Life Hoeferburg...

This past weekend we took a trip up to the Hoefer B&B. The accommodations are wonderful. The view from our window of snow-topped mountains and horses is so picturesque. And the food is amazing. From the fluffy pancakes and eggs to the classic panini sandwiches. All is first rate. If you're lucky you can even catch a "Cooking in the Country" class put on by Abby. She is bound for the Food Network I'm sure. We took an exciting adventure to Leavenworth which is a cute little Bavarian village tucked in the mountains.

Anyway, I highly recommend the Hoefer B&B - although I hear that reservations can be tough to come by...

A White Christmas at the Craigs

We actually did have a white christmas. It was very exciting and this picture isn't that great. The snow didn't last for long but it was so pretty.

I love traditions around the holidays. We always start Christmas morning with homemade scones, fruit salad, and coffee or juice for breakfast. Then we ease into present opening by starting with our stockings...eveyone takes a turn pulling out one item and we rotate thru until the stockings are empty. We do the same thing with gifts. Here are a few pictures. Matt managed to wear 4 of his gifts at once. Delores got an electronic crossword puzzle game...
Olive loved her new little play house....
Oh, and the pumpkin gingerbread trifle turned out well dispite all the mishaps on christmas eve:-) After lunch we played a few games. In addition to Delores' new Soduku game (I am so not good at that game) we played some classics: Scrabble, yahtzee, clue and Monopoly
It was a wonderfully, relaxing, laid-back chistmas. I never even got out of my pajamas.

Merry Christmas!!

May you have the peace that only comes from the One that we celebrate this season.

Not what I expected to be doing on Christmas Eve...

After the movie, we tried to go to this Moroccan place...it no longer exists...and several other restaurants on Hawthorne (all closed). So we decided to head home and pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way home. After we baked the pizza and some gingerbread for my Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle, Delores and I made some Mocha Meringue Cookies. I've never made Meringue cookies before. We had them all ready, but when we went to put them in the oven, the oven door wouldn't open...that's right, it was locked. Have you ever been locked out of your oven before? Another first for me. We ended up having to pull the oven out (by we I mean Matt) and he messed around with it until it finally unlocked. It had some how gone into the self-cleaning, lock mode. The weird thing about all this was that I had just been wondering how I was going to get everything cooked and ready at the same time for tomorrow's dinner. I mentioned to Matt that maybe we should get a new double oven...could it be fate? Well, will see how it goes tomorrow. We put the cookies in the oven after they had been sitting for awhile and held our breath. meringue is a very delicate thing. Since we had the oven out from the wall I decided to clean back there. There were a few treasures. (I can't believe I took a picture of this)While the meringues were baking for an hour, I was going to assemble the trifle. I pulled the pudding I had made earlier out of the fridge, assuming it had set. It hadn't. so it was basically a bowl of thick milk and I spilled it all over the floor and under the refrigerator so we (Matt again) had to pull the fridge out from the wall to clean that up and Delores ran to the store to get some more pudding. I cleaned out behind a the fridge...again, disgusting but I didn't take any pictures. Delores found some pudding and we assembled the trifle. The cookies were flatter than normal but still very tasty and now I'm ahead of schedule for my spring cleaning. Merry Christmas to me. I'll let you know how the trifle turns out tomorrow.

Last night we went to church. There were carols, a kids program, worship, communion and a dessert potluck. The kids in the program were hilarious! I decided to attempt to make a poundcake for the potluck. I have never made pound cake before. I didn't quite follow the directions exactly but 1 cup of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 6 eggs and 3 cups of sugar later I now know why they call it pound cake..

Delores arrived bright and early this morning. We hung out for awhile here. Then, we went and visited Moose. We are checking in on him while TraJ is in Kansas. He was a little freaked out by us at first but eventually warmed up to us. I think he appreciated the company. Then we headed over to OMSI to see Antarctica on the omnimax. It was a good show but I wanted to see Polar Bears. Apparently there are no Polar Bears in Antartica. Here is us waiting expectantly for the show...

Christmas shopping...done!

We had a pretty laid back Saturday. Besides finishing up our shopping, we did some gardening...well, kind of...

Delores got us this little herb kit as part of the 12 days of Christmas this year. Matt did the planting today. Keep your fingers crossed because plants, shrubs, trees of any variety really don't have much of a chance with us. If we manage not to kill them, it will be fun to have fresh herbs to cook with.

Matt's Murmurs - 'tis the season

Merry Christmas! A time to remember the incredible gift of salvation by Jesus Christ, who gave His life for each and every one of us. Associated with Christmas, people often are swept away with grandiose thoughts of giving to charities or those in need, surprising a loved one with a new Corvette, giving elderly folks a hand in walking across the street or sweeping up the leaves from your neighbors yard.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is by Johnny Cash and is a story where Johnny tells of a Christmas in his youth when his family was extremely poor: his daddy shot a squirrel for dinner, his sister's new dress was made from a flour sack and he whittled a whistle for a gift for his brother. Even under those circumstances, they still managed to give some 'cool oil' (I don't know what that is) and some hickory nuts they picked to an elderly neighbor who was even worse off.

These are wonderful expressions of love for us to give. However, if you can't seem to manage any of these kind of things, I have one idea for you that anyone can give. It's the gift of letting a driver merge ahead of you into the lane that you are in. It's got all of the qualities you look for in a gift: it makes you feel good, it makes the receiver feel good, it requires sacrifice on your part and it's a gift that keeps on giving and may inspire others to give the same gift to someone else.

This year, I'm planning to give this gift a lot. Selfishly, I hope that I'm given this gift too. Why just last night, as I was completing my 1.5 hour, 20-mile commute home from our bridge project (see previous Matt's Murmus) on Friday during rush hour, I gazed with eager anticipation because the opportunity to be given this gift over and over arose but in ever growing disappointment, it just wasn't being given. Finally, I did receive it and felt some joy. So, this year, give the gift of a little lane space ahead of you. Merry Christmas!

A man and his guitar...

I love random things...Today Matt and I stopped at Petco (where the pets go) to get Olive some cat food on the way home from church. We pulled into the parking lot and there was this guy sitting on the hood of his car playing a guitar...it's 40 degrees outside...mind you...and he's playing what appears to be an electric guitar. Anyway, it cracked me up. I nonchalantly took a picture of him with my phone but managed to delete that-sorry. It all reminded me of when I went on a roadtrip to NY with my girlfriends in college...and while we were sitting in some random parking lot in Toledo, this man pulled into the parking lot next store and began shoveling dirt out of a burm in the parking lot into his trunk. We all got a good laugh out of it and that one is on video.

Buckendorf's Bash

There was food...there were folks and there was fun but it wasn't McDonald's...it was the Buckendorfs Christmas Party. I think Andrea and I got a little carried away in our attempts to capture the moment for our blogs but you get to benefit from that. The white elephant exchange was a hoot. Thankfully we made out better than last Friday night, Matt's favorite item was a pen that shocked you when you pressed a button, but he let me pick (my starbucks card is already spent).

Thanks Buckendorfs. You put on a good party.

Andrea, I just checked your blog...I was the first to post. I guess I won:-)

Matt's Murmurs

So....you're driving across a bridge and notice that some people are working on the shoulder. You see signs and cones closing the shoulder on the bridge. Do you a) proceed cautiously and move into a lane away from the shoulder that's closed, b) completely ignore the signs and cones continuing your cell phone call and Egg McMuffin, or c) assume that the workers are just acting like they're working on the bridge and conclude that they're really terrorists and promptly call the police to report them??

Well, someone chose option c) while we were working on the Fremont Bridge last week. Apparently, they felt that our Enterprise Rent-a-van with flasher on top looked suspicious. They determined that our signs and cones (which take us about one half hour to 45 min. to put up and take down each day) were part of the act and that our vests and hard hats were a costume.

And y'all probably thought that engineering was boring. Well, if you find yourself driving south on 405 on the top deck of the Fremont Bridge next week and see some guys with an Enterprise van working on the shoulder, feel free to honk but realize that we aren't trying to take down the bridge. We actually like the bridge and think it should stay.

Tonight I made Caramel Popcorn to bring to the Buckendorf's Christmas party tomorrow night. I hadn't attempted caramel popcorn for years. It takes alot of time but it isn't too difficult. I think it turned out pretty well. We'll see...

It smells good in here...

Tonight I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Scones and Cinnamon streusel coffee cake so the house smells very good. I am bringing them to a work meeting tomorrow morning. I love the smell of cinnamon...or any baked goods for that matter. I modified the scone recipe from a pampered chef cookbook I have. I couldn't find it online or I would include the link. The coffee cake is a Bisquick recipe my mom has been making for as long as I can remember. I remember waking up on Saturday mornings to the smell of it and getting so excited....it's delicious and now Bisquick comes in a lower fat and cholesterol version so it is a little better for you. No pictures of tonight so instead I will leave you with a picture from Thanksgiving last year when my niece Mandie and nephew Timmy and I did a little baking. Too cute. We could not get Timmy to quit eating the dough. I just realized that I was wearing the same pajama pants tonight. How funny.

Comments...I like them!

I want to start out by thanking those of you that have left me a comment (Abby, Andrea and Kari)-cuz I like to read them and it is fun to know people are actually checking out the blog. I would like to encourage those of you who are intimidated by the idea of commenting to give it a try. It is very simple.
Here's what you do:

1) click on the link at the bottom of a blog entry: it will say O comments or 2 comments and be underlined.

2) That will bring you to the comment page. You can type a comment in the box.

3) If you aren't a fellow blogger, just click the circle next to anonymous.

4) Then click publish comment.
That's all it takes...It's fun. Hope to hear from you soon:-)

R.I.P. Largest Sitka Spruce..

Many of you have visited the largest sitka spruce tree on your way out to the lovely Oregon Coast. Well, sad news. She's gone. Last week's storm took her out. I visited the tree on my first crazy trip to this state. The six of us stumbled out of Bernice (meg's car) to check it out. Impressive...we thought. This article talks about what has gone on in the world since that tree has been around. Amazing! Matt and I have brought many of our visitors by to check her out so I thought I would spread the word. May she rest in peace.

Baking cookies...

Today Tra-J came over (our friends BJ and Tracy). Matt and BJ watched football and played PS3. Trace and I baked and she worked on her Christmas cards. We made Gingerbread cookies, cocoa slices, Brown Sugar Ginger cookies and Bisscotti. All except the gingerbread recipe were from my Cooking Light magazine. I LOVE to bake. We had a fun time chatting and baking the afternoon away (unfortunately I forgot to take pictures until after she left).

After TraJ left, I was finishing up the gingerbread cookies and all my kitchen tools and gadgets made me think about my wonderful friends and family who have encouraged my love of baking...my friend Tennille made the apron I wore ... my wonderful husband got my Kitchenaid mixer for me...my mother-in-law gave me the subscription to Cooking Light...the wooden rolling pin I used was my grandmother's whom I never got to meet...my brother Bryan and sister-in-law gave me my recipe stand for Christmas last year...I used some wonderful cookie sheets that were given to me by Abby...I used many pampered Chef items which made me think of Meg (free plug-but I really did think of you)...and I thought of my mom who instilled my love of baking in me.

The cookies turned out well. I brought some over to the neighbors. Stop by if you'd like some :-)

The tree...

Matt and I have been debating about whether to get a real or fake tree this year...Matt doesn't really like the idea of killing a tree even though he knows that is why they were planted. I don't like real trees because it makes a mess in the house and the needles can wreak havoc with your vacuum cleaner. We both enjoy the scent and look of a real tree though and want to support the local economy...So what do you think we decided on? Please disregard the ribbon at the top of the tree. We need a tree topper...
Olive's favorite place is in front of the fireplace. She will lay there for hours. Notice what is sitting on top of our mantel (yes, that's right, it's the white elephant gift from Friday night)

Friday...

Thank you for the words of advice from Andrea and Abby. This is my test email. Friday night we went to Rheinlander German Restaurant for my work Christmas Party. Rheinlander is a vonderful place to go for the holidays. It is very festive and the servers sing christmas carols with accordian players. I'm not crazy about all the sausage and meat but I LOVE the cheese fondue. We had a white elephant gift exchange. Matt thinks we scored. I think we got hosed. What do you think?

Blog Questions

Ok, Fellow Bloggers:
I need help with this whole blog thing...
How do I insert embedded links to web pages? Andrea, I know you told Abby how to do this but I can't remember.

How do I label my pictures? Like I my last blog I wanted to make comments right under of over the picture but couldn't figure it out.

How come the blog looks different when you preview then when you post it?
I would appreciate any helpful advice.

Thank you!

The Grand Finale...

...to wrap up the celebration of Matt we had a few strategy-game playing friends over last night. Matt's favorite things for the evening included: burritos from Taco del Mar, chips and salsa, Dots,Sweetarts, good friends, strategy games, and the infamous Chocolate Mousse Pie. Matt's mom has been making this for him on his birthday for as long as he can remember. In recent years, I have attempted to whip it up, but this year Delores was here in person to make it and it was WONDERFUL. Ian and Mindy taught us a few fun strategy games-thanks guys! We are so blessed to have such terrific friends in our lives.

Looks intense, huh?

The celebration continues...

We continued to celebrate with Matt's favorite things...

There was football. (The Bears lost-boo)

Matt painted some more and we enjoyed some of the Wonderful Royal Rivera Pears from Harry and David that Delores brought. I had never had them before but they were amazing! They are like a dessert so sweet and juicy.

For dinner, we went to the new Mexican Restaurant in Sherwood-Manzanillo. It was a much anticipated meal as their "Opening Soon" sign had been up for about a year. They sang for Matt and we got to share in his Fried Ice Cream-yum.

Then we went and checked out the Christmas lights at a neighborhood in Tualatin.

When we got home, we played Matt's 24 game (like the TV show). We failed our mission but then found out that Matt was the mole so I guess he won. Delores made a yummy Peanut Butter Pie dessert from my Cooking Light magazine (so it was somewhat good for you). It turned out very well.

Today is Matt's actual birthday so the celebration continues...

On another note...Oregon got hit with a massive storm with rain and wind. Our rain gauge on our back deck measured 2.67 inches of rain in the last 24 hours. There is alot of flooding, power outages and trees down. We are blessed to be safe and sound and we have electricity so I can write this:-)

The first day of Matt's birthday weekend...

The theme for this weekend is Matt's favorite things. We had waffles this morning for breakfast. Then, Matt had to go to work for a little bit (not his favorite thing, but necassary). Then we went to The Painted Plate to paint pottery. Delores is in town and joined us and thanks to her, we have wonderful new camera which I am still trying to figure out. My first pictures were of the "parade" in Sherwood welcoming Santa Claus. It occurred while we were painting...

I know I need a little practice with the camera...it gets better:-)

Then, Matt watched a little of Lord of the Rings and we went out to this yummy Indian place. It was well worth the drive...and the detour..

We'll see what tomorrow holds... somehow I have a feeling that there will be football involved.