Iron Chef Challenge

What do you do for Iron Chef challenges when half your guests don't cook? Fajitas and have your guests compete to make salsa!!!! Most of them used the same ingredients and all the salsas were good, but ALL of them tasted different. Awesome party idea. Have people over, assign one as a bar tender and then have the rest compete to "cook"! It was a lot of fun.

Update and congrats!

Just a quick update. Sean has gotten his acceptance letter from the University of North Dakota to go back and finish his bachelor's degree. He is nervous as heck about this, but he thinks (and I agree!) that to fully open up those engineering doors of opportunity that he needs to finish his BS.....in so many ways! Just kidding. I am widly excited for him and at the same time so glad that for now my educational pursuits are done. Update on my career status......our agency is hanging in there and thus far has avoided lay offs that have been mandated for the other state agencies. Come January we will also be licensed professionals instead of just certified. Given the economy I don't think that will result in more money, at least until things turn around, and I am past the thrill of more alphabet soup after my name, but progress is good.

Hollyhocks

I just can't believe how these hollyhocks have taken off in the front yard. I can't even reach the top...yeah, yeah, yeah not a hard feat I know but still! The first success I have had with growing something in the desert. Our garden is taking off too. Sean really likes cucumbers...I mean REALLY. The only ones that survived a cold snap we had were the armenian cukes. Which he doesn't trust because they are yellow. So I bought a packet of seeds and sent him out to plant. He planted the WHOLE packet and now they are growing. I may have to learn how to make pickles!

Las Vegas again

Las Vegas Revisited! You all be the judge. Can you guess which pictures we were sober in? This group or the last? Did you guess neither??? Just kidding. Really we were responsible respectable tourists some of the time.

Las Vegas in April

So we had an adults weekend get away to Vegas with some friends. At the end of the night I may have looked like I had been hit with a MAC truck, but at least I was still standing. I had a hard time moving Sean from his "pose". :) We took pictures of Rick and Robin at the beginning of the night. WE should have done the same!

We are done with the yard!!!!!

We are finally done! Well, except spreading some rock around, but the grass is coming in nicely both front and back and the flowers are all blooming. I wish that I could get the whole house in one photo, but it won't fit in the frame. So you all are imaginative.....make it majestic in your mind.

Putting in the garden

My flowers in the front of the house are blooming and after church we put in our garden. Since we don't have our wall up yet, we will see how well it turns out. Hopefully the fence will the keep the rabbits, coyotes, raccoons and skunks out! 60 days and we should have fresh tomatoes!