an amazing dinner + more!

I know that technically it is still spring. In most parts of the country, it is just beginning (or should be) to be spring. But I feel as though it is summer, and has been, for quite a while. And when it is summer, I try not to cook indoors very often. As a result, we've been grilling a lot. Sunday: salmon on the grill. Monday: pizza on the grill. Last night: Pork kabobs on the grill. YUM.

our delicious entree

my plate, loaded with amazing kabobs, plus corn, quinoa and mangos (mangos! I love mangos! I ate mangos on Midway, then promptly forgot about them, until our grocery store had them on sale for .45 each. Now I am a mango fool again! Dave is too, but Jed remains dubious.)

This was all that was left after dinner--our empty skewers. Don't worry, no children were maimed in the taking of this picture.

While we were cooking our dinner, we saw a crazy bug. Since I totally enjoyed (snort) my entomology class (I was too busy being a 2nd semester senior, engaged and done with school to really put any effort into it), I have NO IDEA what this bug is. I'm thinking that crazy triangle-shaped thorax means that it's in the True Bug family...Breanne, can you enlighten me?

Last night we started playing with our camera a little, trying to learn about its many features. Yes, I know we got it for Christmas, but we're a tad slow. Anyway, here are some of the better pictures we took:

this face made possible by the cooking of and eating of dinner outside...and sampling dirt beforehand

Jed has recently started truly loving his stuffed animals. He will go up to the huge pile of them in his room, grab one, give it a hug, kiss it, then toss it aside and repeat. His favorites seem to be two teddy bears, creatively named Big Brown Bear and Little Brown Bear. I think LBB tickles his lips because he will kiss it repeatedly before tossing aside. It is the absolute cutest thing he does right now--I could watch him do it all day long.