Marcella

Here are a few pictures of Marcella. This one her hair is actually done and I got a picture before she pulled it out. Although you can't really see it. At least I know there are cute pigtails back there.




These ones were kind of fun. When we got rid of our Christmas tree there were pine needles everywhere. So Jon was sweeping our carpet trying to get most of them in a pile. So for the next few days Marcella was opssesed with the broom. She would try to sweep or smack anything she could with it. So here Jon is putting it to good use right before we took it away and hid it. (have you ever been hit with a broom unexpectedly?) She really likes hanging. It gave us a good laugh.





Here is Marcella's baby. I thought yea, she will like this doll for a while, but it will end up like the rest of the stuff she just plays with it every once in a while. Well I was wrong. On Tuesday we played with her baby, she fed her, rocked her to sleep, carried her everywhere. It was rather cute. Well she did it again yesterday so I had to pull out the camera and take a few pictures. She is starting to get the hang of how to wrap her up in her blanket.





Here she is taking a "nap" with her baby. We first had a bed for her on the floor and then she dumped out all her toys from her toy basket and put her in that. I guess that is more cozy than the floor. I missed the picture though.




Here she is putting on her hat. She loves putting that thing on, well trying, but it never stays on for more than a few seconds. So I hear "Hat, Hat, Hat" about 20 times a day. It sure is cute though.





Here she is rocking her baby. She will get in and out of her rocking chair like a billion times. She is pretty good at managing the baby and getting in her chair. I am amazed how many times she will get in and out in and out. She is so silly.



This was my unsuccessful shot at trying to get a picture of her first tooth! Whenever you ask her to see her teeth, she will open her mouth really big and then stick out her tongue and point. I guess we need to work on that a bit. Her second one is coming in on top. Yea! She might be able to chew up some apples now.



Finally here we are snuggling almost ready for bed. Man I sure can't imagine why some people don't have kids, they are the best thing ever! I hope you all have a great day! Love ya!

Random

So I found a few pictures that I don't think anyone has posted, about putting in Mom and Dads tile floor. Wow, I learned a lot and I was only charged $5 an hour to learn how to lay the tile, it was Awesome! I really am glad I learned how to do that. It was hard work, but I think I will save myself a bunch of money when I build my house and can lay my own tile. I hope you enjoy these pictures, I am not sure if I have one of the finished project, but Dad might post some of his pictures soon, so you can go and look at his.



So I can't resist posting this picture of Marcella either. She is such a fun little girl. She now has a tooth! She doesn't have one in this picture, but I will post one soon of her first tooth that she got at 14 1/2 months old. We were beginning to think she was going to be toothless.

So my visiting teaching partner gave us some of the yummiest popcorn for Christmas, and I have made it 3 times since and even though it is only 8:45 am I am eating it. It is so yummy I just can't stay away. I am going to give all of you the recipe so you can try it and then let me know if you like it. Jon doesn't like it because he doesn't like sweet and salty things together let alone a lot of chocolate, but this is really good for all you kettle corn lovers. (Although I don't want you to be fooled, it doesn't taste anything like Kettle corn.) So here it is:

White Chocolate Popcorn:
1 Bag Butter Microwave Popcorn
1 Bag White Chocolate Chips or some White almond bark
Pretzels
Slivered Almonds

Pop the popcorn and then mix the popcorn with some pretzels and nuts and anything else you desire. I have added craisens and Marshmellows. So that is the fun part you add whatever you think will taste good. Then you melt your chocolate in your microwave and then pour it over your popcorn and mix together. It is sooo easy! I usually double it, but if you are like me, I always wonder why I doubled something because then I end up eating all of it. So just to warn you this is not a low fat, carb free, Cholesterol free snack. But it is delicous!

So I titled this random for a reason, because I thought I would just start posting and then write or add whatever I thought of so I hope you all don't get too Bored.




CONGRATS GREG!! We are so excited for you to start your new job. The only sad thing is we don't want you to leave. Marcella loves playing with Uncle Greg and we will be sad to see you go. We hope all goes well for you and we will have to come and stay with you for a few days this summer. Good Luck!



Here is the man who is as I speak, taking the GRE exam to get into Grad School, so if you read this soon, start praying for him. I am sure he will do great, he has been doing really well on the practice exams. We are just excited this day has finally come and will shortly be over. It sounds like he has a pretty good shot at getting into BYU this fall semester, so we will let you know when we find out. Well, Marcella is at Grandma's and Jon is gone, so I think I am going back to bed! Man, I don't think I have been able to sleep-in in ages! I hope you all have a great day!

Blessing, Baptism, and Christmas Program

We had fun with the McCann's and the Neuenschwander's when Grace was baptized and Hannah was blessed. We didn't take a lot of pictures, though. There was a luncheon after with about 23 different soups. They were all good.

Here's Lilly...she's sitting on my shoulders.

This is Hannah. She looks cute, eh?

We had a Christmas program on Sunday night. It was fun. We played instruments, ate food, reenacted the Nativity, and had a great time. David and Michelle came with their newest edition, Joshua.

Kanien and Marcella


Isaac

Brad and Matthew

Grandpa Wallin

Kristin

Jeff, Caroline, and Hannah

Jackie McCann and Great-Grandmother Hanson

Elizabeth

Hannah again

Marcella in a shepherd's robe (I think)

A Shepherd

Grace receiving riding instructions from Grandma Wallin

Everyone adoring Baby Jesus (Joshua)...you can see Kristin's flock of sheep on her back.

Hannah and Joshua...they're teensy weensy

Sleepover

We had a sleepover with all our neices and nephews (besides the two who are still suckling). Kanien came up with the idea, and she was always enthusiastic about it. The first thing we did was make handprint dish towels. I don't know how long the paint will stay on the towels, but the cousins had fun.

Isaac used the most paint....by about 20 gallons. His dish towel is also the coolest. We had a lot of fun, and we'd probably do it again...they were all really well behaved.



After the hand towels, we watched some Christmas specials...Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. It was fun. I took some slow-exposure pictures so you could see the Christmas tree, but the kids are blurry (especially Marcella, inbetween Owen and Grace).

I took this one with the flash so you could actually see their faces. Marcella is hidden, though.

Jason's Birthday

We had a party for Jason at the Dougal's house. It was fun. He got some great presents, including the hat in the second picture. Watch out, ladies.....under 12 months until Jason's on the rampage!!

The First of the Cousins, and Kanien's Birthday

Owen was the first of the cousins to arrive in Utah. He came in time for Kanien's birthday party. Marcella took an instant liking to him.



Kristin read "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes" to Marcella and Owen. Marcella was interested for about .00007 seconds...I made her get back and pose for this picture. She didn't really know why she had to sit there anymore, and kept looking at Kristin.


Kanien had fun opening presents. I think she got 95% of the stuff on her wish list, with Christmas and her birthday combined.


Did I say Owen was the first cousin to get to Utah? Well, if he was, he was shortly followed by Hannah, his new little sister! Marcella really got a kick out of holding her.
 

Jason's Hair

This is Jason's short lived hair....he cut it a few days after he died it. It looks really nice now. 

Here's Marcella playing in a toy stroller at Grandma Katherine's house.
  

Who's in the crib?

A few days before Christmas, I went into Marcella's room, and here's what I saw...

  

Sundays

When I was growing up Sunday was the day that Dad made homemade popcorn and we watched a movie. While we were making popcorn he would sometimes tell us about when he was growing up. He would make a huge garbage bag full of popcorn for his family and they would eat that after their hotdogs for dinner, and watch a movie. I have many fond memories of helping, well watching my dad make the popcorn and helping to pick out the movie. As we got older I remember one Sunday that my Dad was gone and I decided I had watched him make it enough I would be able to do it on my own, so I started making it. The only problem was that I put in a little bit too much oil and when I started shaking it some of the oil leaked out from the lid that I didn't have on very tight. Well, I bet you are wondering what happened next. Well, where my pan was there now was a small fire. I blew and smacked it out with a dish towel. Luckily my mom wasn't there to witness. I was scared to death! I am not sure if anyone else was there either, but man after that I just finished making the popcorn and took it upstairs to the rest of the family. Now even though I am gone, Jon and I usually make a big bowl of popcorn every Sunday, that we are around and either play a game or watch a fun movie. (Don't worry Jon makes the popcorn.) A lot of times this is after Marcella goes to bed. But Last Sunday she stayed up and watched the Disney Christmas Classics with us. I just thought I would let you know Dad that your tradition lives on. I think Marcella is going to love it as much as I did growing up. Thanks Dad!

The Price of Living Close

I know it's daunting for our relatives living out of state to think about how much it costs to travel to visit family each year (or multiple times a year). Kanien and I were discussing it, and here's what we came up with. A quick search on www.orbitz.com shows us that we could fly from Salt Lake City to Baltimore, MD for $197 a ticket (that's from April 16-23 2007). So...if a family of three made the trip once a year, that costs $600.00. Yike! Not many of us have $600.00 sitting around to blow! For Kanien and I it'd be $400.00, because Marcella could sit on Kanien's lap, or the Pilot's lap...or my lap! And, if your parents help you pay for a trip like that, it could get even cheaper.



Well...it might surprise you to find out how much it costs to visit relatives when you live closer. From what Kanien and I have figured, we make 2.5 trips a week up to Davis County. Some weeks it's four trips, some weeks it's one trip, but we never go more than 7 days without going up there, and it seems like we go up every other day. A quick internet search and some easy computations reveal the average gas price from July 2005-July 2006 was $2.80/gallon for premium (that's what we use). The trip to Davis county ranges from 60-75 miles roundtrip, depending on where we go, and what we do while we're up there. We'll stick with a value of 68 miles. With a fuel efficiency of 27MPG (a conservative figure for our Passat), we use 2.5 gallons of gas for each round trip (I think that's a pretty convservative estimate, too, as we usually visit both parents as well as store trips and the like). Multiplying that by the average fuel price we spend $7.00 a trip, and $17.50 each week. Multiply that by 52, and we spend $910.00 each year on fuel to see our relatives. I was surprised it was so much.

HaPpY bIrThDaY gRacE!!!!

I hope that you have a wonderful Birthday! You are such a cute girl and I can't wait for you to come and see us. I am sorry I haven't mailed your present yet, but it will be coming. So you will get an after birthday suprise. Just remember It's Great being Eight!! We love ya!

Fixed it

Try to click on the link again. I am pretty sure Jon fixed it. Let me know if it doesnt work. Thanks and i hope you enjoy.
Kanien

Fun with HD

I'm pretty interested in High-Definition media. I love movies and watching movies and going to the theater, and having an HD home theater would be cool (Come on Dad...finish that basement!!!) ;) My video editing software can output true HD, but I don't have an HD video camera, so I can't make any true HD video. I do have a still camera that can capture images far above HD resolution (I'm sure most of you do, too, as even the highest resolution HDTVs are just over 2 megapixels), so I can make HD photo montages. I made some solely for my own (and Kanien's) enjoyment, but thought I'd post it here because some of you might be interested in stuff like this, too.

This one is done in what's called 720p, which is 1/2 of true HD resolution, but most of your computers should be able to run it. If your machine is less than two years old, it should. If it's older than that, don't even bother downloading the file because it's big (135MB), short (2 minutes), and will be a huge chopfest.

Most computer monitors are capable of displaying 720p, its just your graphics cards that can't. I did a 1080p video as well, but the resolution is bigger than your monitor, so it won't look any better than the 720p file. You can still download it if you want, but it's big (180MB), so I wouldn't. Anyway, you can try to watch it then say, "Uh....it doesn't look any different to me..." because I'm sure that's what you're all dying to do! Click the picture to download the video (or right-click and select "save target as...").




Jon