Happy 2008!

Well it is a little bit quieter around here - the boys have gone back to school. I need to readjust my cooking too - we had twice as much food as we needed at dinner today. Pecan crusted pork tenderloin and caramelized onions - you missed out boys!

We had a good New Year's Week. We rang in the new year with our annual Soup's On party. Lots of friends and lots of food. Shayla flew in New Year Year's Eve Day and it was fun to have her with us this week.

New Year's Day we all slept in, missed the parade and the boys even sacrificed football watching and we all went to the movies together. We saw a wonderful movie, I highly recommend - The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington. That evening I went out with girlfriends for dinner downtown and Shayla and Logan went to dinner with one of his roommates. The roommate was proposing to a girl from Portland and it was Logan and Shayla's job to "set the scene". They purchased 4 dozen red roses, got sparkling cider and a blanket. They had dinner on the riverfront, set up the scene and then hid in the bushes! It was too dark for the video camera but they got some cute still photos.

Wednesday, Logan, Shayla, Tessa, Cali and I went downtown to NW 23rd and did a bit of shopping and browsing and then went ice skating. I haven't been on ice in a few years but didn't do too bad! That evening we had our Mia Maid holiday party with a couple of crafts and chocolate and cheese fondue.

Thursday was a big day for Cali - she had her hair colored RED and she had a mole removed from her back at the dermatologists. That evening the whole family went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. My birthday isn't until next week but since the boys will be back in school and Jim will be out of town all next week we celebrated early. The kids all went together (including Shayla) and bought me a panini maker - I am so excited.

We tried it out Saturday night with Grandma and Grandpa and made lots of yummy sandwich combinations! I think our favorite though was the one with nutella and marshmellows! The pepper bacon, pepperjack cheese and green apple combination was yummy too - in fact I don't think there was any combination we didn't like. I had a whole selection of ingredients (roasted red pepper, onion, tomato, pesto mayo, turkey, chicken, bacon, cheddar, pepperjack and provolone cheese, green apple) and everyone put their order in. We had sourdough bread and ciabatta rolls too.

Friday morning Shayla flew home and the boys, Jim and I went to a session at the temple which was nice. We had pizza for dinner and the boys watched a football game. We have had nothing but rain here in Portland and Friday night a wind kicked up. While we were at the temple a neighbor called to say one of our trees was really swaying in the backyard and they were afraid it was going to come through the fence. So when we got home the three boys went out back in the wind and rain and cut it down. They cut another one down the next morning that looked precarious - at this rate we are not going to have many trees left!

Saturday night the boys went to another Blazer game - Logan said it was the best one he had been to in years (sorry Jazz fans) and the girls and I went to a chick flick. We say PS I Love You - a cute, romantic movie - definitely a chick flick! Tessa and I have also been enjoying watching the BBC mini series Jane Eyre during the week. I have Wuthering Heights rented and ready to go next!

The girls aren't too excited about starting school tomorrow but I must admit I am looking a little forward to having the house to myself again. It will be quiet around here with Jim out of town and the boys gone.