7 Years Together!

We celebrated our 7th Anniversary on July 29th, 2007. We started the evening by going to see a wonderful movie, called "Rescue Dawn." It is this amazing true story of a soldier who gets captured in Vietnam and plans a daring escape for himself and the other prisoners. I highly recommend this film! Next we went down to Tacoma so we could dine at the Melting Pot which has been one of our favorite places. We unfortunately haven't been back in a very long time because it is definitely a "special occasion" type of place. I had forgotten how wonderful the food is there. Everything from the salad, to the cheese fondue, to the main course and finally..the best part-the chocolate was so yummy! We had such a great time! I felt like such a spoiled wife!

This is the main course. You get all these different kinds of meat cut into small chunks. We had ahi tuna, shrimp, tender sirloin steak, sesame teriyaki steak, curried chicken, and a bowl with red potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms and zucchini. Everything was wonderful!

This is all the fun stuff we got to dip in our chocolate.

Mmmm...yummy chocolate fondue!

Movie Review: Rescue Dawn

Rescue Dawn was an entertaining movie with great acting. I thought Steve Zahn was better than Christian Bale (don't tell Michelle that though). It was an inspiring story of a soldier that was captured and tortured for information. The movie told this true story featuring his will to live no matter the circumstances he found himself in. This is a highly recommended, entertaining movie.

FHWA Summer Luau

The WDEA (Washington Division Employees Association) Annual Picnic was at Megan and Alan Hall's house in Shelton. We, the WDEA Presidency, decided we should mix it up and have a luau instead of the standard picnic. We've had a few employees that have worked in the Hawaii Division Office, so they had some great insight and recipes for the occasion.

I was asked to make Kalua Pork, a pork roast that you shred and serve over rice. I was a little concerned with this responsibility because it was the main dish, but it turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The recipe can be found below.

4-5 lb. pork roast (shoulder or rump)
1 T Hawaiian sea salt
1 t worcestershire sauce
1/4 c soy sauce
2 t powdered ginger
2 t crushed garlic
1 T liquid smoke
a splash of teriyaki sauce (my addition)

Mix all the ingredients together and marinate the pork for 1 hour. I cut the pork up into smaller pieces so all the meat could be marinated. Place the meat in the crock pot and cook on low for 8-10 hours (overnight) or 4-5 hours on high. Shred the pork. It's delictable!!!

The pictures below are from the luau. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pics of Michelle or Kole. So sorry...

When we got to the house I thought that it was on a lake, but I guess that this is actually part of the Puget Sound. Either way it was a gorgeous place for a picnic and the temperature was perfect!

Trying to get a smile out of Kamden for a picture...

The only thing Kamden wanted to eat was watermelon...I guess he comes by it honestly.

The only thing Kamden wanted to do was throw rocks in the water.

Bryan was very enthusiastic about having his picture taken.

Bowling with the Hodo's

We had a great time bowling with our friends, the Hodo's. They are Heather, Vance, Ethan, who's 2 and Aidan, who is 7 months. Kole, Kamden and Ethan used the bumpers and almost beat me...
Kole aka "Future Bowling Champion"

Kole and Kamden at the bowling alley

Trying to take a nice picture with both kids..I give up!

Mom and Kole

Kamden giving Aidan a hug...we'll see how he does with a future little brother or sister!

Heather and Aidan

Vance and Ethan

Kamden's first attempt at bowling!

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I thought the movie should have had at least some quidditch in it seeing that Harry and the Weasley twins are given a lifetime ban from playing by Umbridge after Gryffindor beats Slytherin. Also, how Ron comes through in the end as the"keeper" after playing horribly through first few matches gaining much needed self confidence. However, having said that, Michelle enjoyed the movie more because it did not include any quidditch.

Although it was dark, I did enjoy the film and look forward to the next movie and the concluding book in the coming weeks. Will Harry kill Lord Voldemort or will the Dark Lord take care of Harry at last? My bet is on the latter ... not all stories can have happy endings.

Troop 9018 Summer Camp

This year Troop 9018 attended the LDS Scout Encampment at Camp Hahobas above the Hood Canal in the Olympic Pennisula from July 9-14. It was a great experience for the boys because they could focus on scouting and merit badges during the day and the evenings were filled with firesides focusing on the Aaronic Priesthood. 4 boys from the troop attended and we had several adult volunteers from the ward help us out so we could have two-deep leadership in camp. I was the only one there all week thanks to the example Vic gave me while I was a scout. I am proud to say that I did not cut myself once warranting any midnight trips to adjacent camps for medical attention.

Welcome to Camp Hahobas.

Swim checks.

Waiting in line for dinner in front of the mess hall.

What we did to kill the time between dinner and the evening firesides.

The favorite pastime of the boys. Even though everyone is in
everyone else's "blood circles," only Tim [back right]
cut himself (several times) during the week.
They would have done this all day if I didn't make them
go to merit badge classes.

View from the Sunset Campfire Bowl
(Hood Canal in foreground with Mount Ellinor [far left peak]
and Mount Washington in background [tallest peak])

"Puzzle" Course with six stumps and four boards
to get everyone across without falling off

"Trust Fall" on the C.O.P.E.
(Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) Course

Troop 9018 w/ Nicknames from the boys themselves
Front: Quad T (Tim) , Fredo (Brady), Codykins (Cody)
Back: Dilly (me), J-Lo (Billy), Toto (Vance Hodo)

Listed below is Bryan's contribution to the blog...

Movie Review: Transformers

Movie Review: Ratatouille

Our 4th of July in Lake Chelan

We had a particularly special treat when Bryan's parents came to visit from Utah. We enjoyed the first couple of days here at our house in Olympia and then took a 3 1/2 hour drive to Eastern Washington to beautiful Lake Chelan. We stayed at this amazing resort that Bryan and I stayed in last year. The resort is located on a golf course and has a pool which was Kole's favorite part. Needless to say we went swimming every day-especially since it was so HOT! It had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a kitchen and living area. It also had a really nice little balcony with a table and chairs. We spent several evenings sitting out there enjoying the gorgeous view. On the 4th of July we went on a picnic at the lake. On the way, we stopped and got apple cider slushies and they gave the boys some 4th of July pinwheels. Kamden thought those were the coolest thing! Kole of course made friends with the other people that were also at the lake and was not the least bit afraid of the cold water! Later that day we went out to eat at a Mexican place and then got some fireworks to take back to the hotel. By the time it was dark enough Kamden was already in bed but Kole had the best time ever. We had "sparklers" and "strobe lights." It lasted about 20 minutes and was truly 20 minutes of pure joy for Kole. I think as far as he was concerned we could have gone home after that. On our last day there, Grandma and Grandpa had to go so they could continue on their journey to San Francisco to see Adelaide. After they left we took the kids to a SlideWaters waterpark. It was the perfect way to end the week. Overall I think our first family vacation was a success and I can't wait for many more to come!

Green Bean Boy

We have discovered exactly how much Kamden likes green beans! The other night while eating and visiting with Grandma and Grandpa who were visiting, Kamden decided that he hadn't had enough helpings and just grabbed the entire bowl of beans. He went crazy over them, even using the giant wooden serving spoon...what a goof ball!~