iPod Nano

If you were to have your iPod engraved, what would you put on it?

Ethan put: "For Steph on Christmas! I love you! From Ethan"

Mia's friend, Vido.

Our friends, Mark and Linda, went out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday and we watched their little buddy, Vido. He is an Italian Greyhound, just like Mia only about 49 dog years younger. The two of them played the entire time! You would see them running across the room and it was Vido chasing Mia, then you'd see them running back the other way and it was Mia chasing Vido. He never did figure out the doggy door, which was okay becuase when Mia needed a break, she would just pop out the door and he would look around like "Where did she go?" I put up my Christmas tree on Saturday and Vido was like my little helper. We now know that if we were to get another little greyhound, we will have to get a bigger bed, I don't think Ethan got any sleep.

Getting ready for TURKEY DAY!!

What in the world!?! I wouldn't want to be dressed up like a turkey today of all days!! Then again, with the monkey suit I wear to work, all I would have to do is add some feathers and I'd be a turkey. Hey Mom, I won the turkey for our turkey dinner! At work there was a contest, any banker who gets $250k in investments in a two week period got a free turkey. Gobble Gobble!

Libby's Great Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup uncooked oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup solid pack pumpkin
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, set aside. Cream butter; gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well. Alternate additions for dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition. Stir in morsels. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup (or less for smaller cookies) dough on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake 13-20 minutes depending of size, until cookies are firm and lightly browned.

Brandie and Baby!!

Brandie and Jaxson.

Got a note from her today saying he has gained weight and doing great!

Jaxson Wright

Too Cute!!

Father and Son

Joe and Jaxson Wright.

Jaxson Wright was born last night!!

5 weeks early, 4 pounds 11 ounces, 18 inches long

WELCOME JAXSON!!

Asian Mia!!

Happy is as Happy does.

Yum!! I wish it was my birthday too! Happy Birthday little dog!

Baby blanket #2.

I liked the baby blanket I made for my nephew, Jaxson, and he is coming soon, so much that I made another one for a girlfriend of mine. Alba is due Dec 12th with a little boy name-to-be Daniel. I've now started a thrid one for another friend, Tony and his wife Thanh, who are due the week of Thanksgiving. I hope I'll be done in time for their baby. I don't think they have picked a name for thier baby yet but they do know they are having a boy. Good luck taking a picture in this house without a dog jumping in the middle of it.

Rain, Rain go away.

Today we spent the day with Ethan's family in Galveston. We had a lot of fun but it rained the whole day!! Little Lela and Katie aren't so little any more. I think by next year Lela may be as tall as me.

The Last Straw

I think this sums it all up for me today, and yesterday.

the MAD Knitter.

I wonder what in the world could I be so mad about while knitting? Is it really that hard? Maybe its that cute little monkey sitting next to me.

New York

I spent 6 days in New York and I was at work most of the time. So I only got 4 pictures. I was lucky becuase everyone at my branch was very nice. The branch has been there for a very long time. The vault looked like it was over 100 years ago. The wheel that closed the vault looked like the stering wheel from a ship. It is on the end of a Korean neighboorhood. I ate Korean food for lunch, I have no idea what it was, but it was GOOD! There was a Starbucks just .03 miles away. I got a new pair of shoes just for my trip. I thought everyone talked funny, but then they thought I talked funny too. The car rental place was out of cars so I had to have a MiniVan, there was no way I could parallel park it. I ate sushi, greek gyros and at IHOP. Some nights my dinner selection was limited by my parking options which is why I ate at IHOP, not to mention that the road to my branch had 3 IHOPs and only 2 Starbucks. I am so glad to be home!!

Mary Jane Hot Dog Buns

My Mother-in-law is making and selling her own hot dog buns. I would have never known if I hadn't gone to Virginia.

Eight States. 7 days.

We had a wonderful trip! We were blessed with beautiful weather everyday. We had a really good time! We saw the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. We ate North Carolina Pork BBQ sandwiches with the slaw on top. We saw Ruby Falls and went spelunking into Lookout Mountain. I put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean. Knu got to hear Jaxson's heartbeat. We stayed in a scary Louisiana hotel room that still makes my skin crawl and when the toilet flushed it sounded like a Harley Davidson in the water closet. We had ice cream cones on the beach. We watched some of Brandie's movies including Walk the Line, Fried Green Tomatoes, and the Notebook and cried our eyes out. Brandie got a (2nd) Lazyboy. We tried to see Colonial Williamsburg, Knu got a bonnet instead. We got a couple of pounds of peaches. We went around the Ocoee River which is where Knu wants us all to go on vacation next year. We went into a cranky old lady's yarn shop in Blowing Rock (yes that is Falling Rock's big brother) N.C. who all but asked us to leave. We celebrated Joe's 23rd birthday. Knu mailed her bills from Appomattox which is where Robert E. Lee surrendered. We saw some wonderful farmland and country life with lots of moo-cows and goats. We saw people white water rafting. And Christmas tree farms. We ate at Cracker Barrel like 17 times. I like the Chicken n' Dumplins.

Momaknu's Wild Ride!

Knu and I are leaving tomorrow after work for Norfolk VA! Look out Joe here we come!

Papa Woods

This is what Ethan is going to look like in about 50 years. I am going to try to find the tie and glasses to match. I think he already has the pocket protector.

Stupid Car!

Stupid car, costing too much money. $3500 to fix something that seems soooooo silly. Knu and I are leaving next week for VA. And I took my car in to get an alignment and an oil change. They called me back to say the alignment didn't work because the back axle was bent. How do you bend a back axle? So half of the bill is to fix the back and the other half is for four new tires. I'll be shopping around for the tires, but still, who wants to pay that much for their stupid car!

L and T Wedding

What a wonderful night after a beautiful wedding!

Family Resturant in Munich

Mrs. Boettner was my Grandma's Grandma. And if you eat at this restaurant in Munich, you might just enjoy a divine dinner next to this painting of her.

Are there Starbucks in Utah?

I got this lovely birthday card in the mail from Tiffany. Inside was a drink sleeve from Starbucks that was to prove that Starbucks does exist in Utah. But I don't see how that proves anything. After all you could have picked it up in Texas before you left. I don't understand how, with 75% of the population not drinking caffeine, Starbucks would survive in Utah. Anyways Tiff, if you want to prove it, maybe take a picture of yourself at a Starbucks with one of those cream drinks that don't have any caffeine in them. Make sure to have something with the date in the picture, that way I can know for sure you didn't just dig up an old picture of you and Jason at Starbucks here in Houston. See how much you are missed. I am still working on the Eday street for you too.

What a WONDERFUL Birthday!

This is just a sampling of all the wonderful gift I got for my Birthday. I am soooo blessed and I can already tell this is going to be a great year. Number 29!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday Stephanie!

I DYED!

Yesterday Knu and I practiced dying. We decied we want to go peacefully in our sleep. (That is just one of many dying jokes. I'm sure you can come up with a few on your own.) Look at this lovely rainbow of colors. I learned that just using one color isn't that pretty (see the green). So I would immerse the wool into one color then with a dropper I would highlight with another color. That gave the yarn and the color some depth. Hey Knu, what are you going to make with all that yarn? Please no rainbow rugs from your rainbow goats.

Ethan wanted me to make sure to get his friend the spider got on the blog. This spider is bigger than my hand, maybe even my whole face. And I think there may have been one of her eggs near by that was bigger than a golf ball. There is an investigation pending and pictures will be forthcoming. Ethan wants me to disclose that I tend to exaggerate.

Hey, Check out Tiffany's blog at http://utahan.blogspot.com/ She has just started posting pictures so we can see what Utah looks like. Missin' ya Tiff!

Otis the professor

Here is Otis looking like he's about to give a lecture on tennis ball physics. Hey Brandie, smell ya later!



Today we spent the day on the funny farm. We saw huge spiders, lots of hey, Steph got stung by a bunch of yellow-jackets, and dyed(yarn). Don't forget the goats! Some of the woolies are braver and come up for treats. Louie Louie is so sweet and he just loves to eat figs.

The race is on!

Today, Joe's ship will port somewhere off the coast of Florida. Brandie will be there waiting to have lunch with him. Hopefully she dosen't challenge him to a milkshake race, like Grandpa did. And we wonder why Joe is all about gaming.

Mega BABY!!

Ah, isn't she cute! This is our little niece, Katie. Her nickname from her big sister Lela is, baby D. She has the sweetest little drunk smile in the whole world. Keep it up girl, you'll make it!

Happy Accidents.

Cake trail number 2. I thought the vanilla cakes were pretty good. Some of my feedback was that the cake should be sweeter. I thought the cake could have been moister. I think next time I am going to do a little less butter and sub it for oil. But the sweetness issue. Feels like I am opening a Pandora’s box. This could be a debate that last centuries and centuries. Should the cake be on the main stage? Or should it be the canvas playing a much more subtle role? Anyway, this recipe went like this:
3 cups cake flour, sifted
1-tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1-cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1-cup butter, softened
4 large eggs
So after making two batches, I added 4 squares of bakers chocolate. The resulting cakes had a crisp delicate crust. The cake itself sunk below and was very moist. I called them brownie cupcakes. I told E there was no way the delicate top could hold any icing, but he insisted. And then when he was trying it, he said it was wonderful!! I thought he was going to roll around on the floor.

Hopping down the cupcake trail.

• I am starting down my cupcake trail. I need to refine my recipe for the cake because before I was using the box mixes. Ethan, Danielle and Sharon all said how silly of me to not make the cake from strach. I did not like this one at all!! I made some of them chocolate by adding some cocoa powder. This is how the recipe went:
  2-1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
  1 tablespoon baking powder
  1 teaspoon salt
  1-1/2 cups sugar
  1/2 cup butter, softened
  1 cup milk
  1 teaspoon vanilla
  2 eggs
  They didn't rise very much, they were very dense and alot like pound cake. I am hoping to find a recipe that I can change the yellow or vanilla cake batter into chocolate. We will see. I may even get all the way up to trial number 409, ya think? I am trying another one tomorrow morning while Ethan sleeps in. Then we will be off to Knu's to play with the goats. I think its about time to get a picture of m-m-m-my Ramona on here.

Going to the chapel...

Say Brandie, when you and Joe get married, is he going to be dressed in his Navy blues? He sure does look handsome in his uniform! Hope you are doing great, feeling great and lookin' great. I'll be seeing you soon. Love, Steph

There she goes...

And I have never eaten so much in my life as I did today. I had cupcakes, pie, we ate out at Olive Garden and I had soup, salad, and breadsticks, then another cupcake and then I took Tiffany out to NIKO NIKO's for dinner and overate there too! And tomorrow is the ice cream party at work. Candice, you have some big shoes to fill. I hope you are up for this crazy job!

I'm gonna miss you Tiffany!

Here it is, 10 o'clock and I am just finished with all my millions of cupcakes for Tiffany's good-bye party tomorrow. Part of me didn't want to make them. You know maybe then she wouldn't leave. But we will always be knitten buddies. Her knitting is really good and I think I just taught her like 3 weeks ago. And she is already braver than I am. Already tackling a major project for her Great-Grandma's 100th birthday later this year. (IT'S A BEAUTIFUL LAP BLANKET. I knew I could spoil the secret here because her great-grandma most likely doesn't read my blog.) I sure do love cupcakes. I hope my friends like them too. I even made enough for E the share with his co-workers. Tell me what you think. I think they are beautiful, but then, I am just a little bias.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMAKNU!!

Today is my Momaknu's birthday, & what a happy day it is!

HAVE A WONDERFUL YEAR, KNU, AND FULL OF HAY!