A white Christmas after all!

Christmas in Utah.

Home, home, home --- that's where we'll be!

Recent developments have landed us home for Christmas, a place we thought we wouldn't be.

It was supposed to be a surprise, it turned out to be a leaky one however. No worries! We would love to see one and all, but with a 4 week old baby, we probably won't get out as much. You are welcome to come see us, though, if you want to (wash your hands). We'll be at my parent's or his, unless we have volunteers for babysitters, then we will be enjoying a moment or two without Sir Tornado and Lady Poops-a-lot.

Soft and cuddly

Need I say more.......

Paul and Dallin during our family PJ night. We set up the air mattress in front of the TV and watch movies all day long in our pajamas with plenty of popcorn and treats to go around. Oh, slothfulness was never so much fun!
Cross-eyed beauty queen!
Sleeping on Grandpa Duncan. And Grandpa Duncan sleeping.

The best sugar cookies that I have made.

I am kind of OCD when I make cookies. I mix the dough just enough, not to much. And I always add more vanilla and almond extract than any recipe calls for. When I am baking the cookies, I set the timer for half the time and then add more minutes as I go just so I can check them a billion times to get the perfect “barely golden”. It’s a process, but I think they turn out great and the time I spend obsessing about them is worth it when I bite into these yummy cookies. These cookies tasted like Granny B’s cookies when I put the Cake Mate squeeze frosting on top.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup sour cream
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-2 teaspoons almond extract
3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven at 375 degrees. In a bowl, cream the sugar and butter together. Mix in the sour cream, the egg, vanilla and almond extracts. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple hours or over night – This step is important, do not skip it!!

Place cold cookie dough on a well floured surface and roll out about ¼ inch (or a bit thicker). Do not roll out too thin, or you won’t get the perfect cookies that I made (haha). Get out your cookie cutters and cut away.

Place cookies about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10-12 minutes, barely, barely golden. I check my first batch about 10 times just to make sure I take them out at the right time.

Let your cookies cool before you frost and decorate them.

Cookies and Mommies

My wonderful, amazing, awesome, stupendous mom came to help out our little family last week. I tried to tie her to a chair, and told her that her flight was canceled, but she still had to leave to go back home :( Thank you thank you thank you, Mom, for changing Dallin's poopy diapers every morning and for letting me sleep in and for listening to me talk almost non-stop. It was so fun to hang out with you for a whole week. I LOVE YOU MOM! Dallin was so cute the morning after she left when I went to get him out of bed and change him. "Ma-maw!!!! Ma-maw!!!" he yelled! He wanted nothing to do with me. It was funny, too, because while my mom was here, my dad had to fly to New York on business and had a lay over in the Cincinnati airport, which is actually IN Kentucky only 1 1/2 hours away from here. He called to tell us he was in Kentucky, but he was already on the plane to leave, his layover was only 30 minutes long. It was so sad to have him so close but not be able to see him!

While my mom was here, we made our 2nd annual batch of Duncan Family Christmas sugar cookies. This is the best sugar cookie recipe that I have found yet! They taste like Granny B's cookies. Yummy! I want to post the recipe, but I have to re-type it first, but you need to try them! We all had a lot of fun making, baking, and decorating.

And EATING!!!

My mom made a special cookie for my brother, Kyle, who is serving a mission for our church in Argentina.

And what is a new post without a picture of the baby! I took this picture while my mom was holding her. I looked down at her and thought, "Wow! She looks like she grew over night!" A couple days later, she had her 2 weeks doctors appointment and we found out that she had gained a whole pound in ONE week! She was 9 pounds! She definitely does not look like a newborn in this picture!

Hanging out tonight

This afternoon, a friend called and offered Paul and Dallin tickets to Disney's Playhouse Live tour. He was going to take his daughter for her birthday, but she got sick :( So, tonight, Paul and Dallin are having fun watching Little Einsteins and the like, and Ellie and I are hanging out at home. It's kind of weird not having my two boys running around the house, and Ellie is sleeping like a rock. What do I do with all this quiet free time? Relax, crochet, blog, watch TV. I should be sleeping, but what is the fun in that?

Paul and I watched "Evan Almighty" last night. It was nice to sit and snuggle with him and watch a fun movie. In the movie, "God" said something that made me think:

"If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"

It is so true, isn't it? Like it or not, this is what happens. I have thought about making this my new favorite quote. It's kind of long though and I am not very motivated to memorize it.

Initiation

So far, both of my kids have thought it necessary as newborns to squirt pooh all over their dad! I think that it is some sort of initiation into the family.