Camping

We went camping at Standish Hickey State Park over 4th of July weekend. We met my parents and my uncle. It was absolutely perfect weather...got to maybe 85 on Saturday and cooled down into the 50's at night. We went on lots of walks around the campground...and had some delicious (as always) gourmet dutch oven meals. I think...no I know...camping revolves around food. We always have carnitas tacos (courtesy of my dad) on Friday night and carnitas hash and cinnamon rolls from scratch on Saturday morning. My dad recently got in to roasting his own coffee beans, so he brought his popcorn popper camping and we roasted some coffee. It smells a little funky during the roasting process, but boy did it taste good in the morning!!! Below are the green coffee beans

                

Below is the roasting process...you have to blow off the bean sheaths (I don't think that's what it's really called, but I can't remember the name).

         

And finally you have beautifully roasted coffee beans!!! Go Dad!

             

Here were a couple of our wild life finds...one huge banana slug and an inch worm.

        

Here are a couple of pictures Steve took when he and my dad went down to the river.

        

The name of the game for the weekend is to RELAX...which is exactly what we did. My mom and I did a little scrapbooking and the guys made their trip to the store for ice and sat around reading.

       

       

My uncle always cooks dinner on Saturday night...it changes, but is ALWAYS delicious. This year it is was chicken and pesto pasta.  Isn't it pretty?!!

                            

And for dessert...chocolate pudding cake with tag-team whipped cream. I think we all got our forearm workout whipping the cream!!

          

Sunday morning was another first...we had biscuits (again from scratch) and gravy with sausage...mmmm good!

I love going camping!!! We always have such a great time. Can't wait for the next time!

Videos

Poor little guy gets WAY TOO many cases of the hiccups!



He is so active...always moving the arms, legs...and tongue!

Wyoming

I just got back from a great trip to Wyoming. I went back to visit my sister, her husband, and my brand new nephew...who is absolutely adorable. We kept the whole week low key, giving Susan and Leevi a little time to do nothing and catch up on sleep with a little help when needed. We did a little shopping, took a couple of walks around the block, went to a Celtic Festival and went to a couple of local restaurants...we also watched lots of Law and Order (I think there was a marathon on during the day...every day) and witnessed a couple of LOUD thunder storms. Susan and I tried to get all the pictures into Adam's baby album and we managed to complete 3 scrapbook pages. The first page took FOREVER...too many options, but it did get a little easier after that. I can't believe I've been to Wyoming twice this year...and I'll see them again in August at the family reunion. I just wish we lived a little closer so visits could be more frequent. Here are some of my favorite Adam pictures from the last week .

I Got Tagged

What was I doing 10 yrs ago...
I was 19 years old and had just finished my first year in engineering at UOP. I was home for the summer and had an internship with Caltrans.

5 yrs ago....
I was 24 and living in Pleasanton with Steve who was at the time my boyfriend. I was working for Winzler & Kelly (an engineering firm) and commuting to Santa Rosa everyday...talk about a lot of driving!!

1 yr ago....
I was living in Tracy with my husband, Steve. I was working for Carollo Engineers (still am) and was supervising our backyard project with the contractor from hell!

Yesterday...
I got up and spent the day with my sister, her husband, and my 2.5 week old nephew (who is absolutely adorable!!) in Wyoming. We ran some errands...got some pictures developed at Sam's Club, picked up a few things at Target and hit the grocery store. When we came out of the grocery store there was some serious thunder and lightning. One of their friends came over for dinner and we just hung out.

5 snacks I enjoy....
Peanut butter and honey with apples, string cheese, any kind of fruit, almonds, and wheat thins.

5 favorite books...
I don't have a lot of time to read books...but I like Mary Higgins Clark, Lisa Scottoline, and Iris Johanson books...or any other murder/mystery type book.

5 places to run....
I don't run. I ride our stationary bike on occasion...most often I lift weights.

5 bad habits...
biting my nails, leaving shoes all over the house, tuning people out, spending too much time on the computer, finding excuses to not work out.

5 pet peeves...
Bad customer service, people driving way under the speed limit, people who don't pay attention to where they are going, telemarketers, and people who talk during movies.

5 things I enjoy...
Quiet time with a book, time with my husband, visiting with family, gardening, and cooking.

5 favorite TV shows...
House, Crimal Minds, Biggest Loser, CSI, and The Unit.

5 people to tag...
I don't have 5 people to tag so...Mom, Trisha, and Stephanie

It's a BOY

Susan and Leevi are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy!!

                    

ADAM ALLEN KANTEN

Weight: 7lb 0oz

Length: 21 inches

Born: June 6, 2008 5:39am

 

After being induced at 9am yesterday morning, Susan ended up delivering little Adam by C-Section. Both Susan and Adam are doing well. Susan just needs some sleep, some food, and a shower!

CONGRATULATIONS LEEVI & SUSAN!!

Dilemma

About a year and half ago we bought new hardware for the front door...handle, lock, hinges...the works. Well we never got around to installing it. Recently we decided we are going to repaint the front door a dark chocolate brown and after having a near mishap with the light by the front door (that and it's ugly) we decided to replace the light. The light we replaced it with has an antique bronze finish which will look nice with the door color...however I'm now thinking the brushed nickel hardware we bought for the front door eons ago is going to look awful...any thoughts? What poor planning on our part!!! Below are pictures of the door with the old light and the new light.

      

       Old Light                      New Light               New Light Close-up

On a side note...looks like the ficus has taken over the front porch. Guess it's time to do a little pruning.

The Yard

Now that it's been almost a year since we did the backyard I thought I would take some more pictures. I can't believe how much stuff has grown. I also bought a new camera so it was a good excuse to play with the new camera to see what it can do.

Here are some pictures of my garden...some things got planted twice this year because of the high winds we had. It ripped some of the little plants right out of the ground!!

 

       Carrots                     Zucchini                 Watermelon

 

       

This has been a great blueberry year...look at all those berries!! They should be ripening over the next week or two...looks like lots of blueberry muffins or pancakes are in the future!

Here are some pics of the backyard