Yikes, Thanksgiving

Well way back when, like over three months ago (yikes), Darin and I drove up to South Carolina to spend post-Thanksgiving with my parents, sister, the Ws, and KC.

Hurray!

It's always fun to see how many people you can cram into one large house without wanting to hunt each other down and tackle them. We were fine though. (Movies help a lot, as does more than one car...) And goes going out to eat.

Here's one of my favorite bbq places ever. Margie, Bob, and I have been meeting there for almost eight years now. (Isn't that crazy?!)

KC and Bobert

Dru and Mom

Dad by his sign.

The pulled pork there was wonderful as always. As were the sweet potatoes. I absolutely love sweet potatoes. And there was banana pudding. My father absolutely loves banana pudding. (Now I want banana pudding, but alas I have banana bread so that's probably good enough.)

***

We had a great time all together. Ended up seeing this movie. Fantastic. I was really proud of us all for waiting to go see it together! <3 style="font-style: italic;">heart people)

Thanksgiving dinner was re-done on Saturday. Darin really liked my Mother's stuffing - and I made the gravy with her help (my first time). We all got our special fixin' and it was great as always.

***

We got to also go to another crowd favorite - Creek R@ts. We ordered our favorite fried pickles (Margie and mine at least) and then Dru ordered fried okra because she's weird.

Hurray!

It was a great time up there. And a fun tradition we started. Isn't it amazing that we can come from all over the country to be with family? So simple really: I guess that's what family is all about.

Book List 2010

Every new year I do my book list of the previous year.

I love to read, and it makes me feel great accomplishment to see how many books I've added to my list.

Here goes:

Books I've Read...
Spider Bones, Kathy Reichs
Mona Lisa Smile, Deborah Chiel
Deliver Us From Evil, David Baldacci
Mini Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella
Last Night at Chateau Marmont, Lauren Weisberger
I am the cheese, Robert Cormier
Fly Away Home, Jennifer Weiner
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
The Heritic Queen, Michelle Moran
Scarpetta Factor, Patricia Cornwell
Invisible Prey, John Sanford
Mind Prey, John Sanford
Nefertiti, Michelle Moran
Sizzling Sixteen, Janet Evanovitch
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Steig Larsson
Remarkable Creatures, Tracy Chevalier
SuperFreakanomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
The White Queen, Phillippa Gregory
The Girl who Played with Fire, Steig Larsson
I, Alex Cross, James Patterson
Storm Prey, John Sanford
Rough Country, John Sanford
Knit the Season, Kate Jacobs
Nanny Returns, Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Freakanomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
True Blue, David Baldacci
Winter Prey, John Sanford
Children of God, Mary Doria Russell
9 Dragons, Michael Connelly
Best Friends Forever, Jennifer Weiner
Sudden Prey, John Sanford
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

Books I've Listened To...
Dracula, Bram Stoker
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith
A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson
World Without End, Ken Follett
Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
Alex Cross' Trial, James Patterson
Silent Prey, John Sanford
Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne

Over all, I'd say my favorite this year would be Remarkable Creatures - I highly recommend it. I love books that are a bit different than the every day book. Plus I love archeology. My favorite listening books were the Ken Follett ones, though they took forever to finish. They were like 36 CDs each and took a couple of months and some trips up to South Carolina to finish. I will probably read them one day. Also, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter was a great book. Can't wait for it to become a movie. Next year!

Another 30th

Another friend turned the big 3-0. (Yikes!)

This time it was Becky:

The blond one :)

A whole group got together to celebrate with her - at this fantastic restaurant. We hadn't been there for quite some time - I love the cheesecake. So good. In fact, it was the first restaurant where I actually liked the cheesecake (and this was not too long ago) because before I wasn't too fond of it. (It's my father's favorite dessert). I ended up getting the lettuce wraps. I would like some now please. Thanks.

Her SIL and CIL got her the best gifts - a bunch of "old" people stuff: diapers, prunes, denture cream, etc. It was AWESOME.

The group was huge - maybe like 20-25 people. Some how we got seated at the kids table. Between kids. Poor Darin.

Sweet baby S.

M. in the stripes.

Jeff and little D.

It turned out to be a great evening. Always interesting when there were children involved. Found out that baby S. really really likes fresh whipped cream. Kept her busy for quite some time while her Mama got ready to go. She still was a bit afraid of Darin. She'll learn eventually that he's just terrified of her, and she can do whatever she wants to. :)

Happy Birthday Becky!

Back in October

There was Halloween.

Remember that? Way back when?

We actually had a wonderful time. Super fun.

Darin and I decided to go as Wayne and Garth from this movie/show. I don't know why we decided to this this, all I know was that it worked for us. (In college during some sorority thing, my friend Kara and I were W and G too. I was Wayne and she was Garth. I have pictures. (So it really happened). I just have no idea why we did this. Hmm.)

Got our clothes at G00dwill. Hair at a costume shop.

Took forever to get my hat. I should have just ordered one from the Internet. Ended up getting it from here. Totally would recommend them.

***

Had two parties to go to. Yes, we're popular.

First was at Cherrah and Jeff's house.

Us. Ha.

Scotty (Mr. Woods) and Garth.

Jailbait (Alisa) and I (Wayne)

I swear the people there who didn't know me though I was a guy. Really. It was creepy.

Had lot of fun there, but were late. And we had to go to another party too so just sort of left - but had a great time. And ate way too much food. Still thinking about the bean dip. Ahh, bean dip.

Second was Mercy and Frank's bash:

Frank as Frankenstein. Clever.

Darin's brain. Haha, it's far to big to be his.
Ha ha.

Small group at their house.
Frank, Mercy, Raji, Nazelle, Chris' wife, Chris
(don't remember her name. oops.)

And we ate even more there.

Mercy had all this super creative food. Like hot dogs as fingers. Zingers as tombstones. And the Jell-0 brain. Awe. Some.

Our squirrel.

Came home to torture the dog. He doesn't particularly like Halloween. Or costumes. Or squirrels.

We went to Diana and Gus' house for the actual night - on Sunday - to help hand out candy. Yikes they get a lot of kids. The four of us and the two dogs helped celebrate the trick-or-treat tradition - and we only ate a little bit of the candy.

fun. fun.

From here.

I'm in the 'Enough for most scientists' group.

Is that sad?

Or something you'd assume about me?

Book List 2007

Tucked into one of my books packed away, I found my book list of 2007. Want to keep these written down somewhere so I will remember.

Not too exciting of a post, but hey. It's really a diary of sorts.

Books Read:
- Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
- The Sleeping Doll, Jeffery Deaver
- Plum Lucky, Janet Evanovich
- A Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L'Engle
- Atonement, Ian McEwan
- The Empress File, John Sanford
- The Fool's Run, John Sanford
- Double Cross, James Patterson
- Someone to Love, Jude Deveraux
- The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
- The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
- Fearless Fourteen, Janet Evanovich
- Deja Dead, Kathy Reichs


Books Listened To:
- The Devil's Code, John Sanford
- 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Jules Vern
- The Hanged Man's Song, John Sanford
- Grave Secrets, Kathy Reichs
- Break No Bones, Kathy Reichs
- Cross Bones, Kathy Reichs
- Ashes to Bone, Kathy Reichs
- Bare Bones, Kathy Reichs
- Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
- Camel Club, David Baldacci

Jake, Every Day Events

Thought I hadn't written about Jacob Tiger lately. I was looking through some pictures the other day on my phone and decided it would be fun to share.

Side note: We have some what thought of changing Jake's middle name from Tiger. It's mainly because of his similarities between one of our favorite current basketball players: Dwight H0ward.

Little head, super huge body.
(You can't really tell in this photo.)

But Jake's head was so big, it slipped though his collar so many times, that we had to get him a body collar. And he's super muscular too. Plus we're big fans of the real Dwight.

So Jacob Tiger Dwight L-E. JTDLE.

It's quite a name really.

Back to photos...

Found this one in my memory on my phone.
The bunny was found during packing.
And was riding Jake for some time before he realized it.
Very funny actually.

On the car trip up to visit Kucku/Anu
He's pretty sleepy in the car.
Has his bed and other pillows to sleep on.
Yes, he's spoiled.

At the house while we were painting.
He was tuckered out.
And probably enjoyed the nice cool floor.

In bath tub.
We were watching TV and noticed he was not around.
Went to find him.
He was in the bath tub.
Trying to get the soap (orange thing).
He loved the water.