Welcome Winter!

So I LOVE wintertime! We got our first snow of the season and the kids were elated! Grammy and Grandpa came up for part of the day. By late evening quite a bit more had fallen than we expected. Dan took the kids out for some late night sledding. Once back in the house, right after a bath, Everett got sick puking a number of times--and landing on hardwood flooring--and on a number of surfaces--walls, baseboards, etc. Poor guy felt much better after, of course, and we spent the even cleaning up after. Also, a pic of the family room decorated for the season. We LOVE our heatilator fireplace. We have yet to turn on the heat for the home--that thing spits our enough heat to get the job done. We are grateful for it! Note the wax ornaments on the tree. We made the beeswax ones years ago and melted them down to remake them (since obtaining more molds) and we melted down a red candle and some other wax to add some more to the mix, in red. It was a fun FHE activity and really adds to the tree.

Annual Thanksgiving/Christmas Bowling Party!

So we did not take good pics of the party. But we were there and to document (since I have not journaled or scrapbooked for the past two years)... Dan bowled a bundle of strikes (hysterical since we bowl only once a year) and I actually pulled a few myself--in no way correlated to skill--pure luck.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Natalie loves "crafts" and insisted on making an Indian head band. She and Everett had a ball cutting out feathers for their project. My parents came up for the day--and actually spent the night with us, allowing Dan and I to go out two nights in a row--wow! Thanks Mom! Anyway, my mother found a host of recipes from the Real Simple magazine and we decided to go out, forsaking all the traditional ones we are prone to use each year (ok so we kept two, Cope's Dried Corn and Endive Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing--MUST HAVES). Although there was some trepidation from the most mature male of the group at the initial decision to use all new recipes (Rosemary and Orange Turkey, Broccoli Gyuere au Gratin, Mustard Roasted Butternut Squash, Cranberry and Sausage Stuffing (THE BEST!), Chocolate Chestnut Mousse Pie, etc...) he, and we, were pleasantly surprised/satisfied at the DELICOUS spread--all thanks to the hard work of Mother and Me and the folks at Real Simple. Anyway, pics are of the food, the kids and our table at Thanksgiving.

Family Snowball Fight!

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Natalie's 2009 School Pictures

Here she is, scar and all! She is such a cutie!

State Museum of Pennsylvania

What a great place! So kid-friendly and VERY nice. Natalie enjoyed the scavenger hunt. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the museum. They also had fun at the hands-on play place located within the museum. We will certainly be returning for some more fun.

We also hit a Mexican restaurant, of all places for lunch/dinner. We miss the REAL stuff from AZ, but this place was pretty good.

Baby Oliver and the kids

The purpose of our Ohio visit this time was to welcome baby Oliver into the family and be with their family as they blessed him. It was a great weekend. I am still amazed that Alyson could put up with so many people in her house so soon after a baby. The kids had a grand time, as usual, playing together. We decided that considering we all have pretty strong willed children we are always in for some excitement when we put them all together.

Newel K. Whitney Store

It was nice visiting the store and historic Kirtland site. We also saw the ashery and the saw mill. It was neat learning about the ashery--about the potash and pearlash. Potash was used by Pa (Charles Ingalls) when getting his gun ready to shoot. It was neat learning about this too. The video we watched about the Whitney family was WONDERFUL, they were such great people. This was the most enjoyable site of them all.

Kirtland Ohio Temple

We enjoyed seeing the Kirtland Temple, the first temple built by the early members of the Church.