Hanging Out With Manwarings

We met at Glendon and Lanay's Friday night, spent the night there, then headed out to Buhl, Idaho to visit Vic Manwaring. Those of you in the family will know the story of our friendship with the Manwarings. Vic lost his wife, Uvene, two years ago this month, but is trying to get on with his life. We discovered a whole new part of Idaho down in the Hagerman Valley with the Thousand Springs, mineral hot springs (yes, we soaked, but there will no photos of that--we figured it has been 20 years since the two of us have been in a pool!), a fish farm, and a wonderful Thai restaurant in Twin Falls. To quote both Glendon and Vic-- "to make a long story short" we had a wonderful time. There was hardly a moment of silence from the time we left until we arrived home this morning just in time to teach our SS lesson. Vic lives in a beautiful area. His home is heated by natural hot spring water, and deer and other varmints wander around.

Glendon vegging

Vic talking with Margaret from India, a potential date.

Road leading to Vic Manwaring's house

Lanay is a "zoning" professional

Pat's Birthday

OK, so after being cussed by Mike & Kim for not updating our Blog, here it is. We celebrated Pat's Birthday on Sunday 2/11/07. We had Chinese Haystacks and Cheese Cake for dinner. Curtis & Shandy & Dexter, Sam & Carrie and Carson & Parker, Nalani & Jed were in attendance. Fun!

Tonight for Valentines Day, we cooked pork chops, potatoes and stuffing for dinner. We ate by dimmed lights and candles. We gave each other candy and I also got a movie "Baptists at our BBQ". So, we will watch a nice romatic movie later tonight.

Next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will be going to Dallas, Texas for some training. Never been there and will be all alone, so let's hope my VZ Navigation works. (I get GPS on my cell phone - its called VZ Navigation).

That's our exciting life. Top that!!

A Night at Rumors Coffee House

Pat and I had a night out on the town on Saturday. My co-worker at Verizon Wirless sings. But he is very quiet about it. He said he wanted to be known as an HR Professional, not that guy in HR who sings. Anyway, he got a "gig" at the Rumors Coffee House in Sugar House. So, Pat and I and another couple from work went to see him. We had a great time. By the way, just so you know, Pat had a hot chocolate and I had a smoothie. The picture of the guy at the keyboard is Kimo Pokini, my co-worker.

Ready & Root'n

Here we are, all ready for the Colts Game. I sure wish we were back in Indiana today, I can only imagine the party that will be going on at the Indiana Clarks today! GO COLTS!

Let the "Fun" begin

Which color do you like the best? We've decided to start on the kitchen. Just need to get up a little steam. Once we get started it is easier. Getting started is the hard part. We have looked at some beautiful granite for counter tops. Shouldn't have done that as now all the other stuff doesn't look so good. The granite we looked at is black with splashes of color that match the cupboards. So, let us know what you think of the paint.

Looking Back

When we were in Indiana for Thanksgiving, we took some incredible photos at the Lake House, and since life is fairly slow and boring right now (our idea of a night out tonight was to go to Target and find a new curling iron and hair blower!), I decided to post some of those pictures. The photo of Kim was her having her eyebrows plucked and shaped by a little lady in a mall kiosk who uses thread to yank out the hairs! It was something I'd (Pat) never even heard of, but it was amazingly fast!!

Using our Panini Grills

Now that we all have Panini Grills, we ought to share the good stuff we fix on it. After Church today, I fixed Flank Steak, and It was delicious. Here is how I did it:

Score the flank steak on both sides about 1/4" deep both ways (making diamond pattern)

Prepare Marinade as follows:
1 Cup Salad Oil
1 Tablespoon Vinegar
1 Close Garclc
Salt and Pepper
I made it "special" by adding to the above
One big squirt of Horseradish Sauce
Around 1/4 cup of "Bernstein's Cheese & Garlic Italian Dressing"
Pour in shallow pan and put meat in the Marinade.

I put the meat in about 9:00 AM then cooked it at 4:30 PM when we got home from church, so let it soak up the good stuff for several hours.

I put it on the Panini Grill and cooked till Medium Well.

When done, let it rest for a few minutes, then cut diagonally in thin strips across the grain.

It was SO tasty. Give it a try sometime!

New Years Weekend - Fun

Here are some pictures of our CRAZY Mew Years Weekend. We loved having everyone here. The kids all got a bath. All the sparkling cider we could drink if only Pat makes it to Midnight.
Wanna hear a funny story? I think it is funny because I have been there before, but now I can just laugh. I was watching out the window as Darren and Susan pulled out of the driveway to head home. Before the car was even out of the driveway onto the street, Darren had stopped the car TWICE. I could tell things were a little tense, but after the 2nd stop, the kids got a lecture with finger pointing and everything. I couldn't help but smile! (How was the rest of the trip home? Did that one lecture last the whole trip?)

The Party is Over - The Tree Anyway

We decided (Pat decided) we needed to take down the Christmas Tree tonight. So we did! It is all down, and put away and the furniture put back in its proper place. It seems real nice. Now we just need to take down miscellaneous stuff around the house, but the major part is complete. Yeah for us. I am also very excited this year because I did not put lights on the outside of my house, and as a result, I DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THEM DOWN!!! Yeah for me.

Another Terrific Christmas

Starting the day at the Sweets watching everyone opening their gifts; eating a scrumptious breakfast of Carrie's German pancakes; coming home and opening our gifts; then preparing dinner for the masses, including the tradition of making French crepes--it was wild and so very enjoyable!! the only thing that would have been better is if Darren/Susan and family, and Mike/Kim and family could have been here! This is my first Christmas without my mom, so these photos of our Christmas stockings have special meaning. She made stockings like this for our entire family, and I have always loved them.I had to post this photo of Jed because--well just because he gives us such a bad time about our blogs and hates it when we take his photo (I think he secretly loves it to tell the truth)...

Christmas Eve With Orem Clarks

Curtis and Shandy know how to host a party!! Shandy and her mom are cooking maniacs, and we loved it! Dexter was a doll through it all; and, yes, it's verified--I (Pat) have Sex Appeal!!

Christmas Eve Day from the Deck

Here are a few pictures taken the afternoon of the day before Christmas from our deck. It is a Winter Wonderland. I can't wait until Christmas Day. You bet I'll be rip'n paper off presents! Merry Christmas everyone.

It's a Wrap!!

I played hooky from work today to get caught up on Christmas stuff, laundry, etc., etc. I organized the office into a wrapping station, and Carrie thought it was quite admirable, and insisted on taking photos. The boys were also having fun with the Christmas tree train.

Friends are great!

Most of you know our friends, Debbie and Paul. Debbie works with Dad at Verizon, having moved down here a couple of years ago. Paul is a meat cutter, and so last night they had us over for some of the best steaks we had ever tasted. They are such wonderful friends and we have loved having them live close. Dad made a cake that he found in Sunset magazine, December issue, and the cake looks just like the cover photo! It is an angel food cake frosted with whipped cream, then covered with crushed candy canes--it was scrumptious

The fun continues...

I know you are keeping up on Dexter, but I had to share some photos we took while they were here last weekend. This is Dexter in his Sunday best, and later his relaxing stripes! What a cutie!!

Let Christmas Begin

Wanted to get this post updated, so am putting in photos of today. We'll go back and share some incredible Indiana photos later. Carl started the 2006 candy making season with a batch of his famous nougat. We've decorated most of the upstairs and will move to the porch next. It's so cold, the outside light hanging may be given a rest this year. Notice our "fireplace." The fire even crackles and soft Christmas piano music is playing. No ashes to remove, no logs to carry in. We love this time of year!

To Quincy-Quick/Back-Slow

Sunday morning after Sharon's crazy party, Keith was kind enough to lend us their car to drive over to Quincy to see Dad Bell. It was raining in Redmond, but as is most often the case, the skies were blue and cloudless the closer we got to Quincy. We visited with Grandpa--very one-sided--he just can't communicate except with his eyes, but we knew he knew we were there because his eyes got wide and bit of a grin was on his face when we walked in. We left Quincy about 12:30 p.m., got almost to the summit of Snoqualmie Pass when traffic came to a halt. It was snowing, and there had been several wrecks, we so we sat, then creeped about a car length, sat some more, on and on. We heard on the radio that they had closed the pass on both sides, so we were lucky to get through when we did. We finally got to Daurell's for David's 12th birthday party about 6:00 p.m., when we had planned on being there about 3:00!

Also wanted to share a photo of Kami and Ben, as well as Lynette.

Sharon's B'day Suprise

It was hard to resist the temptation to harrass Sharon on this "special" day, so we flew to Seattle to join in the festivities. She did not know we were going to be there, so when she made the discovery that we were among the masses at Orams' house, she was pleased (we think). We stayed with Keith and Barb and had a great visit with them. We went shopping with Barb and bought some stuff from Kohls then had to haul it home. We went to Kohls tonight, and they had the same stuff we bought with Barb. Go figure!

it was a wild party, and you can see that Quinn and Taylor had a wonderful time jumping onto the Love Sac from the sofa!! Course the brothers look a bit more serious.