Christmas 2010

We had another awesome Christmas this year! The best part is that we get to stay close even when all the festivities are over. I had over 200 pictures to sort through and choose from and it was a hard job. I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

For Christmas Eve we always open one present at my parents' house. Darcy and Ashley got these cute matching pajamas.

Emily had our name for the family gift exchange this year. She got us a couple fun games and obviously we are all excited about it!

Haley and Brian anticipating the present they're opening.

The annual acting out of the Nativity story. This year the missionaries in our ward joined us and they were such good sports.

Darcy finding her Santa presents at 5:45 on Christmas morning!

Emily opening her fancy version of a snuggie!

Darcy got this coat and tutu from my parents and they are both so cute on her. She loves to wear this coat all the time. It is as fuzzy and soft on the inside as it is on the outside. I LOVE the tutu skirt!

We have a new sister-in-law this year! Here is Misty opening one of her presents from Drew's parents.

Justin peeking out from his new blue-tooth.

Kevin and Elin discussing the Color Code book.

Neil opening one of his presents.

Justin and Misty have a dog that Darcy is having to get used to. She is not very fond of him when he's in the house, but she loves to watch him outside. We found her perched on the window sill watching him playing outside with Misty.

Darcy with her adorable new kitchen from Drew's parents.

Darcy ready for church in her new Christmas dress.

A close-up of the cute girl.

Darcy sitting in the rocking chair wearing her new coat and sparkly shoes! She is suddenly so fancy.

Check out those shoes! She always brings these shoes to us to put on her.

I just took these pictures today. She just looks so cute in this tutu.

She is a fancy little mama.

Too cute not to post!

Darcy got a Haircut

A few days before Christmas my sister Haley gave Darcy her first haircut. It was nothing too drastic, but it is so cute on her. No more mullet! I thought she might fight getting it cut, but she was perfectly happy for the whole thing. Thanks Haley!

Long in the back still.

Loving her new haircut! This picture just cracks me up.

Her new little bob. It's so cute when it's curled under.

Leaving Pittsburgh

A few days before we left Pittsburgh our friends had a "goodpie" party for us. Our friends Brook and Linwood are the ones who taught us all about having pie parties, and this is a tradition I want to take with me forever. I love pie! Our friends surprised us with the most amazing going away present. They made a book for us of our adventures in Pittsburgh. It has pictures of all the things we will miss about Pittsburgh. It is now one of my most prized possessions. We just had the most amazing friends there! After we ate our pie and we opened our present we played the name game and had so much fun!

The girls with their pies at the pie party. Abi, Kelly, Brook, Me, and Brittany. I will miss these girls SO much!

The boys at the pie party during the name game. Ari, Ben, Rich, Drew, and Linwood.

Opening our amazing present. We seriously love it!

Rich acting during the name game. I think this was MC Hammer.

Brook acting.

Drew on his LAST day of classes! It is so exciting that he is done with school! I'm so proud of all his hard work.

We had movers come pack our stuff on Wednesday and they did it in three hours! We were amazed at how fast it went. It was awesome. Thursday the truck driver came to load everything, including our cars. He showed up at 7:30, but the guys who were supposed to come help him pack didn't end up showing up until FIVE HOURS later. That was pretty stressful. The movers were hot because they were working so they opened the doors to our apartment and it was freezing in there. Darcy and I spent most of the day in the car turning the car on and off trying to stay warm. It was a really long day, but once again, it was still nice to have all that help.

Brook and Linwood were so nice and let us stay with them Wednesday and Thursday night, borrow their car and some cleaning supplies, and take us to the airport Friday morning. We are so grateful for all they did for us. It was fun to get to hang out with them for those last two evenings too.

We got up at 5:30 to go to the airport. I had said so many prayers that things would go smoothly that day, and all my prayers were answered. Absolutely everyone we interacted with was so nice to us, even the people at the airport who generally are cranky. :) For our first flight, which was the longer flight we were sitting in a row with a guy at first, but then the flight attendant offered him a seat on the exit row with an empty seat beside it. So we got to have that extra seat for Darcy which was the best thing ever! She was so amazing. I packed lots of snacks and little toys for her that kept her busy the whole flight. She loved looking around at all the people and she played peek-a-boo with a few different people sitting behind and beside us. She was really really tired, but refused to fall asleep until the very end of the flight. She was sitting on Drew's lap and a guy in the row across from us was waving at her kind of rhythmically and she ended up in a trance and eventually fell asleep. We were amazed. She generally can't fall asleep anywhere but her bed or car seat. She got to run around a lot in the airport for our three hour layover so that helped to get her wiggles out for the second flight. We had a much smaller plane for the second flight, but it didn't really matter because about a half an hour into the flight Darcy fell asleep on Drew's lap again! She slept for most of the flight and was happy for the rest of it. We got to the airport in Pasco and Drew's parents and my mom and sister Ashley were there to greet us. We were so excited and happy to be done with our traveling and safely on the ground.

We went straight to our extended-stay apartment (where we're staying until we find other arrangements) and dropped off most of our stuff. Then we packed a small bag and headed to Mattawa to spend the weekend with our families before Drew starts work this Monday. Darcy is gradually getting used to these new people and learning to love them.

This morning Drew got up at three and Darcy and I got up at four. Our body clocks are so confused. All three of us seemed pretty tired today. We're hoping to get on a new schedule soon.

We really did love our time in Pittsburgh and we already miss the people there, but we feel so blessed and so happy that Drew has a job and that we are back to this place that feels like home.

Keeping Busy

I always planned on being a fun mom. Probably everyone does, but I have been feeling like such a boring mom lately. Where did my imagination go? During the summer we spent our days outside on long walks. Now that it is cold I am having a hard time finding things to do with Darcy. I have been wracking my brain this past couple weeks trying to come up with things to entertain Darcy for more than two minutes. She still couldn't care less about the TV so that is not an option, and I keep trying to convince myself that is a good thing.

Drew is busy finishing up his last week of school, and the days are feeling soo long here at home trying to come up with a new activity every couple minutes. There are a LOT of two minute increments in a day I have discovered, and not enough naps! My brain is tired.

I started teaching Darcy sign language on Tuesday and I really wish I would have started sooner! It's amazing how fast she is picking it up. I have been a little frustrated about communication with her, and this is helping so much. Her favorite sign, that she does really consistently is "more"... go figure. Other signs she gets off and on are "please" "water" "up" and "airplane."

The sink has been one of the ways I keep Darcy busy. She loves to play in the water, and she gets it everywhere.

Getting her feet wet.

I thought Darcy might be too young for it, but I decided to make some playdough and she really seems to like it. She certainly isn't doing any sculpting yet though. She just likes to pull little pieces off and transport them around the house. Fun to clean up. :)

Playing with the playdough for the first time.

When we go outside she always picks up rocks. So the other day we bundled up and went outside to collect a bunch of rocks. I filled a jar with the rocks and gave her a measuring cup and noodle spoon (I don't know if there is a more official name) and let her transfer the rocks from the jar to a bowl and back.

Trying to fit the measuring spoon into the jar. I needed a bigger jar I think.

Thanksgiving

This year we got to have Thanksgiving here is Pittsburgh with our good friends Linwood and Brook. We really had such an awesome day with them. We went to their house at 10 a.m. and started cooking. Brook and I split the menu, but helped each other when we needed to. Brook made the turkey and it turned out so great! We had turkey, stuffing, rolls, peas, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, olives, sweet pickles, fruit salad and candied yams. We had ice water and lime rikki to drink. For dessert we had pumpkin pie and pecan pie with some really delicious whipped cream. We were really excited about how everything turned out. After dinner we played rock band which is always a treat. :)

Darcy decided she didn't want to have a nap yesterday so that was a little bit rough. She was so tired by the time we left last night at 7, she fell asleep instantly in the car. Considering she didn't have a nap, she actually had a pretty good day so that was a blessing. She loved being a part of the action, and she loved taste testing as we cooked.

Here are just some of the things we are thankful for this year:

- Our Savior, Jesus Christ
- Family
- Friends
- The Prophet, Thomas S. Monson
- Plenty to eat
- Warm home and car
- Drew's education
- Drew's job close to our families
- Working with the youth at church
- Nick serving a mission (all missionaries)
- Music
- Modern conveniences (dish washer, washer and dryer, running water, internet, disposable diapers, etc.)

Drew and Darcy watching the cream being whipped.

Me making the fruit salad, Brook entertaining Darcy with olives, and Linwood peeling the yams.

Drew cutting yams, and Linwood peeling potatoes.

Brook giving Darcy a taste of the whipped cream. It really was delicious!

Whipped cream face.

Making candied yams.

Darcy playing with some olives.

Brook and Darcy with olives again.

After Drew attempted to put Darcy down for a nap she was really worked up and willing to snuggle. I really love moments like this!

Brook with her amazing turkey!!

Sitting down for our Thanksgiving feast.

The food. YUM!

Drew cutting the turkey with a little Michael Jordan flair.

Ham Glaze

Once again I need somewhere to save this recipe because I will want it in the future. Maybe someday I will actually put it in my recipe box, but for now I will just put it here.

I love ham and I thought this glaze was so delectable! We just used a little 2 lb. turkey ham, so I halved this recipe and we still had some extra.

HOLIDAY HAM GLAZE

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,2255,153177-229203,00.html Content Copyright © 2010 Cooks.com - All rights reserved. 1/2 cup pineapple juice and chunks 1 cup brown sugar 4 tsp. prepared mustard 2 to 3 tbsp. lemon juice 1 tsp. ground cloves Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender. (If a blender is not available, use pineapple juice without the chunks). Bake ham (half or whole). 30 minutes before ham has finished cooking, remove from oven. Score the top of the ham diagonally in a criss-cross fashion 1/8-inch deep using a sharp knife. Spoon mixture over ham, brushing to cover entire ham. Return ham to oven for final 30 minutes of cooking, basting frequently with mixture. Remove ham from oven and cover with foil loosely. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before carving.

I put a little water in the bottom of the pan because I read on another recipe that that would keep the glaze from burning on the bottom. It seemed to work.

Our ham was little so I cooked it for around 45 minutes total at 350.

A Little Update

I know there are at least two people who check here often for Darcy updates. Not much has been going on around here, but I thought I would post a couple pictures from this week.

We are moving to Washington on December 10th and I am getting SO excited. This last month is going really slow. I feel like I should be doing something to get ready to go, but Drew's company is going to move us so they're doing everything (which is so nice)!There really are a lot of people we are going to miss from Pittsburgh, in fact I try not to think about that too much or I feel like crying, but I just can't help feeling so excited to be so close to our families!! We won't have to miss birthdays, or baptisms, or missionary farewells and homecomings, or reunions, or holidays, or anything else like that. It's going to be awesome!

P.S. We would like to extend an invitation for all of our friends and extended family to come join us in the great state of Washington (preferably in the Tri-Cities area)!! Washington is the best! :)

Darcy's hair is at a weird stage right now. It kind of looks a little bit like a mullet, but I'm waiting until we get to Washington to have Haley cut it for the first time. The other day I wore my hair curly and I decided to do hers the same. It looked so cute on her! It was really hard to get a picture of her, because now she thinks she should hold the camera for some reason. Here she is in the toy box, her new favorite hang-out.

Just another picture of the curly girlie. (I thought of that myself. Pretty good huh!)

Darcy loves necklaces these days. She plays with them a lot. She usually wears them around her neck, but this morning she held one in each hand and walked around the house letting them drag along the floor. She loved the sound they made. It kept her busy for quite a while, until I took out the camera, and she decided she wanted that instead.