Mongos

The onset of Fall means it's football time. At least for now, all seems well in the football world. Michigan is undefeated. Berkeley is chewing up the competition. The University of Washington just beat #3 USC after having lost every game they played last year. It's looking good.

Add to that we got a chance to see Stanford at home for the first time this year last night. So, I set up a guy night out that included a tail gate before the game (which Stanford won handily over San Jose State). Sometimes a plan just comes together. I assigned the meat portion of the tail gate to my friend Eric. Check out just how amazingly he came through.

These are the four 'patties' or 'mounds' or whatever technical term that applies. If you're thinking those things look pretty big you'd be right! These burgers are what Eric has named 'mongo burgers' - a special family creation. In fact, Eric shared that he used 3 & 3/4 pounds of beautiful ground beef to make - exactly 4 patties.















Here's a picture of a tub of butter sitting on top of one of the burgers to give you some sense of proportion.















Now, I must share with you that all that beef is just a shell; encasing a variety of additional taste sensations such as portobello mushrooms, red peppers and caramelized onions. They combine to make the taste experience simply sensational! Check it out.





























Here's Eric and Dean hanging and enjoying the early evening as the mongos were cooked to perfection. Oh, and to go along with the burgers we had delicious twice-baked potatoes that Julie made and Diane's award winning Chocolate Chip cookies. Yeah, football season rocks!















Next week: Stanford vs Washington! Round two! Yum!

2009 Wiener Nationals

Last Sunday our church, the Highway Community, hosted its 6th Annual Wiener Nationals. This year we had 54 entrants.

Meet Abby - the Smith's elder dachshund and a past Wiener National Champion. She did well this year... but finished out of the money. That's Dean, the proud owner encouraging her at the finish.

This is the newest addition in the Smith household. Meet Hazel. She's a cutie. However, as Matt says 'she was pretty slow' in her first official year of competition.

The starting gate is where much of the action takes place!

The competition committee did not allow this racer to compete.

Here's a picture of the eventual winner in action.

My sister is in California and was anxious to see this prestigious event. Thanks Lurinda for sharing some of your pictures for this blog entry! It's fun to take pictures with you.

And this in one of the many competitors that hailed from outside our church. This event certainly is a memorable outreach to our immediate community.

Finally, here's Dean crowning the 2009 Champion!

Michigan Pies

Michigan pies are an integral part of family camp. This year we got to introduce a number of new families to these delicacies! In fact, demand was so high that at one point we even had to have Randy and Eileen run out for more bread. I think in total we went through approximately 6-8 loaves of bread. We made a huge array of flavors. The peach pies, made with peaches from our own tree, were a huge hit. Another favorite this year was peanut butter, chocolate and banana. I had one of those, myself, and they were fabulous. Some of the other popular flavors were cherry, chocolate and marsh mellow, and pizza.

Here's some of the results!

The Three Amigos and Miss Vicki

With the economic situation being what it is, Hannah, Taylor and Courtney have had to do some creative brainstorming on summer fund raising. Today they total rocked the DeAnza Flea Market! Grandma Elsie would have been weepy.

Here's the living room last night - where they laid out all their donations for sorting and packing.















They were up and running EARLY!- arriving for setup before 6:00. Here's their 'spot' - the equivalent of two parking spaces in the DeAnza student parking lot. They had a complete trailer load of 'product' as well filling the back of the Jeep.















Here's the setup in action.





























































Here's Taylor working in the 'back-room' getting some clothes 'stock' out for the customers.



















One of their goals was to sell the 'Ab-Lounger'! Here's Courtney and the girls showing it off after the setup.

































Here's a shot of the girls dealing with one of their customers.















The girls' stall-mate was the wonderful Miss Vicki. Miss Vicki, who turned 80 last Christmas, was quite the crackup - telling stories from her early days in the entertainment industry. She traveled all around Europe doing belly dancing and working in the clubs. Apparently, her nickname in those days was the 'Mexican Bombshell'. She was so entertaining and very photogenic. Here's Miss Vicky doing a bit of a belly dance in the aisle. Check out the long braided hair.



















Hannah tried to get Miss Vicki to take a picture with the girls. She first cracked Hannah up when she told her 'okay. but I don't have any front teeth so we can't do any smiling pictures!' How cute. So, here's what they came up with.





























Then, after the first couple of pictures, Miss Vicki decides they weren't showing enough skin - so she encouraged the girls to start hiking up their pants. They were cracking up when Miss Vicki then started reaching for her shirt collar to show a little more skin. I think Hannah was in shock - and this photographer decided to call it a day.

J&R Wedding Support Cast

Power cord. Check. A few minutes of free time. Check. Okay.. time for more wedding photos.

Here's some of my favorite pictures of the supporting cast from the wedding.

Here's Hannah and Courtney.
















And the fabulous Hannah and Taylor.





























Aaron and Emily seem like they're having a good time!



















I think this is a great shot of Auntie and Julie.

















Oh.. and did you meet the una-guest?



















I guess that makes Dean the una-dad?

Random Acts To Share

It's been a challenge to keep up with sharing on the blog with so many fun things going on... so here's some relatively random pictures of events... just to catch up!

Here's a couple pictures I took of Jon and Rachel one day when we were out and about. I think they turned out really good. The trick I used here is to 'fill flash' the subject... meaning that I used the flash even though there was a lot of light outside.. because the light was behind them. In this way, their faces are completely exposed with light (thanks Tim for the reminder)!



















Here's another picture of them ... with Jon about to 'Yreka' me ;) To understand that you have to know that once Julie got a ticket in Yreka, CA during a trip to visit Joel in Salem. Now, you know that the Hendersons are definitely a family of traditions. Some of them more obscure and odd than others! Well, as you might be able to guess at this point.. there is a certain tradition we do when we drive by Yreka (we NEVER go into their city anymore!) now. If you can't guess what it is... good for you ;)



















Now, thinking about imaginative poses.. here's an interesting pose for Hannah. I'm not flexible enough to do this.. so I was impressed ;) You know, when I asked her to look at the camera..I kind of expected her to turn at the waist instead of bending over and looking through their legs. Obviously, my bad for not thinking outside the box!



















Oh, and speaking of flexible.. ever seen Elsie pole-dance? How about playing horse-shoes? Now you have! We had sooooo much fun with Elsie while she was here! And I think she loved hanging with all our friends and family! We love you Grandma! And, yes, you are on the 'log' again ;)



















Well, since we're talking about horse-shoes... this is a good time to share with you that Hannah, Julie and a bunch of their friends went horseback riding the other morning over in Half Moon Bay at the Sea Horse Ranch. They went at 8:00 am and the weather was fantastic. Here's a few highlights of their 2 hour ride!










































































And while we're on the subject of horses... here's a couple pictures of Tim and Grandma Elsie trying to keep up. Shhhh... nobody tell them that the horses aren't real!





























Finally, here's a great picture of Auntie and her favorite horse! How's that for chaining a bunch of seemingly unrelated events together Joel? ;)



















BTW... it's 70 degrees and sunny this afternoon. So, it's off for a run for me!

With much love!

P.S. I was thinking fondly of Julie's mom, Sharon, as I re-read this entry. I used to laugh at how she could 'chain' together a bunch of un-related events into one big long story at times. I guess some of her skills rubbed off on me. I know they did on Joanne! She was a lot of fun and I miss her!