Goodbye Deogi

Today we had to say goodbye to Deogi.  Many of you know Deogi has had bone cancer and we knew this time would come.  When we knew we could no longer manage her pain effectively and she was no longer her happy go lucky self it was time to say goodbye. 

Deogi was one of the smartest dogs I have ever had.  She played ball, Frisbee, and soccer, running was one of her favorite activities.  She loved the heat and the snow.  She knew all kinds of tricks:  sitting up, spinning, playing dead, shaking, giving high five, rolling over, speaking.  Sometimes all at once.... You could set a treat on the floor and tell her to wait and she would just wait till you said it was OK (She would do the same with a ball too).  Once while showing some young kids all her tricks, Caelum said "wow it is just like a circus". 

She was a people pleaser for sure and always wanted to make you happy and she would try to figure out what that was.  She would look up at you with love in her eyes just waiting for you to love her back. 

Here are a few of our favorite pictures....

This below is when we first got Stormy

The grass is slippery when it snows  :-)  doesn't stop you from playing though

She would find the funniest places to take a nap

And running outside to play ball was the best....she lived for it...

It is hard to say goodbye but we know we made the best decision for her.  We will miss her greatly. 

Red Velvet....so yummy

I had a lot of requests for my Butterbeer cupcakes...they were good, but for me too sweet.  so I wanted something else....I had also made Red Velvet cupcakes before, but I wanted to improve them.  We were going to Longmont this last weekend and seeing some friends Kim and Ron.  Kim like red, so I made them for her...I hope she liked them:

 I think these were a winner, some of my best yet. 

Something to go with the Butterbeer Cupcakes

So I haven't blogged in awhile, don't know why but probably because Jody posts all the good stuff.

Anyway, the other night Jody and I were being creative and we came up with the Butterbeer Martini. It is actually very simple to make and tastes pretty darn good..

Recipe:

80ml of Vanilla Vodka, I used Smirnoff
175ml of Cream Soda, I used IBC, basically 1/2 a bottle
5-10ml of Butter flavoring, add to taste

Stir slowly in the glass as to keep the carbonation from the cream soda

The results...

The Butterbeer Martini

Enjoy!

Stormy Cuteness

I think this speaks for itself, but last night Stormy was playing with her "kitty".  It used to Meow when you squeezed its head, but now it is quiet, but she still loves it....

Day in the kitchen

 For my Birthday last week, I had a nice surprise in the mail.  My two assistant chairs (Heather and Gina) got together and sent me a Mickey Apron and ovenmit.  Can you believe I didn't have a Mickey Apron?  Well I had to try it out....

 First I baked some cookies....

Heather and Gina, like me are also big Harry Potter fans.  I think we all have a little Slytherin in us, but in general we are very good.... LOL.  In honor of our Harry Potter love I made these butterbeer cupcakes.


I made regular size....

And mini cupcakes.....

They are good and very sweet.  Since I know what Butterbeer really tastes like (See our post about going to Universal last Nov), I can say these are very close to tasting like Butterbeer....though, I think Kevin should take me back to have a taste again...just to be sure.....

Helicopter on the Ridge

Yesterday we spent a little time out working in the yard.  I looked up and what did we see?  A helicopter hovering over the house down the street....then it swung around and flew right over the open space and then flew off.

Stellar Brass was Stellar.....

So on Monday night, we actually got out of the house!  Yes we did.....I know amazing (we are so boring otherwise).  The USAF Stellar Brass group was at the local HS.  They were really good and fun to watch...

The concert was about 1.5 hours and they played all kinds of things I didn't expect.....yes trash cans (song called "Lids")

I admit I stole these pictures from the newspapers site and their story So check that out also.  They tell you all about the group and the compositions they played.  I want to give credit to the Newspaper...they helped bring the group here too.  This group travels around the country, if you find them in your area, it is worth your time! 

Desirae's new house.....sort of

 Desirae was ready to redo the siding on her house, so for a couple of weekends we spent time at her house, helping strip the old siding, and then insulating the house, and putting on the new siding. 

 Here are some before pictures

The tear down begins....notice the carport and the basketball hoop...those two would be losing their "life"

Joslyn helped by watching from the front window....

Under the old siding was the original wood shake shingle siding...we left that and insulated over the top.  Here, Doug is getting ready to take down the porch overhang, which he rebuilt as you will see below.

Hard to see here, but there is the new porch over going up...and on the lower left of the house, you see the pink insulation going up.  

Doug is doing the welding on the iron for the porch.  

Beginning to tear down the carport....

Car port is no more.....

 So the house is insulated and now we began wrapping it...

And the new siding is starting to go up....it is a similar color as before, but looks so much nicer...

The finished product....looks great right?  Desirae still needs to paint the new porch cover, but how great does the house look :-)

Chocolate Chip PB Cheesecake

 It has been awhile since I made this, so long in fact, that I had almost forgotten till I saw them on the camera. 

In  my experimenting, I made a Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cheesecake.  I know it sounds rich, and it was, but I was very pleased that it was not as "heavy" as I thought.  It was really good.