Cake Creation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

FINISHED!  

'

Happy 2nd Birthday Little E.

Signs that it is Spring in Vegas

 Getting the garden ready

...and planted

 Someone is awake and on the roam

 Hellooo....I'm hungry.

 I haven't eaten for months

It's Spring and it feels so good.

I do feel a little guilty

 when most of the country is still under a blanket of snow.

Memories

I ran onto this old photo the other day.

A favorite from years gone by.

  It was a Birthday Party at the sand dunes...I think it was.Chad's.

 Recognize any of the silhouettes?  

Happy Memories.

May Good Fortune Follow you

Our Chinese New Year

 

Every year we like to have a family party with the Boulder City folks. Due to very busy schedules it's always a challenge finding a date that everyone is available (this year we missed Lorin and Nancy).  That date this year just happen to fall on the Chinese New Year.  Perfect theme. 

I love doing an event where I pull out all my collected finery 

and really "put-on-the-dog"

 The last minutes stir-frying of the veggies.


 Our Menu:

Egg Rolls (Costco)
A yummy Green salad (Thank you  Pam)

Fried Rice (recipe)

Steamed rice

Chicken Pad Thia (Little Dumplings)

Beef Broccoli  (recipe, I used low sodium soy sauce and chicken broth)

Joseph's Chicken Coconut Curry

Orange Chicken (Winco Deli,  good but not as good as Clark's )

Cheese Cake (with cherry drizzle or Chocolate drizzle)

Frozen Blueberry yogurt for those wanting something lighter

Lighting the candles

The crazy relatives we like to party with.

I love that they always "dress" for the occasion.

Going to the Dentist

This picture makes my mother heart happy

...on so many levels.

Question...

So is going to the dentist more fun or more scary 

when your brother is the dentist?

Christmas Day the easy way.

We had expected to be to lone birds for Christmas Day with Steph's family flying in a Christmas Eve (we try to be sure the far away grandparents don't have to share their precious visit with the grandparents that get to see the little people several times a week...we totally understand their position). So we had our plans with what we wanted to do with our solo day. 
But due to a badly time case of the flu Steph's family didn't make it...

But we still slept in,  had a leisurely breakfast 

and then hiked Lone Mountain.

 

I was glad I remembered my gloves since it's quite a steep, rocky climb.

 Love the view

...when I finally get up off my hands and knees.

After the hike we drove over to Jake and Steph's 

to see if Santa had come to their house...

He indeed had.

Jake, Steph and the little people followed us home  for dinner.  

 Turkey paninis made with cranberries and stuffing.  

A re-creation from our Christmas Eve leftover...Sooo good.

 We finished the evening with a competitive game of Scrabble

.
We wouldn't let Jake use any of his "creative" words

...and he still won.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve at our house

  One of  Ethnie's  favorite activities 

was taking all the apples she could reach off our tree 

and lining them up on the piano bench.

 Oh the joy of organized apples!

 At Tivoli Square

 We'd just come out of  Charming Charlie 

with some amazing Christmas Eve deals.

How could our men say no on Christmas Eve.  

So everyone was happy.

Train ride at Tivoli Square.

 

 While the little people napped 

we set to work creating our traditional graham cracker masterpieces.

 

 

 Creative people can create quite a mess!

 

 

   Our  finished creations.

 

 

 Playing with Mr. Potato Head grampa fell asleep on the floor 

so Ethnie made sure he had everything you need for a good nap...

Ellie the Elephant and silky blanket.

.

 Our Christmas Eve Dinner

 

 

 It was a wonderful Christmas Eve.