Kelly Times Two

Last night I hosted a baby shower for one of my best buddies, Paige, which turned out really well, thanks to several of my friends helping out. It was a sit-down dinner with the following menu: Cucumber Dill Canapes Baked Potstickers with Sweet Asian Dipping Sauce Spring Mix Salad with Stilton, Toasted Pecans, and Cranberries Potato Horseradish Gratin with Carmelized Onions Tarragon Carrots Honey Glazed Spiral Sliced Ham Homemade Clover Leaf Dinner Rolls Strawberry Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce I have posted the salad, the carrots, and the potato recipe on Heidi 's recipe blog, and the potstickers is from a random person's blog whom I surfed the web for a PC recipe, if you're interested in trying them. The food was fantastic and everyone seemed to have a great time. Paige was so sweet to have brought a nice little gift to everyone who brought some of the food. She makes a beautiful pregnant woman. I just love her...she's such a sweetheart. I have known her a ...

This was such a fantastic month to go out to lunch with friends and the little kids for our Lunch Bunch group. These photos are from last month's "lunch bunch" which was held at what's left of the Oasis after the fire occurred last year, or was it two years ago? It was my first time back and we enjoyed the food and the company was a delight. The entire compound is still heavily under construction to rebuild. Gabby (and son) and the doc. Liz and her two little ones. Lonna and her little pumpkin, Gwen. Jessica, me, Jenny, and Wanda. The doc (Michelle wanting to appear with everyone for entertainment value) and Debbie plus her daughter, and the unborn Benjamin, disguised well in the black shirt under his mom's skin, and who arrived a few days ago on Earth. Also, Wanda's little girl is in the background to the left. Mauri, who is new in the ward from Houston, plus her little guy, Jonas. The glam queen, Summer, with her sidekick Brooklyn. Buddy, Shauna, an...

Since I haven't posted all month practically, it seems that I'm making up for it in these mini posts now. Mom was in town for a few days and we took her out to dinner at one of my favorite barbecue places, the County Line . I love their ribs and other meats and their wonderful sauce, but I especially enjoy their cole slaw. I'm not a fan of cole slaw, but this is the best I've eaten. It's actually the only cole slaw I'll eat. It's not mushy and soggy, but fresh and crisp with a bit of cayenne pepper or some kind of kick to it. Their potato salad is tangy, not too overcooked, and delicious, and finally, their ranch style beans are also fantastic. Kelly ordered the beef rack just because he wanted to impress my mom with a good view of what Texans mean when they talk about their barbecue. We all helped him with his plate, and it took more than one day.

One of the tests that I have to judge this new system is whether or not I have to bug my husband to upload photos onto my computer. My last computer was too slow for my new camera and I needed to use a cable that I didn't have, etc., so I had to ask Kelly for help. I'm excited to show that I took these pictures a few minutes ago of my china hutch, which I've just started decorating for Easter, and I was able to upload them myself onto my new computer. I'm a big girl now! So far, so good. It's fast too! Be sure to notice the cute little card on the top shelf, designed by Mandi, that I made last year at her open house. It's the cutest Easter card and I had to save it.

One of my favorite aunts is my aunt Jessie, who is a master entertainer. She and her belated husband, my Uncle Merle, did a lot of traveling during his military career as a colonel. When Kelly and I got married, Aunt Jessie and Uncle Merle gave us one of my most cherished wedding gifts, this lovely Oneida flatware, service for eight. The pattern is Michelangelo by Oneida and over the years, I have added more to the collection. This past Christmas, my thoughtful inlaws got me four more place settings, to my delight. I love to entertain and will be using 22 of my 24 place settings in two days as I host a baby shower that will be a sit-down dinner. Here's my sweet Aunt Jessie, who is an extraordinary cook, with me while I was in California in February at another baby shower. My cousin Loretta put on a baby shower for her son, Cory's wife. I loved seeing everyone again. Aunt Jessie is truly an inspiration to me, as she's in her 84th year, I believe. Because's she's he...

Last month, I made 80 of these colorful bookmarks to pass out in our Relief Society so everyone would know what lesson we'd be on that week. This photo is of the back sides with the pretty patterned papers. The other sides of the cardstock were the schedules that I typed and used coordinating ink colors. They turned out well and it took quite some time to do, but most everyone seemed glad to get a schedule for the year...and a cute one at that.

I'm finally adding a new post to my blog and have missed reading all my friends' blogs! The family and I went to Colorado for a week during spring break and I was already feeling like it had been a long time since I'd gotten caught up. Then when I tried to turn on my computer at 2 am the night we got home, it made this slow, loud, painful sound. It didn't sound good. I tried to reboot it a couple of times, then my husband diagnosed it and informed me it was history. So luckily, my husband is a genious and rebuilt my computer for me and I'm up and running again with the lastest, greatest computer in the household. I have Windows new operating system, Vista, which uses tabs. I have yet to appreciate that, as I'm a slow learner in these matters. We are such a computer family because of my husband's enthusiasm and professional background. He designs computer chips, therefore, each person in our family has a computer. I'm not sure how or why that is. It's...

Last week, Kelly went to a technical conference in San Jose on Tuesday. On Thursday, I flew out to join him for a couple of days. His rental car was a P T Cruiser and I dropped him off at Avis on Saturday before taking him to the airport, then I picked up my rental car from Hertz, and stayed through Monday. Here he is just before packing up to leave. On Friday night, we drove to Rodeo to have dinner with the Aunts and my mom, who had arrived into Oakland early that afternoon. Here is Kelly with my cousin, Hollie. She's so much fun. Like most of my California cousins, they rarely leave their state. One of these days, it would be nice to have her visit us in Texas. Kelly and I had a great time together on our brief getaway. As the kids get older, it's easier to arrange things like this. Lindsey spent the night at a friend's house on Thursday, and Christopher spent the night at someone else's. Then on Friday night, we had Merideth sleep over with them.