My niece Bianca turned four a few weeks ago (wow does time fly!) and we celebrated at Brian and Michelle’s house last weekend. She got a lot of cool gifts but I think her favorite is her little ipod with the headphones
All three kids got umbrellas
I got the girls these little zebra and giraffe outfits
Some of the adults
The cake
She didn’t take those headphones off that whole night!
Jan 112011
2011 marks the 24th year of the Sauer Family Foosball Tourney. Its a pretty awesome tradition!
Some of this year’s partnerships in action:
The winners this year were Brian and Heidi. The paint job on the Toilet Bowl Trophy is the least exciting one I have seen in 24 years
Got a few pictures with some of my cousins
Congrats to Heidi and Brian for the big win ;)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)So what if I am posting my Christmas Photos two weeks later…. Better late than never, right!?
After sleeping in pretty late on Christmas morning (recovering from the delicious fondue of Christmas Eve), we stopped by my aunt & uncles house for the Sauer Family Christmas. I am glad that my aunt & uncle who were hosting this year live just a few miles from us, makes it easy to stop by!
Me and my mama
Mary and Angela
Susan and Katie
Some of the guys
Cousin Jane and her husband Ted (visiting from So Dak)
Jane & Ted’s boys
Cousin Nick, recently graduated with a degree in Education!
After a couple of hours it was time to head over to my in-laws house for our traditional Christmas dinner of ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. It was also delicious! Sorry, I never take photos of my in-laws (or my man for that matter), they just aren’t into it. Makes me sad because I love photos and they’re always missing :(
Later on Christmas Night after we got home, we went next door to D & D’s house. They always have a party late on Christmas night to celebrate Darrell’s birthday. He is the black baby Jesus, born on Christmas Day! At around 10pm we enjoyed our second dinner of the day, grilled steak fajitas!!
The birthday boy cooking up all the steaks….
Guests getting food
I didn’t take many people pictures because we were too busy having fun but of course I took some of the Mexican Buffet when it was time to eat!!
Fried spring rolls too!
A not-so-hot pic of me and NiNi. We probably had several margaritas at this point in the night ;)
It was another great Christmas, can’t wait to do it all again next year! The only thing that would make it even better is if Noemy and Traves are in town to celebrate with us at D & D’s :)
Jan 022011
My brother Jeff left town Christmas morning to meet Amanda and her family in the Virgin Islands and since he would not be around for the Sauer Family Foosball Tourney the following weekend, on Christmas Eve he came up with the brilliant idea of making a mask of his face for a “stand-in” family member to wear in his place. He took a mugshot with his iPhone and printed it a few minutes later and since I was there when he tried his mask on…… I had to snap a pic because it was so effin creepy!
Kinda reminds me of Halloween or Silence of the Lambs!
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)As always on Christmas Eve, once again this year my family got together at my parents’ house for a delicious fondue dinner. (A look back: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009) The meats marinate all day long and we cook them individually right at the table in hot oil (3 fondue pots). Not shown: cheese sticks and cream cheese wontons
New this year: Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Tenderloin and Bacon-Wrapped Tator Tots
There were at least a hundred presents under the tree….
Perhaps the best present of the night was this microphone that Jeff gave Bianca. Question is…who loved it more? Jeff or Bianca?!
Annika liked it too :)
I attempted a shot of Brian, Michelle and the Kids
Mom and Dad
Me and Jeffrey
There goes Jeff on the microphone again!
This may be the only pic I got of Bennett. He got at least five “monster trucks” or vehicles of some kind and was having the time of his life!! Ahh, boys and their cars.
It was a great time, hope ya’ll had a wonderful celebration with your families as well.
You may remember the Legend of Pork Fussili. No? Then you better click on the link to ‘get in the know’!
Jeff and Amanda made the famous dish for the family again a few weeks ago while she was in town.
The night wasn’t just about food!
This year I spent Thanksgiving with some of my Sauer kin at my dad’s brother’s house in St Cloud. We had a delicious spread of food and the desserts were amazing.
My Thanksgiving, in photos……
I hope everyone out there had a nice thanksgiving and ate well too!
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Yesterday was a big milestone birthday for my mom, so the family celebrated by getting together for dinner (unfortunately Bri and Mich were both sick with a stomach virus and couldn’t make it).
Look at these gorgeous roses that Amanda put together. She is always so creative and thoughtful with her gifts!
It was great that Amanda happened to be in town so she could celebrate with us ;)
I made Stuffed Mushrooms to bring up for an appetizer (recipe to follow soon!) and we had lasagna, garlic cheese bread, salad, and then apple crisp for dessert
My mom blowing out her candles….
It was a nice, laid-back dinner. I was a little bummed that I didn’t get to see Annika, Bianca and Bennett but I am sure we will be seeing them in the next month sometime.
Glad my mom had a nice birthday!
PS I didn’t officially commit to NaPoBloMo but I have been successful at posting every day in November so far, going to try to keep it up :)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)My parents had the family up to the Lake on Sunday. My Gram and Gramp were supposed to be there too but were both feeling under the weather and decided not to come. Its too bad, as they are heading back to their home in AZ next week. That means I won’t see them until next May unless I find myself in AZ between then and now (which I hope happens!)
I spent most of my time down at the lake with these two, who loved running around the beach
Perfect chance for me to snap some pics
Fishing off the dock was a success, here is a nice bass
My cousin Segen (who is from WI but goes to college in St Paul)
Bri and my dad
We had the BEST smoked beef brisket, coleslaw, skillet mac ‘n cheese, homemade apple crisp and apple turnovers. Doesn’t get any better than that!
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Last weekend Jeff threw a Fajita Fiesta at his place. Mmmm, I love parties. And I love food. Especially Fajitas. and Margaritas!
Me and my bros
Michelle, Me and Amanda
Not sure what Jeff is doing here
This cute little redhead is Amanda’s friend’s daughter. The other two are Bianca and Bennett.
Uncle Jeff and Buddy
Gram and Gramp
I think Brian has Bennett well-trained to get him beers. lol
Dude had very dirty feet (taken by Michelle)
Cute little tree frog the kids found.
It was nice to get together to celebrate the end of summer :)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Unlike many other summers, this year I was deprived from any boating on the lake, due to being in Texas most of the summer. Last weekend I finally got my chance…. My brothers, Michelle and the kids, as well as my cousin Vicky and her kids all came up to my parents place for a day of boating and dinner. It was a HOT, humid day and very breezy.
Isn’t Annika’s curly, red hair beautiful? She is a lucky girl
Fun times!
Glad I got out there at least once this summer, the way that the weather has been looking the past few days…. Autumn is on its way.
I mentioned I was behind in blogging so I am going to go back in time and try to remember what I have been up to so far in July…..
I was home in St Paul briefly in mid-July before being sent back to Texas to continue the project I am working on. (I would love to elaborate what I am doing but cannot for confidentiality reasons). Fortunately the timing worked out so that my brother Jeff and his girlfriend were both in town at the same time that I was! We missed Jeff over the 4th because he was in D.C. with Amanda so it was especially awesome that she was able to come to the Cities such a short time later (she lives/works in D.C.). We had a family rendezvous at Jeff’s place where he and Amanda made homemade pizzas for all of us. Have I mentioned what a great cook Amanda is and how she has been such an amazing influence on Jeff’s culinary abilities??? Love it!!
My family loves pizza (you would know this if you looked back through my Family archives or if you have followed me for the last 5+ years), but these pizzas were different than the standard pepperoni/sausage. Trying to get creative with the leftovers from a BBQ the previous night, they made the following delicious pizzas…..
Jeff’s words on the pizza, “It’s pretty east (relatively speaking) – buy Betty Crocker crust and make it to instructions. Heat a cast iron pan with olive oil in it and then place crust into pan and pan into oven to cook around 10 minutes.
Then just add. Toppings. For the ribs pizza I put a layer of Sweet Baby Rays as a base, then put cilantro all around it… then cut up ribs I had cooked the night before and placed on the pizza. Top with Cheese and BAM, BBQ Rib pizza!
Of all things, the cilantro is key.”
MMMM, and now i am hungry for pizza!
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Jul 072010
While I was home for 4th of July weekend, I went to my cousin MacKenzie’s graduation party which was held on Sunday the 4th.
4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I just love being patriotic and celebrating our independence and freedom. Even better to spend it with family and friends.
This is Mackenzie and her mom
Mackenzie went all-out for her grad party and ordered one of those giant air-filled- bouncy castles for all the kids to play in. Its safe to say that my nieces and nephew had a BLAST!
They also loved the snow-cones made from the snow-cone machine…..
You won’t find a cuter blue smile than this one….
Love this one!
It was nice to see my grandparents as well :)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Jul 072010
I flew back home to the Twin Cities for the weekend of the 4th. I didn’t have a ton of time to do much beyond laundry and running errands, but I did make some time to see my family. My parents had Bri, Michelle and the kids up for a day of boating so I joined them later in the day for a visit….
Annika
Bianca with her funny faces…..
Bennett
My dad attempted to take a photo of me by the lake
and I took a ton of photos of my mom’s beautiful flowers…..
For dessert my mom made her annual 4th of July Cheesecake….
Stay tuned for 4th of July post and many others coming soon!
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)These days tickets to see the Twins at the brand-new-state-of-the-art Target Field are the hottest tickets in town. Luckily my brother Jeff is a season ticket holder and is very generous with taking friends and family to the game. Last week he took me, Brian, and our dad to an afternoon game to see the Twinkies play the Colorado Rockies. This was a Father’s Day gift to our dad. We had a great time! We first started with the buffet at the Metropolitan Club, where we sat outside to watch the first half of the game. I will do a review of this shortly.
Here is a panorama from Metropolitan Club. It is a HUGE image, stitched together with 6 or 7 shots. Click it to see it bigger on Flickr.
The second half of the game was spent from Jeff’s seats which are pretty bad-ass.
Panorama from Jeff’s seats
This was my first Twins game in about 13 years and even though they lost and I find baseball extremely boring, it was stilla great experience to be out at the new Field with my fam! Thanks Jeff :)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Every year in May my brother Jeff throws a giant BBQ at his house. (He is a great host and very generous!) This year was the 4th year now! Check out 2007, 2008, 2009
I didn’t take many photos this year, just a handful!
This is called “Bacon Explosion”. (Recipe found at BBQAddicts) This photo is not nearly impressive considering how it was made/prepared so I am going to share Jeff’s photos of how it was prepared
First Jeff made a lattice with a lb of bacon…….
(Photos courtesy of Jeff’s Facebook)
Then filled it with more cooked bacon, ground sausage, and BBQ sauce…..
and rolled it into a loaf and put it in the smoker for several hours.
Bacon Explosion was pretty dang good, I say!!
He also made 4 giant pork shoulders which were smoked for several hours and then braised in the crockpot for several more hours until it was tender enough to pull. They were lining up to get some of the goodness…..
A few more people photos……
(Bennett= Cutey patootie with a blonde ‘fro)
Can’t you just hear Michelle’s thoughts…… “Where the hell did my damn wine go??” LOL
Traditional “Kiss Jeff on the cheek” pic, 2010 Porkapalooza version
Thanks for the fun time, Jeff! Looking forward to the next one ;)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Having a huge family is awesome (for the most part) and I am always thankful that I have so many cousins. The number of first cousins I have is somewhere near 40 but when you add in their significant others and their kids, that is a whole lot o’ cousins!! We are spread all over the country, too. Last year I had five cousins graduate HS and at least two finished college programs. This year I have two more little cousins graduating HS!
The first of which is Angie, who actually graduated in January, one semester ahead of schedule. Angie did the smart thing and enrolled in college immediately and already has an entire semester under her belt! Check out Angie’s senior portraits done by my talented SIL, Michelle Sauer Photography.
Last weekend Angie had her graduation party…… on one of the hottest, most humid days we have had so far this season. It was nice to see some of my family there (so happy to see Jennifer while she was in town!)
Congrats on your big accomplishment Angie! Good luck at SCSU next year! (Which happens to be my alma mater!)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)May 112010
Mother’s Day was one of the nicest days we have had in over a week. Not warm by any means, but sunny and calm. We spent the day up at my parents house and before I share photos, I have to share with you this gorgeous sunset over Green Lake that I captured on my way home. I pulled over at a public access site and walked through the muck until I was in a good position. Boy was it worth it! This shot is SOTC (straight-out-of-the-camera)
| Camera: | NIKON D5000 |
| Exposure: | 1/800 |
| Aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| ISO Speed: | 500 |
| Flash: | No Flash |
We spent some time down at the lake and just hanging out with the kids. My grandparents just came back to MN for the summer and were able to join us as well :)
You know what? I feel like an ass. I did not take one single photo of my mom on Mother’s Day. How did that happen??!! Maybe because I was having impromptu photos taken of me. By the amazing Michelle Sauer. I am going to be featured on Twin Cities Spark this week and needed a current headshot so I asked Michelle if she would take a couple
Here is the only people-photo I took that day. I don’t know which you’re more likely to find in Michelle’s hands; her wine or her camera!! LOL
And a few from the garden…..
| Camera: | NIKON D5000 |
| Exposure: | 1/4000 |
| Aperture: | f/2.5 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| ISO Speed: | 200 |
| Flash: | No Flash |
This gorgeous bouquet of roses was sent to my mom by Jeff and Amanda. Gorgeous!
| Camera: | NIKON D5000 |
| Exposure: | 1/80 |
| Aperture: | f/2.0 |
| Focal Length: | 50 mm |
| Exposure Bias: | 0 EV |
| ISO Speed: | 500 |
| Flash: | No Flash |
I hope all of you Mother’s were treated special on your day!!! (And every day for that matter!)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Apr 112010
Easter was an eventful day!
Started with brunch and an Easter Egg Hunt at Brian and Michelle’s
The look on Bianca’s face cracks me up! lol
Later we went to my mom & dad’s house where they were hosting the Sauer Family Easter with about half the Sauer Clan (35 or so?). What can I say? My dad has a big family and I have a lot of cousins and many of them have a lot of kids now!
Another Easter Egg Hunt, Hillbilly Golf, Kiddy Rides on the “Lift” down to the lake
Video footage of the kids coming up the lift
Some of the girl cousins (plus Michelle and Kim)
Shel and Me
Then dinner later with the in-laws.
I ate about 8 deviled eggs. Good stuff ;)
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)Mar 192010
Last weekend Brian and Michelle had our families over to celebrate my nephew Bennett’s 2nd birthday. Boy did this kid have fun!
Everywhere we looked he was opening a new present of a cool new TRUCK or SPORTS stuff.
This kid is 100% BOY!
Active Boy!! Every 2 minutes he had something new and cool to play with…
Auntie Erin and Bianca
Bennett also had a really cool messy, chocolatey cake….. inside the back of this truck!
More cake…
Happy Birthday Boy
One of the my favorite things Bennett got was this Rapping Frog……. how cute is he??!!
Glad you enjoyed your birthday, little Dude!
Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)
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