First Christmas

Dave and I had a very fun first Christmas together! (And yes, Santa brought us a Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head!)



I had a huge surprise for Dave and made him go on a treasure hunt through the house to find his gift...

The gift wouldn't fit under the Christmas tree, so I tried to hide it in the pantry.


But it wouldn't fit in the pantry either (where Dave found some Sparkling Cider - which he loves and I never buy it), so I tried to hide the gift in the freezer.


Unfortunately the freezer wasn't big enough either (but it did contain some Cookie Dough Ice Cream - another treat I never buy), so my last option was under the stairs.


And there it was! A new flat screen TV!

Dave was really surprised and we both love our new HDTV!


P.S. If you would like our old TV for FREE and are willing to come pick it up, it is yours, for FREE!

Neighbor Gifts

Here's what we gave out for our neighbor gifts this year...


...a brown paper sack holding two bottles of water and a fun little gift tag that I created all by myself.

Simple. Inexpensive. Thoughtful.

The tag says:
Revelations 7:17. For the Lamb...shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
What a glorious time of year to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ who brings us living water to eternally quench our thirst for happiness, peace, and everlasting life. Merry Christmas!

Passing on a Tradition

My poor grandmother has recently had surgery on her arm and was not able to make the Yorkshire Pudding for our Family Christmas Dinner last night. And so my aunt trusted me to the task.

I have never made Yorkshire before and I was rather nervous. The first two batches came out with little air bubbles all over. All the succeeding batches looked good on top but the bottoms were dark. I was worried.

But once we got that Yorkshire next to the hot roast beef and gravy all my worries disappeared. They turned out fabulous! Even my grandma commented on how good they tasted.

However, my mother told me I should make about 120 pieces - or 10 batches worth. So I did and in the end I went home with probably over 4 dozen leftovers.

If you don't have time to make Yorkshire Pudding for your Christmas dinner I have some in my freezer. And I'm happy to share!

Check out this Wikipedia article devoted to Yorkshire Pudding

Do you know where...?

...Half of Salt Lake is at 10:00 p.m. on a Thursday night the week before Christmas?

They are all on Temple Square. I have never seen it as busy as it was last night and it was late on a school night! People are crazy...but then I guess we are too since we were there as well.





Sorry for the small, blurry pics. I'm still trying to get used to this strange phone.

Mourning Verizon

Monday was a very sad day. We had to turn in our trusty Verizon phones for Sprint phones. After spending three days with my new phone I think I can fairly say that I am in deep mourning.

I miss the days of full coverage in every corner of the Conference Center and at my house.

I miss the time when I only dropped phone calls as I drove over the plains of Nebraska.

I miss the easy-to-use number pad.

I miss not having unlimited mobile to mobile with my family.

I miss my petite Blackberry that fit so nicely in unmentionable areas when I needed to use two hands.

I miss Verizon.

(I think I'm going to cry right about now.)

The cause of my mourning

Getting the Family Together

This year we smiled for not one but two family photo shoots.
Fun times!



(more to come on Christmas Day)

Deal of the Week

They were on sale at Rite Aid this week and I had some killer coupons. In the end I spent a whopping $1.72 for all six boxes of cereal. Now that's some good shopping!

Elf Yourself Christmas Fever

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

O Christmas Tree

It's done and it looks beautiful!
You're all invited to come see!

Young Women in Excellence

I had a thousand worries but in the end Young Women in Excellence turned out great!

Because we have so few girls and because we are a new ward with lots of new leaders, we made spotlights as the main part of our program. Each girl spotlighted another girl and the leaders did each other. To be sure the general young women presidency would approve, we included a segment about how each girl is "an example of the believers" (1 Tim 4:12).

Hopefully, with this new year approaching, I can be more organized and we can better focus on the theme for the year.

In the meantime, didn't my table turn out well!

They Made it Official

Megan and Michael are finally engaged!

We're so happy for them -- and especially glad that she will not have to take back the dress (that looks amazing on her (with the broach) and was an even more amazing price).

Congratulations you guys!

Happy 200th

Just 200 short posts ago, Chelsea Morning was born. It's been a fun ride.
Thanks for coming along!

Here's to 200-plus more posts in the future!


photo credits

Say Yes to the Dress

I went dress shopping with Megan this weekend. (And no, she does not have a ring yet.) She found her perfect dress and it is beautiful. However, I have to say that I do not miss all the excitement and hoopla of planning a wedding. It is absolutely exhausting.

Crunching Leaves

Admittedly, I love to walk down the sidewalk and step on fall leaves to hear them crunch under my foot. However, I thought the day was soon coming when I would have to grow up and give up that favorite pastime.

This week I was walking behind a little 80 year old woman through Temple Square. She walked from one side of the walkway to the other side stepping on every leaf she could find.

If she can do it so can I! Fifty years from now you'll be walking behind me and I'll still be crunching fall leaves under my foot.

(photo credits)

Generous Neighbors

This week at mutual we sent the youth out on a scavenger hunt to collect food to put together four Thanksgiving boxes. They were only gone 30 minutes and came back with everything on the list plus lots more.


Thank you to our extremely generous ward members for all the food they donated! It will bless many lives this upcoming holiday season.

Confession

I hate vegetables.

But I know I need to eat them. So, I have been trying to find creative ways to hide them in my cooking and so far I have two winning recipes.

Hearty Chicken Pot Pie and a Baked Chicken and Rice

I added lots of peas, carrots, and broccoli to both these recipes and I LOVED them!

Go ahead. Try one out on your kids tonight. Believe me, if it works for me it will work for your picky eaters too!

Temple Trips

Remember how all the way back in 2008 I made a goal to go to two new temples every year. Well, this year I exceeded that goal--I've been to three!

In July, Dave and I went to a session at the Nauvoo Temple while we were there on vacation. Last month we had a date night down at the Draper Temple and Saturday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. They are all such beautiful buildings! It has been a wonderful blessing to visit and serve in these sacred temples.

Nauvoo Temple (photo credits)


Draper Temple (photo credits)


Oquirrh Mountain Temple (photo credits)

Costume Party

There were lots of great costumes at Mom's annual Halloween Party. Here are a just a few of the many creations...




Jennie said I looked like an old Polynesian woman. She's just jealous she doesn't own a mumu too.

Happy Halloween!

We've had the pumpkins for a few weeks but haven't had time to carve them until today. Here is what you get when you try to hurry and get it done in an hour.

I Know and I'm Sorry

Yes, I know I haven't been very diligent about blogging lately. I've just been kinda busy, what with work, school, young womens, visiting teaching, wifely duties, daughterly duties, etc. etc. The list really is very long and with the busy Christmas season all too quickly approaching here on Temple Square it will only get worse.

However, I have managed to find a spare few minutes to put together a blog for Dr. Dave. Check it out and tell all your friends about it and then call and make an appointment!

The Lonely Flower

I was stretching my legs in a walk around the Conference Center today when I came upon this lonely flower. I'm certain it is the last of the season so enjoy!

Seeking Advice

It has recently come to my attention that my one and only Mia Maid has 98% attendance in seminary at her junior high. However, I have never met her and none of the other girls in the ward have ever met her (they all go to another school). The family is rarely at home and when we do manage to catch them, her father is not willing to let us in the house. But at the same time, he doesn't tell us to leave them in peace. That at least is encouraging.

How can we get to know this Mia Maid?

Surrounded

The Conference Center is surrounded by
AUTUMN!!!

Look how beautiful!

Happy Anniversary

Just six short months ago, Dave and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and all eternity. It was a JOYOUS occasion! To celebrate our half-year anniversary, we headed up to Logan for the weekend.

We took in dinner at the Bluebird.

photo credits


Relaxed at the Anniversary Inn (the Lost In Space room - which we highly recommend).

photo credits


Hiked up Riverside Nature Trail.




Picnicked at Spring Hollow.




Walked along the dam at Tony Grove Lake
(yes, that would be snow on the ground).




Ate Aggie Ice Cream on USU campus.




And, sampled the local cuisine at Gossner's dairy market.



Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!