Irene

Karlyn's Tarragon Chicken

We had Tarragon Chicken this evening for Alyssa's birthday. We all really enjoy it and we hadn't had it in quite a while. I checked with Karlyn to be sure it was ok to post the recipe :)

2 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. oil

4 skinless chicken breasts (pounded out, cut into smaller pieces)

3/4 cup dry white cooking wine

2 tsp. dijon mustard

1 Tbsp. fresh chopped tarragon or 1 tsp. dried tarragon

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup heavy cream (I use light cream or half and half)

In a large frying pan, melt butter and oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook, turning once until lightly browned, about 4 minutes per side. Remove.

Add wine to the pan. Bring to a boil, scraping up the brown bits. Stir in mustard, tarragon, salt and pepper to taste.

Whisk in cream and boil until mixture thickens slightly, about three minutes.

Return chicken to pan, turn in sauce to coat. Simmer 5-10 minutes until chicken is tender.

Serve with either buttered noodles (kid's favorite) or white rice (parent's favorite).

YUMMY!!

Cousins :)

Adam spent a good portion of Sunday with Matt, Karlyn and kids. Looks like their kids enjoyed him. The ironic part of this is that Lydia used to SCREAM (and I do mean SCREAM....as in a panicked, scared to death SCREAM) when she saw Adam :) Seems like that's all resolved now!

Recognize These Characters?!?!?

Country Livin'

We've seen more deer on our property in the last month or so then we ever have! Kurt took the first picture yesterday morning as he was getting ready for work. Five bucks! Wowzers!

The following pictures were taken last week, this guy was looking for apples in the grass. Unfortunately, the camera was set on the wrong setting, so the pics aren't as good as what they could have been :(

You should be able to click on each pic and they'll enlarge to be able to get a closer look :)

PSU Love :)

We took Adam to Penn State on Friday. It was quite the caravan :) Alyssa and I drove in my car, Kurt drove Adam's beetle and Adam rode his motorcycle. Fortunately, the rain held off until Adam got to State College. We hit sooo much construction on our way, it was ridiculous! We left at 9 am and should have gotten there by about 11:45. We never arrived until after 12:30 :(

This was just one of the construction spots on I-80:

And this was how fast (!!) I was going:

And there was Kurt tagging on behind:

Kurt, Alyssa and I went directly to Matt and Karlyn's when we got to State College and waited out the rain that had started about an hour earlier. Karlyn was sweet enough to feed us lunch. And dessert, too....those carmelitas were delicious!! Since Adam got there before us, he went right to pick up his parking permit, register his motorcycle and pick up his key. Once the rain subsided, we met him on campus at his dorm. His buddy Richard, was with him and helped us carry Adam's belongings in (which I might add fit nicely in the back of my car without even needing the carrier on top...how different than when we moved Alyssa up there her first year...LOL!! Plus we only needed to make one trip up to his dorm!)

Adam and Richard:

Adam's dorm hall. There are 8 floors and he's on the top. The top two floors are devoted to engineering students:

Our two Penn Staters:

His door:

Adam's view out his window:

Just moving in:

Alyssa setting everything up for her brother. Don't know how he would have done it without her :)

I think he'll be using that bookshelf to put his head, so the rest of his body fits on the bed :)

Alyssa even color coordinated his t-shirts! Thank goodness :)

He's at the end of the hallway. Literally.

Darn. We didn't make it to the Creamery :(

The good news is this is what is directly across from his room. The bad news is this is what is directly across from his room:

As of about noon today, his roommate had not arrived yet, so we didn't get a chance to meet him. Alyssa briefly spoke with Adam tonight and he had arrived sometime this afternoon. It doesn't seem like they'll have much in common, so it'll be interesting to see how it all works out.

He has three different modes of transportation....his car, his motorcycle and his bicycle. He found out on arrival that he could register his motorcycle for free and park it right by his dorm. His car is parked in a lot out beyond the football stadium and that was NOT free :( There's no charge for bike space, but it must be registered. So I think he's set as far as getting around campus and State College goes!

I'm having a tough time adjusting to him being gone. I think I've called him a couple of times each day :) It's just odd having him there and Alyssa here! Hopefully he has as good of an experience as she did :)

Night Time

Happy Birthday Barb!!

We helped celebrate Barb's 65th birthday today. Her family held a surprise party for her at church today. She got a call that there was a function in our fellowship hall and not enough help showed up to do the cooking and could she come help ;) Well, wasn't she surprised!! There was about 70 friends and family there to honor HER!! (And, no, she didn't have to do any cooking...that was just the ploy to get her there!)

Barb and I have been handbell partners on our bell choir for years...we share the same music and help each other out when one of us is lost or confused (which happens frequently I might add...LOL!!). She is retired, but had been the Spanish teacher at one of the high schools in the Lehigh Valley.

Happy Birthday, Barb!!

LBI 2011

My plan was to put these pics in some sort of order, but the more I added, the more difficult it became....so.....y'all are just gonna have to deal with them in no particular order :)

This was our home away from home for a week the last week of July. We rented the second floor of this cute little beach front house in Surf City on Long Beach Island. The absolute best part of the whole week was getting to spend 24/7 with my very good friend, Vickie, who I hadn't seen for nearly 12 years.

Vickie and I became close friends when we worked together in the ICU at The Allentown Hospital in the 1980's. She moved to Indiana approximately 15 years ago and we've seen each other once since then :( I tried to arrange a weekend together in Pittsburgh earlier this year while Alyssa was out there doing her student teaching, but it would have been too long of a drive for Vic to get there to only spend a weekend together. She then decided that it had been way too long since she had been to the Jersey shore and maybe she could make the 16 hour trek to LBI, which would allow us to spend a whole week together, while giving her the opportunity to enjoy the beach :)

Kurt and Adam on their way back from a walk on the beach:

Kids enjoying the sun/surf:

The second best part of the week was arranging a little 'surprise' for Vic! Leanne and Vicki (yes, a different one...LOL!) came down for several hours on Friday to see Vic. We all became good friends while working together in the ICU. I had the opportunity to see Leanne and Vicki a couple of months ago at an ICU reunion breakfast and told them that Vic'd be with me on LBI and made plans for them to come down one day and surprise her. Let me tell you....it worked!!! She was totally shocked!! From left to right: me, Leanne, Vickie and Vicki:

We were having such issues not giggling while trying to get some good shots...either one of us had our eyes closed, or someone was making a goofy face. Alyssa loves the candid ones, so she just kept clicking away!

Check out the creepers in the background :)

And then Alyssa likes taking pics of people taking pics :)

Alyssa: "Look lovingly into each other's eyes...." This was the best we could do :)

I don't know....

Alyssa's holding Thor. He's the Broadcast mascot and loves to go on vacation with the members of the planning team!! Thor was rescued from one of those claw games. He recently traveled to Disney World, this trip to the Jersey Shore was probably anti-climactic for him :)

Catchin' up on Glamour magazine:

This is why our health insurance costs so much :)

Adam shared his inner tube with his dad :)

I didn't catch any sunsets but the sky was sure beautiful! That's the kids out there :)

Couldn't leave without getting a couple pics of our friends the seagulls :)

Kids again:

There were a ton of teeny tiny shells in the sand....Alyssa collected quite a few. That bottom one is actually a sand dollar!