Strike a Pose!

These guys crack me up! My nephew and his BFF are always posing for pictures with my sister-in-law. After Step Brothers came out, they started posing like the movie poster. They dont seem to care where they are when they strike the pose either--while the football coach is talking to the their team, out in public, everywhere! Thanks for giving me a laugh guys! Oh, and you might also notice their dads in there too.
(photos courtesy of Stephanie Riedel)

High Karate!

My man Bryce has been taking Karate and recently got a trophy in a tournament! Is he the next Jackie Chan?? We'll see! Way to go B! He is multi-talented--he is on the school basketball team too. You are so money!

Barack to the Future!

Historic times! In the wake of 9/11, mortgage and financial crisis and overall low self-esteem as a country, I think we are ready for a president who can pull us together and energize this country to accomplish things that even we didnt think were possible. Even if you didnt vote for him, if you listened to his acceptance speech, you had to come away from it with a little warm fuzzy feeling...didnt you?? Barack, you ROCK! I hope you can maintain the momentum.

Shout Out

Here is a little shout out to my nephew Bryce! Yo, Bryce! He asked me earlier where he was in my blog and ...Im not really sure. He has probably been neglected because his mom doesnt have a blog that I can steal pictures from! ;) Love you Bryce! Good luck on your upcoming Karate tournament my little Bruce Lee!!

Party In Pink

Happy Birthday Beth! It was her big 40 and her hubby threw her a party. Because she is surrounded by 5 men in her household 24/7 we decided to make it PINK!

Welcome to the 40s Beth!!

How can you not love this face?!

Sorry Steph, I had to steal a few pics. My niece is so precious!

Bob the Birthday Boy!

It's been 80 years since my Dad was born. It must have been an interesting journey from 1928 to 2008! Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Billy and the Whale

Sounds like a movie doesnt it? It's a little story about my cousin Billy. Billy always had a knack for getting into trouble even though he never did anything all that bad. Back when we were kids our family had a reunion at our house. My dad carves and has a lot of wood carvings around the house. Somehow, and Im sure Billy wasnt the only one involved, Billy managed to break the tail off of my dads whale carving. Now, my dad wasnt upset by it but Billys dad was furious. I dont know what his punishment was but Im sure it was something big! We have been giving Billy grief about this incident fo the last 30 years! Finally at this year's reunion my dad presented Billy with the whale. It seemed so fitting since none of us can look at it without thinking of him! (Oh, and by the way, my dad repaired it and you cant even see the crack!)

Back From Norway

I just got back from a 2 week trip to Norway. I was visiting a friend who lives there. I must say that my expectations werent too high regarding the enjoyment Norway would bring me. It seemed like a country that was beautiful but not much else going on. I was pretty much right on that account but I have to say it was starting to grow on me.

Because there was so little going on there, my friends and I decided to do a couple of crazy hikes just so we could take the pictures at the end of the hike. (I dont care for hiking so I must have been desperate!) Now, these hikes were more like rock climbing. All of us were ready to quit after the first segment (15 minutes into a 6 hour hike!) but none of us wanted to admit it to the others so we kept going!

These two pics were taken at Kjerag. That rock is just wedged in between these two cliffs with a crevice that goes down to the botton. I think the hike up to this place was so hard that we were determined to stand on that rock if it killed us!

The picture below was taken on our second hike at Preikestolen or what is also referred to as Pulpit Rock (we needed 4 days to recover from the first hike before we attempted this one!). It was 2 hours up and 2 hours back. Thats me standing at the tip of the cliff. I have to admit that part of the reason I did these hikes was just to prove to my niece and nephews that I do still have a little adventure left in me! Wish they were there to do them with me!

I added this picture just so you could get a different perspective.

Here are just a few items I noted about Norway:

- there are NO Starbucks in Norway! (Stephanie you better avoid this country!)
- Whoppers are $15 (yes, that wasnt a misprint!...just for the Whopper!)
- they dont put ice in anything (you can kiss your iced mochas good-bye and dont expect any ice in you McDonalds fountain drink!)
- they have something called Hotdog sauce. While I did have a hotdog, I wasnt brave enough to try the sauce!
- everything closes down on Sunday.

Stay tuned for more later!

Happy Birthday Boys

It was the boys' birthdays. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I dont want to mention ages but hope you had great days!
Coming soon.... Bob's 80th! Cheers!

Let the Peeling Begin!

OK Brian, here is the test as to whether you actually have my blog bookmarked or not!

It was a great July 4th weekend in Tahoe at the Carrolls. The company was exceptional, the scenery was amazing, the weather was perfect and the food was delicious. What was the family motto?...everything in moderation?? LOL!

What did we do?? Let me break it down for you…

Delicious faux Chambers Punch made by Mo.
The Chris O “roast”.
John and Meaghan having to ask their parents permission to stay for dinner ;).
Brian bet Remy that he could sleep all night in the hammock—all for the price of a hug and kiss from the Remster. He did it!

Laughing my head off on the Waverunner with Christian.
Everyone hiding food from me at the beach park (you know who you are!).
The "hike that never ends to the infinite place where the wildflowers end" (Tom!). Chris returning to the scene of his bike accident for a spot-on reenactment (minus the bike). Donna’s priceless photo tips (heads up everyone!).
Steven (or is it Stephen? hmmm.), thanks for sleeping in the tent so I could have your bed and escape the snoring! And for entertaining us with all of your "shenanigans".Ann’s accidental (??) fruit salad spill.
It may not seem like any big deal but I have to admit that I felt a little validated when Matt said he was winded from walking up the hill (uh, hello, I didn’t think college kids got winded)!
Mauraut’s(how do you spell his name??) light vacation reading material—what was it? Nuclear physics or something??
Delaney two timing her boyfriend with Smokey. Aileen, are you the only one who didnt do anything we could ridcule?? :)
Thanks Carrolls for a G-R-E-A-T weekend! Love your family! You are the hosts with the most!
Christian, thanks for chauffering me around!

Dark Forces at Work

I think that there are dark forces at work around me. This weekend I obsessed so much about Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream that I pulled myself off of the couch and made a trip out of my apartment JUST for the ice cream! As I headed out the door there was a man, who just happened to be running for congress. There I stood with garbage bag in one hand purse in the other and eventually campaign flyers as well. He didnt detain me long and before he changed his mind I shut my door and headed to the garbage bin. Then I searched for my keys...nope, not in that pocket...not in that flap...OH NO!!!! The higher forces were working so hard to keep me from eating junk food that they willed me to lock my keys in my apartment to teach me a lesson. (You may recall the famous glass-pan-filled-with-brownies-explosion incident a few months back....another "higher forces at work" account.) So far I have learned, 1) I have a serious chocolate dessert problem, 2) politicians are dangerous and make our lives miserable in ways we never even dreamed of, 3) cook brownies in metal pans not glass, 4) dont take out the trash so often and 5) I need to make another set of keys!

Stay tuned for my electromagnetic theory in a forth-coming blog!

Why isnt Iron Man called the Man of Steel???

It may be titled Iron Man but it is anything but heavy! My sister convinced me to go see Iron Man this weekend against my will. I prefered to see Maid of Honor (okay, so I just wanted something with a happy ending! Is that so wrong!?). Anyway, We picked up our nephew and went to see the movie. My expectations were low. It swept us up right from the first minute and stayed funny, witty and completely entertaining throughout. I LOVED IT! Now, I dont normally even like the super hero movies but this one was Super good! Robert Downey Jr is great and looking good after some not so good years. I give it a big thumbs up!

Another Blogger!

There is now another blogger added to our midst! (Hopefully this will make up for the pathetic updating the rest of us have been doing--or not doing as the case may be!)

This is my co-worker Eileens blog and she is a writer with a great sense of humor. Her stories are kind of Seinfeld-esque in that they are just about everyday stuff. So check her out and enjoy!

Missed It By That Much!

For People Who Cant Cook!

Im not a cook. So I love quick and easy recipes but am sometimes afraid to experiment. I know there are a lot of working ladies out there (or, not to discriminate, any of my male readers aka Joe) who have gone fulltime and might appreciate some extra meal ideas. Now, there is no reason at all why you should take MY advice in this area so you can keep reading or just call it quits right here!

This Salsa Verde sauce is so tasty! Just throw it into a crockpot with some chicken (not too much sauce, just enough to blend like you would with spaghetti ), cook until you can shred it. Stick it inside some cooked corn tortillas and presto... delicous chicken tacos that have just a little kick to them. Add cheese, lettuce, whatever! BAM! This isnt so much of a recipe as an endorsement. I didnt even know what Arrabiata meant--still dont-- but I picked up this pasta sauce anyway. I was pleasantly surprised. Tastes like spaghetti sauce but has a little more heat to it. Now, I cant take much spice so this is mild enough for me to eat (just in case you were wondering about where it stands on the spicy chart).

Try them out and let me know if you agree!

Why is this in my blog?? I have no idea.

I guess I havent blogged in so long that I am getting desperate! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday LuLu!

It's little Lexi Lu's birthday on Saturday--are you 8 already?? This is one of my favorite pictures of her because it shows her rambunctious character (even though she was only mugging for the camera). The attitude loses a little something when they're holding a sippy cup!
Happy Birthday Lex! Hope you have a great day! OOOXXXX

FYI - Flat Stanley is still around and wanted to bake you a cake!

The Office

As if its not hard enough to go into work every day, this is what I come into every morning! I am trying to do Weight Watchers right now but how much will power do you think I have!! So far I havent broken down but that pie in the bottom left corner is sitting right on my desk! Yes it is! And, Ive got Girl Scout cookies coming! It's a cruel, cruel world.

On an up note, someone must be looking out for me because tonight I had a glass pan full of brownies, that I baked yesterday, sitting on the stove. I turned on a burner to steam some broccoli and must have accidently turned on the burner under the brownie pan! POP! I go into the kitchen and the glass pan cracked and went all over the place! The brownies had to be thrown out! (why did I have a pan of brownies if I am on Weight Watchers you ask? Umm...a lapse in will power I guess. ) Cheers!

Where There is Smoke...

So I have to thank and apologize to Steph. Since my shredder broke a while back my bills and other documents have been piling up. She very nicely said that I could burn the stuff in their fireplace. Wolfie started helping me burn stuff cause what kid can resist a little pyromania, right?! After about a bag and a half of bills later, we were starting to asphyxiate Steph which may have led to her headache the next day. Sorry Steph! I promise not to burn anything in you fireplace again!

Anyone having a bonfire in the near future????

Happy Birthday Goose!

My nephew Bryce just turned 12 (even though I kept thinking that he was turning 13!)! Happy Birthday Bryce!! You are a great guy and you have an awesome B-ball shot! (Im sure that isnt the right terminology but you get my point!) Hope you had a great birthday! Love you!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

Last weekend my college roommates were in town and we decided to go to the coast. (Well, two of them were in town! Another got the flu and couldnt make it and the other couldnt make it here from Hawaii). Mini Girls Trip! We went to Costanoa, north of Half Moon Bay. A beautiful resort if you ever want a quick getaway. They have a lodge, tent cabins and even an area for RV'ers. And the freakiest thing was...there was NO fog all weekend! Seriously! That never happens on the coast! Could we have asked for a better weekend??! We lounged around, drank wine and even took a hike. Seems the hiking trail that goes by the beach was a little soggy and we had to go "off-trail" in a few places to find where the trail picked up again. In one instance there was a HUGE elephant seal (?) in our path and we've watched enough Nature Channel shows to know that you dont mess with those guys! You should hve seen us trying to figure out if it was safe to sneak by him! (FYI-He was much bigger than he appears in this photo!!)