Tip of the day

Tip of the day: don't leave the bathroom door open.

Soup for dinner

Soup! This is pretty much the same as my previous soup I made last year. It has homemade turkey meatballs, and acini de pepe noodles. I added poblano and jalapeno peppers, bok choy, spinach, oregano, pepper, cumin, and smoked paprika. I will garnish with a ton of fresh cilantro!

More randoms

Matt and Whiskey cuddling on the couch

Matt playing the guitar.

too bright, but I thought I would show how crazy W gets when Matt plays the guitar

It is crazy windy today! The garbage cans are everywhere!

Random Picture Day

I have never had such a hard time with pictures and captions as I have had this morning!! Grr! Because of this, many of these do not have captions. The two near the bottom of Amanda and I are of us looking at my new signed Pioneer Woman Cookbook!! Amanda graciously got this for me for Christmas! The pictures in the book are sooo cute! 

The rest of the pictures are of Whiskey at home or Whiskey and Matt at Sno Pt. Park in Snoqualmie from over the weekend.  It has been very windy here almost every day! I lost the wreath from my front door a couple of days ago, only to find it returned to me the other night!! We also had one of the panels from our fence fall over because of the wind. Matt and his dad fortunately were able to get it back up and in place.  Luckily, our new trees seem to be holding for now.

Here is W bracing against the crazy wind

My cute boys at sunrise

Windy!

Sunrise

Beautiful sunrise

He loves his sticks!

More sunrise

2009

2009 Year in Review

January    *Matt and I went to Kuaui

February   * I started swimming to train for a Sprint Triathlon

                 * Had to take xrays of W's belly-he just ate too much

March      *Celebrated Matt and Bryan's birthdays with a Sounders game!

       * It snowed...a lot!

April   *Went to Neah Bay to celebrate Katie's birthday

           *Matt built our shed

May  *Had a BBQ or two

June   *Got some new trees in the front yard

          *Whiskey was cute

July    *Hiked near Mt. Rainier

        * Had some Southern visitors  (Matt's cousin) & toured Seattle

                * Visited Cle Elum

                * Bought a really expensive vacuum!

                * The Joner's came for a visit

                * Painted the family room

                * Started the retaining wall/firepit

                * Spent a LOT of time at Rattlesnake Lake

August     * Finished the firepit/retaining wall

              

                * Completed a Sprint Triathlon

                 *  Camping with the Camps

September   *  Camping with Bry and Amanda in Cle Elum

               *Whiskey got "cold tail" syndrome

               *Whiskey got hip xrays, then we found out he had a tick

               *Saw Wicked

               *Bryan and Amanda got engaged!

October     *Carved pumpkins

                  *Traveled to Italy!

November    *Made loads of pumpkin cream sandwiches

                    *Had family over for Thanksgiving dinner

                    *Ty and Elizabeth came for a visit!

December    *Enjoyed Christmas

                    *Had several dinner parties

                    *Watched fireworks for New Year's Eve just miles away from the Space Needle (I forgot to take pictures)

news

No news, really. There is nothing going on in this household  :)  We are trying to enjoy each other's company as much as possible and also enjoying family and friends during this season.
Here's a list:
*Matt and I are working on saving more and spending less, which has been hard. It makes me not really want to go anywhere because I know I will buy things, which really adds up.
*I recently found out that I didn't work enough hours to get the "bonus PTO" this year. I am only 60 hours short come the end of December and could have gotten an extra 80 hours. LAME. I was sooo upset and trying so hard to figure out a way to squeeze in an extra 60 hours of work during the holidays. Fortunately, Matt isn't as concerned and told me not to worry about it. If you know me, you know I was literally sick to my stomach about it...
*I love birds. Outside birds. The little ones. I just can't help it. They light up my day.
*I recently cleaned my toilets, but left the bleach stuff on a little too long...I now have orange stripes on the seat and lid. Anyone know how I can fix it??
*We just went to a baby shower for my cousin Ali and her husband Zach. We are beyond excited for them! I know of so many pregnant women now and I LOVE IT.
*I will leave you with some pictures of Whiskey. He always likes to steal these little brown pillows off of the couch.His favorite thing is to shove his nose in between the buttons and grab onto the pillow inside. He just likes to hold it I guess.

Thanksgiving

We had some of Matt's family over for the day and had SO MUCH FOOD! Everything was delicious! I was able to make the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a Pumpkin Gingerbread trifle. Amanda made sweet potatoes and a delicious salad, and Elizabeth made a spinach dip and green bean casserole. Jessie made some awesome bruschetta and DID ALL OF THE DISHES!!! Matt's Uncle Ron made pumpkin pies. MMM. Needless to say, Matt and I have been eating Thanksgiving dinner for lunch and dinner every day for the past week!

Here are the pictures of Thanksgiving, but NONE of any people...food only. I guess I really am becoming my mother! Sorry, some of the pics are blurry!