Home Owners "R" Us

We are officially first time home owners- it's SO exciting!

Joel closed on the house and then moved some stuff in this afternoon.

Wahoo!

Select Choir Party

Tonight was the annual Select Choir party.  They come and crash my home for an evening.  It's quite fun- the kids have a blast.  In honor of Nathan's birthday being on the same night as the party I made some more themed cupcakes.  This time it was jungle animals- Monkeys, Lions & Tigers.  I was just telling a friend this evening that having children makes me realize that I have quite a few years of themed parties and activities ahead of me.  I'm starting to get into this whole themed food thing. :)

Wedding Favors at its Best

Tara & Luigi did a really cool thing in lieu of wedding favors at the tables.  They donated money to the American Cancer Society in honor of both of his parents and 2 of her grandparents.  They had these tri-folds on the table that had a picture of the 4 of them with what cancer they were diagnosed with.  I thought it was a very nice addition to the wedding.  No one ever really cares about the wedding favors anyway and you spend all that money on them.

More Pics from the Weekend

Aren't my boys cute?

Nathan with Grandma Stuetz at the reststop

Joel's officially a Doctor!

Joel's Family

Becky's Parents

Tara's Wedding

It was wonderful to see Tara and her family this weekend at her wedding.  Here are a couple of photos I've stolen from facebook of the event :)

The Bridesmaids at the Rehearsal Dinner Friday night (Sandi, me, Amy, Sisters Korinne & Misty)

Tara & Luigi at the church

Doesn't she look fabulous... and Luigi doesn't look half bad himself :)

Just Married

With Tara's parents- I love them!

I'll have to find a picture with all of the bridesmaids all dressed up.

Faboo Food in the Big Apple

I must say there's nothing quite like a trip to the Big City to remind you just how incredibly out of style and non-hip you are, but one thing I do enjoy is the incredible food you can find there.  We stayed right in the Broadway region, so there are plenty of tourist traps.  I thought some research was in order.  We found a place called the Eatery off the Wicked website and thought we'd try it out for Brunch (it can't be referred to as Breakfast or Lunch on the weekends- didn't you know?) and it was scrumptious and inexpensive.  It's supposedly always crowded and a favorite of the city natives.  I had Vanilla Waffles with Carmel Ice Cream and Orange Candied Pecans with Vermont Maple Syrup- ya, it was good! 
After the show we happened upon a South African restaurant called Braai. It was probably the most we've ever personally paid for food (we don't get out much, so this may not be saying much), but it was by far one of the best places we've ever been to as well- it was worth every penny!  I can't even begin to describe what we ate, so I'm going to copy it from their site- although I will say that we both tried ostrich for the first time and loved it!

Ribbetjies- Pork Ribs: Char-grilled pork back ribs with soft spinach, truffle-coconut polenta “pap” & rooibios-chocolate glaze 
African Road Runner: Pan-seared, herb-crusted ostrich filler with curried coconut mashed potatoes, green beans, pear onions with a blackberry peri-peri sauce.

And don’t forget dessert (it was divine):Malva Pudding: Traditional soft sponge pudding, carmelized banana & vanilla ice cream on a bed of granadilla-amarula custard.

Koeksisters: Sweetly spiced dough pastry, orange yogurt mousse rooibios ginger honey sauce with tropical fruit sorbet. 

I figure we walked all over the city, so my waistline isn't completely damaged afterward. :)

Wickedly Awesome!

Joel and I took a day trip to New York City on Saturday to watch the musical Wicked (Joel's big present for finishing medical school on Friday) and it was fantastic!  I was expecting it to be good, but it was phenomenal.  I particularly loved Galinda- her character was great.  The dancing and singing was superb and the stage and set were really cool.  I am SO glad Joel and I got to see it on Broadway before it closes, because it is now one of my all-time favorite musicals. 
Les Miserable is still my favorite (who can beat that storyline?), but it's definitely a close second.

Crazy Fun Weekend

The weekend started out with my Select Choir singing the National Anthem at the Senator's Baseball game Friday night.  They sang really well and had a lot of fun at the game.  We had 88 people there from our school, so we had our very own Lemoyne section.  There were fireworks afterward, so the night was a success.  It was a late night, but fun.