What Will 2009 Bring?

I think it's interesting when you look back at the last few years. You can see all the big changes and milestones you went through. At that time, you had no idea what was coming. Jason and I have been through several changes, adjustments and transformations in the last few years:

2006 -- We got engaged. I graduated. I decided to stay in Lubbock and find a job so we could be together for our engagement. I moved in with Jason's parents.

2007 -- Jason graduated. We got married. We moved from Lubbock to Dallas. I found a job. Jason found a job. We made our first big purchase--a new car. We started to think about moving back to Lubbock.

2008 -- We moved back to Lubbock. We started living with his parents for what we thought would only be a few weeks. I started a new job. Jason started a new job. We decided to build a house--our second big purchase! We celebrated our one year anniversary. After six months of building the house (and 8 months of living with his parents!), we moved in.

What will 2009 bring? We are hoping for a much calmer year; time to settle and get comfortable before more big changes come--whatever that will be!

Jason and I hope you have a Merry Christmas
and a very happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jason and I stayed in Lubbock for Thanksgiving and had dinner with his family. Jason made the turkey this year! He tried a new recipe (brave of him after my disaster! but he is the better cook). Jason slathered the turkey with mayonnaise and seasonings.

Jason put the turkey in a brine the night before. He put the turkey in a bag and set it in a (clean) trash can to soak.

The turkey before it went in the oven.

Cooking...

Our second Thanksgiving!

Disaster Dinner!

So, I decided to try a new recipe recently....it didn't work! I tried a fried chicken recipe I've never made before. I also made a pasta side to go with it. The chicken was only supposed to take about 30 minutes in the oven, but I kept it in for longer because it didn't look done. I kept the pasta cooking so that it wouldn't get cold while I was waiting for the chicken to finish. That dried out the pasta. As you can see from the pictures below, the chicken--and pasta--did not turn out at all! Needless to say, we threw out the mess-of-a-dinner and went out to eat.

As you can see, the flour on the "fried" chicken, never set right, the edges are all burnt and I don't think the chicken is cooked all the way through--even after over an hour in the oven! Oh, and the pasta is really dry!

The Polar Express

A few weeks ago we went on The Polar Express train ride with our friends Jordan and Jessica and their kids Gavin and Madison. The train went all the way to the North Pole! Then Santa came on the train and all the kids got a little bell--just like in the book. The train was two stories and we all sat on the top. What I didn't expect was that being on the top story, and going as slow as we were, the train swayed back and forth a lot! Here are a few pictures of our adventure on The Polar Express!

Jason and me on the train

The North Pole

Santa, Jessica, Madison, Gavin and Jordan