Winter Wine Tasting

Ahhh, my favorite time of year. The first weekend in December is our annual trip over to Walla Walla, WA for the Winter Barrel Tasting. Will and I think this is our seventh trip over but we are not sure. Let's just say we have been enough times that the wine makers are starting to recognize us. I think that it's kind of fun. It is like seeing long time friends once a year and what is more fun than sharing in a fabulous glass of wine or two.

This year we got the pleasure of showing our friends Lexy and Peter  Washington Wine Country and I think we have some new believers in the annual trip. We left on Thursday and were there for four days. I think we made it to about 30 wineries +/-. You might be thinking that is a lot but when there is over 130 wineries now we didn't get to that many. We do have a little problem though of going back to our favorites and not trying out others which we should. We have however discovered a couple new favorites over the last couple years. One year we were driving by a small winery out by the airport and I felt sorry for them because there was no one in their parking lot so we stopped. It ended up going on our favorite list and we have gone back the last three years.

The wineries always have such fun displays and decorations. On the left was our first stop at Renninger and on the right was well stop number ??? at Tamarack Cellars. We were careful not to spill all the wine glasses off the tower. That is a test for us after tasting for several hours. I bet they did it on purpose!!

So it is not a trip without some actual wine tasting pictures. Some of these might show that too much wine was consummed sorry to those who may not want their pictures out here.

Uncle Bob couldn't get enough of the stuff!



Peter talking with the wine maker about the process and waiting for his taste, of course.

Here we are at Seven Hills one of our favorites!! I think it was about 9AM. Don't tell anyone!

So let's talk a minute about purchasing wine. We obviously drink a lot of it but that is only a part of it. Let's just say we take Will's truck for a reason. Will and I don't have near the wine buying problem as others do um....... Chris and Uncle Bob. Love ya!


Day 1 - If you look close you might see initials on the boxes. (Here is a hint...CMT)

So where there is wine there is food and art. At one of the wineries we went to they had these amazing sculptures. They were so detailed and very very heavy as they were made out of bronze! I only had my small camera so the pictures don't do them justice.



They were such sad clowns. You would think they would be happy!

Always lots of photo opportunities while we are visiting these fun places so have to share!

Jen and Lexy

Consider this my Christmas Card. Smile!



We had some snow. Makes it magical!

What a view! This was at Longshadows.

I think I mentioned too much wine? Here is Chris trying to pull the sleigh full of presents. She had a great smile so I had to share! I think this was taken during our marathon of card playing which is also a requirement of the trip.

We had a wonderful time as always. Great wine, food, friends, family, conversation, snow, shopping and of course the holiday decorations and spirit. Can't ask for much more.

Before I sign off I apologize to my blog readers that it has been a while. I have a few more posts before I am caught up. I will try to go in order and get all my December pics in for December. Wish me luck! Cheers and until next time.

JET

Gobble Gobble

Was it Thanksgiving or Christmas? I am a bit confused with the snow and all. Let's see, where does the story begin.... This year Will and I hosted Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. After many many years of searching for the perfect dining room table I finally found one. Actually, I found the table a few years ago, but really had a hard time spending the money on it. With no luck at finding anything else, I made the purchase about a month ago and it was delivered in time for the holiday. We decided since we now had a table that would seat everyone it would be fun to host. I realized once I started looking through my pictures that I was so focused on the table decorations that I didn't really get a great picture of the entire table. At this point I have not purchased the chairs, so we are using a random selection. So, maybe the close up pictures are better. Once we have the chairs I can post a table shot. Oh wait.... I also need a rug and a light fixture. Guess my dining room makeover is not totally completed yet so stay tuned.

To breakdown our Thanksgiving Holiday we had fall decorations, snow, tons of food and at any Evans/Sessions family gathering a project. We will begin with the fall decorations...

On to the snow... I secretly love the snow as long as I don't have to go anywhere. Thank goodness everyone was able to get to our house without any trouble. We all had a fun time. However, watching people go up, wait go up, no really go up okay well maybe just down our hill, was  great fun. It can provide hours of entertainment as long as it is not you on the hill.

With the cold weather Will's pond started to freeze over. It was pretty, but the poor fishies have to be sooooo cold. They were still swimming around, probably trying to keep warm would be my guess.

Icy pond



View from the front door.

  

 

View from the deck.



Look at the snow coming down!



 

Welcome!

Time to get the table ready!

One thing I have always wanted to do is decorate a large table including all the place settings and centerpiece. Now was my opportunity to do so. It was fun! 



Handmade place cards and all! I had too much fun.

  



One of my random selection of chairs. It's cute!



Getting hungry?? Okay, here is the food! Another reason for having Thanksgiving at our house is that Will just got a new smoker and he wanted to try and smoke a turkey. I think we are all in agreement that is was a huge success!!! 

Look at that turkey! Picture perfect!



Sweet potatoes, rice potatoes, stuffing and more!



Look at those veggies and salads. Yum!

A little something for everyone.

So, it is not a holiday gathering without a project from Ma "teacher" Evans. She always comes up with some fun things for us to do and this year we made turkey's. They were pretty cute and tasted good too!!

And of course it cannot be a family gathering without a group photo:

Nice smiles everyone!

It was a successful Thanksgiving. Great to be with family, beautiful to see it snowing and fabulous food provided by all. I honestly think this is the largest Thanksgiving family gathering we have ever had. Quite fun and maybe a new tradition started. Cheers and until next time!

JET

Ding Dongs, Twinkies and Cheese Balls, Oh My!!!

Yep it was the annual Redneck Party at Dean and Becky's house. What can I say......... well maybe I will let the pictures speak for themselves! 

Party location... Dean's Man Cave



Inside "The Cave"

So not only do we go to a location that resembles the closest thing to a redneck living room but we have to dress like our redneck cousins, hypothetically speaking of course. Not only that we eat and drink a redneck diet consisting of deep fried chicken wings, Twinkies, cheese balls, cornbread... enough said! It's making me a bit ill typing it out! Anyway, enjoy the next few pictures. We sure get a laugh out of each other!!

Look fast! You will never see me in a Nascar hat and Miller High Life shirt again!!!
Check out our names too! Bambi and Earl.... Classic!

Here is our beautiful hostess with the mostess Becky on the right and fellow Redneck Party goer Rose on the left!



Told ya! Twinkies and Cheese Balls. Yum!

So, now that we have looked the part, dressed the part and consumed the part it is time to participate in some redneck activities. Scary I know but why not start off with some bologna darts???

Here is Rose spraying water on Pat's Bologna, that sounds bad I know, anyway it helps it stick to the
Bologna Dart Board?

It is harder then it looks I promise!!



Yep, we had a redneck air hockey tournament!

The party is always a great time. In addition to the above festivities we had a costume contest, broke a pinata with adult treats inside (mini bottles of spirits), played hunting games on the wii and laughed a lot!! Thanks Dean and Becky for another fun party. Cheers and until next time!

JET

Tales from the Pumpkin Patch

It has been years since I have been to the pumpkin patch. It was kind of spur of the moment but Lexy, Peter, Will and I ventured out to Stoney Ridge Farms in Everson. It was soooooooo cute! I remember why I love going there. I was a bit of a shutterbug and could have been  more so but I think they were getting embarrassed by me. Only Mom, Amber and Amy would probably understand all the photo opportunities out there. Anyway, where to start...................... oh yes, the amazing truck welcoming you in with all the wonderful pumpkins, gourds and fabulous fall colors.



When you like taking pictures it is like being a kid in a candy store at the farm. What to take a picture of next and can I get it in quick before Will rolls his eyes at me???

Lexy thought the donkey was pretty cute and he was posing so nicely.

We couldn't believe how big the farm has gotten. There we so many animals to see and there were hundreds of people there. They said the weekend before they had gotten over 10,000 visitors to the farm. That is amazing. They were all coming for the carmel apple pie I know it!

So, what were we on a mission for??? Pumpkins of course.

Look at all the great colors! Nature is pretty amazing.

On the way out to the field of pumpkins we ran across a corn maze which we had to check out.

This was pretty cool. I have never been in a corn maze before and we honestly got caught on a couple dead ends that we had to turn around and find another way.

It ended up being a beautiful day even though I am all bundled up like it is snowing.

Just having fun with the camera.

We did finally make it out to the patch. We found the perfect pumpkin and a scarecrow or two.

More photo ops from around the farm. It is just so cute I couldn't help it!





They had many boxes and boxes of apples for sale and a large orchard to walk through. Most all the apples had fallen to the ground if they were not already picked. There was even a pumpkin tree. It was quite amazing. Didn't you know that pumpkins came from trees??

Told ya! Okay maybe not so much but still fun!

Another fun adventure. Enjoying time with friends and family. Thanks for sharing this with me, cheers and until next time.

JET