Best Picture Ever

This is Reid and Genna at IHOP for my birthday breakfast last week. Aren't they cute? Everytime I look at this picture, I can't stop laughing. Enjoy!

We Joined The Circus

Well, not exactly, but we did enjoy ourselves at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus that came to town here in Colorado Springs. On Saturday night, Rebecca and Genna got to go to the circus while I was working in the Box Office. Here they are during the first half:

Right now, Genna's thinking, "How can I sneak away from mom to go pet that tiger over there?" Well, she never got the chance, but we did get to see the tigers after intermission when I joined them. It was pretty awesome! As you can see, I might have liked them even more than Genna did.

The tigers were the greatest part of the show.

Genna is so tired, she looks dazed.

This is Genna the next day with her elephant. I took Rebecca and Genna to meet the promoter of the show, and she gave us this sweet elephant.

St. Patrick's Day

I hope it is socially acceptable to blog about an event 10 days after it occurred. Let's see, I'm social. Do I accept this? Yes, I do!

St. Patrick's Day has long been one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that my favorite color is green. My family always seemed to focus more on the green aspect rather than the Irish aspect. In fact, I don't think I had ever heard of corned beef or tried cabbage until I went to college. Even when I try to be cultural, it's off. Case in point: my dearest cousin Melinda also has a fondness for this holiday, and we like to celebrate by watching "Brigadoon." Which takes place in Scotland.

Anyhow, we (my sister and I) started off the day with some good old-fashioned green eggs. I did take a picture, but it doesn't exactly look appetizing, so I'm going to leave it out. My cousins and a few of Reid's co-workers came over for dinner, which turned out to be a feast! This is what made it to the table:

• Avocado, pear, orange & craisen salad (thanks, Deanna!)
• Green mashed potatoes
• Pesto gnocchi
• Chili queso (so, this was not green or Irish in any way. Sorry, I love queso!)

Our guests also contributed to the meal:

• Steak (yum!)
• Rolls with green butter (looked like frosting)
• Mint chocolate chip and brownie ice cream
• Mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches
• Shortbread cookies (pretending to be Irish...really Scottish)
• Dark chocolate biscuit cookies (French...which is an even further cry from Irish)

Overall, a delicious meal. And when followed up with "American Idol," what could be better?

Christmas Eve

I am determined to post these pictures...despite being one month late. So here we go:

We spent Christmas Eve with my family, and it was a busy but wonderful day. My sister and I spent most of the day cooking and baking, with a small break for a manicure. :)

The day started with cookie baking - yum! I tried very hard not to eat all the scraps... (Did you notice the unicorn in the left corner? "My horn can pierce the sky!")

Happy cookie maker, wearing my mom's plaid apron. It seems we've always had it.

Our beautiful Christmas Eve table, simple and traditional.

Reid showed off what he learned at Johnson & Wales University - impressive!

Chad, the Oven Mitt Man, displays the ladies' hard work...and it was delicious!

Genna chowing down on green beans and a roll. That's right, I didn't even break it into pieces for her. She got the whole thing; hey, it's Christmas!

Sugar cookie Christmas tree

Sugar cookies, gingersnaps and candy cane cookies. For Santa? Oh yeah, sure.

Genna opening her first Christmas present - socks!

I hope your Christmas Eve was filled with family, yumminess and sweet anticipation.

Gingerbread House and Train

Our Christmas journey continues...with a gingerbread house and a gingerbread train! See how excited Holly is!

A few days after we arrived in Utah, Diane utilized her amazing culinary skills to guide our creative efforts.



The train: pre-decoration.

I couldn't resist organizing the candy by type and then color...it's just what I do. Let me tell you, we were not tempted to eat this "candy" at all - it came with the house & train sets and was not appetizing. Trick-or-treaters would have scorned. It was colorful, and I suppose that's all that matters.

Look at Holly's joyful face! She got to knead the tube of frosting to a "toothpaste consistency."

We were so lucky to have Grandpa Cluff, a real engineer, around to guide our efforts.

He was quite the task-master!

The pro in action.
Diane taking out her frustration on some hard candy - she broke it into pieces to be used for stained-glass windows. This did NOT come in the box. :)

Our poor little gingerbread men couldn't seem to stand up straight...neither could the lamppost...

Here is Jordan adding his contribution.

Ta-da! Here is the train: final product.

Could we have added any more rainbows? I don't think so.

Don't you just love the Milk Duds coal? This was another of our ingenious additions.

And the house - what a masterpiece.


Check out those icicles! Diane is a master.

As a final touch, we added a cobblestone entry made of white chocolate peppermint bark (another delicious "neighbor gift.")

We had such a wonderful time making these beautiful gingerbread creations. Thank you Diane!

Cheering for the Cougs in the Falcon's Nest

Although we are grateful for Reid's new job, we are slightly sad at the loss of some great perks. El Pomar was always giving the Fellows opportunities to attends various events, which we able to take advantage of often. One last freebie we were able to enjoy were box seats at the BYU vs. AF game in November. (I know it's been a few weeks - I've been busy!)

It was so fun! El Pomar owns three parking spots in an upper lot right next to the stadium, so we drove past the traffic and walked right up to the press box. Lunch was a slight disappointment - we saw the Texas Roadhouse vans and were expecting BBQ, but we found stir fry with rice instead. Huh? Oh well, it was free.

This is a picture of one of our seats...

...which were on the front row! This is Reid and Genna standing in front of our seats, checking out the crowd before the game started. (Note the adoring look that Genna has for her father.)

Of course, Genna couldn't be without her favorite little blue puppy, Sammy. "Hey, what's going on down there?"

Genna spent a fair amount of time crawling and climbing around, which meant I spent a fair amount of time following her. She makes friends wherever she goes, and this day was no exception. Two ladies just could not get enough of her - they are clearly lesser fans than my mother. :)

Although we had to leave a bit early to get Reid to work on time, we were able to pick up the game on the radio in the car (we even got KSL, though it was a bit staticky). Yeah for BYU!!!