Macaroni, Hamburger and Tomato

Welcome Friday. I am so tired. This has been a long week which included, among other things contract negotiations, strep throat (me - lucky the kids didn't get it!), and E's football awards ceremony (you go gurl).

When I walked in the door tonight I dropped my briefcase and purse by the door and stepped right out of my high heels. All I wanted to do was RELAX so I crafted the ultimate comfort food: Macaroni, hamburger and tomatoes. This has to be the most simple recipe on the planet. All you have to do is read the title and put those three things together (plus lotsa pepper if you're making it LaRee style!). Then even if you are way out East in Maryland and even if mom isn't here to cook it, you still get to feel exactly like you are home. I just curled up on the couch and enjoyed every single spoonful. Life is good.

Mom - you do so many BIG things for all of us it never ceases to amaze me. For each of those things I'm grateful, but I also hope you know down to the bottom of your toes how very much the little things (like passing on Grandma Larsen's comfort foodways, and stocking the freezer with Creamies when we come) you did/do day in and day out mean to me and the others.

Let's hear it for mom :-)

GOD`s WAY OF SAYING 'HAVE A NICE DAY!' Not sure if this was created electronically or if it occurred naturally in either case it's a pretty nice thought.

Love you all,

Dad

Additional pictures for Grandma's Christmas letter

Grandma at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta

Emma's Baptism last May

some pictures I came across looking for pics for Gram

Banana Creamies

On my way (over the river and through the woods) to Grandma's house yesterday, I stopped at this gas station on the mountain road to grab a soda. It was an absolutely beautiful, snowy wasatach mountain day; but for some reason I was thinking Ice Cream!

Remember when we lived in Fruit Heights we would stop at this station and get Banana Creamies? It's funny to me today to see how close it is to our old house. They don't have creamies anymore, but I keep them in my freezer anyway. If you're craving Creamies, here's a link to find some near you. Enjoy!

Antelope Island

We took advantage of the nice warm weather in Utah to take a trip to Antelope Island. It was a great day saw lots of animals mostly bison. Matthew did not bother any of these ones as we were in a state park. After a great day on the Island we called Grandma and asked her if we could stop by. She said that would be great she fixed a great dinner as always, and we had fun visiting and watching Denver on MNF.

I also learned something new. I had always assumed that it was possible for the lake to rise to the Bonneville level just above Mom and Dad's house. But that is not true it can only get back to the Provo level because at that point the watter would flow out of the Great Basin into the Columbia River Basin at Red Rock Pass in Idaho. So Mom and Dad's and Grandmas House are both safe. You should have that on your real estate flyer Dad.

In case you did not know Weber State University, The University of Utah, Brigham Young University, and Utah State University are located on the Provo Level of Lake Bonneville.

I also asked about the pumps the state of Utah put in. The ranger said they used them for about a year before the lake was so low they could not pump water any more

A great view of one of the other Islands on the great salt lake


A nice view of a Bison in front of Mom and Dads house

Buffalo rock with Shelby and Matthew

Great Sunset.

Call me Gollum

I am traveling again this week. This time near Rochester NY. I went out to dinner at the Bonefish Grill which I had never eaten at before. In an attempt to be healthy and adventurous I ordered Tuna. My server told me it was excellent rare. I had heard this was good so I decided to try it but compromised for medium-rare. It came out 2 inches thick with a 1/4 inch on each side cooked. If you have ever seen the Lord of the Rings Triology there is a part where Gollum catches and eats a raw fish. It was a disgusting scene. As I tried to eat the rare (i.e. Raw) fish I thought of him. For the first time in many years I sent something back to the kitchen for additional cooking.

Adventurous Indeed!

Happy Days are here again!

Hip Hip Hooray! Today was a great day! After six weeks of sponge baths and itchy ankles, Emma the Magnificent got her casts off. She was a little nervous because the cast saw was very LOUD but she only cried a little! At first, her ankles were very stiff but she is walking around just fine now. This picture was taken right after her long, luxurious bubble bath where she massaged her legs for a long time. Some of her cute comments are; "My legs are soooo happy to be rubbed! and "My baby toes and ankles love to wiggle!" Life is good with light as a feather legs and Harry Potter #3 to read!

Wonderful Maine

This is the East Quoddy Head lighthouse in New Brunswick. The water in the background of the lighthouse is the Bay of Fundy which has the biggest tide changes in the world. In order to get to this lighthouse you had to climb three ladders and then walk across two low areas that were exposed by the low tide. They had big signs sitting next to the first ladder with warning that the tide raises at 5 feet/hour. When we went out we knew we only had about one hour before the tide would start rushing back in to surround the lighthouse.

To illustrate how big the tides are I took the following picture which shows a dog at the bottom of a 40' ladder ... If I had taken the dogs picture at high tide he would have been four or five feet below me swimming around in 35 degree water.

We drove for about three hours to have our picture taken at the Easternmost point in the United States (West Quoddy Head lighthouse). I know we look cold but we were just faking ... it was a balmy thirty-two degrees and the wind was blowing 35 MPH. Not sure what that translates to but it was cooooooooooold.

This is the little shack that Kristi lives in. Not bad for a rental. Mom and I really enjoyed staying there with Kris.

Thanksgiving weekend fun

Had a good Thanksgiving down here in GA. I have been too lazy to get in the Interent and check everyone else. Crystal made a great dinner with the best turkey ever! We had some friends over and had a fun time. Crystal took the girls to The Nutcracker. Chas and I went Geocaching. Good times for all. On saturday we kept our tradition of going out to lunch and then catching a matinee at the dollar theater. We saw Ratatouille. The adults rated it as mildly entertaining. The one good line from the movie: 'We don't mean to be rude, but we're French!'

After the movie the kids came home and helped me get 'our mess in a pile' in the backyard. All the leaves were blown and raked into a pile then squished flat as the kids jumped in! Of course that was a photo opp for me. Eventually the leaves will be burned and become the fuel for next years tomatoes. (assuming there is water to grow them)

Lobster trap Christmas tree

We went to Rockland to see a traditional lighting of the town Christmas tree which had a distinctly Maine twist to it. The tree was made of around 170 lobster traps and the ornaments were lobster buoys. Even knowing that it was made from lobster traps it was still amazing to see what 170 lobster traps arranged in the shape of a Christmas tree looks like. By this time it was really cold!!!! and I was lucky to get Dad to stay out in the cold long enough to get this picture taken.
Here is a close up of the "tree"

Vinalhaven

It is always fun to go out in the open ocean. Mom, Dad, and I took a trip out to my favorite Island, Vinalhaven. It is about 14 miles off shore and has a few restaurants (which of course are now closed because after all this is Maine), a few gift shops, a hardware store, a grocery store, a fantastic used book store which helps to raise funds for the local library, and about 1,500 year round residents whose livelihood centers mainly around lobstering.

Mom and Dad on the Ferry to Vinalhaven in front of the Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse.

The harbor where the ferry docks in Vinalhaven. It is a wonderful little harbor which looks just like a Maine lobstering harbor should look.

I have seen the buoys off of Mount Desert Island greatly diminish in the past several weeks. I was surprised to still see large number of buoys in the waters near Vinalhaven. This picture however is representative of the many neatly stacked lobster pots found around the island as the lobstermen slow their work for the winter.

There are so many little islands on the trip to/from Vinalhaven. Every time that I go out there I think about how much fun it would be to kayak amongst them and get out and explore. For now I am very content to be able to see their beauty from the ferry.

Moonrise over Vinalhaven as we rode the ferry back to the mainland. It was so cold by this time!!! We stayed out on the ferry's deck as long as we could but had to retreat to the car quickly and frequently to recover from the cold air.

Love Global, Eat Local

Two Grandmas doing the dishes (I think this is right before we totally clogged the sink and it was Nate to the rescue with the plunger!)
Little Miss Jaylin has her first Thanksgiving at Grammy's house. She wore purple just like her pretty mommy did and got lots and lots and lots of hugs and kisses. She is talking so cute and smiling so big. Jaylin we are so THANKFUL for you ....!

I've posted a bit more about our multi-cultural Thanksgiving on Marley, but wanted to share my favorite dish of the day here. This is a blue hubbard squash that I fell in love with at the farmers market. A few days before the feast I carefully carved it in half, seeded it and added local ingredients including corn I'd frozen in season and cheese and herbs produced by my Maryland farmer friends (I don't think they know how fond of them I am ....) then I baked the filling inside the other half of the squash (which was good because i was fresh out of baking dishes!) ...... I thought it was both delicious and beautiful, but knew my kids had reached their limit of my self adoration when they interrupted my story of the finding the squash and making up the recipe with a "You told us that mother ..." Don't worry kids, it's not dementia, I just really really really liked the squash!

Jaqui is AMAZED that Nate and Clay can't take a single picture without hamming it up.

Bangor International Airport

Flying in and out of Bangor was such an interesting experience. Being a seasoned traveler and having lived in SLC for quite a few years I am used to sizable airports where you lose your awareness of where point A is on your way to point B. Flying out of Bangor was like going to a bus station. You walk through the parking lot, cross the street, go up a flight of stairs and there your gate is. TSA has set up shop there and made it a bit less cozy but other than going through security it really felt like a bus station. My whole point of this posting was to share the picture of the chairs I took at the airport. I was so enamored by them. They were clearly placed there in the 70's and their form and color held so much charm for me. Anyway ... have a seat and enjoy my small Maine International Airport =)

I received the below email today letting me know that we have an extra week to decide on the spudman. Maybe this is a Internet hoax to keep the slower racers out of the race.......so thanks to Dan, they think Dave is competitive spudman and he did not receive this email.

Registration for 2008 Burley Lions Club Spudman Triathlon in Burley Idaho will open online at 12:00 noon (MST) on Monday January 7, 2008. Over the last few years the race had developed a tradition of opening the registration at 12:01 A.M. (just after midnight) on January 1st. At the request/suggestion of our online registration partner, (active.com) we have decided to postpone the registration to a date and time when the active.com offices are fully staffed and available for phone support. The link for registration will appear at www.burleylions.org/spudman in advance of the registration date. Thanks!