The Office

Doug has been waiting for about 6 months for his new dental office to open.  Everytime I tried to ask what he wanted for Christmas, he always said that all he wanted was his office.  He was finally able to open the doors on December 13th.  It was a great day and for the first week or so I couldn't get him to work normal hours.  He was always going in early or staying late.  It was so exciting for him and we are so proud of all the hard work that he has done to get to this point.  He loves his job...in fact it's hard for him to understand why anyone would do anything else.  Congratulations Dr. Chisholm!!

Is she really 4?

Brooke turned 4 this month!  Doug and I can't believe how quickly she is growing up.  We love that girl so much and are so thankful to have her fun personality in our family.  She wanted to see Tangled for her birthday so we took her that afternoon and then had cake and icecream that night.  It was a great day for her and she was so excited to turn 4.

Christmas 2011

I was so excited this year for Christmas!  My entire family was together for the first time in quite a while and I didn't even have to travel to see them!  My parents flew down with James, and Amanda and Kurt drove over from Phoenix.  I think it helped to have both Julie and I living in the same city.  I hope we can get them down here more often since we have double the pull. 

Dallin and Brooke love Uncle James and Uncle Kurt!  Those two watched my kids all morning while Doug worked and I went shopping with my mom and sisters.  When I came home the dishes were done, floor swept, and they had played in the backyard with the kids and made gingerbread houses.  The best babysitters I have ever had!!!

My parents were slightly addicted to the Wii during Christmas.  My mom shocked us all with her baseball skills and even her interest in all the games.  James took the high score in basketball and Doug has been spending all of his free time trying to get back on top.  It was a blast and I know Doug was glad to have someone in my family wanting the TV on so that I wouldn't stop him from playing so much.  It was a great break for us all.

Mary and a wise man.

We spent Christmas Eve at Julie's house.  She made a wonderful dinner and Russ prepared a great Nativity for the kids.  It was a lot of fun and very entertaining.

That night my parents gave the kids their Christmas presents.  The sleeping bags were a huge hit and they were so excited to be able to sleep in them that night.

This year for Christmas we tried to focus our gifts on emergency preparedness.  We tried to use a lot of our food storage before moving and since we've spent every year of our marriage paying for school, we just haven't been able to get prepared the way we need to be.  Doug and I tried to get a few things to get us going, but both of our parents helped by getting us things that we could use as well.  Really....it was the Christmas of Doug's dreams.  We got sleeping bags, a tent, camping tools, and Doug's favorite- a camp stove.  My mom and dad have a Volcano stove in their emergency stuff and thought we could use one.  Doug was thrilled!  He opened it up Christmas afternoon and was grilling up everything in the kitchen.  The kids had fun making eggs, marshmallows, and hot chocolate. Since Christmas Doug has used his new grill a couple of times a week!

We had so much fun with family and it was hard to send everyone off.  I hope we can have more of these fun get togethers now that we are all a little bit closer.  It was a perfect holiday!!

Holiday Cooking

My kids and I were very excited for the holidays so that we could start making some of our favorite recipies.  We had tons of fun trying lots of new dishes this year and loved keeping some traditions from past seasons.  One of our favorite this year was Rocky Mountain bars and Cinnamon Bread.  I probably made these on a weekly basis to take places and enjoy at home.  By the time Christmas came Dallin and Brooke new the recipies by heart! I'm so thankful to kids that love being in the kitchen with me.