A Tribute To Our Dear Friend John Jones

John Jones was one of Danny's best friends from St. George. Danny roomed with John at BYU for about 3 years. He is honestly one of the best people we have ever known and we will miss him dearly. John and Emily have become some of our closest friends as couples. They are some of the greatest examples of those who are truly trying to live the gospel every day. In a way, John was too good for this world. He truly believed in the gospel and truly believed in his Savior. And because of his belief, he lived that way. We will be eternally grateful for the influence John has and will continue to be in our lives. We love him. Our hearts and prayers go out to Emily, Lizzy, and the little one.

We are so grateful that we were able to see John and Emily just 3 days before the caving accident. They called us on Sunday and we were able to visit with them for only a few hours. It was so short, yet those few hours are so precious to us. These pictures are the from that visit.

Charlie with his Uncle John and Auntie Emily. This was his first time meeting them.


John with little Lizzy


Lizzy and Charlie. She's definitely tall for her age and Charlie is a little shrimpie. They are just 5 months apart.


Lizzy and Charlie bonding...eating cheerios together.


We love you John!!!

October 2009

The Chinese Boy Hiro and His Pet Panda Charlie


Which one is Charlie???


Charlie and Bok Bok at Chuck-A-Rama


Eric Pratt, Danny, Matti, and Cam
Pratt was Danny's mission comp and Matti was someone they baptized. Matti and his family came down to visit from British Columbia so we went and met him in Salina (where Pratt and his family live).


The Pratt Family and Matti's Family
Eric Pratt married my friend Jessica Despain from Gunnison. What are the odds that two mission companions would marry two girls from the same small town! Crazy.


Sakura(Japanese Cherry Blossoms)-made by Danny


Panda and Bamboo(in honor of our Halloween theme)-made by Seidi


Carving Pumpkins with the Brimhall's


Hikes up Millcreek Canyon



Charlie's starting to eat real food. He likes to suck on apples. :)


Gardner Village with Charlie's little friend Ben.
They were fascinated with the straw and ignored me and Sarah(Ben's mom) the whole time.



Charlie sitting on his cousin Lilu and being held by his Auntie Tracy. Tracy had Lilu just a few days ago. She was the funniest looking pregnant person cause she is so TINY!


Charlie sportin' his festive shirt. Don't you think the face he's pulling looks like the skulls on his shirt?


Charlie with his Auntie Aimee. Charlie loves his Auntie Aimee cause she comes to play with him all the time. She bought his this cute little pumpkin outfit complete with little booties and a pumpkin hat. So cute! We're super sad though cause Aimee just tore her Achilles Tendon and can't visit us as much as we would like now. We love her!!

Hilarious Improv Musical!!!

Okay, I know that I said my next post would be about Charlie but this is something you have to see. It is so fabulous! It made my whole day. Here's the link:

http://improveverywhere.com/2009/10/20/grocery-store-musical/

(You'll have to copy and paste it. The link thing wouldn't work. Sorry.)

Enjoy!

Food Obsession!!!

Now the food obsession is actually my own trial, not Charlie's.
Although it may appear that Charlie
loves food in this one picture, don't be fooled.
He DOESN'T! Charlie doesn't really have an interest in food yet. Yes, he's
SIX MONTHS
and counting but that doesn't really mean anything to him.
He'd rather drink
milk and just milk.
The following picture is of him eating his
green peas, also the one and only time he actually wanted to eat.
Sadly, the next day he wanted nothing to do with them.
He's pretty cute though, if I do say so myself.

Now for more details on my food obsession.
The other day, Danny and I were just enjoying some of our very few moments together
(3rd year stinks!)
and he asked me what I've been thinking about lately.
I thought for a while and the only thing I could recall thinking
about was food and cooking/baking.
I am obsessed!
I proceeded to tell him that when I have free time,
if I'm not already making something, I'm researching on blogs looking
for the latest and greatest recipes and baking tips.
Thanks to Monica Miles (a pastry chef at the Grand America and my piano student),
I'm learning all the basics.
We do a little swap (piano for baking lessons) and it is the greatest thing ever!!!
Our first lesson she taught me how to make the most
amazing chocolate cake with all the fixings-
ganache, swiss meringue buttercream, and and chocolate filling.
My mouth is already watering.
In addition to the chocolate cake we made angel food cake (from scratch!) and lemon curd.
The next lesson was on custards where we made Creme Caramel/Flan, Creme Brulee, Chocolate Pot de Creme, Coconut Panna Cotta, Creme Anglaise, Eclairs, and Fruit Tarts.
I can't wait for my next lesson!
Long live FOOD!!

The following pictures are some of my creations:

These cookies are definitely not to the level of the desserts that Monica is teaching me to make but they were fun anyway. I made them for my friend Sara Pickett Christenson's baby shower. It was my first attempt with royal icing and "flooding" the cookies. In case you couldn't figure it out, the green ones are umbrella's and the blue ones on the right are clouds.

Apple Pie to celebrate the fall!!

The Amazing Chocolate Cake!!!



Fruit Tarts






Flan

Aren't you hungry now??
I keep telling Danny that one day, I will go to culinary school.

One day (Sigh...).

The next post will solely be about my little man. Get excited!!!

Want these jeans!!!!

So yeah, I've decided to take the plunge and go skinny...meaning skinny jeans. I'm still physically working on the skinny part for myself. Anyway, I found this link on my friend Jenny's blog where this chicka is having a giveaway. I'll do anything for free stuff! :) Here it is: Two Ellie.

Summer '09

Summer has been crazy and fun-filled. Here is a list of the past few months events:

• Seidi and Sarah's Graduate Recital
• Sarah's Wedding
• Creative Arts Camp in Gunnison, UT
• Bear Lake
• Hangin' Out with the Cousins
• Visit from Kilee and Easton
• Danny starting lame Rotations
• And much, much more!!
  

Feel free to browse the overload of pictures!

Just this week, after Danny got off call, we went and hiked up to Mud Lake up Big Cottonwood. We took our favorite picnic food: Spam Musubi. Don't diss it until you've tried it. It is the best!!!
Can you see the resemblance???

Danny PRETENDING to feed Charlie spam musubi. One day little man, one day.

Charlie loves it outside!

Rock climbing up Big Cottonwood with Sam and Aaron, both eligible bachelors. If you know anyone, let me know.

Me and the little man next to a small waterfall near to where we climbed. I actually dropped my phone in the river that day. Still works though!

As the Walker girls would say: Verizon Bars. (Sara, Liz, Emily, Sydney, Abby, and me) They're all going to pass me up one day. Sad.

Charlie being pushed around in a doll stroller by cousin Sara.

Poor Charlie. He's such a little shrimpie and Will is so stinkn' tall!

Rock climbing again with brothers Sam, Aaron, and Danny. I almost repelled with Charlie this time. Probably not the safest thing to do with your kid though. We climbed right at the entrance to Parley's canyon so the freeway was right below us.

Other lunch mates: Jenny, Kilee, and Easton.

Lunch with freshmen floor girlfriends. Michelle, Staci, and little Wesley. Wesley was born just 10 days after Easton and 6 1/2 weeks after Charlie.

Danny started rotations and is officially a 3rd year medical student. He's been on his pediatric rotation for the past 5 weeks and has enjoyed it other than the 30 hour on-call nights. I don't know how he does it. I'm slowly adjusting to the single mom idea.

Charlie and Easton. The tie was actually given to us by Kilee and Soren.

My best friend from college, Kilee, came to visit a couple weeks ago. Her little boy Easton is only 5 weeks younger than Charlie. Crazy that we both have kids!

Charlie with his new best friend that I call Mo Mo.

Jordan and Yuki bowling.

Cute little Wei Wei.

Charlie with cousin Aisa. Aisa is Jordan and Natsume's little girl and is 6 months older than Charlie. She's so smiley and is so sweet! I miss her so much!

Aiyumi loves Charlie and calls him Barley because of my mom. She also loves to play in his car seat. I don't know why. Charlie looks like he is going to squish her though. Bad angle.

Charlie and cousin Will holding hands up at Bear Lake. Will is 4 months older than Charlie.

Charlie having his first bath in a sink at my house in Gunnison. He fit perfectly!

After forgetting an extra outfit and an extremely large poo, Charlie got to wear one of my mom's work t-shirts. He looked like a little homeless kid.

One of the many practice recitals. The little girl is Mika's baby, Aiyumi.

We miss all of you that we haven't seen so far this summer and all those who have already gone home. Love you all and thanks for being a part of our lives!