Preparing for Thanksgiving

We have been busily preparing for a rather large crowd of friends to join us for Turkey Day. Ward and I used to host a big Thanksgiving par-tay with all the friends who did not otherwise have families in the area. We stopped doing it awhile back because of a few reasons: We both actually DO have family in the area, so it becomes an unpopular trade-off. Also, neither Ward nor I are very good cooks. Ward is actually better than I am, so cooking often becomes a joint-venture. Thanksgiving certainly will be that as we plan to feed about 20 people. So offering to cook an important dinner for a large crowd is daunting at the very least. And finally, neither of us are very big meat eaters, so we are rather clueless when it comes to roasting a turkey. Luckily, the whole meal is not that complicated. The difficulty mostly comes with juggling dishes in and out of the oven and, of course, the gravy. So by now I have learned to buy a jar or two of turkey gravy base from Harry & David. One aspect that I do love is decorating the tables. I enjoy picking out the placemats, napkins and dishes. So, why do we do it? Because we love our friends and we have all the dishes ;-)

Here it is Wednesday night and I am feeling pretty good. My house got cleaned, I've done all my shopping, and as much prep work as I can. Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile!

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!

Love,
Chris

An Evening with Erwilian

We had a wonderful evening last night listening to Erwilian play at the Renton Civic Theater. Erwilian, Irish for "William", is a multi-faceted band playing music from celtic, renaissance, medieval, and even latin genres. They were fabulous and definitely got everyone in the mood for the holidays. World renown harpist, Bronn Journey and his vocalist wife, Catherine joined them for several songs. Check out their website from my favorite links.

Chris

What's New?

Ward and Nick in Maui (October, 2005...I just like this picture)

Well it has been a few hard months since my dad passed away (August 14th, 2007). The journey has not been easy and I miss him terribly. Some days and weeks are better than others. He was such an amazing man. He was funny, smart, and just flat out loved us all to pieces. Some day I am going to write down as many stories as I can remember about him.

Since "My First Post", a lot has happened as we've tried to pick up our lives. The most exciting thing is that we got a group of very good friends together and purchased 5 acres of beautiful camping property in the "Big Bottom" valley, located between Randle and Packwood on highway 12. It is a beautiful and somewhat remote valley between Mt. Rainier & Mt. St. Helens. Our property is on the Cowlitz river. We nicknamed it "Shady Bottom". Check out our website at: http://web.mac.com/ward.kaatz/BBIB/Welcome/Welcome.html We hope to make many wonderful memories there throughout the years to come!

Nick has started the 5th grade at Valley Christian School and has had a wonderful year. He loves his teacher and has a great group of friends. We are so proud because he made honor roll (3.7 GPA) woohoo! He is a typical 11 year old boy with lots of energy and plenty gross jokes to tell you, most focusing on bodily functions. Good thing he is cute! (he really is)

The holidays are coming up fast and we are kicking off the season with a holiday concert. We are taking the family to see Erwilian at the Renton Civic Theater. Erwilian is a wonderful primarily string band that has a great 'world beat' sound. You can check them out at http://www.erwilian.com. Then we are hosting a Hawks vs. Bears football game, where several of our Bear-luvin' friends are coming over. Then, the following week is Thanksgiving and we are hosting Turkey Day at our home for several of our friends. Last I checked, there are 25 folks coming over! Wow! The thing that is so funny is that neither Ward nor I really like to cook, and we are recovering vegetarians and don't eat a lot of meat. But we will be cooking up possibly two turkeys! wow. I guess I need to also go shopping this weekend!!

Ward and I both have been really busy with our jobs. But Ward manages to find some free time to participate on the Auburn Little League board.

Well that is about it....

Chris