Reflections--Magic of a Moment

This year Olivia and Coleman entered the Reflections contest. The theme was "The Magic of  a Moment."

Olivia composed a song and won! She got a cool certificate and a trophy.

Coleman entered in the literature category. He also got a certificate.

Sophia didn't enter, but I am sure that at some point she will enter in one category (or more)...

We got notified a few weeks later that Olivia's entry went on to the next level and she will be compete at the district level... Way to go Liv!

This is the song that she composed:

Cookie Party 2012

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the cookie party that my friend Marilynn hosts. This year, I made some yummy Macaroon Kisses... they are delicious (and I usually don't like coconut!)

Macaroon Kisses


1/3 cup butter (softened)
3 oz. cream cheese (softened)
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 cups coconut (divided)
48 kisses (dark chocolate)

Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolk and extract.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add gradually to creamed mixture.  Stir in 3 cups of the coconut.

Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle (if desired, I didn't find this to be necessary).  Shape in 1” balls or use a small cookie scoop and then roll in coconut.  Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (or until lightly browned.)

Remove from oven and push a kiss into each cookie.  Allow cookies to sit on cookie sheet 2-5 minutes until chocolate is soft.  Transfer cookies to cooling racks.

If you want to check out some other pictures and recipes for delicious cookies, check out the Christmas Cookie blog!

David Goes To School

One of our favorite authors is David Shannon. We especially love his cute character David. Sophia has loved the book David Goes To School so much that she has it memorized. For a time, she would "read" it to Ryan each night. We thought you might enjoy her reading and her other "activities" while she reads.  She keeps us laughing!

Extreme Makeover--Olivia Edition

This lovely girl got contacts and braces all within a couple of days.

She keeps looking in the mirror and says she doesn't recognize herself.

She looks beautiful, no?

Festival of Trees 2012

Megan pulled off another great tree this year in memory of her boy Chance... the theme was the great outdoors. All of her decorations were of moose, bears, squirrels, and owls. She did such a great job on it! I got to go and help put it together on decorating day.

My mom tied a quilt with Megan and her sisters and many other people contributed.

Me and Megan with my mom and some friends and our Aunt Becky on decorating day.

Sisters!

Meg and Mom

Our sister Lauren wrote a paragraph to help Festival visitors get to know Chance... it read:
Chance was an inquisitive boy. He loved exploring, getting into everything, and playing in the dirt. He would have been an outdoor enthusiast, for sure, if he hadn't gotten sick at the tender age of 2 years and 11 months. Just weeks before he died he was able to go on his first camping trip. What an adventure! We hoped there would be many more opportunities for him to sleep under the stars, be close to nature, and try to spot the wildlife. But God had a different plan and called Chance home. We still feel close to him when we are outside. He is in the wind, the sunshine, the raindrops, the hoot of an owl, and especially in the dirt.

Later in the week we went with my Grandma Cole to see the tree... The kids love being with her and I love it too. She is so good with them (and they love that she usually manages to bring them a little treat :)).

Sophia was in a bit of a funk that day, she finally pulled out of it when we saw the gingerbread houses and there was one from Tangled  (one of her favorite movies).

The Festival is such a great event, and I love that Megan has made it a priority in her life to give back to the Medical Center that tried so hard to save her boy. 

On decorating day I was (again) amazed as I looked around and thought about how much love goes into each tree... there is a story behind each tree and a person to go with the story. It breaks my heart that there are so many in the "club" of people who have lost a loved one (often a young child) but it is heartwarming that so many people work so hard to contribute to such a good cause and bring so much joy to others in the process.

Thankful Wall 2012

Every year we put up our Thankful Wall and get to write down all of the things we are thankful for... as our children grow older they are a bit more thoughtful about what they write, yet random things still seem to show up on the list (cups? dishes?).  I love that our kids choose to be grateful for the big and small things in their lives.

On Thanksgiving Day we asked each of the children to say what they were thankful for... Sophia's response: "Bats." Totally not sure where that came from, but it got a few laughs :).

Ryan doesn't believe in writing on the walls, but he kindly added these to our list:

My dear, sweet, loving, thoughtful wife that is always mindful of the details in each of our lives.
A happy, cheerful, always questioning Coleman.
Considerate, compassionate, cool Olivia
Bubbly, smiley, playful Sophia

Thanksgiving 2012

We were so excited that we were able to visit Ryan's brother Scott and his family for Thanksgiving this year. Terri and Bruce flew out from Connecticut as well which made our stay even better.

Our kids loved being together... they played games, played with Nerf guns, played Wii, wrestled, laughed, crafted, played at the park, and loved every minute they had together.

Kristen and I had a great time baking and cooking. We spent Wednesday night baking pies... and managed to catch the oven on fire! I made a pecan pie and Kristen did such a good job making a beautiful apple pie (from scratch!) and we also made a couple of pumpkin pies. While it was baking the top crust from the apple pie broke off and fell onto the element, then some of the ooey goodness dripped out onto it and that caused a whole lot of smoke, and eventually some flames. We laughed and laughed (and felt grateful that the smoke detectors didn't go off). Despite their time in the fire and smoke, they still looked beautiful, so we figured we'd try them out the next day.

On Thursday we had mini pudding pies for the kids and grandparents for breakfast (tradition!) and we spent the next several hours making a delicious dinner. It was so fun to be together and share the cooking and dish washing responsibilities... Kristen is a wonderful cook and had several fabulous recipes. The kids had their own table which they loved... Alyza and Olivia had gotten up early to make table decorations and bookmarks for each of us :).  We ate until we were full (and then we ate some more) and waited a brief time before we went for pie. The pudding pie and the pecan pie were hits... the others had an odd smokey flavor :). It was bad, really bad. They tasted a bit like what we imagine an ash tray might. We decided that we couldn't do it... as much as we wanted to, we just couldn't eat the apple and pumpkin pies, so when we went out later that night for a few of the sales we hit the deli (through the crazed DVD shoppers) and picked up a couple of pumpkin pies... and wouldn't you know it, I got sugar-free... not as bad as the smoked pies, but still not great... thank goodness for Costco apple and pumpkin pies... they were purchased and consumed the next day :).

On Friday we did a little shopping and I met up with my friend from high school for lunch who lives in the area. We went to the Denver temple grounds and spent some time there. Sophia wasn't too happy to be there (she needed a nap desperately) but she finally got her cheer back when we encouraged somersaults (and joined in).

We had great weather while we were there... We visited downtown Morrison which has cute shops and great ambiance. Scott and Kristen shared with us a fun place for dipped ice cream cones.

Before we went home (to eat more pie) we stopped at the Red Rock amphitheatre to see a beautiful sunset.

On Saturday we drove to Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods... it was so beautiful! There were lovely clouds and the rock formations were breathtaking.

The kids enjoyed walking on the trails and climbing in and out of a very small opening in one of the rocks. Bruce and Ryan took some great photos (Ryan didn't even have his good camera, but was making the most of his iPhone :)).

Lovely, no?

We had such a great visit with Scott and Kristen and Sam and Lyz. We were so glad that Terri and Bruce were there also... it was so fun to spend time with everyone and celebrate the holiday.

The whole gang... minus Bruce who was taking the picture... Our cute girls Lyz and Soph were so sad to say goodbye, there were real tears shed over the thought of parting... we'd had such a good visit! We were so glad to see where Scott and Kristen live. It is obvious why they love it so much... they have a beautiful home and neighborhood and so many wonderful things to do nearby. We can't wait to go back and visit again!

What a sad, sad girl sitting in the middle there (the one by the window is hiding her face from the camera because she isn't too happy either.)

(We are happy too that we all fit in our little Prius which makes road trips super affordable.)