New Year's Eve Breakfast Feast

So happy to have you here for the holidays. You and Rachel were great chefs: crepes, smoked salmon hash, and grapefruit and ginger. Yum!

 

Alex was enthralled with his new lap top and was distressed when asked to leave it!

 

Love Mom

New Garage Door at 1123

"The old order changeth, yielding place to new." - Lord Alfred Tennyson

Dad Got a new Garage Door!!!

Clark - attach a pic - I have to see it to believe it. Here is a neat pic William found of Breckenridge

Great article

This article was in our paper, written by Lamar Koontz.  Words of wisdom for all parents

 

Many of the changes we face relating to youth have not really changed, but in some cases our parenting skills have.  Consider this expression of “old- fashioned  parenting” that we might want to adopt. 

The other day, someone at a store in our town read that a methamphetamine lab had been found in the adjoining county and he asked me, “Why didn’t we have a drug problem when you and I were growing up”

“I replied I had a drug problem when I was young: I was drug to church on Sunday morning.  I was drug to church for weddings and funerals.  I was drug to family reunions and community socials…I was also drug to the parlor for a good talking to when I disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spike ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn’t put forth my best effort in everything that was asked of me.

“I was drug out to pull weeds in mom’s garden and flower beds and cockleburs out of dad’s fields.  I was drug to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the yard, repair the clothesline or chop some firewood; all this AI was expected to without taking a dime for payment.

“Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect my behavior.  They are stronger than cocaine, crack or heroin,  If today’s children had this kind of drug problem, America would be a better place.”

Our parental responsibilities require we set family standards.  Children are our most precious asset and we cannot sit by without a whimper and allow them do some of the destructive things they do.  Monitor your children’s friends, take time to talk to your children make time to eat dinner together. 

What kind of message do you want to send to your child this Christmas?  Your actions speak volumes.  Do you communicate that you love them enough by setting the right standards? Lexie

Holiday Rock Stars

Look out, rock star wannabees! Alex and Rachel are dueling guitar heroes extraordinaire! Equipped with a Sony PS2 and Guitar Hero III, the duo have mastered Rolling Stones, The Killers, AFI and more on their ersatz guitars, which feature 5 fret colors and a single strummer. The fret colors zoom past at varying speeds as they deftly strum whole, half and quarter notes with aplomb! Check out the screen shot below. :-)

Now, I did try it and it would be generous to say I did well, especially since my avatar was a shirtless punk rocker! I did manage to beat Rachel, but I was on Easy mode. Apparently, there are YouTube clips of people on Expert mode that simply defy belief! Love, Clark

Merry Christmas!

Greetings, my name is Spark, I'm an iDog. My master is Connor and I like to rock out to iPod music! Here I am on Christmas morning flapping my ears to Black Eyed Peas :-)

People say I look like Spider Man, which is Connor's favorite hero du jour. Hope you are all having a fabulous Christmas!!!

Love, Spark

Merry Christmas Eve!

Hello All!

We are so ready for Christmas! How about you?

Merry Christmas Eve!

Love,

Alex, Rachel, Emma, Snow & Marshmallow

HO HO HO

Greetings to all from Colorado - you can have all of the Brazil nuts.

It's Almost Christmas, Nuts!

Christmas at 1123 was always eagerly anticipated by this twinner. Holiday cheer, family and friends popping by, sledding, wondering what new music would be under the tree...and nuts. Nuts!

Do you remember the endless supply of whole nuts bestowed upon us? I did as I was shopping the other day. In fact, I remembered it to the tune of 2.5 pounds of mixed walnuts, hazlenuts, brazilian nuts and almonds - $9.95 in the self-checkout line gracefully guided by a pleasant female voice, "Please enter the code for your nuts." Hmmmmm, apparently there is something Mom and Dad forgot to tell me!!!

Do you remember the awe and wonderment at Dad's giant hands wielding nut crackers and deftly cleaving the walnut shell in half? Squirrels were jealous! Tales were told! And I simply ended up with blood blisters and nut shrapnel that I had to gather in crumbs with that dental pick thingy to satisfy my hunger...NUTS!

Wishing you all the best as Christmas approaches.

Love,
Clark

Alex, Rachel & Pets Thanksgiving Picture

Happy Holidays Haass Family!

 

We hope you are busy enjoying preparations for Christmas!

Snow is falling in Casper today so Alex and I went out for some slippery driving lessons.  I am thankful we have 4-wheel drive.  Rachel chose to stay in the warm, peaceful home.   

 

It was nice seeing and visiting with Jeff, Jamie and family, and Marj and Herb on Thanksgiving at 1123 Beaumont.  The kids enjoyed the movie as well.

 

I enjoyed taking the Thanksgiving weekend picture.  Emma always seems to pose, Marshmallow looks like she wants to pretend we are not around, and Snow is ready to run away! I don't remember why we had the pets in the bucket but the kids are having fun!

 

Take care & God bless,

Shel

 

 

Connor with Daddy's Specs

Connor likes to wear my glasses on occasion. This particular weekend, we were lounging after breakfast, which usually includes a trip to Krispy Kreme.

This was taken with my cell phone camera, which also has the ability to capture video.

So, I proceeded to capture a video of Connor, who thought I was taking a picture of him and was somewhat annoyed to realize I hadn't taken his photo!

Enjoy! Love, Clark

Gramma in Colorado

Fun time with Alexandra and William while Jamie and Lynn frolick in Buenos Aires.

Hello,
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and everyones tummies are full. Mom and Bill are here enjoying the warm sunny weather. The boys are enjoying every minute of their visit. Post again soon enjoy your weekend.
Erik

Happy Thanksgiving from Portland, OR

Greetings, all!

Sandra, Connor and I are enjoying Thanksgiving at Diana Stepleton's, Sandra's friend. Besides the obligatory turkey, we will be feasting on butternut squash & pear puree soup, sage potatoes with sharp cheddar cheese, drunken rum dates wrapped in bacon, heart of palm salad, sweet potatoes, cranberry relish, sausage cornbread stuffing, cranberry apple sausage stuffing, green beans with shallots and orange zest, pumpkin pie and a chocolate cashew maple tart. This is paired with a Tinta Pesquera and Tempranillo Red Wine - viva Espana!!!

Yummmmmm! All the best :-)

Love, Clark

Happy Thanksgiving from Casper! Yeeeeee! Haaaaaaaaw!

Wish you all were here.

Great Movie

If Across The Universe comes your way, be sure to see it.  It is wonderful with Beatle music.  The woman that did Freda did this one, so it very colorful.  The cd is good too. Lexie

snow at 1123

I remember when it snowed so much that it drifted so high between us and McIlnays that we made a wonderful sled hill.  We played out there for hours on sleds and cardboard.  The good old days when it snowed really deep, where are they now?  Lexie

Winter Wonderland @ 1123

I took this photo with my cell phone, so the resolution is not that great, but the image reminds me of seemingly hundreds of holiday celebrations, sledding in the snow, snowball fights, stories of Jon and Jamie bobsledding in turkey pans (my favorite) and shoveling snow - lots and lots of snow!

What's your favorite snow story at 1123?

Love,
Clark

Fabulous Smoked Trout Hash

We all have fond memories of hamburger hash growing up at 1123 - the onions and salt in the cast iron skillet, hamburger and the obligatory taters - yummm!

Well, I recently dined at Roux in North Portland and had the best hash of my life - Smoked Trout Hash with a Poached Egg. The waitress was kind enough to tell me one of the key ingredients, creme fraiche, and I was off and running.

Sandra and I experimented a bit and came up with a nice twist: using sweet potatoes along with regular ones. So, if you dare, give this a go and tell me what you think!!! Bon appetit!

Ingredients
1 sweet potato - cubed no bigger than 1/4 inch
1 yukon gold potato - cubed no bigger than 1/4 inch
1/4 onion - chopped finely
6 oz smoked trout - cubed no bigger than 1/4 inch
1 Tb fresh dill - chopped - reserve sprigs for garnish
2 Tb creme fraiche
2 eggs - fried or poached

1) Toss potatoes in pan w/ oil @ medium high heat, saute for 15 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, fry or poach 2 eggs and keep warm in oven at 200 degrees.
3) Add onions to potatoes and cook additional 5 minutes
4) Remove from heat, mix in the smoked trout, dill and creme fraiche.
5) Spoon hash onto plate, reserving a little bit for garnish.
6) Top hash with eggs, garnish with a dollop of hash and a sprig of dill.

Smoked salmon works well, make sure it's a good, thick smoked salmon, not lox. Enjoy!

Love,
Clark

Cool it works

Here is another pic of Nashville at Night - looks like Alex's first choice is Belmont - her application is in - cross your fingers. Will is already making plans to take over her room - sound familiar?

We are heading to Thanksgiving with the folks - "it will probably be dads last Christmas" - Jeff is flying in too.

Testing

Thought I would test out this newfangled thang. Took my blog post name from one of my "favorite" childhood monikers. Here is a hopefully bigger pic - this is one of Alexandra's senior montage.

Fun

Good to see this happening... Just wanted to say hey and will hope to have some pics of the new lady in my life, Jenni (Clark and Sandra have met her when we took a trip to Portland for her running of the Portland Marathon) as well as Sage and myself.

Sandra is a very nice woman, by the way.

Adios for now.

Jamester

Alexandra, Jamie and William in Nashville.

Alex and Rachel

Here's a picture of Alex and Rachel from their visit this summer. Alex learned to drive for the first time and Rachel got a chance to keep us from embarrassing her in public!
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We had a fabulous time camping on the coast in a typhoon that crossed the Pacific then stayed in the lap of luxury at Salishan - nice!
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Finally, we visited the Jacquiths' in Corvallis on the way back from Newport, to round out our coastal itinerary!

Connor

Here's one of Connor's halloween costumes, the other being Spiderman, complete with muscles and a 6-pack abs look! More pictures to come...

Dream Big, Dare to Fail

Norm Vaughn was the oldest man to climb the tallest peak in Antarctica at 82 years of age. When asked what he'd tell young people, he simply said, "Dream big, dare to fail." Thus was born my personal motto for the better part of 15 years.

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And so a dream within reach has begun and that is to use this blog to connect with family and friends, to share experiences and opinions, because, after all, "Life is better shared". :-)

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Goodbye round-robin letters, goodbye multi-cast e-mails and hello blogs for the Haass Family and Friends!

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Clark