Merry Christmas

I hope you had as nice a Christmas as we did this year. We spent time with all of our families (multiple trips to each parents' house for food, family and fun) over the past few days. I was just about to post all the details of the festivities, but I noticed that Gwen already knocked this one out of the park. I hereby give Gwen the Best Storytelling Award for 2008. Please check out her blog for all the juicy details of the Becker Christmas Extravaganza!

And if you're in the mood for another good story, take a look at her post about our cookie making day last week.

Now, if I was as thoughtful as Gwen I would have taken pictures of Mark and I at his Mom's house where we spent Christmas Eve and part of Christmas Day. But I didn't. :( Maybe Gwen can tag along with me next time as my personal historian. Or she could at least remind me to bring my camera!!

Here's to a happy 2009!

P.S. Is this cruel or totally okay???

A Christmas Cat Story

This is an exerpt from a recent email I received from Sheona & Jon:

So Jake likes to climb through the tree. And not just at the bottom of the tree. He's been climbing up about two or three feet off the ground and making his way around the branches. Then find a comfy place to stop. Max knows better. He'll put his front paws on a branch to test it out. The branch flexes more than he's comfortable with so he jumps down and just "squeezes" under the tree.

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Its tradition at my work that we all go to the LA Autoshow every year together on a bus.  Its also tradition that we go to a museum after the show and then to dinner and get home late after driving back to San Diego.  Its a prety fun tradition.  2 Years ago we had the special treat of getting a tour of Jay Leno's garage (guided by Jay Leno himself!)  How fun!  Except I didn't get to go.  I had to stay back and work on an emergency paint issue.  Sad.  BUT.......

This year we scored* tickets to a taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  It was my first time at a taping of any kind of show and it was a lot of fun.  The guests weren't that great, but the experience was pretty exciting.  Jay is really good at what he does and the whole production team works like a well-oiled machine.

We were able to go down on the stage after the show to meet Jay and take pictures with him. 

Look at me!

*SIDE NOTE: One of our coworkers is a friend of Jay's (they are both Stanley Steam Engine collectors).  Hence the ticket hook-up.

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Ian's birthday was on Saturday, so we got together at my parent's house last night to celebrate it.   Although he is a handsome 33 man, he is a little camera shy.  This is the only picture I could get of him.  Charming.

Hoops & YoYo

I need to give a big shout out to Hallmark for its E-cards.  I love them and so does my sister Gwen.  She just sent me another one, and it made laugh (but not outloud).  I used to think their characters named Hoops & YoYo were annoying, but now I find them endearing.  And pretty funny too.  And it may just be me, but I think the pink one has similar comedic delivery as Ellen DeGeneres.  Check them out for yourself by clicking HERE!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

My thoughtful sister Gwen sent me this E-card from Hallmark.

Please enjoy....

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO GO TO HALLMARK.COM

Its Almost Time For This.....

Oh how I wish I could dress Pige & Lizzie like this.

Birthday Girl

My mom turns _ _ today! Happy Birthday!!

Bad Dog

Remember the story I just told you about recycling our old computer junk? Well, there is more to it. While Mark and I went out to drop off the loot, Pige Marie (that's what we call her when she is a bad girl) was busy looting our kitchen trash can. She managed to find 2 semi rotting chicken breasts that were approximately 2 weeks old. She scarfed those down, but left the decaying salad and rice in a pile on the floor. Bad dog!! Luckily she didn't get a tummy ache!

Bye Bye Beige!

Mark has a TON of old computer parts....monitors, towers, keyboards, scanners, fax machines. I mean a TON. A whole closet full plus some extras that were spilling out into the rest of our house. We have been wanting to get rid of this stuff for a long while now, but it is actually kind of tricky to do if you want to be law abiding citizens (which we are). So, can you imagine my excitement when our neighbor brought a flyer to our door advertising an e-waste recycling event at Carlton Oaks Elementary School on Saturday? We filled up the entire bed of Mark's truck and hauled the load away. When it came down to it was actually a pretty painless procedure.

I was so happy to say goodbye to all the beige computer hardware that was invading my life.

I hope my next post will be titled "Hello Clean Closet". Don't hold your breath.

P.S. Don't be sad that you weren't offered any of the loot...it was all non-functioning.

Orange & Gray

Here are the latest of Jake & Max. AKA Orange & Gray.

NEED I SAY MORE?

Did you know.....

Peanuts are part of the legume family!  I am such a peanut butter lover, so I was amazed to learn this little bit of information today.

Did you also know that Peanut is one of the MANY nicknames we have for Pige?  Don't you wonder what our nickname for YOU is??  Just kidding!

2 Truths and a Lie

I was assigned to come up with an icebreaker game to play at our Young Women leadership meeting next Friday. I suggested we play "2 Truths and Lie". Its a game that takes no preparation(yeah!) and usually ends up being quite fun.

Thinking about this game reminded me of when I was on vacation in Italy with Sheona and Leslie about 7 or 8 years ago. We were travelling by bus through the beautiful country with our Australian tour guide Vanessa. On one of our longer commutes at the beginning of the trip she suggested we play '2 Truths and a Lie' so that we could get to know each other better. The most memorable truth was this guy who said, "I regret not using the facilities at the last stop." I am laughing right now as I remember this. I'm sure you're not laughing, but I am. It was just so funny. We would only stop every few hours when we were commuting, so you had to be sure to use the restroom every time.....whether you needed it or not. This guy learned that lesson the hard way. Vanessa was such a charming tour guide. She spoke fluent Italian, always knew the best place to get gelato and always told us to "soak up some local atmosphere". She also had a fun way of letting us know we'd be stopping for one of those infamous potty breaks -- she would play the same funny song called Vespa Special by an Italian band named Lunapop. Those were some good times.

So, I'd like to play 2 Truths and a Lie with you now.

1. I've never seen Top Gun
2. I always wear socks to bed
3. I've flown in a 4 person airplane

Let me know if you can figure out which is the LIE!

Pige Meets Babes. Pige Wears a T-Shirt.

No, those aren't the titles of my new series of children's books.  They are the announcements of the "firsts" Pige had last week.

Mark and I took Pige over to his mom's house one night last week to return the van she had let us borrow (thank you again!).  It wasn't her first time over there, but it was her first time meeting Babes the cat.  I'm not sure you could actually call it an 'introduction', but Pige certainly wanted to do the formal dog sniffing thing in order to introduce herself.  Luckily, we stayed on the front porch with Pige while Babes sat wide eyed inside the house.

(Picture this wide eyed cat behind the safety of a screen door)

In order to satisfy Pige's curiosity, we distracted her from the cat by taking her on a walk around the neighborhood.  Pige loved her first walk around Mark's old hood!  Did she love it becasue it had been a while since she'd been on a W-A-L-K?  Did she love it so much because there were hills to climb and new scents to investigate?  Or did she love it because the neighborhood is so much calmer than our crazy street?  Either way, Pige had a great night.

Pige's other 'first' that I am excited to share with you is the first time she has worn a shirt.  I've always thought Pige would look so cute with clothes on, but Mark is very opposed to that idea.  We had a breakthrough on the subject last week.  Mark actually suggested that we put a t-shirt on Pige to make her stop chewing a sore she has on her back.

This is Mark's attitude before he sees Pige with a shirt on.

These are the results after.  What a change in attitude. :)

And what a silly dog!

Pige is happy no matter what she is doing (or wearing!)  Get ready for Halloween little girl.  I see a soccer uniform costume in your future!!  Oooohh, BRAINSTORM....Maybe Mark and I will be soccer players and Pige can be the referee in the black & white striped shirt?  Yes!

You've Had a Birthday...Shout Hooray!

Check out this very thorough post about Sheona's birthday on Gwen's blog. She'll fill you in on the details. :)

Pennsylvania

Mark and I drove from NYC to Pennsylvania to visit his brother and his family.  Actually, I slept and ate Pringles and Swedish Fish on most of the 3.5 hour trip while Mark drove.  I really do enjoy car naps.

We had a good time on our visit.  We relaxed, played games, ate good food and had some fun adventures.  Check out the good times below....

We do not welcome your graffiti

I know everyone has been waiting with bated breath to see the rest of our vacation pictures.  Here are a few remaining pictures from NYC.  This sign was at the top of the Empire State Building.  We found it amusing.

Times Square

Grand Central Station

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. We all went to my parent's house for dinner to celebrate. My dad made his special deep dish pizzas. He experimented with some new combinations this year and they were yummy. I'm pretty sure Ian petitioned for the BBQ chicken pizza (what does he NOT like to BBQ?) It was a tasty and fun night. Here are some pictures of the festivites.

It seems as though Sheona and Jon are vying for some creativity award lately as they were the winners of the Iron Chef competition last month and apparently also the winners of the best birthday gift award tonight. I'm not jealous, just impressed.

My sisters. Love them.

That's one HOT dog!

I left Mark alone last night to make dinner for himself while I ran an errand after work.  So he threw a couple of hot dogs on the barbie...but forgot to take them off.  This is what they looked like after an hour on the BBQ at 400 degrees.  Yum!  They each weighed about as much as a piece of paper.  And smelled lovely.

New York....New York

We're still on our vacation, but I thought I'd post some pictures anyway...

This is a picture of Mark's first taxi ride EVER. If I was a better photographer I would have included something in the shot so that you would know he was in a taxi, but you'll just have to take my word for it.




This is us on the top of the Empire State Building (which Mark insists on calling the Empire States Building).

See you soon!!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Dave & Lizzie's birthday!  They are 5 years old.  I remember fondly the day that Sheona brought them home from Fallbrook.  She picked them out of a litter of 5 cats.  I think we got the best 2!

The Next Iron Chef

Last night was a blast! My parents hosted an Iron Chef party at their house to celebrate their new kitchen. We all brought a dish with the special ingredient...hard boiled eggs! The submissions included Egg Curry & Rice, German Meat Loaf, Cobb Salad Sliders, Egg, Onion & Apple Croquettes, Egg Ribeye, and Boiled Egg Surprise. (Let me tell you the surprise was that Mark had a hard boiled egg in his pocket. He was the only one who ate it.)

The big winner was Sheona & Jon's Cobb Salad Sliders. They were really great!

We ended the evening with some good times on the Wii. This is a picture of Mom's bowling technique!

We can't wait for the Spam Challenge in January!

Living the Good Life - Part 2

Our pets have a pretty cushy life. Lately, the cats have been enjoying the warm Santee sun in the mornings by the pool. Here is Lizzie working on her tan.

Check this out!

Hey y'all!  I want to give a shout out to my older (but wiser) sister Gwen and her cake decorating skills.  Check out these 4th of July treats.  How cute are those little hamburger cupcakes!  I have no idea how long it took to make all of these goodies, but I'm sure they were made with love.  Bake on, Sister!

I want to include a link to this page on her blog, but I can't figure it out.  So....if you want to check it out for yourself, go see her at http://gwenswanderlust.blogspot.com/2008/7/hamburger-cupcakes.html

Mark The Pool Guy

Mark has been getting the pool ready for some summertime swimming. He hasn't ever done this part of the pool cleaning routine in this pool though. He emptied almost 1/2 of the water out of the pool and filled it back up with fresh water. Here's a snapshot of what it looked like about halfway through.

Get your sunscreen and towels, because the pool is looking pretty refreshing now!