Catching Up

Here are a few posts to catch everybody up on what we have been up to the last few weeks:

• Thanksgiving


• Mom and Dad's Visit


• CSI: The Mystery of the Scattered Trash


• The Sutton's Visit

Thanksgiving

Tom and I had a quiet Thanksgiving, just the two of us. I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Tom played games and did some much needed yard work.

I decided to try and make everything from scratch this year, it turned out really well. My favorite was the pumpkin pie (made from a fresh pumpkin). The only thing that came from cans was the green bean casserole. We were stuffed by the end of dinner, and had lots of leftovers.

I also picked up another turkey from the store (on sale) so that we could freeze some turkey for sandwiches. The turkey I made for Thanksgiving was 9.3 lbs. The one in my fridge waiting to be cooked weighs almost 20 lbs. We will be eating turkey until next Thanksgiving.

You can see the pictures here.

We have also been enjoying the four day weekend that comes along with Thanksgiving. Lots of resting, quiet time, and of course some gaming and crafts.

Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday as much as we did. We certainly missed our family, and look forward to seeing everyone for Christmas.

Mom and Dad's Visit

We had a great time with Mom and Dad. Woody especially loved their visit. We spent a lot of time hanging out playing pool and ping pong. Tom won the ping pong championship, but Mom sure gave him a run for his money (must be all that tennis training she had as a kid). Of course we went bowling. Tom and I ran away with the couples championship. Mom bowled a great game (147?) to take the women's high game. And Dad... Dad is a mean left handed bowler ;-).

We ate way too much food at several great restaurants. I think the highlight of their trip was our visit to Brattonsville, a historic plantation, where one of the revolutionary war battles took place. See all the pictures here (Brattonsville + a few extras).

The last night they were here we played an all time favorite, minigolf mania. As always, there was lots of laughing (mostly at Mom and Dad). Then the following moring we met up with Tom for a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel before dropping them off at the airport. The weather was quite chilly why they were here. Especially the day they left (hence the freezing faces in the pic).

There time here was way too short, and we miss them already. Having family visit is so wonderful, but at the same time serves as a stinging reminder how much we miss them. Without a doubt leaving family has been the most difficult part of the move to South Carolina.

You are welcome back any time. Oh yah, thanks for all the help with dishes ;-) And, Woody and Vlad say hi.

CSI: The Mystery of the Scattered Trash

The crime scene:


















The evidence: (The only escape route from the kennel)



















Suspect #1:


















Suspect #2:



















After reviewing the evidence it was determined that suspect #1 was too big to fit through the only escape route. Suspect #2 was tried and convicted of disturbing the trash.

"It wasn't me"

The Sutton's Visit

The weekend before Mom and Dad arrived, my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins came for a quick visit. They had been in North Carolina for a wedding and decided to make a quick two hour drive down to see us. They arrived in time for a late Saturday dinner, and left a little before lunch on Sunday.

Although their visit was short, we had a great time just hanging out. For those of you that don't know, my Aunt and Uncle have 11 kids. Only 7 came to visit (3 are married and have kids of their own). That meant I needed to feed 11 people dinner and breakfast. I made two pans of lasagna, two loaves of garlic bread, and a large ceasar salad for dinner. For breakfast I made three quiches (bacon, sausage, and ham).

Chris stayed around an extra day and we went bowling and watched a movie he had brought. He left early the next morning to meet up with his dad to go hunting.

See pics here.

November Already!

I can't believe it is already November. The fall here in South Carolina is absolutely beautiful. I will take some pictures and post them here very soon. The weather is nice as well. We have enjoyed several days in the high 60s low 70s, with clear blue skies.

As always we start November off by celebrating Tom's birthday (Mom's too). Tom requested eggs benedict for his b-day breakfast, and I happily obliged. He then opened his gifts from family.

Jose Manuel came around 12 for a few more games (darts, pool, and 3-par golf). After golf we were planning to go to dinner, but decided to wait until Sunday since we were pretty tired.

When we got home the power was out. I frosted Tom's cake (luckily, I baked the cake earlier that day) by flashlight. Then sang happy birthday to him with just the light from the fireplace and his birthday candles. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out on the couch with the fire glowing. It ended up making for a really nice evening.

On Sunday, we relaxed around the house, did a few chores, hit the gym, and went to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. Overall, I think he enjoyed his birthday. I will post pictures of the birthday boy as soon as I steal them off his camera.

Believe or Not, A Post

WOW, the last three months have flown bye. I am not sure where to even pick up. July, August, and September were spent getting used to the new area, working, and working some more (on the house). We are almost completely unpacked; just a few boxes remain (primarily books).

October has been full of fun. The first weekend (plus some) was spent with Ma and Pa. We had a blast. Check out Tom's blog for more details.

The second weekend, my friend Edgar from Fox came to visit. We had fun hanging out at Carowinds with Brian (another friend from Fox, who drove up from Charleston for the day) on Saturday. After Carowinds we went to dinner and a movie (Body of Lies). Sunday we all went bowling (as usual ;-) ). It was great to be able to catch up and hang out with Edgar.

The third weekend we flew to New Jersey to spend time with the Ham's. We had a great time playing with the kids, celebrating Darin's 3rd birthday, and closing down the local bowling alley.

As I am typing, Jose Manuel and Tom are hitting golf balls in the backyard. Jose Manuel is a colleague of Tom's visiting from Spain. He hosted Tom in Spain last October. We have also played a few games of pool and darts (DeBoard tradition). For dinner I will be serving a traditional Spanish dish called Paella.

In addition to all the fun, Tom has been travelling the majority of the month and is leaving again on Monday. We will have a couple of weeks to recover from all the busyness and then my parent will be coming in mid November. YEAH! We can't wait to show them around the South.

Here are a couple of other random fact, thoughts, happenings, etc.

• Doggers are happy
• I bowled a 176 on Thursday!!!!!!!
• Have you ever heard of a to-go cup? Almost all of the restaurants in the South not only offer to-go boxes for your food, but to-go cups for your drink as well. We have even been offered to-go cups for our water. ;-)
• I am being reassigned at work, yet again... This makes five work assignments in 2 1/2 years. At least I am being reassigned for positive reasons. I always like a new challenge.
• I have a wonderful personal trainer named Rob. For the last 3 months I have been working out with him twice a week. It has really helped with commitment and I am seeing great results with my strength and cardiovascular health. Now, if I could just figure out how to lose the weight as well. Still working on that.....

Hope this update finds everyone happy and healthy. I promise I won't make you wait three months for the next one.