This is for Z-Man

I first met Tabbatha about a year and a half when my company was acquired and I started to attend the "corporate" marketing meetings. She's super nice and I've been lucky enough to have worked closely with her for the past 6 months or so. I've wrote about her before - she was the one who helped me with my speech for Amy's wedding - again, thank you!

She and her family are in Florida and I've heard stories from her about how their son (in first grade) wants to see snow. Well, pretty soon (in about a week they're NYC bound for a couple years) Z will get to see lots. In the meantime, I thought I would post some pictures for him of what we woke up to this morning. Rounds 2 and 3 are supposedly on the way.

Backyard

Before shoveling/snowblowing

After

Our street, althought I'm not sure where it is exactly

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Taco Casserole

Ingredients:
3 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
1 pound ground beef/chicken/turkey
1/4 cup choppen onion
2 cups shredded cheese (taco mix)
1 jar (16 oz) salsa
1 can tomatoes/chilies, undrained - I use Rotel brand
1 envelope taco seasoning
1 can green or red enchilada sauce
2 cups crushed tortilla chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to pasta directions. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until no longer pink and drain. Add cheese, salsa, tomatoes/chilies, taco seasoning and enchilada sauce. Drain noodles and add to beef mixture.

Transfer to greased 11x7 baking dish. Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with chips and more cheese. Bake 10 minutes longer or until heated through.

Sausage Quiche Tarts

Ingredients
6 or 8 oz cream cheese
5 tsp milk
2 eggs
1/2 shredded cheese
1/4 onion chopped
1 1/2 tubes refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Cook sausage until no longer pink. Drain.

Beat cream cheese and milk until smooth, Add eggs, cheese, onion and sausage; mix well.

Separate crescent rolls into 12 triangles; press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased muffin pan. Pour egg/sausage mixture into cups. Top with cheese if desired.

Bake uncovered at 375 for 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Just Because

I saw this in an email on Friday night at April's house and we died laughing. It is way too adorable. I am amazed at the ukulele talent of this little boy and he is (again) just too darn adorable. It also makes me smile and I thought we could all use a smile today. Enjoy.

The Great Thanksgiving Jewelry Showdown

Joe and I were in ET for Thanksgiving this year and as usual, went shopping on Black Friday. One of the stores mom, Amy and I hit was Target, which was having a pretty good sale on a jewelry stand. Since the spring I have collected my fair share of jewels thanks to my fabulous friend April who started selling Premiere Jewelry.

And, thanks to my fabulous mom, she bought these jewelry stands for Amy and I as our christmas presents. Once back to mom and dad's we joked that we should time Joe and Luke and see who can put the stand together first.

Well, when we got back to MN, I called up Amy on that Sunday afternoon and said "Joe's ready if Luke is."

The rules were simple, the first one to finish and have it work, won. So Amy and I were on the phone and yelled "on your mark, get set, go!" Joe said to me, "Luke is using a power drill right?" To which I said "DUH. Of course. Why would you use just a screwdriver?"

About the same time Luke told Amy "You should call Brooke back and say no power tools." To which Amy replied, "Luke, they won't use power tools."

Well, I called Amy first to say we won and she said she was just getting ready to dial the phone. Then she said Joe just used a screwdriver right? Umm...nope. So needless to say, had Luke used a power drill or Joe a screwdriver, we're pretty sure Luke would have won.

Kitchen Remodel - Merry Christmas to us

Around the end of October Joe asked me what our "winter" project should be. After a trip to Lowes for a new leaf vac/blower, we stumbled into their counter top section and we decided the project could be a small update to our kitchen.

For those of you were around when we bought the house, you know that we've already done a little updating in regards to appliances and paint. For those of you who never had the joy of seeing the kitchen we bought, have a looksey:

Excuse the mess, it was moving day. Original kitchen in May '07

May '07

As you can see, we right away went to work updating the paint, appliances and backsplash.

The toaster oven is hiding a very uneven corner of the counter

However, I must confess that a big part of me has fallen in love with my yellow countertops. If they would have been in better shap and actually even (it's amazing what a toaster oven can hide) I would have kept them.
About  about month ago we scrubbed our cabinets and put on new hardware. The next weekend Joe spent a Friday night installing one piece of the counter top that we didn't have to special order while I went out for a date with my friend Carrie. I came home that evening and was so impressed with my hubby.

New counter Joe did all  by himself!

What our kitchen had looked like for about a month before yesterday

The next morning we went to Menards and bought a new ceiling fan/light fixture (I swear we were taking our lives in our own hands every time we turned the previous ceiling fan on. I thought it would fall out of the ceiling). Joe promptly installed that and I even helped a little bit. The true test came when it was time to turn on and Joe pulled the cord and nothing. I quickly yelled from the couch to turn the light switch on the wall on and sure enough it worked.

What's left? Well the rest of the counter, the new sink and garbage disposal needs to be installed. That happened yesterday thanks to our friends Linda and Jerry. Thanks to Linda who was kind enough to tell us that "Jerry wouldn't have a problem helping" and thanks to Jerry for spending all day yesterday with us (literally from 9:00 am until about 6:30 pm). To thank Jerry, we gave him a gift certificate to the 5-8, told him that he is to call us first if he ever needs help with something and he is entitled to free hair cuts for life from yours truly.

Here are lots of  pictures from yesterday. THANK YOU JERRY AND JOE!!!

Before (with cabinets cleaned out)

No sink

No counter

so close to being done...

New sink

All done

It's now even and we don't need the toaster oven to hide anything

Is this thing on?

I know it's been far too quiet and for reasons I don't much feel like going into. However, I am now back on track and have lots to fill you in on.

The previous post - about it being winter already, was the weekend that Joe had to work. That is not normal at all but there was some MBA convention thingy (yes, I listen well) at the Convention Center and Joe and had to be there to cook (yes, in front of live audience) and Jenny went with him to be his assistant. Below are some pictures of Joe in action. Maybe one day he can get his own show on Food Network!!

Nervous, nervous

Jenny and Joe

In action

Finished product

We seemed to have skipped fall...

And went right into winter. This past weekend was cold and we woke up Saturday morning to a little bit of snow:

No big deal. I mean it was gone by Saturday night and Sunday was just cold and damp. Well, come Monday afternoon, we had this:

Wordless Wednesday

A little background to this picture...I asked Amy to send me some pictures of her honeymoon and this is what I got. To quote my marvelous sister, "Look closely, Rhino taking a leak! It seriously looks like a fire hose!"

Sausage Squares

I made this over the weekend and it's super good. I am already thinking of things I could add next time I make it such as mushrooms and some salsa.


Ingredients:
1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls
1 lb bulk pork sausage
1/4 c chopped onion
5 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c milk
2 tbsp chopped pepper (green, red, yellow, whatever)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1 cup shredded cheese (again, whatever you got)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Unroll crescent rolls onto the bottom of a 9x13 greased pan, sealing seams/perforations. Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes or until it starts to brown.

In large skillet, cook sausage and onion. Add peppers. Drain. *If I use salsa next time, this is where I would add it.

In small bowl, combine eggs, milk, oregano, pepper and garlic salt. Pour over the crust. Add sausage mixture. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until eggs are cooked.

Enchiladas

I credit April for this recipe. When her hubby was deployed and Norah was a baby, I would go over to April's to do her hair, hang out and of course, spoil Norah and April would always make me dinner. I don't know how many times we've had this and it has become one of Joe's favorite.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (or chicken/ground beef)
1 can diced tomatoes and green chilies
2 cups shredded mexican cheese
1 can enchilada sauce (green or red)
8 tortilla shells

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Cook ground turkey until no longer pink. Drain diced tomatoes and green chilies than add to the ground turkey. Let turkey mixture cool. Spray 9x13 pan. Fill tortillas with turkey mixture, add cheese, roll up and place in pan. Pour enchilada sauce over tortillas in pan. Top with remaining cheese. Bake until heated through or cheese is melted (15-20 minutes). Using the broiler for the last 5 minutes works wonders!

Amy and Luke's Big Day

The kids have been officially married for two whole weeks and this post is long overdue. Here's the recap of the big day and a few (ok...probably more than a few) of my favorite pics. If you want to see all, take a peek at the slide show, it's long but worth looking through.

Saturday morning - 4:30 AM - 6 AM
I was awake - wide awake. I didn't need to be up until 6 and for some reason 4:30 came and I was wide awake. I refused to get out of bed and just laid there until Dad knocked on the door at 6:00. He or mom are our alarm clocks in WI as our cell phones get NO service at their house.

6 AM - 8:30 AM
Joe stayed sleeping as I tip-toed downstairs only to find out that Mom and Amy were awake too. They were on the couch trying to get the motivation to get going. It was a little sad too - I think the realization hit everyone that morning. For Mom and Dad, it was the last morning they'd wake up and Amy would be in the house and for Amy, it was the last morning she'd wake up in the house. It was definitely sad but happy.

Meanwhile, I'm running around getting ready and making sure I have everything, and I mean everything I could think of needing for the day and especially, Amy and Luke's marriage license which I decided I would be in charge of as to take the pressure off Mom and Amy. Joe and my Dad did whatever was asked and I couldn't ask for a better husband or Dad.

8:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Adriane (Amy's sister-in-law) was dropped off at Mom and Dad's at 8:30 and her, Amy and I squished into my car (which was packed with a ton of bags full of hair stuff, dresses, shoes, etc) and headed to the salon where we were meeting up with the rest of the "best girls" - Jayme, Danielle, Sara, Jenny and Callie.

I left the salon a little early to unpack the car at the church and to get my hair stuff set up as I was doing Amy and Mom's hair. When I got the girls 'getting ready room' this is the message I found:

11:00 AM - Ceremony (3 PM)

This was the busiest time ever - I was getting Amy's hair in hot rollers, eating lunch, fixing other girl's hair, doing mom's hair, doing Amy's make-up, etc. I started to take the rollers out of Amy's head and back comb her hair when her soon to be nephew, Owen walked in (he's 6 and was delivering a card from Luke). He was quite adamant that he would not tell Uncle Luke what crazy hair Amy had because he was quite sure Uncle Luke wouldn't marry her if he told.

I don't know if I would have married that hair either

Finally, I was able to get myself ready and Mom, Sara and I got Amy in her dress. I'm super glad that I was able to watch Rebecca lace up Anna's dress last September so I knew what the heck I was doing for Amy's dress. Next up was pictures of the girls. They were fantastic - love, love the photographer and love, love Jenny (Amy's other sister-in-law) who was a picture taking machine. If you view the slide show, most of the pictures on it are from Jenny!!

Mom, Amy and me

After pictures it was back into hiding until it was time to walk down the aisle. The air was a little more tense and we were all trying to not cry. To lighten the mood, and at my husband's expense, I told a story about a certain poker party he had a couple years ago in our garage, in January, with kerosene...

Ceremony
As the girls were starting to line up, I told Amy to remember that story and to my surprise, a couple other girls were remember that story (myself included) while Amy and Dad were walking down the aisle so we wouldn't cry.

I got super nervous walking down the aisle, I kept telling myself to slow down and smile. I got to the alter with the other girls and Trent, Owen and Callie walked down. They did so good!!! The best flower girl and ring bearers I have ever seen. Next up Dad and Amy. I seriously have no idea how I did not cry. I couldn't look at anyone else in the church because I knew that if I saw other people crying, I would start.

The ceremony was beautiful, Pastor Sean was amazing (Joe and I actually discussed divorcing so Pastor Sean could re-marry us). It went off without a hitch, nobody objected and both said I do. Standing in the receiving line after, there were so many people I haven't seen in so long and it was wonderful to see everyone. Once the last person went through, we were herded back into the church for more pictures.

Dad walking his baby down the aisle

Mr. and Mrs. Luke Smith

3:45 PM - 5:30 PM

Pictures, pictures, pictures.

My absolute favorite!

We ended up heading outside and it was a hike. It finally dawned on me she was taking us to the shade but the only shade was far away. I was holding Amy's dress on our hike to the shade and handsome little Owen come right up next to Amy and slips his little arm around her waist and walked with her like that the rest of the way. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

Owen, Amy and me

Callie, Jayme, Danielle, Sara. Adriane, me

The kids did so good with all of the pictures and the second sweetest thing of the afternoon involved Callie. It was the last picture and they needed Callie. Jenny said to get in the picture because we have to get going. Callie started to cry and we all thought it was because she was done with pictures. Nope. It was because Jenny said they had to go and started saying she didn't want to go. Poor Callie thought Jenny meant go as in leave be done. When Jenny explained "get going" meant to the party aka reception, Callie immediately stopped crying and was fine. It was adorable.

The photographer dismissed us all and just needed Amy and Luke so back inside to pack everything up and everyone else headed over to the reception. Jeff, Adriane and Owen were standing out front with us waiting for Amy and Luke (we were chauffeuring A&L) and Owen exclaimed how he had one more thing to do and that he already had done two things. So I ask...

Me: What have you had to do Owen?
O: I've had to kiss Amy twice and now I have to dance with her for our special dance!
Me (I turned to Jeff, Owen's dad): You better watch him, in 20 years it will be Amy Kramer (Owen's last name) instead of Amy Smith.
O: Yeah - I want Amy to live with me at my house.

Reception:

We finally got to the reception and got situated for the grand march. Amy and Luke cut the cake right away which I thought was a great idea.

Amy and Luke cutting the cake

The DJ took control and told us to sit at the head table and then asked if anyone would like to speak. This was my thought process: 'Holy &$%#. I thought I was going to be able to have a drink first. &$%#! I need beer. No, you'll be ok, you've practiced. &$%#! I need beer.'

Some of the guys spoke and then I got my turn. It went well and I did have some help from our copywriter at work (seriously Tabbatha - you ROCK!). I didn't start sobbing although I did tell Amy I one point I couldn't look at her anymore so I could finish the speech.

The dinner was great and so was the cake. More people spoke and thank you Adriane for letting me hold your hand while our Dad's spoke! If you want to see those speeches click here.

Sisters and brothers

Adriane, me, Amy, Luke, Marshall and Jeff (brother-in-law)

Adriane, Joe, Jeff and me

Adriane and I decided we were going to switch husbands

I got to hang with Kari and Bryan for little bit and even got Kari out on the dance floor when they played a Michael Jackson song.

After that it was all dancing all night. The rest of the night is a blur. I was amazed by the dance moves that Trent and Owen have and Callie was more than happy to danced with anyone who wanted to dance with her. I got to take a picture (using the photographer's camera) of the photographer dancing with Luke's cousin, Dad got up on stage and danced, they played Mustang Sally and everyone formed a circle and I think Mom danced with every single groomsmen/bridesmaid, Amy crowd surfed, and Owen put all of us to shame and danced until the lights came on.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton but like I said, once the music started, it was a blur. By far, the best wedding I have ever been too.

Dad and Joe

Dad dancing on stage

Amy crowd surfing

The Dad's - Bruce and Scott