Labor Day Was How Long Ago?

Is it just me or is time flying by super fast lately!  It seems like it was just yesterday that we were packing up the car to go visit the farm for Labor Day weekend... And now it has been almost two months!  So I guess it is time to catch this blog up before it time to post about the holidays...

Our labor day weekend was pretty relaxing.  We visited with our three of our nephews, ate lots of good food, and I took a nap or two while Dan played "farmer for a day." 

And of course we messed around with the camera a bit...

We had a great time going to the Thrashers Reunion with Ray's family to check out all the old, antique tractors...

And then we headed back onto good ole Hwy 20 towards home.  We stopped in Galena so the dogs could stretch their legs and where saddened to see that there were already signs of fall with leaves on the ground. It seemed as though summer was very short this year with such a cold rainy spring that went through June and I am not really ready for another winter as I still feel the chill of last January. 

But as halloween is now around the corner, we most certainly are going to be in the holiday season very soon so I hope I find a little cheer in November.  And even if it the summer of 2009 was short and often quite cool and filled with challenges, it was a great summer.  We did so many fun things like running our first half marathon, watching a movie in the park, and just enjoying a summer in the city.  

First Valentine's Day as a Married Couple

Most years Valentine's Day consists of getting dressed up, going to a nice restaurant and plunking down a decent amount of money.  This year we decided to cook our own very nice meal and enjoy a night of wine, Gin Rummy and Go-Fish.  Our meal began with a trip to Whole Foods where we bought a 1lb Filet Mignon steak, shrimp, very fresh vegetables and wine.  We found a recipe for a wine reduction sauce to go along with the Red Pepper spiced butter you cover the steak with while it is resting.  Our roasted vegetables included parsnips, sweet potatoes, onion, carrots and garlic.  The steak was seared in a hot pan before being put into the oven, which made it incredibly moist and delicious. 

While dinner was cooking, our new SLR camera made its way into the kitchen.

After dinner we enjoyed some gin rummy and go-fish while enjoying a nice bottle of wine.  It was a very nice evening, and nothing is more romantic than cooking an incredible meal with your wife. 

Of course an almond cake with melted chocolate and strawberries for desert doesn't hurt either!

Holidays 2008: A Long Overdue Recap

Wow, it has been a long time since we posted on here. I imagine we have thus lost the few readers of this little blog! Well, we will try to pick back up where we left off...

The holiday season was busy as expected and kind of flew by. It was a special holiday season for us as it was our first as a married couple. People often ask if "it feels different" after the wedding. And normally my quick answer is not too much. But really it has been a blast- in the second half of 2008 we really fell into an "old married couple" rhythm. We both still have silly grins when we use the "wife" or "husband" terms. The holidays are so family oriented for us that the whole "married couple" thing became even more visible to us - it was bizarre and fun.

This was such a fun holiday year at the farm. With a new little nephew who was only a couple weeks old and one of my sisters pregnant, there was quite an apparent shift. We are now all married and most of us (really everyone but Dan and I) are moving on to the parent stage of life. It was a blast as everyone seems to get along and just enjoy each others company. Playing girls against boys for pictionary was such a great time (yes of course the girls won). And of course like every year there was tons and tons of cooking and food.

Then after a day or two at back at our apartment we headed up north to Dan's parents B&B for a family holiday. It was a relaxing and fun time filled with yummy dinners and tasty breakfasts. And of course the the girls prevailed against the boys for crainium, which is a bizarre but entertaining game. I personally have been wanting to see the Milwaukee Art Institute with its acclaimed architecture so I was very excited that we headed up to Milwaukee for an afternoon. The MAI was quite a site to see and Dan took us to a very cool lunch spot that we all enjoyed. The only bummer was that the brewery tour would have be a terribly long wait - next time!

We tend to be fairly camera snap happy so we ended up with a large number of pictures from the holidays... we edited down to a smaller number of favorites and here is the slide show. Just click on it to make it full screen:

And we have actually been quite busy since the holidays with new hobbies and new moving plans... Dan has been delegated to post up about these topics so if it takes another 2 months...

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is unbelievable to me that it is already Thanksgiving; this year has flown by. We have so much to be thankful... but rather than get all sappy I will simply share a bit of our turkey day. So far we have been baking up a storm.

Dan has been working hard (as evident by his wild hair) on his traditional contribution- the pumpkin pie. This year he decided to kick it up a notch and and made a pumpkin meringue... we will see how it taste before we share the recipe!

And I am making an apple tart but am putting a bit of twist on the tart I made earlier this month...

We will see how the modifications taste before I post them! As we are finished baking we are off to go on our turkey day walk before heading up to the Urban B&B.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Farm 2008

For Memorial Day we all piled in the Jeep and headed west to Iowa. We were long over due for a visit during a time where the farm wouldn't be covered in ice like at the holidays. We rolled in very late but even though it was completely dark and everyone was sleeping the dogs immediately started bouncing off the walls of the jeep. They could barely contain themselves from all the excitement let alone sleep until morning...

Saturday they got to meet their new cousin, Lucy. Shelby was not in the mood for a puppy but Lucy was pretty excited to meet a dog that looked so similar to her. Eddie and Lucy however were so much alike in personality and had a blast playing together...

Shelby was not sure what to think about this puppy... she just wanted to explore.

Eddie and Lucy had a blast playing tag...

While the pups played and explored till they collapsed into a nap, I got to spend some time with my mom and new sister-in-law making mints for the wedding. Actually even my brother and Dan helped out with this long tasks.

Now I just need to stop myself from sneaking the mints out of the freezer for the next 6 weeks.

While we were there we also hemmed all the overlays for the wedding and my grandma had a shower for me... I am pretty sad that I don't have any pictures from the shower. It was really thoughtful and also really nice to see all the family that I rarely see beyond the Christmas Eve get together. And the tornado warnings helped make it even more memorable!

Then we packed back up the jeep and headed back east! It was a whirlwind of a trip but we got so much done.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Marathon Holiday Season 2007

Wow has 2008 started off busy. After our marathon of holiday spirit we just continued right on with school starting up, Dan at a new job, and the never ending wedding planning to dos.

So I will try to do a quick recap of the craziness that was Dan and Tara's holiday season 2007...

This was our first year getting a Christmas tree. It was a nice little tree but we most definitely need to aquire a few more ornaments...

We decided to send out a few holiday cards this year... nothing fancy, just an excuse to have a crafty project... here I am with my new sticker maker and my helpers:

We drove through some truly horrible winter weather on route to my parent's farm in Iowa. Once there it was family party time...

Eddie met a pig:

The pups explored the farm life:

Dan practiced for his upcoming 'Uncle' status:

There was the usual mass opening of gifts:

Then we headed back with a stop in Galena to stretch our legs:

The next stop was to see Dan's parents up north nearly to Wisconsin. We had a lovely visit and luckily got to spend some time with his brother and his girlfriend. They spent a few days in the city with us where we dragged them around town and wore them out till we all needed naps. For New Years Eve we actually went out, gasp, and had lots of fun. Unfortunately the camera didn't make it out for all this so I am hoping that Dan's brother will send us a few of the pictures...

And that was that. Our last year as single people. So now we can really focus on getting that wedding planned! But I will leave you with one more photo before I sign off...