Rock Band

On Friday night we decided to drive all the way to Glendale, drop off Graham at his grandparents and go to Famous Sam's with my sister Olivia, her husband Adam and a bunch of their work friends. There was a reason we went there, and it wasn't because they had an awesome happy hour. They set up an Xbox with Rock Band and you get your band together and play for the audience. It was so much fun! Natalie and I had played exactly once before, so we were amateurs.



Despite that, I played the drums (something I've never done before at all)





















Natalie rocked the bass. She's a natural as you will see.
Olivia was the lead "vocalist"!

Adam jammed lead guitar most of the night. And Olivia and I even teamed up on a duet to thoroughly split people's eardrums.

So you're thinking to yourself "Did they learn their lesson?" The answer is no, we will be making dogs howl again, maybe in your neighborhood next time.

Cooking With My Little Helper

Last week, Graham helped us make Choc-Oat Cookies (will share the recipe below) and he was such a great helper. We were planning to make them anyway, but thought it would be really fun for him to help us. He jumped right in and seemed like he knew exactly what to do. I was surprised and glad that I had asked him to help.

Today, we made peanut butter balls (as some call them, they have lots of different names). They are healthy and delicious. Graham also helped today and loved it! I got the recipe from my friend Krista who posted it on her blog, who got it from her friend Joy who posted it on her blog, who got it from the Mouro Family (who I don't even know). So....thanks, ladies!! This bloggin' thing is helpful!

Here are the recipes:

Choc-Oat Cookies
(It's just the Nestle recipe on the back of the "mega" package of semi-sweet morsels)

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups quick or old fashioned oats

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Mix first 3 ingredients together, then set aside. Mix all other ingredients together (in order) in a seperate bowl, except oats, nuts and choc. chips. Mix dry with wet, then add oats, choc. chips and nuts. Bake at 375 for 9 to 10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Balls

1 1/2 cups dry milk powder

1 1/2 cups whole oats

2/3 cup honey

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cups dried fruit (I have used raisins or dried cranberries)

1/3 cup ground flax seed

1/3 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup sunflower seeds (have not tried this ingredient yet)

Mix all ingredients together, and then roll into balls.

Keep in the refrigerator.

Finished Peanut Butter Balls

The Peanut Butter Balls are good for you, and well, the Choc-Oat Cookies are "good" for you too!! Enjoy!

Another vacation?

Yes, its true. We went on another vacation this past weekend! That makes something like 3 vacations this summer and it couldn't have been any better. Although not common for us, we were able to get out of dodge 3 times this summer as a family before Natalie has to go back to work next week. This last vacation was a 4 day romp in Pinetop with the Malkin clan. First of all, the cabin we all stayed in was awesome! A back porch view out to Lake of the Woods- nice! We had a quick hike on Thursday afternoon when we got up to the mountains, and then a great spaghetti dinner at the White Mountain Country Club with Grandma and Grandpa Malkin and the Malkin family (Thanks grandma and grandpa again!) Friday Joseph and I made use of our mountain bikes and had a little 10 mile jaunt through the woods before the sky opened up for some rain. I had the dismount of the day. I was having obstacle avoidance and hand eye coordination problems (meaning I kept going over instead of around rocks) and it finally caught up to me on a narrowish part of the trail that had a couple of larger boulders at the edge of the trail, and a medium sized one in the middle. I evidently opted for the largeish boulder on the side with my front tire and was ejected sort of sidewaysish over the handlebars, down the slope. Being the nimble type....... I landed miraculously on my feet and with 3 quick hops I was stopped a mere 20 feet down the hill and escaped with only a bruised knee from the handlebars. Pretty good for such a clumsy bum like myself. Of course if I had any biking skills like my brother in law I wouldn't have had to show my deerlike quickness.
That night we had a great family dinner on the aforementioned lake overlooking porch. Dinner was great, as my lovely wife made the main course while I slaved away over a hot tomato making the salad.
The next day we went to Sunrise Lake for some fishing. In the rain. Then the sun. Then more rain. Then more rain. How about summer, could we order some of that please? I finally figured out I was cold when Grandma Malkin told me how warm the lake water was on her hands.... The 60 degree lake water was warm.... hmmmmm. Anyhow, a nice fish fry that night with all the Malkin clan (most of the fish were from better fisherman earlier in the week).
The last day I was able to play the beautiful course at the CC, with Kyle and Joel and Joseph. It was good to play again for the first time since Graham was born. After taking my first swing in 2 years on the first tee, I finally warmed up and stopped hitting most of the balls into the woods and actually played pretty well (for a crummy golfer like myself). Kyle and I won the best ball scramble against Joseph and Joel, mostly because Kyle consistently kept his ball out of the woods (none of the rest of us could really do that).
It was a great weekend- to recap a hike, a bike, fishing, golfing and family time. THAT'S SWEET!
I should not neglect that my wonderful wife encouraged all of those activities and I was able to do them because she either cared for our great son or made sure he was taken care of while we went together. What a woman.
I should also mention that I had a blast with my family. I often don't call them inlaws when I talk about the things I do with them with coworkers or friends, I usually say something like "my brother Joseph" or "My grandparents". We're that close and I'm so comfortable with them. It's a great feeling to be welcomed so much and loved.
Ok, that's enough for now. Did you really read all that?

Graham has been tagged!!

Graham got "tagged" by his friend Chase, which means we post a newborn picture and a current picture, along with ten facts about Graham.


So here goes.....

This is Graham just minutes old. (10/23/06)

Here is Graham now, 20 months.

Ten Fun Facts About Graham David Braun:

1. Graham's middle name is after his Grandpa Braun's middle name and his Great Grandpa Malkin's first name!

2. Graham LOVES water. He likes to drink water, talk about water and play in water!!

3. Graham loves his Mama, and he REALLY, REALLY, REALLY loves his Daddy! He can't wait for Daddy to come home from work everyday. He lights up when he hears the sound of the garage door. It's wrestle time!!

4. Graham loves to be silly. He loves to sing silly songs with Mama, run around the house playing chase, dance, and laugh. :)

5. Graham has been to many places in his life including: Tucson, AZ, California, Albuquerque, NM, Pinetop, AZ, Forest Lakes, AZ, and Strawberry, AZ.

6. Graham has really good hearing. He will hear music in a store that no one else hears and start dancing, the garage door (as mentioned above), the garbage/recycling man, etc. It's so funny to see his eyes perk up and his mouth wide open with a gasp! He'll hold perfectly still as he listens to this very interesting sound.

7. Graham loves to be with people, especially his family. He loves his Nana and Papa, Aunt Lilly, Aunt Gabby Kate, Uncle Mattie, Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Jo Jo, Auntie and Uncle James, Cousin Caitlyn, Aunt CC, Great Gram and Great Grandpa, Great Grandma Sue (and Great Grandpa Jim), Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Olivia and Uncle Adam, GG, and Great Grandma Braun!! WOW!!

8. Graham is really starting to get into books. He will sit with his Mama or Daddy, or anyone else and read books for quite a while. He points to pictures and we say the word and he says it back.

9. Graham will freely give kisses and hugs when asked. We can't get enough!!

10. Graham is so LOVABLE!! We go into his room every night after he is asleep and just stare at our precious gift from God! I love every day I get to spend with you Graham, even when you are a stinker. Our cup overflows!!

Can't wait to make even more memories with you, son!

Shannon T., you're it!!

Some quick notes

Ok, so the campsite was in this general vacinity N 34.16.265 W 110.51.800. Actually it was about 1 mile west of that location, but I don't have my GPS with me so that will have to do. For those of you more map oriented, it was on 260 east of Payson up on top of the rim, 2 mile east of the intersection with Forest road 300, turn right on Young rd. and go about 2 miles to the 2nd Forest Rd. and turn right. 2 miles down you'd be at the campsite we enjoyed.

I've had several comments about the profile I have.... It's really not a great story but I wish it were. Back in high school I read Dante's Inferno and did an AP english presentation about the book to the class. Long story short, police were involved as were several fires and costumes. I loved the book so much that I wanted my Yahoo profile to have Dante' involved, but could only get some username with my birth date and Dante or something else lame with about 5 numbers in it, so I came up with Dukedante. Exciting huh? It would be if you were freezing in the 8th circle of hell and you had a book written about you.