Halloween Homage 2009

The kids dressing up and getting into the halloween spirit of trick-o'-treating.

The husbands weren't going to dressed up in costumes but I guess after coaxing them for a week, they gave in? It was hilariously fun and crazy stuff going on. We have pirates, hippies, fireman, farmer, wizard, vampire, robber, oh my!
The Queen in mask and her Entourage..... I thought it was a successfully planned party considering it was almost postponed due to signage of the flu hovering everyone all week. It was hard to find a costume at first but I suppose we did pretty good. The outcome was really fun and crazy party with everyone...there were pirates, witches, sorceress, hippies, robbers and a Senorita with her bottle of Corona beer.

Fancy That....

"You know when you listen to music playing from another room? And you're singing along because it's a tune that you really love? When a door closes or a train passes by so you can't hear the music anymore, but you sing along anyway...then, no matter how much time passes, when you hear the music again, you're still in the exact same time with it. That's what love is like."

----Anonymous

The YOU in ME

"Romantic love is a passionate spiritual-emotional-sexual attachment between a man and a woman that reflects a high regard for the value of each other's person."

----- Nathaniel Branden

Remnants of Devastation

At the foot and on the one side of Mt. St. Helen is where you see this reminder of its devastating eruption during the 1980s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens

It was such a great experience to see this place and I felt lucky to be gazing at its quite beauty and captivating appeal. I only dreamt of this place when I was little and to be standing here was simply a surreal moment.

HOH Rainforest, Washington State, USA

I'd like to think of this place as Magnificent Moss. Before the movie Twilight was ever created or the book was ever written, we were lucky enough to be here and experienced the forest ambiance. We walk under such majestic trees and forest undergrowth that makes it so mysteriously appealing it felt like a unicorn or two might suddenly emerged through the curtain of moss wrapping around the tree trunks. It's Washington State's hidden gem way out in the middle of Olympic National Park. Definitely a place to see in this lifetime when you get the chance.

Mt. Rainier, Washington State, USA

Looking down on Mt. Rainier from my plane window and promising myself to go back and visit it again. It's amazing to stand at its foot gazing up and wondering what it's like to climb up top; it'll have to wait for the time is not right now. Someday will come when we get the chance to revisit and possibly climb at the top. For now, the memory of our last visit will just suffice.

Fall Season: Baking to warm our hearts and souls

One night during a weekend when Mom was so busy putting away the laundry, this little elf was cooking chocolate cake. Luckily, he used the pot holders and was able to follow the cooking directions before him. He did all that by himself and my heart just swelled with pride when the smell of the chocolate came wafted through upstairs where I was. His very first chocolate cake and he sure did enjoyed it!
We did apple picking a few weeks ago and it seemed we can't quite finish eating all the apple from the sack it came from. I realized that there's only so much apple fruit shakes or frappes we can drink in the past few days. So my hubby thought of making apple pie out of those apples. He dusted off his old recipe book and leaf through the pages looking for the perfect apple pie recipe. He did all the cooking and prepping by himself and I am happy to be the taster of the freshly baked pie. It looked a bit messy but it's home made with love; we topped it off with pure vanilla bean ice cream for a perfect finish.

We all seemed to have a knack for baking fruits or vegetables into delicious desserts and having pumpkin from our backyard garden gave us more to bake and enjoy. I did not do pumpkin soup just yet because I thought I'd make a bread or cake first and see how it goes. It's actually quite a task to peel and prep the pumpkin but it was all worth it when it was done. It's surprisingly good and delicious; I can 't helped but share some to my friend, Ivy. I wish I have all of my friends nearby so I can share the joy of baking from my kitchen.