A stegasaurus......

and blizzards: (this is the side of our house caked in snow, with our mailbox in the back ground to show the amount of snow we got...)




and very first pony-tails!: (yes, I know. I can barely pull enough hair up...it's the girl in me :)




and farm animals:




and medieval knights riding Evelyn's farm animals: (hmmmm, wonder who did this? I'll give you one guess.)




and sweet t-shirts:




and hours and hours of Legos:




and grandparents:




and great grandparents:




and the yo-yo man: (taking after his father...did I ever tell you that I found Bill's yo-yo skills very attractive when we were first dating? :)




and snow piles in the drive way that are a lot taller than your ten year old son: (can you tell by the look on his face that he was very involved in clearing that snow from our driveway?)




and big, wonderful families:

These were the highlights from my Christmas vacation...

Oh, I almost forgot. Christmas dinner with our neighbor Uncle Ed and Bill's co-worker Bill was also a huge highlight, but I forgot to take pictures. Great company, great food, what more could you ask for?

*Oh yea, and that handsome guy standing in the back of our family picture that you might not recognize is my cousin Isaac who was standing in for my brother Bracken who is on a mission. The idea was to cut and paste Brack's head onto Isaac's body...but, I just havn't had time to play with it yet. Thanks Isaac. You rock.

Homemade Turkey Pot Pie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porter is often my dinner-time cooking buddy.

A few nights ago we decided to make something delicious with the leftover turkey in the freezer from Thanksgiving.

Porter and I decided on a turkey pot pie.

Porter was a great help, chopping everything up and helping me make the dough and the gravy. I didn't use a recipe, but just used my normal pie crust recipe and added a little extra salt and some dried herbs to the flour. We put together the chopped turkey, some frozen veggies and a diced potato and then stirred in the gravy which ended up just being a can of cream of chicken soup, some heavy cream, and some seasonings......

.....and VOILA!! This is what it looked like before we put the top crust on:






And with the top crust:






And this is what it looked like right before we dug in:

YUM!

"Porterisms..."

During Sharing time.....

Teacher: Can anyone tell me what they know about Nauvoo?

Porter: Yea. It's the town that Joseph Smith was the mayor of.

Little boy in the class: Don't you call Joseph Smith a HORSE!!

Teacher and Porter and rest of class: HUH??

Little boy: A mare (mayor) is a horse! Joseph Smith was a prophet, not a horse!



During primary class.....

Teacher: Have any of you started saving for a mission yet?

Porter: Yes, I've already started! I even have a disc in the bank.

Teacher: (confused) A disc? Oh, you mean a CD in the bank?

Porter: Yea. I have a compact disc in the bank.



In the car after I picked him up from a field trip to see the Nutcracker Ballet.....

Mom: Hi Porter, How was the ballet?

Porter: (pausing, thinking) Fine.

Mom: Oh? Did they do a good job?

Porter: Yea. I guess. But Mom?

Mom: What?

Porter: (cautious with his choice of words) I think the guys should really wear pants under their ballet tights so their private parts don't show so much.....IT WAS DISGUSTING!!!!!



: )

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

That's what little birthday girls are made of.

mmmmmm

up the nose and in the eyelashes

cruisin' on the car from grandma and grandpa

just waking up from a nap with her new doll

ready for church in her new birthday dress

evelyn's new cheeser smile

porter and evelyn

(porter's pink cheeks and nose are attributed to the fact that he had just came in from scraping the windows on the car so we could go to church...Bill was in morning meetings, thus making porter the man of the house)

Evelyn is ONE!!

Wow.

I honestly can't believe it's been a year!

Here are some highlights (and there have been many!) from this past year:

Grandpa and his two miracle grand babies, Elijah and Evelyn

First photo shoot with Aunt Lindsay; bow, bracelet, and diaper...what more could a girl want??

Heirloom blessing gown that I made (with huge help from my wonderful mother). Evelyn was SO tiny....it drowned her!

Wearing dress at 7 1/2 months...it finally fits! Check out the handmade lace at the bottom, made by her Aunt Cathy

Porter learned to hold babies like this from his Grandpa :)

Posing for the camera, about 6 months

Personal concert with her Uncle Bracken (now Elder Williams). She was absolutely enthralled!

Learning to sit up in the front yard...leaning...leaning....can you tell that she face planted right after the picture?

Reading the scriptures with Porter before church

Evelyn and Grandma Deloris with matching pink capri pants

Napoleon Dynamite fans will appreciate this pose!

Wearing the red gingham dress from my mom

Introduced to her first nectarine...I ate these every single day for WEEKS while I was pregnant with her!

Like mother, like daughter

Sunbathing with dad at Bartz Field watching people go down the HUGE slip n' slide

Playing in the leaves just before the first snow fall

Her new winter coat...so pretty in pink

Happy Birthday little one! You have made this past year just a little bit sweeter.

Stake Primary Nativity

The Nativity for the International Holiday Celebration this past weekend went off without a hitch! Phew! I was able to calm down (thanks to an amazing counselor), feel prepared, and just enjoy the entire evening.

It was a fantastic night. The kids were first on the program (Thank you Sis. Bench!!), so they were able to perform, take their costumes off and sit and watch everyone else perform.

I got so many comments on how darn cute the kids were.

Take a look:

~Brynlee the Star~
(Porter helped me make the star)

~Porter played a Wiseman, Cam played Joseph~

~Hayden the Shepherd, Preston as baby Jesus, Parker the little lamb -not in full costume yet~

(Can you tell they are all brothers?)

~Kean the cow~

~The kids love being up at the University Stake because in the Stake President's office, there is a candy drawer chuck full of candy for the kids. Kean had just SCORED some goods- - That is one happy candy-eating cow!~

~The whole crew~
Man, I LOVE these kids!!

What a way to begin the Christmas season!

** Plus, I know that Porter now has a costume for Christmas Eve when we do the Nativity with my family... that's always a good thing.

I KNOW, without a doubt...

...That our Heavenly Father keeps His promises to us.

And, even though we are sometimes required to wait on them for a time, when it is time to bless us with that which we have been waiting, He rewards us with a blessing so much greater than we could have possibly even hoped for.

I once tried to explain this principle to Porter:

Let's say you are craving a piece of apple pie. A Lot.

So you ask your mom if she would make an apple pie. She tells you Yes, but that it will take some time.

She begins making it and you patiently wait as you watch her cut each apple into thin slices.

"Is it ready yet?", you ask.

"No, not yet", she replies.

Your mom then carefully measures the spices and sugar to stir into the apples. You watch and wait and wonder just how long this is going to take. You can tell your mom knows exactly what she is doing as she smiles and continues to work...

...but waiting is becoming more difficult.

She begins to make the dough for the crust; mixing and kneading the carefully measured ingredients.

"Now is it time for me to have my piece of apple pie?"

"Not yet, my child. Please be patient with me as I make this pie."

So your mom continues to work on the crust, rolling it out to fit the pie pan. She pours the apples into the pie shell and continues to roll a top crust for the pie. Carefully, she lays the top crust over the apples, trims away the excess crust, and like a master, shapes the edge of the pie.

"Oh, mom! The pie is perfect! It looks delicious. I have been so patient. Can I please have a piece of apple pie now?"

She lovingly tells you, "No, not quite yet. We still have to put the pie into the oven to bake and then it will have to cool so it doesn't burn your mouth. You will have to be patient just a little bit longer."

You don't think it is possible to wait a single minute more. Your patience is nearly gone and the prospect of eating a piece of the apple pie seems an eternity away. Discouraged, you go to your room to try and get your mind on something else.

Some time passes, and before you know it, your mother has come into your room. She is smiling and holding two plates. One for you and one for her. She lays a plate down where you are sitting and you see a marvelous sight!

Not only is a piece of the apple pie sitting on your plate, but it is the BIGGEST piece of apple pie you have ever laid eyes on.....AND it is still warm (just like apple pie is meant to be eaten).....AND it has a scoop of vanilla ice cream slowly melting into a creamy heap all over......AND it is drizzled with caramel sauce.......AND your mom sits down right where you are and shares in your joy as the two of you eat your pie together.

And this is just how our Heavenly Father works. He knows each one of our hearts and the desires that rest inside.

His love for us is nearly unfathomable. And if He requires us to wait on a blessing, (whether it be a few moments, a few years , or an entire lifetime) He will always make it well worth the wait. Above and beyond that of which we had hoped for.

Plus, He is always there to 'share' in the joy with us. This is how we know that these gifts come from Him.

Last year, about this time, our family was the recipient of one of these long-awaited blessings:

~Evelyn Ruth~

...Our daughter, sister, miracle, and warm slice of apple pie.

Our Joy Is Full.

CHEESE....of the Wensleydale variety

I was introduced to Wallace and Gromit over 13 years ago when I met my husband and his family.






And I must say, I fell in love with these clay-mated heroes immediately!

I think the reason that we love these guys so much is because we can really relate to Wallace's LOVE of cheese.





This time of year, on my husband's side of the family, we like to get together and eat cheese.

Not just ordinary, artificially tinted orange stuff, but the good, imported, party-for-the-taste-buds, stuff.

Yea, we like to live on the wild side with our cheese.

Bill's mom, in the past, has made each of us keep a Dream List. And on Porter's list (besides getting his picture on a cereal box and climbing Mount Everest), was the wish of being able to try Wensleydale cheese.

You see, Wensleydale is Wallace's favorite cheese. And Porter really, really wanted to try Wallace's favorite cheese.

We've kept a serious look out for the past couple of years for Wensleydale cheese but have never been able to find it. Anywhere.

But that all changed recently when our town got a Costco.

Bill found Wensleydale cheese with cranberries at Costco recently. We were SO excited!

We, of course, purchased it, brought it home, called a few of Bill's siblings to gloat a little bit (they have been on the look out as well :), and opened it and tried it. The result?

We liked it. It had to be on a cracker though. It was quite strong, but fun. Maybe a touch too sweet with the cranberries.

Porter is really anxious to try Wensleydale without the cranberries, so if any of you run across it, please, by all means, let us know!


** We did find a place where you can buy it online here, and it even has Wallace and Gromit's picture on it! Maybe one of these days we will just break down and order it.

DOROTHY came to our house this week!

And believe me, we have been anticipating her arrival.

The UPS man was kind enough to bring her by.

About a month ago, Porter was contemplating what to get his little sister for Christmas. We went over a couple of ideas, but nothing really stuck.

It came down to the fact that he wanted it to be really special AND he wanted it to be something he could give her one of every year, a collection of sorts. A collection that she would be able to look at and know they were from her older brother (almost 10 years older), and a collection that she would cherish.

So we started brainstorming.

How about a really nice charm bracelet? We thought that Porter could give Evelyn a new charm for her bracelet every year. Porter was so excited!

He got online and started looking at charms. He found little charms of cheese and goats and ice cream cones and diapers and trombones and Australia.

He was in charm heaven!

He started trying to narrow it down as to which charm he would give her this year. But that quickly ended when we found out that Aunt Cathy gives each girl in the family a charm bracelet for their baptism when they turn 8.

So that idea was out...

DRATS!

A couple of nights later, we were sitting in Evelyn's room rocking her and reading books. Porter was winding up the little ballerina music box to play for her. (This music box was sent to Evelyn last Christmas from her Great Aunts and Uncles in Las Vegas and has quickly became her favorite).

Porter saw how happy the music box made his little sister and said, "Mom, how about I give Evelyn a music box every Christmas"?

Wow. Perfect.

And that's EXACTLY what he's going to do!

This year he chose Her:





You wind her up and she plays "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".

It is gorgeous. My husband feels that there is not a more beautiful rendition of this song as when Dorothy sings it in the Wizard Of Oz. ("Izzy" Israel Kamakawiwo'ole is a close second...) We watched her sing it a few nights ago on the movie and it really is breathtaking- - and it is amazing just how young she was when she played that part!

But our favorite part about this music box?






Toto came along too!!