2007 Superlatives

Here are my "Greatest Hits" of 2007. What a great year!

Best Art - Jenny's 36 sq ft oil painting that makes our house hip and never fails to brighten my day.


Best New Addition - Liv Loree Jensen (born on 4.5.07) is a joy and a delight. This pose totally reminded me of the classic Woody Allen photo!
Best Development - Jenny's marriage to Siba and their new baby Benu 11 months later!




Best Website - www.pandora.com. I was stuck in a rut and not discovering new music. Pandora acts like a DJ that predicts songs and artists you'll like based on your preferences. It's free.
Best Concert - Sondre Lerche solo show. I had a great chat with him during the warm-up about Burt Bacharach, my daughter Aja (he loves Steely Dan), and his fanbase in Utah (especially the Busks!).
Best New Album - Sonre Lerche "Phantom Punch" (2/2007). A bit harder-edged than previous works. Who said 24 year old Norwegians can't rock?












Best Newish Album - The Rebirth "The Journey In" (11/2005). This album is not only progressive, but it is also a throwback to the glory days of Earth, Wind, and Fire. I fell in love after one listen. Thanks for the introduction brother Jon.
Best Rediscovered Album - The Police "Synchronicity"(Miss Gradenko reminds me of my buddy Tosh Brown). Rediscovered in preparation for The Police reunion concert. I was on the front row, lower bowl, adjacent to the stage. Amazing.
Best Restaurant Discovery - Szechuan Chef 15015 Main St., Bellevue, WA. Fiery Green Beans are my fave! It's right by the Stake Center, giving me extra motivation to attend Priesthood training meetings.
Best Film - "On a Clear Day" it's Scottish, funny and inspirational (3 of my favorite adjectives).
Favorite Recipie - Lemon Budino. Tender, tangy, easy cake/custards. Yummy on a weeknight! (click for recipe)
Best Book - "Chief Customer Officer" - Jenne Bliss (work), "Harry Potter & The Deathly Hollows" - JK Rowling (what can I say...I despise Lord Voldomort).
Best Vacation Spot - Lake Chelan with our friends John & Haley (Christensen) Dame. Chelan is the "The French Alps of Washington" (I made that title up).








Best Tile Pattern - Ann Sachs "Pennies". We love it our newly remodeled bathrooms. (plus a bonus pict of Liv)









Hardest Labor - Flagstone walkway. Lifting literally tons of rock and sand made me glad I have a desk job.

Hot Tubbin with the Swiss

It has been 5 years since Carmen and I spent Christmas in Rome and New Year's in Venice. Since then we haven't traveled abroad, except for our annual trips to Vancouver. I suppose we've been busy raising some baby girls.

We've found the perfect spot for a future big trip---the Thermal Baths in Vals Switzerland (Grandpa Glauser would be proud). This place looks so dreamy. We stumbled upon it in an architecture documentary we tried on a whim from Netflix ("Architectures Disk #2).

The Vals thermal pool hewn out of local rock was created in 1996 and appears to offer the ultimate hot-tubbin experience in the midst of modern architecture. It is the first building in Switzerland to be placed on the list of protected Swiss Heritage Conservation sites after only two years.

It looks like the minimum age for kids is 5, so you can bet we'll be there in 2012 when Liv turns 5! Until then we'll stick with Vancouver.

Of course, all friends and family are invited to join us. So start saving up your Swiss Francs.

4 Yr Old Fashionista - New Glasses

Sweet Aja got her new glasses today. She looks so fabulous!

They are bifocals that will help correct her Refractive Esotropia. Essentially she has a difficult time focusing on things that are up close. This causes her to look a bit cross-eyed at times. Wearing the glasses will help her left eye get stronger and she is likely to grow out of them in her tweens (11-13 yrs old).

She is a super nice kid. We love her so much. It's fun to see her grow up!

The Gospel According to Ebeneezer

The Girls (Carmen included) and I had a perfect, lazy Christmas today. We especially enjoyed renewing our annual tradition of watching the 1970 musical version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol "Scrooge". Aja & Anna are really into it because they love the music that we play all Christmas season. Besides they are so TV-deprived that they'd watch anything and like it.

Anyway, Scrooge is a key ingredient in my year-end cathartic ritual in which I recommit myself to becoming better. Scrooge's dramatic turn-around teaches me the sheer power in Jesus Christ's Atonement. This year I was particularly touched by the scene below when all Scrooge's debtors break into song and dance because they learn that all their debts are ended. That scene encapsulates my biggest learning this Christmas season: Jesus is the cause for this great celebration. He has provided a way for us to be forgiven of our debts/sins. He is the reason for this great Holyday celebration (get it?). I am grateful that I am able to repent, change, and become better.


I've also attached some highlight photos (click to enlarge) of our 24 hours of fun with Carmen's sister Kaitlyn and her super-cool husband Tim yesterday. They got to sneak away and be with us for a bit while visiting Tim's parents in central Washington.

Losers! - Remodel Contest

Yep, we lost the annual 3-Form best installation contest...sad but true. It was inevitable though. Our bathroom remodel had a modest budget and was designed and installed by Carmen and me. While the winning projects were from BIG BUCK$ design interior firms. Still, our design was a top 10 vote getter out of 73 residential entries. Not bad, eh?

However, I must say that the grand prize entry (from the commercial category) from Jackson Hole, WY is gorgeous (see below).

Jackson has come a long way in interior design since the days when decorating = hanging deer, moose or elk antlers on the wall (or making an arch out of them). It was back in those days (1977) when I uttered the now infamous line while watching all of coffee drinking compared to Utah..."Jackson Holes sure do love coffee." Kinda funny that I ended up living in Seattle where there are 15+ coffee shops within 2 blocks of my office (seriously).

Here are the contest winner details. What are your favorites?
http://www.3-form.com/best_installation_contest-view.php

Zupfa Bread - A Swiss Christmas Tradition

Carmen is a superstar woman. Last night she fully replicated my mom's family recipe for Zupfa ("zootfa"). In fact, I took a hot loaf over to my mom's cousin Steve Glauser (mom's maiden name) while Carmen stayed home with the girls. Steve and family just pulled the bread apart on the spot and enjoyed it as they watched that goofy guy from Utah win on Survivor. At one point Steve's daughter Heather said, "Carmen is an amazing homemaker...which is ironic because she's a liberal."

This bread is great hot out of the oven, or toasted with a protein powder and flax seed shake in the morning.

Zupfa Bread
3/4 C Butter
2 C Milk (melt butter w/ milk on low in the microwave)
1 TBS Salt
3/4 C Sugar
5 eggs hand whipped
3 TBS yeast in 1 C warm water (an additional 3TBS of the sugar in)
11 C (approx) White Flour (untill dough becomes sticky and satiny)

Raise covered, punch down and divide into 6 equal balls
Divide each ball into 4 equal parts, roll into strands and braid left to right (over under over under), repeat. Let raise until size doubles.

Bake @ 350F for 25 mins

Confused? Call Carmen or my Mom and they'll walk you through it the first time.

Christmas Special Villians

We've been having a blast this year watching the circa early 70's wood puppet Christmas Specials. "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" is the most well known. This year we've especially enjoyed "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." It's amazing how un-PC it is...it has numerous Bible references (you go!) and has some pretty harsh stereotypes on German-Hitlerlike villains (Burger Miser Mister Burger). The overall message that crusty, mean people can change if shown a little kindness is what Christmas is all about to me (think Ebeneezer Scrooge).

Besides these villains are totally funny looking. Don't ya think? Who's the scariest or funniest to you? I'm partial to Mr. Heat Miser myself.

White Elephant Party

Our friends hosted a great white elephant party tonight. I'm bummed because the Shrek "Chia Head" that I really wanted got stolen away from me. Oh well, I can't complain we finally got rid of that creepy Carol Channing doll that my sister Jenny gave me back in 1998.

We played this great game called: "Who? What? Where? Why?" in which one person fills in the answer to each of those questions and then hides what they wrote. Then they pass it to the next person untill each of the questions are answered by a different person. At the end you read the wacky, random mad-lib type story. Anyway it is a great low-tech game that just requires paper, pencil and and imagination. Here are some of the best of the night.

Who: John Denver
What: Drove a backhoe decorated with pom-poms
Where: During Spud-Harvest in Rexburg
Why: Because his arms were sore from waterskiing.

Who: Michael Vick
What: Made a pass at Fabio
Where: During the performance of "Wicked" at the Puget Sound Auditorium
Why: Because sometimes he just needs a little "me time."

Who: The Wonder Twins
What: Ate a lot of 18 inch pizzas with anchovies, onions, and sauerkraut
Where: In the men's room
Why: Because one is a little bit country and the other is a little bit rock-n-roll.

Supa youtube video. Gotta dance now...

Tis The Season for Fruitcake

I'm way into these pictures of my gals.

We took hummus to our neighbors tonight. Who needs another fruitcake anyway?

Blog rhymes with log

I enjoyed a beautiful hike today in the Cascades. My buddy John Klapmust and I climbed Silver Peak. We could clearly see Mount Rainier, The Olympics, Mt. Baker & Seattle. It was spectacular. There were a few spots where clear-cut logging munched the forest back in the 70's and 80's.

Anna Cleo, who is now 2 and 1/2 yrs old saw a steeple on a church tonight and said ,"Look daddy! It's a stick pointing straight up to the world." Profound.

Keep on loggin'. I mean bloggin.