after a 10 hr snow fall .... 1-26-11

This is what it looked like this morning out our window to our parking lot [we have the Tahoe with the little white Corolla next to it, if you can see that]

Gavin's first day in Primary - 1/2/11

He was excited to be a Sunbeam [the 4 yr old class], and wear his "Future Missionary" badge my mom got for him. He practiced singing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" all week. He picked out his scripture case in his claimed favorite color, Green, to begin bringing his scriptures to church (at least just his very own Book of Mormon, to keep it light weight). The 3 characteristics about him we gave his teacher for the lesson were:
1. Smart
2. A Leader
3. Good Helper
We feel so blessed to be his parents and are excited for the adventure of raising him. He is already such a promising little young man.

Dale's school in DC 12/31/10

We walked around DC on Friday with Dale's parents, to the Museum of Natural History and then around the Capitol Building square with the Library of Congress and Supreme Court, then walked right up the street to Georgetown to show them around.

He's supporting me in the picture, though I support him when he's at school.

Gavin said "I want to be a little student too Dad". Dale says he's his law school kid anyway, and hasn't known anything different. So now Gavin knows where Daddy goes away to all the time.

Standing right in front of Georgetown you can see the Capital Building to your left, shown here. This is what Dale sees every night he leaves campus to walk to the Metro Subway.

Linnaea's photo op with the Clock tower in the back. Yes, it chimes every hour.

On Frozen Pond - 12/29/10

We took Dale's parents and sister to the state park across the street with a lake. Thankfully, all the people stayed on dirt while throwing ice chunks on the pond to see how far they would slide. So yes, though it's a "heat wave" here in the 40's, the ice on the lake is still there from our 20's weather. I'm sure there will be more in the future too.

Baby Bunting

The Trail Stragglers ; )

Christmas 2010

Linnaea is 9 months old 12/22/10

She found my baby doll, Gaby, and has been dragging her around. She loves to giggle, squeal, be tickled, chase Gavin, test standing on her own, eat things with her own fingers and still be held by Mommy & Daddy a lot. Gavin still loves her so much that he wants "lots" of sisters, but we'll just have him enjoy her for now.
WE LOVE YOU LINNAEA !

journey to Supreme Court - 12/16

the Big Red Shoe at top of escalators at Union Station that Dale sees every day he goes to school

Gavin and Grandpa Berg
(Dale's dad flew in for the day to see Dale take his "Oath of Admission" to practice law.)

Gloves on toe-cicle pops
First day of real snow, no shoveled sidewalks, walked through snow for 4 blocks (when Dale wasn't carrying me on his back), my toes were frozen. Never knew toes got swollen and numb till then, but lets not focus on that ... ->

Oath of Admission by General Suter, Clerk of The United States Supreme Court

Thursday, December 16th, 2010.

General Suter (U.S. Army Retired) and Dale in the US Supreme Court Clerk's office (since 1935)

Dale's "I do's" to the practice of Law in Arizona

Dale has promised to be a truthful, honorable, trustworthy, non-offensive, professionally responsible Attorney, once he is officially admitted to the State Bar of Arizona, in Arizona, on 1/11/11.

Gavin, Vanessa, Dale, General Suter, Lee Berg, Linnaea

Supreme Court - 3

Desk and quills of the 3rd US Supreme Court Clerk, seen in portrait, from early 1800's.
Justice O'Connor and Dale. We enjoyed reviewing her life at her display in the museum.

The real Christmas Tree directly in front of the entrance to the Supreme Court

view of the Capitol Building at the bottom of the steps of the Courthouse.

The entrance to the courthouse (that we didn't take with the stroller)

Supreme Court - 4

Thanksgiving in VA

Both of our friends from high school, Steve & Laura Miller, are stationed at the Naval base not too far from D.C. So we spent a couple days with our two little families for Thanksgiving.

All in all we spent lots of time outside while our kids rode bikes, Dale played football, Dale sprained his ankle (and still in a brace 3 wks later), spent lots of time talking and at most 30 minutes eating our long labored over meal.

Gavin and Jack did get to camp out together on a cot for 2 nights. We heard them 'till 10:30 at night talking, such as "I like Lighting McQueen. Do you like Lightning McQueen? Yah."
Gavin finally got how to ride the big boy bike as we were loading the car.

He still talks about it, but he'll have his trike 'till his 5th birthday.
Thanks for having us Steve & Laura.

us at the Stake Talent Show - nov. 20

Linnaea was being a crack up again. We're pretty sure she made up a couple's mind that they want a little girl now.

They both wanted to sit on my lap, or they just wanted to sit together. We can never tell, but that's a good thing. I just think they're cute.

Pumpkin Soup - so so yummy

Pumpkin Soup

with chicken and rice
(easy to change with what you have, and add what you want)

Prepared Rice - 1 cup Rice (wild, brown or white) heated in 2 cups water till fluffy

2Tbsp - Butter or Margarine
1 cup - Onions, (or 1/3cup Dehydrated Onions & 2/3 cup water)
1 can - Cream of Celery Soup
2 cups - Chicken Broth (from carton,can or seasoning cube)
1 can 16oz - Pumpkin (or ~2cups Pumpkin puree)
1-2 cups - Mixed Vegetables (frozen or canned)
2 cups - Chicken, cooked and cubed (or 1 can ~12oz Chicken)
1/2 - 1 cup - Milk /or half&half /or can of Carnation milk
1/2 Tbsp - Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp. - Salt (2 tsp if needed)

Prepare Rice. Then in Large pot, ~6 quart, cook butter with onions. Add celery soup, broth and pumpkin and heat to boil. Stir in rice, vegetables, chicken, milk, cinnamon and salt. Heat to serving temperature, no boiling needed. Still tastes great when reheated for leftovers as well.

Playing in the Leaves - Nov. 15, '10