Winter Drive

On the Saturday before Christmas, Justin and I decided to take a drive. We ended up going to a canyon near Richmond. It had been snowing for the past few days so the trails were covered with snow and the trees were covered and everything was beautiful. We ended up having to wait a little bit for a lama to get out of the middle of the road.
A little ways up the road we came to a teenage boy, about sixteen or seventeen years old, and his faithful dog stuck in a snow bank. From the looks of it, he had been there for awhile. I've never seen a more grateful expression as the one the boy gave Justin when he offered to pull him out.

It took a little bit to pull him out, but no worries, the purple truck came through for us.
It was a pretty drive. We ended up driving around Richmond and then took another trail off into the snowy mountains.

It was really pretty. We had a lot of fun just getting away and exploring.

Justin took this picture because he wanted to show how deep the snow was.

Don't you think Justin is pretty photogenic?We had a fun time. We enjoy going out and exploring. It is a very pretty time of year in Cache Valley.

How to Make Cookies

Justin and I decided to make some Christmas cookies. I was still feeling a little sore, so I just made the dough and Justin pretty much did the rest! He is the Ultimate Cookie Maker. Let's go over the steps on how to make the perfect Christmas Sugar Cookie.

Step One- Make the dough. (No picture provided)
Step Two- Get some dough from the bowl Step Three- Roll the dough into just the right thickness
Step Four- Use the cookie cutter to cut out the Christmas shape desired
Step Five - Put the cookies onto the cookie sheet and into the oven for cooking (important note- contrary to the belief of my mother, cookies should not be cooked for the full time stated on the recipe)
Step Six - Put the cookies on the counter, make a complete mess, and get ready for frosting.
Step Seven - Decorate cookies with frosting (made exactly how Justin likes it with various taste tests in the process) and sprinkles as desired. (Justin does not believe in using sprinkles sparingly)

And there you have it. The perfect Christmas cookie!

For those of you who don't enjoy reading, please feel free to watch the above movie of "The Ultimate Redheaded Chef" making the cookies himself in a step by step process. You will have to turn your volume up pretty loud.

Congrats Justin!!

Justin finished up his last final as an undergraduate student on Tuesday!! We are so excited to be able to move onto the Masters Degree. I am so proud of all of his hard work that he has put into studying and earning his Bachelors of Engineering Degree.

I am so proud of Justin and all that he does. He has been so focused with school and making sure that he has the best grades possible. He is the best ever.

Congratulations Justin!!!

In Memory of Kyrri

Kyrri

September 2001 - December 2008

I ended up having to put Kyrri down the other day. She got sick about a month ago so Justin and I moved her into a flat cage without any perches because of problems she was having with her claw that wouldn't let her balance anymore. At first I felt really bad about making her be on the flat surface, but we later realized that she enjoyed it a lot. She would run all over it and rearrange the mirrors and toys that we had put in there for her. Even though she was sick she still wanted to wrestle with us (she would play fight against our fingers...she loved it).

She had been a good bird. She learned to whistle the same way that we used to whistle to call my puppy to come to us. Kyrri enjoyed trying to make more noise than Justin when he would start singing. She was fun to play with and to have around. We will both definitely miss her and her cute, little personality.

Too Much Puppy

Well, plans have changed for us. After spending a week with Zoey we have learned that she might not be the best fit for our family right now. She has bounds and bounds and bounds of energy and needs more attention than we can give her under current circumstances. We are taking her back to where we got her today so her original family can find what they believe to be another good family for her.

It'll be sad because she is adorable, but in the end it will make things easier. For a ten month old pup she was extremely strong and didn't respond to her name at all. I'm sure we'll all sit back and laugh in a few days as we remember our short time with her and all of the Christmas decorations that she would grab and take off running with, when she thought that she was tougher than the horses, when she would try to fit every dog toy on the floor in her mouth, how she only wanted to play with the toys Hollie was playing with, or even just when every time she layed down she rolled onto her back so somebody would rub her belly.

I know we will all miss Zoey and her big, floppy ears and her gigantic puppy paws. We can only hope that she can find a home that can truly give her the attention that she deserves.