunt was able to fly here from Texas to share the day with us. She has three adopted nieces and nephews of her own so it was special for us to have her with us. All in all it was a perfect, perfect day! I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for all the blessings that I have received because of it.

{We are legal...

Well, it's official... Thanks to Uncle Jake who agreed to take on an adoption case amid everything else he has going on at work, we are offically a family! We made our way to the court house early this morning to finalize Sam's adoption. After a long wait, missing paperwork and a judge that wouldn't call Jake back (not the one pictured... she had our case dumped on her desk this morning!) Sam is now a Hawker and we couldn't be happier. He has felt like our little boy from the day we brought him home and now he really is ours.

We are so looking forward to this Saturday when we will be able to take him to the temple to be sealed to us for time and all eternity! Today was just a formality... a necessary formality but, Saturday will really be our big day. Thanks Uncle Jake for all the time and effort you put into making this happen for us. We appreciate it!

{Cheyenne Mountain State Park...

We are so excited that Cheyenne Mountain State Park is open and ready for business. It is just a few miles from our home so it is perfect for a weeknight hike with the family. It is still pretty barren but in a few months I think the scrub oak will fill out and it will be beautiful! They even have a few camping sites so an overnighter or two may be in order this summer...

{Happy Days...

Preschool is officially over.... It's a bitter sweet time for me. I just can't believe Jackson is old enough to be in kindergarten in a few months!! His little preschool class kicked off the summer by putting together a "Happy Days" program! It was one of the cutest thing I have ever seen! The boys sang "You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog" and the girls followed it with "Mr. Sandman". They sang and danced their little hearts out. Here's to good times ahead!