Last of Christmas!

Today at work they emailed us our pictures we took at our work Christmas Party. I had forgotten we had done this. A few of my co workers in my department jumped in on the fun

On the left is Kelli and Pat *************************On the right is me with Vanessa.












Since these pictures came in it got me to thinking about one of the items I came home with. Randy, It was so worth the money. It was really yummy. Thank you Nancy and Randy for the Chocolate covered Sardines. I am glad you passed the goodness on to me and not Calvin. LOL I had to take a picture so you can see for yourselves of the goodness that I was able to endulge in.

I tell you the French sure know how to make a good Milchschokolade Sardinen mit Vollmichshokolade.

We better not quit our day jobs!

Saturday was a beautiful day with 60 degree weather. Nice change for what we had a month ago with a -18degrees. We had to wait until noon for the temperature to get high enough for a bike ride. We took a great 45 mins ride around Green Valley. I have to say, I have had the worst luck riding, because once again I got a flat tire on my way home. Yes the first for this year but not the last until I can order some of those super sonic tires off the internet.



Later that evening we went over to a to Marions' and Chris's house for a Rockband II party. They had invited another couple over. While the kids played with their toys in the next room the adults played with their toys late into the night.










Here are pictures of our men jaming to the music. I think Adam was singing "Eye of the Tiger" at this point. Chris was strutting his stuff on the drums while Pablo was kicking it on the guitar.




After seeing our performances on video, I think we should all keep our day jobs. And keep this between us for those wild rockband partys full of chocolate covered fruit and cheese fondue. Thanks Marion and Chris for a rockstar night!

Bad Week Blues,

Have you heard the term “heads will roll”? Well that is what is going on at work. It has just been one of those weeks. I felt burned out when I walked out the door on Tuesday with that being said it has not gotten any better. I am almost through the panic and rush to get the stuff turned around and out the door, but in the mean time it has been a tuff week. ERRGGGG!

I really try not to get too caught up in my job, I try to keep a distant from ever letting it get personal, well I let it get too personal and it is so exhausting when that happens. I am worn out and looking forward to the weekend. I am hoping by today the problem will be done and off my desk and tomorrow will bring the same old work junk. LOL

With that said, Bad Week Blues are sure to fade by 3:30pm Friday afternoon.

The island of Duvall

This is so crazy I had to post it on my blog. We just recently returned from some crazy weather in Seattle being snowed in. Well the snow had to melt RIGHT? And so it did. My sister sent these pictures to me today of their new found Island of Duvall. The roads and highways by them are under water. There is 6 feet of water in the yard. It covers about 3.5 acres of their 5 acres. Here are some pics of the neighbors and roads and such. The next door neighbor and 2 down from them, came over to canoe. It is insane! I don't know when the roads will open but it is supposed to be drier today and tomorrow. The river is supposed to crest sometime today and then it will start receding.










This picture taken was taken today of their backyard.

This picture was taken a week ago of the same back yard.

This is insane! Personally, I think it would be more fun going canoeing in the back yard then playing in the snow

Do people still make New Years Resolutions anymore?

I was thinking about what I want to do in 2009, what I want to accomplish, you know the same old stuff that didn’t happen in 2008, 2007, 2006 etc. You get my point. So here are some things I think I can accomplish this year.

1. I will spend less than eight hours a day on the Internet. This, of course, will be hard to estimate since I'm not a clock watcher.
2. I will stop sending e-mail, ICQ, Instant Messages and be on the phone at the same time with the same person.
3. I will not talk on my cell phone all the way to the front door and greet the person who I have been talking with on the cell phone.
4. I will not bore my boss by with the same excuse for taking leaves. I will think of some more excuses.
5. I will go and workout occasionally and not beat myself up over the workouts that just don’t happen.


I think this is a good start. I don’t want to add too much pressure, the year just barely started. As for the one I add to my list every year since I can remember which is “To lose weight, to get healthier, to eat healthier, and to drop a few pounds”. I have not even put it on my list this year. I like what Jay Leno quoted below

Jay Leno
“Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average… which means, you have met your New Year's resolution”.

Cheers to all you who set their goals high this year!

Benjamin Franklin
"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man".

Scott's Talent

x

Janie and the Splits

Saren and Scott's Game - So Funny!

Last of Great Christmas Adventures!

Monday December 29, 2008

The snow had turned to rain and so it was helping melt the snow away. Adam and I took the 2 girls out to run some errands and pick up dinner supplies for dinner that night. We were planning on getting together with Spencer, Ildiko and her mother Martha for dinner. We decided to have schnitzel and apple macron. It was a Swiss specialty that has become a family favorite.

Once Ildiko arrived we began making the specialty Hungarian cake which is called the drum cake. It is a 6 layer cake with a chocolate filling and a caramelized topping. She made it for us last year for our family fondue party and I have wanted to learn how to make it since then.

That is one of the things on my list to do was to learn how to make this cake. It was so much fun to have my siblings around and together and making a cake. As you can see we had many cooks in the kitchen to help with the cake and with dinner. I am not sure what happened, but the filling didn’t turn out the way it was suppose to and the cake batter was thicker than it normally is. I kept telling Ildiko this happens when you try to teach something you have been doing for years. Things just don’t turn out when you want them to. I had the same thing happen to me when I was doing cooking group. The peanut butter balls turned into something I have never seen before, and I have been making them for years. This was the same. She has been making this for years and it just didn’t turn out the way it was suppose to. Everything that could go wrong did. It is a timely process to make this cake and 4 hours later this is what we got. I have to say, it was very tasty and was worth all the effort even if it didn’t turn out.

My favorite part of the evening, other then the cooking with family was at the end of the meal when everyone was done. The kids came in from their table and we all talked together. Ildiko shared with us the sounds that farm animals make in Hungry and we compared them to the farm animals in the US and it was very different and funny to us and to Ildiko and her mom of the different sounds. We also learned how to count in Hungry and many other words like “Spencer is a cheater” It turned into a late night and after some family had left we had time to sit and talk with the kids.

This is when we were able to film Janie singing her ABC’s

Tuesday December 30, 2008

The trip went way to fast, and before we knew it was time to fly home. I am not ready to leave. It was so much fun to be with family and spend the time with our nieces and nephews. They are too fun to leave. I did get a fish taco on my way to the airport. Yesterday when Adam and I got out we went to get a fish taco and can you believe the guy tells me they are out of Fish? Seattle, they are out of fish? I explained that I have not had a fish taco from this place in five years and that I was only in town for another day. Oh well I tried! So that is why I had to try one more time before we left for the airport. Our flight home was uneventful and I am thankful for that. Everything ran on schedule and we were home just as planed. The snow is starting to melt when we left and the winter wonderland that had us on lock down was now disappearing. We were not able to do all the things that we had planed for the trip, but who cares. We were able to spend it together and that was more fun! Thanks for a great trip. We love and miss you Spencer, Ildiko, Nancy, Randy, Calvin, Saren, Scott and Janie already! I even miss Kitty 1, Kitty 2 and Kitty- Janie

Great Christmas Adventures - Continued -

Friday December 26, 2008

The next morning we found more snow outside and that is pretty much snowed the majority of the day. Adam and I got up and made a hearty breakfast for everyone. Actually every day we were there we made hearty breakfast that I found on my last day. Cal asked me as I am carrying my luggage down the stairs if breakfast was ready, and to his disappointment I told him I was flying out and that there was not time for me to make breakfast today, so he would need to go have cereal. I found myself with the excitement to make a igloo with the kids. I asked Sarin to go online and find an igloo plans to we could built one.

Calvin, Saren, Scott, Janie and myself went out to start the grand project. In about 2 hours of building our Igloo we found the workers starting to get distracted and the Iglo not getting bigger. So we sat down and decided it was going no where and to make a snow man instead. So the massage igloo that could house the whole family turned into a snow cover for snowball fights.

The snow was so deep and heavy that was we formed the base for the snowman we found that it was hard to roll it up closer to the road. I backed off and Cal with his muscles got on his knees to push the massive bulge forward. I was so impressed with his strength.

The kids came up with the idea to make a snowman sideways in the snow as if he is swimming. So we made the snowman, finding some hair for his head, twigs for his swimming arms and a carrot for his mustache. We used foil for his eyes. It started to get dark and so Janie heading in to get some hot chocolate, Sarin and Scott soon followed.

Cal and I stayed to finish the snowman and found that he looked like a life guard if we attached the sleigh to him. So there you have Cal being rescued by the swimming snowman. We never got the fins made that were the sharks chasing the snowman.

I didn’t realized how chilled to the bone I was until I got inside and all the wet clothes off and some hot chocolate inside me. While we were eating dinner I didn’t realize how hungry I was when I soon got the shakes from not eating and playing so hard in the snow. That night I watched a movie with the kids. We watch a panda movie that was really cute and I fell asleep watching flipper. Not so cute if you ask me, kind of boring. Saturday December 27, 2008 We were able to get out a bit. So the girls all went shopping and the boys went to the gaming store. It was fun to have the girls afternoon. Saren has really grown up, and she has good taste in clothes. It was cool to see her find cute clothes and she looks so good in everything she puts on. She had some gift cards to spend so she was a girl on a mission that day. Janie got a little bored and so Nancy took her to the play place to work of some energy. Soon we all met up and headed to a few other stores before going home to made pizza’s for dinner. Dinner was a lot of fun together, we made the dough and then we prepared all sorts of toppings. Then we each made our own individual pizzas for dinner. Everyone got what they wanted and for a few of 8 that was a crowd pleaser. After dinner the boys started a game of Monopoly and the girls when down to watch the chick flick. I told Saren that I wanted to sit in the big bean bag to watch the movie so we raced to the bean bag. As we came down the stairs and around the corner I saw Saren run into the air hockey table. I turned to laugh at her and then found myself jam my hip into the fuse ball table. Yea and then fell into the big bean bag. I won, but I have a huge black bruise on my hip from it. It was a really cute Cinderella story and I really enjoyed watching it with Janie and Saren. When the movie was done we went to check on the boys who were still playing the game. Scott looked upset as he was loosing and Adam and Randy were battling it out. So we went back downstairs to watch Kung Fu Panda. One by one the boys came down as they lost the game. Once the movie was over we went upstairs to find that the game was still going between Randy and Adam. Randy was winning and Adam was holding on. I wanted to watch the Mummy movie with the boys and had waiting all night to do it. So I convinced Scott and Cal that the games would go on for at least another hour between Adam and their dad and we should start the movie. So we did. We went to watch the movie. I found myself asleep shortly after it starting and then I hurt all sorts of noise upstairs. Adam lost the game. Sunday December 28, 2008 To our surprise they had announced one hour Church. Yeah! So after we fed the crew a massive breakfast we each took turns using the bathroom to get ready. I found myself in the girl’s bedroom curing their hair. Janie had more hair than I had thought and it seemed we didn’t have the time to take in Sarin’s hair. But Janie when with a full hair of ringlet curls to church. She told me while we were doing her hair that she did not want to look like an old lady. Because old lady’s have curls in their hair, once we were done, Janie tells me that when she grows up she thinks she will curl her hair. Sunday was relaxing and fun to just hang out and play games and talk.

Great Christmas Adventures!

Christmas Eve

We were not really sure what the day would bring? But we were excited for what ever our adventure would turn into. Christmas Eve started at 430am for us. As we packed up our items and got ready to leave for the lot to park our car. It all went very smoothly for us. We were a little late leaving the house and saying goodbye to “the girls” as you don’t realize how the time flies as you are packing the last minuet items and getting the bags to the car. I gave “the girls” their Christmas bone and made sure they have blankets and their favorite toys. We made sure there were lots of food and water for them and a place that was shoveled away for them in the back to out to do their business. There was a note left on the counter and a thank you for the family that will be taking care of our “girls” while we will be away. I love “our girls” so much! I had guilt fill my heart when I petted them one last time and walked away. I did what you should never do when you say goodbye, I looked back and saw them sitting together next to the fireplace that I had just turned off and their sad eyes looking at me. I hated to say goodbye, this will be the longest that I have been away from “my girls” since they joined our family at eight weeks old. I still feel guilty and think about them every day? I guess that is how it feels to be a parent and separated from you child. You love them so much and will think about them everyday, even though someone else is taking care of them, you still just hope they will be ok.
We made it to the lot and parked the car. It was so handy, the van that took us to the airport pulled right up as we parked the car. The driver jumped off and was right there grabbing our bags from the trunk of the car. Our driver was very alert and friendly and wished everyone a Merry Christmas and gave each one of us on the bus a candy cane. We were the last ones to get off the bus for our carrier. We were able to do curb side check in and go right to security. It was so smooth from the time we got off the bus to the time we got through security it had not been more than 10 minuets. So we headed to Mc D’s and got some breakfast and headed to our gate to eat. Not more than 30 minuets later our plane began boarding. We found our seats and got ready to begin our adventure that would take us away from home for a week. The flight was awesome, I got to use a Christmas present that Adam gave me which was a mp3 player. I love it! It is small and compact and holds all the memory I need. It plays music, video and pictures. Love it! So I sat back and enjoyed the flight while listening to music on my new little gadget and reading my Sunset magazine. The landing in Seattle was awesome. It was one of the best landing ever. Smooth! As we fly in everyone on the plane is looking out the windows at the white winter wonderland that is below. The whole city and surrounding areas as packed filled snow. As we are sitting on the runway I text my sister and brother to find out if anyone could come pick us up. As we still were not sure if the roads were clear enough to travel. While we were sitting and waiting for a gate to open we counted eight snow plows and I was able to send 14 text messages of the play by play of the waiting. Finally a gate opened for us but the wings in the plane needed to be de-iced before we could get to the gate. We unloaded and as we all gathered our items the plane became very noisy as the excited and anticipation aroused in each of the passengers to get off and get to their destinations. The airport was filled with people who some looked frustrated, sad and annoyed as we got off our plane and walked through the airport. As I read the arrivals and departure board I soon realized that these people just wanted to get to their destinations and flight were being cancelled or delayed. We found our way to baggage claim were I found my brother who was waiting for our arrival. It was so great to see him and he embraced us with a warm friendly hug welcoming us to a great Seattle adventure. “I hope you are up to an adventure.” Is what he said to me. Yes I am I thought to myself, whatever it brings will be fun. It is being with family that counts. So we gathered our bags and headed to the parking lot to find his trunk.

The back of his truck was packed with snow. He brought a tarp and we loaded our luggage in the back of the snow packed truck and covered the luggage with the tarp and enclosed it so the items would not get wet. He tied it down good and we loaded ourselves and off we went. As we were leaving the airport I thought to myself this doesn’t look so bad, but what I kept forgetting is this is Seattle and they don’t get snow. So this is bad for where we are at. As we are driving all I could think of is how beautiful it is outside with the snow covered trees that towered us. It was fun to sit and talk on our way. But I kept thinking I needed to use the bathroom. Finally when I could not take it anymore I mentioned to my brother if we could find a place I really needed to use the bathroom. He said we were close to his house and we should go there. So that is what we did. We were still another 30 mins from my sister’s and so we stopped at his place. We parked the truck on the hill and walked down a steep hill that both Adam and myself almost fell a couple of times walking down. The snow was heavy wet and very deep. It was also slick to walk through.

We were greeted by his fiancée Ildiko and her mother. They had just got done baking the sweet rolls, which are directly translated from Hungarian into English are called foam spirals.

They were wonderful; they tasted like a lemon bar. It was nice to stop and chat and talk with them for a while. We were hungry and Ildiko decided to make us a sandwich. It was so tasty. She had a dark wheat bread, which she put butter on with a Brie cheese, spinach leaves, tomato and pepperoni. It was an awesome sandwich and it reminded me of something I used to get in the train station when I lived in Switzerland. Shortly after we notice that it is getting darker outside and the snow is starting up again. Nancy my sister calls to tell us a tree has fallen on the road to their house and took out the power. After much discussion wee decide to stay the night and have Christmas Eve where we are at. The boys go and get the suitcases from the truck. I open the suitcase and pull out the home made chocolates for everyone to try. We hang out for the rest of the day, talking and laughing and watch a movie about the crucifixion of Jesus that is on TV. Even thought Martha doesn’t speak any English she really enjoyed the movie.

Then it was time to make dinner. With everyone pitching in it was a small task. Ildiko planed a wonderful traditional Hungarian meal. She explained on Christmas eve in Hungry they never ate meat and so the meal would contain mostly mushrooms and fish When it was time to sit down she explained the reason for each item we ate. We started the first course off with a wonderful salad. The next course was a macaroni cheese dish with sour cream on top. It was really good and very different. Then the third course was trout and salmon with mashed potatoes. It was all wonderful and very tasty. For dessert we had home made chocolates, and the foam spirals. After dinner we sat around the table and talked about Christmas family traditions that we do. Ildiko translated for her mother as she told us about her home and what she did as a child and as an adult. We were able to share our favorite Christmas songs. We eat took a turns singing a song. We would sing it in English and then Martha would sing us one in Hungarian. It was a lot of fun. Then Adam and Martha played on the computer pulling up things to show each other. Spencer and I went to lie on the couch and just talk about stuff. I can’t even remember all the stuff we talked about, but it was fun to have the time with my brother. Ildiko did a wonderful job translation for all of us and we were able to learn a lot of new words. “Egan!”

As the night came to an end, we realized the time had just flew by and were thankful that we had power and warmth that night. The snow continued to fall outside and the temperatures dropped. We said a prayer to bless my sister’s family to help them get through the night and hope that we would make it over there on Christmas Day.

Christmas Day!
We slept great! The couches were very comfortable. We were woken up at 4am by a cat asking for food. I slept through it, I vaguely remember seeing someone walk through the room and fill a cat bowl. I also vaguely remember a knock on the door and getting up to see who was there. I saw a baby crawl through the doorstep with a bag that he was pulling. Before I knew it he shuffled in put some presents under the tree and was gone before I new it. I can’t remember if I locked the door? Anyway, we have Santa who is a fat man in a red suit who comes down a chimney to deliver presents. In hungry, they have Baby Jesus come on Christmas Eve and bring presents. So there you have it!
Once everyone got up we made some tea and hot chocolate and watched the snow falling outside. We all pitched in to make breakfast. Where I found a new love, Ildiko, introduced me to my new favorite food. She made homemade wheat bread and put butter on it with some brie cheese and orange marmalade. Oh baby it is to die for! About that time Nancy calls and we were able to hear about their night. Their power went off about 4pm and then came back on about 10pm and they were able to stay warm and had a good night. The power went off again about 8am and was off as we were speaking. About that time as I am talking with her, our power went off. So there you have it. Both household were with out power. It was snowing hard that morning both where we were and at my sisters house. We decided we were best to stay were we were at for the time being and see what the day would bring. After getting the dishes washed and everyone together in the front room we decided to open presents. Adam and I got Spencer, Ildiko and Martha a few presents and I was so happy we did. They really liked it and I think Martha really liked what we got her. I had crocheted some dish rags to give them. I picked out colors that I thought they would like. We gave them a few other things, but the homemade stuff is what went over the best. Everything we gave this year we tried to be homemade by us or by someone I knew that I got at a craft fair earlier. I was really excited with what they got me, which were spices and paste to cook with from Hungry. I enjoy cooking and now my food will be able to taste more authentic with the real deal.

Later in the day as the snow subsided we decide to make the trip to my sister’s house. But not all of us would be able to go, since only the truck could make it out. So Spencer, Adam and I decide to venture out into the snow and drive to Duvall to my sisters house. It is a slow go and the main roads were not too bad, but the side streets were terrible. Once we got on to the main road to Duvall which is the road that we were afraid might be closed. We drove slowly up and down the hills and as we did we took pictures of the trees that were filled with snow and the electrical wires that hung so close to the road and had trees fall on them. It was crazy! We made it and saw the huge tree that had shut the road down the night before. We unloaded and headed to the front door where my Sister greeted us with a warm hugs and a warm house. Their power had come back on. We soon found out that the power at Spencer’s place had come back on while we were gone. We greeted everyone with hugs and smiles and got the luggage in the house. They got Spencer a box of wood to take back home with him incase the power was to go out again and he could light a fire. Spencer didn’t stay long and as back on the road to get home before it got dark. Nancy gave us a tour of her home. I had been there before but not seen it since it had been remodeled. The kitchen with the new cabinets and granite counters were so beautiful. They had hardwood floors put in on the main level and had the bathroom upstairs tiled and redone. The master bedroom had an extension added with a walk-in closet and the mater bath had been redone as well. To my great surprise they had the basement remodeled and it looked so good. After the grand tour of the house the kids begged to open the Christmas presents we had sent. They were so good as to not peek and open them, we each took turns opening out presents, and the kids were the best to watch with their excitement when they opened the Xbox. Which once it was all open and ready to go, Adam and the kids when to the basement to set it up to play. We found that once the power had come back on Nancy had put a roast in the oven for dinner, so the rest of us gathered in the kitchen to put the rest of dinner together. We talked into the night with the family.