Evening with the Beans

We had the Beans--Clifton, Katya, Vadim and Natalie over for fondue tonight.

Clifton is one of John's oldest friends. In fact, he and Scott Johnson were John's roommates during his first apartment after college, so I've known "Cliffy" since John and I started dating.

About 14 years ago, Clifton took a contract assignment in Russia where he met Katya.

Katya is one of the bravest women I know. She is ALWAYS up for adventure. When she first married Clifton and moved here it didn't matter what I asked her to go do, she was totally in for any new experience.

Katya--who now goes by the more American, Kathryn--just successfully presented her Ph.D. proposal and now gets to take a bit of a break from all of her research. (Katya already holds multiple masters in computer science and statistics.)

We were reminiscing last night about when Vadim and Chase first met at the age of 5. Chase complained that Vadim was always talking Russian.

(That was because at the time, Vadim, also 5, only spoke Russian.)

Vadim heads to UT this summer. In fact, the Beans stopped by our house on their way home from Austin--where they had been all weekend for orientation and to find Vadim an apartment.

Katya and I couldn't help but be amazed at how much the "boys" had grown. New apartments, jobs, colleges....a different world from back when their conversation centered on the Power Rangers.

Natalie had a stuffed longhorn, "Cooper" which she purchased while in Austin. It was fun to see that Natalie is still bright and bubbly full of love and joy for everyone.

I love serving fondue because it is usually a long meal and one that is conducive for conversation. After the Bean's weekend in Austin and John's and my busy weekend, we all got tired at about 9pm and the guitar hero concert was cut short. (Have to say I wasn't disappointed about that. I'm dreadful at GH.)

After they left, I baked homemade dog biscuits for our four-legged crew because I was simply so happy that Casey was home. It meant I was up a bit late, but it was totally worth it.