A Merry Christmas Indeed!

We have had a wonderful Christmas, and I'd like to tell you about it.

Our Christmas celebration this year started on Saturday. We started off by going to my parent's house in Shelbyville to celebrate with the LeClerc clan. We had a wonderful dinner (lunch) and then grazed all afternoon. We did our normal gift exchange. For this exchange all of the males put their names in a drawing separate from all of the women. I had my uncle Rick this year and Elizabeth had my cousin Nicole. As can be expected, Hannah and Noah played with the packaging more than the presents themselves. Here's a picture of Hannah enjoying one of Elizabeth's presents (the package contains gingerbread men pillows).


All kidding aside, Hannah and Noah did seem to enjoy their presents. In fact, Hannah really enjoyed getting pajamas. I'll have to remember to remind her about this in a few years when she's complaining about opening more clothes.


One final tradition from Christmas with the LeClercs is to get family pictures taken. You can check out the album if you want to see the rest, but here is a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with all of the grandchildren.


Click here to see the rest of the pictures from the LeClerc celebration.

We got the babies ready for bed and then drove up to Kokomo to spend the night at Elizabeth's parents. We arrived there around 8:30-ish and put the babies down for the night and enjoyed a light snack. Besides us and Elizabeth's parents, Bruce and Alyssa were there. We enjoyed chatting and reminiscing before turning in for the night.

We started off Sunday morning by going to church with Elizabeth's family. It's always fun to visit the Kokomo ward and see people there. We ended up leaving church fairly shortly after Sacrament meeting so the babies could take a nap. They were NOT cooperating. It worked out well anyway because we needed to hide Elizabeth's parents' present in the closet. We got them a luggage set (thanks to Elizabeth braving it with the Black Friday crazies and saving something like 80% or so on it). Since we thought they were expecting this gift we wrapped a much smaller box weighted with magazines and containing a note that said to look in the closet. I think I sensed some disappointment when they saw the box. Boy it was fun to surprise them!

Anyway, back to the timeline. Once we got back from church we put the babies down for a nap and waited for all of the family to gather. All of the Joray kids made it for the celebration with their families. We enjoyed a delicious Christmas dinner (lunch again). After eating we opened presents. With so many young kids it turned into a free-for-all. It was fun!


For our gift exchange this year we exchanged by families for the adults and then just got small dollar-store or homemade type items for the kids. We drew the Hamlins. We got them a small resin nativity set. We actually started giving it to them back at Thanksgiving. They have been opening one piece of the set each week since then. Elizabeth also made a little book to go with it that has the scriptures that tell the story. They got the last piece of the set on "Christmas" day--Baby Jesus, of course!


We got the babies ready for bed before heading home so they could sleep in the car again. Of course, after we got them ready to go they got their second wind. They had a good time playing with the french doors between the playroom and the family room. Noah especially enjoyed smashing his face against the glass.


Here are the rest of the pictures from the Joray celebration.

On Christmas Eve we spent most of the day around the house. In the afternoon and evening we went to celebrate at the Cain's house. I'm related to them through my dad's side of the family. We used to go there every year when I was growing up. I haven't been since I've been married due to the way we used to arrange all of our visits. Since we spread it out a bit more this year, we were able to make it! We had a great dinner (actually dinner this time) and opened a few gifts before going back home. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take the camera, so I don't have any pictures to share from that night.

Okay, we're finally up to Christmas morning. Hannah and Noah must have been really excited to see what Santa brought them because they got up before 5:00! We managed to hold them off until around 6:30, but we finally got up and opened presents. Santa brought all kinds of fun stuff for everyone!


Hannah and Noah especially enjoyed their new toy kitchen. It's a neat one because it "grows" with them. Once they are a little bigger we can raise it up and there is another level with two more doors to open and close. We all know that's Noah's favorite!


It was really neat to have Christmas morning at home together as a family! It made me feel all grown up. I'm looking forward to many, many more. Here are the rest of the pictures from Christmas morning at home.

Phew, are you worn out yet? I know I sure was. But hang on, there's still two more celebrations to go!

After having a light breakfast at home we loaded up the car and headed to Ray's Crossing to visit with the Cook (my dad's family) clan. We had a yummy breakfast that included scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, biscuits and gravy, and the infamous chocolate gravy. I'm not a fan personally, but it a Christmas tradition after all!

As soon as breakfast was over, the presents began. The present-opening scheme at Granny's house has always been open it when you get it. It was crazy!


My granny is so hard to shop for. The woman has everything! This year Elizabeth put together and ordered a personalized calendar with pictures of the babies. You think she liked it?!


Click here to see the rest of the pictures from the Cook Christmas celebration!

After we finished up at the Cook's, we headed back to my parents' house to celebrate with my immediate family. We put the babies down for a nap as soon as we got there. While they were sleeping the adults opened all of our presents.


Just before the babies woke up my Grandma and Grandpa arrived to share the rest of Christmas day with us. After the babies woke up they opened their presents. They weren't that interested. They helped tear the paper off of a few, but they still don't quite grasp the concept. Maybe next year!


If I had to guess what Hannah and Noah's favorite gifts were from Nana and Papaw, I'd guess it was their Little People school bus and fire engine that they could ride on. Papaw enjoyed pushing them around on them.


After opening presents we had Christmas dinner. It was a little non-traditional, but I hope it becomes a new tradition because it was awesome. We had hotdogs! My dad even fired up the grill so we could have them grilled. It was perfect, because if I had seen another ham or turkey I think I would have screamed! If you don't believe me, I have proof!


Here are the rest of the pictures from the Scott Christmas gathering.

We ended off Christmas night by getting the babies ready for bed and driving back home. After we got home and got them into bed, we plopped down on the couch and let out a sigh.

We had a truly wonderful Christmas. We had the opportunity to visit with our families. We had the opportunity to share and receive wonderful gifts. We enjoyed safety in our travels.

As I reflect on the events of the last several days, I can't help but be grateful for all that God has blessed us with. It's hard to understand sometimes why we have so much when others have so little. It helps me remmber the responsibility that comes with blessings. However, I am most grateful for Heavenly Father's gift of His Only Begotten Son.

The Future of America (or should I say the US Americans?)

You've probably all seen this by now, but I had to share it anyway. It's worth a good laugh. This is from the Miss Teen USA contest.



Seeing this reminded me of seeing Kelly Pickler (of American Idol fame) competing on "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?". It was painful to watch.

Sad TV Discovery

As I've mentioned before here on the blog, we love Journeyman on NBC. When we watched the episode on this past Monday evening, they announced at the end that the next episode would be this Wednesday (tonight). Weird, we thought, and even discussed whether they could possibly be cancelling the show. I just checked the website and found out it's true...cancelled. Oh well, at least we'll finally get some answers!

I guess I owe everyone an update on trying to get the new job at work. I GOT IT! I found out last Tuesday. I am very excited for the opportunity. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but I know it will work out. The group is great. Hopefully they won't think it's weird that the youngest person in the group is the team leader! The bad part is I've got some huge shoes to fill. I have repeatedly heard comments that Julia is the best supervisor some have ever had. No pressure or anything. :)

One side benefit of getting this job that excites me a bit is getting a Blackberry (or Crackberry--due to its addictive qualities). The only reason it excites me is because I'm a big technology junkie. I guess what I should keep in mind is that its really a leash! Speaking of funny names for Blackberry's...I was in a meeting one time and we needed a phone number. A guy mentioned he thought he had it and would look it up. Everyone assumed he meant in his Blackberry and someone commented to this effect. When he pulled out his little paper pocketbook directory he said it was his Paperberry. Okay, so that's not as funny as I thought, but I'm not going to go to the trouble of deleting it now.

I'm watching "Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir" on PBS. Sisel (who I've never heard of) is the special guest. She is apparently Norwegian as they've been singing a lot of traditional Norwegian Christmas songs. She does have a beautiful, almost haunting, voice. They are singing "Carol of Bells" right now, one of my favorites!

Not a lot to report on Hannah and Noah. They have managed to rip all of the ornaments off the bottom portion of the Christmas tree. It reminds me of when the cats were kittens and did the same. We are excited to see how they react to Christmas. It's going to be fun. It all starts Saturday...hard to believe!

Audio Slideshow from Yuletide Celebration

I found the this audio slideshow on The Indianapolis Star's website. It gives you a little taste of the show that I have raved about.

A Busy Weekend

I thought I would start by posting a picture of Hannah giving Noah a kiss. I mentioned it in the last post, but didn't have any pictures then.


Let me start with Friday night. We went to the Symphony's Yuletide Celebration show. It was opening night! As I mentioned before, Sandi Patty is the host again this year. She is a Hoosier who calls Anderson home. She was joined on stage by the amazing African Children's Choir. They were introduced by a short video segment from Coach Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts. He pointed out some things about the choir that I didn't know before. A new choir is formed each year and those that are selected get to travel the globe for a year performing. Many of the members of the choir are orphaned due to AIDS and other problems of Africa. All of the proceeds from their shows goes toward the education and support of the choir's alumni. They become the doctors, nurses, engineers, etc. that become leaders in their communities and countries. We had really good seats for the show (thanks to Elizabeth's parents) and we were able to really see the children and the hope in their eyes. It was humbling to hear them sing with such joy coming from such suffering. I was moved by each of their performances. There was a special guest appearance by Ben Utecht, tight end for the Colts. He was dressed in a blue tux with tails and even sang a duet with Sandi Patty. He will apparently appear randomly in shows throughout the season. The regular favorites were still in the show: the tap-dancing Santa's and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The crowning moment of the night was the performance of O Holy Night by Sandi Patty, the African Children's Choir, and the Company. They introduced it by telling the scriptural account of the Savior's birth and then singing the song. My eyes were wet throughout the performance and I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it now. My recommendation: SEE THIS SHOW. It is well worth the money. You will have a smile on your face the entire time. And I guarantee you will leave in the Christmas spirit.

Saturday we had the opportunity to travel to Berne to visit with Elizabeth's grandmother. She didn't know we were coming, so it was a fun Christmas surprise. We tried to go look at "our table" again, but sad news...the store closed. They apparently had a huge sale (of course) at the end of October. They are still in business in some other far-flung Indiana city. :( Here's some pictures from the visit with Grandma.




If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures from our visit, click here.

This evening we were able to go to our friend's home for an Advent celebration. It's not really a traditional celebration in our religion, but it is a family tradition for our friends, and it was pretty fun. We just sang some Christmas songs and read some scriptures together. Just another great opportunity to get in the Christmas spirit.

A Good Sister

Wow, I've been slacking. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures this time either. This will just be a quick update on the current happenings in our lives.

Hannah is already living up to the blessing she got back in November of last year. One of the things that I remember is that she was told that she would help comfort and take care of her brother. Yesterday I guess Noah was screaming inconsolably for almost an hour. It finally got to the point where Elizabeth had to just let him roll around on the floor and cry because he kept arching his back and pushing away if she tried to hold him. Apparently, Hannah kept going over to give him rags, pat him on the back, and give him kisses. How sweet is that?! Her vocabulary is expanding as well. I think the latest addition is "juice" -- one of her favorites.

I am currently interviewing for a big promotion at work. My team leader is being deployed to Afghanistan (she's a major in the Army Reserves). I was named Interim Team Leader as she has been transitioning out -- she only has 8 working days left. I am going for the position. I don't have my hopes set too high because a) I'm so young, b) I'm currently two pay grades below the pay grade I would be in if I got the position, and c) I've only been in the department since June. But hey, we'll see how it goes. I know I could do the job and do it well.

Tomorrow we are going with Elizabeth's parents to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's Yuletide Celebration. This will be the 3rd year in a row we have been. It's always a great show. Sandy Patty is the host again this year, and I heard on the radio that the African Children's Choir is going to be there. I'm pretty excited about seeing them. They were on American Idol this last year (I think). Maybe during the Idol Gives Back show...

Saturday we are going up to Berne to visit Elizabeth's grandmother. This will be the second time she has gotten to see the babies. You may remember my post this summer about our first visit. While we're there we may check out some of the furniture stores. The last time we spotted a beautiful Amish-crafted solid cherry dining room table that would look great in our dining room. It could expand to seat up to twelve! The craftsmanship was beautiful.

I saw on Bruce and Alyssa's blog that she was going to (or did) "tag" us. I'm too dumb to know what that means I guess. Maybe somebody can fill me in...

It's Office night. Although, we still have Journeyman on the DVR from Monday night. Not sure which we'll watch when Elizabeth gets home from yoga. By the way, if you're not watching Chuck, you are missing out on one of the best shows in a long time.

O Christmas Tree

We started decorating for Christmas this weekend. We normally wait until after Thanksgiving, but we were afraid we wouldn't have time to do it if we didn't start now.

It's not the baby's first Christmas, of course, but it sure was fun watching them react to the Christmas tree. They were just a couple of months old last time and didn't understand. We let them help put a couple of their ornaments on.

This is going to be fun!

A household of bipeds

Well, I think it's official. We are finally a household of people that know how to walk. Noah has finally gotten the hang of it and spends a good bit of his mobile time up on two feet. He's still not that great at it, but he's progressing quickly. As I observed him this evening, it seems like walking is almost his first choice. He has also gotten really good at standing up without holding onto anything.




It's hard to tell, but here's one of him actually walking.


The only problem in all of this is that Noah is such a shrimp! He has the hardest time keeping his pants on. Hopefully he'll start putting some meat on those bones soon.


Hannah and Noah are starting to play (and fight) together a lot more now. Here they are playing doctor. My guess is that Noah will be an otolaryngologist (I'm not sure how that is supposed to be spelled, the spell check didn't help, and I don't feel like getting out the dictionary...sorry.) when he grows up!


They like to race up the stairs too. When Noah wins he delights in slamming the gate shut so that nobody else can get up.


Okay, so we can't have a post without talking about Hannah! She just wouldn't have it.


As most of you probably know, Hannah and Noah are obsessed with their rags. These are just cloth diapers that we've had around since they were babies. (No...we did not use cloth diapers, we just used them a lot for cleaning up their messes.) Anyway, Hannah does this cute thing where she holds them up to her head while she sucks on her thumb. Very cute. It reminds me of Linus.


Now, all you parents out there, I'm sure you'll agree with me on this one. I don't know why we spend so much money giving kids all of these toys. They turn anything, and I mean anything, into a toy. Here's Hannah sitting in one of her toy storage baskets and playing with the top off of a can of mousse (or some such hair care product).


And, lest you think I staged this little affair, I have documented proof that I did not.


Wow, that was a lot of pictures. I think I'm done with that for tonight.

For those who are trying to keep track of my travel schedule for work, I wouldn't. My trip that was originally scheduled for Nov 30 that got moved to Dec 7 has now been moved to Dec 14. My other trip that was scheduled for Dec 12 has been moved to "hopefully before the end of the year," which translates to "sometime in January." Who knows!!

Oh, and another major step for us. We have decided to part ways with TiVo. We have had TiVo since we switched to DirecTV back in 2004. We were immediately sold on it, have become very spoiled, and have converted several others. Well, the problem now is that our TiVo box is starting to die, DirecTV doesn't issue TiVo brand boxes anymore, and there is no way for us to get high definition programming on a TiVo box without going to cable (which I refuse to do). So, on Monday we will be getting a DirecTV hi-def DVR. The DVRs have come a long way since they first came out. They seem to do pretty much everything a TiVo does now, with just a couple of exceptions. I think we'll survive. I'm excited about all of the HD content, and especially about the ability to record it.

The Holidays are Approaching

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away already! We all know how quickly Christmas follows.

Elizabeth and I saw a wonderful movie last year that we have decided we will use each year to remind us about the purpose of Christmas. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the shopping, decorating, and other fixings and forget about Christ.

If you haven't seen The Nativity Story, then you must. It is an inspiring look at the journey of Mary and Joseph. It tells the story in a very personal way. While those who wrote the movie obviously don't know most of the details surrounding these sacred events, they are true to the story as outlined in the scriptures. The details they fill in do not detract from the scriptural account. In my opinion, they enhance the story by coloring it with the many shades of human experience and emotion.

Here is the trailer for the movie.

Also, here is one scene from the movie. In it Mary asks, why me? She dwells on what she perceives to be her insignificance in the world. I think that is something we all grapple with from time to time. I am grateful to know that I am a child of a loving Heavenly Father. I am also grateful for the many examples, including that of Mary and Joseph, of great and marvelous things proceeding out of the most meek and lowly of the earth.

At the start of this wonderful season, may we all remember the reason we celebrate.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled blog posts about the cute Scott twins! :)

Fall on Campus

I absolutely love the fall. It's my favorite season. One of my favorite things about it is the opportunity I have to return to Purdue for a recruiting trip each year. It feels so good to be back on campus and see the leaves changing. It's also fun (and a little sad) to see how much the campus changes from year to year. The biggest change this year is the basement of the Union. They have added a LOT of new restaurants and dining areas. It's very nice. Here's a picture I found on the net that somebody else took. The building in the picture is the Union, which is where I have been for the last two days.



The babies are sick...again. They had a play date earlier this week and apparently those kids were sick. It's just annoying since they just got over it. The hard thing is that I was here in West Lafayette last night, and poor Elizabeth was left by herself to be up all night with the babies. I'll be back home within a few hours, so hopefully I can provide some relief.

Birthday Party for Grandma

We hosted a birthday party for Elizabeth's mom on Sunday afternoon. The entire family was able to come and we had a great time. Everybody was a little late getting here due to an accident on the interstate, but we had fun hanging out and waiting for the clan to gather.


Once everybody arrived we enjoyed a nice dinner. Elizabeth made two types of lasagna, and others brought salad, bread, a veggie tray, and dessert. Everything was delicious. Once dinner was over we gathered in the living room to open presents.




One of the cards that she received played music. Everybody was dancing to the music, including Hannah. Here's Hannah's debut as a dancer. (Sorry if the video isn't here. I'm having trouble getting it to work right.)

Ear Infections

We've decided...ear infections are the worst! Elizabeth took Noah to the doctor on Tuesday and, sure enough, he had a double ear infection. Hannah seemed to be doing better, but he went ahead and took a peek. Same thing, double ear infection. He prescribed an antibiotic for Noah, but not for Hannah. He said that since she was doing better he didn't want to prescribe the antibiotic unnecessarily. This strategy seemed to work fine as she's much better now.

The worst part of it all was them not wanting to sleep at night. Noah especially would just get SOO upset whenever we put him in his crib. This is very unlike him. They both normally are happy to drop right off to sleep when we lay them down. His ears must have really been hurting him. At one point he got so upset he started banging his head on the crib railing. He ended up with bruises all over his face. He looks so pathetic. It just breaks our hearts.

We had a much scarier incident two nights ago though. He woke up during the night and Elizabeth went in and settled him down. When she laid him back down, he started crying of course. She decided to give him a few minutes to see if he would settle down on his own. A few minutes later there was a loud thump. When she got in the room, Noah was lying on the floor between the cribs. YIKES! He was, of course, crying, but he stopped as soon as she picked him up. He showed no signs of being hurt at all, thank goodness!! It's unbelievable that he was able to get out. He must have had an adrenaline rush that gave him superhuman upper body strength or something. Needless to say, his mattress was immediately lowered two notches. We lowered Hannah's as well, just to be safe!

Elizabeth ordered some really cute backpacks for the twins. They have their names embroidered on them. Hannah's has flowers and ladybugs, and Noah's has trains. Hannah didn't want to keep hers on long enough to get her picture taken, but I was able to snap this one of Noah's.


The kids looked especially cute in their outfits today, so Elizabeth snapped a few pictures. I decided they were good enough to show to the world! (Not that I'm a proud daddy or anything...)

Trick or Treat

When I got home from work today, we loaded up the Escape and headed for Shelbyville. We met Nana at Wendy's and had dinner. After that, we went and visited Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa.


Hannah had a great time running around and checking out all of the new and exciting things. She really wanted to play with some of the giraffes (my Grandma collects them), but I think we finally convinced her that they are not toys.

The next stop was to visit Great-Granny and Great-Grandpa out in Rays Crossing. Nana continued tagging along with us. There were lots of aunts and cousins there. They also had a fire going in their stove, and it was 81 degrees in their house. Who needs a sauna? Just visit them!


Great-Granny and Nana fed the babies their bottles and then we loaded up and came home. We're praying for a better night tonight than we had last night. We were up from 1:00 - 4:00 am last night with babies refusing to sleep. They went right to bed when we got home this evening, so we're hoping they'll just stay asleep.


Here are the rest of the pictures that I took this evening.

Oh, and here are some cute pictures of Hannah and Noah all decked out in their fall attire.

Boiler Up!

Today was homecoming at Purdue. They played Northwestern. I watched the game, only the second I've watched this season. I watched the Ohio State game as well and decided then I wasn't going to watch any others. My curiosity got the best of me today and I watched. The Boilers picked up an early 14-0 lead, but by half time it was tied at 14. Northwestern had four turnovers in the first half, but we just weren't able to capitalize on them. Finally things picked up in the second half and we ended up winning 35-17. I was glad I watched.

This evening was our ward Halloween party. There was a potluck dinner, talent show, and Trunk or Treating. I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to be in the Bishopric skit during the talent show. The skit went well, but there were some nice musical performances that put us to shame.

Hannah and Noah didn't get to go to the party. Nana came to watch them. It was probably a good thing anyway since Hannah is sick. She has a runny nose and cough. Noah seems to be coming down with it as well. I'm planning on staying home from church with them tomorrow. I'm kind of sad about that because I'm going to miss a big announcement that I happen to already know about. Can't give it away here though...

Namaste

Elizabeth is at her weekly yoga class, so I thought while I was waiting for her to get home I would write. She has been taking a relaxation yoga class for several months now. I think it's a nice chance for her to get some time out of the house.

Hannah's newest thing is blowing kisses. Of course, as soon as you get the camera out, kids turn into sacks of potatoes, but we still managed to capture the general idea. The creepy sounding music in the background is actually from a really fun Halloween CD from Wee Sing. Here's Hannah!



In getting ready for the Halloween party on Tuesday night, the house got a good cleaning. One of the rooms that was a mess before was the mud room. However, after Elizabeth straightened it up, it is very neat and organized. I saw this and had to take a picture. It again reminded me what a special time this is.



This is going to be a fun weekend. Tomorrow night Elizabeth's parents are coming to spend the night because her mom is taking the test on Saturday morning to become a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE). This is a really big deal, and she's pretty nervous about it. I know she'll do fine though, she's been studying for months. The dumb thing is that if she's late for any reason (no exceptions) they won't let her take the test and she doesn't get her money back. Why can't they just let late people in and allow them whatever time is remaining. Geez, its like being back in high school again.

Anyway, while they are here, Elizabeth and I are going to dinner with a couple of couples from our old ward (the Beech Grove Ward). We are having dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise, one of our favorite restaurants. It's a great environment, decorated as if you were on a tropical island (oh, Jamaica how we miss you). You are served by "islanders," not waiters and waitresses, and there you always hear "Cheeseburger in Paradise" at least once while you are there. It's just a fun place, but more importantly we're looking forward to hanging out with our friends.

Saturday evening is our Ward's annual Trunk or Treat. My mom is coming to babysit so that Elizabeth and I can go and stay the whole time. I have to be there because the Bishopric is performing a skit. I wrote the skit based on an idea I found on the Internet. I can't give it away here though, we have to save the punchline.

Sunday is the annual Primary program during Sacrament meeting at church. Since Elizabeth is the CTR 5 teacher, she will be on the stage with the kids the whole time. That leaves me with both babies, and the responsibility to count sacrament meeting attendance. Luckily, counting isn't rocket science, so I should be able to get somebody else to do that for me. I'll just hang out in the hall with the kids.

That's about it. Then it will be Monday and time to go back to work. We'll try to post some updates throughout the weekend.

It's awesome that the leaves are finally changing. I was afraid they were going to go straight from green to brown with nothing in between. I have seen quite a bit of color though. The leaves on our new trees haven't changed yet. I'm hoping they'll be bright red since they are maples. Only time will tell.

Halloween Came Early

Halloween came a little early at the Scott house this year. Hannah and Noah invited over their cousins and some friends for a Halloween party this evening. Believe it or not, all of their cousins made it. It's so great having everyone close now.


Everyone looked so cute in their costumes. We had a couple of flowers, a couple of ladybugs, a frog (don't worry, he didn't eat the ladybugs), some princesses, fairies, a giraffe, and Don Quixote.

Elizabeth went all out with this party. Somehow she managed to surprise me with how much she had done. There were several activities including coloring, decorating Trick-or-Treating bags, a pumpkin hunt, and cookie decorating. Most of these activities were for the "older" kids. The babies all just played around and had a good time.


The food was definitely the showstopper. The menu included Mummy Hotdogs, Southwestern Turkey Chili, Witches' Hats, spiced cider, Ritz cracker spiders, and graveyard dirt pudding. I'm sure I'm missing something, but at least you get the idea.

We were so glad everyone came, both family and friends. We had a wonderful time. Our friend Andrea has already gotten a post up on her blog about the party. She has some more pictures as well.

Here is our full gallery of pictures. Take a peek if you like.

Inspired to Blog

Okay, so I started this blog back in June of 2006 as a way to document Elizabeth's pregnancy for friends and family. Many would argue, especially Angela, that I have done a miserable job of keeping it up to date. I have tended to post only at big milestones like their first birthday. One reason for this was the feeling that nobody would spend the time reading what I wrote if I posted more frequently. A couple of things recently have convinced me that this is the wrong attitude. First, I have found myself checking in on friends' blogs a lot more frequently than I expected I would. It is fun to read about what is going on in their lives. It's a great way to feel like we are staying in touch when sometimes our schedules don't permit more frequent personal contact. Some might argue that this depersonalization (did I make up a word?) is exactly what is wrong with the Internet. However, I would argue that it is precisely what the Internet is good for. We are able to get much more intimate peeks inside each others' lives and are able to stay more "in touch" with each other than we would otherwise be able. Secondly, keeping a journal is something that our church leaders encourage us to do. President Henry B. Eyring gave a talk in this last general conference in which he mentioned a special journal that he has kept throughout his life. He made it a point each day to record how he had "seen the hand of God blessing [his] family every day." I was impressed by that talk and it reminded me of the importance of keeping a journal. In this high-tech world, it seems like it would be so much easier to keep it online. The benefits are that I can type it (I type much faster than I write), it is safely (I use the term loosely) stored away from our home should any disaster strike here, we can update it from anywhere that we can access the Internet, and finally we can share it with you all.

Okay, that's enough blogging philosophy from Adam. The point is that I'm going to try to blog more, and I'm going to get Elizabeth set up with an account and show her how to post as well. Between the two of us we should be able to keep a fairly decent record of what's going on in our lives.

I've even gotten some buy-in from Lucy on this. She said she's willing to post once in a while if we don't stick with it.

It's time for me to go to bed now. But thinking of special moments to record... Just a minute ago I heard Hannah crying on the monitor. I went up to settle her down and get her back to bed. I picked her up and she immediately put her head down on my shoulder, like she always does when she wakes up during the night. I've done it a hundred times before, and I'll likely do it a hundred or more times before all is said and done. But tonight, as I laid her back down in her crib, I took a moment to smell the baby soap and give her a little kiss on the forehead. Those moments are what being a dad is all about. I feel so blessed.