Birthday Best

Oh Yeah . . .

This one is pretty cute too.



David sporting his new tool belt.

One of the Best

One of the best photos from this year's Christmas.



Brent and Kevin showing of their matching t-shirts from Grandpa George and Grandma Jane.

Aren't they so cute?

Christmas Eve 2006

This is the extent of the decorating I did this year for Christmas. I figured since we were going to be in Tennessee as early as the 19th all that decorating would have been wasted or little appreciated by the cats.

We sent one box of packages to North Carolina to be opened by John's sister, her family and John's mom and dad, we opened some with David and Michelle the weekend of Natalie's birthday and brought the rest with us. We will open some tonight; the one's from Erin and her family and of course the packages we brought for them will be opened tonight. They are staying home on Christmas morning to have intimate family time.

Charlotte is cooking a turkey for dinner tonight, we'll also have gravy, craberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pie. We'll all be here. See below for the "all".



I Love my family.

We made it to church this morning. There is a Calvary Chapel just down the street from Mom'm house. They presented a reinactment of the Christmas story with live actors and music. So lovely. We also heard the Christmas story out of the Bible from pastor Hall and took Communion.

The weather is mild. Right now I'm sitting on the front porch at 3:50pm in the afternoon and am not uncomfortably cold. More later . . .

Manicures, Pedicures, Bicycle Rides, and Birthdays

Today is Saturday.
David and Michelle are here visiting for the weekend.

Michelle, Natalie and I went and got manicured and pedicured after breakfast this morning while the boys took a bike ride down 9-Mile Canyon. Straight down. Brent was the chaser driving the car because he has his license now (here's a link to him driving to school for the first time from our house). The rest of the day was spent getting coffees at Starbucks, having lunch at McDonald's, making cake, celebrating Natalie's twelfth birthday (pizza, presents, cake, ice cream, and Extreme Bowling), looking at Christmas lights around town, and finally winding down the day with pleasant quiet conversation.

Quote of the Day

"I Love being Loved."

Natalie Boberg

Circle of Life

Swirl died last week (the snail).
And Brent is getting his first driver's license tomorrow.

School Days

Natalie's school picture 2006

Sixth Grade



Kevin's school picture 2006

7th grade




Kevin played in the junior high school winter concert tonight. He sounded great. John took a video. Maybe I'll upload it to YouTube if it's not too big.

Natalie's concert choir is next week. I'm sure there will be a video of that too.

Day and Night

Today we visited the Washington Monument, Union Station, the National Postal Museum, and the Lincoln Monument.







John is on his own tomorrow as I begin the reason we are both here; corporate training.

Smithsonianpalooza

John and I spent another day in and around Washington D.C. We first went to the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture where hang all those famous paintings of our past presidents. I saw an eerily realistic carved marble bust of Andrew Jackson. I felt like he was going to come to life and speak at any moment. We then attempted to visit the International Spy Museum. The line was so long we shopped the store instead. After lunch we ventured over to the white house.

Isn't he cute?



The Natural History Museum was our next stop. The Hope Diamond was our first stop. Then we ventured further into the gems and minerals exhibit. There we saw every mineral, metal and ore imagineable. We even saw rocks from the moon. There was also a Nature's Best Photography exhibit that we purused at quite a fast pace. We were hungry.

Dinner and adventure back to our room was the end to our day.

Good night.

Happy Dancing

This morning before venturing out into the world I browsed YouTube with the intention of looking into something I heard about on the radio. The Evolution of Dance is cool. Watch it.

Also, check out the website listed at the end of the video.

Day One in Our Nation's Capital

Monday I begin corporate training to learn the nuances of L-3's financial database/system/software at the Chantilly, VA headquarters office. Before I started working full time I was able to travel with John on business trips. He jumped on the chance to accompany me when I told him my assignment. Because we had no other plans for the Thanksgiving holiday we decided to travel early and spend a few days in the area. We arrived last night and had dinner at 2941 Restaurant. It was a full buffet offering all the usual trimmings.

With the big day out of the way, John and I ventured into the city and visited The Mall. Below are two pictures from the day, which weatherwise couldn't have been better. Look at that very blue sky! You'd think we were stillin California.





After browsing through part of the park, the National Gallery, the Hirshorn Museum and a Smithsonian we headed for Adams Morgan for dinner. Adams Morgan is a neighborhood known for it's murals and is also the home of the Swedish Embassy. After walking up and down the streets sightseeing we decided on a restaurant called The Diner. It's a bar and diner in one. Serving breakfast all day. We shared something called The Holiday Stuffer. It also was a traditional Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings. It was like having leftovers without having leftovers. Below is a picture of a bridge in the Adams Morgan area.



Tomorrow ~ Another Day in Washington D.C.

I'll keep You posted. :)

Bunco Night

I joined a different Bunco group recently. In September we had a "pilot" game to see if we would want to committ to playing the entire year; we did and I was the first to hostess the new group at her house.




I hosted the group at my house last Friday night. There were twelve girls over. I made two quiches, one ham and swiss, the other broccoli and cheddar. I also made a veggie tray, hot Italian sausage with peppers served with toasted sourdough, zucchini bread, dark chocolate brownies, pecan bars, sparkling cranberry and apple juices and coffee. Everyone had a great time. Even though I hosted I won the "big" prize for getting the most Buncos; four ceramic appetizer dishes in the shapes of different fall leaves. I picked it out to give as a prize so the winner could use it for Thanksgiving. I'm not even going to be here to serve anything for Thanksgiving. The girl who organized this Bunco group encouraged me to take it even though I bought it so no one else the rest of the year would feel funny about taking their own prize if they win. Maybe next year I'll be able to use them or later this season, but I really don't think I'm going to be hostessing much anymore this year. Posted are pictures of the three tables and the buffett table at the end of the night.

Shake Shake Shake

I've been craving kettle corn. Alton Brown says don't buy anything you can make at home so . . . I searched for a kettle corn recipe and found Sugared Popcorn on page 115 of my very old Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.



This is it:

Sugared Popcorn

1/3 cup unpopped popcorn
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1/3 cup sugar

Combine popcorn and 1/4 cup water; set aside. In a 3-quart saucepan heat oil. Add 2 or 3 kernels unpopped popcorn; cover and cook over medium-high heat till kernels pop. Carefully add sugar and popcorn-water mixture; cover. Pop corn over medium-high heat, shaking pan constantly. Remove pan from heat to prevent sugar from burning. Makes about 6 cups.



I used peanut oil because that's what I have that isn't olive oil or almond oil or flax seed oil or sesame oil. Of course I followed the instructions diligently. I turned the pot's lid away from me and used it as a shield while I added the popcorn-water mixture so I wouldn't get splattered. The water seems to make the popped corn a little more delicately crispy than usual oil popped corn. Next time I'll add a little salt while cooking to get sweet and salty tastes together. I added some after it popped, but think it would be better as an incorporation. The process made a little mess of splatted oil on the stove top, but not a major clean up; just a couple of swipes with a hot, wet, soapy sponge. Some of the popped kernels turned brown from over cooked sugar; throw those away. I thought they would be good and taste like burnt sugar, but they don't. Overall, sugared popcorn made at home is pretty tasty.

Hey! Kat's eating popcorn!




. . . and cats like it.

Coming Home

Brent recently came home with a picture of himslef and his friend Ellen. They went to this year's Homecoming Dance together.



He's gotten a hair cut since then.

It Works . . .

I added a Wishlist link.

Because It Looks Like Blood and It's Halloween

BEET JUICE
The Participants

The Cuttings

The Juicer

Cheers!

and . . . Because I Like It

Orange Halloween Juice

The Ingredients


The Prepared Ingredients and the Juicer


The Juice


Ready to Travel


Yummy!

John Made Turkey Pot Pie

Dinner, dessert and Farkel was a success. John made turkey pot pie, I made soup and Diane brought a salad. I also made apple crisp for dessert. John got to show off his whipping cream dispenser. The electric peppermill was a conversation piece as was the instant read laser thermometer.

YouTube?

I've added another link.
It's called DarinCaryn which is my user name at YouTube.
I've uploaded two videos so far.
One is of Natalie and Kevin walking from the car to the school dance.
The second video is part of the gondola ride John and I took while we were in Tahoe.

Farkel!

This past weekend John and I attended a couples retreat. We traveled all the way to the Heritage Inn and stayed over night. The church brought in a guest speaker and gathered couples together for a mini retreat right here in town. We were fed, educated, and entertained, but the real fun was after dinner on Friday night some of the couples got together to play Farkel. I'm hooked! We are having two of the couples over tonight for dinner and more Farkel.

It's Not a Rectangle!

I'm learning to increase.

Heavenly Roses

These two pictures were taken of a print John and I recently purchased while we were in Tahoe. Some friends brought it home for us over the weekend and is hanging now in our bedroom. It's titled Heavenly Roses by David Hwang. I just Love it.

The Mushroom Pie

While in Tahoe eating at La Ferme I had a mushroom tart for an appetizer. When I got home there was a new Bon Appetite waiting for me. One of the recipes was for a mushroom pie. So, to recapture the taste of Tahoe, I made the mushroom pie for dinner. Posted is a picture of the hearty pie.

Hot Pink Pedicure

Today I went for a pedicure with Chastity.
She got a french and I got hot pink!
Tomorrow we are donating our time to Spa Day at the church as pedicurists.
We thought we'd show up with well groomed feet to make a good impression.
We also went shopping for white jackets so we could look the part of professional clinicians.

Anniversary Dessert

While John and I were in Tahoe celebrating our fourth year of marriage we went to my favorite restaurant, Evans in South Lake Tahoe. To top off a delicious dinner of pork tenderloin and apple chutney we shared a slice of frozen white chocolate mousse tart. Yumm!

Posted are the before and after pictures.












We also ice skated, shopped and hiked around a bit while we were there.

Tahoe 2006

I'm at home now from being away for nearly a week. John and I have been in Tahoe since last Friday. It's Thursday. We arrived home last night around 6pm.

I've posted a couple of pictures to describe the atmosphere.