We heart Minnesota...when it's not -30

In honor of Human Rights Day, and the fact that it was ABOVE freezing we took our two little babushkas out to experience xc skiing in Minnesota. We have a dear friend who brought some skis, and a sled that he pulled Maya in. There is something so amazing and peaceful xc skiing through a forest. It was beautiful, and we had a fantastic time. Evan and I got exercise, Brynn was warm by the fire, and Maya had her fill of outside. What a great day.

Maya and Dean. Dean pulled Maya behind him on a sled. He also gets the credit for helping Maya to finally say that she loves something. We went out to his home for Labor Day this year and boated on the lake in front of his home. Maya came home and that night said "I love boats." This picture is momentous because Maya is smiling. I think I can count on one hand all the pictures we have of her smiling, well maybe two hands.

The four of us. Check out my hat with a big poofy ball on top. Evan got it for me for Christmas. I once had another hat like this with a big poofy ball on top, only my brother Chad stole the hat, the promptly cut the ball off. Sometimes I hit it on the roof of the car when getting in. I love it though, what a great hat.

Brynn didn't acutally go skiing, but stayed wrapped up in her bundle me and the silkie blanket Mandy made for her. Since it was only 18 degrees when we started we opted to ski with the littlest lady. But the 18 felt balmy compared to what it has recently been!

Sadly, this picture doesn't capture the fun Maya had. And I don't have a picture of the sled and Dean who pulled it, but Maya would scream when we went down any hills. She was thrilled.

lover of stickers

happy little lady

after bathtime

And the WINNER is.....

CAMILLE! She said -41 degrees, which was just 1 degree off from the -42 that I awoke to! Way to go Camille!

But since there were only 5 of you that submitted temperatures, I'll send you all some earrings, just email me your addresses.

Have a warm day!

Late Christmas post

Maya givivg Brynn her passie

Two shepherds

The angel/Joseph with baby Jesus and shepherd

Maya and her train, which she didn't stop playing with for 3+ hours

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had our first Christmas at home, and it went well. We have snow! We were so excited to not have a brownish green Christmas this year. We haven't seen snow since we left Utah. It being our first Christmas I had all these neat ideas of traditions we could start; like gingerbread houses, building a snowman, soup and soup bowls, the Christmas story and hot chocolate. One should never have ideas like that when little people in the family are under the age of 5. Well, I can say that Maya and I successfully made cookies, only after Maya dumped out half the called amount of molasses on the cupboard, but that was very minor. We tried to get Moo out to play in the snow, but she said she would rather nap. WHAT??? We put her in her room, and she played and played, then yelled and yelled, we finally went and let her out. I thought that gingerbread houses would be a great family activity, but I had no powdered sugar. There aren't any good grocery stores like Macey's here and all were closed, so I read online that you could make powdered sugar mixing regular sugar and cornstarch in your blender. Well....it didn't quite mix like I needed it to, or I didn't mix it long enough. I went to make the frosting, and it was lumpy sugar is all. Dang it! We did decide to have some wild rice soup in breadbowls and that did turn out great. While we were making dinner Maya decided she wanted a bath. We put her in the tub and soon after she came running in the kitchen naked. I was feeding Brynn in the living room.

This is what I heard:

Maya: "Maya pee!"

Evan: "No, Maya, don't sit in it!"

I then see Evan holding Maya running from the kitchen to the bathroom where Maya had her second bath. Ahh, the fun of a two year old.We then tried the Christmas pageant. I think we have a world record time of 1:35 for the entire pageant. We all had multiple roles. Maya was Mary and a shepherd. I was a shepherd and the photographer. Evan was the angel, Joseph and the narrator. We gave Maya a staff, a walking stick of Evan's and she was twirling it all around the living room. Maya had to go to sleep with her walking stick. She also woke up at midnight, and the three of us put more oranges on the tree since Maya had eaten half of them already.This morning we waited until 10am, yes you read that right, 10am for our little ladies to awake. Evan and I were up at 8:30 so we had our own little Christmas and opened gifts to each other. Maya woke up and saw her train and she didn't stop playing for three hours. She loves it, and I have something to occupy her until we can go outside again, in 6 months.Hope you all had a wonderful day.

Winter frostiness

If anyone can guess what the temperature was when I woke up yesterday, (don't forget to add in wind chill) I'll send you some cool earrings (I just had a great idea for some new ones) in the mail.

*McKenzie, I'm stealing your idea

Heard tonight.......

Maya, Evan and I were having family night. We said a little prayer and soon Maya chimed in. She had her own things to be thankful for.

Maya: thanks for wipes....play with boys, play with boat, play with girls.

The 'play with boys' and 'play with boat' is in reference to nursery. Maya loves nursery because:

*She is the only girl amongst 3 boys
*There are boats AND trucks in there

The only good reason for living far away from friends and family.....

Yesterday I opened my back door and found a little brown box awaiting me. I LOVE (can't emphasize enough) mail. It makes me oh so happy. And in this little brown box was this:



Well no, Kevin Bacon wasn't really in the box....but FOOTLOOSE was! Mandy knows me all too well, and knows that I love this movie. I know it's a little cheesy, and it's from the 80's but I love everything about it. I mean, who can pull a this kind of hair off? Only Kevin Bacon. I remember watching this when I was about 5 with my older sister Amy and wishing I could be in the movie. I've been teaching Maya some of the dance moves, my favorite being when Willard does the great move with one arm up in the air and one down. Maya is working on that one. Maybe it's also that the movie is filmed in Utah, and I'm going through a serious mountain withdrawl out here; needless to say Brynn and I had a great night watching this.

What Minnesotans make.....

We soon found out that to live in Minnesota, there is a food staple in the wintertime. That would be wild rice soup. The first time we had it, we were in heaven and now I've resorted to making in double batches and then freezing it. It's hearty, filling, and delicious. We had it in soup bowls for Christmas Eve dinner, and it was fabulous. Here is the recipe:

WILD RICE SOUP

Makes 8 servings
3 cups water, or more
3/4 cup uncooked wild rice rinsed
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup flour
4 cups water
4 chicken-flavored bouillon cubes
1 1/2 cups chopped, peeled potatoes (I leave the peel on mine)
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 bay leaf
15 oz. can whole-kernel corn, undrained
2 cups half-and-half
3 cups (1 lb.) cubed ham, fully cubed ham
2 Tbsp. parsley

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine 3 cups water and wild rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 35-40 minutes, or until tender. Check after 20 minutes, and again after 30 minutes, to make sure the rice isn't cooking dry and scorching. Add more water if needed.

2. In a large saucepan, cook onions and garlic in butter until crisp-tender. Stir in flour. Cook one minute, stirring constantly.

3. Gradually stir in 4 cups water and bouillon cubes into onion and garlic. Add potatoes, carrots, thyme, nutmeg, pepper, and bay leaf.

4. Bring vegetable mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15-30 minutes.

5. Add corn to vegetables. Cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.

6. Stir in half-and-half, ham, cooked wild rice, and parsley. Cook until heated through.

7. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Maya's new glasses

Love this picture.

Adjusting the new glasses.

Maya pulling her train with the glasses-a hard task when her glasses keep slipping down her nose.

Maya has a slight obsession with my glasses. At any given time I'm wearing them, she'll run up, snatch them off my nose and put them on. Last night she was playing with her train and had to play one-handed while adjusting her new glasses.