I'm Usually Not So Ambitious... (August 9th)

...but I guess I must have had a really good night sleep. Since Brandon's brother Adrian, his wife Natalie and their son Taylor have been out visiting Utah for the past month, we thought it would be nice to invite them over for Sunday dinner before they had to leave for Buffalo again. It seems like every get-together we have with my in-laws includes the entire family, which is great, but we really enjoy having one on one time (or two on two) as well.

I was impressed by the presentation of our meal that I just had to take a picture:

I was a little less impressed with the taste of the meal though. Our menu was as follows:

Gyoza (Japanese-style potstickers) - these kinda fell apart as we cooked them...

Miso Soup with Tofu, Scallions, Enoki Mushrooms, and Wakame Seaweed

Chinese Broccoli with Garlic and Ginger

Beef & Shiitake Mushroom Stir-fry with Rice - this was the biggest disappointment and it had way too many onions!

Green Salad (with cucumbers from our garden!)

The stir-fry was a first time attempt at a new recipe and I wish that I stuck with something a little more tried and true. And although we had done the Chinese broccoli before, I'm thinking that it might be out of season now because it tasted bitter. But the miso soup, salad, and rice were great (although those are no brainers for me). The gyoza tasted good but was lacking in the presentation department. So I guess overall, it all balanced each other out.

Here, Brandon & Adrian are geeking out to Fat Princess, a new videogame that Brandon just purchased for his PS3. Taylor doesn't seem quite as engaged...

Taylor drinking from the big boy cup with mom, Natalie. Adrian in the background with some fierce concentration on fattening up the princess...


Taylor giving Lucy some loves with the help of mom. He'll be a great older brother someday...


The cousins enjoying some lap time on Natalie.

Taylor is a very energetic toddler and just reminded me and Brandon of how much baby proofing we are going to need to do to our house. But for now, we'll just enjoy Lucy's immobility while we can. I am having a hard enough time trying to change her diaper with all the squirming she does - I can't even imagine when she starts crawling - then walking!