What Christmas Is All About

Snapshots

Now this one might have won the messy face contest...and messy hands, and messy shirt....

Isn't she adorable?

This little piggy...

Downloading after a long day of work.

Family Christmas Party in Pokey

Last weekend we went to Pocatello for a Christmas party with Duncan's family. All the siblings and their spouses and children were there. Duncan's mom makes it a tradition to take pictures of the grandkids with matching outfits. This year she bought the girls the most adorable dresses. They were so excited to dress up and prance and twirl around in their dresses. And Ian looked so handsome in his navy blue corduroy and tie. Needless to say, the photo session with 5 children under 3 didn't go as smoothly as we wanted, but we did our best. As you can see, Chloe drew a lot of attention to herself. She was eating a cracker in that first picture. The amazing thing is, that Charlotte slept through the whole thing!


As part of the festivities we went to the local Festival of Trees, took pictures, had a delicious meal and exchanged gifts among the grandchildren. I also got to go on a walk with Hannah and Ashley; it was cold, cold, cold, but fun! It's always fun to visit MaMere and Papa P!

Thanksgiving Day

A Thanksgiving of firsts: the first one with my parents since their mission, the first one with two children--a newborn and a toddler. Here are Mommy and her girls before going to Grammy and Papa's for Thanksgiving.

I wanted to get some nice pictures of the girls that day, and had specials outfits for them and everything. But the only way to get one of them together was to turn the camera over to Duncan and hold them myself. Here are some individual shots.

We had a wonderful meal and a nice visit with Mom and Dad, Diannah, and Amanda and her family. This is a shot of little Lucy that I couldn't resist. Look at those eyes.

Halloween '09

Chloe started out as a pumpkin for Halloween this year. (Thanks, Amanda, for the costume.)

Then she kind of morphed into an orange sheep.


She had fun trick-or-treating with her cousins and Daddy and Mommy.

Already a Month Old (almost)...

Here she is!

Charlotte is almost four weeks old, and I'm finally posting. She's a little thing, weighing 6 lbs 7 oz and measuring 17.5 in. at birth. These pictures were taken before we left the hospital, but she hasn't changed that much. (I'll post more pictures later, when we get my computer fixed.) The delivery (c-section) went more or less routinely, which we are grateful for. We're all adjusting well, and are loving having Charlotte. The real heroes of this story are:

Duncan - for being the wonderful husband that he is; for loving and supporting me; for encouraging me through the rough first few weeks; for taking care of Chloe; for cleaning and helping so much around the house; for being eternally optimistic.

My Mom - for always being "on call"; for taking care of Chloe; for taking me to appointments and shopping; for her invaluable advice; and for lots and lots of other help.

Chloe - for being such a wonderful daughter and big sister! for taking naps and going to bed so well; for loving Charlotte; for being patient with Mommy; for making us laugh.

Charlotte - for choosing to come to Earth and bless our family.

Last Monday evening we enjoyed a drive along the Alpine Loop to see the beautiful Fall colors, knowing that they wouldn't last much longer.


We made a couple little stops along the way, and Chloe had fun playing peek-a-boo and collecting pine cones.


There were some magnificent vistas. We just couldn't capture all the beauty.

A Few Days Late

This is a belated birthday post for Duncan, who turned 33 a few days ago. It was a pretty low-key birthday, but we did have a little celebration, and Chloe helped me make a birthday banner. We love you, D. Here's to the best year yet!

Have you read any good books lately?

Why, yes. I finally finished the roughly 800 pages of Charles Dickens' final novel, Our Mutual Friend; one that I had never heard of until someone in my book club selected it for our group to read. Talk about a menagerie of characters and a plot with lots of twists and turns. This was a fun, yet somewhat difficult read, with the usual dose of Dickens' characteristic darkness. If you're looking for a good, long book, I would recommend this one. The BBC adaptation is also very good, so if you'd rather get the main story in 4-5 hours, you can check that out.

Tri #2 for Duncan

When, due to an emergency appendectomy at the end of May, Duncan couldn't compete in the Battle at Midway Triathlon for the second year in a row, he decided to look for another opportunity to complete a triathlon this year. He was going to do Daybreak, but was too late in registering. Then he came across the Jack and Jill Triathlon in Honeyville, north of Brigham City. It was only a week away, but was also a shorter distance than the olympic length tri at BAM. Despite little to no training, he decided to do it. So we packed up Chloe and headed up Friday afternoon. The race started at 5 in the evening. Here he is getting set up for the start of the race.

It was a very spectator-friendly race, since you could stand along the beach and watch the entire swim; you could even take a dip in the water yourself if you wanted to (and it was hot enough!). The running part of the race consisted of three times around the lake, so you could see your competitor go by several times. Anyway, here's Duncan finishing the swim--his strongest event.

I had quite a time chasing Chloe around. There were lots of kids, because they were having a kids' triathlon at 7 that same evening. (The women's tri was the next day--hence, the Jack and Jill title). They did have a Kids' Zone where kids could draw pictures with washable markers. Here's Chloe drawing to pass the time while daddy raced.

Duncan finished the race with a smile on his face. (Although I didn't happen to capture it in this picture.)

Here he is relaxing in the water with Chloe.

It was a beautiful evening, and a fun time for our family. If you want to find a short, family-friendly triathlon, we recommend the Jack and Jill in Honeyville. :)

And the Third Place Winner Is...

I finally won something in a contest! I entered a recipe in the Ghirardelli Chocolate Competition at the Utah State Fair this week and won third place, garnering the items you see in the picture. And can you believe I didn't take my camera to the competition?! So, you don't actually get to see the Milk Chocolate Toffee Bars that I made (and you know how I love taking pictures of food), but here's the recipe, which is now owned by Ghirardelli and the Utah State Fair.

Milk Chocolate Toffee Bars

(Makes 16)

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup toffee bits

1 cup Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chips

Extra Ghirardelli Milk and Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (about ½ cup) and ½ tablespoon vegetable shortening for melting

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and two sides of an 8-inch square baking dish with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on the two sides. Butter the other two sides of the pan.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour, and beat until combined. Stir in toffee bits and chocolate chips by hand.

3. Spread batter in prepared baking pan. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven; cool completely in pan.

4. In a microwave-safe bowl, add the vegetable shortening to the extra chocolate chips. Microwave on high for 20-30 seconds at a time until the chocolate stirs smooth but is not too hot. Spread the melted chocolate over the cake. Let set until chocolate is firm.

5. Grasping foil overhang, lift cake from pan. Peel away the foil and, using a serrated knife, cut into 16 squares. Store bars in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.