Erick and Kathi Hacking: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to Family & Friends

2008 started off with a bang, or at least a big snow storm. Several inches of beautiful snow fell on New Year’s Eve. We spent the evening at our friends, playing the Wii; I don’t remember when we laughed so much. If you want to see videos, let us know. When we returned to work, Erick decided to take a slip on the wet floor (inside the office building) and he ruptured his hamstring – ouch!! Fortunately, he was able to work from home for the next 3 weeks while he recovered. We had some really crazy weather during the month. I believe that January was also one of the coldest months that Chicago has had in a very long time. There were several days with close to zero or negative degrees, then it warmed up to close to 40, then it was back down to almost zero again, this month was just one big roller coaster in the weather department. The end of January continued to bring us about 10-12 inches of newly fallen snow. Kaysye never has really liked the cold or the wet, and you can bet that she really didn’t like to go outside when it was close to zero, but she was a good sport.

February also came in with a bang! On the first we woke up to about a foot of snow. Thank goodness for our handy-dandy snow blower, it has gotten a lot of use this year already. The exciting thing that happened was that we had several big snow storms and really cold weather. Several times it got down to zero – and why did we move to Chicago? I think Chicago broke several snow records this year.

March came in a little quieter than the first few months of the year. I think we had a day around 40 degrees, then it got cold again. Erick was in charge of the Elder’s Quorum Chili Cook-off this year. We had our biggest turn out ever, over 100 people. It’s pretty amazing because just a few years ago when they started having this annual event, we only had about 20 people show up. Oh, and Erick won again, for the last time (see July).

April began to see the beginnings of Spring. Erick participated in his first BBQ judging competition of the season. It was held down in the St Louis, MO area. It was a bit cold, but the 'Que was wonderful.

May is quickly upon us. Kathi went out to Women’s Conference at BYU again this year. She attended with her mother and mother-in-law and had a great time. Erick ran in his first (and only) 5k with Kathi in downtown Chicago. At the end of the month we took a road trip up to the Mall of America in Minnesota. Erick had another BBQ competition that he judged, and Kathi was able to shop at the Mall of America (biggest mall in America) on her birthday. Isn’t that every woman’s dream?

In June Erick purchased a Big Green Egg (see http://www.biggreenegg.com/). He also judged a few more BBQ competitions. He was released as Ward Clerk and was called as a Family History Consultant. Look out family, here he comes for your information. We also traveled to New York for a seminar that Kathi participated in. Erick went along for fun. We saw a lot of Manhattan, and even got to spend time with Cynthia Ballentyne (one of Mom Hacking's Exchange Students). This is a pictures of us in Central Park.

July brought Girls Camp for Kathi. Our Girl’s Camp is held up at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. They have cabins, showers, mess hall, lodge & of course the lake. The weather was pretty nice, which helped. She completed a 5 mile hike with the girls and was glad when it was over. Erick was ordained a High Priest, so no more winning the Elders Quorum Chili Cook-off.

August brought visitors from Vernal, Utah. Two of Erick’s cousins, Debbie & Jeanne, came and visited us for a week (we always have room for visitors J). We spent a few days in Nauvoo for the Pageant and then headed to Chicago to see the sights. Later in the month we took a trip to St. Louis to visit family and Erick judged another BBQ competition. Are you catching the theme of our summer? Barbecue!

In September, Erick tried his hand at smoking a pork shoulder on his Big Green Egg. Erick got up early (2 am) to get things going. After 10 hours of smoking, the pork was ready to come out and boy was it delicious. Kathi took a colored pencil drawing class at the local college. Kathi was release from the Young Women organization, after over 4 years. She is back in the Primary, playing the piano and was also called as a Family History Consultant and now works alongside Erick.

October took us to Kansas City, MO for the American Royal, which is the Grand-daddy of them all when it comes to BBQ competitions, with about 500 teams. Erick judged & Kathi was able to volunteer at the turn in & clean up tables. All in all, Erick judged 13 BBQ competitions this year. Next year he should be able to make Master Judge. He can not wait. Now that BBQ season is over, we are able to get back to doing a few things around the house. We planted a garden this summer, and had a lot of tomatoes, cucumbers, Habanera peppers, and yellow peppers. Our zucchini didn’t fare too well this year, but next year will be better. Erick was able to bottle about 45 pints of Grandma Hackin

g’s Tomato Soup, which he is very excited about.

November took us to California to spend Thanksgiving with Kathi’s mom. At first we dreaded the 4 hour flight (plus airport time) with Kaysye in her carrier, but she did quite well. She might even become a frequent flyer. We fully enjoyed the warm weather in California. Kathi also bit the bullet and decided to cut her long hair. It is now above her shoulders and she is still trying to get used to it.

December came in with a bang. The 1st brought us about 4” of beautiful white snow (sounds a lot like January!!) and it’s been cold ever since. In fact, we've seen snow, ice, freezing rain, below-freezing temps, and more snow (Erick shoveled 13" off the deck on Christmas Eve). Looks like a white Christmas for us. This is a picture of the smoked turkey in Erick's Big Green Egg for Christmas Dinner