Holidays » Mi Vida Ocupada

Christmas Eve Fondue {Family Style}

Family Gatherings, Holidays 6 Responses »

Jan 022011

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.

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Christmas Cuties

Babies & Kids, Holidays 1 Response »

Dec 102010

When my bff Mary asked me if I wanted to get together to take some Christmas photos of her kids and her niece and nephew, I was honored to oblige. Despite all the funny faces the kids were making that day, I was still able to get some cute shots

Mary’s sister and her daughter

Thanks for asking me take your Christmas photos, Mary and Leanne. Hope you enjoy them!

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Family Thanksgiving {2010 Edition}

Family Gatherings, Holidays 6 Responses »

Nov 272010

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……

Thanksgiving Candle

Roasted Turkey

Fresh Croissants

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

I ate This- Thanksgiving Edition

I hope everyone out there had a nice thanksgiving and ate well too!

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Holidays 2 Responses »

Nov 252010

I will be heading up to St Clous shortly with my family but thought this would be a nice moment to be conscientious of what I am thankful for in 2010.

My honey
My family
My friends
My neighbors
My kitties
A career in teaching that I love
Job security
My business- Twin Cities Restaurant Blog
My blogging friends
A newer car
My D-SLR
Food on the table
A roof over my head
My summer job in Texas
My roadtrip to Boston

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Halloween Night

Babies & Kids, Holidays 2 Responses »

Nov 042010

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, I spent most of my Sunday doing what I usually do on the weekends…… hang out with all the neighbors, watch Vikings and other football, eat whatever potluck goodness the neighborhood has thrown together, work on reviews for the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog, etc….. and I did pass out Halloween candy too, before heading out to a late-night dinner at my favorite Sunday restaurant, Norman Quacks (They have the best deal on Prime Rib on Sundays!).

A couple of photos from Halloween Night around my ‘hood…..

These last two were taken a few weeks ago at a friends house :)

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

Robot-Themed Costume Party

Friend Time, Holidays 9 Responses »

Nov 032010

Some friends of ours host a Halloween Party every year or at least several years out of the past 10! The past three parties have been at their “new” house and all have had a theme: 2008 it was “Musicians“, 2009 it was “Superheroes” and in 2010 it was “Robots”.

The robot theme was more than a little intimidating for me, but I went along with it and put a costume together the day of the party. I had something much more grandiose in mind but this is what my attempts came up with. I was only able to keep the head on long enough to make my entrance and pose for a few photos. I hate having my face/head covered and a big box is more than a little uncomfortable! Oh well, all in good fun.

All of our robots made their own costumes which was pretty cool but I suspect that some others were intimidated by the theme as well. The party wasn’t as wild as in years past….. many of the usual crowd didn’t make it this year (which made me sad)

Our hosts

Robots

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Thanks for reading, have a great day ;)

4th of July

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Holidays 2 Responses »

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 ;)

Easter 2010

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Holidays 5 Responses »

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 ;)

Blue Moon on the Last Day of the Decade!!

Friend Time, Holidays 6 Responses »

Jan 032010

The full moon on December 31st, 2009 was the 2nd full moon in December, making it a BLUE MOON. It was FREEZING cold outside but I braved it anyway (for a few minutes!) to take my new camera and tripod outside to try to capture the special blue moon.

Have you ever tried to shoot the moon??!! It is hard! Every time I try (here is another good pic of the moon I took with the Canon G10 back in September) it takes a lot of playing around with the settings before I get it right (otherwise it looks like a blurry white orb). This was taken with my 55-200mm Lens at f/5.6 1/320

New Years Eve was pretty laid back again this year. We had a very nice (but early!) steak dinner at the Lakeside Club, which has become a New Year's Eve tradition over the past five years. We had planned to go to a party later at our friends Miles & Becky's pace but opted not to drive all the way to NE Mpls. Too many cops and drunk drivers on the road made me feel safer at home!! I hung out with my neighbors for awhile and played a few games of darts

Noemy also stopped over for a little bit and since we were both wearing hats, I made her pose for a pic with me :) Now honest truth…..do I look like Elmer Fudd in that Hat??!! I thought I saw a wabbit!

Whether you went out or stayed home, I hope everyone else had a nice New Year's Eve too!

Christmas 2009

Friend Time, Holidays 3 Responses »

Dec 302009

I spent Christmas morning baking a few different cookies to take along to my in-laws for dinner and to a party at my neighbors' house later in the evening.

Peanut Butter Blossoms- The best!!! I had never made them before but they turned out amazing. Looking at this photo makes me want to make more right now just so I can have some again. I got only two out of this batch because they disappeared so quick!

White chocolate chip macadamia nut (with coconut). Another fave of mine :)

The weather was slushy and snowy on Christmas Day this year so I am glad we didn't have far to travel to get to my in-laws'. We had the traditional turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes/ham/creamed corn meal and it was delicious!!

After a few hours we headed home, relaxed for a little while and then headed next door to a birthday party for Darrell who shares his birthday with Baby Jesus. Every year Darrell and Denise throw a Christmas/Bday party for friends and neighbors. It is so much fun! This year we had smoked pork carnitas with fresh pico and rice. Fabulous. If I haven't mentioned before how lucky I am to have D & D as neighbors and for Denise to be such a wonderful cook (especially authentic Mexican food), they are the best!!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas too!

Christmas Eve Fondue with the Fam

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Holidays 1 Response »

Dec 302009

Christmas Eve fondue is one of my family's favorite traditions….

This is our set-up

Marinated Meats (and its hard not to notice all the other traditional fryer-foods like mozzarella sticks, tater tots, jalapeno poppers, etc that my brothers have incorporated into the dinner over the years)

Spear meats with fondue fork and place in hot oil! (The kids sit at a separate table and it will be a few years yet before they are able to fondue their own foods)

The process is lengthy and the kids were impatient waiting for the adults to finish so they could open presents! Here are a few other photos from the night

The kids had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed all the gifts they got. We got the kids each two sets of nice warm, soft Carter's PJs and I think they really liked them… they wore them home that night :)

They even enjoyed Chocolate fondue in their Pjs!

PS I wasn't sure if our Christmas Eve get together was even going to happen this year since local meteorologists were predicting the "Storm of the Century" with 30 inches or so to fall over Christmas. We ended up getting only 8" and the roads were fairly clear and drivable (although slippery)on Christmas Eve but still bad on Christmas Day. I hope weather didn't postpone Christmas for others, I know weather was bad all over this year!

A Super-Hero Halloween

Friend Time, Holidays 9 Responses »

Nov 022009

Almost every year our friends Matt & Colleen throw a big costume party for Halloween. Last year was the first time they made it a "themed" costume party, with "Musicians" being the theme. This year the theme was Super Heroes. Since I am not the type to prance around in my tights and underwear, this was a really hard one for me. I ended up going as "Spider woman" or some sort of variation. I had a sexy black dress and a transparent cape with spider webs all over it. I sewed little fake spiders onto the cape and had my bestie Denise crimp my hair. It looked pretty cute but I didn't get any good pictures. Here is me with Heather (Mystique) and Colleen (Wonder Woman)

Since Colleen went as Wonder Woman, her husband Matt went as her Invisible Jet. Time for a plane ride!

My bff Sonja (aka Little Red Riding Hood) decided to come at the last-minute, it was nice to have her there too!

I was too busy having fun to take pictures, but here are a few:

It was a lot of fun, thanks Matt & Colleen!

Early Fall Colors!

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Great Outdoors & Weather, Holidays 9 Responses »

Sep 092009

Back in August I started noticing that the trees had already started turning colors here. Doesn't this seem too soon? I can't remember another year when they started changing so early! This maple tree next door to my parents' house is already at its peak.

My parents had us all up this past Sunday for boating and a barbeque. This was the first time I had been up to their house all summer since Father's Day. Of course I had to take some photos of my nieces and nephew before returning my dad's camera back to him…..

For as long as she has been around, Miss Bianca LOVES to wear sunglasses. Little stinker knows she is adorable! (And doesn't her mama look beautiful in this pic too?)

Bennett was totally out of his element on the boat. Unlike his usual busy self, he just sat there immobile, chilling on the boat!

This "I don't know what to do" look on his face is priceless!

Bennett DID help grandpa drive the boat for awhile

and so did Beebs

Me and Jeff

I was teasing Jeff about his baby "mustache" and made him pose for a close-up. What a funny guy, this king of the Funny Video Search. (Have you checked it out yet?) He is also "pretty much the only guy in the entire world who knows how to ______" (Only Jeff can fill in that blank with the special technological things he is able to do! LOL) PS Does teasing your baby brother ever get old????!!!

After a delicious meal of smoked turkey, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad and grandma's homemade apple pie, we took the girls down to the boat to do some fishing.

How cute are they?

Annika with one of her fish….

My grandparents were up for dinner as well and I guess I forgot to take pictures with them. Hopefully I will see them again before they head home to AZ in a few weeks.

It was a great day at the lake, I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend also!

Taste of Minnesota 2009 ~ Judas Priest & Whitesnake

Concerts, Holidays No Responses »

Jul 182009

It is tradition in Minnesota to host a "Taste of Minnesota" Festival every year over the 4th of July. I know that was two weeks ago, but I am finally able to post about it now. The original premise of the Taste is to try different samples of food from various restaurants around Minnesota. I hadn't been to the Taste in about 4 years but wanted to go this year to check out Whitesnake and Judas Priest who were playing a free concert. Here are my pictures!

Whitesnake

Judas Priest

Zas VS Food (I plan to someday blog about my friend Richie who thinks he can eat more than anyone. I have a ton of pics of him eating like this one

We stayed to watch the fireworks which turned out to be pretty lame. They only last 7 minutes! I remember them being much cooler at the Taste when I was a kid.

Here are a couple other random pics

Father’s Day 2009

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Holidays 4 Responses »

Jun 232009

Spent Father's Day with my family up at my parents' house. We had been planning to do some boating but it was very overcast and slightly windy, but we did get down to the marina for a little while. The girls were trying to catch minnows in the little net my dad bought them for that purpose.

I don't think they caught many minnows but Annika was quite pleased with herself that she caught a "butterfly" in Grandma's garden (Made of wire! lol)

Bennett trying to keep up with his big sis… this kid is always on the move and boy does he move quick!

Did you notice Bennett's adorable curls? When he would stop for a split second I had to get his pic no matter who had him! (Lots of Bennett pics today)

I have said it before, but my niece Bianca is the funniest little kid! She is talking so good and she has the cutest little voice and how she says things. She is also the queen of funny faces. Here I caught a genuine smile and I just love it

For dinner we had Smoked Ham, cheesy hashbrowns, grilled veggies, baked beans, corn and dinner rolls. Don't these grilled veggies look amazing? They were!

My Gram & Gramp also came to dinner. The past year since their 60th Anniversary party went so dang fast! They celebrate their 61st in less than 2 weeks.

I hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day too!

Mother’s Day 2009

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Great Outdoors & Weather, Holidays 3 Responses »

May 122009

And I now resume to my normal blogging!!
(Thanks for hanging with me through the many posts of photos from the Photo Hunt!)

Mother's Day was a very nice day, honoring the wonderful women who raised us. I started this wonderful day with my in-laws at a Japanese restaurant. Yay for sushi! (I can't believe I did not take any pictures at the restaurant so I will have to just throw in this gorgeous photo of sushi from my archives :)

Later in the afternoon we went up to my parents' house for dinner and some fishing.

The lake is so relaxing!

The girls did a little fishing with Grandpa and Daddy. (Annika is obsessed with nightcrawlers and thinks they're fun to play with. Gross! Michelle has more pics of the kids on her blog)

Me and my momma

The Sauer girls

Michelle and Bennett

Brian, Michelle and the kids (Bianca, Bennett and Annika)

I hope all of you had a nice Mother's Day too!

Cinco de Mayo…..

Food and Drink, Holidays 4 Responses »

May 062009

Did you all have a nice Cinco de Mayo? I don't even think it matters if you're Mexican or not! Any excuse to eat Mexican food sounds like a great idea to me!

I themed this week "Mexican Food Week" in honor of Cinco de Mayo, traveling around St Paul trying different Mexican food places to review for the Twin Cities Restaurant Blog (I still need to write up one more review). I am used to making people hungry with my pictures, so here I go again!
Awesome chicken enchiladas at La Esperanza

Enchiladas & Taco at El Bravo

Tacos at El Amanecer

Tacos at Boca Chica's Taco House

If only I had had a yummy lime margarita on the rocks to go with any of it!!

Did anyone else go out and have an enjoyable Cinco de Mayo??

Day 84 ~ Cinco de Mayo Tacos

Food and Drink, Holidays 2 Responses »

May 062009

Lunch

Dinner

A Hippity Hoppity Easter

Babies & Kids, Family Gatherings, Great Outdoors & Weather, Holidays 3 Responses »

Apr 142009

It was a pretty nice day on Easter this year (in fact we've had about 7-8 days straight of sunny weather!). Spent some time with the in-laws for a nice early dinner before heading over to my uncle's house later in the afternoon. It was nice to see some of my cousins I haven't seen in awhile (and their kids!) and also my nieces and nephew.
My dad and Annika

The kids had a blast playing on the giant trampoline.

Bianca's hair was going wild with static electricity!!! Poor kid bonked her head last week and had to get a bunch of stitches.

One of my cousins has identical twin boys (4 years old). DOUBLE TROUBLE, no doubt!

Just look at these little turkeys trying to get a nice family photo! lol

My cousin Nick turned 21 on Easter Day. Ahh, to be young again!