A Beautiful Sight

     How cool is this?  When I left for Zumba this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see the hoar frost on the trees.  It is such a spectacular sight and one that is not seen often enough.  So I ran inside and grabbed my camera to take a few pictures of our trees covered in the frost.  My favorite has to be our crab apple tree below:

 I guess this is the closest look we are going to get to snow at the rate we're going!!

Friends + Food = Fun

     Darrell and I recently had the opportunity to meet our good friends for dinner.  It is always nice to enjoy friends and conversation outside of the workplace.  Darrell's work can be very stressful, and he always enjoys laughs with Holty (especially since some of his family members work for him).  We had a very nice dinner followed by wine and dessert.

Brenda and Holty smile for the camera.

 

 

Now it is our turn.  :0)

Holty's student teacher was our waitress, so she treated us to this yummy dessert!!   It was so delicious!!

The four of us

     My next dinner adventure was to celebrate Anita's birthday.  She invited Simona and me out to dinner.  It was so nice to catch up with her.  We enjoyed a really good BBQ chicken flatbread pizza.  You can't go wrong with Granite City Food and Brewery!! Happy birthday to you, Anita!!!

A Busy Week

Lots of fun activities were on store this past week, so here is a recap. :0)

     Last Sunday our nephew, Erik, received his Eagle Scout Award in Rochester.  It was a special occasion for him and his family.  He has worked really hard for this, so it was nice to see his efforts paid off!!  Erik is the one in the middle of the three boys/young men in the picture.

Erik presented his dad, Paul, with a medal for being a parent of an Eagle Scout.

Then Darrell's sister, Patti, had the honor of adding a medal to his many other medals.  She was one proud mama!!

Erik gave a very nice speech.

He spoke about one of his mentors, his Aunt Cheryl (Darrell's sister), and he presented her with a mentor pin.

A close-up of his Eagle Scout Award

     After the ceremony, everyone gathered at Patti and Paul's for a celebration.  Paul's family came from a couple of different states for the occasion, so we were able to get a nice photo of his side of the family.

Evan, Erik, Paul, and Patti

It was over to Heather's house on Monday night.  She taught us how to make her yummy homemade egg rolls.

Mike and Heather's friend's husband is from Laos, so the recipe is from him. These are fabulous egg rolls!!

Simona was the "unwrapper" of the pastry.  I was the "stuffer" and "wrapper" while Heather was the "gluer" of the egg rolls.

Looking so official :)

Heather's husband, Mike, was the official fryer for the occasion. 

Don't these look yummy??!!

Heather and her daughter, Victoria, also prepared a meal to go along with the egg rolls.  I brought the dessert. :)  Heather's mom and step-dad also joined us for dinner.

Three generations: Heather's mom, Heather, and her two daughters, Victoria and Olivia

Snuggle time for Grandpa and Olivia

Heather showed us Mike's Big Lake basketball uniform from the late '80s while Jill decided to don this crazy blue & gold mask!!

Next was dinner and movie night at Heidi's on Thursday night.

Alison was the only one who hadn't seen The Help, but we still decided to watch it since we all read the book.  We also prepared dinner with a Southern theme.

Here is Heidi making cheesy grits, a new recipe that she came across. 

 Deb and Alison helped with the okra and baked beans.

We opted to be healthier, so we substituted rotisserie chicken instead of fried chicken.

     However...I found a new recipe that is so yummy but not one that I would classify as "low fat."  They are called Frosted Cheesecake Brownies.  Peter and Rachel sampled them before we even had dinner. :0)

Rachel took her dessert "to go" as she was working on her homework.

Smudge went nuts over Deb's leather purse.  He was licking it and rolling all over on it.  What a crazy kitty!!

Thanks for a fun evening, Heidi!! :0)

A Special Day for Us

January 12 is always a special day for Darrell and me. It is the date of our very first date together. Darrell is so sweet to always remember it; a lot of times he remembers it before I do!! He is my heart and soul, and I am so very blessed to have him as my husband.

This free collage created with Smilebox

Wrapping up 2011...

Dinner and movie night

Rach treated Auntie Lulu to a pedicure as a precursor to proofreading some of her papers this upcoming (and her final) semester.  She also starts student teaching this Tuesday. :0)

 

From this to...

this... 

We got to see my brother's newly completed house.  Wow, how beautiful it is!!

As is their view...nothing prettier than the Big Horn Mountains as your backdrop!!

Here we are standing on their back porch.  It was a such a nice day!!

My sister-in-law, Melanie, and her grandson, Ezra

The doggies made themselves quite comfortable at grandma and grandpa's house!!

Goofing around with some of my family...

Danny, the family clown in the front row, is so glad to be home from his Peace Corps experience in the Philippines!! 

Having a toast with Rach and Dad

Grandpa on "double scratching duty"...no wonder they love going to Sheridan!!

All the while, Benji was content snuggling at home with Dani. :0)