Blueberry Ever After

Caroline forwarded me some photos from Matt today. His friend on the ship took pictures of him jumping off his ship and into the Pacific Ocean, a 35 foot drop! Jumping from the ship looks like a lot of fun and it is good to see him enjoying himself since we all miss him so much. At least we know he is on the way home now, and it won't be long before we get to see him again!

He also included some other pictures of his ship and their current view of the shoreline for us to enjoy. Check them out below:

Jay is the proud new owner of a kayak in great used condition! He picked it up this weekend and already got to try it out on Harris Lake on Sunday morning. It is 14 feet long, has a retractable rudder and also a nice dry storage compartment. He is loving his new hobby and plans to take the kayak out on the water again this weekend.

I played around in the boat in the backyard when he got home Sunday afternoon. Here are some pictures:

In February, Jay and I took a weekend trip to Nelson County, Virginia, a popular wine making area. It was really beautiful there and the trip was very relaxing. We definitely plan to go back someday. Here are some photos from the trip.

This year Jay and I had Christmas at our house. Jay's parents came over from Spain, my parents came from Nevada, Becky came from Hickory, as did Wally and Caroline, and we also hosted our family friend Amanda from Arizona for a few days as well. It was great to have everyone at our house at Christmas and we hope they all enjoyed it as much as we did! The only people missing were Carl, Kate and Matt. Carl was stuck working in California, but Claire and Pete did get to go and see him in January when he finally got some time off.

We did get to speak to Matt and it was hard to talk to him since he was on a satellite phone, but I think we got the message across that we miss him and can't wait for him to get back home! Kate called to wish us all a Happy Christmas as well and I have to say that I admire her strong conviction not to get out of her pjs and slippers all day...I knew there was a reason we got along so well! She would have fit right in with our crazy crew!

You will notice in the photos that Claire provided all the girls with holiday themed earrings and all the guys with musical holiday ties. They went very well with our pjs! Kate even sent pictures via e-mail to prove that she did wear hers too!

Our main course for Christmas dinner was a fried turkey, which was excellent. (Of course, anything is excellent if you deep fry it!) We had to treat Claire and Pete to this American delicacy and I have to hand it to them, they are fearless when it comes to southern cuisine!

We also had a tacky holiday sweater themed New Year's Eve party, which was a lot of fun. Allyson took home the prize for worst sweater. None of us could compete with that tacky holiday cat sweater she was sporting! Congratulations Allyson!

Who knows where we will end up for Christmas this year....we are keeping our fingers crossed for Christmas in Europe. Wouldn't that be an adventure?!

Since my Mom and Dad are no longer in NC, Jay and I went to Charlotte this year for Thanksgiving to spend the weekend with Courtney, Greg and Courtney's parents. It was a lot of fun, but the holiday got off to an interesting start. When we arrived at Berry and Susan's house, a big Roto Rooter van was parked in their driveway. Apparently they had been having some plumbing problems in the guest bathroom on Thanksgiving morning so they called to have it looked at and lo and behold, there was a dead squirrel in their pipes! Everyone had a good laugh about this, because Berry has been at war with the squirrels for years now, and they really got one up on him that day! We had a delicious meal after Roto Rooter cleared out, including my new corn casserole recipe which was a hit (see recipe below). And now we all have a great story to tell too!

Corn Casserole

Ingredients:
1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (14 3/4 oz) can cream style corn
1 (8oz) box of corn muffin mix (Jiffy)
1 c sour cream
1/2 c melted butter
1 - 1 1/2 c shredded cheddar

Directions:
Stir together all ingredients except cheese. Pour into a greased casserole dish and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and top with cheddar. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted. Let stand 5 minutes and serve warm.