Merry Christmas 2010

Has it really been a year since I posted to the blog?  Wow.....This year has definitely flown by!  Apologies to my blog for the neglect….I still cannot establish a natural flow that allows for the update of my Facebook page and the blog. 

We’ve had a good year.  It’s been a busy one.  Here are some updates (with pictures):

Jobs…..Carolyn’s remains the same; we were thrilled in June when John became a permanent Cisco employee.  No more the worried life of a consultant!

Home…..No major projects, however, in May we welcomed “the twins”, aka Carolyn’s crafting cabinets.  

Family…..enjoyed Easter in the Sierra Foothills with John’s sister Cathy and her husband, David. 

 

In July, we traveled to Colorado for Carolyn’s Bock family reunion.  Here's a picture of all who were able to join us in Grand Lake, Colorado.

  

We spent Labor Day with John’s Uncle Eric and family in Southern California.  Little did we know that he would pass away just two weeks later.  John and his Uncle Eric were great friends and travel buddies; grateful for the many wonderful memories!  

 Charlotte (Carolyn’s sister) joined us over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with Cathy and David and rounded out Charlotte’s visit with the latest Harry Potter movie, the Smuin Christmas Ballet, lots of crafting, and a visit to Monterey/Carmel.  We’ll be home for Christmas…..it will be lovely!

Music….somehow we managed to book two major music events in the same week.  It was amazing.  In September, we enjoyed an amazing Willie Nelson concert at the Wente Vineyards in Livermore, CA, and later that week, we enjoyed a Sheryl Crow concert at the Ironstone Winery in Murphys, CA.  Cathy and David joined us for Sheryl Crow and we all sang, danced, and had a ball!  What an entertainer she is!!! 

Food….we have talked about food more in 2010 than in most years.  Why?  John started an OptiFast program in August (just after the Bock family reunion) and we quickly realized the big part food plays in our lives……especially when we’re not eating much of it.  After 4 months of diligence, commitment, and an amazing display of willpower, John has lost 60 pounds (pics from his birthday in November)

and he’s now transitioned back to real food.  This was a huge eye opener for us as we really had no idea how many of our rituals/celebrations revolved around food.  So, we are now finding ourselves playing the Wii, walking the neighborhood, walking at a nearby shopping mall, and most importantly…paying attention to what we’re picking up and putting in our mouths.  Wish us well this holiday season!!!

May your days be merry and bright…..and your 2011 be your best year yet!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2009 Christmas Letter

We hope this Christmas greeting finds you in good health and enjoying the season! We are both doing well and loving the fact that the Christmas tree and house are decorated!!

It’s been a difficult year for us, adjusting to life without Megan, but we are muddling through. After Megan’s death last December, we committed to spend more time with those we love….and we’ve had a wonderful year making memories with family and friends! It’s amazing the guidance we receive from those no longer with us.

In addition to a trip to Missouri to visit Carolyn’s family in March, somehow, we managed two vacations this year! In September, we enjoyed an Alaskan cruise with John’s Uncle Eric, his son Eric, daughter Shirley, her husband Dan, Dan’s mother Mary, Carolyn’s cousin Benita and Benita’s daughter Renata. Very enjoyable and relaxing. The second vacation, in November, was a first exposure (for John) to the American South. We began this trip by flying into Louisville, Kentucky where Shirley and Dan have a second home to be close to their grandchildren. We visited Churchill Downs racetrack and stables, home of the Kentucky Derby…and a bourbon distillery. Then, we drove through Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina (visiting the Biltmore Estate – largest private residence in the US), South Carolina, and Georgia. In Georgia we visited Carolyn’s cousin Madonna Engle and her husband Paul. We enjoyed everything from the World of Coke to a barbershop quartet concert….but the biggest impression John was left with was that the Civil War is still very much alive in the South....

Work continues, even through these difficult economic times. John is back with Cisco’s proposal group, leading a team supporting Cisco in Europe, NATO, and other global regions. Carolyn is still with the publishing company (now goes by the name Cengage Learning), celebrating her 20th year! She’s not traveling anymore for her job (yeah!!!), but she’s keeping plenty busy with her stamping hobby and many projects around the house!

We’re looking forward to this Christmas holiday and 2010! We’ll hope to share some of it with you!!!

With love,
John and Carolyn

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas......

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around our house. We had a great weekend celebrating with friends and are looking forward to more of the same for the next couple of weeks!

Friday night, we gathered with friends at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Casa Orozco, here in Dublin. After dinner, we came over to our house for dessert, a little Wii, and chit/chat! Here's a picture of most of us.....

Lou and Paul and in the middle of a big story and you can tell that Kevin, Laurie, and Mary are getting a big chuckle out of what they are saying. John and Kristi pause for a photo, also! John, Paul, Lou, and Kevin went to high school together and have remained friends over the years. We were joined for dinner by John Glenn, another classmate, but he wasn't able to join us at the house. In addition to yummy cookies by Laurie and a lemon creme pie by Kristi, I made marbled cheesecake squares for dessert. Here's the link for the recipe:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=701127
As you might imagine, we all enjoy getting together and hope to do it more often in 2010.

Saturday was a blast with a noon viewing of Avatar in the IMAX 3D theater. Amazing movie! After the show, bunco was on our dance card. We get together with our friends Lou and Mary (she's the cause of my stamping addiction), Connie and Fawaz, Stella and Steve, Susan, and Dina and Jeff. Stella and Steve hosted....and their house was absolutely beautifully decorated for Christmas! So fun and festive. I made a new appetizer and am including the link to the recipe.....it was really good:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=230886. After a yummy dinner and some egg nog, we played bunco. John and I were shocked when I won $25 and he won $15.....our winnings paid for our Avatar tickets!! Woohoooo!!!!

The kitchen was "mission control" for Sunday. I made apricot snow, Seven Layer cookies, Cherry Bars drizzled with chocolate, and biscotti. I've taken pics of some of my creations and in the collage I've also included photos of those who so generously passed along their recipe to me....Mom (with Reagan) for the peanut brittle (made last week), Madonna (with Aunt Ila) for the apricot snow and biscotti, and Aunt Allyne (with Uncle Olin) for the Seven Layer cookies.   Thank you all for sharing your sweet tooth with me! After baking, I arranged some goodies in tins and delivered to friends....wishing them a Merry Christmas.

John paid me the best compliment by saying that the house was starting to smell a lot like Christmas. I think he had no idea how wonderful that made me feel. Christmas is a time when memories are on "high alert" and so many of them are from years of wonderful time spent with family and friends. Growing up, it seemed like Christmas was the entire month of December and we were very lucky because we grew up in the town where my Grandma Bock lived....so we got to visit with and enjoy all the family that came to see Grandma for Christmas. So many laughs, great meals, card games, and jigsaw puzzles!!! While I won't see all of you this Christmas season, know that you are in my heart and I love you very much!!!  As an adult, I spent many a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my second family, Susan and Eddie Wilson and their family.....I'll be with them this year on Christmas Day....so grateful and fortunate!

West Virginia Girl.....introducing Katie Dent

What a treat!!!  John just received a message from his/our friend Katie Dent.  She lives out here in the Bay area and she and John worked together for many years. 

Katie has been working on a CD of songs she's written over many years; her CD is complete and the first cut, "West Virginia Girl" is posted on YouTube!  Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPGiT69Npg

Oh, to have that kind of talent!!!  Congratulations, Katie, and we're looking forward to hearing more!!

John and I are looking forward to a weekend filled with good friends.  Tonight, we're meeting up with John's friends from high school; we'll have 6 couples in all and we're going to eat some yummy mexican food and then come back here to the house for dessert.  Tommorrow, after Avatar, we're headed over to Stella and Steve's to play bunco!  I'll likely have some pics to post!

I'm still humming along with Katie!  Love it!

Peanut Butter Balls

By popular demand, here's the recipe for my mom's Peanut Butter Balls (pic in earlier post):

Peanut Butter Balls (very yummy) - 1999

3 cups Wheaties
2 cups Chunky Peanut-Butter
1 box powdered sugar (or 3 1/2 cups)
1 stick butter or oleo ( I like butter) & I melt in microwave

Crush Wheaties in a zip lock bag until you measure 3 cups

Add butter, peanut-butter and mix ,then adding powered sugar, you
may think this will never mix but it will, just keep mixing.
Shape into the size balls you want, I like very small and this will
make around 65. Put wax paper on cookie sheet & ref. for 2 hrs. or longer
until ready to dip.

In double boiler Melt 2 oz. of Baking Chocolate (Semi-Sweet)plus 6 oz. pkg. of
choc. chips semi-sweet and 1/3 bar of paraffin (slice in thin slices) ( remember to put a
little water in your bouble boiler, so to melt the choc.)

To Dip: I use toothpicks or two forks.  (Carolyn's note:  to allow the dipped balls to dry, I cut a large baking potato in half....place the cut side on waxed paper and then stick the toothpicks in the potato half....silly, but it works like a charm.)

Good Luck.
From:Jane McNabb, Butler, Mo.

Wii and Baking with Allie

John and I enjoyed a wonderful visit by his niece, Allison. Allie is 17 and lives in San Mateo - about 40 miles from us. She drove over yesterday after school and went home late afternoon today to study for finals! While she was here, we had a blast playing Wii Resort, munching on chocolate chip cookies, baking sugar cookies, and making/rolling/dipping peanut butter balls.

Here are some pics from our sleepover: I've includes pics of our peanut butter balls, sugar cookies, Allie and her Unkie playing Wii Resort, our Christmas tree, and a tin I decorated with a Merry Christmas message on it. I was really happy with a new rolled sugar cookie recipe I found on the internet....here it is:

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookie

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt


Directions


1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Here's the link, too.....
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

It's time for me to go to bed....been a long day.  This Christmas season is filling us with joy and we're sending our love to you all!  Sweet dreams!

Dawn of a New Day

Good morning! It's the dawn of a new day!

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of Megan's death. As you know, Megan is John's oldest niece. It's been a long and hard year!

In the true spirit of Megan, we gathered last night at Cathy and David's house and were joined by Moe (neighbor/friend), Russell Peavey (friend/former neighbor), and Julia (Megan's best friend). David made Megan's favorite meal (chicken tetrazinni) and baked a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (and pink writing).....all of Megan's favorites! I certainly felt her spirit with us and she's at peace!

John and I are looking forward to Allison's visit this afternoon. She's coming over to get a lesson in making my mom's famous peanut butter balls (dipped in chocolate) and while she's here, we'll be sure to have a Wii tournament, maybe watch a movie, enjoy some Chinese take-out, and decorate some sugar cookies.....many of Allison's favorites!

As I mention peanut butter balls, last Fall, before Megan's accident, she called me to get the peanut butter ball recipe. I sent it to her and cautioned her that the most difficult part of the recipe for her would be to wait the required time for the balls to chill before dipping in chocolate. Our impatient Megan didn't wait long enough, she was a bit disappointed in how they turned out....but, she was looking forward to trying again. We'll make a few for you tomorrow, sweetie!

Rest in Peace, sweet Megan. We love you so!