Cousins

Liam was a tiny bit hesitant about Baby Hanne at first, but then he discovered that she meets both of his criteria for being cool.

1. She likes his toy airplane:

2. They like the same jokes:

Nerd Lessons

Last night after dinner, Ben shook up the balsamic vinaigrette and said, “Liam, want to watch the oil and vinegar separate with me?” Liam excitedly jumped up on Ben’s lap and together they watched the oil and vinegar separate. Then they shook it up again and watched the separation again, over and over while Ben said nerdy things like, “An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible liquids…”

I just hope that Ben's genes are more dominant than mine so he can always have a buddy to nerd it up with.

10 Cool Things That Happened On My Christmas Vacation

1. My family came to my house for Christmas, so I got to sleep in my own bed every night.


2. No one in my family has ever spent Christmas in Utah before, so we got to do fun touristy things like see the lights at Temple Square, go sledding, go to the Flowrider, and go night skiing at Brighton.






3. My brother, Jeff, built a giant snow cave in our front yard.




4. My nephew, Jacob, got a pack of giant underwear for Christmas. So lucky!





5. Ben got me a teeny tiny camera for Christmas, so now I can keep it with me at all times and document even the most mundane moments.




6. Liam yawned no less than 4,000 times on Christmas morning. How lucky that I have a new camera to prove it to you.







7. I got a new niece! And she’s so dang cute. Here’s little Hanne:




8. My littlest brother, Devin, moved to Utah to start school at BYU.


9. We took Liam and Jacob on their first trip to the world’s biggest dinosaur museum. Really. Or at least that’s what the billboards say.




10. I passed my gestational diabetes test. Hooray!

New Niece

Check out what Schmath and Ryan got today...

I'm Dreaming of a...

Good news! My family is spending Christmas in Utah this year, and it looks like there's a good chance that my mom will have her very first white Christmas ever.

First Christmas Miracle of the Year

Check out what I just found in the bowl of leftover Halloween candy:


It's the dream package of Runts. No bananas! That conversation I normally have in my head about the starving kids in Africa who don't get to go trick-or-treating won't be happening tonight, because not a single piece of candy will be wasted.

30

Yesterday Ben turned 30, so we made some food...



...and then invited Liam's friends over.

Decision Time

In the words of my wise friend, Tricia, it's time for me to just buy curtains already!

Now can I get a little assistance, please? I'm trying to decide between a more casual look in a more colorful color and a fancier look in a more neutral color.


Just so you know, if I end up keeping green I'll put them in the dryer with a damp towel to get the wrinkles out, like the directions say to do.

Here's what the rest of the room looks like:


So, what do you think?

Goo for Dinner

Ben’s dad is visiting this week, which means I feel a little bit of pressure to make dinner every other day or so. Today I was roaming around Costco looking for ideas when I spotted a giant chicken pot pie. It looked really gourmet, with a nice lattice pie crust on top, so I bought it. Then I took it home and baked it. It looked really beautiful when I checked on it after a while, until it came sliding off the rack and onto the oven door. Now it looks like this:


And the worst part is that some of the goo got inside the world’s tiniest hole at the top of the door, so now it’s hanging out between the inner glass and outer glass, just staring at me like, “Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?”

It's a Girl!

Liam is pretty excited about getting a baby sister, but he's even more excited about the horse I accidentally promised him since he won't be getting a brother to play with.