Milestone

I wondered why Chloe hadn't slept through the night for a few nights, and why she was a little fussier than normal. Then when she put my finger in her mought and I felt something sharp, I knew why; she had cut her first tooth! (If you enlarge the picture and look really hard you can see a grayish area on her bottom gum.)

To be honest, it was a shock to me when I first felt the tooth, and I even felt a little sad. I don't know why, other than it meant that she wasn't going to be a baby forever. I guess I look at it as the first really physical change to take place since her birth.

Eating it Up Already

Although Chloe chews on any book she can get her hands on, I'm betting she'll be a Jane Austen fan one day.

Conference Weekend and Moose Sighting

Another General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has come and gone, but we hope the words of love and counsel will not leave our hearts....

Duncan and I were happy to have Nancy B. spend Saturday with us. Her friend, Chase, who just got home from his mission on Friday, also joined us for lunch and the afternoon session. It was good to see him again.

Diannah was the lucky one, though, because she got to share our Conference tradition on Sunday morning: a breakfast of Belgian waffles and buttermilk syrup. Yum!

After conference Duncan, Chloe and I took a scenic drive on the Alpine Loop and to Cascade Springs. On our way home, we pulled off the road to take a picture of the fall trees and white-capped mountains, and did so just as a large moose was crossing the road about a hundred yards or so in front of us. It was beautiful. Here's the best shot I could get, followed by a closeup from that shot.

Here are a couple other fun shots from that day.

Essentials of Baking

I absolutely love this book. I originally bought it several years ago at Costco, I think. I loaned that copy to a friend and then decided to let her keep it as a going away present; so, of course, I had to go out and buy another one. It seems like everything I make from the book turns out great. Yesterday I made the Lattice-Top Peach Pie (with fresh Utah peaches) and it was fabulous. The Flaky Pie Pastry is the only pie crust recipe I use now. The only bread recipe I've tried is the Classic Dinner Rolls, and they were delicious. Anyway, if you like to bake or want to learn, I would highly recommend this book. Christmas is coming up...it might be a good gift for someone.

Sunny Days

Chloe loves to go outside for walks. These days, when she sees us strapping on the Baby Bjorn, she smiles and wiggles and gets excited. I used to call her the sleep walker, because she would fall asleep by the end of every walk (sometimes at the beginning of the walk), but now she mostly stays alert and watches everything that passes by. We live pretty close to a park where we can go swing and sit on the grass. The park is next to an elementary school, so we also watch the kids at recess or on their way home from school. Here are some pictures of our latest outing.

(Good for boosting the immune system?)

Name the Movie

"We need, like, some name tags with our picture on it, all laminated and whatnot. I mean, we gotta look legit, man."

Bonus points if you can name the character who said it. :)

Missing Our Baby and Happy Birthday!

Duncan and I arrived in Kansas City yesterday on a spur-of-the-moment trip to conduct some real estate business. We decided not to bring Chloe with us so that we could focus on business and get more done, so she is staying with her Grandmother and Papa Peterson in Pocatello (their new home as of a few months ago). We had quite a time getting her there. The plan was to meet Duncan's mom in the middle--in Brigham City--drop off Chloe and all of her paraphernalia and then head to the airport. Well, as other things came up that we needed to take care of (remember, this was a last minute trip), we started running out of time and asked Nancy to keep driving south and meet us at the airport (thank goodness for cell phones). To make a long story short, we ended up missing our flight, but luckily got on a later flight that got us to our connecting flight in Denver at the same time; so we still arrived in KC as scheduled. Anyway, here we are and we miss Chloe so much! At least we know she is in good hands. Here are some recent pictures that I have been looking at since we've been gone. By the way, it's Duncan's 32nd birthday today!