Christmas times

All I want for Christmas is...my two front teeth!  This little girl just lost her two front teeth in the last two weeks.  She likes to go to the craft store with the money from the tooth fairy. 

Reed would not cooperate to take a new picture for his stocking holder.

Why stick with the standard cookie cutter shapes when you make an entire story by putting them all together?  And I learned a great trick: use powdered sugar when rolling out the cookie dough so it doesn't stick to the counter.  I used to use flour, but powdered sugar is much tastier.

Just turned 3

Just got these pictures taken last week.  

 At this point he pulled out his gun and shot the teddy bear that was trying to make him laugh

Happy Thanksgiving from the kids

Thanksgiving Prep

In no way is this how I feel about my mother's awesome cooking.

www.foxtrot.com

Sometimes you just need a good laugh

It's Brovember, a time for guys to do guy things.  Like watching football, or riding motorcycles, or growing a sweet moustache.  Not me of course, but one like this guy.

If you kind of blur your eyes a bit, you can see that Art has a really sweet moustache!

More heartache to a wonderful family

This morning I found out that a friend died Monday night in a motorcycle accident in Hawaii. 

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22482564&nid=148&title=utah-woman-dead-in-hawaii-motorcycle-accident&s_cid=queue-3

Jennie Wahlstrom was a great mother to four kids.  She was a daughter-in-law in the Wahlstrom family, who has gone through a lot in the last ten+ years. 

It always hurts to hear about somebody you know dying, and more so when you know that family has to go through a lot more heartache over the next short while.

It's time for Pumpkin Cake

If you're looking for an alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie during the Thanksgiving season, think about making a Pumpkin Cake.  It's light, fluffy, and oh so delicious. 

Here's the recipe (thanks mom)

Cake
15 oz. can of pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 C water
1 small package vanilla instant pudding
1 tsp cinnamon
Yellow cake mix
1/4 tsp baking soda

Beat 4 min exactly
Spread out on cookie sheet




Bake 350 degrees for 25 min

Topping
1/2 pint whipping cream whipped w/o sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
8 oz. package cool whip

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

My workplace is dog friendly

They allow you to bring your dog to work with you here at Petzl.  All you need to do is sign the "dog contract" that says you'll clean up any messes that might for sure happen.  For the most part all the dogs are very well behaved, and are treated very well.  The dogs know where to go for the best treats. 

P.S.  Dogs like peanut butter.  Just don't get their spoon mixed up with yours.

I see all sorts of dogs here, but this one is definitely the uniquest.  This is an Irish Wolfhound, and is easily as big as me if it were standing upright.  Luckily it doesn't cause that would freak me out!

This dog doesn't need a water bowl because he can drink out of the kitchen faucet.  He's quite a sight to see walking around the building, almost like a horse is loose. 

How do they grow 'em so big?  I wonder if his second toe is longer than his first...

Goodbye Alaska

After only a week, it was time to say goodbye.  We had a lot of fun, ate a lot of ice cream, saw lots of movies, watched lots of Disney cartoons, saw Mickey Mouse and friends, danced with Chip 'n Dale, listened to Adrianne and Jaci sing karaoke, missed out on Drew and Trae entertaining the crowd in the family game show one night, saw whales, dolphins, seals, big glaciers, and lots of bald eagles, incredible scenery, ate escargot, and had a very enjoyable time with the family.


I think I need some more ice cream.

The Space Needle in Seattle on our way to the airport

Canada, eh?

Day 7 - Sunday, Victoria, Canada

On the last day of our cruise, we sailed down from Alaska and stopped at Victoria, Canada, which is pretty close to Seattle.  This was a quick 4 hour stop, so we only had time to get off the boat, catch a quick bus to downtown, walk around and take a few pictures, get back on the bus and go back to the boat.

The Disney characters came around to all the tables to sign autographs and take pictures

The Empress is a really old and famous hotel

Goin on a bear hunt

Day 6 - Saturday - Ketchikan, Alaska

Deep in the backwoods of Ketchikan, we were supposed to see bears

To make a long story short, we did not see any bears

But we saw bear claw marks on the trees

And we got to feed the reindeer!

The guide said, "whatever you do, don't let the reindeer eat the entire branch of leaves or else they'll choke."  Here you can see Jaci clearly disregarding the guide's advice after her reindeer snatched the entire branch of leaves out of her hand.  No reindeer were harmed in the taking of this picture.

A symbol of our nation's pride

Back on the boat it's time for a tea party with Belle and the girls

Sarah and Ray, our wonderful servers for the week.  I didn't have to cut up food for the kids once!

It was pretty cool to be walking down the hallway on the boat, and at any given moment look up and see a random Disney character. 

This was much more enjoyable than standing in line at Disneyland.

Only one more day on the boat.  But I wasn't looking at it that way.  I was simply enjoying the time I had, rather than getting sad to leave. 

Time for another ice cream cone.  Strawberry or vanilla?

Friday - Juneau

Day 5 - Friday - Juneau, and the Mendenhall Glacier

After a brief bus tour through the capital city of Juneau, we headed up to the Mendenhall Glacier.  The bus driver was telling lame bear jokes along the way, like, "If you see a bear, just walk away very slowly, because bears love fast food."

Well Mr. Bus Driver, I see your lame joke and I raise you one:

How do you catch a polar bear?
You cut a hole in the ice, and put peas all around it.
Then, when the polar bear comes up to take a pea, you kick him in the ice hole!

Interesting note about Juneau.  Even though it's the capital of Alaska, there are no roads that lead into it.  The only way in is by boat, air, or birth canal (another bus driver joke).

Anyway...Nat and I found a little trail that led from the visitor's center all the way to the base of this big waterfall.  We only had 40 minutes until the bus left, so we ran all the way there and made it in 7 minutes.  It must be the lower elevation because I felt great. 


We didn't have the kids with us because we left them on the boat in the kids clubs.  It was great!  You drop your kids, they go play, we go play, and everybody's happy.

After the glacier we went to a fish hatchery where we saw the running of the salmon.  It's similar to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; there's a bull fish with horns that tries to spear the toro guy.  It's pretty sweet.  I also saw an eight point jackalope.  But seriously, there were a lot of fish swimming up that little river.

This is my artistic shot of the day

And some pretty flowers

And a pretty wife

Notice Nat's beast sticker on her shirt, which is how the Disney crew organized all the tour groups

Awkwardfamilyphotos.com

And now it's pirate night back on the boat!

Reed - awake for once