Pizza competition

Round one of the evening's taste testing


Our official ballots


Let the cooking begin!


Mark and Ben cooking the meat for their pizzas


Sarah and Ben working on their own pizzas


sculpting our Pilsbury dough


the first place team hard at work with Thanksgiving leftovers


first pizza in . . . we had the oven working over time that night



Ben and my pig pizza


Larry giving his "winners" speech

Of course there were activities and "events" planned throughout our Kroon Thanksgiving. One was an annual kickball game. This year it was rather humorous. No team scored so we "tied" at zero zero. It was fun to play though. The last time I remember playing kickball was in middle school. Good times.

Sarah and Teagen came up with a new idea/tradition they want to continue to have a home made pizza competition. SO, Friday night we all went to the grocery store to get secret ingredients for our pizzas and then took over the kitchen making 7 pizzas. It was crazy, crowded and a blast! Most of us worked in teams. The pizza's were scored on three areas, presentation, originality and taste. Ben and I made a pig shaped pizza with pepperoni, yellow peppers, and olives (for the mud). Ben Kroon made an Italian sausage and veggie pizza, Sarah Kroon made a cheeseburger pizza that took second place. Marlene and Sarah's mom made the first place winner and most original unique pizza by far. They used Thanksgiving leftovers to make a cream cheese, turkey and cranberry pizza. Surprisingly it was REALLY good, more of a desert pizza flavor but very tasty. Mark and Joani made a chicken and some kind of specialty cheese pizza that was fabulous (my favorite) and took third place. Larry and Brittany pulled up the rear with a Papa Murphy's pepperoni pizza and BBQ chicken wings as an appetizer. We had Henry Weinhard's root beer to wash it all down.

Larry was hillarious. He had a speak all written out on his napkin ready to go for first place and gave it anyway even after taking last. We were STUFFED to the rim with pizza by the end of the night! Ben and I took off back for home shortly after. We were glad to be a part of the first annual pizza making competition. Great idea guys!

Thanksgiving blessings!

The Kroon crew


Ella on the trampoline (Ben and Sarah's little girl)


Allison (Mark and Joani's little girl, she was 2 weeks old at our wedding)



little Miss Allison with her looong eyelashes, she is a cutie!


Mark, Joani, Ben and me


Ben and Sarah


Teags and Britt being . . . Teags and Britt :)



Grandpa Kroon and Ella



Grandma Kroon and Allison



Bean bag toss, Ben and Ben were a team and Teags and Brittany were a team



A group of us playing a new game called "Bang" it was addicting! We played for about 5 hours!

This Thanksgiving was filled with blessings. The biggest blessing and change is it was our first Thanksgiving married!!

On our way to the Kroon's to celebrate the day I got a text from Ashley Mehringer (Ryan) saying that our friend Amy (from a previous post) had her baby boy. Over the course of Amy's pregnancy doctors said they suspected their boy would be born with Down's Syndrome or hydrocephalas (water on the brain). We all have been praying A LOT for a healthy baby for Amy and Bart. We found out that little Clive was born 2 weeks early 100% healthy! A HUGE Thanksgiving blessing!

The day continued to be filled with blessings as we got to Ben and Sarah Kroon's and started a two day reunion. Joani, Mark and Allison were down from Oregon. Brittany, Lary and Marlene came down from Alaska and Teagen drove over for the day too! We had a big Thanksgiving feast and party at Sarah Kroon's parents place in San Pedro (Southern LA). Larry said part way through the day, "Who would have guessed 10 years ago we would all be celebrating Thanksgiving together in Southern, CA?" It IS interesting where life takes you and how paths continue to cross. This was definitely a memorable 1st Thanksgiving together. Thanks Kroon's for inviting us to celebrate with you!!

A Christmas Carol

This week Ben and I had a date night and went to see the new Disney 3D version of A Christmas Carol. I have to admit I was disappointed by it. The computer graphics were amazing but the humor was a little crass and it was pretty scary for being a cartoon/kids movie. I felt heavy at the end, not what I expected. There was a kid behind us during the movie that cried off and on throughout it because it was too scary. Also, for those who don't know it's in 3D so it costs about $5 more than a regular movie. I would not recommend spending the time and money to go and see it. Check it out when it comes out on DVD and watch it before you let your kids watch it, there are some pretty scary parts.

baby shower

this is not from the shower it's just a fun pic of me and Amy at church a couple of Sunday's ago :)


Ashley, Amy, me

















Amy and Ashley

Tonight Ashley Mehringer and I carpooled to a baby shower for our friend Amy Horton. Amy is one of my closer friends in CA. Our husbands used to be former roommates early on in seminary and now they are expecting their first child. Thought I'd post some pics from the evening. Amy and Bart (her husband) are expecting a boy December 8th. Ashley Mehringer, for those Alaskans that know her is expecting a girl in mid March. It's baby central down here!

One of the women that helped host the shower had her husband (a professional chef and cateror) come and cater the whole thing. We had AMAZING food!

rigatoni

Last Friday Ben decided to surprise me when I got home from work with a homemade hot meal on the table. He called his mom and got one of his favorite recipes from her that morning and had it all planned out how the evening would go. The only glitch was that I got home an hour earlier than I had planned on getting home so dinner was not "on the table" as he had envisioned it but he did go grocery shopping and was excited to make a hot meal for me to say "thanks" for the meals I make throughout the week. It made my night! It was such a blessing and an act of love to come home at the end of a busy week and have him get a delicious hot meal together.

What did he make? Rigatoni . . . rigatoni pasta with spaghetti sauce, chunks of pepperoni and fresh mozzerella. He also bought garlic bread to go with it to have a "two course" meal. Whenever I make a meal that has more than one item (i.e. meat with a veggie and bread or a veggie and rice) he says I made a three course meal. He comes from a simple bachelor menu so I let him go ahead and think that I am really outdoing myself by making "three" and "four course" meals. :)I am a huge fan of pasta so this was right up my alley and is now a new favorite of both of ours. I had never had this particular recipe before and it was great! I truly am married to a GREAT man. He treats me like a queen. We both laughed at the pictures because they don't do it justice but trust me, it was a great meal!