So the morning show that I listen to was talking about everyone having a hole in their wall. It’s amazing how stories about holes can be so hysterical. I was in the car by myself this morning experiencing laughing pains in my side – a site for any morning commuter to see.
Our house is pretty new – but yes we still have a hole in our wall. Actually, it’s in Nolan’s bathroom wall. You’ll have to ask him about that one.
An update …
Gavin – Seven teeth, just over pneumonia
Nolan – Higher Ability Core Class for 08-09 School Year
Denise – New Business/Boutique/Ready for Summer Vacation!
Chris – Imac (oops, was that out loud?)
Hello everyone!
We are having a fantastic time here in Hawaii!! Right now it is almost 9:30 – which means most of you are probably asleep since it is 3:30 AM!! So I’m pretty tired and I really want to tell you about all of the exciting things we have done. Since I am about to fall asleep right now I’m going to do it in list form! 
So that’s it. Tomorrow we are getting up to watch the sunrise over the mountain from the beach. Then we are going to have some breakfast, finish packing and then head over to O’ahu!!!!!
Night all!!!
This will also be a quick post as we are getting ready to head down to the Ocean Terrace Restaurant and enjoy their scrumptious breakfast buffet again this morning.
After breakfast we will be heading down near the beach for an oceanfront “couples massage” that is supposed to last about an hour and be very relaxing … all I have to say is that for $230 it better be VERY relaxing!
Anyway, thought you might enjoy some photos from our travels yesterday.
We went over to the Hilo side of the island (the rainy side … which means it is very green and lush) … over there we were able to do some shopping at the Farmer’s Market in downtown Hilo and found our first scrapbooking store (yea!!!! … well for Denise 
) …
We enjoyed lunch at Cafe Pesto right on the bay and then headed over to the beach near Kalapana where the lava has flown over the beach. It was a 1/4 mile hike through a lava field to see on of the coolest sights we’ve seen … the black sand beach! Absolutely awesome!
Anyway, check out the photos and we’ll hope to post more soon.
We made it … it’s beautiful … miss you all!
We are getting ready to leave for a busy day of sightseeing!
Here are a few pictures from the last 24 hours:
So it’s been a while since Chris or I have posted. Quite a bit has been going on with the Thornberrys lately!! I’m surprised Chris hasn’t been on here to tell you about the latest news – so now I get to tell you!! He earned a trip to Hawaii and we are going over Spring Break!!!!!! We are SO excited about the trip!! The boys won’t be able to go so it will be just the two of us! Nolan will be spending Spring Break at his Dad’s and Gavin will be staying with Grandma & Grandpa T.
Back in November I joined a Biggest Loser team. It was an 8 week competition full of healthy eating, weekly tasks & challenges, and LOTS of exercise! I made some awesome new friends during the 8 weeks and all that hard work really paid off! I lost 17 pounds and won the entire competition! I enjoyed it so much that I decided to become a team leader for the next round. We are currently in our 1st week and I’ve a team of some awesome women! The next challenge is on!!
Nolan had some wonderful news a few weeks ago. He received his report card and made the “A” Honor Roll! He also made perfect attendance – he’s doing AWESOME this school year. He and Chris are currently working on his pinewood derby car. The derby is scheduled for 2-16 so they’ve been pretty busy!!
Mister Gavin is getting so big! He now has FIVE teeth!! He is learning to chew a few foods every now and then and it’s so funny to watch his reaction of the different tastes & textures. (He does NOT like avocados!) He is also sitting up and crawling pretty well now. Here soon he’ll be walking!!
And then we have Marti. The cold weather is really hard on the poor thing. He has finally lost enough weight now where he can jump up on our bed. I’m happy for his health, but it’s startling when I lean over to kiss Chris good morning and I end up kissing the dog!
So if you haven’t noticed I didn’t get all 12 recipes out before Christmas!! I only made it SEVEN. I hope to make it up to everyone (who cares) and finish posting them before the end of JANUARY. They obviously won’t be available for your Holiday Party – but maybe you can use them for your Super Bowl Party!! I’ll think up some good ones.
Chris left early this morning for Florida. It’s a short trip this time though, he’ll be back on Friday evening. Just in time for Nolan’s birthday party on Saturday! Our birthday was yesterday and he decided on a “Casino Night” theme for his party. Should be a lot of fun!
Hope y’all had a great Christmas and a fabulous New Year – hopefully you are all still sticking to your New Year’s Resolution!!
Who doesn’t love to make or eat Christmas cookies?! Here is a recipe that anyone can make – and I’m sure you already have over half of the ingredients in your pantry already! These sugar cookies are also fun for kids to help bake and decorate themselves. Give them some sprinkles and a few tubes of different color icing and they’ll have a blast! Don’t reach for the store bought cookie dough that you slice and place on the cookie sheet yourself. Slow down a little bit, put on some Christmas music and whip up a batch of these with your family. They will be so good when they come out of the oven – and your house will smell good too!
Step 1 Ingredients
2 tsp vanilly
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 c buttermilk
Combine ingredients in bowl & set aside
Step 2 Ingredients
6.5 c flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Combine 2nd set of ingredients in separate large bowl and mix well. Combine both sets of ingredients until well incorporated and refrigerate dough for 1 – 1.5 hours.
Drop by teaspoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes at 400.
So here is a wonderful treat. I like to make these candies as a nice home-made gift for co-workers, last minute gifts, scouts or sent with a Christmas card. You can completely customize these chocolates for your event – and they are fun to make!
You will need:
Meet Cleaver or rolling pin
Festive Candy molds (optional)
2 bags of Wilton White Chocolate – or other color. If you use white, the mints will turn a light pink color – they are very pretty this way!
1 box of candy canes OR 1 bag of starlight peppermints
First, unwrap the candy canes or mints and place in a freezer bag. You may have to divide them into 2 bags. Seal the freezer bag and place on waxed paper or a cutting board – you WILL put holes in the freezer bag and this will catch your mess! Finely crush the candy with the meat cleaver – a lot of it will turn to powder – which is perfect.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once it is completely melted stir in the crushed peppermint and mix well. Spoon the mixture into candy molds, such as snowflakes, Christmas trees or candy canes. If you are in a hurry you can just drop by teaspoonfulls onto wax paper. I do this a lot just to save time. You can speed it up even more by placing the candy in the fridge for a few minutes until set. These are a hit! I also have made these for birthday parties and Mardi-Gras get-togethers using different candy molds. DELISH! Have fun with this one!
This is a recipe that I have not made before. I plan on making it for one of our many get-togethers this holiday. I really like corn bread and corn cake, so I thought this one sounded really good. I’ll let you know how it tastes after I actually make it!
Ingredients:
4 large eggs
1.5 cups heavy cream
2 TBSP sugar
4 TBSP unsalted butter; melted
2 TBSP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
4 cups frozen corn kernals; thawed
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
In a blender, combine eggs, cream, sugar, butter, flour, baking powder & salt; blend well. Add corn and belnd until mixture in nearly smooth.* Stir in onions & red pepper. Pour into dish and bake at 350 for 45 – 50 minutes, until top is golden brown.
*I think I’m going to add my corn with onions and red pepper instead of putting it through the blender…we’ll see!