MMMmmmmm...!!!!!

What goes best with

 ??

If you said GRILLING! you would be absolutely RIGHT!

We had tenderloin steak, fresh corn-on-the-cob (it wasn't so great), baked potatoes, green beans and sauteed mushrooms and burnt onions.  I HIGHLY recommend the onions!  I also think that I would stay away from sweets and stick with a hotter onion.  They'll mellow quite nicely!

Feeling pretty good!

It's been awhile since I've been here and, really, there isn't much to report.  I had a pretty icky cold that sort of left me dazed and confused and completely out of focus. Last week, to make matters much worse, I had a couple of pretty good sized papers due that really took a lot of extra effort due to the cold.  Today I'll wrap those up.  During that week we also had a friend of Tiana's stay with us while her parents were in HI.  That was fun!  It did add just that extra twist, though.  As soon as she left, Kent's mom came for a couple of nights on her way to AK for the summer.  And, of course, there's always the big "work" factor, which had me working more hours than I'd like, but made all the worse by my own illness.  Today, on the other hand, although I'm not dressed yet, the house is vacuumed for the first time in over 1 week, the laundry is nearing its completion, my Public Speaking informative speech and power point is finished and that is GOOD!!!  Even managed an email or two (PERSONAL notes!) and now am ready for a bite to eat and then off to finish the English essay due tomorrow.  Will do a last minute study group with some math peers and finish that test this afternoon.  YAY!!!  Oh yeah, better do the English reading, too!  That's the easy part!  Happy Week!

Happy "Sun"day!

What a BEAUTIFUL day!  I woke up early to head in to work and the sun was already shining!  Amazing the difference the lack of clouds makes on how bright the morning is!  It sure helped me get going, especially since this was supposed to have been a Sunday off for me.  Seems "miscommunications" are the name of the game at work lately.  Anyway, we had a good Meeting and had Victoria, Marianne, Brent, girls and baby-boy-on-the-way for ribs for lunch.  Knowing that the weather was going to cooperate, we grilled ribs.  SOOO, yummy!  After Gospel Meeting then, Gordon and Ivona and kids; Jill and Trevan and kids; Joe and Jasmine and kids; and the three of us met at a park after picking up some dinner at Subway.  The sun was beginning to lose its warmth, but still the sheer joy of sun on our faces made the end of the day that much sweeter.  Now, it is really time to go help the hubby with leftover lunch dishes and then hitting the shower and bed!  It's been a long, beautiful day!

What a day!!

What does /\this have to do with this\/?

Or perhaps this \/...

...with this \/?

These are all things we saw today at the same beach!  The tape recorder was playing some music to a group of kids covered in tattoos, boys with long hair, girls in bikini tops with unshaven pits and some monstrously huge plastic sunglasses.  The iPad using young man was with a group of young men who eventually took off not only their tops, but one proceeded to get down to just his plaid briefs!  The other young man in another group was enjoying the sun in his old fashioned swim trunks while playing hacky sack with a soccer ball!!  Ah, what the sun doesn't do to stir up the eccentricities of the PNW!!  It was a GLORIOUS warm-ish day that seemingly is to be the only one again for awhile.  Thankfully we were able to get out and enjoy it!

And a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom!

WEIRD!!!

I think that today will be a first ever for our household!  Kent went to work this morning at his usual time of about 6:30.  Because Paul is gone, he will be at work until at least 5:30 tonight.  I took Tiana to school at about 7:00 and then headed to class myself.  Now, I'm home until 4pm.  Tiana may not come home from school today if she decides to stay after and study for history since she'll be gone on a choir trip this weekend.  If she doesn't come home, she'll just stay all the way through until 6pm because she has jazz choir practice from 4-6.  My math class is 4-5 and my public speaking class is 6-8:10.  SO, that means that none of us will be together for dinner or at all as a family until about 8:30 tonight!  That is really just about the weirdest schedule we've ever had when we've all been in town!  Of course, if one of us is gone, then all bets are off, but...  Hm...feels like the "norm" that many others always experience!

Family Time!!

Family 2011
We've had a good weekend with Justin, Kathy, Wyatt, and Zoe.  Mom and Dad came up, too, so we did a valiant effort of getting a family photo.  I even got some great pictures of the individual kids.  Been a fun, ACTIVE weekend!

WHIRLWIND!!

We are home!  What a whirlwind of a weekend and the fun is just getting started!  Friday after work I drove to OR to pick up Tiana.  She'd spent the week with my parents just hanging out and doing whatever it is that they do -- oh yeah!  SHOPPING!!  And, of course, the requisite teenage pastime of constant texting!  Kent had a class to go to on Saturday so he stayed home and kept Coda company for the weekend.  Saturday I also took a quick trip to Eugene and visited my on-line card-making buddy, Cora.  I haven't seen her "new" body since she lost so much weight, and so it was good to see her and see what all she's doing in her terribly organized craft room!!  It was fun to see all of the baby lambs in the fields that were framed in wild daffodils as I drove down there!  Spring really is in the air, even if it doesn't feel like it!  Now, another week of class and then my parents and brother and his family come for the weekend!  Like I said, the fun is just beginning!  Thankfully my work schedule fully supports this week's extra activities!