Gas prices a droppin...

Today best gas price is $2.39 a gallon at Costco on Expo.... Can you believe it?

Christmas Music

I love Christmas music, all kinds of Chirstmas music! I had an old CD called Twisted Christmas by Bob Rivers.... lost it..Boo. Found a bunch of them on youtube last night and this is one of my favorites!

Thumbprint poem

Thumb Print

Your thumb print
Embedded on my soul
My heart in your hands
Your hands, a hole

Branded in love
By the sword in your side
Never trying again
From you to hide

The blood from the thorns
Placed upon your brow
I come to you, Lord
And humbly bow

Your hands reach down
Gathering up my soul
Leaving a thumb print
That will make me whole

Lifting me up gently
From my knees
In the palm of your hand
You now place me

You lovingly caress
Whispering away the pain
Bound up in your love
Peace and joy I gain.

Macaroni & cheese Recipe #2

This is called Ultimate Macaroni and cheese and it's a copycat recipe from an Atlanta Georgia resturant called The Horseradish Grill. It was good, I uppped the cayenne to 1/4 tsp and used heavy whipping cream and fat free 1/2 & 1/2... hey it's what I had in the frig.

There was 3 Yummy's, 1 didn't like the texture and 3 it's good but no the best. Doesn't reheat well but when fresh out of the oven it's very smooth and creamy.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups small elbow macaroni
1 1/4 cups extra-sharp cheddar cheese, cubed (5 oz.)
2 2/3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/3 cups half-and-half
1 1/3 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
3/4 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 1/4 cups packed extra-sharp cheddar cheese (5 oz. grated)
Directions
1 Preheat oven to 350. Lightly butter 9x13x2 inch glass baking dish. Cook macaroni in boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain and transfer to prepared dish. Mix in cubed cheese.
2 Whisk flour, salt, mustard, black pepper, cayenne pepper and nutmeg in medium bowl until no lumps remain. Gradually whisk in half and half, then whipping cream and sour cream. Add eggs and Worcestershire sauce; whisk to blend. Pour over macaroni mixture and stir to blend. Sprinkle grated cheese over.
3 Bake macaroni and cheese until just set around the edges but sauce is still liquid in center about 25 minutes. REmove from oven and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

The Jarquin World - in print

From our picture taking in the park.... Amy is a genius!

Our beautiful Becca and Joe

Justin, Suzanne and Winter

Hansom men don't you agree?

The two that started it all!

From left to right..... Oscar, Paige, Justin, Suzanne, Joe, Becca, Jonathan and front center is Miss Winter Elizabeth

Weekend highlights.....

In the Jarquin World we have been enjoying some good old fashioned family time.

Friday - Jonathan arrived late, like close to 10pm that's late for us old folks! Justin picked him up at the airport with the baby so Jonathan could get his first peek at his new niece! He thinks she's beautiful of course.....lol. It was great to have my baby home, we visited for a couple hours and then it was off to bed for us and out to visit friends for Jonathan. Always nervous when they are home from the military and take our cars out!

Saturday - We started the day at 4am, Jonathan just coming home from his friends and me not able to sleep. We enjoyed a cup of coffee on the front porch together and caught up on life stuff. It's hard to believe that my baby is just weeks away from his 21st birthday. That he is in the Navy, serving his country, it's like he's a grown up or something? Crazy! We still had normal life stuff to accomplish so Jonathan caught up on his sleep while Justin went to class. We went to visit Becca at work since she didn't' see him on Friday night. Oscar's parents came by to spend the afternoon, the boys went off to the movies and the girls went shopping. Dinner was very nice, his favorite of Ham, a new mac and cheese recipe and steamed broccoli. I'm on the hint for that great homemade macaroni and cheese recipe..... tried two so far and they were both good but not wicked good, so the search is still on.

Sunday - Was truly our best day so far. Everyone stayed home Sunday morning, so there was a lot of bodies laying around watching movies, eating breakfast, napping, drinking coffee. Mostly it was just wonderful to watch my 3 kids be siblings together, like they were before the teen years. They laughed at private jokes... kind of like they actually "liked" each other again! We took the dogs to the park for exercise, went shopping to get some outfits for family pics, met Amy my photographer friend at Land Park for photo's. Then it was off to Marie Calendars for dinner and our final stop was Laughs Unlimited in Old Sac.

We have two days left until he heads back and life is back to the usual work and stuff but I have to say it's wonderful to have all my babies back under my roof for a few days!

Pictures to follow when I find my cord to download them.....!

Oscar had a Birthday

Another year, another candle! Oscar turned 44 this year and we celebrated with dinner at our place... a few extended family showed up. Oscar's mom's birthday is just one day before him so they shared a the celebration.







The birthday boy and his mom Eugenia.







Can you belive all 18 of these people actually fit in my house! This is mostly Oscar's family with Scott and Alex (joe's dad and brother) thrown into the mix. Jonathan wasn't there and Deb was taking the pictures....

Happy Birthday my wonderful husband!

Jonathan is coming home

I can't believe it... he got his leave approved and will arrive either late Friday night or first thing Saturday morning... I"m going to see my boy... I'm excited! He hasn't been home since the kids wedding last December and at that time we didn't even get to visit... it was non-stop wedding stuff for the entire 7 days he was here.

I can't wait to cook all his favorite foods! Whoo-Who mom is doing a happy dance!