Sunday, 7/26/2010

Not a dull moment around the Ackers house. Our friends Thad and Shannon are here for a brief visit from the Washington D.C. area. They met us at our house around 12:30pm. After a quick visit at the house, we jumped in the car and went downtown for a food tour. Ben researched our food tour options and decided on Savor Seattle Food Tours. We took the two hour Pike Place Market food and cultural tour and really enjoyed ourselves. We learned about Seattle, specifically Pike Place Market, and tasted food from 9 different merchants in the market.

We had:
Jicama Summer Rolls @ Thoa's Restaurant and Lounge
Cinnamon Sugar Donuts @ Daily Dozen Donuts
Smoked Salmon @ Pike Place Fish
Peaches & Bing Cherries @ Frank's Produce
Clam and Corn & Chicken and Seafood Bisque @ Pike Place Chowder
Pierogies @ Cafe Yarmarka
Cookies @ Cinnamon Works

Flagship Cheese and Mac & Cheese @ Beecher's Handmade Cheese

Crab Cakes @ Etta's Seafood Restaurant

We definitely ate things we would never had ordered on our own, but enjoyed everything. It was well worth our time and money to go. Katie rode in the Ergo Baby backpack the entire time. She snacked on the bites we were willing to share with her;) After the tour, we walked to the Icon Grill where we had drinks and shared a plate of fried macaroni and cheese. There was no need for dinner after all of that food. We finished the day with drinks and cookies at home.

Here are some of the photos taken during Thad & Shannon's visit: http://www.ackersphotography.com/Friends/Thad-Shannon-Visit-2010/13104967_k3gRK#950124774_2PbEM

Saturday, 7/24/2010

Happy Wedding Day Laura and David!!!

We started taking photos of the big event at 1pm today and didn't stop until just before 10pm. It was a beautiful wedding. Laura was stunning, and David was very handsome. What an honor to record their special day in photos.

The reception was held at The Hall at Fauntleroy and was catered by Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes. Our wedding reception was held in the same place and catered by the same company, so we knew the food would be good. Thankfully, there was a good break during the reception during which we could get some food. I had a green salad with dried cranberries, goat cheese, and a raspberry vinaigrette, a watermelon, blueberry with mint salad, salmon, grilled asparagus and peppers, and bread for dinner. Ben opted for steak instead of the salmon.

Laura and David chose two different cakes to serve their guests. Ben and I both had a piece of chocolate cake. It was divine! I can't be sure, but I think the filling between cake layers was a chocolate butter cream or mousse and the frosting was cream cheese. What made it so amazing was that the cake was chilled. The reception hall was quite warm, so the chilled filling and frosting made the cake quite refreshing:) I believe Laura said the cake came from the Macrina Bakery.

Although the dinner was delicious, the best part of the catered food was the double chocolate chip cookies that were served around 9:30pm. Laura's mom told us that they were her favorite thing that they ordered. She was soo right. They were outstanding!!!

Friday, 7/23/2010

We attended the wedding rehearsal for our friends Laura and David this afternoon. We are going to be their photographers tomorrow. They were kind enough to invite us to their post-rehearsal reception downtown Seattle at the Red Lion Hotel. They reserved half of the lounge and patio for their guests. We were lucky to find a table to sit down at. We enjoyed pulled pork sliders, egg rolls, hummus, potato wedges, fried shrimp, and plenty of cookies and tasty desserts. It was a very nice evening until...Katie puked. Yes, that's right...she puked at the reception. (Just warning you now that I am going to get a bit graphic in the rest of this post.)

We think that the puking was triggered when she choked/gagged on a small piece of chocolate truffle. She had been drinking a ton of water and eating cheese just prior to the incident, so it was like a small, yet foul, geiser that mainly landed directly on my sandal covered foot. YUCK!!! She seemed fine and was only concerned about the puke which was running down her leg. Ben ran to go get some help from the hotel staff. The nicest waitress name Monica came to our rescue. She brought us wet towels to clean up with and even took our soiled shoes into the back to wash them for us. We stripped Katie down to her diaper cover and clothed her in a very large tie-died shirt. It was a youth size small:) Anyway, we got cleaned up enough to leave, said our goodbyes and went home.

Thursday, 7/22/2010

The house smelled delicious ALL DAY LONG today. I prepared a pork roast in the crock pot last night and Ben started it cooking at 6:00 this morning. YUM! Here's the fail proof recipe.

BBQ PULLED PORK

INGREDIENTS:
1 Boston Butt or Shoulder Pork Roast, 2-4 pounds
Garlic powder
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 large white onion

1 cup of your favorite bbq sauce (we like Longhorn BBQ sauce)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1-2 teaspoons of liquid smoke (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Liberally coat the bottom of your crock pot with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Then, rub the same three ingredients over the entire roast. Quarter the onion and place the separated chunks on top and around the roast. Cook on the Low Heat setting for 9-11 hours.
2. Remove the roast from the crock pot and shred the pork with a couple of forks.
3. Clean out the crock pot.
4. Return the shredded pork to the crock pot. Combine the three liquid ingredients together and mix into the pork. Cook on High Heat for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Serve on toasted buns.

We enjoyed our pulled pork on toasted Oroweat Sandwich Thins with corn on the cob. Katie wouldn't touch the pork, but did well with her corn.

Wednesday, 7/21/2010

Oh, yum! Tonight's dinner was soo good! I made Foil-Wrapped Ginger Chicken, roasted garlic and olive oil couscous, and grilled asparagus. The chicken makes the house smell wonderful. Ben walked in the door after work and said "mmmm...something smells good." I'll take that as a compliment:)

I had fun plating the meal tonight. I pressed the couscous into an egg ring on the plate and then carefully stacked the chicken on top. It felt like I was on Iron Chef:) Thanks to Ben for taking this great shot of the meal!

Tuesday, 7/20/2010

It was a hamburger kind of night. I wanted to try something different with our burgers. I took a pound of lean ground beef and added an egg, 1/4 cup of Worcestershire, freshly ground black pepper, and a little kosher salt. In the end, we had pretty ugly, but nicely flavored burgers. The combination of a really hot grill and cold meat resulted in a lot of meat sticking to the grates. We topped the burgers with cheddar cheese and bacon. In the future, I need to make sure to use thick bacon for burgers. The thin stuff just gets lost when paired with flavorful burgers.

To go with the burgers, we grilled sliced yellow squash. The strips of squash were tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper. After they came off the grill, we added Red Robin seasoning salt. I added a bit too much to mine, but could see how that would be a positive flavor addition with the correct amount applied. Katie wouldn't eat the squash, but she did eat some of the hamburger meat. Her favorite part of the meal was dipping her fingers into ketchup.

Monday, 7/19/2010

Tonight I revamped the strawberry, chicken, spinach salad I made in June. It was much better!

This time I used chicken tenderloins, seasoned with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, and sprayed with olive oil. The oil kept them from sticking to the grill. They were cooked on direct medium heat until cooked through. I think having more flavor in the chicken was the key to making the salad taste better.

I also opted for mixed greens instead of only spinach tonight. It made the salad more interesting in texture and appearance. I still finished the salad with sliced strawberries, candied walnuts, poppyseed dressing, and a parmesan crisp on the side. We poured a little dressing on Katie's tray and let her dip chicken and strawberry pieces into it. She likes to dip her food.

On a side note, Katie only asked for a cookie a couple times today. Thankfully, she did not resort to a tantrum when she was denied:)

Sunday, 7/18/2010

We took a trip to Costco today. We didn't really need anything, but ended up getting a few things anyway--halibut, ground beef, eggs, foil, and pork tamales. The tamales were super easy to prepare and were delicious for our dinner. The pork was wonderfully seasoned to be a bit spicy. They were all prepared in corn husks. All we had to do was steam them for 10-12 minutes. Piece of cake! Plus, it gave Ben a chance to use our All-Clad steamer basket:) We've used the pasta insert numerous times, but this was the first time we used the steamer basket.

Katie threw a most spectacular tantrum after her nap this afternoon when we wouldn't give her a cookie before dinner. I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies while she was napping, to take over to our neighbors. They welcomed their first son, Oliver, into the world over the weekend. When she came downstairs after her nap, she spotted the cooling racks full of cookies. She immediately began chanting "cracka, cracka, cracka", which is her way of saying cracker. We did our best to explain that she could have one after dinner. That didn't work.

There were huge alligator tears rolling down her cheeks. She flung herself onto the floor over and over again. She hit her diaper bag and pulled stuff out of it kind of violently. For a little while, we thought she might be having serious teething pain based on her irrational behavior. But no, she only wanted cookies. To be fair, I must note that we had a very busy morning and that her nap didn't start until after 2pm--about 4 hours later than normal. Anyway, she woke up on the wrong side of the crib without the patience to wait for a cookie. The funniest part of the story is that, when she finally finished dinner and got her cookie, she barely ate any of it. She was more interested in sharing it with daddy than actually eating it. Worked out fine for daddy:)

Saturday, 7/17/2010

We made another grilled chicken caesar salad tonight, using the left-over grilled chicken from earlier in the week. The chicken was still great. The romaine was not as crisp and fresh tasting. We used the same salad dressing, just more of it this time. The salad was better with more dressing, but we decided that we just don't care for that dressing. There is an ingredient in it that I just don't care for. The croutons didn't get added to the salad when it was made. When Ben realized they were missing, we decided it was better without them. I guess there is no need to keep those in the cupboard anymore. Even if it wasn't the best salad, it was sure pretty to look at:)

Friday, 7/16/2010

I was supposed to go to a two-hour Parent Orientation for Katie's swim lessons tonight. This morning, I very strongly told Ben how it was important for me to go. And then, tonight, when Katie and I arrived at his office to pick him up, I changed my mind. I figured that I've already gone through one class with her and we did just fine. What else would I really learn in two-hours? I guess I'll never know, because we went out to dinner instead:)

We went to the Guaymas Cantina at Harbor Steps in downtown Seattle. It wasn't very busy, so we were able to take our pick of the tables available. I had Chile Verde--chunks of tender pork in a spicy tomatillo sauce. I ate mine with rice and corn tortillas. Well, the pork wasn't very tender. Perhaps it had been sitting in the warming pan too long. And, the sauce, although very good, was not spicy at all. Not a bad meal, but a little disappointing.

Ben had the "Wet" Chile Colorado Burrito--a flour tortilla filled with chunks of tender sirloin, rice, and beans, covered with spicy Chile Colorado sauce and cheese. Ben said his dish was "good" and that he "would order it again". Katie ate some of the rice and beans and munched on tortillas dipped in the sauces on our plates.

Thursday, 7/15/2010

We had left over flank steak tonight. To go with the steak, we stir-fried green beans. We heated olive oil in a stainless steel saute pan on high heat, added diced garlic for about 30 seconds, and then added the green beans with some salt and pepper. The beans were fresh and cut into 2-3 inch pieces. Ben is the master "tosser" in our house when it comes to shaking up a pan's contents without sending the food all over the place. He kept tossing the beans until they were a bit charred and slightly softened. They were still pretty crunchy, but very yummy.

Wednesday, 7/14/2010

We made Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad tonight. I sprinkled Emeril's Chicken Rub onto chicken tenderloins and sprayed them liberally with cooking spray. I grilled them on direct medium heat until they were cooked through. I sliced the chicken into thin strips, and Ben tossed them in with the other ingredients. The chicken was tender and the flavor was good.

We made the salad with romaine lettuce, Marie's Caesar dressing and Caesar Croutons, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper. Next time we make this salad, we will use more dressing. It is really thick, so the amount needed is a bit deceiving. I see that there is a Cream Caesar available. I wonder if that is less thick. Anyway, the croutons weren't that great. The texture seemed stale as soon as they touched any moisture. Maybe it's because they were "fat free";)

Tuesday, 7/13/2010

Ben went out for a run as soon as he got home from work today. Katie didn't seem like she could wait to eat, so I started to boil water for corn early. I thought she would gobble it down, based on how much she corn she has eaten in the last couple of weeks. Nope, not tonight. She nibbled at it a bit, but I think she didn't want to eat alone. When Ben got home, we started up the grill and put a marinated flank steak on. I also put corn in to boil for Ben and me. I marinated the steak in Grill Mates Brown Sugar Bourbon marinade. This was our first time using that flavor. We really enjoyed it. Now, if only I can find it in the store again! These marinade packets seem to come and go quickly on the shelves.

Once Ben and I sat down at the table, Katie was ready to eat. She kept opening her mouth wide, like a baby bird, for more steak and water. She really likes to drink from Ben's water glass, as long as it has ice in it:) She still didn't eat her corn, but at least she ate something.

Monday, 7/12/2010

In a little less than two weeks, Ben and I will be the photographers for our friends Laura and David's wedding. They came over tonight so that we could discuss their shot list and have dinner. We grilled bbq chicken breasts and asparagus, and I made roasted garlic couscous to go with it. For dessert I made Flaky Cherry Cobbler which we topped with vanilla ice cream. It was heavenly--if I do say so myself:)

On our way back from Spokane last week, I purchased bing cherries at the Thorp Fruit & Antique Mall. After realizing Ben wouldn't eat any of them, it seemed like a good idea to make a dessert with them. There was no way I could eat them all before they went bad. I found a recipe for the cobbler in a cookbook called "Small-Batch Baking" by Debby Maugans Nakos. All of the recipes are created for 1-2 people. I purchased the cookbook years ago and this is the first time I have actually used it. Here's the recipe:

FLAKY CHERRY COBBLER

Makes 2 cobblers; serves 2

For the Filling:
2 cups fresh Bing cherries, pitted, or frozen sweet cherries, thawed and drained
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

For the Topping and For Serving:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cold unsalted butter, diced
2 1/2 tablespoons cold buttermilk
2 1/2 tablespoons cold whipping (heavy) cream
Ice cream, sorbet, or topping of choice

Baking Dishes Required:
Two 1- to 1 1/2 cup ovenproof bowls or ramekins, or one 2-cup souffle dish or casserole

Directions:
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease the baking dishes with unsalted butter and set them aside.
2. Make the filling: Place the cherries and the almond extract in a medium-size mixing bowl, and toss to mix. Add the sugar and cornstarch, and toss to blend. Transfer the cherry filling to the prepared baking dishes, dividing it evenly between them. Bake until the filling is hot, 15 minutes.
3. Make the topping while the filling is baking. Place the flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-size mixing bowl and whisk to blend well. Add the butter pieces and toss to coat the butter with the flour mixture. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Combine the buttermilk and cream in a small bowl, and stire to blend. Sprinkle the buttermilk mixture over the crumb mixture, tossing it with a fork until the dough comes together.
5. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls over the hot filling to cover it. Sprinkle the remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar evenly over the top. BAke until the topping is golden and cooked through, 23 t0 25 minutes; a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the topping should come out clean.
6. Remove the baking dishes from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Serve warm, with your choice of ice cream or topping.

I doubled this recipe, baking in two- 2 cup ramekins. I did some ingredient prep work during the day to make it easier to put the dessert together during the evening. I combined the dry ingredients in a bowl, diced up the butter and refrigerated it, combined the buttermilk and whipping cream, made up two bowls of sugar and cornstarch--one for each ramekin, and washed and pitted the cherries. When Laura and David arrived, I started putting the dessert together. By the time we were ready to eat dinner, the cherries had cooked down and the topping was ready to be spooned on. The baking was done about when we finished eating, leaving plenty of time for them to cool while we chatted and did a little cleanup. The timing was great and the dessert was fantastic. What a perfect summer treat!

I forgot to take a photo of the cobbler tonight. I think I will have to make it again in a couple weeks when we have more company. I'll be sure to get a photo that time.

Sunday, 7/11/2010

Today was our "catch up from vacation" day. Ben processed and posted the photos we took during the Moser family reunion. I seem to have accomplished making a mess of the house. Guess I'll have to clean up tomorrow;) We still didn't have much to eat in the house, so we ended up stopping at KFC for dinner. We ordered fiery grilled wings to share, Katie had a hot dog, and Ben and Katie had corn on the cob. The wings were really good! Katie ate all but two bites of her hot dog, so I think she liked it:)

Katie's corn cob was a bit hot. We told her she would have to wait to eat it until it cooled down, that it was "hot". When we finally gave it to her, she said "hot, hot" and then blew on it. Each time she went to touch it, she would say "hot". We are now confident that she understands what hot means. Score one for the parents!

Saturday, 7/10/2010

We got home from our vacation around 4:30 tonight. Since the fridge was pretty empty and the house was hot, we decided to go out for dinner. Ben and I both wanted to go to Cactus on Alki beach. There were so many people at the beach today for the West Seattle Summer Fest and the Seafair Pirates Landing. I was shocked that we didn't have to wait more than 20 minutes for a table. The garage doors on the front of the restaurant were open and we had a great breeze throughout our meal.

I ate a 1/2 order of nachos. I am pretty sure that was the best plate of nachos I have ever had. I had roasted corn, jalapeños, pico de gallo, charred tomato salsa, buttermilk crema, chicken, and chorizo on my chips. Oh, and I know there was some kind of cheese on them too. I ordered the black olives on the side so that I could give them to Katie. She dumped them all out of the bowl in front of her and then put almost all of them back in. Wow, each bite was soo full of flavor. I would DEFINITELY order that again!

Ben had the House Chimichchanga: crisp flour tortilla, chorizo, jack cheese and green chile sauce. We both love the rice they serve at Cactus. It has small pumpkin seeds in it, which give a little crunch. Katie had a pretty big lunch, so she only ate some of Ben's rice and my olives for dinner. She was far more interested in people watching and coloring on her placemat than eating.

Friday, 7/9/2010

We took my mom to the airport this morning. She was meeting her sisters and mom there. They were heading to Paul, Idaho, for my grandma's school reunion. Knowing that we would just be finishing a week long vacation, I opted to not go this year. It was fun to see them all, until Katie completely melted down. I think the combination of being tired and teething pain got the best of her.


We took it easy the rest of the day. We tried to put Katie down a couple times, but she just wasn't having it. I napped for an hour or so myself. Finally, at 4pm, Ben got her down. It took quite a lot of patience and effort on his part. Thanks Ben! We played games while she napped and woke her up in time for dinner. We had coldcut sandwiches and fruit for dinner with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and orange cream ice cream for dessert. If you haven't tried Oroweat's Sandwich Thins yet, I highly recommend them. 100 calories total for two pieces of bread. We had our sandwiches tonight on a "hoagie" variety. Very tasty!

Thursday, 7/8/2010

Today was our last day at the family reunion. It was also the hottest day we've had so far. It was definitely over 90 degrees in the sun. Plenty warm for our little family:) There was lake access at Zephyr Conference Center, but there was no beach. I would have had to walk in on the rocks or jump off the dock in order to get in. Didn't seem like a good way to get Katie into the water. Instead, we went down the road to the Liberty Lake County Park to take a dip in the lake. It was perfect! The water was cool, but not too cold. After applying a thick layer of sunscreen, and finding shade for Ben to sit in, Katie and I went in. It was fun to get her in the water. She splashed, pointed at ducks swimming by, and hollered "hi" at Ben.


We got back to the lodge with enough time to change into dry clothes and get ready for the afternoon's chicken activities. My great-grandparents had a chicken ranch that dad and his cousins worked on when they were growing up. To start off, my dad and a couple of his cousins told stories from the ranch. Lots of fun tales about gathering chickens and eggs, cleaning Great-Grandma's house and eggs, throwing eggs, catching runaway chickens, etc. There was a "cluck-off" between a couple cousins. And then, we had the chicken gift exchange. During the five years between each reunion, we all search for $5 gifts that have something to do with chickens. It is always fun to see what we all come up with.

We had a spaghetti feast tonight. Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread. In her past, Katie has never been much of a spaghetti fan. That changed tonight. She couldn't get enough. She was even swiping it off my plate when I wasn't giving it to her fast enough:) I should let you know that she has run wild and hard for three days straight. Tuesday and Wednesday she didn't nap at her normal times and was out late each night. Today she wouldn't nap at all.

As dinner was winding down, my mom nudged my dad who got my attention just in time to catch Katie's head. She had fallen asleep, covered in spaghetti sauce. My mom says that her eyes were rolling right before she fell asleep. She didn't move while Ben cleaned her face and hands with wet paper towels (I forgot to pack a wash cloth today). We got a little worried and actually checked to make sure she was breathing. She was. There were quite a few babies and toddlers there, so we were able to put Katie in a borrowed pack-n-play for a half hour while we packed up our stuff. What a tired little girl.


I am so thankful we were able to spend three days with my family. What a wonderful group of chickens:)

Wednesday, 7/7/2010

We had a really tasty chicken dinner tonight. The chicken breasts were cooked in some kind of yummy soup/sauce--maybe cream of chicken? We had fresh corn on the cob and a cheesy potato dish to go with it. Katie has really taken a liking to corn on the cob. She does a really good job of biting down into the kernels, and doesn't leave much on the cob when she declares she is done and wants more. I would say she had two-thirds of a cob tonight. She wouldn't have any of the potato dish, but ate some of the chicken.

For dessert we had ice cream with chocolate sauce. We gave Katie her own bowl and spoon. She ate everything in her bowl:)

Tuesday, 7/6/2010

Every five years, the Moser side of my family gets together for a reunion. This would be for the descendants of my Grandma Jean and her four siblings. We gathered at the Zephyr Conference Center in Liberty Lake, Washington. This is the first time the reunion has happened someplace other than at my grandparent's home. I am pleased that it was such a success! We had 60+ family members there. Some people stayed on site in the two lodges, other stayed in hotels nearby, and we stayed with my parents at their home in Spokane.

My dad's cousin Judy took on the responsibility of purchasing food for breakfasts and lunches. Families were assigned to prep and clean up for those meals. We had the camp cater the dinners for us. Tonight we enjoyed a taco bar. Soft and hard tortillas were available along with ground beef, rice, and all the fixings. Katie enjoyed pulling rice out of a taco and would occasionally let me put a bite of beef in her mouth.

For dessert we had delicious chocolate cake. There was some debate about whether it was cake or brownies. Ben says it was cake; so, that's what I'm sticking with:)

Monday, 7/5/2010

We left Redmond, Oregon, around 10:30 this morning, heading for Spokane, Washington. It took us 11.5 hours to get to Spokane, but it was pretty uneventful. We drove in a two-car caravan, stopping in Biggs, Oregon, for lunch, Condon, Oregon, to visit our friend Ernie, and in the Tri-Cities, Washington, for dinner. We ate at an Azteca. Historically, Ben and I have not been big fans of Azteca. Thankfully, tonight was our best experience so far.

I ordered two enchiladas--one with chicken and one with ground beef. Ben enjoyed his plate of carne asada and a chicken chimichanga. My dad had a chicken sandwich, and my mom had a fajita salad. Katie ate some rice, beans, chicken, and black olives. What a mess she made! Other than a couple weak margaritas, our food was pretty tasty.

Sunday, 7/4/2010

We were invited over to Chris & Larry's house for dinner tonight. They told us they would provide hamburgers and brats with condiments. Everyone else was to bring the sides. Ben's mom made a macaroni salad. Ben and I took chips, beer, and wine. Other than having to go back to Fred Meyer for more beer and wine, our contribution was pretty easy.

Spencer made a jalapeno appetizer. He sliced jalapeno peppers in half, scooped out the seeds, filled each half with cream cheese and wrapped them in bacon. They went onto the grill, cheese side down first, just long enough to cook the bacon. There was quite a range of hotness (taste not temperature) to each pepper. My mom had one that had hardly any heat to the pepper. Ben, on the other hand, had one that was soo hot that he frantically grabbed Katie's sippy cup after one bite, expecting it to have whole milk in it. He was sorely disappointed to find it had water in it. He suffered while the rest of us laughed at him:) Despite Ben's reaction, we all found them quite tasty. I think I will try to make this appetizer someday.

My parents took brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream. No problem with the ice cream, but the brownies presented a challenge. My dad baked the brownies last night. When he started to cut them up this afternoon, he realized that they were super hard and would not be good to share. Thankfully, he had a 2nd brownie mix. Although our departure was delayed while the brownies baked, we were able to take our annual 4th of July family photo while we waited. A great use of time--if I do say so myself. I must thank Jennifer for suggesting we take a silly photo too. The shots below are priceless!

Saturday, 7/3/2010

My parents joined us in Redmond today. We hooked up the swing on Grandma Jennifer's porch and let Katie swing away. She LOVES to swing!!!


Whenever we are in Redmond for a weekend, there is always at least one trip to the grocery store. We went to Fred Meyer and ordered lunch from the deli there. Then we split off to shop for tonight and tomorrow's dinners. After several ideas were thrown out for tonight's dinner, we settled on steaks--which Ben grilled, corn on the cob, and a caesar salad. For dessert, my dad baked fresh chocolate chip cookies. What a great way to start our vacation!

Friday, 7/2/2010

We left Seattle this afternoon for the 2nd of our summer roadtrip vacations this year. Our destination was Redmond, Oregon. We took I-5 South so that we could stop at Ben's mom's house in Clackamas for dinner. We thought about going out to eat, but thought that it would eat up too much of our time. So, she reheated some penne rustica that she had in the freezer. It was very tasty.

Truth be told, Ben and I were worried that I wouldn't be able to drive the entire distance to Redmond without a nap or backup driver. I was up a lot last night coughing (dang summer cold). Thankfully, I never got tired on our drive and was able to make it the whole way. It was
definitely nice to get out at Jennifer's home. Spencer drove down separately and was willing to step in to drive for me if necessary. Thanks Spence:)

Thursday, 7/1/2010

What a way to start the month--I forgot what we ate this night. Yes, I must admit, I don't always write my blog posts the same day. In this case, I am actually writing 10 days later, following our vacation. Thursday, 7/1, was the day before we left for our vacation. I was still sick, we were busy packing, and I just plain forget what we ate. Should I remember later, I will update this post:)