XLS+ Certification Party

We went in to work tonight for the Citation XLS+ certification party. Yes, they actually made us come in on a Saturday night, but that's okay, because they fed us dinner and let us crawl around in the airplane and gave us lots of free goodies to make up for it (engineers can't resist food and free stuff).

Jeff designed the new throttle quadrant for this airplane. Michelle didn't do anything on it, but happily accepted the free food, mugs, pen, keychain, photos and lanyards.

Here's a picture of us standing in front of the airplane. It actually came out rather well. It's rare to see a picture of the two of us together that wasn't taken from Jeff's outstretched arm length, so enjoy!

Schwarzwälderkirchtorte

Today Jeff finally got around to making a Schwarzwälderkirchtorte, or Black Forest Cake. He's been meaning to make it for some time, but never quite got around to it. Of course, first one has to have a recipe, which he didn't have. After consulting a German and a French cookbook, as well as the web and a food science book, he finally cobbled together something that he thought was adequate. And after several hours of baking action, it turned out pretty well.



Oh, the recipe is available upon request, but it's a pretty complicated one that would take an awfully long time to type up...

(Editor's note: This is Jeff's FIRST EVER BLOG POST!!! YAY!!!)

Finally Fourth

Ah, the Fourth of July. The day has finally arrived, much to our relief. You see, for the entire week leading up to (and truth be told, for a couple of days afterwards) our corner of town is inundated with random pops and booms that just set Fang and Errol into a tizzy. There is barking, there is scrambling from front window to the back window to the office window to the front door to the back door, and chaos and noise reign. We happen to live near the county line, which means that all of our neighbors think they can get away with setting off the big stuff that's illegal in our own county, but is legal, and is sold in abundance less than two miles away. We also live in close proximity to two professionally put on shows, one at a ranch just about a mile SE of us, and one at a country club a little to the NE. This is cool, because we get to see some pretty awesome fireworks every year from the comfort of our back deck, but it's also uncool because we pretty much have to spend the entire evening on our back deck, as it's the only place that Fang and Errol seem to be able to calm down a bit. If they can SEE the fireworks, they're ok, if they just HEAR them, it's NOT GOOD. We have had a bit of relief this year, as Errol has been quite sick and lethargic for the last couple of days and the noise doesn't seem to be bothering him quite as much as usual. We'll see how the evening goes. Perhaps we'll try and get some video or shots of the crazy amount of fireworks we see for you all to enjoy.

Champagne, cordite, and two fraidy pups

The show from the ranch to our SE

No need to leave home to see fireworks!

Old friends

We had a lovely visit with some old friends, Caleb and Sophie, last night. They and their two kiddos spent the night with us, as they do every now and then. We just happened to finally get a picture of them this time around. They'll be back again next week, so perhaps we'll get some of their very cute kids then.

Caleb and Michelle were friends in high school (the kind that played many pranks on each other), and when Sophie and Jeff came along, we added them in to the group (but not for playing pranks). Caleb and Sophie are part of the force behind Ezra Ministries, and I have a link to their website in my sidebar. They previously served as missionaries in South Africa, and before that traveled all around the world serving on a Mercy Ship.

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Robyn!

We went up to Kansas City yesterday to attend a surprise backyard bbq party thrown by my cousin, Jackie, for her parents' 30th anniversary. She did a fabulous job planning the entire event. We were able to come over with my grandma and a friend of hers a couple of hours early to help Jackie set up. Several of her local friends helped, too. We met many cousins from my dad's side of the family who I didn't even know existed, and everyone had a great time. Mike and Robyn (the honored guests) were quite surprised by the whole thing. Here are a few pictures from the event (a perfect opportunity for Jeff to try out his new camera), and the rest of the pictures can be seen here.

Jackie had this banner made to commemorate the occasion, pretty cool, huh?

Jackie waits (in great excitement) for her parents to arrive

Uncle Mike and Aunt Robyn arrive at the party

Dad and daughter hugging (awww)

Uncle Mike and Aunt Robyn cut the cake
(with the knife from their wedding cake!)

The happy couple share a smooch

Uncle Mike and Reese (another cutie-pup member of our family)

Jeff takes a break from being the photographer

Michelle is caught by the photographer

Oooooh - an arty torchiere shot!

The end of the evening... everyone gathers to watch a special DVD that Jackie made featuring pictures of her parents' 30 years together.

Christmas in (almost) July

Jeff's new toy started to arrive today...





We're still waiting on a couple more pieces (like the right lens for indoor shots), but they'll be here soon!

Really?

I'm amazed and amused by this:

Click here

For these reasons:

A) Someone invented a sport called extreme ironing.
B) Someone made a webpage featuring the sport of extreme ironing.
C) It has a worldwide following.
D) These people lug ironing boards along with them on vacation. That soooo will not be happening in my life.