Southern Thanksgiving

This year General Lee (my mom) relinquished her command and agreed to a southern Thanksgiving celebration! JC and I didn't really know how much work we were in for when we proposed the idea. Now I know why Mom was so willing to travel! Luckily, my husband can cook and my brother can clean - so we made out okay. Actually, I think that everyone had a good time. Then again, Thanksgiving is a holiday solely about eating ... who wouldn't have a good time?

JC and Matt preparing our 24 lb. bird

Matt posing with the gizzards

The crew waiting to be fed

The Jones/Sandberg/Buchanan Family

Mom and JC making the gravy

Dinnertime

Thanks to tips from my friends Amy and Megan, I finally mastered the art of dinner rolls. I think even JC was impressed; he said something to the effect of "this is what I remember from my childhood."

Yeast Bread, my nemesis

I know that I should probably adhere to the "three strikes, you're out" rule. However, my latest and greatest failure has only strengthened my resolve to master dinner rolls and other yeasted breads.

I have tried to produce delicious, light dinner rolls three times now. I've tried the recipes from Williams Sonoma and Lion House Bakery (twice) with no success. Each time, the rolls turn out too bready (if that makes sense).

[insert picture of rolls in garbage]

If anyone has an suggestions, they would be welcome and appreciated! Thanksgiving is coming and I'm determined to figure this out.

Crib vs. Daddy

JC and I have been working to get "The Bean's" room all set up for her arrival. The arrival of Grandma Lee and Grandpa Steve next week has helped to light a fire. The entire Jones family will be joining us for a southern Thanksgiving next week and we are excited to show off our decorating prowess!

The nursery has been a fun project for us. With the exception of the Tony Gwynn jersey that JC insists is going up on the wall, we have agreed on most of the decorating decisions. Nana (JC's mom) treated us and her newest grandchild to a new bedroom set and we picked up the crib last night. With only 12 screws, this assembly project was a lot easier than our gas grill! He had it together in 45 minutes.

House Renovation 2009

The money pit has struck yet again! After a year of housal bliss, we bit the bullet and started tackling some bigger projects. While not high on the priority list until the landscaper flooded it, our 250 sq. foot laundry room was probably the worst offender in the entire house. Between the utility carpet and sink, it was pretty bad. It definitely qualifies as (in the words of my friend Ann) "fancy camping."

We had some other projects on the high priority list as well - recessed lighting in the living room and repairs/painting in one of the bedrooms upstairs (future nursery of our bundle of joy, scheduled to arrive on February 7).

We're now on week 3 of the renovation and things are going well, aside from one small issue with our contractor who didn't order the tile for the laundry room on time. All in all though, this experience makes me feel very lucky to have a washer and dryer in my home. Because aside from the mild discomfort of having to haul my laundry down the street and sit there for 2 hours ... the laundromat is EXPENSIVE!

Before the renovation

After the renovation (tile installation aside)

Baby Sandberg's Room

The Jones Family Mourns the Passing of Simon the Cat

It is with great sorrow that family and friends announce the passing of Simon Jones formerly of Dorset, Vermont. Born around June 1995, Simon and his siblings were found roaming the streets of the Applegate Housing Project in Bennington, Vermont. Simon was noticed and adopted at the Petcetra adoptathon by Kristin Taylor Buchanan and Matthew Edward Jones. Simon spent his life as chief Alpha cat and rodent patrol officer of his Farwell Lane residence and begging for attention whe the family had friends over. He was constant companion to Matthew Jones on the den couch “catching the sports scores” and to Monie Jones who shared the same dog bed to save body heat. His favorite foods were Sliced Honey Maple Turkey from Manchester's Beverage Discount and fresh rodents, but a few hours old were O.K. too. Mr. Jones had a full and happy life in the Jones household and will certainly be missed. He is interned in the back yard behind the blueberries and next to the lilac and is marked by forget me nots.

He will be remembered as a loyal and loving friend to all.

Kristin and Andrew's Wedding

Last weekend, my sister Kristin got married! It was a wonderful event shared with family and friends. As always, Kristin looked amazing and I think that I caught some tears in the eyes of her new husband, Andrew, as she walked down the aisle.

As her matron (ick)-of-honor, I provided a toast to the newly married couple at their reception, offering her sage words of advice as she entered this new phase of life. High on the list was "say no to XBox" and "king size beds and separate bathrooms are the key to happiness."

As the official escort of my Grandma, JC also had a very important role to play in the wedding. He didn't know what he was in for when he signed up for that gig, because she didn't let him out of her sight. I had to cut in on her a couple of times on the dancefloor just to get him back!

In addition to his role as escort and my role as matron-of-honor, JC and I were tasked with decorating the newlywed's car. All I can say is thank goodness I got married first and can never be paid back for the things we did. Luckily, the newlyweds, still glowing from their reception, laughed it off. I still don't know if they have discovered that dead fish, though.

Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car during the ceremony and reception, but got some photos of the rehearsal dinner which was hosted at my parents house and of us ladies getting ready.

The ladies at Kristin's bridal luncheon

JC and Matt, getting the party started

My sister and Andrew, enjoying their rehearsal dinner

Papa Jones, talking business with my cousin Edward

JC and me, post dinner

Kristin getting ready, I love this picture!

Look how beautiful she turned out once those curlers came out.

San Diego 2009

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of the last few months of our lives. In July, JC and I went on the annual Sandberg (Shields/Hepworth) family vacation in San Diego. It was a great week filled with crazy kids, good books, beach time and this game you play with golf balls.

JC, our nephew Lucas and I took a day trip to Salt Lake City during the week so that the non-Saints among us (me) could check out the new LDS temple that had been built. I think JC was tired of answering my questions and decided that I just needed to go and see it for myself. These pictures were taken outside (no photos allowed inside).

Pictures by Request

My sister and various friends have asked for some pictures of the inside of our new house. JC and I have been working hard to get it painted and furnished. Actually, our handyman Luis has been working hard to get it painted, I've been working hard to get it furnished and JC has been working hard to keep it all on budget. Here are some photos.

The living room ... still awaiting the area rug we ordered

The dining room.

Matt and JC working hard in the kitchen on Memorial Day. JC made a lemon cheesecake with raspberry sauce. He wouldn't let me take a picture of it though.

Master bedroom.

Note that there are still no window treatments in our home. Remember when I said I had finally convined my husband that fabric on windows is a good thing. I might have overestimated his buy in on that.

Luck of the Irish

JC and I got back on Monday night from an amazing trip to the Florida Keys. Thanks to Scott and Vicki for a wonderful weekend spent at their beautiful home in Key Largo! It was such a treat to spend a few days away from home repairs and yard work!

JC and I arrived late on Friday evening. First thing on Saturday morning, we fired up the golf cart and went to the Ocean Reef Club per Scott's suggestion for their breakfast buffet. Our next stop was the pool (or one of the three pools) at the club. I must have been high on life, because about two hours after lounging poolside I realized that my legs were lobster red! After this trip I am certain that my husband believes that I am trying to sabotage each and every vacation we take. Last year in San Diego, I had to sit under an umbrella after about an hour on the beach. In Hawaii it was the dreaded heat rash and now, in Key Largo, a horrible sunburn. The best part - it was only on the lower half of my legs (apparently I only thought to apply sunscreen to the upper half). So, my parting gift from sunny Key Largo is horrible tan lines for the remainder of the summer (see below).

We didn't let it spoil our trip though. In between hourly applications of aloe vera, we enjoyed everything the Anglers Club/Ocean Reef Club had to offer.

Thanks so much, Scott and Vicki, for a wonderful trip!

Date Night with JC Sandberg

While packing for our trip to Key Largo this morning I scanned my camera and realized that I had forgotten to post some recent pictures I had taken. Before the rains came, all of the trees in our neighborhood (except for the one in front of our house that is dying a slow death) were in full bloom and it was so beautiful.

See what I mean? I love spring in DC.

I also found some pictures of a recent date night that JC and I had (pictures are family friendly). My brother Matt is still crashing at our place (he is headed to graduate school in North Carolina at the end of the summer). So I try and take advantage of every night that we have alone. A couple of weeks ago, JC and I came home from work to an empty house. I was all excited thinking that we'd go out for a nice dinner then maybe come back and watch a movie together. JC, however, had other plans for our evening together ...

which involved resealing the tub in the guest bathroom. DISGUSTING.

I have to hand it to him, though. I was skeptical at first, but he did a great job and it cost us less than $10!

JC and I are headed to Key Largo for the weekend. Our friends have generously offered up their house to us for four days! The weather forecast is calling for thunderstorms all weekend long. Hopefully, Scott and Vicki's tubs are in better shape than our tub was. If not, I know what we'll be doing!

Our Trip to the Firestation

My friend Teri just sent some great pictures of our recent field trip to see Fireman Gregg at the firestation so I thought I would share. Teri and her husband Mike have three great kids, one of whom loves anything that had to do fire (putting it out, not starting it). As luck would have it, I have a friend that is a fireman, Gregg. Gregg is married to my good friend Elizabeth.

As a side note, the story of Gregg and Elizabeth is one of my favorites. They met in a grocery store while Gregg was there buying food for the firehouse. Unfortunately, Gregg got called out on a fire in the middle of their conversation and he didn't get a chance to get Elizabeth's number. My friend is very resourceful, though; the next day she delivered cookies to his firestation and left her number. They've been together ever since.

Okay, back to our field trip. Teri and Mike met Fireman Gregg at our wedding and knew their son would enjoy meeting him. So, we arranged a trip to see Gregg at the firestation a couple of weeks ago. As you can probably tell from the pictures, JC and I ended up being way more into the whole fireman/firestation thing than the kids. We even got to sit in the trucks!

Thanks for the excellent field trip, Fireman Gregg!

Our First Holiday at Home

JC and I spent our first holiday in our new house on Easter! It was a momentous occasion which I celebrated by buying a new tablecloth (ahhh, the little things). JC humored me and only poked fun once :) We invited some friends over for dinner and had a great time. I told my grandma that I would post some pictures of our Easter table so she could see that I was using some of the dinnerware that she gave us for our wedding.

I also took some photos of JC in action in the kitchen. I knew my husband was a great cook, but recently discovered that he can bake too! I should have gotten picture of the chocolate mousse cake that he made for us. It was so good! My dinner rolls, on the other hand ... not so good.

Our New Home

Some of you have been asking me for pictures of our new house. So, during my recent camera rampage, I took one. Drum roll please ...

This is our new home! JC digs new, modern architecture and I love old colonial homes ... we ended up with something right in between, built in 1955. As with any home, it is a work in progress, but I love it. Our neighborhood is great and we have a lot of room to grow!

I Heart Recess

Congress has been out on Easter recess the past few weeks which means that my workdays are a litte slower than usual. Couple that with the fact that I swore off exercise (but not dessert) this week after running the Cherry Blossom Ten-Miler, and I've had a lot of time on my hands. So, I've taken up a few projects that have fallen by the wayside recently. The first is to catch up on Season 2 and Season 3 of The Tudors. Sadly, JC was out of town for a good part of this week, but it worked to my advantage because JC and Henry VIII wouldn't mesh well.

The second project is curtains. After six months, I've finally convinced my husband that fabric should not be feared, but embraced. Well, I don't know that he has fully embraced it yet, I think he was just tired of hearing my tearful pleas and relented. Still, I'm going to chalk one up there for me (and my excellent negotiation skills). So, I spent time this week in one of my favorite stores, Calico Corners. JC, in a particulary agreeable mood one afternoon, even went with me! It might have had something to do with the toile and floral fabric samples that I brought home with me the previous day though.

Since I know JC doesn't read the blog ... I'll tell you all what the final project is. I was on Megan Holdsworth's (our wedding photographer) blog the other day and saw that she had used http://www.blurb.com/ to make this great book of all of her pictures and blogposts. So, I decided that it would be fun to make one for JC. Actually, I really wanted one so I figured that I would give it to him for our anniversary and kill two birds with one stone. I learned that little trick from my mom. JC has started to catch on though, especially after I gave him a stocking full of Williams Sonoma gadgets that I had wanted for Christmas. While making the book, though, I discovered that I don't take nearly enough pictures to fill it up, so I took some pictures this week. Check out the next couple of posts to see those.

This game is epic ...

Happy President's Day! I was inspired to write tonight after hearing a loud and excited voice yell "this game is epic" from the living room. More on that later ...

A lot has happened in the months since Christmas. JC and I took an amazing trip to Hawaii. After two weeks of rest, relaxation and maid service, it has been hard adjusting to life back at home. The 70 degree temperature difference between sunny Hawaii and Northern Virginia has not helped the situation either.

After our recent respite from the "Money Pit," JC and I have decided to get back on the horse and begin to work on the house. We're pretty much resigned to the fact that our home will test our marriage in every way possible. From the leak in the downstairs bathroom to the family of mice living under the kitchen sink, we come home each night hoping that nothing has gone awry during the day. As some of you know, we recently acquired a long-term houseguest. My brother Matthew, a recent college-grad, has moved to Washington to look for a job. Matt has been a great help around the house. He empties the dishwasher, cleans bathrooms and most importantly, waits around for the various handymen that frequent the "Money Pit." It will be a sad day for me when Matt actually finds a job, although I think that it might actually be tougher on JC ... which brings us to the inspiration for this blog entry.

Almost every day this week I have gone to sleep to the sounds of machine guns in my living room. No, JC has not gone out and secured a concealed weapon permit. These are the sweet sounds of games called Ghost Recon and Halo. When I agreed to buy the XBox last year I never thought that it would come to this. It is all consuming. On Saturday, Matt and JC played 4 hours of Ghost Recon, then attempted to cut down a tree in the backyard. I'm wondering what is next ... perhaps the wall in the den will be the next victim of an XBox induced, testosterone-laced project.

Today, JC, Matt and I made a trip to JC's favorite store, Costco. It was my suggestion as I had noticed this morning that we were running out of bottled water. I have come to regret this decision ever since. They are now on hour 3 of a new game, Call of Duty, World at War. Who knew that Costco sold XBox games? This new game inspired the quote uttered by my brother this evening, "this game is epic."

Seriously? Epic? How is that job search going Matt?