onomatopoopa

It's been a long time since Bart and I have put anything on our blog, but we've been really busy lately. I read a lot of blogs at work and know that is the excuse everyone uses, but this time it is actually true! We have been on the go since the first week in November. I won't bore you with words; I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. The first several are from our "work" trip to Atlanta and the next group is from our FUN trip to Shreveport, Louisiana where we celebrated my Granny's 80th birthday (doesn't she look fabulous!) and my 26th birthday.

Bart's first Southern Barbeque. Delicious!

Another reason to name our future child Ebenezer--it is the name of the church that Martin Luther King, Jr., um, I'm not sure actually. It was some church that was significant to him and we saw it on our tour of the MLK Jr. Historical Site.

The house where MLK Jr. spent the first 12 years of his life.

The TWO free Reese's we got out of the vending machine. Sucker! We even made 10 cents on the transaction. Finally, the vending machine gods have paid us back!!

Bart's first trip to Luby's my favorite restaurant as a child.

Another of us eating--this time it was authentic Louisiana fried catfish. Yummmmmm...

Granny and her huge birthday cake!

Me and my homemade (by Bart) pazooki (not sure on the spelling!)

Us at Posadas for my birthday dinner.

Granny's dock to the bayou. So fun!

Bart feeding the ducks--a treasured adventure of little Katie.

Playing with some of my toys at Granny's. Bart didn't like it too much because I was kind of bossy--but I told him that made it an authentic experience!

An inside joke with Granny--mmmm... SnowBalls!

Our last out-to-eat adventure--Copelands--authentic Southern food.

Us girls.

We were reflecting on the past week and realized there are so many things that we would have missed out on if we still lived in Utah. Here they are, in no particular order:

7. Katie wouldn't have seen a 25-year-old-not-homeless dude peeing inside the lobby of a nice high rise (where our dentist office is)
6. We wouldn't have heard the screaming and fireworks from our front door after the last strike was called and the Phillies won the World Series
5. We wouldn't have witnessed people celebrating the Phillies victory by rioting in the streets, turning over cars, and breaking storefront windows


4. If Katie hadn't worked at an ophthalmology department, we wouldn't have gotten these new glasses

3. Katie couldn't have named her pumpkin witch Scaggsville in honor of a nearby town

2. We couldn't have blamed our sad looking biscuits on the oven (thanks for the recipe Mindy--they were delicious!)


1. We wouldn't have been involved in a hit and run on the way home from work

Who knows what it will look like? We are super excited to find out! Most of you all probably know about the announcement of the building of a temple in the Philadelphia area! Knowing the people who live here and their great desire to be faithful makes this such an exciting event, and we are happy to share in the joy of it. There have been rumors that the Church owns land in Valley Forge area, so we are awaiting to see if it will actually be built there. We'll keep you all posted on what we hear.

Here is our prediction of how the debates will turn out.






Also, see below for a recent post and check the vacation blog for an additional post.

We had quite the welcome back to Philadelphia Monday night, when we heard a bunch of sirens outside our door at 8:30pm. When we abandoned our Oatmeal Creme Pies and cold milk to see what was going on, we saw this:



Shortly after the first video, but before the fire got really huge, Katie got some nice footage of the firemen using a circular saw to cut through the metal garage door.



It proceeded to grow from there to a three-alarm fire, requiring multiple fire hydrants several blocks away and dozens of fire engines.


What was burning? A lamination shop -- in addition to the wood and boxes burning, the cans of glue and laminate made some impressive explosions.


We were more fortunate than most of the surrounding blocks. The wind was blowing away from our house, so were only displaced for 1 1/2 hours and our house doesn't smell like smoke. Shockingly our car didn't smell like smoke either, and neither the fire nor the firemen put any dents or marks on it, even though it was next to the fire hydrant and 25 feet from the burning building!


For more pictures, video, and local news coverage see this link:
http://www.nbc10.com/news/17534146/detail.html

Thanks to a last-minute purchase from an online re-seller of tickets, we got the chance to do something that normally would be way out of our budget -- we got to see an Eagles game! They played against the New York Jets. Unfortunately, they lost. But we had a great time watching them! We even got to see a new member of our branch, who just signed with them, play in his first NFL game.

We had a really cool video to attach, but the format wasn't compatible. Sorry! Better luck next time to us (and the Eagles--they lost by 7).

This is the poster I presented at the Translational Control meeting last week at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, NY. As you can see, the layout and colors are fantastic, thanks to Katie! (People at the conference noticed, too, and complimented her.)

It went really well. People were interested in my work, the poster was clear, I made some good contacts, and had some good discussions. All in all, a successful week.

Thanks for your prayers and well-wishes!

This week Bart is going to a Translational Control conference in New York to present a poster entitled, "Nucleoside modifications modulate activation of RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR)." I'm sure you all know what that means. The picture below represents my mind (top) when I think about that title. The bottom picture probably represents Bart's mind.

Anyway, here's a link to the site where you can see Bart's name listed as a presenter:

http://meetings.cshl.edu/meetings/abstracts/2008transc_absstat.html

Good luck Bart!

From the looks of this picture, you probably think that I was born to be a swimmer. Well, that was very far from the truth until the past few weeks. Bart, my swim coach, has been teaching me how to swim like Michael Phelps. And, well, I don't like to brag, but I pretty much do. We've been having tons of fun going to the gym and swimming instead of working out on the usual treadmill or elliptical machine. Partly because we are slowly getting closer to thirty and it's better for our joints, but mainly because it's really fun. You guys should try it!!

P.S. In case you're wondering that shirt says "Sun Your Buns" and it was one of my favorites back in the day.

So it turns out that Katie is a really good voyeur, err, photographer . . . of insects! While on a nature walk the other day, Katie snapped this winner:


And then, as if that weren't scandalous enough, a few minutes later she upped the ante by finding this shocking scene:


She's not just a peeping Tom, though. More than I ever realized before, she has a great eye (and a nice camera) -- photography really is one of her hidden talents. Below are a few other shots she took that day. Enjoy!






P.S. If you click on the pictures you can see them in larger size, which will show off some of the amazing details she captured!

Two Saturdays ago we went to Tyler Arboretum for our weekly date. It was soooooo wonderful to be away from buildings and traffic and crazy people. The arboretum was having a tree house exhibit, so we had some fun exploring our little kid side. We also went hiking. Here are some pictures:

This is only the second recipe we have posted on our blog, but it was so delicious that we had to share it. Plus, we created it all by ourselves, so we thought Mindy would be extra impressed. It's a little something I like to call

Rotel Enchiladas.

1/2 lb ground beef
2-3 Tbsp taco seasoning
6 tortillas
1 can refried beans
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can Rotel (sometimes sold as diced tomatoes and green chilies--see picture of can above--it's the one on top of the pyramid)
1 cup salsa
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream (optional)
jalapenos (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground beef, drain excess grease, and add taco seasoning to flavor. Spray cooking spray on bottom of 9 x 13 baking dish. Spread a row of refried beans on each tortilla and line up the tortillas in the baking dish. (When all was said and done, 6 fatty enchiladas fit in our baking dish.) Meanwhile, mix cream of chicken soup, salsa, and Rotel. Set aside half of this mixture for later. Layer the other half of the mixture on top of the beans. Layer meat mixture and sprinkle cheese inside the tortillas. Roll up the enchiladas and pour the remaining sauce mixture on top--spread evenly so the tortillas don't dry out. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with sour cream and jalapenos if desired. Enjoy!

Accolades
Bart Anderson from Philadelphia says: "On a fast Sunday evening when I need to make something quick and delicious, I always turn to Rotel enchiladas."

Katie Anderson from Philadelphia says: "I served this at a dinner party, and my friends couldn't believe how fast and easy it was to make such an impressively tasty dish."