Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Welsh Rabbit
Joe and I have established what you might call a 'tradition' in our family for Saturday mornings. We sleep in (if I have my way :) ) and Joe pretty much always cooks a big breakfast for us, usually making some kind of delicious egg dish. Often it is some kind of scramble. This last Saturday he wanted to branch out and try something new. He made Welsh Rabbit. Unlike the name implies it doesn't call for rabbit. The sauce that is used is a rarebit sauce, which often is mispronounced as 'rabbit', hence the name. The sauce is cheddar cheese, beer, worcheshire sauce and red pepper. The other components of the dish are english muffins, canadian bacon and poached eggs. We didn't have any canadian bacon, so we had sausage on the side instead. Joe also poached his first eggs for this recipe. They turned out well. Over all the dish was great and has inspired Joe to continue to try new recipes for Saturday morning.
Valentine's Day
For Valentine's Day we went to The Melting Pot for dinner. It was delicious and quite the treat. We went all out, getting the 4 course meal, which included cheese fondue, salad, meat course and dessert. It would be hard to pick a favorite of them all. Of the 6 different kinds of meat, the salmon was the best. It was fun getting to cook the meat and veggies in the broth and then dipping them in 1 of 6 different sauces. Dessert of course was great too, although we were pretty full by the time it came. We went with the 'Flaming Turtle'. :) 
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Winter Adventures in KY
Joe went TDY to KY for a week and I got to go with him. (It's a great perk of not having a job!) It was fun to get to stay in a nice hotel, see family and visit Louisville on the governments dime. We said it was almost like a vacation. 
Part of the reason I wanted to go with Joe is we got to see family during the visit. My youngest brother Daniel goes to school in TN. We saw him on the drive up and back. Here we ate dinner at the Davy Crockett Diner. You can't really tell in the picture, but they are standing in front of a huge, wooden statue of Davy. 
We got to eat out at lots of unique places in Louisville. Joe and I always try to find the local spots to get the full flavor of the city we're visiting. Here we're at Lynn's Paradise Cafe, which was featured on the Food Network. Unfortunately we didn't get to eat there because of the power outage (more about that in a minute). My favorite spot on the trip was the Highlands Coffee Shop. They had DELICIOUS coffee.
When we were driving up to KY on Sunday it started to snow a little. We figured no big deal. Monday it snowed more and got really cold, down into the teens. Tuesday we woke up to a few inches of snow. At this point it wasn't really too big of deal. Then Tuesday night a big winter storm came through the state bringing ice during the night and then snow Wednesday morning. The ice caused trees to break off large limbs and power lines to snap down. Over half of the state lost power. Luckily our hotel didn't, but Joe ended up not working because the people he was working with didn't have power at home. The picture above and the following are ones we took Wednesday and the rest of the week. We definitely got our fill of winter weather this year!
The worst part about the storm was all the ice, although it was beautiful to look at on all of the trees. The ice was about an inch thick. This tree had cherries on it.
Joe is down cleaning off our car. There was a few inches of snow and then underneath was a thick layer of ice.
The view from our hotel room the morning after the storm. You can't really tell, but it's snowing.
Despite the crazy weather we were able to spend time with Joe's family and his cousins. It was a good trip. If your spouse is able to travel with you for a TDY I highly encourage you to do so.
Part of the reason I wanted to go with Joe is we got to see family during the visit. My youngest brother Daniel goes to school in TN. We saw him on the drive up and back. Here we ate dinner at the Davy Crockett Diner. You can't really tell in the picture, but they are standing in front of a huge, wooden statue of Davy. We got to eat out at lots of unique places in Louisville. Joe and I always try to find the local spots to get the full flavor of the city we're visiting. Here we're at Lynn's Paradise Cafe, which was featured on the Food Network. Unfortunately we didn't get to eat there because of the power outage (more about that in a minute). My favorite spot on the trip was the Highlands Coffee Shop. They had DELICIOUS coffee.
When we were driving up to KY on Sunday it started to snow a little. We figured no big deal. Monday it snowed more and got really cold, down into the teens. Tuesday we woke up to a few inches of snow. At this point it wasn't really too big of deal. Then Tuesday night a big winter storm came through the state bringing ice during the night and then snow Wednesday morning. The ice caused trees to break off large limbs and power lines to snap down. Over half of the state lost power. Luckily our hotel didn't, but Joe ended up not working because the people he was working with didn't have power at home. The picture above and the following are ones we took Wednesday and the rest of the week. We definitely got our fill of winter weather this year!
The worst part about the storm was all the ice, although it was beautiful to look at on all of the trees. The ice was about an inch thick. This tree had cherries on it. Joe is down cleaning off our car. There was a few inches of snow and then underneath was a thick layer of ice.
The view from our hotel room the morning after the storm. You can't really tell, but it's snowing.Despite the crazy weather we were able to spend time with Joe's family and his cousins. It was a good trip. If your spouse is able to travel with you for a TDY I highly encourage you to do so.
Christmas, New Years and Visiting Family
We were blessed this year with being able to visit both of our families around the holidays. First we flew up to KY to see Joe's family. All of his extended family (well except for Cassy and Paul) live in KY and so they always have a big family get together to celebrate the season. This year it was at Carrie and Steve's house. They are great party planners and we had a blast. 
These are all buy 2 of the cousins. Bottom l to r: Joe, Tom, Andrew, Nick; Middle l to r: Carrie, Cassie, Katie; Top l to r: Jamie, Cameron, Allison
The Brown side of the family: Greg, Joe, me, Tom, Jenny, Katie and Jeff.
Carrie and Steve have a great basement where we hung out and played games including the infamous "Japs on the roof" (ask Joe about that one). In picture is Carrie, Jamie and Johnena
These are all buy 2 of the cousins. Bottom l to r: Joe, Tom, Andrew, Nick; Middle l to r: Carrie, Cassie, Katie; Top l to r: Jamie, Cameron, Allison
The Brown side of the family: Greg, Joe, me, Tom, Jenny, Katie and Jeff.
Carrie and Steve have a great basement where we hung out and played games including the infamous "Japs on the roof" (ask Joe about that one). In picture is Carrie, Jamie and JohnenaAfter spending Christmas with the Browns we headed to WA to spend New Years with the Drake family. Here we got to have some snow! It was great to get to spend time with Joshua and Daniel, especially since we don't seem them too often.
We went up to Point Defiance Park one day where we toured around Ft. Nisqually, checked out the logging museum and took in the sights around 5 mile drive. Joshua, Joe and I went ice skating another day. The guys showed me up. I hadn't been ice skating in I don't know how long. We also got to go see Daniel and his band, The Bombadil Project, perform up in Seattle. It was the first time Joe and I have seen them in concert. We were pretty impressed.
One morning my Dad, Joe and I went on a nature walk in Graham. We learned how to identify types of trees, brush and berries. This isn't a great picture because I have my eyes closed, but I wanted to include it because of the size of the leaf I'm holding. The area was full of Douglas Fir trees and there were leaves from them laying all around. We don't get nature like that around here.
For New Years Eve we went to First Night in downtown Tacoma. The city shuts down the main streets for pedestrians and has all kinds of entertainment all night long from street performers, jugglers and musicians to a viewing of short films. I think the highlight was the juggling act we saw. They were entertaining and really good jugglers.
It was COLD that night. This picture was to capture how bundled up I was in particular. I had gloves, a scarf, a hat and my sweatshirt hood up. I think I had about three layers on as well. FL has thinned my blood out.
Last, but not least, was Christmas for Joe and I. We actually celebrated in the middle of the month, since we'd be gone through early January visiting family. This year we upgraded from the 3 foot tree we'd been using to a 7 1/2 foot tree. It is pre-lit, which made it quite easy to assemble, but a bit tough figuring out how to get it back in the box!
We went up to Point Defiance Park one day where we toured around Ft. Nisqually, checked out the logging museum and took in the sights around 5 mile drive. Joshua, Joe and I went ice skating another day. The guys showed me up. I hadn't been ice skating in I don't know how long. We also got to go see Daniel and his band, The Bombadil Project, perform up in Seattle. It was the first time Joe and I have seen them in concert. We were pretty impressed.
One morning my Dad, Joe and I went on a nature walk in Graham. We learned how to identify types of trees, brush and berries. This isn't a great picture because I have my eyes closed, but I wanted to include it because of the size of the leaf I'm holding. The area was full of Douglas Fir trees and there were leaves from them laying all around. We don't get nature like that around here.For New Years Eve we went to First Night in downtown Tacoma. The city shuts down the main streets for pedestrians and has all kinds of entertainment all night long from street performers, jugglers and musicians to a viewing of short films. I think the highlight was the juggling act we saw. They were entertaining and really good jugglers.
It was COLD that night. This picture was to capture how bundled up I was in particular. I had gloves, a scarf, a hat and my sweatshirt hood up. I think I had about three layers on as well. FL has thinned my blood out.
Last, but not least, was Christmas for Joe and I. We actually celebrated in the middle of the month, since we'd be gone through early January visiting family. This year we upgraded from the 3 foot tree we'd been using to a 7 1/2 foot tree. It is pre-lit, which made it quite easy to assemble, but a bit tough figuring out how to get it back in the box! We're having a baby!
By now this is old news to most of you. We wanted to document it in our blog anyway and to let everyone see the picture from our first ultrasound!
I found out I was pregnant the day before Thanksgiving through a home pregnancy test. We of course were both really excited, although it took a little bit for it to really sink in. Since then I've seen the doctor twice. The first time we got to see the baby and hear it's heart beat. That is an amazing thing. Everything is going great, the baby and I are both healthy. I currently am 14 weeks pregnant, in my 2nd trimester and feeling great. I did have some morning sickness (although I never threw up) and other symptoms mostly through out the month of December. The baby is due Aug. 3rd.
This is when our baby was 7 weeks old. It was amazing to see the baby's heartbeat. The top right portion of the blob is the baby's head. Right in the middle where it indents a little is where we saw the heart beat. We'll have our next ultrasound in March when we find out if we're having a boy or a girl!
I found out I was pregnant the day before Thanksgiving through a home pregnancy test. We of course were both really excited, although it took a little bit for it to really sink in. Since then I've seen the doctor twice. The first time we got to see the baby and hear it's heart beat. That is an amazing thing. Everything is going great, the baby and I are both healthy. I currently am 14 weeks pregnant, in my 2nd trimester and feeling great. I did have some morning sickness (although I never threw up) and other symptoms mostly through out the month of December. The baby is due Aug. 3rd.
We will continue to keep you updated with pictures, etc. as they happen.
This is when our baby was 7 weeks old. It was amazing to see the baby's heartbeat. The top right portion of the blob is the baby's head. Right in the middle where it indents a little is where we saw the heart beat. We'll have our next ultrasound in March when we find out if we're having a boy or a girl!
Monday, February 2, 2009
2nd Annual Ugly Sweater Party
The idea behind the party is pretty simple, find the ugliest sweater you can and own the outfit. After our party last year people have taken it up a notch and not only found ridiculous sweaters, but turned it into an entire outfit. It's a great time.
Sarah and Berni in their matching sweater vests. You can't really tell, but they also had pretty amazing overall outfits on.
Corban, Katrina and Joah: You can't really tell, but Corban got battery powered Christmas lights and weaved them into his women's sweater vest. It was awesome.
Joe and Rob: I'm not quite sure what they're doing in the picture. We saw Joe's pants and knew we had to get them. They are women's bell bottoms. He keeps threatening to wear them out in normal life.
Ted wore a woman's Christmas sweater and won the prize for ugliest sweater. This picture doesn't capture the full ugliness of it, but it does show the sweet prize he won. A pound of chocolate in the shape of a crocodile.
The party was also on the day of Joe's birthday. We celebrated it with a delicious chocolate cake.
Sarah and Berni in their matching sweater vests. You can't really tell, but they also had pretty amazing overall outfits on.
Corban, Katrina and Joah: You can't really tell, but Corban got battery powered Christmas lights and weaved them into his women's sweater vest. It was awesome.
Joe and Rob: I'm not quite sure what they're doing in the picture. We saw Joe's pants and knew we had to get them. They are women's bell bottoms. He keeps threatening to wear them out in normal life.Ted wore a woman's Christmas sweater and won the prize for ugliest sweater. This picture doesn't capture the full ugliness of it, but it does show the sweet prize he won. A pound of chocolate in the shape of a crocodile.The party was also on the day of Joe's birthday. We celebrated it with a delicious chocolate cake.
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