Pork Chop Talk

Pork Chops are delicious we can all agree with that statement but a question was prosed by my wife that the time to thaw a pork chop should be less than 10 hours, at room temp. Now I believe I have eaten pork chops that were good and thawed with little to no side effect. Nicole on the other side is not so sure, none the less my pork chops that were sealed in a plastic bag but at room temp for maybe 12 hours are now in the garbage and a frozen pizza is on the pizzazz. Side note, the pizzazz actually works and is a great invention. But help Nicole out and comment to her that the chops would have been fine, I would've even seasoned the salmonella out of them. Help us solve the pork chop dilemma.

Road Trip!

This weekend we decided to venture out on a road trip. We didn't start with much of a destination in mind, besides the direction North. We haven't explored much of northern Washington, so we thought it was about time we checked it out. We ended up taking the Pacific Northwest Scenic byway around the Olympic Mountains. In all it was about a 7 hour drive, but absolutely worth it! We saw some beautiful sights that we can't wait to get back to. Here are a few of the pictures that we took.

PS-Doug does not recommend the "Idaho Spud." Also, National Geographic should be calling shortly to obtain rights to publish the seagull picture in their magazine.

Pre-Easter Celebration

This weekend Doug and I flew to the suburbs of Chicago to join the Willander Family in our pre-Easter celebration. It was so nice to be able to have all of us together and to see where Dustin, Aislinn and Afton live and work. The eight inches of snow gave us a nice chance to spend lots of quality time together. It is amazing to see how fast Afton is growing, and all of the new things that he is able to do. We had a great time and can't wait to visit again!

Afton has the most beautiful blue eyes. They just sparkle!

I guess this solves the mystery of who Afton's favorite aunt is. Sorry Carlee.

Here is a picture of the car that Dustin works on.

Seattle was gloomy the day that we left, but once we got above the clouds, we had an awesome view of Mt. Rainier. I can't wait until summer/hiking season!

Another house project...

We have officially been in our house for a year now, and are still not done with all of the projects. Our latest project is to put hardwood floors in our entry and front living room. The entry way originally had hardwood, and the living room had carpet. The carpet was destroyed and we immediately ripped it out. Since then, we have been dealing with the plywood floor. After realizing that having someone install wood floors for us would be way too expensive, we thought..."how hard can it be." This is now week three! The picture of Doug is on the first day when we we taking off the woodwork and ripping out the old flooring. The picture of me is me wearing my "working pants." Doug is embarrassed of these sweat pants and was hesitant to take a picture of me wearing them. I happen to find them extremely comfortable and productive. I also feel a sense of pride while wearing the sweatpants. I have worn these pants for almost every house project that I have completed. If you look closely you will notice every color of paint that is on the walls of our house on the sweatpants! The final picture is what we have accomplished in our three weeks of working. More pictures to come.

Happy Birthday Aislinn!

Happy Birthday Aislinn. I hope you have a fabulous day. We are so excited to have you as part of the family and can't wait until the day you become our official in-law :) To many more wonderful birthdays!

Grete...It's the thought that counts!

First off, thank you to all of you for the well-wishes and birthday greetings this past week! It was a great birthday, and your messages and cards made it all the better! Today I got an unexpected belated birthday surprise in the mail. When I checked the mail I found this plastic bag with a note on it from the post office saying something to the matter of "we try really hard to deliver mail undamaged and in one piece...but sometimes we screw up." Inside there was an envelope that had been attempted to be taped back together and inside the envelope was a card that had been shredded to pieces. It was kind of like a puzzle putting the card together to reveal a wonderful birthday message from my great friend Grete. I feel really bad because the card was very nice and I could tell that she put a lot of thought into picking it out. It ended up being a good thing though Grete because I like puzzles! The mystery of what really happened to the card is unknown... Thanks anyways, I appreciate it, and all other cards, very much! (Jami, I hope you appreciate my eye for taking pictures primarily for the use of a blog entry)

Shear Shock

Things to never tell a new hairstylist..."It is starting to feel a little heavy," "I'm looking to trying something a new," and "sure, whatever you think would look best..." This week I got my haircut, and it was quite a shocker at first. I was thinking about getting just a little trim, maybe add some layers, but keep most of the length. I instead got an entirely different style and lost a lot of length. It has taken quite a bit of getting used to, but I think it is finally starting to "grow" on me.