Our New Nephew

Meet Hudson James Norman Kuypers (9lb 6oz / 4.260kg). 

 Born to Wayne (Tony's brother) and Leonie Kuypers in New Zealand on Sunday, December 18th.  

We love you Hudson!

Christmas Tea

Here we go: Year Five (!) of our Annual Christmas Tea at the St. Regis, Monarch Bay.  

Thank you Lord for the blessing of Godly friends :-)

Christy and I doing our "Prom Pose."  Heidi's taking the picture.

Turkey Trot

My wonderful sister ran the Long Beach Turkey Trot with me on Thanksgiving morning.  As we crossed the finish line Miss Long Beach gave me a pie (random).  Let me tell you- Thanksgiving Dinner tasted a whole lot better since we had to work for it!

After all the months of not being able to walk post-foot surgery, it was an incredible blessing to run the 3.1 miles.  Especially with my sister!! Love you Katie :-)

O Christmas Tree

Fall Decorations

Felt very domestic and made this banner to hang in our front window for Thanksgiving.  

Tamales!!!

My friend Amy saw a Groupon for a tamale-making class and invited me along.  Somewhere along the way we decided it would be even more fun to make them ourselves at home, so we nixed the Groupon idea and went on a quest to create the perfect tamale. 

I researched recipe's, got advice from people who'd made tamales for decades, and visited the local bodega.  Then Amy and I rolled up our sleeves and spent a Saturday cooking, shredding, boiling, steaming, assembling and eating the YUMMIEST tamales.  Fun times :-)

Shredding the Chicken

 Creating the Chili Sauce

Amy with the Masa and Chili Sauce 

Sneaking a bite

Enjoying the finished product 

Thanks for the fun times Amy!

Stay-cation

Tony was able to take a few days off from work and we stayed home.  Had such a great time together!  
I love spending time with my fantastic hubby.

We walked to a little place called the Starling Diner and had breakfast one morning.  I asked for a latte and it came in a cup the size of a small swimming pool.  

We both enjoyed the scones and lemon curd.  

 

Grape Jelly

Last week we harvested bucket's of grapes off our grapevine.  Tony, Mom and I made six batches of grape jelly for a total of 37 jars.  Yummy!

Our New Studio

We have a new Creative Arts Studio!  

We moved my Papa's piano into the front room and Tony set-up a desk for his computer.  We love it. 

Dedicated to the One I Love

This is for Tony, who for the past five days while I had a fever

-brought me breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed

-changed the sheets and brought me pillows

-rubbed my back and held my hand

-brought me cold cloth's for my head

-cleaned the house, organized the garage, and did the grocery shopping

-surprised me with chocolate cake when that was all that sounded good for dinner

-told me he loved me and I would get better soon

and never ONCE complained.  

Thank you honey- I love you!

Big Bear

We spent the first weekend of August in Big Bear with the Stuck Family.  There were two central themes- Food and Noise.  
Between the 10 adults, two kids, two dogs, a tent and a boat, we had a great time. 

Mom & Dad, Mike & Kate with Claire and Dylan, 

Tony & Cindy (that's us!), 

Katie & Ryan with Shultzy and Klaus, and Randy & Taylor (who stayed in the tent).

The house had a spa room which we all enjoyed

On the boat

 Doing what we do best

The newest member of Katie and Ryan's family, Klaus

Spending time outside

Apparently, the Stuck women have no shame when it comes to S'Mores

Oh, random thing... We were walking around town one afternoon and we ran in to Chuck and Heidi Herchelroath.  Nice surprise :-) 

2nd Anniversary

In June Tony asked me what I wanted to do for our 2nd Anniversary.  I said "lay out by the pool.  I don't care where."
So he put together a beautiful weekend in Ojai Springs.  We spent two days laying out by the pool, wandering the shops, eating, and laughing.  It was one of the first weekends I was able to walk on my toe without the huge Bionic Foot (yea!) and we definitely enjoyed our time together :-)

Lunch on Saturday

Quiche and Almond Tarts with Coffee

Dinner was on the beautiful patio of Suzanne's.  

The food was SO good, but the garden was even better.

Ojai Farmer's Market on Sunday Morning

Thank you Lord for two precious years with my hubby!