Kitchen progress

We have had unreliable Internet for ~2 months as well as no working kitchen for 1 month. Needless to say we have been a little scattered around here!

Unfortunately the Internet is down but my phone Internet works. The bummer is that the photos are not in order...
Owen and I have spent a lot more time than normal outside. He loves it and I do too. The plastic sectioning off the kitchen work area has been really nice. It was a good attempt to keep the dust down... Not away but down for sure.

Our neighbor built our cabinets, which I highly recommend! It was great to see the whole process and then have them installed yesterday! Whooo!!! Comin together!

Granny Jewel

Chris's grandma passed last Friday. She was 85 and dealing with some dementia the last 6 months. She had 5 children, at least 15 grandchildren, and ~10 great grandchildren. Too many to count!

We gathered together and her son Jim did a nice talk about her. She had a beautiful graveside setting and we placed a rose and said our goodbyes.

The brittons hosted a lovely lunch and we sat relaxing and sharing memories and stories. All 5 kids hadn't been together in years.

She was a quirky, sassy, and kind woman who was married at 14! She was one of 9 children and loved country music and gambling. The photo with a male is Chris's grandpa who passed at age 47. I can see some resemblance, and Chris's middle name is his first, Lee.

Dad's 60th Birthday

We celebrated Pop's 60th up in Tahoe for the weekend. It was so much fun for all! Cousin (nephew to him) Erik flew in from Texas as a surprise and we stayed between Erik's house and the Aubin's house.  There was much wine tasting, eating, game playing, eating, walking, eating, and hanging out. I made Dad's recipe enchiladas before our kitchen was demo'ed and froze them. The next morning Court and Wynt made homemade eggs benedict with our fresh eggs. Lori brought quite a spread for the wine tasting, it was gouda! We went to dinner at Scusa in Tahoe, an Italian restaurant that was playing live jazz that night. Not that jazz is Dad's favorite, but it was fun for the kids because the musician played songs from the little mermaid. Owen behaved very well, and he enjoyed some foccacia.

Court put together a sweet sentimental gift for Dad, gathering stories and memories from over 40 people and giving them to him. It was quite a hit and we sat around and read them with him. It was really neat as he reports not seeing or talking to some of these friends for years, if not decades!

Dad is quite a fun guy if you don't know him. He has always been a jokester, great cook, and there for anything. He enjoys biking, hiking, and of course a good meal and drink. He was my soccer coach growing up and split a few gray hairs over that one. He would always make pancakes on the weekends with the best fillings: apples and cinnamon, chocolate chips, bananas, etc. It was always fun to have friends over and impress them the next morning with the fantastic spread he would put on. He is a very organized person, and I get a few of my labeling qualities from him. Some of my favorite quotes from him are: follow through, anything worth doing is worth doing right, SHOOT the BALL!, and of course some goofy ones like: whoopity whoopity. He is quite a goofball and I'm told he got some of that from his parents. I love watching him and his sister Lori be total nuts together, laughing and saying random things in Finnish.

LOVE YOU SO MUCH DAD! IT was such a great weekend honoring YOU! LOVE YOU!!!!

WWalking down the isle

LLove!

FFlying in the plane overseas.

Chris's Graduation

Hiking up the big Dish in the Bay

Dad's Xmas card when he was overseas... See the sense of humor I'm dealing with here?!

Cousin Mike's graduation. 

 First visits

 Hanging by the Aubin's pool

 Thanksgiving 2010

 Twins

 Love!

 Bay Area visitor

 Pizza making champ

 Hugs!

 Matt and his roomie Rich (from Iraq)

 Garden

 Life flight home made toy (that he will not be allowed to play with)!

 Racing monster trucks down the driveway

 gEggs Benedict!

Silly dad at xmas many moons ago

 Being so sophisticated

AWWW!

That's me and my dad! LOVE YOU!

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter at 2 houses. We went to Grammy's for brunch, then home for nap, then to the Brittons for dinner. It was such a beautiful day, and Owen scored on 2 egg hunts. He would say "happy birthday" when he opened an egg (I think he thought it was kinda like a piñata).

I'm so grateful to live 20 minutes away from most of our family! It is so fun on holidays to be able to share them with both sides even in the same day.

I made green bean casserole from canned beans from our garden last sept. it was really good... Ha I used organic cream of mushroom soup then went for the highly processed yet difficult to reproduce onion crunchies in a can. I have made decent ones before but without a kitchen burner it would be quite impossible this year.

The electrical work in the kitchen is almost done. We have 5 can lights, 2 above island lights, dimmers!!!, and soon to be plumbed gas line for converting the range from electrical to gas!!

Chris has his work cut out for him. As soon as the electrical and gas work is done Chris needs to move a heater vent, put Sheetrock up, remove nasty popcorn ceiling in the dining room, re texture... Repaint... Is that all? All before the slated install of cabinets 4/26! I'm hoping everything will be in (or close!) by Mother's Day... We will see!