Emmerich Soup Off

The 7th Annual Emmerich Soup Off was held on Nov. 1st. This year I was only going to make 1 soup, no practice runs either.... yeah right. Friday night I am making two different kinds of soup and having John taste test for me to decide the winner. One was Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup from former GMA co-host Joan Lunden and the other was the famous Olive Garden Tuscano Sausage Soup. Both are very good but the Tortilla soup is the winner.

With 6 different soups as the cast of characters with lots of taste testers the winning soup was DiAnn's Creamy Broccoli. As they were counting the ballets and crowning the winner I was busy getting the news from Shannon having a baby so I missed this whole process. John said as we were headed to the hospital, don't worry Gayle and DiAnn used your camera and took pictures..... hummmm they must not know how to turn it on because there are no pictures on my camera. They wanted me to send in the crowning to the Emmerich Reporter because the 2008 winning soup DiAnn stole from the Emmerich Cookbook submitted by Tabitha Poyda.

Our next event was a 22 shoot, the closest to the bulls eye wins a prize. Starla won the first round. The 2nd round Adam's friend Shawn stole it away from John and the 3rd round was won by Adam. It was suppose to be open sites and as you can see Adam cheated.

Uncle Brad helping Adam's girlfriend Sarah to shoot, this was her first time ever shooting a gun.

Brad helping Shawn's girlfriend Robyn, this is also her first time. After we were done Adam and Shawn had these girls shoot at the own target 3-4 times and they got to keep them. They were so excited that they shot a gun and they hit the target.

Gayle used my camera while I was shooting, I must have left it turned on.

Another first time shooter this year was Joanne. She has never shot a gun, we talked her into trying it this year.

DiAnn's first time shooting.

Our first time to the hospital I forgot my camera (I know how could I forget my camera?), we left Elly there for about an hour and when we went back to pick her up I remembered it. Here is Shannon, Elly and Garrett.

Shannon looks a little pale, she must have worn off all her color in the birthing tub. She was in there for about 3 hours. Shannon likes to pick days the Emmerichs are all together to have her babies. Last time it was Kristi's graduation party and everyone knew at the same time and now this time the Soup Off. All are doing well.

Happy Halloween

Here's more of Elly's Halloween Costume. She was the cutest little ladybug ever.

To her it wasn't about the treats it was all about being able to come visit. But then there was the "No honey you can't spend the night, but I'll see you tomorrow" and I get this face.

Then Grandma gives her the whole bowl of treats and she's a happy girl again.

Trick or Treating makes this little ladybug very tired.

Baby Sprinkle for Shannon

Last Sunday we had a baby sprinkle for Shannon. It was a sprinkle since she has already had a baby but there was no time for a shower. 20 minutes to prepare for being a Grandma didn't give us much planning time. : ) There were about 25 guests and everyone had a great time playing Lynn and Shawna's games and enjoying the great chili meal.

The cake was so cute and made by my aunt Susie. She did a fabulous job and everyone loved the taste. Our theme was pink and green with polka dots.

Among the drinks we had punch and Hot Cranberry Tea..... while with the Hemmers and Emmerichs we like to add a little kick to our suppose to be alcohol free drink so I brought along a bottle of Hot Damn Cinnamon Schnapps. What's wrong with that? Well as guest started to arrive there were many making fun of my bottle of booze at a baby sprinkle so I covered it up so no one could see. And I'll have you know that this bottle was almost gone when the shower was done!!

Since we have Elly already we set up a picture area with Shannon and Elly's pictures. It's amazing how much Elly looks like Shan now and when Shan was little.

Cute job on the decorations girls, love the green and pink. We gave everyone a nickle when they got there. To introduce ourselves we had to give our name, how we know Shannon and then say something we have never done. Then from the other guest if they have ever done that they have to give you their nickle. My niece Jody started the game and she had a great "never done" she said "I never sent a child to school" Well that cleared out most of our nickels.... Elly's never was "I never drove a car".... she now has all the nickles. A few more people went and didn't want to take the nickles away from Elly so they said things they never did but Elly never did them either..... until...... there is pesty Aunt Gayle she's not afraid!!! She said "I never wore a polka dot dress"..... ohhhhh there goes all Elly's nickles to Auntie Gayle.




Lynn and Shawna are giving the rules for the bag over their head. You have to put the bag over your head and when Lynn says take an item off your body they have to hand it to their partner. This game was hilarious and some people were getting down to where they couldn't take anything else off....

The best was Grandma Fran with this bag on her head. She was ready to take her teeth out but the game stopped just in time.

Here's Shannon with her cake. She is so cute, we tried to get belly pictures of her but that wasn't happening.

She wanted Elly to get her picture taken with her.... so this is what you get when pesky Auntie Gayle gives her a mask that she loves. She wore this all day. Good thing Gayle had a make-up gift for taking all her nickles away!!

Shannon opened up the gift from Grandma Fran and it's the famous variegated baby afghan. All the grandchildren get them. During my niece Jody's baby shower Elly got upset at Grandma Great for giving her blanket away!! We prepared her for this one.

Lynn wrote down all the babies gifts in a hard page story book. She had a bunch of different color markers and each person had a different page in the story book. It was so cute and something Shannon and the baby can read for many years.

What a great sprinkle and what great family and friends we have.

Shannon wanted a picture of her with Elly and Lynn so here are my three girls... so far...... maybe baby will make four!!

Update from Shannon's doctor appointment this last Thursday.... nothing!!! Baby is still high and nothing is moving. She's not due until the 3rd of November and I was 3 weeks late with all three kids so I guess it may be awhile yet. Don't worry you'll be the first to hear the news.

Munson Bridge Winery

John and I went to the Munson Bridge Winery. http://www.munsonbridgewinery.com/ What a fun time and the wine is sooooo good. The couple that owns this place talked to us for about 45 minutes and she was so fun and told us so many stories about how they changed this working farm into a winery for the public to enjoy.

This is behind the wine tasting bar, it's a non-working piano that holds the wine bottles and glasses. It is gorgeous. John and I taste tested 12 different wines (6 each) until we both came to our favorite. Mine is Julia's Raspberry, in which they had none to sell by the bottle only the glass. They did take us back to the milk house or now wine vats to see Julia's Raspberry brewing just waiting to be bottled this week. Lifting that huge lid and the aroma of the wine was as good as drinking it. John's favorite was 5 Ducks Crab Apple, he actually got to buy a bottle, that's okay it just means I get to go back real soon.

Here is the patio for relaxing and enjoying the wine. This used to be the cow yard

There is a pond you can sit by, it is very pretty right now with the fall colors..... this was the manure pit. Not kidding!

The hay loft has been cleaned up, they use it to sell crafts, hold weddings, cater dinners, or just a space to roam around and look at the beauty in an old barn. The owner told us they needed to talk about retirement and the fact that they wanted to keep their home so they needed to do something to work from home enough to afford retirement and enjoy themselves at the same time. This is their dream and they certainly have a good thing happening here. This next Friday they are having a local artist display her artwork while you browse the gallery you can enjoy your favorite wine.

This chandelier hangs high above the hay loft floor and is the touch of class within the rustic. A smashing deal, thanks to E-bay.

John and I after 2 glasses of wine and about 2 hours of pure relaxation.

Kallie Lynn's Birthday

Jesse and Robin are the proud parents of a baby girl Kallie Lynn. She was born this morning thankfully in the hospital. They arrived and 2 minutes later she was born, the doctor didn't even make it there. This would be DiAnn's 4th grandchild, the first granddaughter... wow sis we can't keep up to this pace!!

Pictures were taken by Grandma DiAnn

Here is Jesse, Robin and Kallie

And the proud aunt Monica holding her new niece

And here is Kallie Lynn, just hours old.

Hemmerfest Weekend

This last weekend we had a camping weekend at the Hunting Shack (Doghouse), we aren't really a camping family but we thought we would try it to see what happens. There were tents, pop-up campers, a big 5th wheel camper and then lots of beds in the shack. We set up on Friday night, cooked a little supper and sat by the fire. It was a cold night, I froze all night long. I even woke John up from my teeth chattering.

Jesse, Lynn and Elly setting up their tent.

Looks kinda tiny compared to Ken and Tomi's house on wheels

Putting on the rain cover

This picture is out of focus but I love the look El is giving Jesse.... "what are you doing?"

Then Lynn gets under the cover..... what are they doing?

El loved the tent

And she can talk Tia and I into just about anything.... so here's Tia pretending to sleep in a tent that's about 150 degrees. She was going to sleep in the tent until it got dark then forget it she was sleeping in the shack with Grandma.

Saturday afternoon brought lots more people to "Hemmerfest", it must have been the entertainment.... or the fabulous food.... or the warm night.... or the rain showers..... the fort building contest.....or Lynn's version of how the coyotes sounded the night before Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya (say that in a really high voice and like Indians chanting).... the bean bag games....or maybe it was the riding of Adam's little dirt bike... or maybe it was just a good time.

Here is Jake's fort

Adam, Josh, Hartman, and Mini-Me's fort

Elly and Jet's fort, complete with a working TV and a DVD of Nemo... perfect

I gotta simplify this or I'll never get done with this post.....Enjoying the fire and sunshine

Grandpa giving El her morning kisses

Ken checking out Adam's blind. The boys were inside then they would holler walk...... down....walk......down.... they were sneaking up on us since they were camouflaged.

The fist ever bean bag crowd wave... here they are setting up

The start of the wave.....

and the end of the wave....

Adam and Sara sitting by the fire, hey kids your gonna melt your shoes!

Jason and his little boy.... I love a thumb sucker

Great food