What did Julie get me?

Here are some images. Can you guess what Julie got me for graduation/birthday/father's day?


That's right...she did take me to the zoo...but that is not out of the ordinary. She surprised me with a new zoom lens for my camera! It is a 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 It is super cool and I can get amazing detail. I can't wait to use it on our Florida vacation and up at the cottage!

I have an awesome wife who knew I have been wanting this lens since I bought the camera 3 years ago, and decided to get it for me. She did her homework, emailing friends and my dad to see what lens she should go with. I think all that work paid off; it is an superb lens.


I am proud of her for pulling off this surprise. She is especially happy with herself for accomplishing this feat. She got me!

Whose Tree?

This morning, I got to drive up to my friend Melissa's house and see her new little girl.  (This is my second time seeing baby Lauren.  She is a cutie pie!)

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the new baby.  But, let me say we need to send up lots of Thanksgivings for this little girl.  Melissa had to be on ten-weeks of bed rest before Lauren made her appearance in this world.  Due to the ten weeks of bed rest Lauren did not come early and was born at the perfect time.  She is healthy and her mommy and daddy really love her!

Okay, baby Lauren has nothing to do with trees.  After my morning visit, I arrive home and find this in my front yard:

We don't have and never did have a tree anywhere in our yard.  Weird.


(Actually, I did notice when I left that workers were cutting a tree down at one or two houses down behind us--does that even make sense.  Still kind of weird that it ended up in my front yard though.)

Lobster Extravaganza

This past Fall Joel found a website called Lobstergram.com.  He loves seafood and got really excited.  To be funny, he put a gift card to Lobstergram on his Christmas list.  Well, I was talking about his list with his brother and sister-in-law.  I told them that to celebrate his match this spring, he wanted a lobster dinner.  We basically had planned on getting one from our local grocery store.  However, on Christmas Joel got a very exciting present--a gift card from JP, Katie and his mom to Lobstergram.  The thing with Lobstergram is that they send you at least two live lobsters from Maine.  I am not a seafood fan and when I watched the video on how to cook them and how to break the shell--I was even less of a fan.  We decided that we needed to invite some friends that would enjoy seafood, because we would get at least two lobsters.  Therefore, we invited Brad and Lisa to join us for a lobster extravaganza.  Lisa is like me and doesn't like seafood, so it was a surf and turf meal.  Lisa and I enjoyed our steaks.  Brad and Joel were in dinner heaven.

We got the lobsters in the mail from UPS on Saturday morning.  They came in this big styrofoam cooler in a big box.  Along with TWO live lobsters that were just hanging out in the cooler, there were live clams and mussels.  (Joel had gotten a meal package).  We also got clam chowder, crab claws, corn and potatoes.  It was so much food.  Joel took lots of pictures and videos of the live lobsters and the entire process.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

Crockpots are wonderful things--they keep lobsters fresh and cold in the fridge.

Mr. Pinchy's Glamor Shot

 

Littleneck Clams

Mussels--we steamed these in tomato sauce...very good!

Brad's favorite--the snow crab claws

Mmm Dinner

Bon Appetite

Purging

It feels so good to get rid of stuff!

I read on a blog about this idea for Lent.  Instead of giving something specific up during the 40 days of Lent, the blogger suggested getting rid of 40 bags of things.

I decided that was a great idea and it is really timely.  We are moving in the next 2-3 months and lets face it we have moved every two years and there are probably boxes we haven't even unpacked.  I say--they are good to go.  I also have way too many clothes and I don't wear them all.  It just feels so good to get rid of stuff.

I don't know if I will get rid of 40 bags of stuff or a bag a day, but I will make an effort everyday to find at least one item to go in my donate pile, throw away pile, or sell pile.  I've gotten rid of books, clothes, knick knacks, etc.  It just feels like our lives are a little lighter--we will probably still feel like we have too much stuff when moving day does come.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Coming Soon:
Blog post about Joel's lobster dinner (with pictures and possibly video)

Prayer Requests:
Pray that the right house comes along for our little family.  We have a good lead, but need to wait on a few more details about it before anything is decided.