Christmas 2009

Here are just a few Christmas pictures. We really enjoyed time with family...the Jorgensens and the Rowleys. Taylor made out like a bandit and doesn't even know it!! She really enjoys her new toys!

Canyoneering in October!!

Taylor's Winter Coat

While we were home for Thanksgiving, Mom let me go through her old fabric scraps. I found some nice red sweatshirty material. I also found a pattern for a cute little hoodie. I already had the fleece at home, so all I had to buy was a $2 zipper and walah!! Cheapest jacket that this little girl has!!

Gotta love laundry day!! This is the best way for me to get the clothes folded after they come out of the dryer!

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

So Rob wanted pecan pie for Thanksgiving and I figured that I could do that much since he didn't get to be at home with his family. I told my mom that I was going to make one and she suggested a pumkpin pecan pie and rob agreed. It turned out amazing!! Not only did it look pretty but it might be my favorite pie ever. Here is the recipe...

3/4 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c canned pumpkin

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 c dark corn syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 unbaked 9 in. pie shell

3/4 c corsely chopped pecans

20 pecan halves

whipped cream

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add pumpkin, eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla; beat well. Pour into pie shell - sprinkle with chopped pecans. ( I just mixed them in before I filled the shell.) Place the half pecans on the top. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 25 more minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean. (I had to bake it a little longer than the 25 minutes.) Cool.

Dress for Taylor

I never thought that I would enjoy sewing like I do! Just ask my old Young Womens leaders. We needed a new dress for Taylor and so I decided to tackle the challenge. For my first dress, I'm fairly impressed with how it turned out!

My Little Mover

My Husband ... The Chef

So Rob decided that he wanted to make some banana bread. He insisted on making it himself...because he wanted to make me a treat. The recipe that I have isn't very specific; it's just a list of ingredients. I told him kinda what order to do things to make the bread turn out. Well, the bananas were frozen and he defrosted them a little, but added them to the mix still fairly frozen. Because the bananas were frozen, the shortening started clumping up and wouldn't beat out. Well, this is my brilliant husbands solution...
You notice that the mixer bowl is sitting in a plastic bowl. Rob had me fill the plastic bowl with warm water while we mixed. I was a little hesitant at first...but we did it, and I'm proud to way it worked. The shortening smoothed out and the bread turned out amazing!! :) Why do I ever even doubt him?!?!?!
Oh...and I had to include a cute pic of Tay. She loves her new backpack, even though she's still a little small for it. I tried to take her out of it and put her in her walker, which she loves, and she threw a fit. She sat in the backpack for about 5 minutes before she would let me take her out!!

Johnny Jump Up

Our awesome friend Katie lent us her Johnny Jump Up...I don't know if Taylor is just older or that she likes this one a whole lot more than the other...but she definitely has gone wild!! Check her out!

Squaw Peak Trail

Ok...by far the hardest hike so far this season!!! I had no idea how strait up and then strait down this would be. There was literally almost no flat spots. But in the end, the colors where beautiful and the view was definitely worth it. You'll notice Tay's awesome shoes...her actual shoes wouldn't stay on....so we improvised with Aunt Jen's gloves.
Taylor thoroughly enjoyed the hike. Jenna carried her for the steepest parts and I am very grateful. I probably wouldn't have made it!
I felt so bad, but Tay's diaper definitely needed a change. I tried to do it as fast as possible to keep her warm. We'll have to remind her when she's older that she was bare bummed on the top of Squaw Peak...I'm sure she'll love it!!
I think this picture gives you the best idea of the amazing view...but still doesn't do it justice!!

Hobble Creek

Gotta love camping in the fall! We headed up Hobble Creek Canyon with some friends for a quick overnight camping trip. We drove for about an hour to get up past all the crowded campgrounds...and oh boy was it worth it!! The guys got the tents up just before dark and we pigged out on some 7 layer dip, burgers, and brats.

As you can see...it was pretty chilly. The fire kept us fairly warm in the evening and morning. I tend to freeze, even in July, so I worry about Tay being warm enough...So this is how I got her ready for bed...

We started with her long sleeve onsie and sweat pants...oh and of course socks and booties. Oh and mittens. Then we put her in her normal footed sleeper. Next, I put her little hoodie on and another pair of mittens. Then came the sleep sack and hat. Finally I put her in the sleeping bag and topped it off with a blanket...do you think she slept warm?!?! :)

Fall Colors

So Angie and I headed out for our weekly hike and we didn't even make it into the park before we had to pull over and take a picture. I hadn't even realized the the trees were already changing, but our hike probably took twice as long because we were busy taking pictures. Here are some of my favorites.
You can tell that it was kinda a chilly morning. Taylor was decked out in her mittens and hat.

Moody Already!!

So see if you can figure out when I would turn my back on Taylor!! This little girl is such a pill...but I love her!

Battle Creek Canyon

So I'm starting to think that our blog has turned into a log of all the places that we hike with Taylor. I think that it just might be that the only time that I really take the time to take pictures is when we are out on a hike....I need to do better!

Angie, Jodee, Emily (Jodee's Daughter), Taylor, and I went for a hike up Battle Creek Canyon, which is in Pleasant Grove. I had never heard of this little canyon, but I would recommend it highly. The hike is fairly steep, but worth the hike. Here are some pictures of just one of the water falls on the way.



The book that we found this hike in wasn't very clear about where the hike ended....so we just kept climbing...up...up...up...more up...and more up...I almost died. Finally we ran into this sign that told us we were only 1.3 miles from the car. Yikes...it felt like way more than that!! But still we kept going!


And finally we reached the top of the peak that we were hiking up. The trail continued on, but we decided to call it a day. As seen in this picture, we had a great view of Timp! I figured the view was worth the hike and we probably weren't going to beat it, so we turned around.Well, we left my house around nine in the morning and I got home around 2!! What a day!

Little Hiker

Taylor has been hiking up a storm...or at least enjoying the ride. Angie and I hike the Y the other day. I had forgotten just how uphill that hike is. (as you can tell from my face!!) But we made it and it prepared me well for Silver Lake.



Mom and Dad were here for the weekend and Mom braved the hike with us. Dad wasn't feeling well, so he stayed at home! I had seen pictures of the lake and was excited to see this pristine blue mountain lake...you can kind of tell from the picture that the lake wasn't exactly that!! Oh well, maybe next year!

Chillin' with Daddio

Rob has had a little cold and has wanted to crash as soon as he gets home from work. I was cleaning up the kitchen the other night after dinner and found this scene when I walked into the bedroom. Pretty cute...but I'm worried that she's already addicted to the television!! I'm going to have to start limiting her tv time already!!

First Big-Girl Food

So we decided to give Taylor some cereal...well I guess I should say tried to give :)

Park City '09

So we've been in Park City for a couple of days using Rob's Parent's time share. We finally got out and did some hiking...if you can call it that! We walked strait up the ski slope...talk about testing your lung capacity. But what a view from the top!

Front Yard BBQ

We decided to go up the canyon for a BBQ with the family. We packed up hotdogs and smors and headed up the canyon with Mom, Bill, Tiff, and the kids. Well...it was Monday and the canyon was basically full and you weren't allowed open fires, so we headed back down the canyon to our house. We put the fire pit on the driveway and had a blast. Well as the coals cooled Bill got an idea in his head...

That wasn't enough for him...
I'm a horrible mother!! :)

Yosemite

So during our trip to Tahoe (pics to come) we decided to make a day trip to Yosemite National Park. So after about three hours in the car we got to this scenic lookout. You can kinda see half-dome in the background. They had a telescope set up that you could look and see ant sized climbers making their way up the face of it.

Taylor did not really enjoy having Grandpa's hat on...but she does really enjoy Grandpa. This is when we stopped for lunch and she was totally content to sit on his lap and watch him eat!

This is on a little hike that we took to the Sequoia Grove. It was only a mile...one mile down and the whole way down I was sweating the thought of a whole mile back up...but it ended up not being that bad. Taylor was really good and loves being in the front pack with Dad.

The trees where huge!! I took a little turn with Taylor!! Only long enough to see a couple of the trees and then I didn't fight very hard when Rob offered to carry her back up the trail to the car!! Here is a pic to give you a little idea of how big the trees are!