1st BBQ of 2008

Nothing beats the smell of hamburgers on the grill! It was so nice when Gene put on his man apron and grilled us up some burgers on Sunday. Unfortunately, we had forgotten that we had bought some corn on the cob for the BBQ. Oh well, we'll have those tomorrow night with our steak (cooked on the grill, of course).





Yay, Spring!

My Baby Boy is 26!

He was such a beautiful baby and an adorable little boy. Now my son is a full-grown man, and, in my humble opinion, he is the handsomest man in the world (next to his dad, of course). Not only is he good looking, but he's truly a wonderful person. How did we get so lucky?

Since he was working on his actual birthday, we didn't get to celebrate then. But he came over on Easter, and we had a little celebration in his honor. Here are a few photos.

Happy Easter!

The weather was absolutely beautiful here! I hate to admit it, but it almost kept us home from church. But we did go to church, and were glad we did. It was a nice service, and it felt right to go worship. It's the least we could do, after all!

Gene's mom died on Easter last year, so we thought about her, and it was sad. She was an amazing woman, and her death has certainly left a hole in our lives. Hard to believe it's been a year already. Time is just flying by. I really want to try to enjoy the flight a little more, and not get so caught up in the "small stuff."

After church, we worked on our back deck and just enjoyed the gorgeous day. The flowers on our bank out front are in full bloom, and it's so pretty. This is my favorite time of year. Everything is so green from all the recent rain, but it will soon turn brown as the summer nears. So, I'm enjoying it while it lasts!

Our front yard

The girls are getting a little old for Easter baskets and egg hunts, but we still give them a little gift bag with candy and small gifts.

Leah and Krista in our front yard

The four of us

dream dinners

Growing up, I didn't ever learn to cook. For some reason, my mom only taught Carla (my older sister) to cook. My job was always either making the tea, making biscuits, or making a salad (with iceberg lettuce and tomatoes). Oh, sure, sometimes I had to make chili or something, but I didn't really cook. Carla actually enjoyed it, and was good at it. She grew up to be an excellent cook. I, on the other hand--yeah--never really got it.

Ashley and Ryan grew up on Kraft macaroni and cheese, chili, and spaghetti--with salad, of course. It was always funny to see their plates at a pot luck dinner. Two beans, one piece of lettuce, one piece of corn--you get the picture. Pathetic!

So, now that I like more foods, I'm trying very hard to teach Leah and Krista to enjoy more and I'm hoping to teach them to cook. It's really difficult with school and everything else, but I'm trying.

Last week, on Ryan's birthday, we celebrated (without Ryan) by going to Dream Dinners again. Jeanne-Marie has made it a monthly event for our small group, and it's a great way to see friends and prepare dinners ahead of time for a great price. This time, Gene and the girls came with me, which made it much easier to get everything done. I think it's also a great way to get the girls exposed to cooking. I am having them pick out what they want for dinner the next day and then they have to help prepare it, too. Hopefully, they will be more prepared than I was (or than I taught Ashley and Ryan to be) when they grow up.

Here are a few photos from the evening.

Josh started in on teasing the girls right away--picking right up where he left off last time he saw them--they love it!

Problems on the first recipe. There were no pearl onions at the station we were working at, and we needed it for our recipe, that's why I'm raising my hand for help.

Jeanne-Marie and me

Gene getting instructions from the owner

Leah and Krista taking a break. Their favorite part of the evening was the cookies, which were fantastic.

Leah took this group shot.

Jeanne-Marie working hard.

Valerie and Amy

Josh concentrating on his recipe

Amy striking a pose

And another group shot by Leah at the end of the evening

Good times!

Response to Comments on My Last Post

Oh, sure a marine can do it!

OK, here's why it was only $2. First of all, Leah is the one who said she'd do it for $2. And, she had already done a teaspoon of cinnamon successfully (for $1). So, I upped the ante after seeing the large spoons people on You Tube were having to do. Besides, what ever happened to just doing it for the dare?

Here she is successfully downing a teaspoonful (which I think is pretty amazing).

And, by the way, Patrick, I was really bummed when Grandma stopped sending $1.00 in my birthday cards (I think I was 16). I was really counting on that dollar. You can ALWAYS use an extra dollar!

Leah's Cinnamon Challenge

OK, so I heard about this challenge on the Jeff and Jer show the other day on my way to work. They offered Randy $200 if he could eat a tablespoon of cinnamon without any water. It sounded so hilarious over the radio (he couldn't do it). They talked about how they saw it on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y2KMMk0Row), and that it was supposedly impossible to do.

So, I offered Leah $2 to try it. She was confident. Here she is:

And here she is 2 minutes later:

BENJAMIN DANIEL!

Now that we gave Scout away, we are down to just three dogs, all of them females. We try not to give our dogs people names. I know that Dakota has become a people name, but to me, it's a dog name. Anyway, when we first got Dakota and Bristow, the girls wanted to name them after themselves, so their full names are Dakota Diane Andrews and Bristow Angelina Andrews.

When we got Bennett, we didn't know what to give her as a middle name. When Ryan came home from Japan, we decided to name her Bennett Danielle, after Ryan Daniel. But Ryan thinks she looks like a boy dog, and immediately started calling her Benjamin. So, now we call her Benjamin Daniel, especially when she's in trouble.

Like today . . .

What????

For some reason, Bennett thinks she has to tear a toy to pieces. She isn't satisfied to just sit and chew on a toy, or play with it, she has to dig her teeth into it and systematically pull it apart with her teeth. Seriously, she has torn up EVERY SINGLE dog toy we had. This was the last one, and she obviously had a great time ripping it to shreds. This toy is supposed to be indestructible. But we have learned (the hard way) that there is no such thing.

I was sitting in my chair reading, and I heard her playing with it, but I had no idea she had torn it apart like this. Arrggghhhhh!!!!

BENJAMIN DANIEL!