Liebel Life...

2011: Day 54

2011-02-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

6:00 pm

I'd been home from work maybe 15 minutes and you could barely make out my tire tracks in the driveway. It is snowing THAT much. Hard to believe.

Even more hard to believe: In a mere 18 hours, I will be teeing off on a beautiful, green golf course...in the sun.

Hey Mother Nature, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

2011: Day 53

2011-02-22T11:44:00.000-08:00

This is our boy cat...known by a variety of names: Willie, Willie Lunchmeat, Willie Big Mitts, Wilbur, Man-Whore, Willboy, Whoop-Whoop Willlie, Will and my favorite, Sir...as in, "Good morning Sir! Would you care for some hambone with your kibble?"

Well, Sir decided to come home after a week-long self imposed exile to Lord knows where. I guess you'd need a good warm sleep after carousing in this cold weather for a week, too.

Yep, this was our boy one week ago today, trying out Abby's new bed (because that's how he rolls...what belongs to her belongs to him!) while watching Biggest Loser with us:

One angst filled week (for us humans) later, he strolled home, howling on the back deck for sustenance. And of course, we're happy to oblige. He's a little scraped up and dirty and I don't even want to know what he's been doing. We're just relieved he's home safe and sound.

Molly's excited too...can't you tell? For the record, her back is facing him. She's had juuuust about enough of his wandering shenanigans. Again people, she's big-boned. Heh heh...

Abby is very excited as well...

Haha...actually I found these shots of her on the camera when I downloaded the Willie shots. I'm not sure who took them but finding these was like finding a $20 bill in your coat...good stuff!

Homework can really take it out of ya, huh?!

And last but certainly not least, I share another photo that makes me smile. Actually, it's two photos in one! Woohoo...double prizes! I give you Hayley and Kryger...holding Hayley and Kryger:

Kryger is Hayley's volleyball coach extraordinaire. She rocks. I could go on and on, but that is a whole nother blog post. Last week was her birthday and she came over to celebrate Liebel style: with killer burgies, home made fries and Dew dumplings. And she brought her dear friends, the Jacksons, over too. So much fun. One of her gifts was this photo taken at Hayley's Senior Night. Hayley was presenting a team gift to Kryger and I happened to catch this great laugh between them. It so sums up their relationship and this one truly makes me smile. Like I said, this season of volleyball deserves its own post...and it will happen. Awards night is March 7th, so it will be shortly after that.

Now, I'm going to go hug on my kitty cat. And have a word with him about his less-than-stellar behavior!

2011: Day 45

2011-02-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

A little bit of Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Iced lovin'

for all my Valentines! The best part is...they're mini-sized! Can you stand it? The mini's are going into work with me. The regulation sized cuppies, they're staying right here!

You say you need a close up?

Yeahhhhh...

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day with the ones they love.

My Valentines? Couldn't live without 'em! <3 <3 <3

One should note: Photo taken after a very teary Senior Night celebration at Hayley's last home Volleyball match. {{sniffle sniffle}}

2011: Day 44

2011-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not doing so well with my Picture-a-Day plans. Apparently I've been lax in other areas as well. For example, this was at 1:00 this afternoon:

Hmmm...now that's just plain awkward.

And at 1:03 this afternoon:

Much better, yes?

Here's to a Happy Valentines Day! Go hug your sweetie! =)

2011: Day 23

2011-01-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

ACCEPTED!

Hayley received her first college acceptance letter yesterday! The University of Portland wants my kid. This was a big moment, being the first acceptance letter and all. But honestly, do you see the color of her shirt there? UW purple baby! She won't hear back from the University of Washington until March so while this letter is great, its more of a back-up plan. Our girl wants to be a Dawg!!

Meanwhile, the studying continues. Allow me to introduce one of Hayley's best buds, making his very first photo appearance on the blog: JARED!

They've been classmates in the ORCA program for the past 2 years and became fast friends. He came over last night to work on a lab with Hayley. There may have been Milano's and chocolate brownie FroYo involved. Just sayin'. Jared is one of my Blog Nazi's...he keeps me honest by ohhh so gently urging me to update the blog when I lapse into blogging apathy. For example, a gentle Facebook prod from Jared...please do enjoy:

Last blog update was on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2010

do you see a problem here?

That was written on December 24, 2010. He makes a very good point. Thanks Jared...I actually need the prodding!

Well, the hubby comes home from a SoCal business/golf trip tonight. Yes, that is an emphasis on golf! He stayed at Pat and Andree's gorgeous desert hideaway, but got to go salivate over the new Liebel/Fischer condo in Palm Desert. Someday sweetie....someday!

We've got two babies to get through college! =)

And since this is a post about college acceptance, how could I not include this??

It'd be really cool if you guys wouldn't tell people I scream like that.

Heh heh...have a great week!!

2011: Day 16

2011-01-16T14:40:00.000-08:00

So I took a week off from my Picture a Day. I was gently urged to get back to it (Hi Jared!!)

This is what my living room looks like right now:

Animals living together in harmony. Missy Laura knows what that's all about. Molly baking by the fire. Willie sacked out on one side of the couch and Abby doing her thing on the other. All of them watching the football game...or not. Today is one of those days where its cold and rainy outside, so it feels nice to stay inside. I'm getting caught up on laundry while watching our Seahawks get their @sses handed to them by da Bears. I'm happy for our friends, the Zideks... ~~long suffering~~ long time Bears fans. Sad our boys couldn't catch the dang ball when it mattered. Sorry, I'm just bitter. Just kidding...it was fun while it lasted, huh?

The dryer alarm just beckoned me back to the laundry room. More tomorrow!

2011: Day 8

2011-01-08T23:24:00.000-08:00

Its been snowing all day on and off but it really took off tonight

Some of the snowflakes were over an inch across...

and there must be at least 3 inches of snow piled up out there!

And by the way, well played SEAHAWKS! Well played!

2011: Day 7

2011-01-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

Breakfast while checking emails:

Hammy Cheesy Scrambled Eggs and an English muffin.

Courtesy of my own personal Top Chef. Lucky girl...that's me!

By the way...TGIF and go Seahawks, huh??!!

2011: Day 6

2011-01-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

Fresh, hot, fudgy brownies. Mmmmmm!

That spatula there...Dan's mom put that in my Christmas stocking a long, long time ago. It's still my favorite serving spatula, even though now it has melty lines on the handle. =)

2011: Day 5

2011-01-05T23:42:00.000-08:00

She's not fat...she's big boned. Heh heh...

2011: Day 4

2011-01-04T23:22:00.000-08:00

Consider us addicted.

2011: Day 3

2011-01-03T23:32:00.000-08:00

It must've been some New Years celebration for Willie Big Mitts...

he showed up tonight after being gone since the 1st.

What happens in Vegas...

2011: Day 2

2011-01-02T18:11:00.000-08:00

All the Christmas goodies packed up and ready

to go under the house for another 11 months.

Oh One Oh One One One

2011-01-01T14:22:00.000-08:00

Cool date, huh? I actually wasn't tuned in to it until I saw someone post that on Facebook as their status. (Hi Alyssa!) I love stuff like that. Can't wait for 11/11/11...and judging by 2010, that date will be here before we know it. Time flies, eh?

So I was thinking last night that it would be really cool to take a photo every single day of the year. Not of the same thing...just a random photo in our lives. Then it dawned on me that I could kill two birds with one stone and post my photos every day and really increase my blogging frequency. Every few months just doesn't cut it. Part of my problem is that I can't do a blog post without a photo. And then I feel like I have to write a long post...because apparently I have a lot to say. But I get busy and don't post and life moves on and then I haven't said anything at all.

Resolution #1: A photo a day on the blog...with some commentary even! I'll toss in my usual photo/word heavy blogs, too, but I think this might be just what I need to jump start my blogging mojo while keeping it doable with my busy life. Deal? Deal. (We just did a virtual pinky swear.)

Without further ado, I give you...

2011: Day 1

New Years Day is generally my day to pack up the Christmas decorations. I find it a melancholy yet satisfying task. We decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving and enjoy every minute of Santa-Snowman-Rudolf-Gingerbread- Christmas Tree in Every Room-Candlelit-Vintage holiday decorated goodness. I always think I won't want to ever take the decorations down. But by January 1st, I'm good. I'm ready to simplify again.  And so it went today...

I took a break from my task to have some leftovers for lunch. Mmmmm, who doesn't love leftover pasta? This is a Pioneer Woman recipe. Specifically, Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce. We were scheduled to go to a New Years Bunco party last night, but Danny wasn't feeling all that great and I was tired, so we decided to hunker down at home. Hayley was babysitting some dear little ones early and Brian was heading off to a friend's house to spend the night. I needed to whip up something yummy but quick so Bri could eat before he left and Hayley could eat when she got home. I threw some seared Italian sausage in and with some garlic bread, this got a resounding thumbs up from everyone. But the best part of pasta is almost always the leftovers.  Mmmm...what a nice, homey way to start off 2011.

With that, I'll let you in on a little secret.  Whenever anyone (be it family or friends) leaves my house, I always stand on the porch or in the window and watch them drive away and I whisper a little prayer.  As we leave 2010 and all head off into 2011, I thank God for each and every one of you...may He keep you happy, healthy, safe and strong. And bring you home safely.

The Christmas Card Photo Shoot

2010-12-27T22:22:00.000-08:00

After some gentle prodding from the Blog Nazi's out there, (HI JARED! HI HAYLEY!) I decided to make good (only one day late!) on my promise and update my neglected little blog!

Insert applause here.

Okay then. What shall I write about? There is no shortage of things I could fill you all in on. We had a season of Volleyball with Hayley that was pretty darn good. But that is a long post with lots of photos that aren't yet edited. Besides, due to unforeseen circumstances (and a blog post all its own!) the Volleyball awards ceremony had to be postponed until further notice and that probably needs to be included in the Great Volleyball Post of ~~2010~~ 2011.

We're right in the thick of Bowling season for Brian. But thats going pretty darn well (can you say 175 average?!) and I don't want to jinx anything...so we'll wait on that, too.

I went back to work pretty much full-time (hence the serious lack of Blog posts) but due to those pesky HIPAA laws, I can't really say much other than I absolutely love my job and all the co-workers and patients I get to see every day. Oh, and if you're in need of some killer Physical Therapy, might I suggest NorthSound Physical Therapy? You'll be glad you did! =)

Dan is still busy as ever representing ADC Engineering up here in Washington. He just returned from a week-long business trip down to SoCal in mid-December so that's always fun for him because he gets to visit with family and friends while he's down there.

We just celebrated our 4th Christmas up here in the Pacific Northwest. And our first non-White Christmas! What's up with that??? It's actually just a little late...we're due for a nice snowfall in two days. Yay! Even though the kids are 16 and 18, they turn into playful little kids out in the backyard on their little snowdiscs when it snows.

So, since I can't send a Christmas card to every single person we've ever met, I like to take a photo of the card and post it here or on Facebook as our Christmas greeting. This year, we decided to feature the kiddies holding the kitties on the card. I hope you've enjoyed the series of shots that I took...just trying to get a decent shot of the Christmas card. It's like Molly wasn't happy starring on the card...she had to make sure she was front and center for the photos!

We hope you all had a very ~~Merry~~ Meowy Christmas and may you all be Blessed with a wonderful 2011.

Shiny Happy People

2010-10-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

I had every intention of updating my little blog quite often. Really, I did. Then my old dinosaur of a computer started rebelling. As in, it wouldn't let me sign in to update my own dang blog. Or leave comments on other blogs. Blogspot took a hit out on me and I couldn't do anything but hide out...until my new baby arrived. New baby? Huh? Well, Pete the FedEx man delivered an anniversary present from my sweetie last week in the form of a shiny new laptop!

Not bad for 21 years of wedded bliss, huh? We laugh because for the last four anniversaries, we've celebrated by sitting in the bleachers of various high school gymnasiums, eating popcorn and Tootsie-Pops, watching our first-born play volleyball. This year went something like this:

Ferry ride to South Whidbey: $21.60

Admission to Volleyball match: $10.00

Dinner (Cup O' Noodles from snack bar): $1.00

Sitting with my honey watching our kid play volleyball on our anniversary: PRICELESS.

We've been busy in these parts with work and volleyball and bowling, so it took a day or two to unpack the 'puter and get her all set up and I'm still learning the in's and out's of working on a laptop, but wowza...it's pretty cool.  I feel like such a grown-up now. {{ If I could just figure out why my nice big text just got all small...what did I hit? Gahhhh!! }}   Sorry, I need to turn off my internal dialogue...

Okay, so what's been going on?

So, today is my Daddy's birthday! Happy Birthday Daddy! Yes, I'm 46 and he's 78 and I still call him Daddy. =) I just got off the phone with Josie Grandma and Grampa after wishing him a Happy Birthday. It's raining where they are (in hot, dry Arizona) and I had to chuckle because it's pretty darn gorgeous here in the stereotypically rainy Pacific Northwest.  Regardless of the weather, I am glad to report that all is well with the Josies. =)

It's been a lovely day, starting off with coffee with my dear friend Diana.  Can I just say I love my Tuesday mornings with Diana?  Then it was off to the bowling alley for my weekly league. I threw a 183, 126 (oops!) and a 201. Good stuff! Then I got a message from a friend telling me that Hayley made the Everett Herald today! She was selected as their Prep Athlete of the Week for Volleyball!! Cool beans!

She's having an awesome season this year and having a blast doing it.

Last Thursday night, she broke the school record for Kills in a game. She landed 22. Sa-weet!

None of it is possible without a great team...and this is it. The Dream Team. It's a good year to be a Cougar. Football, Girls Soccer and Volleyball are all doing so much better than anyone ever expected (well, we did, but our opponents didn't!) and they're all quite the talk of the town! Go Cougs!

By the way, that is Brian in the back row, right side in the team photo. He is one of the team managers for the 2nd year in a row. He and his bud Nick take stats, set up all the video equipment, run errands and basically do whatever the coaches or girls ask of them. Good men!!

Then there's this little bit of joy...

Our Girl has a Boy. His name is Luke and Hayley's not the only one that likes him. We think he's pretty neat, too. He adores our girl, treats her well, they go to church together and he's there to cheer at all of her games. And he seems to like Dano's cooking, so there's that! =)

And so with that, I'm off to another Volleyball match. We're only halfway through the season...thankfully! This being Hayley's last season of volleyball ever, we're enjoying every minute and soaking it all up! Thank God Brian has two years of high school bowling and baseball left! What will I do when I have no more of their sporting events to attend?? Luckily I don't have to contemplate that reality yet! Whew! =)

Edited 10/05/10 10:15 pm: Just got home from an awesome match vs. Cedarcrest. Our Lady Cougs took 3 of 5 games for another notch in the Win column, elevating them to 6-2 this season! Added bonus: our Libero, Allie broke the school record for Digs tonight and Hayley tied the record she set last Thursday with 22 Kills! And our Girls Soccer team won again so they're still undefeated at 8-0!! I'll say it again...IT'S A GOOD YEAR TO BE A LAKEWOOD COUGAR!!

18 years ago...

2010-09-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

8:00 am. We had just arrived at the hospital to be induced. Our first baby was 10 days overdue and frankly, I didn't think he or she was ever going to decide to make an appearance on his/her own. The doctors concurred. Thirteen hours and one blessed epidural later, Hayley was born. Two became three. Such a defining moment.

Flash forward eighteen years. Can it really be that eighteen years have gone by and this sweet little baby...

has grown into this sweet young lady, ready to take on the world?

I wish I had more baby pictures scanned in to post right now. Alas, that was in the pre-digital era and they're in a box upstairs and I'm on a tight schedule here. See, little Hayley plays volleyball. Really well. And we're headed to Yakima today to watch our girl play tomorrow in a tournament at the Sundome. Go Lady Cougs! (They played their first game of the season last night and basically taught Cedarcrest a lesson and it only took 3 games to do it! Ten kills for my girl...woot!)

So, for now, my baby gets to finally sleep in today, we'll make her a yummy birthday breakfast, and then there will be a fun bus ride to Yakima for the team this afternoon and we'll all meet up for dinner at the Olive Garden. My girl dies for their soup! And no doubt there will be some napkin folding going on at the table too. (Guaranteed photos of that coming!)

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY HAYLEY! We love you and couldn't be prouder!

Edited live from Yakima, Washington!
I told you there would be napkin folding at the Olive Garden!

Hayley taught her mad napkin-folding skillz to her fellow Lady Cougs! That's Brian in the bottom left corner...pretending he doesn't see the antics! Well, either that or he's hungry and just wants to order his Seafood Alfredo already!

Then there was this little surprise that came with Hayley's dessert...eighteen gorgeous pink roses from her boyfriend Luke!

Hey Luke? Well played Sir...well played!

I'm off to bed. I know the formatting is all off on this, but I'm tired and we have to get up uber early to watch some awesome volleyball! LAKEWOOD COUGARS IN THE HOUSE!! I can't wait!!!

A new beginning...sort of.

2010-09-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm back.

My apologies to those of you who checked in now and again to see if I'd had anything to say...and left with no news. And many thanks to those of you who asked if I was ever going to update my blog...I have a hard time believing that more than a few people read it, until one of the kids friends mentions it (and the lack of posts...Hi Jared!) Plus, I got on Facebook and its so easy to just post a photo with a caption and carry on. But for some reason, here I sit at my computer, and I want to write. I could post a photo or two on Facebook, but I think some photos just need more than a one-line caption. For instance, this photo:

Holy Cats! Who is this 6' (at least) dude? In front of his own car? Smiling? On the first day of his JUNIOR year of high school? You know where this is headed, right?

Just yesterday Brian was still letting me send apples for his teachers on the first day of school. Ten years people. TEN YEARS....poof!

In case you're wondering where the girl-child was on this fine September 1st morning, she was around. But since she's on the college schedule, Hayley doesn't start school until the 20th. So, instead of heading to school, she headed south on the freeway to meet up with friends at the mall to do some back-to-school shopping. Sniffle sniffle...almost 18 and she doesn't need her mama for that anymore. Honestly, I can't wait to see what she comes home with. So before she left, she posed with her little brother on his first day of school.

Seems we need to do some measuring tonight. Hayley pointed out that Brian is now taller than she is. I measured him a few weeks ago at an even 6', but she's just shy of that so he must've grown...again! (You have to say that like Forrest Gump, "...and I got invited to the White House. AGAIN." Heh heh!

So, that was our morning. I met my good friend Diana for coffee. Then Dano and I took our morning 2 mile walk through the neighborhood. Then I read the local newspaper and found Hayley's picture in it with an article about how awesome her school volleyball team is hoping to be, which was kind of a nice surprise to come across that with no warning!

Hopefully, soon I'll have some posts catching up on the Liebel Family Summer 2010. It was busy (visits from Missy Laura and Corey, Uncle Pat & Aunt Andree, Josie Grandma & Grampa, Uncle Keith, Uncle Pat (AGAIN) plus two really cool volleyball coaches for our school VB camp, a visit for Hayley and I down to SoCal, Brian kicking butt at the bowling alley and life in general.)

But for now...I'm back. =)

Envy and a Trip Down Bird Memory Lane

2010-05-05T17:08:00.000-07:00

Last week I received this picture in an email from my good friend, Jeanne. I call her my JeanneDeb. She knows why. We bowl together on Tuesday mornings and I love her to death. She gets me. And that is why she knew I'd DIE when I saw this photo...taken right outside her window! She sees this action all the time. I admit to full-on envy.

Can you stand it? I cannot. Anyone that knows me has no doubt had to listen to me rave about the wildlife up here in ye olde Pacific Northwest. Not once did I ever see this type of action in SoCal. The closest I came was once when an unseen wayward skunk "exploded" under our bedroom window, causing us to think there was a massive chemical spill in the area that was going to kill us. True story.

Anyway, I thought I had it made last week when an eagle flew right over Brian and I as we were pulling around our corner. Then I laid eyes on this picture. JeanneDeb really has it made...and she knew that sharing it with me would make my day. Thanks JeanneDeb!

So, what kind of wildlife do I have hanging around my house? Well, check out Exhibit A: Baby birdies! Okay, so they're not baby bald eagles, but I take what I can get. But there is an interesting back story to this nest. It's a story of recycling. (And yes, that is my very high-tech device that I refer to as my "compact mirror lens." Fancy schtuff.)

Remember this? (scrolllll down past Laura making googly eyes at the coffee maker....heee!)

Look familiar? I couldn't bear to just throw the engineering marvel of the nest in the trash, so I put it back up on the beam. And there it sat, undisturbed for the past 10 months. Last week, Danny asked if the nest was still there. I'd actually checked the week before he asked and told him, "Yep, still there. Still empty." So, while sitting on the deck steps the other day, I saw blue shell fragments. Horror!!! You can imagine my surprise when I went and grabbed the nest, expecting the worst only to find three tiny babes fast asleep (I think there are 3...I didn't look too long for fear an angry mama bird was going to dive-bomb me.) I checked again today and the mama is obviously caring well for them because they've easily doubled in size. Now I have to worry that the big, bad raccoon that frequents my other deck just about every night will discover them. GAHHHHH!!!

So the weirdest part of this is that my Missy Laura and her Corey were up visiting last year when the nest massacre went down. And they were just here two weeks ago. (Exciting blog post about that coming next!) Laura, I'll bet you that the nest had pretty blue eggs in it while you were here and WE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK!! We must've been busy drinking margaritas that your man whipped up for us. =)

In other animal news, Willie didn't come home this morning. We always worry...and then he always comes home. Sigh. Just not yet today.

Edited Thursday morning: He sauntered home last night around 10:30. Right after the raccoon ate all his food that sat out all day. Serves him right! Ha!

When Pigs Fly

2010-05-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

While these two tolerate each other, and I use the term "tolerate" very loosely here, they've never had a relationship that involved this much trust. People, this is big. For those who haven't met the key players, allow me to introduce Willie and Molly. While they share an uncanny resemblance, they're only related by the bonds of adoption. In other words, we adopted sweet, stray Willie last July (as an outside mouser kitty only...ha!) and Molly has been wondering when the vagrant boy is going to leave. He comes in now and then (okay, 3 times a day) for lunchmeat snacks and naps on Dad's bed, but the boy fa-reaks when shown the litter box inside, so he can only stay in for so long. Imagine the confines of a proper litter box when the whole world had always been your litter box.

I digress.

So, they normally do a cursory once-over and sniff noses and then ignore each other. Lately though, Molly has taken to batting Willie in the face. And that doesn't go over so well. So, imagine my surprise when Dan brought Willie inside (people, it is COLD outside!) and he hopped up onto our bed to find Molly in his spot. I expected kitty fireworks, but instead got this: Utter and complete indifference.

Ummm, so not what I expected. He got busy chewing dirtclods from between his toes.

Not to be outdone, Molly decided a quick toe-clean was in order. Unreal.

Then, like men will do, he fell right to sleep. He's a funny guy. I think outside life is so stressful for him sometimes that when he comes inside, he's out like a light in mere minutes.

Molly's thinking, "Seriously? Dude, you're like, a foot away." He was unfazed.

So she gave in and fell asleep, too. They're still like this...an hour later.

When pigs fly. Go figure. =)

A quick housekeeping note...

2010-04-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, I have not fallen off the face of the Earth. I just fell off the blogging wagon. I'm sorry, but I just wasn't feeling the blog mojo.

However, after some gentle prodding from certain people (you know who you are, you Blog Nazi's...and I mean that with the utmost of love!) I will be warming up my blogging fingers and posting very soon. For now though, I'm playing around with the formatting, etc. so Liebel Life will look a little different in a few days and probably a little screwy in the meantime!

Thanks for sticking around! See ya in a few days!!

P.S. Molly the she-cat is not fat. She's just big-boned. =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2009-12-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

Coming to you live from beautiful Southern California... ...we PNW Liebels wish you the Merriest Christmas! We're having a wonderful time here visiting with dear family and friends and hope you're enjoying your holidays as much as we are! P.S. Yes, our Christmas card was Photoshopped (Thank you Hayley!) and then I actually had to re-touch it to take the glare of the picture . Sheesh!

I'm Leaving This...

2009-12-20T21:17:00.001-08:00

...for two whole weeks. This was last night. Our bed. Also known as Willie's Favorite Spot in the House.

And this was tonight. It seems to be Willie's Favorite Position on Willie's Favorite Spot in the House. Not that he ever gets to come into the house. Ahem. This little boy with the big mitts has purred and kneaded his way into all of our hearts. And now we're going to leave him and Molly here at home (our nice neighbor Amy is going to take care of them) while we go play and celebrate down in California. I'm quite sure there will be a few staring contests through the sliding glass door while we're away. Abby will be going to stay with her old friend Sasha. Lucky girl...Tom knows how to spoil a pup! Even though all our Fuzzies are going to be in good hands, we're still going to miss them like crazy.

I have to go hug a Fuzzie now. =)

Cookies: Version 2 (ME WANT COOKIES!)

2009-12-13T10:54:00.001-08:00

Hi Athena and Zoe! (That was for you!!)

Maybe the Cookie Monster should come to our house! This past Wednesday, my good friend Kathy came over and we had the 2nd Annual Cookie Baking Extravaganza. (Scroll to the bottom of that post for a photo of last years haul!) We don't just bake three or four varieties. No, that won't do. We baked a grand total of 19 varieties of cookies! People, NINETEEN!!! This was bright and early, around 8:00 am. Kathy was just unloading her stash of doughs, icings, toppings and supplies. My Kathy just might be the most organized gal I know. Hi Kathy!!! =) She inspires me. See? Those are all my bowls along the back counter and on the left side of the island. Have I mentioned how much I love my island? Cuz I really do. It is a bakers dream. Anyway, once we get started, we don't stop. I'm not kidding. We mix, roll, cut, bake, sprinkle, ice, stack, etc. Oh, and we taste. A cookie from each batch is split in half and we critique. Sometimes, we have to re-test a cookie...for quality control purposes only. Heh heh.

There isn't a lot of time for photos. We're just too busy. But these little gems were my most anticipated cookie on my list. They are Lemony BonBon's. Just the name alone makes my mouth water. So, you start with a pre-roasted pecan half. And then lay them good side down on the baking mat (and if you're me, you make sure they're all laying in the same direction!...kinda like the hangers! Hi Missy Laura!) I digress.

Next, you place one of the rolled balls of dough on top of the roasted pecan... ...and squash it flat with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake, cool, slather with lemon icing and... YEEEAHHHHHH!!!! For a girl that likes lemon, these did not disappoint. I think this recipe will be on next years list for sure.

These are Zesty Lime Shortbread. AKA: Pain in the ~~Ass~~ Butt to Come Up With A Lot of Lime Zest But So So Worth It Shortbread And this was less than half of these! Yummy!

Now, lest you think we have only idyllic, perfect cookies to show for our efforts, I offer you these: Ummm...that is a dozen cookies. Ummmm...they tasted really good. Ummm...okay, I can't come up with anything else redeeming about these. And while they were Kathy's recipe this year, I have to say that I had a similar Fail last year with a similar recipe. They ended up with Earl Grey ganache sandwiched between them but were so delicate, it almost wasn't worth it. I know...I lost you after "ganache" didn't I?

All in all, it was the perfect day of baking. Until about 5:00 when our feet and backs were aching from NOT SITTING DOWN ALL DAY and we headed to the Roadhouse for dinner with the menfolk. Hayley came with and snarfed down her dinner before heading off to Confirmation at church. After dinner, we went back to the house for another hour or two of final icing and packaging. If you got some of the cookies, we hope you enjoyed them. It is truly our labor of love and we have a ball doing it. And no doubt, Kathy and I will be hunting down new recipes and cookie cutters for the 3rd Annual Cookie Baking Extravaganza!

Meanwhile, we woke up to the first flakes of snow this morning! It's been falling steady this morning...nothing too heavy but it sure does make everything so pretty!

Have a lovely day and stay warm! Even you SoCal folks down there!

The little lights are not twinkling...

2009-12-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows a Liebel is well aware that most of us cannot get through the period from Thanksgiving to Christmas without peppering our conversations with choice lines from the collective Liebel favorite holiday film "Christmas Vacation." It simply cannot be done. And truth be told, it doesn't even have to be the holidays. It has become Liebel-speak. And so introduces this years version of the gingerbread houses. And the little lights are not twinkling...because I couldn't find little lights. What is the crafting world coming to??? Is it too much to ask that Michaels keep on carrying the little strings of lights for me??? I guess it is...I guess IT IS.

My grandpa was an old German baker and these are made from his secret recipe for gingerbread. Honeycake, as he called it. I grew up watching my mama make the little houses and then I got to help decorate them. For a full recap of the entire process involved, go HERE (Step 1) and HERE (Step 2) and HERE (Step 3!) This house if for my friend, Holly. I put one of the houses up for bid in the Silent Auction for our Sports Booster Club (GO COUGS!!!) and Holly very sweetly camped out at that table to make sure she got the final bid for a little gingerbread house. I just sent her an email letting her know that her fresh prize is ready for delivery.

This is the second of the three houses I made this year. Cute yes, but the little lights are not twinkling.

I have got to find little strings of lights. Obviously.

This is the last of the houses...errrhhh...houses and trailer! Can you stand it??? This little darling is for a friend of Dan's. He's a sweet old man that lives right on one of the prettiest lakes around here. He has this cute little trailer and the most amazing trees, plants and bushes surrounding it. He invited us over to fish off of his dock one day. The fishing wasn't so good but it sure was fun to sit in the sun with a margarita and a fishing pole, watching the bald eagles soaring above and listening to fishing stories with friends. So this is my ode to Bud...my rendition of his charming trailer with a little bit of Lake Shoecraft thrown in for authenticity.

HI BUD!!! Thanks for the fun afternoon fishing off your dock! =)

And now if you'll excuse me, I have to eat so I can take my back pill!!! (See, I told you it couldn't be done!!!)

Cookies: Version 1

2009-12-04T23:36:00.001-08:00

First of all, a happy photo. This is my dishtowel drawer. I know….sigh. This is just one of those things that makes me smile. And yes, I really do keep them folded and stacked all orderly like that. My own mother laughed at me when she saw me folding my dishtowels just so. What can I say? Happy. Once December hits, the everyday towels switch places with the holiday ones. Admit it: Looking at that photo brings a smile to your face, doesn’t it? =)

Now, on to the cookies. The ORCA program that Hayley attends is Oceanography-based, so when I came across fish-shaped cookie cutters, I knew we had to make cookies for teacher gifts.

Then I found little fishie plates and about died of The Cute right there in the store! Hayley and I decorated these little babies last night. It’s time consuming and a little messy, but the end result is worth it.And for all the kitty fans out there: This is what I have to go through to get a photo. I think its pretty obvious that our MollyMo didn’t get the memo about kitties staying off the counter. Tsk tsk.

The Prodigal Son: Continued

2009-12-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

Remember this? I suppose I should finish the story of Willie Lunchmeat. This is our boy. He came to live with us this past 4th of July. We were celebrating at the Christiansen's house and they introduced us to "Orange", a stray kitty that had started to overstay his welcome after three weeks of annoying their kitties and driving their dog Maisie nuts. Dan decided we needed an outdoor mouser kitty and... ...Willie moved in with us that night. We weren't sure if he would stay around, but he did. I put a blanket on a chair for him and kept his food and water bowls full and he seemed pretty happy. By the way, that is Willie's drug of choice there: Cat Mint. Anywayyyy, our boy stayed around for 2 1/2 weeks and then he was gone. I wasn't totally surprised, only because he seemed to be somewhat of a free spirit, coming and going as he pleased, keeping his own hours. We were all very sad he was gone and not a day went by that we didn't look for him and call him to see if he'd come home. We figured he'd run into bad luck with a coyote or something along those lines. About 10 days went by... ...and then he just walked up the back steps onto the deck. He was home. But he was thin as a rail. Ratty. Starving. He pretty much looked like death warmed over. You could feel his skeleton right through his skin. Our poor boy was so sick and I wasn't sure he was going to be okay. The time he was gone also happened to be during the heat wave we had here. We'll always wonder where he was while he was gone and why he obviously wasn't eating. There are some vacant homes for sale in the neighborhood and we think maybe he got trapped inside a garage or home when it was being shown and couldn't get out. Poor boy. After coming home, Willie ate and slept and snuggled with us every chance he got and he's become a healthy boy again. It only takes a few scratches behind the ears and he starts purring and kneading his big paws. So, we now have our inside princess (Molly) and our outdoor boy. They have "conversations" at the screen, but they aren't allowed to hang out together because Willie can't spend much time inside since he clearly was never introduced to a litter box (I tried...he freaks!) and Molly isn't allowed outside. So that's that. It's kind of funny though that they look so similar...almost like brother and sister. He seems to only be able to handle being inside for maybe an hour at the most (he likes to watch TV with us on the couch) before he gets restless and has to head back out to his stomping grounds. This one though...she's quite comfortable anywhere in the house. Exhibit A: Within a minute of my starting to set the table for Thanksgiving dinner. Not exactly the centerpiece I had in mind! Exhibit B: I set this wreath on the kitchen counter and within a minute, she was investigating and ended up camping out there for awhile. So while Molly likes to act like she doesn't care about Willie, her actions show otherwise. (Don't you just love the elusive "kitty tongue shot?") Here she is watching him sleep through the glass. That's his Winter hut. I know he's an outdoor kitty and it's obvious he's survived living outside in the elements in the past. I don't care...he needs a nice, warm, insulated little hut if he's going to live here! And he loves it. I lined it with eggcrate and a pillow and put some blankets and a down comforter in there. He burrows in spends a lot of his time in it. And on it! He's a good boy. And look at how he's filled out! No more skinny boy. We're getting him fattened up for the winter. Like I said, he loves to come in for a little while every night and spend quality time with the family. But then he heads out to his hut when he really wants to get comfy. And that is the story to date of our Willie Lunchmeat.

Thankful

2009-11-26T12:28:00.001-08:00

Hello? Tap...tap....Anyone out there?
Honestly, I wouldn't blame you if you'd decided to delete your bookmarks for my little blog here. I've not been good about updating it and for that, I am sorry. Really, I am. However, we've been really busy in these parts. We've played A LOT of volleyball and thrown A LOT of bowling balls. And we were there to watch all of those balls being hit and thrown! Wouldn't miss my kids doing their thing for anything!

So, having said that (Curb Your Enthusiam....anyone???) I will attempt to get back on the blogging bandwagon and fill y'all in. But first, my peace offering:

I'm making this today. I mentioned that I was making a Chocolate Silk Pie for dessert today and the crowd went wild! My friends on Facebook requested pie sent their way! There was drool on keyboards at the mere mention of it. So, my offering is this little photo of heavenly goodness. Just take it in for a moment. I'll wait.

You're welcome

This picture isn't from today, since that one still isn't made. Because I like to procrastinate. Plennnnty of time to make the pie. No, this one is from this past summer at Ken & Danette's company picnic at Bow Lake. They have a dessert contest every year and while I'm not the best baker, I do enjoy a challenge. Last year's offering was Double Cream Cheesecake. And it won. This year, I decided to make the Chocolate Silk Pie. And it won. And frankly, I was a little bit embarrassed, because....well, because there are always a lot of decadent, yummy, beautiful desserts and I felt guilty to win two years in a row. But honestly....the Chocolate Silk Pie is THAT good. It is not good FOR you, but it is so good for the soul! So there.

We are hunkering down at home today. Cooking and baking and watching football. Yayyy!

I also must take this moment to wish a Happy Birthday yesterday to Missy Laura!!! And to wish a Happy Birthday today to the lovely Erica!!! 15...wow! Erica is a dancer and I just think this is the coolest photo ever!

We PNW Liebels hope this day finds you all happy and healthy! We have so much to be thankful for in our lives and wish the same for you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Fun Week...

2009-10-11T00:30:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of having our niece and nephew (Glen's kids) stay with us this past week as they relocate from Scottsdale allllll the way up to Anchorage! Glen is taking over as the Executive Chef of the Anchorage Sheraton. They arrived on Saturday and Glen headed out with Jasmine the dog as his co-pilot for a 4-day journey in the car.

Due to some camera shyness, I didn't take a lot of pictures of my houseguests this week. I didn't want them to feel like I was documenting every minute of their stay, so we just lived life in the moment. But this is a shot I just had to have: Allison and Cody (October 9, 2009)

If you're going to come visit us in Seattle, chances are you're going to take the 41 second elevator ride to the top of the Space Needle. And then you're going to pose for me with the beautiful view in the background. There's no getting around it.

It was a tad cloudy for us on Friday, but it was still pretty. Hayley was off school, so she went with us. We toyed with the idea of heading over to Pike Place Market, but we knew we didn't have time. Before leaving the Needle, I did manage to talk the kids into posing for one of my favorite shots. Trust me: The only way to get this shot is to lay on the ground and have the subjects practically stand on top of me. They thought they looked stupid, but I believe I was the one laying on the ground!! Yesss, yesss. (Spoken in true Stewie fashion!)

Cody and Allison have been such troopers this week. They've cheered at two of Hayley's volleyball matches that frankly did not go so well and sat through two of Brian's bowling matches (they went better.) I dragged them with me on mundane errands, but we managed to get some serious shopping goals met! Cody and I finally tracked down a sharpening stone (from an old man in the mall that tried so hard to disuade us from buying one!) and then Cody sharpened my knives (even though the old man said he wouldn't be able to do it. Take THAT old man!) Dan and Cody planted a tree and Allison and I sewed pajama pants. Top Chef Cody wowed us with his Banana's Foster and they both fell in love with Willie Lunchmeat and Abby. And Josie Grandma, for the record, Cody agrees that Molly is a big barrel kitty! And she is not amused. We even took the kids to Mass tonight and then we all pigged out at Mongolian Hot Iron Grill before heading home for Drumsticks and a super funny game of Scattergories. (World Leader Bo Bice anyone? Historical figure Prince...yeah, Little Red Corvette Prince? Apple Schmear as a sport? How about the Liberty Statue? Meal-making as a hobby? Ping Pong Showdown...teethguard...karpool, krak and Khloe Kardashian? Anybody...anyone???) Oh my goodness, there was some serious laughing at the game table tonight.

So, tomorrow we've planned a huge farewell breakfast: Diane's scratch pancakes, bacon and sausage (because who can really decide between the two??) and eggs. Coffee, natch. We'll get the kids packed up and head down to Seatac. I don't want to say goodbye to my "kids" but I will. Facebook enables us to keep in touch in an instant and besides, they're starting a new adventure in their new home. We wish Glen, Cody and Allison the best of luck and they know they're always welcome to stay with us again.

It’s a BIG DAY in these parts…

2009-09-21T09:34:00.000-07:00

Today is Hayley’s first day of school! Yep, she’s had a nice long summer and has been banking sleep hours in preparation for what is coming up…and that would be lots of homework and lots of volleyball!

Hayley has opted to take part in a school program called ORCA. It is part of the Running Start program in which high school Juniors and Seniors can earn college credits while earning their high school diploma. Instead of attending classes at the high school, Hayley will drive down to Mukilteo for her classes Monday thru Thursday (Fridays, too, though there are no classes…just occasional field trips and study time at the campus.) Then after school, she will zoom up to the high school for volleyball (either practice or matches.) This is a pretty intense school program and we’ve been warned that the homework load will be big. However, our girl thrives on challenge and is ready to take on this one!

After all, she’s seventeen now! We’ve been very busy with life lately, so I didn’t get a chance to update about the big 1-7. Hayley had her first volleyball match of the season that night over at South Whidbey. While the match didn’t go our way, we still celebrated Hayley’s birthday on the way home…with cupcakes on the ferry!

Chocolate with buttercream and white with strawberry icing. YUM. And yes…that is a Cupcake “H” for Hayley! The entire Lakewood High volleyball squad got off the bus and came up to the seating area to line the way for Hayley as they sang Happy Birthday! So sweet…they are truly an awesome group of girls!

Speaking of volleyball, check out this article in the Marysville Globe. (Hayley’s jersey number is #1 when you look at the slideshow.) Pretty exciting times around here. It was our 20th wedding anniversary that day to boot! We’re awfully proud of the young lady our little girl has grown into. And for the record (because people always ask!) she’s almost 6’…so when she’s rockin’ the heels, she’s standing a proud 6’3” to 6’4”. You go Glen Coco!! (Come on…name that movie!)

Unfortunately, I still can’t take a decent volleyball action shot so you’re probably only going to get written summaries…or shots like the one above! That was taken during pre-match warm-up and you’ll have to trust me that it was Hayley killing the ball!

Tonight, Hayley gets to play against one of her best friends, Hannah. (Hi Hannah!) She goes to a different school, but the girls have played Club ball together for two years now. It should be a fun night!

So, now that Hayley is back to school, I feel like Autumn is finally here. There is a briskness in the air, though we are due for temps in the 80’s this week!

Have a wonderful week!

Oh Nine Oh One Oh Nine

2009-09-01T11:05:00.001-07:00

Isn’t that a cool date? I think so. In these parts, that means its time to head back to school. Brian obliged me with a First Day of School photo. Is it me or have my First Day of School photos gotten much more….casual?

A refresher:

Can you stand it? My heart just melted. A lot.

Okay, back to 09-01-09. In case you’re wondering where Hayley is in the current photo, don’t worry. I didn’t forget to take her picture. She didn’t want to be in the photo because this isn’t her first day of school. She doesn’t start school until September 21st because she is attending a program called ORCA through Everett Community College and will be on the college schedule. Since Brian had a delayed start this morning due to freshman orientation, Hayley decided to drive him to school.

Isn’t that sweet?

So, after watching 2/3 of my heart drive away, I walked back into the house to find this:

and this:

Both of them wondering what’s up that the house is empty. (By the way, Uncle Pat is here for a visit so he and Dan went out for Round 2 of their golf odyssey.)

Willie was worried, too:

Or maybe not. Our Wills tends to come and go as he pleases. He sauntered home this morning (after I hollered for him to get his butt home) and ate some breakfast and went off to the woods again. We don’t know what he does out there, but we did find ~~remains~~ little fluffy fur bits out in the yard, so one can only imagine!

I know I never finished my update on Willie. My “teaser” post, if you will. We’ve been busy around here and I will get to it this week. Don’t worry though. All is well with Mr. Willie Lunchmeat.

I mean, does this look like an unhappy kitty to you?

(Josie Grandma, Willie really likes your pretty cushions!)

Have a fabulous day!

The Prodigal Son: Preview

2009-08-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

It is with great joy that I can report back to you that Willie Lunchmeat has returned home to us...where he belongs.

He's actually been home for 16 days now. And while I wanted to immediately do a big post about his return, part of me was waiting. Waiting for him to break our hearts and leave again. However, it would appear that our boy has decided to stay. {{Doing my happy dance...}}

I have a slew of photos of our wayward traveler to share with you. Both pre and post journey. I'm helping serve lunch to all the coaches at the high school this morning, but when I'm done I'll sit down and share our furry version of The Prodigal Son.

“What I Did Today” by Diane K. Liebel

2009-07-29T13:39:00.001-07:00

Got up, fed the fuzzies, made a cup of coffee and took a shower.
Put on a baseball cap. Because it is too friggin’ hot and humid to bother drying my hair. (Can I just remind you all that we live in the Pacific Northwest? It is not supposed to get to 100 degrees here. But today, it is supposed to hit 101 degrees. I’d like to file a complaint with Mother Nature…
Started the car 5 minutes before we had to leave because it is hot in the car. Really hot. And I wasn’t going anywhere until the air conditioner cooled it down.
Dropped Brian off at his driving lesson and went straight to Target.
Made a mad dash through Target to get to the just-stocked fan section and quickly shoved three (3) column fans into my cart. No doubt, they ran out of just-stocked fans within ten minutes.
Smugly paid for my three fans, knowing that someone is going to ask a Target employee the same stupid question I did yesterday…”Excuse me? Where are the fans???” Ya know, I don’t appreciate being laughed at by Target employees as they exclaim, “Hahaha…we sold out in five minutes…hahaha…check back tomorrow…hahaha!”
Filled up the car with gas at Costco. Smiled smugly at the guy behind me because I had three (3) fans in the back of my car and he didn’t.
Went into Costco and headed straight for the Produce walk-in refrigerator, where it is a delightful 40 degrees. I slowly examined every item of produce in said walk-in.
Briefly considered going and getting a display lawn chair and sitting in said Produce walk-in refrigerator for the rest of the day.
I decided against #9 because I think the Costco employees would have noticed and asked me to leave.
Josie Grandma calls and thinks she is funny by asking, “What are you doing? Sweating??? Hahahahaha!” (Josie Grandma lives in the hottest place on earth, otherwise known as Arizona. She loves this kind of hellish heat.)
I told Josie Grandma that no, I was NOT sweating because I was in the Costco Produce walk-in refrigerator, thank you very much! We continued to talk until I had to pay.
I picked up Brian from his driving lesson and we went home to set up our three (3) new fans.
I just set up one of the fans about 18 inches behind me and decided to blog about my day.
At least I’ve stopped sweating.

Sigh. I hate heat. I love cool.

We are going to Kenny Chesney on Saturday. It is only supposed to be 88 degrees and party cloudy. Who do I need to bribe to get full cloudy??? Cuz I’ll do it. =) I will.

That is my update for today. I have tons to post about, but I’ve been lazy. And now its too hot. But here is a teaser of what we’ve been up to:

The Josies came to visit us. We had a nice visit with them. We did lots of this:

Gin. Ahhhh. I’m just going to throw a number out there. 85. That’s all I will say. 85. Those that need to know will know what that means.

I put Josie Grandma to work making cushions for our front porch set. She banged them out in a couple of hours.

Pretty, no? What you don’t see in this pretty picture is the frogs that live under the cushions. Yes, you read that right. To get out of the heat, our frogs climb between the wicker and the cushion and hang out. It is what it is.

And finally, we had a new member of our family. Meet Willie Lunchmeat.

I’ll have to write more about Willie later because this photo makes me very sad. See, Willie Lunchmeat was with us for 2 1/2 weeks and then he wasn’t. I don’t know if he found someone who fed him better (like THAT would happen!) or if he met a sad fate. We just know that he didn’t come home.

Brian took a trip to see old friends and family in SoCal and Hayley had some volleyball camps. We’ll get to all that later. For now, I’m camping out in front of a fan with a glass of lemonade! Stay cool!

Riggins to Seattle '09: Part III

2009-06-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 30th. This was a special day. Not only were my favorite lovebirds still here visiting, but alas, I turned the ripe old age of 45! Sighhh. So, I can tell you that possibly the best way to greet 45 is to go wine tasting! Trust me on this. It dulls the pain! We hopped in the car and drove up to Concrete, WA to sample the goodies at the Challenger Ridge Winery. Our friends Ken and Danette (along with a group of their friends) own this winery. To say that it is the most charming plot of earth evahhhh would be an understatement! I mean really: Look at that view. Look at all those vines. And that is just part of the property. We went inside the Tasting Room, which is an ooold cabin. Very rustic and homey. Once inside, our darling hostess Cora hooked us up with tasting after tasting of wine. Three whites...then 3 reds. Each one better than the last. Good times, I tell ya! Lookie....future grapes! I just have to tell you about two of the wines we tried. "Gordon" and "Faye." Apparently these two wines are named after winemaker Randy Bonaventura's TWO DOGS...and their likenesses are on the labels of their namesake wines!!! Can you stand it? Anyone who names their wine after their dog is a star in our book! Missy Laura and I. We were still tasting at this point. This was right about when Laura decided to move up here and be my neighbor so we could go wine tasting every day! Yeah yeah....I made that up. My Boy and I. He's my Hunky-Monkey. I think the buzz was a little more apparent. I look WAY too happy to be 45. After tasting, we each got a full glass of wine and Cora then took us on a little tour of the winery. We got to see the whole production area from smashing the grapes to the bottler and labeler. We walked up to the upper level of the property where there is a little pond. As we stood there taking in the serenity of the pond, about 100 fish darted into view, scaring us and causing me to scream out loud. The buzz was very apparent at that point. We went back to the Tasting Room and got another glass of wine and sat in rocking chairs on the front porch and discussed how there really was no better way to spend the day. And that is when I took the photo of the wine glass and flag. We said our farewell to Cora and headed down the road to find something to ~~soak up some of the wine~~ eat. We came upon this place: These are the best places to nosh, right? Behold: Yeaaahhhh. I don't know if it was the wine or what, but this was the best burger I'd ever feasted on. (Except for Dano's home-made burgies. THAT goes without saying!) So, Laura and I ordered bacon cheeseburgers that came with everything, though Laura eats hers dry. Nothing on it. The guys, on the other hand, ordered regular old burgers with the assumption that their burgies would come with, oh I don't know, lettuce or tomatoes or onions or TOPPINGS IN GENERAL!!! I guess at Birdsview Burgers, you have to tell the little ladies workin' the counter exactly what you're expecting on your burger. Laura and I felt bad for the boys and their sad, plain, topping-less burgers, but the buzz of the wine left us powerless to do anything but snarf. We had the long drive home, during which Laura and I reclined the back seat and "rested our eyes." (That is Grandma Liebel's term for napping...and Laura uses it on occasion!) When we pulled up to the house, we all noticed this unsettling phenomenon. There was a dark ring around the sun. Very, very bizarre. I admit it fa-reaked me out. It finally disappeared, allowing us to relax a little, knowing the world wasn't coming to an end on my birthday! We spent the rest of the day looking at the houses for sale our neighborhood (the one right behind us is perfect for Laura and Corey...we even have a back gate to connect our backyards. Just sayin'...) For dinner, we'd originally planned to go to PF Changs. But after a day of wine-tasting, we were more inclined to hang around the house and let Dano feed us his version of Me 'n Ed's pizza. I KNOW! Dano has been on a quest...a mission, if you will, to duplicate the pizza from Me 'n Ed's in Long Beach, CA. We believe he has come out victorious! Trust me...it's that good! A special treat for Corey in his visit up here was that his friend from his Navy days, David Shellhammer, was able to drive over from Bremerton and have dinner with us that evening. He's a sweetheart. The poor guy U-turned right into a grass-covered ditch at the bottom of our hill Sunday morning and he just took it in stride. They hadn't seen each other since Laura and Corey's wedding. We all feasted on pizza and then headed out to the firepit for an FPN...Seattle style. S'mores and mosquitos. Yay! Sunday morning, I woke up feeling amazingly good. (Considering the amount of wine and Captain & Diet Cokes we consumed the day before!) We headed to church and then to the Bluebird Cafe for breakfast. Yummy! Sigh. Sadly, we had to drive our favorite lovebirds to the airport on Sunday afternoon. We stopped in at the Pyramid Brewery right by Mariner Stadium for some grub, since the travelers wouldn't be getting any real food until late that night. A little Hef, some nachos, some BBQ chicken pizza and a rather eccentric History teacher who made our acquaintance because of Dano's t-shirt that had Ben Franklin's quote: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" made for a memorable lunch. Did YOU know that Ben Franklin and George Washington smoked weed? No? Well, this woman did. And she was all too happy to go on...and on...and on about it, while our pizza cooled! I think we all silently cheered when she finally left our table so we could eat! We got to the airport and sadly bid farewell to our awesome niece Laura and her sweet hubby Corey. Fortunately for Laura and I, a simple one or two word text brings all the fun right back! After all, "We live on the Rez!" Tee hee! Corey and Laura, come see us again when you can! We love and miss you!

Riggins to Seattle '09: Part II

2009-06-27T10:33:00.002-07:00

Here they are again: My favorite lovebirds. Hanging out on Deception Pass. On Friday morning, we drove up north to the little town of La Conner. It is impossibly charming with little shops and yummy places to eat. We settled on having a late breakfast at the Calico Cupboard. Trust me, it was to die for! On the way out, amidst the wafting aroma of fresh croutons being made, Missy Laura and I made our way over to the bakery case full of unbelievably decadent treats. It took about 10 seconds for both of us to lock eyes with the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar and some homemade caramels. We'll talk about that later. We all had to walk off our breakfast just a bit, so we mosied up and down the main drag of La Conner, looking in the shops at all the one-of-a-kind goodies. Seriously, I could retire in La Conner where Danny and I could make crafty things all day to sell to the tourists. But only after having breakfast every morning at the Calico Cupboard!

Next, we drove up and over to South Whidbey Island. What connects the mainland with South Whidbey is Deception Pass. It is two spans of bridge and looking out on either side are beautiful views of the water WAYYY below and all the pretty greenery. It is quite breathtaking. Dano and I being tourists.

We drove all the way down through South Whidbey and then boarded the ferry to take us back across the Puget Sound to Mukilteo. Missy Laura didn't tell us that she gets a wee bit nauseous until we were already on the ferry, but she did just fine on the trip. How cute are they?

But really, when one is on a ferry with a little outcropping to stand on at the front end of said ferry, there is only one thing to do: "I'm flying, Jack!!!"

I know...we are dorks. We pretty much agreed on that fact when we turned around and looked up at the ferry pilots looking down at us through the window, shaking their heads. Yeah, like they've never seen that pivotal scene from Titanic recreated on the ferry before!!! Sheeshh.....

Anywayyyyy, we drove off the ferry at Mukilteo and took an immediate left turn into the Ivar's parking lot. It was a beautiful day and we were just starting to get hungry. And thirsty. We sat out on the balcony and I believe Missy Laura and I enjoyed some Malibu and OJ while they guys had beer.

This is Laura's first taste of her chowdah. Ivar's is famous for their Clam Chowder. I generally don't like clam chowder, but I do eat it at Ivar's. With a hot sourdough roll. Dano and I always split a bowl. Sadly, I cannot remember what else we ate at Ivar's. I think we kept it light because of everything we'd consumed at breakfast!

We went home and putzed around before having dinner. Missy Laura and I had not yet sampled the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar. We set it out of sight where we thought it would be safe. It was not safe. To be completely honest, it would not have been safe anywhere in the house!

So, while Dano and Corey were out on the deck prepping the grill to cook dinner, my Laura and I had a VERY weak moment. It isn't that we nibbled on the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar right before dinner.

No, what makes us truly weak is that we hid in the pantry to nibble on the Chocolate-covered Coconut Bar right before dinner. And we giggled. And nibbled. And snorted. We thought we would pee our pants because we were laughing so hard. Then Laura decided to move up here and be my neighbor so we could eat Chocolate-covered Coconut Bars every day.

Okay, I made that part up. THAT is the scene of the crime. THAT is where weak moments occur.

Tsk tsk.

But there is more. We thought our weak moment went unnoticed by anyone else in the house. Because we were hidden in the pantry. Unfortunately, we were found out! I'd asked Hayley to do something earlier and I never saw her do it. So, I asked her and she said she took care of it. I said, "Yeah? Where was I???"

(I'm sure you know where this is going....)

Hayley: "You and Laura were in the pantry...giggling."

Stay tuned! There is still more Riggins to Seattle to come...

Riggins to Seattle '09: Part I

2009-06-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just look at these two. I call them my Lovebirds. One year, three months and 14 days since they said, "I do!" Seems like it was yesterday!

Missy Laura and her boy, Corey flew up back in May to visit us in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Problem was, it wasn't rainy. It was gloriously hot and sunny. We couldn't have asked for prettier weather for our favorite newlyweds to experience.

After we picked them up at the airport and drove home, I had to show Laura one of the favorite things in my house...the Keurig. Laura, being the coffee drinker that she is, said a little prayer of thanks and immediately brewed herself a cuppa joe. I believe she chose the Island Coconut flavor, which opened up a whole new level of bonding for my darling niece and I. More on that in Part II.

By the way, that is my "Butler's Pantry" aka "The Bar." Remember, I don't have a butler. Heh heh. Laura was pretty much in heaven as the little Keurig quickly chugged out a fine cup of coconut-flavored coffee.

A dash of vanilla creamer... ...and Laura decided to move in and never go back to Southern California.

The End! =)

Sorry, I made that last part up. I was only wishing she would move up here and be my neighbor and we could drink coconut-flavored coffee together every morning. Sigh.

Laura has been to our house before. It was a whirlwind visit back in November of 2007 and spent a wonderful 48 hours in our pajamas making her amazing wedding invitations. Corey, since he was on a nuclear submarine at that time, did not come with and had never seen our house. So, while Dano showed Corey (whom Dano affectionately refers to as "Corndog") around the expanse of the yard, I showed Laura the really important things. Like the Keurig.

And my birdie nest, which was an architectural feat of epic proportions. It was lovingly built in the support beam under my bedroom deck. Some wonderful birdie worked awfully hard on this thing. As my dad would say, "It was strong. Like bull."

Remember in an earlier post, when I said there were three of the most beautiful bright blue eggs I'd ever seen? Remember? Check it out...photographic proof: Can you even stand it? Laura was amazed. Corndog was amazed. It was such a sweet sight. So we all went inside and toasted the birdnest and the bright blue eggies with some margaritas, chips and guacamole while Dano made a Mexican feast worthy of our out-of-town travelers. All was right in the world. All was good.

BUM BUM BUMMMMMMMM!!!!

I let Abby and Sasha out for their morning potty time and in my sleepy daze, something caught my eye. Why, it looks like......

IT COULD NOT BE: I know this will be painful for my Laura to relive (even more painful than the month-long wait for me to blog about their visit!) but I must do it to honor the birdies. First, click on the above photo. The big nest was truly a woven marvel. Nestled inside, yet completely separate from that was a super soft, delicate inner nest. And yes, those blue bits....egg shells. Can you see it? No?

How about now? Sigh. We don't know what decided to come into our yard during the night and rip the nest from the beam and then dine on some unpoached eggs. I'm not sure I want to know! It could have been a raccoon or a squirrel or even my Chippie the chipmunk (which my bowling friends told me that "chippie" was a term for a prostitute way back...shows what I know!) Danny thinks it could have been an owl. It could have been Rocky, looking for raw eggs to guzzle. We do know that Sasha woke up and went to sit by the open sliding door in the middle of the night so she must've known something evil was going on out there. All I know is, my Missy Laura and her Corey did not fly all the way up here to experience death and destruction on their first full day here!!!! We needed something to ease our troubled minds. Something soft and gentle.

Ahhhhh, that's better. This was right across the street from us. These sweeties were fairly small. New life. Gotta love nature!

So ends Part I of the Riggins visit. Check back tomorrow to see what fun we managed to round up on Friday! Hint: it involves the front end of a ferry boat!

Happy Fathers Day!

2009-06-21T11:44:00.000-07:00

The two men in my life. My Daddy and My Boy. This was just this past Spring Break. These two are buds. The fact that they get along so well is just icing on the cake of my life. I call Danny "My Boy." Always have. Always will. I think he kinda likes it.

He's such a good dad. He really is. Our children are so lucky to have him for a daddy.

He's a strong, silent type. Much like my own daddy. Always there when you need him.

Sorry... ...my heart just melted.

He's a proud daddy. We took Brian out to celebrate Straight A's on his recent report card and Dano must've mentioned it to the waitress no less than 5 times.

Watch out boyfriends of that cute little Minnie Mouse. Consider yourself warned! Heh heh.

He has taught our babies all about camping and fishing. Much like my own daddy.

I love my Daddy.

And I love My Boy. Along with our babies, he is everything to me!

Happy Fathers Day to My Boy and My Daddy...and to all the daddies out there!

A Sneak Peek

2009-06-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Literally. Just a little peek at what is to come in the very near future.

Yes, the three photos in this very abbreviated post all have something in common. Can you guess what it could be? Above was a peek into the bird nest under my bedroom deck. Can you stand it? Yeah...enjoy that charming little photo for a day or so. I'll explain why later.

Below is a little peek at a Coconut-Oh-My-God-Chocolate treat. It was that good.

Finally, we have Missy Laura and her hubba bubba, Corey. Could they BE any cuter? No, I just don't think so.

Do you give up? These three photos all happened while Laura and Corey were visiting us a few weeks ago. (It seems like a lifetime, especially when Aunt Diane has not had time to properly update the blog in a timely fashion!) I had a little text-versation today with Laura and I cannot handle the guilt any longer. (Arrrrghhhh...the PAIN!!!) I promise, nay, VOW that "Riggins to Seattle '09" will be posted on Monday.

Drum Roll Please...Spring Break '09

2009-06-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Any guesses where we flew off to for Spring Break??? If you said sunny Arizona...you'd be correct! Since my parents and both of my brothers and their families are all now living in the Phoenix area, it made sense for us to head down their way for some fun in the sun and get together for a Rydin Family Reunion.

We said goodbye to our furry babies and flew down on a Friday afternoon. Josie Grandma had a wonderful dinner waiting for us when arrived at their house. That probably didn't need to be said because Josie Grandma and Grampa always feed us as if we just got rescued from a desert island...there is no shortage of foodies!

Saturday morning, we headed to the Renaissance Festival. Have you ever been to a Renaissance Festival? You should really go to one...if only to fully appreciate the modern convenience of throwing on a pair of shorts and a tank top! The outfits that the regulars wear are amazing. Heavy layers and layers upon layers. And it was hot. And everyone calls each other M'lord and M'lady. While we were waiting for the gates to open, the Royal Court addresses the crowd and some of the entertainers come out to...entertain. The bagpiper on the left was about 7 ft. tall and probably weighed a good 120 lbs. And yes, the photo is black and white because somehow I flipped to B/W mode on the camera without even knowing it.

This guy was pretty amazing. So were his tights. Hahaha...just kidding. I love how this shows Dextre with his umbrella on his unicycle on the high rope and behind him is the painting of Dextre with his umbrella on his unicycle on the high rope.

This is Maiden Hayley, wearing as much of a wench costume as she could muster. And no, I do not believe they had sunglasses back in medieval times. Or Abercrombie & Fitch. I think this was right after one of the Renaissance dudes walked up to her and stuttered something in his medieval language like, "Thou art wondrous fair, M'lady!" which roughly translated meant, "Hot damn, can I get your phone number!"

Anywayyyyy, there was lots of food to eat, shoppes to browse, jousting knights to cheer for, privies to visit (ahem!) and elephants to ride. Sorry, there will be no photographs of someone riding on an elephant. We just can't go there. You can ask someone about riding on an elephant, but I guarantee that someone will not even pretend to know what you are talking about.

Moving on. Sunday of our visit, we had the big Rydin Family Reunion. Ummm...well...hold on..oh wait, this was from another Rydin Family Reunion... ...in 1998! Ha! Had you goin' there, huh?

Yes, Danny and Karin are missing from that shot because Danny had to stay home and work and Glen hadn't met his wife Karin yet!

Here we all are! The Rydin mob-scene. That's what we like to call these shots where everyone gathers in for the photo. Closer....squish together more....move over some...THERE! Say cheese! L to R: Cody (17), Allison (15), Grampa, Taylor (almost 19), Karin, Joy, Glen, Keith, Dano, Brian (15), Hayley (16), Diane and Josie Grandma. We have about 15 more of these in varying degrees of smiling, not smiling, squinting, leaning, blocking each other and I think there is one that cut poor Cody in half!

Josie Grandma made me very, very happy and got a carrot cake from Costco. The angels sang a song of glory when we cut into this baby! Sorry...I got carried away with dessert first! Can you blame me?

This is my brother Glen's wife Karin and my hubba bubba.

This is Glen's son Cody talking grill-talk with Grampa.

Glen is a chef and Cody is following in his footsteps and already pursuing a future in cooking. Cody told me about his possibly being on a Top Chef for younger chefs. Could anything he said to me make me any happier? I love me some Top Chef!

Josie Grandma and Hayley. I used to think Josie Grandma was so tall, but your perspective changes when your kids grow as tall as your parents (and you.)

Chef Cody and Josie Grandma. Cody is taller than she is.

We grew up playing games, so what better way to spend some time than good old Yahtzee?

Uncle Keith thought he was going to blow us all away with his mad Yahtzee skillz...

...but I think you can tell from the smirks on our faces, it was not to be. I'm pretty sure Uncle Keith was counting up his dice for a 12 on his Chance there. Heh heh...

Like I said, the food never stops at Josie Grandma and Grampa's house. The brats, lovingly arranged on the grill.

Nobody does pork and beef roast slow-cooked like my Mama.

Though she taught me and now give her a run for her money on the whole pork-roast thing. Just sayin'...

We all ate outside since it was perfect weather. This was the kids table. Our kids are all in their mid to late teens now.

We're going to have to allow them at the grown-ups table soon. Actually, Taylor did take his spot at the grown-ups table.

We had to get shots of the just the grandkids together. Ahhh, I crack myself up! Again, circa 1998. (As if you couldn't tell from my mad scrapbooking skillz...nice die-cut flowers on those corner cuts Diane! Heh..) But seriously, can you stand it? Just look at those cute babies!!!

And look at them now! Sigh. They do grow up fast! And they're still cute!

I thought Hayley had long legs. Allison might have her beat by an inch or two. And yes, Hayley is doing that thing with her fingers behind Brian's head. I think secretly...he knew.

Let's try this again. Perhaps just letting them be themselves... Nope. Okay then. Time to pull out the big guns.

I may or may not have resorted to fart humor...

What? You've never had to resort to fart humor to get The Shot? Whatever.

Hayley can't handle it!

Neither can Brian.

Well, it was a lot of fun trying to get a photo of these jokers!

While we love Josie Grandma and Grampa and we love hanging out at their house, the real attraction is the pool. Don't worry, Josie Grandma and Grampa feel the same way. They love us, but when it's pool time, it's POOL TIME!!!! (Scroll all the way down on that link to fully understand Noodle Soup!)

There was a lot of this: The worshipping of the sun. For comparison purposes only, that is my lily white leg in the forefront of the photo. Please refrain from all comments regarding "Casper the ghost" and "Owwwww, its BLiNDinG my eyes!!!" and "Gosh mom...you're so white!" Yeah, I've heard 'em all. They're very hurtful. Just kidding...I totally embrace my lily white-ness, even when sitting next to my tan daughter.

There was a lot of this: The girl-child is a mermaid. She can hold her breath for-EVER under water.

There was a lot of this:

See previous statement about the holding of the breath.

There was a lot of this: Uncle Keith is the Cruise Director. He is the Ringleader. He is Uncle Keith. Don't ever change!

Now, these two are sneaky. Perhaps a bit camera-shy. But Allison and Cody are no match for Aunt Diane, who pretended to not be taking a photo when she snapped this one! But Keith's son Taylor...he was a worthy adversary. I could not sneak a good shot of him.

His father, on the other hand...not so camera-shy.

"Uncle Keith, Veech vay to Muscle Beach?"

"Zees vay?"

"Ohhhh, eez eet zat vay?"

"Ohhh, vee are already at zee Muscle Beach!!"

Good times! These two are a pair to draw to. I remember commenting to Keith's wife Joy, as we watched our hubbies saunter off to get into mischief, "It's probably a good thing we don't live close to each other because we'd have to take turns babysitting those two!"

Joy laughed and agreed.

We also shopped til we dropped, we bowled, we played some serious Gin, I finally got to get a Cherry-Limeaid at Sonic (which did not disappoint) and there was plenty of golf to keep everyone happy. Sigh, we had a fun, relaxing time in beautiful Arizona. Then we had to say goodbye and come home. =(

Thank you Josie Grandma and Grampa for everything! We miss all you Rydins!

P.S. We think the next Rydin Family Reunion should be up in Washington. Just sayin'...

Big Windows and Dumb Birds

2009-05-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going to begin and end this post with beauty (because the middle isn't pretty.) This is just a smattering of my Bleeding Heart plant. The blossoms are like little hanging jewels....hundreds of them! I love this plant. It is so vibrant and pretty and no matter what I do to it, it comes back even better than it was. Hearty doesn't begin to describe this gem.

Now, on to the ugly side of life here at the Liebel Ranch.

(I'm warning you now that one of the following photos may disturb some of you. There, you've been warned.)

This is part of the back of our house. We have these honkin' big windows. And living in the PNW, of course we have birds. Lots of not-so-bright birds. Now, before you think I'm all mean, realize that I go out every day to check to see if there are eggs in the nest that a very talented bird wove into the underside of our bedroom deck. (For the record, yes there are three of the most beautiful bright blue eggs I've ever seen!)

I really hope this wasn't their Mama. Because she is the latest dumb bird to fly full force into those big honkin' windows and subsequently break her wee little neck. How do I know her neck is broken?

Exhibit A: Sorry, but that is not a natural positioning of the neck on any bird I've seen. Sigh...we've discovered many a twisted little birdie in this area of the backyard. But we also find them under Dano's office window and the dining room window in the front. Seriously, they hit really hard and they leave little feathers hanging sadly on the windows from the impact. My windows have become windows of death. So, my apologies for grossing you out. Just keeping it real here! Let's move on to more beauty and happiness, shall we?

This is the beautiful Mr. and Mrs. Riggins. They're in love (like I really needed to add THAT!)

Welllll, my Missy Laura and her Corey are leaving this cuteness.... ...AND THEY'LL BE HERE FOR A VISIT IN FOUR DAYS!!!

I know, how can they possibly leave those furry babies (what is it with the long, lush tails in that family???) but I think we'll be able to show them a good time. Missy Laura, for taunting purposes only, here is a little teaser of what is to come... FPN (Fire Pit Nights) ~ PNW style! We cannot wait! See you on Thursday!!!

Happy Mother's Day to My Mama

2009-05-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photos: That's me, sitting on my mama's lap. Circa 1970.

For the record, I never called my mama "Mom." She was always "Mommy" and that evolved into "Mama."

And this is my mama with all three of her babies: Glen, Keith and Diane. My mama was quite the hottie boombalottie, huh? August 1970 ~ Mesa Verde National Park

My mama had a mama, too. That is her, my grandma, on the left. And that is my mama on the right, rockin' the frosted shag...SO the happening "Do" back in '71. Long Beach, California

Modeling our bling. People have always said I look like my mama. They're right! Caribbean Cruise ~ 2005

Three generations ~ Josie Grandma, Hayley and I. Marysville, Washington ~ 2008

So, it might seem like my mama has changed over the years, but I don't think so.

Case in point: My mama (in 1964) holding a 12 pounder. My mama (in 2009) holding a 12 pounder.

See? She looks the same!

Thanks for being my mama all these years ~ the one I still love to call just about every day to chat and laugh with. Happy Mother's Day! I'll call you later on!

How can you tell...

2009-05-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

...when a Boxer is living in your home??? This is the sliding door leading out onto the kitchen deck. It would appear I've been slacking in my window washing duties. However, I've decided to wait until our houseguest goes home to give them a good scrub.

This is Boscoe. He and Abby got to be friends when she stayed at his house when we went to Phoenix for Spring Break (update on that next week!) Seriously, I could stare at this face all day. He is so expressive and it changes constantly.

Boscoe is a big boy. BIG BOY. He's laying in front of a sliding door here. Sizeable young man.

He has the coolest paws. They're huge. But check out his nails. People pay good money for a pedicure like that!

This was mid-yawn. Sigh. Can you stand it?

I usually don't ask my houseguests to help with the dishes, but Boscoe was more than happy to help with the Au Gratin bowl. He was quite thorough. He worked the bowl like this for five minutes.

After cleaning up the dinner dishes, we went outside for some of this. Boscoe likes to run and fetch the tennis ball, so we throw the ball over and over and over until he tires out.

Because of his rather powerful jaws, I wait until he drops the ball so I can throw it again. He cracks me up because he'll drop it and it'll roll an inch and he'll stare it down and then pounce on it.

A profile of the boy. He has one of those faces only a mother could love. I'm his foster mother this week and I'm in love.

He has this deep ridge between his eyes. Brian's finger is completely nestled in there.

This is what Boscoe would have looked like if his ears had been cropped Boxer style.

This is what he would have looked like if he had played Sally Field's part in the Flying Nun. You don't honestly expect us to not play with the ears, do you?

Living the life of a big dog is exhausting. It must be a Boxer trait because our foster-pup Sasha sleeps exactly like this, too.

But that position only lasts so long before...

...he really gets comfy. Then he goes upstairs and snuggles in Brian's bed for the night.

Sigh. Hayley has volleyball Regionals all this weekend, so I'm not going to be around to play with the big boy. We'll have to have some good tennis ball time before his mama arrives on Monday to take him home.

Sniffle sniffle...

Back by popular demand...

2009-04-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

...actually it would seem by very popular demand!

Let's be honest here: I don't think anyone reads my little blog. (Insert lonely, sad face here.) I get very few comments and you know who you are (Hi Josie Grandma and Missy Laura...love you!) So, I just figured nobody else cared about what us PNW Liebel's were up to. Then I started getting verbal comments from Dano and Brian and Josie Grandma. Basically (and I'm totally paraphasing here:) "People have inquiring minds! They want you to update your dang blog!"

So, since Spring has sprung in these here parts, first I updated the banner. Above, is a glimpse of our luscious flowering trees that now line our property. If you're nice, perhaps I'll post a photo of the current state of the landscaping soon. It's pretty. And it's cool. It's pretty cool. Heh heh.

This was just a teaser of future blog updates. I have to head out to do errands, etc. We have volleyball Regionals Saturday and Sunday. And since I can't do a blog post without a photo, behold: Just a little taste of what we've been up to this week. I know! Can you stand it???? His name is Boscoe and I'll tell you all about him later on.

For the Josies...

2009-04-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd post our new dining room this way because it would take forever to upload photos into emails! So, without further delay, I give you... ...the new Dining Room!

And really, it isn't quite finished. Those black "bee" hooks on the wall will soon be gone. Just as soon as we find the perfect mirror to go above the sideboard. And the chandelier is going to be replaced with something, oh I don't know....pleasing to the eye! (i.e. we don't like this one. It is ugly.) And we will be painting the walls. But for now, I'm pretty content.

Anyway, this is the dining room set we fell in love with. This is the table without the leaf..that is why the two chairs are in the corners. Can you see the inlay detail? No?

How's this? I think this is what sold me on the set: The chairs are upholstered in this yummy fabric, yet the outside backs of the chairs have the matching wood inlay from the table. Because sometimes, kitties (not mine, of course) like to stretchhhhhh and then their claws get stuck in the upholstery on the back of the chair. This is also commonly known as "the sharpening of the claws." Problem averted. Because one never likes their new dining room chairs to be used as a scratching post.

Then we have the sideboard. Buffet. Whatever you choose to call it.

I call it "luvah." So does Abby. She likes that all her china fits inside and she still hasn't put a thing in the drawers yet.

It would appear I've embarrassed the Boy by making him sit and model at the table. Then again, I'm not the one with a fern growing out of my head, am I? Sorry, Brian knows I totally planned that shot. By the way, that is my "Butler's Pantry" through that doorway. Since I don't have a butler, I like to call it the "Bar." Anybody thirsty?

I am funny about artwork. I like family photos. Other than that, there isn't much out there that I want to look at every day. Except for one artist. We love Albert Bierstadt. We have one of his prints of the Sierra's in our bedroom and we thought something similar would look good in the dining room. And we would never get bored with it because it would remind us of our favorite area to camp. We came across this in the same store we found the dining room set in. It is a print of Bridal Veil Falls in Yosemite. I guess you can take the Liebels out of the Sierra's...but you can't take the Sierra's out of the Liebels!

Hold on just a minute...just what is this??? This is certainly not acceptable. No. Never. Ever.

What was it they say about curiosity and the cat? She's very cute. Very naughty, but cute.

So, this concludes our tour. I hope you enjoyed it. Josie Grandma and Grampa, you may now return to your nice, warm pool in your nice, warm climate. I've made up a schematic. Trust me, this was nothing. I believe we counted at least 20 Josie friends in the pool a little later on...and they ALL HAD NOODLES!

It's not like I'm jealous or anything. =)

TESTING...1...2...3

2009-03-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Hello from lovely Spokane! Hayley is playing in the PNQ Volleyball Tournament this weekend and I'm chaperoning eleven 16 yr. old young ladies! They played awesome today, so they are still in the gold bracket for tomorrow's matches. Wish them luck...they're trying to earn a bid to go to Junior Nationals in July! GO NORTHSHORE 16 BLACK! (This post was done from my phone so if it is funky...hey, I tried!) Have a great weekend!

Happy Monday!

2009-03-09T09:55:00.000-07:00

Now THIS is the way to start off the week! Welcome home Ashlynn and Tami!

And in other baby-related news, we also got word that our nephew Chris and his sweet wife Julie welcomed Baby #3 to their family this fine morning! Congratulations Chris, Julie, and BIG sisters Athena and Zoe...and welcome to the world John Patrick Liebel!

It is a good day indeed!

One Year Ago Today...

2009-03-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

~~~ 3/8/08 ~~~

...We were down in sunny SoCal for the wedding of our niece, Laura and her Prince Charming, Corey. That day, they became Mr. and Mrs. Corey Riggins. (You must go to their blog and check out the slideshow of the day!)

Everyone jumped for joy... Haha...that just had to be said. Seriously though, after being apart for so long while Corey was being a Navy man in a submarine and Laura was learning to be (and became) an awesome Pediatric RNP, it was so nice to see these two lovebirds finally have their day.

It was stunningly beautiful, from beginning to end. Check out the ballroom for the reception: And that wasn't even half of the room! It took my breath away.

My Laura let me help her with all things paper for her wedding. We made all the invitations, menu cards, place cards, table numbers and programs. It was truly a labor of love...one which I'm ready to take on again. (Ahem, that means you Andrew! And Matt! and Stephanie! Hint hint...) Can you tell the Liebel family enjoys weddings?!

Then of course, there was the cake: Lordy lordy, this was to die for! The best part is that I just talked to Laura on the phone a few minutes ago and she was sitting outside the bakery while Corey ran in to pick up their 1st Anniversary cake! How cool...the bakery provided an exact copy of the top tier of their wedding cake. No freezer burn for them! Me = Jealouuuuusss.

So, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you, Mr. & Mrs. Riggins! We miss you like crazy! We love and adore you!

Now, on another note...we got 4 inches of snow last night. But the good news is that the sun is out and is melting the snow away! Mother Nature...she's a fickle one, no?

Have an awesome day!

Doggy Day Care

2009-02-27T16:56:00.000-08:00

Say hello to Sasha. She lives right next door to us. But on weekends, we get to watch over this sweetie while her family heads down to the hospital to be with Ashlynn and Tami. (Be sure to check Ashlynn's website for an update on how she's doing. She is completely adorable!)

So, Tom brings Sasha over on Friday and she settles right in with the our family. This pup plays hard and when she's done, she ZONKS hard! This is a nightly ritual in our house. Dano climbs into bed and Abby lays next to him and they have their moment of togetherness. Well, no one told Sasha that it was Abby's moment, so she jumps right on up there with Dano and Abby and the three of them have some bonding time. At first, old lady Abby (mid-yawn, above) didn't quite know what to make of Sasha spending so much time around the house, especially when it came time for the nightly bonding. But over the last few weekends, she has gotten used to it and dare I say it, is enjoying Sasha being around?! When Tom comes to take Sasha home on Sunday nights, Abby has been known to go sit and stare longingly out the front window. It's a sad sight indeed. Don't tell her I told you that.

So, after the moments of bonding, everyone falls asleep. I cropped Dano out of the sleeping photo, as per his request. Heh heh. Here are the girls, as we like to say, "crack to crack."

This only lasts for so long and then Abby jumps down from the bed and goes into her Dorm Room. Sasha, choosing comfort over privacy, stays on our bed all night, curled up in a tiny ball. She makes a great cuddle pillow!

And that, my friends, is another example of animals living together in harmony. Missy Laura will be so proud!

Hayley and I are off to Olympia for another round of Power League volleyball tomorrow. Yes, two hours away. We almost got to slated to play in Stanwood (about 20 minutes north of here.) But no. They only taunted us with the possibility and then decided...no, you shall drive two hours to play! FINE! (Listen to me whine...everyone knows I'd go anywhere to watch my Bobo play volleyball.)

Have a lovely weekend!

A Favor Please...

2009-02-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

This is Ashlynn.

Can you stand the cuteness? Ashlynn is our six-month old next-door neighbor. She is the sweetest little doll. Ashlynn and her family need our prayers.

Ashlynn was diagnosed last week with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Her wonderful family is doing everything they can to get this little sweetie healthy so she and her mama (Tami) can come back home. Ashlynn's daddy (Tom) started a blog to keep everyone informed of her progress, so please go visit the site and bookmark it. Most of all though, please keep the entire Hagar family (Ashlynn, big sisters Amber and Alyssa, and of course Tom and Tami) in your prayers. They have a long journey ahead of them and every little bit helps!

Ashlynn's website is http://ashlynnsfight.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much!

P.S. Apologies for the lack of attention to my blog. January was a long month with Danny out of town for three weeks and myself battling the crud/laryngitis for two of those weeks. The kids and I were just living our busy lives and missing Dano. Honestly though, since we found out about Ashlynn, it just didn't seem important to update this thing. If there was a reason to get back into the swing of things, this is it. =)

New Years Eve...and Bunco!

2009-01-04T20:46:00.001-08:00

Yes, we played COUPLES BUNCO on New Years Eve! Pay no mind to that sad face there. I think most of the menfolk were like, "What the heck is Bunco?" and "Why do WE have to play?" Until they started playing. And then it was all about the stickers and everyone pretty much agreed that the men thoroughly enjoyed their evening of Bunco! A total of nine couples and probably an equal number of offspring gathered at Ken & Kathy's lovely home to ring in the New Year.

Here they are...the host and hostess with the mostest! Aren't they cute?

We started with a yummy spread of appetizers.

Meatballs in sauce. What's not to smile about?

I have to include the following photo: This is a very common sight in the Pacific Northwest. (My SoCal readers will marvel at this!) When you arrive at someones home, the shoes come off. Because no one wants all the snow and water and muck on their floors that you might otherwise drag in!

Okay, back to the Bunco festivities! Here we have Table #1 or the Head Table. Left to right: Tony, Kathy, Jay, Mary and Mike. (This is the written portion my test on everyone's names!) Teehee. Also of interest: Jay is sporting the fashionable "I Rolled the Last Bunco" Hat. I think Tony actually got to wear the hat three times. And that didn't jive with his ploy to stay in his comfy chair and not move tables all night!

Here we have Table #2. The losers from Table #1 migrate to this table. I certainly didn't mean to say that this is a group of losers. That came out all wrong, huh? Forgive me. Anyway, (left to right) is Jim, Sheryl, Carrie, and Dan. Dano's eyes are closed, but he is ready to roll the dice!

I didn't get photos of the other two tables because the bell rang and I had to sit down!!!

Ken and I. Oh, look who's wearing the coveted hat now! Yes, I rolled a sweet Bunco to steal the previous game. Ask Tony, he'll tell ya! (And for my Bunco girls back in SoCal, that last Bunco was on Sexy Sixes!!! Woot woot!)

So, after three rounds of rolling the dice, Jay was triumphant. Look at all those stickers! For Jay, it was all about collecting stickers. His plan worked.

This is Mary and Mike. They were also big Bunco winners. If I remember correctly, Mike had the last Bunco and Mary came in Second Place for the most stickers. How cute are they? We'll talk about these two later...

Danny won the Booby Prize. His sticker paper looked the opposite of Jay's. Actually, it might have even been worse, but we won't go there.

Instead, let's go upstairs. The Christiansen's have this awesome bonus room full of games to play.

Ken organized a Darts tournament, with teams consisting of each couple. Here, Ken is explaining how its gonna go down.

When you weren't playing darts, you could play foosball, pool, or the ever-popular Rock Band. Left to right: Jerry, Abby, Darlene, Sheryl and Mike.

The dart action shots aren't so good, so let me just cut to the good news: Danny and I went through the bracket undefeated. Our final opponents were Mary & Mike. Mike is very good, and Mary is the queen of the "Triple 20." It was a tough match and I thought we had no chance when they had us 490 to somewhere around 440. I think I threw a 14, then I know I threw a 25 (woohoo!) and then, thinking it was over, lobbed it and it was a double 13...ding ding ding...we won! You seriously could have knocked me over with a feather. But we do concede that had the game gone only to 300, instead of 500, we would have not been victorious.

Amazingly, the Darts Tournament ended at about 11:55, so we all went downstairs and gathered around the TV to see the fireworks off of the Space Needle and ring in the New Year. This is my only proof that Hayley and Brian were there. That is Hayley in the turquoise sweater and that is Brian's foot by her elbow.

Kathy, Ken, Karen and Rob: Thank you again for such a fun evening! And for introducing us to such a sweet and fun group of friends! We are blessed. =)

Happy New Year everyone!

Do You Fon-Due?

2008-12-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

What better way to celebrate the kindness of good friends... ...than to gather 'round vats of hot oil and cook an assortment of meats???

It all started when we were talking with our friends, Ken and Kathy Christiansen. (Hayley is good friends with their daughter Karen, and Kathy and I have discovered a kinship based on A LOT of similarities. And we have that good old Catholic connection going! And all the guys are at the Pistol Range right now, so there's that!) Anyway, we mentioned fondue and all agreed we should do it sometime. Well, long story short, our new friends loaned us their 4-wheel drive vehicle to get us through the recent "Great Snow of 2008." You know, the one where more snow fell on the PNW region than anyone can EVER remember? Yeah, that one. So, as a small gesture of thanks, we invited their family over for a fondue feast. Filet, lobster, scallops, shrimp, chicken, pork and mushrooms all took their turn in the hot oil jacuzzi's (better known as the fonduzzi.) Then, they were slathered with horsey, dill, deviled, lemon butter, cocktail and Asian sauces. Oh and there was classic Swiss fondue, which is basically a cheese/wine melt and you dip chunks of french bread into that. Yeahhhhhh!

We thought the kids would prefer chicken strips and Dano's home fries, but really, they would have been just as happy with fondue for their dinner. They eventually headed back upstairs for more Guitar Hero World Tour, but did come back downstairs for this: That is Swiss Chocolate Fondue. From a recipe circa 1973...that cracks me up! Basically, it is cream and chocolate and a dash of liqueur...with hunks of banana, pound cake and rice krispie balls for dippins'.

Take a moment....

Now, I do apologize for the lack of photos. But honestly, it is really hard to hold a camera when you're holding a fondue fork in each hand! Trust me.

Ken, Kathy, Rob and Karen, thank you so much for lending us your truck and for a really fun evening!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T12:08:00.001-08:00

Well, Dan and I got our morning exercise shoveling snow off of both decks! It was snowing pretty heavy earlier, but now it seems to be warming (?) up a little bit and dare I say, the sun is poking through? Regardless, we are hunkering down inside today and staying warm.

We hope everyone near and far has a wonderful Christmas!

With love from us PNW Liebels =)

One Year Ago Today...

2008-12-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

Dan's mom passed away. Just think...Christmas Eve. (You have to be a Liebel to get that one...)

It was a pretty sad moment to get the call that we knew was coming, but somehow it made perfect sense for Mom to leave us on Christmas Eve.

Mom loved Christmas and what better way to make her exit than to go hang out with Jesus on Christmas? I know in the days that followed, her entire family all took comfort in that thought. I didn't think we had a lot of photos of Mom, but going through the files, I found that we do! And for the record, I have this labeled under "Celebrations" because really, I think we should celebrate Mom today.

Here she is keeping watch over Thanksgiving gravy. She was really good at that!

With the kids after the annual Grandparents Day Mass at school. The first few years, I'd always go get a fresh corsage, but one year, I found a beautiful ivory silk rose corsage and gave that to her. (It is in the top photo next to the angel.) I think Mom really liked the functionality of the silk corsage and she wore it every year after that.

Mom also loved Halloween. Living close to her, we'd usually drive over and start our Trick-or-Treating at her house before heading back to our own neighborhood. I'm really struck by the color coordination here!

This is Grandma Liebel and Hayley after her First Communion. I'm not sure there was a happier day for Mom than when any of her grandchildren received their First Holy Communion. Mom was a woman overflowing with faith.

Here is Mom with her youngest, her baby. Her Danny. We miss our Mom. We miss our Grandma Liebel.

I'm sure I speak for everyone in simply saying...we miss her.

I Posted the Wrong Photo...

2008-12-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

This is the entire Roadhouse.

I can't believe I posted the wrong photo of the gingerbread Roadhouse! So, instead of swapping the photo out (which entails basically doing the whole post over again) I will just post it here. It's just too cute not to share! I think I originally did the close-up version so the "smoke" in the smoking area would be visible. Anyway, enjoy! The rest of the post is below.

The Big Gingerbread Reveal

2008-12-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

Sigh. Here is our house. I save all the decorations from our house every year and then pile them on the next year. Overkill? Perhaps. But we wouldn't have it any other way. So, how do we get here?

Remember this? All baked up, edges evened out and stacked up ready to assemble. One of them is longer than the others. You'll see why later on.

You can't assemble an edible gingerbread house without Royal Icing. After years of making this, I truly believe it is an art form. If the icing is not right, as in too thick or too thin, there is lots of unsavory language in the kitchen while the houses are being assembled. Trust me on this. I grew up with it....and I am carrying on the "tradition." But, if the icing is good, it is a thing of beauty. I make my icing tubes out of freezer paper. That plastic lining is a lifesaver.

I found a lovely pastry tube with all the fancy tips, and in a weak moment, I bought it. Meh. This is the last time you will see the fancy-schmancy pastry tube. Anyway, the windows have to be attached and allowed to dry before any real construction can take place.

Now, the actual construction takes many hands and those hands cannot be holding cameras while holding the pieces. So, fast forward.......

You can see the house in the back has no roof. The order goes: Front and side. Other side. Back. Then the two roof pieces. Usually about that time, I am thinking, often out loud, "These look horrible!! Not a GOOD YEAR!" (Josie Grandma, does this sound at all familiar??) You see, it is a PROCESS. Like any process, you have to trust in the final vision. They just don't look that cute while they are being put together.

This is my subcontractor, Hayley. (Well, these are her hands.) I wouldn't dare try to decorate these little gems without her help. She would shoot me. And then never speak to me again. I can't have that, so she does a lot of the decorating. This is her friend Karen's house.

And here is our Bobo with the finished Christiansen house! We're not thinking the houses are horrible anymore!

See, they go from ugly ducklings to cute swans! We include a little light to insert in the back to provide yummy light through the door and windows.

This is Molly, our kitty. She only gets to go outside in our gingerbread world!

We have a snowman. And the mailman leaves presents outside the door!

That's me...standing in the doorway. Teehee. Can I just say it was a pretty good year for icicles? (Another familiar term for Josie Grandma!)

And Santa and Rudolph hang out on the roof. Can you stand it???

This is The Roadhouse Bar and Grill. They've kind of adopted Dano as their own. It's his Joe Josts of the PNW. That is his car there in the middle.

I thought they deserved a little gingerbread replica of the Roadhouse. It came complete with the fenced-in smoking area and neon pub signs. Normally, recipients love the houses and they gush over them. This might have been the best reception ever. The women in the Roadhouse went nuts, but the male owner and male manager pretty much acted like little boys on Christmas morning! I love it. It is why I make these little houses year after year!

So that is the story of our gingerbread houses. There is just one drawback to having a house made of gingerbread. The mice enjoy them as much as us people do!

I know. =)

I can't stand it either!

Breaking News...

2008-12-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

WE HAVE ELVES!! NAUGHTY ELVES!

Elves wielding glorious cans of spray paint. They travel under the cover of darkness and are very sneaky...as elves usually are!

This is not an elf. This is my Boy. Can you tell how happy he is to be home? He got all bundled up and headed right outside this morning to shovel the snow. Why? Because we're going to get dumped on again tonight. That's why.

Back to the elves. The naughty elves. They do good work. Very colorful and precise. I love these elves. One realizes while taking photos of the elf art, one sees ones own shadow. Yes, I was still in my robe. Don't judge.

Sighhhhh. I love it here. You don't see this kind of love down in SoCal. The elves down in SoCal use toilet paper. (no, not like that! They throw it in the trees and wrap up your car in it!)

HEY NAUGHTY ELVES ~ WE LOVE YOU, TOO!

P.S. The gingerbread reveal might have to wait for tomorrow. I may have used up all my blogging time today!

Gingerbread Contractor

2008-12-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

Can you stand it??? Another new blog post! So, I'm going to have to do this in two parts because there are just too many pictures of the Gingerbread House process and I don't want anyone to lose interest. Okay? Okay. Here goes...

Everything is all ready to go here. The dough, baking sheets (brand spankin' new unwarpable Cuisinart pans...that will come into play very soon!) rolling pin, pattern pieces, scraper, etc.

I just have to add here that when we were looking at homes to buy, I may have done a little jig when I saw this granite island. I mean, to a girl who rolls out gingerbread dough every year, this island sealed the deal. Just had to share that tidbit.

So, we place a hunk of dough on the heavenly slab of granite and start rolling. This dough is a rollers dream.

See? All flat and even. {{sigh}}

Okay, I use the scraper to cut out the pieces. This is a roof. I'll need two for each house. I am a gingerbread contractor. We came up with that name the other day. I like it!

Next, pan by pan, the pieces are baked. Do you like my new non-warping pans? Can I share with you my horror when after only 3 1/2 minutes of the very first pan baking, I heard the lovely wrenching WARPING ping in the oven. Nice.

Gingerbread contractors do not like it when their roofs (rooves??? I'm going with roofs.) are warped. Or maybe it is the homeowners that don't like their roofs warped. Either way, this sight really pissed me off. Sorry, just keepin' it real folks. I was ready to march back into Costco with my unwarpable pans and have a chat. But then, the pans unwarped. Just like that. Maybe they were afraid of my wrath? We'll never know. They've not warped since that baking day, so I'll move on.

This is where the pieces cool. Those little pieces are various cookies that I bake to keep the wolves (aka: my children) from chewing on the house pieces. Actually, they like to eat the raw dough, so I got up early to bake these.

My gingerbread Santa always presides over the baking.

So, do the scraps go in the trash? Do they go in my children's mouths? What does one do with all those scraps?

No. They are not really scraps. They are perfectly good to re-roll.

And the scraps are happy about this. See?

I hear your thoughts. "Diane has got WAY too much time on her hands." Shush.

Ahhhhh. That is a glorious, re-rolled sight.

In fact, the re-rolled dough behaves even better than the first rolled dough. Let's take a moment to take in this goodness, shall we?

Ohhhhhhmmmmmmmmm. Okay. Moving on.

Now, I don't want you all to think that my kitchen always looks neat and pristine. Because it doesn't. Gingerbread contracting is a messy, flour-y, spread out MESS. Behold:

But, that is what sponges and towels and elbow grease is for. Everything cleans up all nice and tidy and in the end, this is what you get:

A clean island with nicely stacked building supplies all trimmed and ready for assembling. It's a good thing.

Check back tomorrow for the final chapter in this Gingerbread story. It will be worth it. Meanwhile, this morning, I woke up to this:

I love this shot so much so I made it my new header photo. And then I got a wild hair and changed the background to a Christmas-y color. I'm not sold on it yet. =)

It is a stunningly beautiful day here in the PNW. And the hubs comes home from SoCal this afternoon. And we're heading to the Christiansen's for their holiday Open House tonight.

Truly a good day in this neighborhood!

Snow Day Y'all

2008-12-18T01:12:00.000-08:00

Reporting live from beautiful Marysville. Snowed in, if you will. Yep, we're on our 2nd Snow Day from school. Tomorrow is only half day, so really, Christmas vacation started yesterday! Woohoo! This is part of the front yard. Taken before it dumped another six inches on us yesterday.

I think we had about a foot of the white stuff yesterday. These shots were taken early in the day. The patio table on the back deck:

Seeing how Hayley and Brian didn't grow up with any snow in their lives until now, they tend to get a little excited when it snows. So there was a lot of this: Abby is licking up the residue from the kids spraying cooking spray on the bottom of their boogie boards for extra sliiiiide. For the record, I believe the kids have used their boogie boards (meant for the ocean) up here in the snow wayyy more than they ever used them in the water down in SoCal!

There was a lot of this: This snow was perfect for packing into snowballs. Just sayin'. Abby...still licking.

There was this, where Hayley buried Brian in the snow: Abby....still licking.

There was a lot of chasing: Its not easy capturing them as they run up the stair at you.

Say it with me:

"Later dudes!" If you don't get that reference, go watch "Christmas Vacation" and get back to me. =)

Hayley came inside to thaw out, but Brian got busy doing a lot of this:

That is some heavy snow. Trust me.

Because it took two of us to hoist the middle section of Frosty onto his bottom portion.

He actually does have a hat, gloves and scarf. But we took them off so they wouldn't get lost in the snow that was still to fall.

Abby had a ball out in the snow.

Here she is wondering if there is any more cooking spray to lick up out there. You can see the snow piled up on the patio furniture. It got worse.

This is my gratuitous composition shot. And some serious snow flurries.

What, praytell, are you looking at? Well, that is a candle pot on the corner of the railing of our bedroom deck, nicely framed by the arbor over one of the gates in the backyard. And a lot of snow.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day:

I went out on the front porch and saw these darling little birdie footprints. The little guy must've hop-hop-hopped his way all over the porch. Can you stand it? Actually, this little bird looked like a fat little golf ball with feet and a beak. Cutest.Thing.EVER.

And finally, another of my favorite shots. Check this out:

My wonderful friend Kathy came over on Monday, and after she drove my children to school in the snow (Thanks again Kathy!) we baked cookies for NINE HOURS STRAIGHT! I believe we counted 14 varieties of cookie goodness. Seriously good times. Burgers at the Roadhouse for dinner...it was truly a great day!

So, that gets you all up to date on the big snow of 2009. Oh, and Dano? He had to head down to SoCal on business earrrrrly Sunday morning, so he's missing all this. We miss you Dad!!!

Tomorrows post: THE BIG GINGERBREAD REVEAL! Oh, you'll want to come back for that!

I Had Help...

2008-12-04T11:17:00.000-08:00

...wrapping Christmas gifts this morning.

In other news, I apologize again for abandoning my little blog here. No excuse. Just busy. And I was sick for a good seven days. Winter crud.

But seriously, we've been really busy.

Check it out:

Brian bowls an average of four days a week on a high school league. That is a lot of driving time. Trust me. But bowling is a story worthy of its own post and I'll get to all things bowling early next week. Trust me, it's THAT good!
Hayley was inducted in the National Honor Society last week. Smarty-pants.
She also had her high school volleyball awards night last week and then this past Tuesday night, she tried out and made her Club team again! Same coach (Hi Ron!) and some of the same girls from last year (Hi Hannah, Jodi, Kate, and Shelby!) But get this: Hayley (at a solid 5'10") is shorter than three of the new girls! Yowza...we gots ourselves a tall team! And oh, distressing news: This team was supposed to travel to Anaheim in April for the SoCal Qualifier and we were going to have the biggest cheering section (especially for an out of town team) because come on, between SoCal friends and family, we would have rocked the place and then there would have been Disneyland and........BUT NO! Due to a scheduling snafu, we will not be traveling to California. Instead, we will be traveling to....Minnesota. Sigh....I can't even talk about this right now. =(
Christmas decorating. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a decorating fool at Christmas time. I'm almost done...just have to do the wet bar, the powder room and finish up on a new valance over the kitchen sink! Oh, and our room. I'll post some photos next week. Then you will understand.
Then there was this:

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. We four PNW Liebels stayed home this year and cooked up a fresh little hen with all the trimmings. For the record, those rolls....YEAH! Everyone pretty much agreed they were the best part of dinner. Here is the recipe. You will not be disappointed. I promise.

About 10 mintues after dinner, while we were still loosening our belts, the kids stormed the kitchen demanding pie pie pie pie pie! This year, we asked the kids to decide what kind of pie they wanted. Hayley chose Coconut Cream and Brian chose Pumpkin, but I persuaded him to go with the Chocolate Cream. Again, no disappointments.

Feast your eyes:

Luscious. I made these. And yes, I made that chocolate curl. All by myself.

I'll give you a moment to take in the glory of pie.

All done? Okay, moving on.

Hayley and I got up very early the day after Thanksgiving and met up with our friends Karen and Kathy for some shopping fun. And a little IHOP noshing. Good stuff...we all agreed that we have a new girls tradition! Woohoo!

I'm going to leave you with this vision of manliness.

Can you stand it? That is my Hubs. Well, kinda sorta. It is his head. (teehee) But the fish really was that big. (Hi Crusher!)

My mad Photoshop skillz are gettin' pretty good, no? Just having a little fun (at Dano's request...)

Check back Saturday because tomorrow is gingerbread baking day and the flour is going to fly! And can I just express how happy I am that Top Chef is back on??? Anyone else???

~~~{{Doin' my happy dance....}}~~~

Proof

2008-11-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

of #2.

I suppose this one is more for Missy Laura than anyone. But honestly, can you actually look at this lovely sight and not say, "Ohhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Hmm? I didn't think so.

Hayley and I are going to the high school production of "Class Action" tonight, after having dinner with our buds Kathy and Karen (Hi Girls!!) It should be a great evening!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

It's That Time of Year Again...

2008-11-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

Time to make the GINGERBREAD HOUSES! The tradition in my family goes wayyyy back to my Grandpa who was a German baker by trade. We use the exact same recipe as he did back then. Every year, we start the three-step process of making the houses by first making the dough. And I do apologize, but the recipe cannot be shared. It just can't. Don't ask. =)

We start by heating some of the ingredients to blend them well.

Then, we add the warmed mixture to the dry mixture. This is when it starts to smell all yummy and gingerbread-y, when all the spices interact with the liquid.

Now comes the messy part. There is no other way to knead the dough but to plunge a hand in and work that dough. This calls for a strong arm.

Those with sticky food issues need not apply to mix the dough.

My hand hurts.

Sometimes, I ask for help. Yesterday, I recruited Hayley to help mix. Wait a minute...that wasn't yesterday! That was four years ago! Silly me. Teehee. (And obviously my camera was having issues because we generally don't make gingerbread dough in March.)

Mixing the dough is a good way to bond with your children. See what happened yesterday? Silly me...that was eight years ago! Just look at my little babies!

I digress.

When the dough is all incorported (or it is just too hard to mix anymore!) it is ready to be put into Ziplock bags to rest for a week. Thank God for Ziplock bags. How did we function before Ziplock bags? I'm just sayin'. (And on a side note, apparently there is no "K" in Ziploc! But this is my blog, so the "K" stays.)

Mmmmmmm! So, stay tuned. Next week, we will have Step Two: The Baking of the Gingerbread.

Have a great day!

A Blast from the Past

2008-11-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

I got tagged again! This time from the lovely, pregnant with a Liebel baby boy, Julie! Julie is married to our nephew Chris and is already a wonderful Mommy to two adorable little girls, Athena and Zoe. Hi Julie! Hi Chris! Hi Athena! Hi Zoe! Hi Baby Boy Lump!

Anyway, here are the rules of the Tag:

Go to your Picture File.
Upload the 4th picture of the 4th folder.
Post it.
Tag four friends.

I love this! Behold, the 4th photo in my 4th file:

Now, normally this photo would never see the vast expanse of the internet. (Honestly, why would anyone ever post a photo of the mess in that closet??) But this photo has always cracked me up. Here's why: This is a photo of Brian's First Holy Communion outfit that he hung up, all by himself, during the little shindig at the house after church. Now, I hadn't even had the chance to take any photos of Brian with anyone at the party while he was all gussied up. He just went and changed all by himself because he was ready to play! BUT, my little man remembered what I'd always told him: Hang up your clothes! And so he did. On the little pegs on the wall. I guess the pants didn't stay hung up for long.

I think this is the effect he was going for:

I will always love that memory of him showing me how he had hung up his good church clothes!

And just how dapper was Little Liebs in his First Communion ensemble? (Dan does not allow me to call boy clothes "outfits"...they are "ensembles!" )

I digress.

The dapper dude, pointing to his artwork on the altar banner. That, my friends, is a handsome little man.

So now, I will tag:

Missy Laura
Heidi
Jenny
Any takers?

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Dorm Room

2008-11-10T09:05:00.001-08:00

Let me start by saying that if you are one of those people that believes pets should sleep outside, you might want to move right along and skip this post. Trust me...I don't want anyone breaking out in hives over what they are going to read here.

Disclaimer: Check.

So, our house has four bedrooms. And a dorm room.

Behold: Our dorm room (aka: the Master bedroom closet) has two beds for its roommates Abby and Molly. Missy Laura, what was it you said about animals living together in harmony? Ahhhhh.

You'll notice that during my highly professional photoshoot, my subjects (or I should say my feline subject) did not cooperate according to the contract.

The photographer was not amused. At all.

It was much like trying to photograph a toddler.

See what I mean? What could possibly be so interesting that she can't just lie still so I could get the money shot???

Of course, the heating vent needed her attention. Whatever.

Being the professional photographer that I am...(heh)...I decided to regroup and try to capture the true essence of Molly. This is her divine profile. And her twinkle toes.

This is her backside.

She is booty-licious, no?

Any good photographer knows when the photoshoot needs to end. In my case, it was when the feline subject escaped from the closet.

But I am sneaky. I continued the photoshoot late that night when the subjects were fast asleep in their Dorm Room.

Uh huh. Proof positive. (On a side note, I'm not sure that I'll ever get that Pottery Barn endorsement deal...I don't think this is how they would feature their lovely pillowcases in their catalogue.)

The Money Shot.

Animals living together in harmony.

It's a good thing.

I'm Baaaaaack!

2008-11-08T13:36:00.000-08:00

Once again I shirked my blogging duties. Sorry about that! We were pretty busy around here with visitors, volleyball, bowling and everyday life in general. Here is a little recap of late October.

First of all, we had to say goodbye to my dear friend Susan and her awesome little guy, Steven. We had such a good time catching up, crafting, shopping and eating. Dan took Steven fishing (no fish, though!) and on a hayride (I don't know who enjoyed that one more!) and all the kids had a good time playing video games and goofing off in general. I miss my buddy, but I guess that is what the phone and email is for!

I decided that if I ever got a big front porch, I was going to decorate it up for Halloween. Danny and I made these cute trick-or-treating ghosts and Rosie had to be out there with them, of course! Rosie is in the Tiger costume that Brian wore wayyyyyyy back in the day. My boss Caren back in SoCal let me adopt Rosie (actually she is a Patty Playpal, but we named her Rosie due to her very rosey cheeks.) Caren and I both like to dress our dolls up in holiday clothes and costumes. (DON'T JUDGE!) Now, Rosie tends to freak people out because she looks so real, so of course she had to go hang out on the porch with the other trick-or-treaters. One year, I had several dads trying to engage Rosie in conversation...serious laughs for us. Anyway, this was our front porch this year, complete with flying bats!

Edited: Click on the photo for a closer look at our Rosie!

This year, Hayley was a cat for Halloween.

Oops...that was ten years ago in Kindergarten! Sorry...but honestly, can you stand it?

This is Hayley dressed as a cat for Halloween. Hmmm, still standing next to a little devil. Ha!

We debated long and hard over whether to let Hayley drive to a Halloween Party at Karen's house. Alone. In the dark. Did I mention it was Halloween? You know, when kids are all hopped up on sugar and run in the street? We decided to have faith (plus it was still light out when she left) and let her drive. Doesn't she look happy that I document every time she drives away from the house? Ahhh, teenagers.

Brian had three buddies over for pizza and video games. And yes, they trick-or-treated. Twice. (After changing costumes so as not to be easily identified.) I'm guessing this is the last year for them to rock the costumes and have fun like this, so...CARRY ON DUDES!

And there you have it. The decorations are put away. But Christmas is right around the corner!

I've been TAGGED!

2008-10-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you Missy Laura! Okay, I'm going to do this somewhat on the fly because otherwise, I'll write a book. And none of us has time for that, right?

I always jingle my car keys when I get out of the car. I just do. That way, I know I have them and haven't left them in the car. Unfortunately, I have left my keys hanging in the front door lock too many times to count.
Everyone in the family has a different color hanger and when they are hanging empty in the laundry room, they MUST be grouped by color or I just cannot go on with my day. Don't judge.
I have a thing for men with accents. Colin Firth...Cary Elwes...Christopher Plummer...Lord have mercy! Don't tell Danny. Teehee.
I like the flavor of green peppers...I just can't handle actually chewing them. Can't and won't do it.
I could spend a whopping $3.00 on my entire summer shoe wardrobe and be perfectly happy. Flip-flops rule. Especially the cheap rubber ones from discount stores. And I'm sorry, but I grew up calling them "thongs" and I'm really sad that I can't do that anymore without people thinking I'm referring to my underwear.
I love to make stuff. That includes just about any genre of crafts...I'll give it a try. I rarely come across a crafted item and don't think to myself, "I could make that!"
Sometimes, even after 19 years of marriage, I still look at my sweet hubby and think, "How did I get so lucky to land such a perfect guy?" (Think Fräulein Maria singing to Capt. Von Trapp..."I must have done something goooood!") Mushy gushy...yes. But it is the truth!

So, there you have it. Random bits about me. Now, since anyone I know with a blog has already done this, I'll leave it to you readers to leave your random-ness in the comments! Or better yet, this is the perfect opportunity to start a blog of your own...and this can be the subject of your first post!

10:30 am....

2008-10-25T10:51:00.001-07:00

One third of my heart just drove away in a white BMW.

Yes. Hayley passed her Driving Test yesterday!!! Woot woot!

This shot was taken by me, hiding behind a pillar so the Driving Examiner wouldn't laser me with his eyeballs. I was intimidated...I can only imagine what Hayley was feeling pulling out for her test. She aced it though!

So, imagine my surprise when she asked if she could meet her friend Karen this morning over at the Cross Country Track meet at the school. I didn't think she'd actually want to drive anywhere by herself! But then, as we parents must do, I handed over the keys to the car and stood in the window and waved goodbye. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her driving away, but I did get the promise that she would call and let me know when she arrived.

"To our children, we give two things, one is roots, the other is wings." Author: unknown

There's the phone ringing now....Sigh. Have a wonderful weekend all!

Hey Ken...Do You Know This Kid???

2008-10-24T17:19:00.000-07:00

Due to blogging difficulties, this shot didn't get added in the right order...but it must be shared! More on this part of the day later in the post.

My Susan and her Steven arrived safe and sound yesterday morning! What a treat for us!

Since it was morning, we headed straight for the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market and loaded up on nice, hot beverages. Little dude was very happy with his hot chocolate.

Susan and I agreed that this photo needs some explanation. (For the sake of our vanity!)

See, we had Steven take the photo and he is a tad shorter than we are, so his trajectory with the camera was from such an upward angle, it makes us appear that we have double chins! Everyone knows we really don't!

Moving right along...

We stopped off to say hi to the fishmongers at the Fish Market. There were no crowds, so they were busy setting up the fish for the day and weren't putting on their usual show.

Consider yourselves lucky to see Steven so close to the Monkfish...

We then walked up to catch the Monorail over to the Space Needle. This was a pretty big hit with Steven. I think there were only a few other people riding so it was like our own private coach.

This is my new favorite shot. It doesn't matter that I sit on the ground with my eye at butt level with the person in the photo.

Susan and I are sure that Tara Whitney would be so proud of my photo composition!

Even though we were just about the only people in line to take the elevator to the top, we still had to wait (for the elevator to return from its previous trip to the top.) Steven was less than thrilled!

Just kidding...I made him do that face!

Once up top, we played with all the cool machines they have to highlight the features of the Needle and then posed for pictures.

It really was a beautiful day to be up there. After riding back down in the cool elevator, we Monorailed back to our car at the Market and drove to Ballard to do a little chuckling and shopping at Archie McPhee. (Erica ~ be prepared!) Anyway, that top photo is Steven with just one of the fun things he tried on.

We got home, barely said hello to the family and had to head out to take Brian to bowling practice and we realized we hadn't really eaten lunch. We had to wait half an hour until the restaurant re-opened for the afternoon, so Steven bowled two quick games and then we went over to Cristiano's for amazing Chicken Caesar Salad and Pizza (for Susan and I) and a Cheese Pizza (for Steven.) So good! They brought a paper to cover the table for Steven to color...and color he did! He was cracking himself up here.

Well, that was our busy day yesterday. Today wasn't quite so busy (though check back tomorrow...BIG NEWS to report from the Liebel household!) We're getting ready to sit down now for some of Dano's burgers, chicken strips and home fries!

Schaeffer ETA: 9:34 AM

2008-10-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is Susan, one of my dearest friends from the Old Country (aka: Southern California.) And she is arriving this morning for a visit! And she is bringing along her cool little dude, Steven, who is a big Second Grader this year! We're going to do a little Seattle sightseeing, a little fishing, a little eating, a little guitar playing and a little crafting. And I believe Susan is going to bask in the cooler temperatures while her husband and daughter bake in the SoCal heat!

Did I mention that Susan is my crafting soulmate? She is. We just "get" each other and we totally share and support each others interest (okay fine, obsession) with creating things. I am always blown away by Susan's creations...and she never fails to inspire me. How can you not adore the friend who sends you a purse that she sewed...from "Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer" fabric? I am so blessed that she is coming to visit, for the second time since we moved up here.

So, I'm off to the airport in a little bit. We'll try to update with some "What are we up to?" posts this weekend. Hi Ken...Hi Erica! We'll take good care of Steven and Susan for you...

Later dudes!

October Glory

2008-10-22T09:24:00.001-07:00

That is actually the name of this maple tree. The color is this amazing fiery orange~red. Sometimes I like to pretend I'm a photographer (with real skill) and I have these little photo shoots. I thought this would look so cool with the blue sky in the background. The white is the sun...YES...we have sun!

So where, pray tell, was I having this little photo shoot??? Yup! We've been busy planting luscious flowering trees along the south side of the driveway. Then we planted a bunch of rhodadendrons and other bushes between the trees. Pretty, no?

For a little added color, I went nuts with the selection of kale and cabbage. Behold:

This beauty is called "Coral Prince." Sigh....

I don't recall the name of this one, but it looks like a gigantic rose sitting in the dirt.

This one is very frilly. We also have some white ones like this that look like heads of cauliflower sitting there. Very cool.

But I think the stars of the show right now are the maple trees.

Speaking of stars... ...in our book, at least! Tonight is our last home volleyball game, so it is Senior Night. The girls have been working hard preparing goodies and speeches to say "farewell" to the Seniors on the team. I'm bringing kleenex...no one warned me last year and it was quite emotional.

Have a GLORIOUS day!

Boudoir Shots

2008-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

No, not that kind! This is what I have to contend with in putting fresh sheets on the bed. (And I'm not referring to the freaky dog eyes.)

It was past Abby's "bedtime" so she was delicately urging me to get a move on with putting the sheets back on the bed. She doesn't always "help" make the bed, but her furry little sister does.

I don't think I've ever put clean sheets on any of our beds without Molly coming into the room and immediately jumping right in the middle of the bed. I throw the flat sheet over her and this is what I get: What's the problem, you ask, so naively?

Perhaps a closer view will help: (Thanks to Brian for risking his fingertip to demonstrate the dangers involved in making the bed. A check and bandaids are in the mail.)

Back to the wide angle shot ~ Abby is still standing her ground. So is Molly. Well, they're not exactly standing, but you know what I mean.

Let's go under the covers for an insider's view of this scenario, shall we? Sigh. I do love this kitty.

She finally made her way out after the blanket went on the bed. Abby, not so much. Okay, now the freaky dog eyes are scaring me!

There you have it. Trust me, this happens every single time I put sheets on any bed in the house.

It sure is nice to have help making the beds. Heh!

It's the Little Things in Life...

2008-10-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

I know we can't be the only ones who pulled up to the Costco gas station this morning and started singing "Hallelujah!!!" I have to think wayyyyy back to when milk at school was a nickel, a movie was $3.00 and gasoline was below $3.00 a gallon. Okay, so I exaggerated....just a little.

I'm not sure what prices are elsewhere, but I do know I overheard someone without a Costco card asking the gas attendant if he could get his gas for that price. The answer was no and the guy sadly drove away.

And what does my hubby think about all this? He was happy.

But hold on just a second! How sad is it that we are excited to pay $2.99 for a gallon of gas?

Josie Grandma and Grampa, you're welcome! I managed to provide a blog update today....and it was about Costco! Woohoo!

Volleyball...YEAAAAHHH!

2008-10-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

We here in the Liebel household love volleyball. Love it. Check out Hayley. That is her with the big gold bow in her hair. She looks all sweet out there. She is anything but. While our little Bo is still pretty reserved and quiet, she turns into a Beast out on the court.

This is right after she's served the ball. This might be the clearest action shot I've gotten all season.

Allow me to explain. We have a nice little digital camera. It takes nice photos. As long as you are not in a gymnasium. Then, the color goes all wonky and if anyone so much as moves a hair, it blurs. Example ~ during warm-up: Therefore, I don't take any shots during the games. It would be a waste and I might miss some of the action.

So, there is a tradition that for every home volleyball game, the team gathers right after school at one of the girls homes and eats an early dinner. And they do homework. And hair. And play video games. And nap. And bond. We had all the girls (and manager) over before the Homecoming Game and Dano served up his best Mexican feast. They seemed to enjoy it...

Missy Laura, this one's for you! (I love you!) =D

So, Coach Kryger showed up straight from school. Oh yeah, it was Wacky Hair Day at school. (As if you couldn't tell.) Hayley, not wanting Kryger to feel so alone, ran upstairs and did her hair in the same style. Shear Genius, no? Okay, somebody please tell me they watched "Shear Genius." Anyone? Hello???

Every year for the home game during Homecoming Week, the team opts to wear a "throwback" uniform, complete with the less-than-flattering old style bloomers. Since the girls are truly more modest than that, they wear the bloomers over their spandex shorts. But they do come off for the game. This year, they wore these thick rugby-style shirts for the game, which seemed to be a little annoying, especially when the ball would just "thud" off of the shirt sleeve when hit. So, for this game, our #1 became #22.

I love this team! They've bonded like crazy and end up taking fun shots like this in the locker room before the game.

Along with the throwback uniforms and hair (side ponytails y'all!) their warm-up soundtrack is all 80's hits. Think Cindy Lauper...and can you guess what is playing in this photo? It doesn't matter what year we're in, all kids know how to respond when "YMCA" comes on. Love it!

The introductions..."She's a sophomore....#22....HAYLEYYYYY LEE-BULLLL!" Of course, this was after a gentle reminder from Hayley to the announcer that it is LEE-bull, not Lie-BELL! (Anyone that was at our wedding reception will appreciate the humor in that.) We ended up winning that night, hot long-sleeved jerseys and all!

This Tuesday at home, we played against the #1 team in our conference. I think they've only lost one game (and no matches) so it is always a tough go. They took the first two games (we play best 3 of 5) but our girls fought back hard in the third game and were victorious! Behold: Please forgive the crappy photo. Between the gymnasium lighting, the crowd going nuts and jumping on the bleachers, and me trying to hurry but hold still long enough to get the picture off, there was no way I was going to get a clear shot of the scoreboard. The proof is there though! We did lose the match in the 4th game, but the team played as one and we couldn't be more proud.

Last night, we played a team we lost to (3 games to 2) earlier in the season. It was a bit of a grudge match, going to 5 games again. Our girls had an amazing night, with our setter even breaking the school record for assists...GO PEYTON! This is some video (from my regular camera...hence, no audio) of Hayley hitting during warm-up.

The third times a charm!

So today, we head to the Mt. Baker Tournament. I believe there are 16 teams playing and it will be an all-day affair. (Dare I say I've missed the all-day Club tournaments???!) I'll let you know how we did later. Have a great weekend!

Kinda Sorta Therapy

2008-10-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Anyone who really knows me also knows that I have a bizarre love/hate relationship with spiders. Outside = love. Inside = hate (and therefore they must die. Quickly) We won't even get into my sleep habits after I've seen spiders during the day.

I digress.

Danny took the kids to school this morning and as I waved from the porch (in my robe, with nourishing coffee in hand) I noticed this guy. He seems to be missing something. Two things, actually.

He must be a pretty tough cookie. Did the loss of limbs hinder his mad web-building skillz? I think not.

So, I guess this means I'll be waking up tonight seeing spiderwebs in front of my face...oh sorry...we weren't going to get into all that. =)

In other news, I'm hoping to blog a little more frequently. I think I just was coming to grips with being cold. Everyone knows I love the weather up here in Ye Olde Pacific Northwest. But here's the thing: we went from beautiful to COLD. There was no mild. There was no cool. There was sun and then there was frost. There was warm...and then there was NOT. Let me just say, "It's frickin' freezing in here Mr. Bigglesworth!!!" Okay, I'm done whining. Except, I'm still mad that I can't wear my flip-flops anymore. Okay, now I'm done.

Have a lovely day. TGIF!

Where For Art Thou Summer?

2008-10-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I got up this morning and looked out the window, only to see FROST on the roof of the house across the street.

Yes my friends ~ We have our first frost of the year in our lovely neck of the woods. It's not like I wasn't expecting it. After all, I did wrap up in a blanket last night to eat my dinner! It is just hard to reconcile the fact that I still have beautiful dahlias blooming in my flowerbeds, green tomatoes on the vine and frost on the roof. Josie Grandma is no doubt chuckling to read this right now. Go float in your warm Arizona pool Grandma...heh heh!

In other news, Hayley is running in a cross-country event today with the rest of her crazy volleyball team. Word has it that the team is dressing as bunches of grapes and the coach will be chasing them...dressed as a box of raisins! Oh you know there will be photos to follow...

Have a great day!

Totally Cheating On This Blog Post...

2008-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

So, I have this niece, Laura. I call her Missy Laura. Because I pretty much always have. And always will. (Hi Missy Laura!!!)

She just got back from a trip to Colorado (where I happen to have spent a good chunk of time growing up and attending Thomas B. Doherty High School...that will come into play in just a sec...) Anyway, she posted THIS on her blog yesterday. And it is so very cool and it pretty much made my week!

In other related news, that little photo above was taken SEVEN MONTHS AGO yesterday! Happy Anniversary Laura and Corey!

The Josies Came to Visit Us!

2008-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

So, since I took almost three weeks off to search for my blogging mojo, I guess that is where we need to start! After having to postpone their summer visit, my parents (AKA: Josie Grandma and Grampa) finally arrived on Sunday the 14th of September. They made the drive from Arizona in a little over two days (ahem...leadfoot?) We were able to greet them with glorious, sunny weather. Behold, three generations!

We started off the visit with one of my current favorite activities: Blackberry picking. We hit the motherlode of berry patches and between the two of us, came home with about six quarts of blackberries. So of course, we made jam! And cobbler, of course! I know somewhere in the caverns of my computer, there are photos of the mountain of washed berries and pretty jars of jam. You'll have to use your imagination. Meanwhile, check out my dahlias. I grew these. From bulbs. In my dirt. And there are more still blooming outside! For the record, the blooms are six to eight inches across. Just sayin'.

Tuesday, which was our 19th wedding anniversary, was also Hayley's first volleyball game of the season. Danny had made dinner reservations for us at a fancy-schmancy place down in Seattle, but our girl was starting in her first Varsity volleyball game. We knew where we had to be! This is Hayley being introduced before the game..."she's a Sophomore.....#1.....Hayleyyyyy Leeeeee-bullllll! I'm sorry, hearing that will never get old!

Sadly, we lost that match, but they played well. Besides, ya gotta get those first game jitters out of the way. We'll touch more on volleyball later this week.

One of Danny's requests of my mom was that she bring one of her authentic German recipes with her and show us how to make Rouladen. Have you ever had Rouladen? You should. In fact, you can come to our house and we'll make Rouladen that will knock your socks off. You start with round steak, bacon and onions. And mustard and garlic and pepper. First, you have Josie Grampa beat the living snot out of the round steak. That gray blur is the meat tenderizer doing what it does best.

Josie Grandma approves of the tenderizing.

Then you pile the inner goodies on the meat, roll them up and dredge the whole thing in flour.

Then, you brown them and make a gravy out of the pan goodness. (Stop drooling.) Everything goes into the crockpot (because we were lazy and didn't want to tend a pot on the stove all day!) and a few hours later, you have to post a guard to keep people from "testing" the Rouladen.

Just check these two out. We were happy to have the Josie's here, but I think Dan was extra happy this day!

Behold: Rouladen. It has a very distinct flavor. A little Challenger Ridge Syrah...

...and some sides. This was a seriously satisfying meal. Sighhhh.

We spent the rest of the week eating, shopping, eating Peggy's Cucumber Thingies in the parking lot before watching more volleyball, perfecting Brian's bowling skillz and eating.

Alas, the cold weather soon infiltrated the region and the Josie's began longing for the warmth of Arizona. We had one last killer meal the night before they headed home: Filet with Bearnaise, bakers, french bread and killer strawberry spinach salad. I know...it tasted good, too!

Goodbye for now Josie Grandma and Grampa!

And by the way, I did start this yesterday afternoon, while it was still Josie Grampa's birthday!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Tap Tap...Is This Thing On???

2008-10-05T11:34:00.000-07:00

Okay okay! I lost my blogging mojo.

And it's not that I don't have anything to write about. The topics are piling up. (Think grandparents, volleyball, guitar, uncles, fish, flowers, food, bowling and mad jam-making skillz!)

I promise, no, VOW, to update every day this week. Hold me to it people.

I'll be back later this afternoon to dazzle you with blogging goodness!

19 Years Later...

2008-09-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

...this marriage thing is working out!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DANNY!

I love you...

A Very Sweet Sixteen Years Ago Today...

2008-09-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

This bundle of joy entered our lives! And in the blink of an eye, she's gone from this:

...to this!

But in between, she was this:

...enjoying her First Birthday Cake! ~ Sleepover with all her girl cousins, 1993

...and wearing mom's "Up Shoes!" ~ 1995

...hanging out in the park and being cute ~ 1999

...all dressed up for Fifties Day at school ~ 2000

...ready for school in the rain ~ 2000

...playing Tee-ball for the Indians ~ 2001

...our angel in the school Christmas program ~ 2001

...celebrating her First Holy Communion ~ 2002

...St. Helena of the Cross (All Saints Day) ~ 2002

...taking it all in at Rainbow Falls in Mammoth, CA ~ 2003

...all gussied up for Be a Fool Day at school ~ 2004

...picking flowers in Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows ~ 2004

...ringing in the new year ~ New Years Eve 2005

...admiring this $60,000 piece of bling! ~ St. Thomas, 2006

...as Minnie Mouse attending a Halloween Party (with homeboy Lil' Liebs) ~ 2006

...working the big block on the volleyball court ~ 2008

.and lots of practicing of the driving skills! ~ 2008

So there you have it! A very brief glance at our daughter growing up through the years. We sat here looking at photo after photo, laughing so hard at some of them. If only I could post all of them here, you'd get a better idea of what a character this kid is. We are so proud of Hayley and all of her accomplishments. We know that the future holds wonderful possibilities for her and we can't wait to see where life takes her!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOBO! We love you so much!

Look Who Got Engaged!!!

2008-09-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

A huge high five to our nephew Andrew and his brand new fiancee Jayme! We just got word tonight and couldn't be happier for these two lovebirds! Looks like another Liebel wedding is in the works!

CONGRATULATIONS ANDREW AND JAYME! We love you guys!

And speaking of weddings... A very happy Six Month Anniversary to Laura and Corey!

We love you guys, too!

Back to School Means a Trip Down Memory Lane!

2008-09-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

Could someone please tell me how it has come to be that I am the mother of not one, but two HIGH SCHOOL students?

First out the door this morning was Brian. He had Freshman Orientation so he had to be to school at 7:30. Look, my high school man!!!

Hayley didn't have to be to school until 11:00 (being an upper-classman and all!) so she slept in. I mean, would YOU get up earlier than necessary so your mom could have a picture of BOTH of her high school kids TOGETHER on the first day of school? Oh well...

So anyway, just yesterday, my babies were posing on the first day of school...Brian starting First Grade and Hayley starting Second Grade. We always posed for pictures in the front yard. CAN YOU STAND IT?

Then, we'd always make our way over to the statue of Our Lady at school. It is a Liebel family tradition that goes wayyyyy back with Dan and his family. And I was bound and determined to carry on the tradition. Here we are in 2000. (I got out of the pictures after this!)

2001 ~ Our Lady does not look amused...

2002 ~ We had another tradition, too...the kids always brought their teacher a shiny, red apple on the first day of school. After much dissention in the ranks, I let them stop that one when they started Jr. High.

2003 ~ The navy skort was all the rage for Hayley that year. Brian: white shirt and navy shorts.

2004 ~ Jr. High meant only skirts for Hayley from here on out! Brian: still the white shirt and navy shorts (yawn...)

2005 ~ I think we must've been between cameras because I have no photos. Gasp!

2006 ~ My babies are growing up. And Mary was rockin' the flowers! And yes, Brian is still rockin' the white shirt and navy shorts.

2007 ~ Last year. Our first year in Washington and the first year we didn't have a statue of Our Lady to take a picture with. And no uniforms. (That is Brian in the brown, in case you didn't recognize him without his white shirt and navy shorts...heh.) First year at a public school. Big changes all around for the kids.

And there you have it. Nine years of Brian and Hayley all clean and shiny for the new school year.

~~sniffle~sniffle~~

Very, Very Proud

2008-08-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

First of all, I do apologize for the absence of posts. We had a busy week of volleyball tryouts, work, laundry, cooking, sewing, and getting ready for school. I think once school starts and we get back on a schedule in the Liebel casa, I'll blog more frequently.

So, I warned you back when I started this blog that I would indeed gloat about my flowers...if I actually grew anything. I am very proud to present the following photos for your enjoyment!

Behold (a few days ago...)

And that turned into this! People, I GREW THIS FROM A BULB! And there are more blossoms getting ready to burst open and color our world around here. This is big. I'm a Dahlia freak and to actually grow this beauty...well, I'm a little excited! It's not even done opening up...

I put Gladiolus bulbs all over the flowerbeds...

Can you stand it?

I bought four skinny little fuschia plants from the high school greenhouse around the middle of June...

...and they completely filled up my wall planter and are blooming like crazy. Sigh.

These are Lupines that I grew from seed...

They weren't expected to bloom this first year, but lookie here! It is the only bloom, but that makes it that much more charming.

Dano boiled some eggs early this week and after a few days of soaking in the very yellow tumeric-infused concoction, we now have Joe Josts Pickled Eggs. Hayley has already taste-tested and deemed them a success. Another batch is already soaking.

And finally, we could not be more proud of our little Bobo (and yes, she will kill me for printing that!) Hayley had volleyball tryouts all this week and after coming home every day with sore muscles... ...she made her high school Varsity Volleyball team! She is beyond excited for the upcoming season and dude, SO ARE WE! Her coach affectionately calls her "The Beast" and we are ready to see her in action! Go Middle!

Finally, healing thoughts go out to my Mama, who is dealing with a compression fracture in her back and also to our buddy Blake, who suffered a nasty break of his collarbone last night at football. Mend those bones people!

Have a great weekend everyone!

It's in the Hole!

2008-08-25T23:19:00.001-07:00

No folks, sadly, we are not talking golf.

We have ourselves a varmint. Maybe more than one. I'm holding out hopes that it is just one nasty little mole. A very busy mole. I watered all the flowerbeds on Saturday morning. I couldn't sleep Saturday night. Kept going to the front window for some reason. And then Dano woke me up Sunday morning with the news that a mole had invaded our front (and back) flowerbeds during the night. He left his tell-tale cracked ridges everywhere he went. And dude likes to travel! We went and bought some mole snacks at Home Depot (because apparently Diazanon is off the market...sheesh) and Dano engineered some clever tunnels to bury so the pathways don't collapse and cover the snacks with dirt. He is channeling Bill Murray in "Caddyshack" and believe me, he will come out the victor in all this madness! "My enemy, my foe, is an animal. In order to conquer the animal, I have to learn to think like an animal. And, whenever possible, to look like one. I've gotta get inside this guy's pelt and crawl around for a few days." ~Dan "Carl Spackler" Liebel

So, wish us luck in ridding our flowerbeds of the critter. My parents are due here in a few days and trust me, the critter would be wise to run for the hills instead of dealing with Grampa Dick "The BB Gun Exterminator" Rydin!