Sunday November 29th, 2009

Hello folks. This Thanskgiving was a difficult one. I miss my mother. There is no doubt it was empty without her. We did however get to go to Jennie's Mom's house, and that was wonderful. Good food and family.

This morning took a walk with the five dogs and Jennie, and it was really nice. Jennie got a LOT of nice photos which you can see on her Facebook Page. I wish you could see them all and wish there was a way to easily link to them.

Today I cleaned, and relaxed a lot. Yesterday Jennie and I started Christmas shopping, and went to Happy Sumo, and she got her hair done. Tonight we all together as a family and watched Star Trek, which was fun. The kids just love spending time with us. Asher went running, and I put away books, and I finally put together Asher and Riley's beds.

Hm... there had to be more than that, no? No, not really. The walk was nice, the movie was nice, and oh yeah I did a lot of work. The games orders are really big this time of year. That is nice considering how hurt we were when we lost Magic the Gathering for a while there. What evil people they are at Wizards of the Coast.

Anyway, that's that. I will try and update you more soon. I'm helping Ame build her models for Warhammer, she's choosing the Dark Angels Space Marines. I did a lot of Tyranids too. I put my whole army together today and was a bit disapointed. It was smaller than I thought it would be. Asher and Riley are way ahead of me, but they are kids!

Okay, I'll go. If I can figure a way for you to see Jennie's photos of the kids and family and dogs I will.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This year kind of sucked. The first year without my Mother. It was a tough day for sure. Everything seems messed up. But... we went to Jennie's folks for dinner and it was so nice! I was grateful to sit back and have a Thanksgiving dinner like that. Very enjoyable. I thank everyone who helped. Jennie and I got up and cooked in the morning, and it was fun. She made Mac and Cheese, and I really liked it. Anyway, ending love and light out to all you who read our blog and follow the family adventure! Thanks!

Today being Friday as I write this we are all back at work. Jennie leaving to Salt Lake this morning, and me heading down to Heber from the new house.

Oh, Ben and B'andra came by last night, and it was really nice to see them. They only stopped by for a minute, but it was great to see them.

Dexter

Good evening friends! It has been a bit of a while since I posted. This weekend, Friday and Saturday, and Sunday, we did nothing. Well, not nothing, but not much. We took a much needed rest. It was upsetting on some levels, I think Saturday Jennie and I both felt moody. Friday night Riley had four friends over and they stayed nearly all day Saturday too. Asher is grounded for bad grades. Ame on Saturday went to ODP tryouts, that is Olympic Development Program tryouts for soccer! She doesnt' think she made the team, but I'm sure it was a great experience for her. Thanks to her soccer coach Mandy for taking her.

What did Jennie and I do? We watched Dexter. All 12 hours of it. Yep, season one of the show Dexter, which is about a serial killer with a code. I don't recommend this to everyone, but it is one of the best shows I have ever watched. Most well written... I just can't say enough. BUT... it's dark, and not for the faint of heart. Still, as a writer, I admire what these guys have done creating this.

Tonight (being Sunday) Jennie cooked Fried Chicken for us. WOW! It was good. And she actually cooked it. No proxy. We had a family dinner. We took the dogs for two walks. Asher and Riley took them in the morning, and Jennie and I took them tonight. Up here along the trails we just leave them off leash, even Figgy and Boo. Speaking of Boo, she has a rash and was sick all day Saturday. Better today. Anyway, on the walk the dogs just loved it. It was great. we saw LOTS of deer. They live in our backyard. We both reflected on how weird it is my kids haven't explored all the areas yet.

I'm reading my friend John Brown's novel, Servant of a Dark God. He got published before me. How about that? Cool for him. So far it is similar to the draft I remember reading a long time ago.

Jennie read Asher's Sun Sign to him and we were supposed to get together for dinner with Mike Aguilar at the house but he wanted to go out to dinner instead, and we didn't really want to do that since we had dinner cooked here. Riley helped with some orders on the computer.

Well... and we ordered some Graber olives.

Thanksgiving is next week. I can't wait. It was so good of Jennie to cook for us today, and I want to thank her.

Well, have a good great week!!!!

Oh hell, I almost forgot! We watched RSL win the MSL soccer cup tonight! OH WOW! Was that FUN! AWESOME! Salt Lake City has won it's first major professional sports championship! It was just awesome. LOVED IT!

Jason

Dinner with the Family

Hello everyone! This weekend Jennie's entire family (well... almost... we didn't have Paul and Jen) came up for Sunday Dinner. It was a fun time, I really enjoyed having them up, and the only bad thing was they left so early! :) Here are some photos of the time!

Josh got to spend some time with Churchill at the dinner table!

Jim got to spend time with Churchill AND Princess!

Josh reaching for some food!

The table, with a certain curious Boston Terrier checking out Peggy's Soup Bowl!

Jennie, John, and Peggy listening attentively to Josh

Jim says "I love you" to me AND Jennie, at the EXACT SAME TIME!

Churchill and Cinder are tired from all the excitement!

Asher samples a Strawberry!

Riley Escapes from it all for a brief moment on the computer....

Ame smiles for the camera while Peggy gets mauled by Princess!

Jennie, Caitlen and Raimi enjoy the November Sun!

Asher helps with the Enchiladas!

Raimi, Josh, Caitlen, Jennie, and John!

Jennie and John share a moment opening a bottle of wine!

However in this photo, Jennie is clearly doing something wrong with the bottle opener and John is telling her about it! (grin)

And we will wrap up with Ame cooking! It was a great time! And a very special thanks to Peggy and John for the glassware, we REALLY needed it, and to Josh for the wine and Jim and Raimi and Caitlen for the bread! Come again soon!

New Mexico Enchiladas!

Today Jennie's family is coming up to the new house for dinner! We're cooking our New Mexico Enchiladas... New Orleans style! Don't worry, they are very good. For the sause, you start by cooking the onions and peppers and garlic in a little olive oil adding beef broth as you go with a strong mix of seasonings, including New Mexico Chili Powder, Cumin, Coriander, and salt, pepper and garlic. You add some tomato paste and sauce, and after an hour of cooking you have a sauce that you blend. It tastes AWESOME! Anyway, we did that last night along with the tortilla soup! Today we'll make the other sour cream based sause for the enchiladas, and put them into the oven.

We also have a nice Salad to go with it.

I'll take pictures of stuff and let you see them! And all the guests who are coming. Meanwhile, a shout out to all my friends in Vegas for NEONCON. Hope they are having fun!

Friday Night

Hello everyone! I haven't written much in the last little while, but I'll do a quick update on things and I'll promise to come back and add some more stuff later. Last week was Halloween and we have some fun photos I would like to post!

Okay, first of all, tonight Asher and Riley ran a Magic the Gathering Tournament at the store. A Zendikar Draft. It was fun, and hopefully successful for everyone!

Jennie and I lost our little cat Bug about 2 weeks ago. She is very shy, so while we moved, she was trapped in the old house. One morning I finally got her. She's very upset. Well I brought her to the new house only to have her utterly disappear the first day. I've been praying for her and asking God where she is. We've all been worried sick. Well tonight I was in the garage unloading things and I opened a drawer to a dresser there and BAM Bug was in the top drawer! She climbed up into it!

She's now safely in Ame's room, with Cinder (her favorite dog) and food and water. I hope she's okay, but I will tell you I was worried about it and my prayers seemed to fall on deaf ears. It was a weird experience. I've worried over that little cat more than I should. I'm glad she is safe now. I hope she is able to get comfortable in the new house.

We lost little chili too the other day, she got outside and was gone for two days! Also Philo and Houdini went out one night and spent the night outside. They were on the front door howling at 5:00 AM! Houdini had actually fallen down a window well and was howling down there.

I went for a walk yesterday with Cinder around my new neighborhood and it was REALLY nice. There really are so many things I could tell you about. But that walk was just nice, and the neighborhood is really nice.

My Dad woke me up at 5:00 this morning saying he was light headed and dizzy and numb all over. I talked him down. He has panic attacks now, and I got him calm and he went back to sleep.

Oh, I forgot to mention that Peggy and John and Josh and Jim and Raimi and Caitlen are all coming up Sunday for dinner! I am debating between enchiladas and lamb, and I'm leaning toward lamb as more traditional, but enchiladas because I can make more of them. Not sure yet which way I'm going to go!

My Mother would like the lamb. But she would like the enchiladas too. Work has been good, and we finished moving everything from the old house today, except the christmas decorations. That is the only thing left. Of course our garage is filled, our basement is filled, and everything is not put away. Cause of consternation for sure! At least we have the kitchen and the livingroom and the bedrooms put away.

I cooked two recipes this week, New Mexico Tomato Soup, and New Mexico Potato Soup. Both were absolutely incredible. I call them New Mexico in honor of Jennie's friend Brandy, who hails from that far distant land.

Hm... well we found the cat! I am grateful to God! I am utterly humbly grateful. The fence is almost done around the house, though Tommy was suppose to finish it today but the gates mysteriously didn't get put on. He's off to St. George and all my friends are at NEONCON in Vegas, something I dearly wanted to do, but had to cancel due to the move.

Ame has Olympic Soccer Tryouts tomorow! Can you believe that? I have to get up at 6:30 to get her there on time. Yeah. Can you believe THAT? On a Saturday? WHEW!

I watched Mulan with Asher last night, on DVD. It is one of my favorite Disney Movies. Just a plain old good one. Haven't watched much TV lately except So You Think You Can Dance.

Okay. I have Halloween pictures, and Ame Soccer pictures for the next post. I might even download them tonight but probably post another day. I really want to put my house away and settle down. And spend some time in it! You know, make it a home that is filled with love and excitement.

Oh my friend Joe Ballsteadt called me tonight. We have to get together soon with him and Mike Aguilar.

Okay, I'm going now. That wasn't entirely boring was it? I didn't think so. You wouldn't have read so far if it was. You would have stopped way up there... yeah, 10 paragraphs ago!

Bless you all!

Love Jason

New Mexico Malibu Chicken

Yes... Jennie cooked tonight. By proxy... but she cooked. We cooked New Mexico Malibu Chicken and it... was... awesome!!! We broiled the chicken in some olive oil, seasoned it with salt pepper and fresh thyme, then when it was done, added ham and swiss cheese with mushed potatoes and it was an awesome dinner that Jennie made for me and Ame! It was really really good. I can't emphasize that enough. Good stuff!