Many Wonderful Things

 This past month has been full.   We've enjoyed some wonderful times with family.

 We celebrated with Colleen at Sakura on her birthday.

 Skip went to Colorado, where he, his brother and sisters were sealed to their parents in the temple.

 Emily went with the Forest Park choirs to New York City for a music festival.   They competed with other choirs across the country and did extremely well. 

 Kara has been singing with the NOVA/DC Institute choir.   She was able to be in the choir that sang for a Young Single Adult fireside with Elder Bednar.   This picture is of her singing in a beautiful and inspiring Easter Program at the Chevy Chase chapel.  

 Beth came to visit during Spring Break.   We went to Occoquan one afternoon, and had Pomme Frites and Mussells at the Cock and Bowl, a Belgian bistro there.

 I couldn't resist taking this picture with my i-phone of everyone on their i-phones

  While Beth was here, we went to Charlottesville one afternoon to see Ryan and Dara.   Skip made a delicious brisket on a little Weber grill we bought for them.  

 We enjoyed playing and singing together.

This one VERY musical family!

 We are thankful to have enjoyed so many wonderful times with so many beautiful smiles this month. 




  

30 Years

Skip and I have been married for 30 years!   So...we celebrated of course.   We both took the day off and did some of our favorite things.   We explored the Natural History Museum in D.C.  and stumbled upon an amazing exhibit of orchids:

It was hard to decide which ones were our favorites.  Skip especially liked the white ones, and I'm always partial to yellows.   While at the museum we saw a 3D IMAX movie on Arabia.  Then we had a fabulous lunch at Oyamel, a Mexican Restaurant.  Other than the Guacamole, it sure wasn't typical Mexican food, but very interesting tapas style dishes.

For dessert we went down the street and found the best pistachio gelato we've ever had at a place called Pitango.  It was a wonderful celebration for both of us.

Although the food was good, those loving eyes are for me!

CHEERS!

Lemon-Honey Cupackes

I know.  More cupcakes.   It's a fun and delicious thing to be mildly obsessed with.  These are so good.  I don't have a lot of success with cupcakes, but when I do, and they turn out this moist and delicious, it's so hard to stop eating them.

 
Here's how I did it:

The Cupcakes:

Heat oven to 350.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Whisk together:   2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 tsp. each baking powder and baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt

Whisk together in another bowl:   1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream,  1/4 cup milk, 1-1/2 Tbsp. lemon zest,  4 Tbsp. lemon juice

Beat together until light and fluffy:  3/4 cups softened butter, 3/4 cup honey, and 1/4 cup sugar

Beat in 3 large eggs, one at a time, until blended.

With mixer on low speed, beat in half the flour mixture, then the sour cream mixture.  Beat in remaining flour mixture until just combined.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes.

FROSTING:  Beat 1 cup softened butter, 1/4 cup honey, and and 1-1/2 Tbsp. lemon zest about 2 minutes.  On low speed, beat in 4 cups confectioners sugar until blended  Beat in 7 to 8 Tbsps. lemon juice.

Frost and enjoy!

First Projects of 2011

Here are some pictures of our first projects of 2011.  Actually, the bedroom by the stairs was the first one, but that was more of a repair than a redo.   It's all finished and Kara is moved in there.  It's the same color as it was before, just a new carpet.  It wasn't done by us either.  Insurance helped pay for someone else to do it all.  

It took three Saturdays to pick out paint and do the painting.  The bathroom color is called "smoked oyster", and the bedroom is called "Scotland Road".  The bed is new as well - from IKEA - not too hard, not too soft.  Goldilocks would love it! 

Downstairs bathroom

Downstairs bedroom

Things I Learned in December

1.  Playing keyboard in the pit orchestra for a high school musical (White Christmas) to be performed mid-December precludes doing a lot of the usual December activities.

I never got a picture of the whole cast, just one of the scenes with most of the main characters.

2.  It's Okay to put up only a limited amount of Christmas decorations if you're going to go to Utah for Christmas.

3. It was great spending a Saturday in Charlottesville having a fun day with Ryan and Dara doing Christmasy things like opening gifts, making gingerbread houses, and going out to eat.

4. Sending e-cards is the latest thing.  Here's my favorite:

5. Even though we didn't send any Christmas cards, I loved getting them from others.   Maybe next year...

6. It still snows a lot in Utah.  (Snowing when we arrived, more snow before Christmas, more snow after Christmas, snow on our way out of Utah).

7.  The snowy mountains are beautiful when you can see them.

8.   The best part of the movie "Lilo and Stitch" is the music at the end of it.   It's very fun to dance to.

9. Christmas Eve with Kart's family is amazing.

                

There's lots of food.

Piano playing, singing, violin and cello playing

            

Pretty decorations.

Dancing around the house!

10.  No matter how hard I try, there's always wrapping to be done after midnight.

11.  The magical looking tree on Christmas morning is always worth it.

 

12.  Christmas morning is usually more fun with children and toys.

13.  Owen had a lot of fun on his first Christmas trying to eat everything in sight.

14.  Sing-a-ma-jigs are hilarious.

15. Swedish pancakes for Christmas lunch is a yummy tradition.

16.  Bowling at the Wilk on the Monday after Christmas is crazy fun.

 17.  It's fun to do yoga with a sister, but it's also fun to take pictures of them doing it.

18.  It's a blessing to have beautiful daughters that are not just sisters, but friends.

19.   It's never easy to say "see you later" to family that you've had such a wonderful time with.

20.  Driving home to Virginia from Utah can be cold, lonely, and sometimes scary, but Kara, New Year's Eve in CO with Jamie and family, White Castle in the middle of the night, and sunrises over St. Louis sure helped to make it less so.