To bring in 2011, we had a New Year's Eve party at our house with the Benson's, Rindlisbacher's and Waetchler's.
The food was amazing and lots of it. Jason cooked an amazing prime rib for us in dutch ovens. We added to that au gratin potatoes, rolls (Jason did these too in the dutch oven) and salad. Prior to the main course we had appetizers, which were little smokies, seven layer dip, another chip dip, and veggies. It was all topped off with a variety of desserts. YUMMY is about all that's needed to describe it.
What stands out most for this night? That would have to be all of the kids off playing and the adults chatting in the living room. Out of the blue comes all of our smoke detectors going off and the lady stating that "carbon monoxide is detected". Are you kidding me? First of all, I guess it's a nice thing to know that our detectors really work. Second of all, who would have known they actually speak. Third, holy smokes there is no way we will EVER sleep through a fire.....those things are loud!
What did we do you ask? We all determine that it has to be coming from the coals in the garage that were used to cook with the dutch ovens. You see.....the food was cooked in the garage because if you remember the temperatures at this time were subzero. So....in the garage is the coals and the garage doors are shut. Hmmm....I guess that does put off some toxic fumes. We have an atomic clock in our house that tells you the outside temperature. It's reading at about -2 degrees. So, to clear out the air we opened all of the windows and the front door. Oh yea and we turned on the ceiling fan to "move the air out". In about three seconds you could see our breath as we were chatting and laughing through this experience.
I believe the coals were then taken from the garage and all of the detectors were reset. They didn't go off again so I guess we removed all the bad air.
Everyone had left and it was around 12:30 a.m. As Dave and I are getting ready for bed he does say to me that he had a headache sitting in the living room but he thought it was because he'd eaten too much. Then the following week at work I chatted with Jason who said he had a headache too. Really? There's two people not feeling well and no one is willing to say anything. Thank goodness for lady smoke detector to inform us as to what is "in the air".
Two good lessons learned......
One - it's always a great time at the Welker's. We do our best to keep you on your toes.
Two - it really is important to make sure your smoke detectors and working properly! I believe Chris now has his in working order.....they were disconnected before!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Christmas 2010
For Christmas Eve, we did the traditional dinner by candlelight with Grandma and Grandpa Welker. It's a dinner that always consists of sloppy joes, chips, pop, and pistachio salad....along with a few other fixings. Dinner is eaten on paper plates and by candlelight. Always a hit with the kids.
For the annual Nativity scene with the young kids, Ashley was Mary and Hannah was the lead Angel that actually had a speaking part. This is another fun tradition that the kids enjoy. Of course, I forgot the camera. Just my luck!
We were joined this year by Grandma Peterson which was a treat for the girls. In fact, Grandma spent Christmas Eve night with us in Mendon and was there for Christmas morning. The girls were in heaven!
Christmas morning brings the joy for Dave and I in torchering the girls and holding them off as long as possible at seeing their presents. Hannah and Ashley slept upstairs with Grandma Peterson and Grandma did a great job of blindfolding them so they could come downstairs for a "potty" break. We then had them go back upstairs and stay in the TV room until the cinnamon rolls were ready. One of the traditions with our little family is to have cinnamon rolls and orange juice together in the bedroom (improvised this year to the TV room) before heading for the presents.
Dave, Grandma and I went downstairs to get ready with the cameras and then we ring the sleigh bells for the girls to come down. We went in order this year of youngest to oldest. Hannah was "dying" upstairs waiting for her turn to come and see what Santa brought. I could totally relate to the feelings and it brought back my childhood.
We had a great Christmas and the girls seemed to enjoy what they got. Hannah's favorite was her Easy Bake oven, Ashley's favorite was the Crayola paints, and Nicole is all over her new dress-ups!
Dave had to work at 2 p.m. so we had a lazy morning and then headed in to Grandma Peterson's later in the day for dinner.
Here's Nicole waving at the top of the stairs. Ready or not! Here she comes!
For the annual Nativity scene with the young kids, Ashley was Mary and Hannah was the lead Angel that actually had a speaking part. This is another fun tradition that the kids enjoy. Of course, I forgot the camera. Just my luck!
We were joined this year by Grandma Peterson which was a treat for the girls. In fact, Grandma spent Christmas Eve night with us in Mendon and was there for Christmas morning. The girls were in heaven!
Christmas morning brings the joy for Dave and I in torchering the girls and holding them off as long as possible at seeing their presents. Hannah and Ashley slept upstairs with Grandma Peterson and Grandma did a great job of blindfolding them so they could come downstairs for a "potty" break. We then had them go back upstairs and stay in the TV room until the cinnamon rolls were ready. One of the traditions with our little family is to have cinnamon rolls and orange juice together in the bedroom (improvised this year to the TV room) before heading for the presents.
Dave, Grandma and I went downstairs to get ready with the cameras and then we ring the sleigh bells for the girls to come down. We went in order this year of youngest to oldest. Hannah was "dying" upstairs waiting for her turn to come and see what Santa brought. I could totally relate to the feelings and it brought back my childhood.
We had a great Christmas and the girls seemed to enjoy what they got. Hannah's favorite was her Easy Bake oven, Ashley's favorite was the Crayola paints, and Nicole is all over her new dress-ups!
Dave had to work at 2 p.m. so we had a lazy morning and then headed in to Grandma Peterson's later in the day for dinner.
Here's Nicole waving at the top of the stairs. Ready or not! Here she comes!
Here's Ashley.......
Finally....Hannah....
Friday, January 14, 2011
Catching Up Is Fun to Do!
It seems like once the holiday season approached, it came in like a lion and I think we've finally reached the end and it's going out like a lamb. Phew! It's about time!
Now comes the task of catching up the blog and trying to record all of the happenings since Thanksgiving. So, sit down and relax because here we go!
Thanksgiving was pretty low key for us this year. We had dinner with Grandma Peterson in Mendon. I was responsible for the turkey this year and have to say it turned out quite impressive. I got the recipe from a co-worker on how to cook the turkey from frozen and I will definitely cook a turkey like this again. The Welker family headed to Arizona to be with Wendy and family so we only gorged on one meal this year. It was very nice for the waistline!
The Friday after Thanksgiving Hannah performed at the NovemberFest with her TaVaci group.
In November we also had a Princess join our family and get married.....
Now it's time to bring on December and all the craziness that comes with parties, shopping, shopping, parties and did I say shopping.......exhausting!
Dave got a "large" portion of his Christmas early this year. After searching for two years and "really" searching for the past year and "really...really" searching hard and heavy for the last three to four months, we found a truck for Dave and bought it!
The week of December 13 was wild and crazy and at the end became a blur. This was the week for the TaVaci Winter Concert, which means.....lots of practice. I think Monday and Tuesday were calm and then it came:
Wednesday - staging rehearsal for Ashley 4-5:15; staging rehearsal for Hannah 5:15-6:30; rehearsal for specialty numbers, which I didn't know Hannah signed up for a duet until this moment and she rehearsed from 6:30-7:00.
Thursday - Full Dress Rehearsal from 5-7 pm, which means don't forget the outfits, tights and dress shoes for the girls. Oh and please have the girls fed dinner before they come....and make sure they have peed......
7:30-9:00 pm brought assembling newborn kits as a humanitarian project with our ward. So....pull the girls off the rehearsal stage at 7:05 and run all the way to the parking lot and head for Mendon. Oh.....and don't forget the dozen cookies that needed to be baked the night before and delivered to the church one hour before your time slot (Dave.....make sure you and Nicole take care of this one).
It was crazy to get here but it ended up being an amazing experience to do as a family. We arrived and went to the first station where we watched the small video "Breath of Heaven". If you haven't seen it, here's a link to one of the versions on youtube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPbV_HTpyx0
The version we had must have been produced specifically for newborn kits because at the end it showed babies wrapped in newspaper and in orphanages. Hannah has such a humble heart and this really concerned her as to why they would be wrapped in newspaper. It was an amazing teaching experience as to why we were packaging a blanket, nightgown, cloth diapers & pins, a pair of socks and a bar of soap. Priceless.
Friday brought the TaVaci concert, which meant the girls had to be dressed and at the concert hall by 6:30 p.m. The concerts are usually held on Saturdays but because of scheduling it was on Friday night this go round, which meant it was a bit crazy getting ready after work.
Before the concert......
A couple of pictures by the snowman......
Uncle Glade was sitting on the aisle but wasn't a very good keeper of keeping Nicole contained within the row. She escaped and decided to head up on stage and do her own performance in front of the audience. This occurred about three minutes before the concert started so there were quite a few people in the audience. I was dying and trying to get her attention to come back, Dave was busy snapping pictures and everyone else was laughing and thinking it was great!
Headband is still lookin' good....
It's so hard sitting in the chairs and being still.....I'm also getting tired......what do I do? Change the placement of my headband...
Can't this be over.....I really need to go to bed!
Love the facial expressions.....
We survived the concert but I'm not sure we survived taking pictures in Christmas dresses.....
I will not look at the camera and say cheese no matter what you say!
Not bad....lookin' pretty good....
Ashley....can you seriously squash your nose like that and still breath?
Right back atcha babe!
One more......just one more.....you can do it!
Now comes the task of catching up the blog and trying to record all of the happenings since Thanksgiving. So, sit down and relax because here we go!
Thanksgiving was pretty low key for us this year. We had dinner with Grandma Peterson in Mendon. I was responsible for the turkey this year and have to say it turned out quite impressive. I got the recipe from a co-worker on how to cook the turkey from frozen and I will definitely cook a turkey like this again. The Welker family headed to Arizona to be with Wendy and family so we only gorged on one meal this year. It was very nice for the waistline!
The Friday after Thanksgiving Hannah performed at the NovemberFest with her TaVaci group.
Maybe a little more excitement on the face wouldn't make me feel like you were "forced" to be there because you weren't!
In November we also had a Princess join our family and get married.....
Now it's time to bring on December and all the craziness that comes with parties, shopping, shopping, parties and did I say shopping.......exhausting!
Dave got a "large" portion of his Christmas early this year. After searching for two years and "really" searching for the past year and "really...really" searching hard and heavy for the last three to four months, we found a truck for Dave and bought it!
The week of December 13 was wild and crazy and at the end became a blur. This was the week for the TaVaci Winter Concert, which means.....lots of practice. I think Monday and Tuesday were calm and then it came:
Wednesday - staging rehearsal for Ashley 4-5:15; staging rehearsal for Hannah 5:15-6:30; rehearsal for specialty numbers, which I didn't know Hannah signed up for a duet until this moment and she rehearsed from 6:30-7:00.
Thursday - Full Dress Rehearsal from 5-7 pm, which means don't forget the outfits, tights and dress shoes for the girls. Oh and please have the girls fed dinner before they come....and make sure they have peed......
7:30-9:00 pm brought assembling newborn kits as a humanitarian project with our ward. So....pull the girls off the rehearsal stage at 7:05 and run all the way to the parking lot and head for Mendon. Oh.....and don't forget the dozen cookies that needed to be baked the night before and delivered to the church one hour before your time slot (Dave.....make sure you and Nicole take care of this one).
It was crazy to get here but it ended up being an amazing experience to do as a family. We arrived and went to the first station where we watched the small video "Breath of Heaven". If you haven't seen it, here's a link to one of the versions on youtube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPbV_HTpyx0
The version we had must have been produced specifically for newborn kits because at the end it showed babies wrapped in newspaper and in orphanages. Hannah has such a humble heart and this really concerned her as to why they would be wrapped in newspaper. It was an amazing teaching experience as to why we were packaging a blanket, nightgown, cloth diapers & pins, a pair of socks and a bar of soap. Priceless.
Friday brought the TaVaci concert, which meant the girls had to be dressed and at the concert hall by 6:30 p.m. The concerts are usually held on Saturdays but because of scheduling it was on Friday night this go round, which meant it was a bit crazy getting ready after work.
Before the concert......
A couple of pictures by the snowman......
Uncle Glade was sitting on the aisle but wasn't a very good keeper of keeping Nicole contained within the row. She escaped and decided to head up on stage and do her own performance in front of the audience. This occurred about three minutes before the concert started so there were quite a few people in the audience. I was dying and trying to get her attention to come back, Dave was busy snapping pictures and everyone else was laughing and thinking it was great!
Too bad this one is blurry but it shows that she was not shy and headed right on up the stairs to perform!
Some fun shots from the performance
That's some concentration on the face.....notice the placement of the headband.....
Headband is still lookin' good....
It's so hard sitting in the chairs and being still.....I'm also getting tired......what do I do? Change the placement of my headband...
Can't this be over.....I really need to go to bed!
Love the facial expressions.....
We survived the concert but I'm not sure we survived taking pictures in Christmas dresses.....
I will not look at the camera and say cheese no matter what you say!
Not bad....lookin' pretty good....
Ashley....can you seriously squash your nose like that and still breath?
Right back atcha babe!
One more......just one more.....you can do it!
You better be hoping and praying that Santa brings you presents!
Well, that catches us up to Christmas. I think I'll go ahead and stop here for tonight seems it's 11:40. I'll hopefully pick back up tomorrow with more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
