Dinner Club

It was our turn to host dinner club and we do enjoy a good menu.

We started with Aged Candian Cheddar. Then Cedar Plank Salmon with a mildly spicy run and wasbi remelade sauce. Next we took alaskan king crab legs and deshelled and made a mostly crab dip, served with toasted bread. We also had crusty bread and dipping oils. The main course was chicken with a cranberry sauce or Beef Wellington, served with squash and mushrooms. For dessert we had pie. And of course we always serve nice wines to complete the meal.


Our dinner club is a perfect blend of friends and great cooks. Colleen, Eric, Jackie, Nick, Michael and I have been meeting for dinner clubs since 2004. We do take breaks and meet for other fun stuff too! I can't imagine not being part of a dinner cub now. Oh and since we're all really close now we share all of our little bits of gossip. But I'll never tell, I love these people!

Milk and Soy Protein Allergy

Cadence had a few spots on her face around her first month. I just thought baby acne. Then she got more. Then they spread all over her face. Her ped said it could be caused by a number of things, try different soaps/detergents. Come back if it spreads or worsens. So it spread to her whole body and got worse but she really had no symptoms. She's a happy baby and has only spit up one time when Michael overfed her with a bottle.

So on 9/13 I got worried and emailed the pediatric allergist Cindy (aka mom) works for. They didn't think it was food related. The more I read online the more I suspected something I was eating. It came on gradually and not everywhere soap or fabric touches, started on the face. The biggest offenders in food are dairy and soy. So I gave up dairy and soy for the weekend. Her 2 month checkup was Tuesday. By the time we had the checkup I'd already seen a marked improvement. Cadence was either allergic or intolerant or milk and soy protein.

She had signs that I wasn't trained to recognize. 8-10 poohs a day the color or bright green grass, very gassy, hiccups after every nursing, rash, runny nose. Even the tiniest bit of protein would make her sick. Milk was even in her bath products and lotions! After three weeks of diary and soy free eating on my part and aveeno dairy free bath and lotion products the rash, hiccups, gas and crazy poohs were gone! Now I just need to keep reminding myself that I love my baby and she it 100% worth all the yummy foods I'm giving up. I have to wait until she's 6 months to try dairy again.

Grandma Law is 75

When I was little or even in college I thought if someone died at 65 they had a long good life. Now that I'm a bit closer to that age and a bunch wiser 75 doesn't seem so old.

Grandma Law just turned 75 and is in relatively good health. She's really sharp too, running her own hair salon and keeping up with the fashions. Not the skinny jeans fashions but the macy's refined lady fashions.

I have to admit she has created a pretty close, loving and giving family that I was welcomed into when Michael and I began dating. I can't believe I once had trouble telling the Great Aunts and Grandma apart, to be fair I think their hair and style used to be the same!

Check out Michael and Uncle Kevin. They have allot of similar feature, Michael totally takes after his mother's side of the family.

Friends Cottage Trip

Every year we go up to the cottage with our long time friends. Since Cadence was born in July it didn't look like we'd make it up this year, however we decided to do a fall trip (9/7-9/9). The weather was actually really nice. The nights weren't overly cold and we got out on the pontoon boat.

We did get a special order life vest for Cadence from Canada so she took her first pontoon ride. She liked the boat it put her right to sleep!

We did have some hardships on this trip. Sleep was a hard to get commodity. Cadence slept fine at night but we were not use to having that noisy little girl in the room with us so Michael and I both kept waking up! And little Brendan gets up very early so once he's up Cadence wanted to get up too. All of this would of been fine but Jodie, Greg, Michael and I still wanted to enjoy the campfire and a few drinks so our bedtimes were way later then they should of been!

Nick and Jackie made it up and got to do some wake boarding. They came up one time before but their call schedule was always off :( It was nice to hang out at the cottage, although at home we see them most weekends anyway.

We always have a new toy at the cottage. This year it was hillbilly golf. It looks kinda weird but is actually really fun. The pesky bugs kept me from playing but I fully intend to play allot next time up. Cadence is very mommy-centric at the moment.

This was the first year with kids, Greg and Jodie didn't make it last year. Overall it was great and not that much different than the year before. We've all grown up, the days of Rob puking pink cotton candy on the sand are past. OK so we all have our stories at the cottage but that one has to be the most famous one!

The German Returns!

Rob came back to Michigan for a visit. We missed his wedding last spring in Germany, it was getting too close to my due date to travel that far. Needless to say Michael and I were both very sad and missed out on an amazing trip. We gave him these really cool copper wedding bells that are made in Michigan. Jeff actual gave us a pair for our wedding, we like to support the local Michigan talent when we can.

This is a group of forever friends. You know the ones. You can call them if you ever needed anything and they would do everything they could to help. Michael started hanging out with everyone (and few that faded away) his senior year in high school. I met everyone three years later and fit right in.

We have spent the last decade with annual New Years, Christmas Parties, Cottage Trips, Walshgivings, Rob Gathers (he's been out of state/country for awhile). We fully plan to keep going, if we're lucky some of our kids may even end up together! Brendan and Cadence do seem to get along very well.