Kitchen Debacles

Hi! I thought I'd share a few laughs with a couple funny kitchen oops we've had recently. We had a delicious roasted chicken with Kevin and Diana for Kevin's birthday. That went smoothly.

The problem was the "Birthday Green Bean Casserole."

Wax candles don't like hot green bean casserole as much as we all do. Diana did a great job picking out the wax before serving dinner.

We've been working on getting into the holidays. I've been baking like a madwoman - although Dave might say I am a madwoman. :) This tray of cookies did not come out so good. I realized they were done once I saw the smoke coming from the oven.


Don't worry, we're still eating most things well thanks to that Campbell blood!!

Dorothy Reveals Who Her Favorite Son Is!

What a Great Family!!! Happy 90th Birthday!

Jackie was in our hearts. Pat, Jane, Doug, Michelle, Dorothy, Mike, Jeanne, Kathy, Steve, Pat
Happy 90th birthday to the greatest Mom ever!

Happy Birthday, Dorothy Grace!!!!

You have so touched all of our lives. Thank you for your inspiration, your kindness and the loving way you brought us all together so well over the years. Happy Birthday and we love you!

Steve and Linda

MEMORIES OF DAYS GONE BY.....

Happy Birthday to the lady who always took care of her son after dark. I felt my way down your hallway in Michigan with only the flicker of a zippo to guide me and you welcomed me. I spent an entire summer of sultry PA evenings at the oldest steel mill in America (thanks HJ), but I had you to come home to. Conversations with Dorothy Grace, along with a cold Iron City, were my reward on many a night. Walter Cronkite showed us a man on the moon on a warm Pittsburgh night. An October evening at the Toohey's with the family having fun with our mom at the kitchen table is a memory that always makes me laugh. Another time still brings tears to my eyes. During the darkest days of my life, you were there to help me bury my child. Thanks for being my mom. Life IS good, and you a have made it so.
Love, Doug

Spring and summer for the Tooheys

Just to let you know, I started this blog this summer and still haven't posted it, but today is the day!

Mom said to tell all of you that she has thoroughly enjoyed your postings.  Either Kate or I check the blog with her every week and answer your emails.  Keep them coming!  Jane and Pat Campbell are our "techies," so thanks to them. 

As far ast the Toohey family goes, we have had some great trips this spring and summer.  It started with Easter eggs in Denver at Nate's apartment:

Ryan explained to me that one should never eat a chicken and an egg in the same meal.

At Nate's apartment, those thrilling days of yesteryear

Our little Easter bunnies

Nate's idea of Easter brunch--always the culinary artist

Then the guys went skiing at Vail:

and Shannon, George, and I went to the spa, where Shannon's masseuse intimated he was a 911 terrorist.  I don't think she cared.  What do you think?

Every night during the week, Nate hosted a party with a different set of friends (he has many),

but he did manage to get some work done too:

All in all, Denver was great!

And now for Idaho and Ryan's graduation.

Ryan and Shannon have decided that the ultimate pizza is their real quest in life.

In the meantime, Ryan graduated.  We are all so proud!

In case the Ph.Ds don't work out, Shannon has become quite an extraordinary photographer. 

We hiked, we ate, we drank wine, and we celebrated a long road for Ryan.  Of course they are now in Alaska where Shannon is teaching and Ryan is finishing some of his doctoral work.  But Ryan posted that before I posted this.   We are looking forward to celebrating Mom's 90th birthday this week.  Hope to hear from all of you. 

Monster Mash!

I've posted this on Facebook and my blog, but here's a Halloween greetings for the rest of you...

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Happy Birthday Millie!

Millie turned one this week and we had a little party for her last night. It was the first time that we have been able to have that many people at our house comfortably. We had a great time celebrating Millie, eating and watching the Utah game.

We spent the last couple of weekends at the cabin in Midway. Two weekends ago, the colors were AMAZING! I don't think I've ever seen leaves that vibrant. It was the most beautiful day and we spent pretty much any daylight playing outside. Last weekend the colors were slightly muted, but still brilliant. I took the kids to two different spots to take their pictures. The first place we went is the commemorative bridge that's along the bike/walking path between Midway and Heber. The second place we stopped was this great old red barn in Midway. I'm surprised at how well most of the pictures turned out. I did have to take Jackson back later on for another shoot because I'm not good at taking pictures of him without getting a reflection on his glasses. It was a good sign of what Jackson as a teenager will be like. He was so irritated with me that I was taking him back. It was the biggest, "Oh, Mommmmm...get over it!" moment. I had to chuckle. He's still bugging me that I took seven (only!) more pictures when I told him I would only take three. Oh well. I'm the mom. Isn't it my job to bug him?

Ryan isn’t the only person that travels far away.

I am in Bury St. Edmunds this week. Bury St. Edmunds, literally ‘the place of St. Edmund’ in Saxon English although they seem to have misplaced his remains in the 14th century. Bury St. Edmunds is now a tourist town about 90 miles northeast of London.

Here is a picture of where I am staying. The Angel Hotel which was once a carriage stop where people came to get out of London.

Across the street is the Abbey of St. Edmunds. Here is the Norman Tower, completed in 1148, that once protected the Abbey. Now it is the entrance to its gardens.

Here is a picture of the gardens.

I tried to pick up the two on the right.

In town center, on Saturday, the square is filled by vendors from the market.

Well I have to get back to work for now. Love to you all.

Pics from my birthday gathering!

My nephew Chandler & his buddy Stevie!















Guess who?














He's my favorite!














Yummy!

Hello from Linda...!

Hello to everybody! It's been a long time since I've been on the blog. It was great reading all of the family updates and seeing all of the pictures. Dorothy, you look beautiful as ever...such beautiful skin! Pat does such a great job keeping all of us posted. Thanks Pat!
We have had a busy year selling houses. That's a good thing. I was hit (a hit & run) over memorial weekend. Some crazy illegal from Mexico. He took off, ditched the car and ran. The fortunate thing was he was driving his daughters car AND she is insured. The short of the long of it is that I was in physical therapy for two months, etc. My car had $15,000 worth of damage and was in the shop or two months. I wish that they could of totaled it. It all was a huge inconvenience and a pain in the rear! I haven't even begun to settle.
Steven and I are going to Napa and San Francisco for 7 days the first of November. I'm home two days and off the New York City for a week to see my son, Justin. I've never been in the city when it's cold. Cold is OK...snow, not so much!
I guess Doug and Pat are coming to San Diego the week that I'm in the city...hmmm, think that was planed? They must of thought that they would have a better time with me out of here. I know that I will have the cleaning lady scheduled to come in...ha!
I will try to check in more often. I hope all is well with you all. Love, Linda

P.S. The pictures that I'm posting are from my birthday party that my daughter Tesha just had for me. She prepared all of the food, it was yummy!

Steven's Birthday Disneyland...2009

Entering Mickey's Toontown!

Gotta love Tiger!

Awwww what a happy couple on the Winnie the Pooh ride!

Oh geez! Here he is eating his favorite at Disneyland...anybody

want to guess? A Monte Cristo. A battered/fried

ham and cheese, yikes!

Entering the "happiest place on earth"!

I actually can't see Russia from my House

Hello Grandma and Family!

How's everybody doing? It looks like Uncle Pat's BBQ was pretty fun. I'm bummed we weren't able to make it home for that, but I'm heading to Nik's wedding and then the 'burgh during the second week in September.














So, Shannon and I arrived in AK about two weeks ago. Shannon is the newest professor at the Environmental Studies and Geography department at the University of Alaska at Anchorage!








We drove up through the Canadian Rockies and Banff. It was gorgeous...the mountains were just immense. Lots of wildlife too (bear, bighorn sheep, bald eagles, wolves, chupacabras, sasquatch, etc.)



































Then we jumped on the ferries for a couple days. The ferry was a pretty rad way to see all the islands. Plus we saw beluga whales, porpoises, mermaids, Sirens, and several Hydras.








The ferry is a very social scene. For example we met this younger Australian naval guy who taught us how to string a trip wire around our tent with claymores to protect us from bears!











We also saw cousin John Archambeau in Juneau. It was super fun, we toured the town and went on a tram ride (owned by the hotel he works with) to have some great views from about 3000 ft above the Juneau coast line. He also hooked us up with about two pounds of halibut that he caught, which was very tasty the next couple of days on our baby Weber.






Finally after about 10 days from Moscow, ID we rolled into Anchorage Alaska. As you drive down from the Interior, you pass the Mat-su glacier which fills a valley with beautiful blue and white ice covered by clouds that disect the peaks from the glacier. Anchorage has a great trails/park system that makes it easier to use these than actually drive around the incredible sprawl that fills the Anchorage bowl.



As we didn't have a place to rest our heads when we arrived in Anchorage, Shannon's colleagues had arranged for us to stay in the dorm for the first couple of nights.


Cody, our canine love child, felt right at home. In fact, the first night she was there she stayed out a little too late, and slept until about noon the next day. Typical college kid! Since Shannon is faculty, Cody can take classes for free. She has enrolled in underwater basket weaving and moved back into the dorms.







Right now we're in a temporary condo, but will be moving to a very small house that is pretty close to the University. Shannon should be able to cross country ski to work every day once the snow falls...which is probably going to be next week. Until then though, we're enjoying the greenery and having more than just 3 restaurants at our disposal. We've already met some good folks here. We were out at Shannon's Department head the other day and saw our first Grizzly bear which was way cool....especially since it didn't try to eat us....
Well, I should get back to work. Hope you all are doing well. Sorry, about the format of this, it looks like I need a little more practice. Love you all!