Happy Birthday Dad!

A BIG Happy Birthday to my dad today! Hope you have a wonderful day -- wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

I've picked some of my favorite photos in honor of the big day:


On top of Flattop Mountain in Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park



On our way to the Loch to do some fishing.



Outside the Today Show on my first trip to NYC.



After the Turkey Trot -- one of the many races we've run together.

Merry Christmas From The Family

We escaped to Dallas for Christmas this year...although we just barely made it out of DC. We missed a massive snowstorm that hit our route directly by about an hour and a half -- apparently, our house got about 20 in. of snow -- crazy! Our cross-country drive was fairly uneventful, and we made it to Dallas just in time to grab Freebirds for lunch.

We had an awesome time hanging out with my family and friends, and we even had a white Christmas in Dallas (first time in like 80 years). I'll let the photos do the talking:

Reggie had a ton of fun hanging out with Uncle Hobby and Aunt Kora.



Kate and I had a day full of fun -- went to the Galleria, ate Five Guys, watched people ice skate, came home and made a cheese ball, and painted our nails green and red for Christmas.



My mom and I made "the cake" otherwise known as the Blackberry Jam Cake with caramel frosting -- this thing is huge -- and delicious! (We had to use almost every bowl at my parents house to make it.)





We made waffles for breakfast



Ate lots of good food on Christmas Eve and got to spend some QT with the fam.













Got lots of fun presents on Christmas morning.

Family Rivalry

DAWGS - 44
AGGIES - 20

Well, this year hasn't turned out so well for me on the family rivalry front -- I'm officially 0-2. First was the stomping by Arkansas back in October, and last night was the second defeat to Georgia in the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl. I had the game on my computer at work and had high hopes going into the half, but sometime during my ride home, things got ugly very quickly. I caught the last few minutes of the fourth quarter at home and had to change the channel before it was over -- I guess there is always next year!

The worst part of it all was that I lost a bet with my cousin Bill. So now I have to meet my end of the bargain:

THE DAWGS DOMINATED THE AGGIES LAST NIGHT AND ARE CLEARLY A BETTER FOOTBALL TEAM*

*I was forced against my will to type this statement -- this does not reflect my true feelings for A&M.

Blogosbeer Update

Here is a little pictorial of what the Blackford side of the family have been up to so far this Christmas season...

Purchasing ~$80 of beer for the self proclaimed beer snob himself (aka Tom).

A full cooler of beer...waiting for his arrival



Too bad for him the supply is diminishing very quickly...

Kirkleton

Friday was a bit of a sad day for us. Kirk, (or Kirkleton as I like to call him -- think Scrubs and Turk) is moving back to North Dakota this weekend.

We have had so much fun having him as our roommate -- playing darts, NCAA football (with Derek), driving up to New York, and maybe a beer or two here and there. We can't begin to thank him for everything he has done...watch Reggie a million times, help us move, drive me to work, help on home improvement projects, etc. We will miss him a ton, but I think it will be hardest on this family member:

Holiday Food and Fun

Wow...apologies for the slacking off in blogging (I know you have been sitting on the edge of you seat).

There is a lot to report...food, family, and snow!

First the food...we have been on a cooking streak the last few weeks:

We got a great cookbook from Derek's Aunt Diane and Uncle Kent and tried the meatball stroganoff



Continuing on my pumpkin addiction over the holidays, I made a pumpkin cheesecake with cream cheese frosting. I really liked it but will need to do a little work on the crust next time.



Next up was pot roast. We found the recipe online, and it was awesome -- plenty of leftovers for work.



We hit the jackpot and found these seasonal Edy's Ice Cream -- they have pumpkin, egg nog, and peppermint. We tried the Egg Nog -- definitely worth getting again (but certainly not up to Blue Bell standard).



Last weekend, we made our homemade chili. It is Cincinnati-style chili, with jalepenos added for some heat.



This week we made some spinach mozzarella quesadillas with asparagus and then taco-filled pasta shells.



On the family front, we headed up to North Dakota for Thanksgiving with the Prossers. I was introduced to some Norewegian traditions -- potato sausage and lefse. I think I ate more food in the three days we were there than I had all year -- it was all so good!

We ventured into Grand Forks a few times and Derek gave me the official tour of UND - Home of the Fighting Sioux. We saw his old dorm and house and then headed to the UND bookstore to pick up some Sioux gear and then over to the Ralph Engelstad, where UND plays hockey.





We got some good hang out time in with our niece, Kaylee. We celebrated Christmas while we were there, and headed home with a lot of goodies!





We headed home and decorated for Christmas (our first year to be able to put lights outside)...in the snow! We had about 3 inches of snow last Saturday, and it was beautiful.





This weekend, we celebrated Christmas with Kirk. Kirk hooked Derek up with some cool UConn gear and me with Cowboys stuff. Kirk got a new sand wedge. We had egg nog and a great dinner (Santa even brought everyone their favorite candy).







Oh, and last but not least, my mom and dad got us the coolest anniversary gift -- they framed our wedding program next to the speech that my dad gave -- coolest present ever.



Poll:

What was your favorite Christmas present?

This is a tough one -- I think mine was the U2 Achtung Baby tape that Robert gave me in 5th or 6th grade-- I listened to "Mysterious Ways" approximately 1 million times.