What's New with Reed and Chelsea

This week we both got a calling in our ward. Reed is a ward missionary, and I have been called to be the CTR 8 teacher and the Activity Days leader (8 year old girls). I think Reed is excited, and we already met the missionaries because we had them over for dinner this week. (We had breakfast for dinner, which they LOVED because they don't get to eat a nice big breakfast very often.) I am mostly nervous because I haven't been in Primary since I was IN Primary, but I know that I will quickly get into Primary mode and then it will be tons of fun.

Reed is recovering from his sinus infection/bronchitis. His cough is lingering, but he is felling better. Tomorrow he is taking a test for a Youth Security Officer position for the state. Please everyone remember him in your prayers because we are really hoping he gets this job. He also has another interview on Thursday, so the ball is rolling. We are just keeping our eyes and ears open and enjoying the holidays.

What's New with Patrick

Patrick is still happy as ever. Grandma and Grandpa Haight got him an exersaucer for an early Christmas present. We found a really nice one at a consignment store. Patrick seems to like it, but he sometimes get frustrated because he is a little floppy in the seat still. He likes have something other than his bouncer chair to sit in during dinner.

Tonight we drove around to look at Christmas lights. It has been frigid today (-19 last night!) so we bundled up warm for the car ride. This is a picture of my favorite thing that Patrick owns--his adorable penguin hat. It isn't going to fit him forever, which makes me sad. It must make him sad too, because he looks sad in this picture, but he is just really tired.

Happy Birthday Reed

Reed's birthday was Sunday. He is 28 now. What an old man (well at least compared to his spring chick!) I think Reed had a nice birthday. He had gotten over enough of his sinus infection to feel alive and had more of an appetite for his birthday dinner. In our family, we have a traditioin that on your birthday you get to pick anything you want for dinner. This year, Reed wanted BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, creamed cauliflower, roast potatoes, and apple cheese crisp for dessert instead of cake. We had dinner with his parents and Amy and Marco. He opened his presents after dinner. His parents got him a nice vest, Amy and Marco found him some pants (badly needed) and a shirt. Patrick gave him some slippers, and I gave him a book, Diners Drive-Ins, and Dives. The book is from a Food Network show that we really enjoy.

Family Picture

Last week we took some family pictures so I could send out some sort of Christmas greeting. I know there are a lot of people who want a family picture, so a family picture works well for a Christmas card. We also took some pictures of Patrick. It was his five month birthday. Unfortunately, he was a little fussy that morning, so the pictures we got aren't nearly as cute as they could be, but we managed to get a nice picture. I couldn't upload the one with "Happy Holidays" on it, but you can still see the picture.

This is one of the goofy "out take" pictures we caught while taking pictures. Maybe he was yawning?

Christmas Enrichment Night

This week we had our Christmas Enrichment Night. We had a nice dinner, a small program with Christmas stories from Henry B. Eyring and James E. Faust, and yummy desert. Because Ruth is the Relief Society president, I get to help with the activities, and I really enjoy helping. We set up lots of beautiful decorations on Monday afternoon, and then Tuesday Ruth and I spent all day making rosemary bread (like the kind they serve at Macaroni Grill). Actually, Ruth did most of the baking. I helped a little. We make 6 batches, and the bread was so tasty!

We had a really good turn out at Enrichment (about 60 women) and the fun part was the gift swap. I really liked this idea. We each got a quart-sized jar and filled it with our favorite things and then we got someone else's in return. I filled mine with a small cross-stitch kit, some peanut M&Ms, and 5 of my favorite recipes. The jar I got had packets of tasty hot chocolate.

Our new ward has been very friendly, and I am meeting some very nice ladies. I have come to really appreciate how lucky we were to go to a married student ward at BYU-Idaho. That ward was just perfect for our situation in life, and we really miss everyone there, but Colorado is very nice. For example, we got 12 inches of snow on Sunday, and all of it was melted by Monday afternoon. How convenient! There are lots of other nice things about Colorado, too. I just really like that the snow doesn't stay forever.

New Address

I keep forgetting to post our new address. I'm hoping Christmas cards will be here soon! :) We are dirt poor, so you all will be getting Christmas cards by email; we hope you don't mind!

7524 Dawn Ct.
Littleton, CO 80125

Our cell phone numbers are the same, but if we don't anwer, you can call us at home at
303-948-2466.

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Merry Christmas!

Decorating for Christmas

Today we started decorating for Christmas, which is a big deal at Mama Ruth's house. We aren't finished yet, so I will post pictures later, but Patrick is really enjoying the lights and decorations. He watches the lights and squeals with delight. He is big enough to look around and know that something is going on, but not big enough to be in the middle of everything, which is really nice! He also has a new trick this week. He will now stick his tongue if you stick out your tongue. I laughed and laughed when he started doing that. I have the happiest baby ever. He wakes up happy and giggling, and he just doesn't stop. Sure, he has fussy moments when he is tired or has gas, but he really smiles a lot, and that makes me so happy as his mom. Patrick seems to really enjoy life. He plays with his feet now, but he won't roll over yet because he doesn't like his stomach anymore. He used to love tummy time, but anymore it just makes him spit up and then he gets fussy. We practice rolling over, but his isn't interested yet. I'm not worried; I know he will figure it out when he is ready. He falls over on his side when he grabs his toes, so rolling over can't be too far away.

Tasty Apple Pie

As promised, here is the apple pie recipe I made for Thanksgiving.

1 recipe pie crust

1/2 cup butter
3 Tbl flour
1/4 cup water minus 1 Tbl
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbl vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
8 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced

Melt the butter and stir in flour. Add the rest of the ingredients (minus apples) and simmer until slightly thickened (2-3 minutes). Toss apples with this mixture and fill your pie crust. Add your top and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until your apples are tender. I find that if you bake it at 350, you don't have to cover the pie with aluminum. The pie will turn out nice and golden brown. Let the pie cool for several hours so the glaze thickens. If you want to eat the pie warm, just put it in the oven on 250 or 300 for a few minutes.

Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. Reed's parents were in Virginia with his sister Stacy, but his other sister Amy and her husband Marco came to the house and we made a very nice dinner. Reed made a roast turkey and a smoked turkey, and both were juicy and yummy. Amy invited a friend from work and some friends from their ward, so we had a nice big gathering. Most of our guests spoke Spanish though, so there were a lot of jokes we didn't get, but we still have a great time. I was in charge of jello salads and and apple pie and cherry pie. I think I will have to share the recipe I found for apple pie because it was super tasty! I will probably do that tomorrow.

We hope everyone else had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.

Silly Baby

Patrick is becoming a lot of fun. He is easy to laugh and giggle (sometimes hysterically). He has really enjoyed eating cereal, and one night he was being super silly, so I took some pictures. These three are of his giggles. You will have to insert your own sound since I don't have a video camera yet.

This is the face I usually get when he is eating. He loves the cereal. I have started adding juice, which makes it even tastier, and he gets watered-down juice in his sippy cup, which he could drink all day.

These last two are trying to capture how excited Patrick gets in his bouncer chair (thanks Grandma!). He can now get the chair to bounce so hard and fast that I think he is going to hit the floor backwards.