Where's Santa?

Have you ever wondered what Santa did in his "free" time? Do reindeer just naturally know how to land and take off? What about houses with out snow? Is landing different in warm weather areas? Well these are questions I have had and tonight I may have just found some of those answers.

For example we were driving down this one street and right in the middle of all the lights and glitter we found Santa dancing and singing right on the front porch of this house. Of course as soon as I started rolling the camera he froze as still as a statue. But I know he was real.

On another street we came across sleigh pulling practice. I'm sure that's what it was because ...well you see for your self.

Jupiter High School Choir-Christmas songs On the Radio

Jordyn went with her school spectrum choir to sing on the radio this morning. if you would like to hear her choir go to this web site. Click here then go to the songs by jupiter high school (there are 4)
They have been singing all over the palm beach area and have done as many as 20 different "gigs" this season for fund raisers.

The cardinals song

Sometimes when I am walking the dog I will hear a beautiful bird singing, when I located the source I find the bird to be just as beautiful as it's song. This time I decided to record the bird but as soon as my camera was rolling he decided to be a little shy, I did get a little of the cardinals song but I wish I could have gotten more for you. Hope you enjoy.

violin lessons

Jordyn started teaching a couple of brothers to play the violin about a month ago. here is a picture of her and her students. They love their teacher and practice very hard each week. Their piano teacher said that their excuse for not having practiced the piano very well was that they had to practice their violins. :)

caught steeling oranges

We had a terrific Thanksgiving holiday. we hope you all did as well. Melissa, Sean and family came up from Miami, Brandon and Ali came up from Ft. Lauderdale, they also brought with them 3 couples from their ward. All in all we had 13 adults and 5 children. Dinner was great and despite the air conditioning breaking down we were relatively comfortable. Some of the adults played with the canoe while we cooked and after dinner we went to the beach and played in the waves.

Brandon and Ali arrived Wednesday night and stayed until Sunday morning. Saturday we took a trip to Orlando by way of A1A, a road that goes along the coast the entire way. We stopped at a Navy Seal museum and another museum that explained why the area is called the Treasure Coast. We learned about 11 ships carrying gold, silver and fine jewelery for a queen were wrecked in a hurricane and people today are still finding treasure along the beach. Our final destination for the trip was the Leu Gardens in Orlando. 48 acres of trees and flowers including a gorgeous rose garden.

Well that about sums up our week, the air conditioning is still broken and today is quite humid so I am anxiously waiting to hear from the repair man. we've added a few more coconuts to the count but I'm not telling how many or how many have grown yet some of you haven't added your guesses to the contest.

Blowing Rocks

Brandon and Ali came out for the weekend. They brought friends and a book of things to do in Florida. We discovered this place that's right across the intra coastal from us (1/2 mile as the crow flies or 1 mile as the car drives)

What we found there was amazing and we didn't even walk the whole area. Can't wait for you all to come on down and experience this with us.





Brandon after the fun!

windy day

October has been very busy. We had Natalie and Shannon visit with all three grandchildren. We did a lot of things while they were here including driving all the way to Key West and back in one day. (17 1/2 hours). We saw aquariums, a sea park with a great dolphin show where I got to pet and kiss a dolphin, a parrot show where Myra got to feed a parrot and a sea lion show where Natalie and Shannon got hugs and kisses. (To see the dolphins swim next to us in an open boat check out Chad and Shannon's blog.) in Key West we saw a man almost swallow a sword. I say almost because he took too much time gathering his crowd and a big thunder storm hit. We got very wet running for the car and we were still wet when we got home 5 hours later.
On another adventure we went to Lion Kingdom safari where we drive though the park and see all the wild animals roaming loose and free. we also got to feed the giraffes. See video this page.
It was a lot of fun to have the girls and kids visit and I really want to thank Chad and Doug for allowing them to come here for so long. Kent didn't get to do to much with us because he was very busy with work. Kent has been putting together a 40 page business plan for next year and for most of October he has been leaving for work and 4:30 a.m. and coming home around 7:00 p.m. he would visit with us until about 9:00 p.m. and then go to bed and start the schedule all over again. He has the plan done and in to a proof reader. it's quite impressive and I think it should be covered and bound. One day during that time he came home early and took Jordyn and I golfing. we had a great time. While Kent was in the bathroom Jordyn and I traded golf carts with him. His was faster and he would catch up to us and bump us. This was a great achievement as Kent was spending extra time in the flora looking for lost balls and found about 40 that were sitting loose in the cart basket. we thought we had to make everything look exactly the same or he would notice but there was a tear in his seat cover and he had spilled his sunflower seeds which we forgot to change. But in the end when we caught up to him a few holes later and started bumping his cart he was quite surprised.
I don't know if you get the weather reports on our tropical storms or not but we have had some fun with tropical storm Noel. He has caused havoc on Haiti and is headed to the Bahama's and even though he didn't come very close to our area he gets all the blame for the damages to our beaches. High winds that are actually caused by a low front has caused the waves at high tide to cut into the beaches and there are several areas that buildings including condo's are seriously threatened. Kent and I have been making visits to a near by beach to view the damage and made a couple of videos of the waves and surfers that are not supposed to be in the water but are having the most fun.

Myra feeding the giraffes

Growing Coconuts

We have a nice palm tree in the front yard and just this week it started dropping coconuts on the ground around us. Kent and I decided we would use them to line the shrub area. We got them all set up so pretty when a neighbor was driving by and saw what we were doing he thought we were planting them to grow. (I didn't know you could grow them even though we have one growing just behind the big tree) Neighbor Rob offered to share with me the big "coconut secret" and explained how they needed to be placed just so on the ground and they would grow. After they sprout you can dig them up and move them. So if you are interested in a Palm Tree with coconuts these are just the first 25 we have started with. Check out the video and place a guess on how many you think we will end up with. 1 guess for how many fall and another guess on how many actually sprout. I think there should be a prize for each category winner.

Up date: October 30th. this video is not the original. the first one I shot had 25 coconuts this one actually has about 40. If I filmed it today there would be 78 coconuts.

Recipe of the Month:

Tri Tip Steak

Ingredients:
1 2.5-pound tri-tip steak
Spice Rub
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons fennel seeds (I didn't use these as we don't usually like the flavor)
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground chili powder
1 tablespoon fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt

In a pan over very low heat combine all fresh spices and toast until fragrant. Remove from pan to cool. In a spice grinder combine all the ingredients for the rub. Mix until well blended. Place the roast on a cutting board and rub both sides of the meat with the spice mixture. Wrap in plastic and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, or overnight in the refrigerator.
Preheat a grill to medium-high. Rub meat with EVOO. Place the roast on the center of the grill and cook 15 minutes on one side, then flip it and cook for another 10 minutes, to medium-rare.
Remove from the grill and allow to rest covered with foil for 10 minutes before carving.
serve chimichurri on the side.

Chimichurri Sauce
1 cup chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, whole
1 heaping teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
2 shallots, whole
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
In a food processor, combine all ingredients until smooth. Allow to sit in the fridge.

Recipe of the month:

ROSEMARY CHICKEN

Ingredients:3 to 3 1/2-pound chicken
2 lemons, quartered
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh, chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons picked thyme
Extra virgin olive oil
Butcher's twine

Instructions:Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Rinse and dry the chicken. Season cavity liberally with half the salt and pepper, reserving the remaining half to season the outside. Stuff the cavity with rosemary, thyme, and lemons, squeezing the lemons as you put them in. Truss the bird tightly to keep the breasts from drying out. Add salt and pepper over the surface. Heat a sauté pan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, over low heat for 1 minute. Add the chicken, breast side up.
Transfer to oven and for 18 minutes per pound. For a 3 1/2-pound chicken, one hour is perfect. Do not open oven or baste chicken during roasting. If the chicken is cooked properly, when pierced with a knife in the thigh, the juice will run clear, not pink. Remove from the pan and cover loosely with foil. Allow to rest for 10 minutes prior to serving.

Serve with Grilled Asaragus

Ingredients1/2 pound fresh baby asparagus, break at natural breaking point
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
A few twists freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest plus a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice

The Allen Family

Hey! Check out our new blog. Just click on Natalie's

new entry

we just posted a blog click on our link "chad's" to see it.

New family Blog

This is a blog intended to be used by Kent and Judi Keyser's Family, as a way of keeping in contact. As many of us are having our own family's I recommend that each sibling start there own blog and then link it to this one. Mom and Dad can us this as their blog, that way we don't have to write two blogs for each side of our family. I can add anyone on as a administrator with the ability to change profiles and posts but you have to have a gmail account, so if you have one send it to me if you don't let me know and i will invite you to make one. Let me know if there are any other changes that you would like to make to this or if you have better ideas.