SUPER BOWL BOUND!!!

My obsession with the Pittsburgh Steelers is an odd one for a boy growing up in SLC, Utah. I am too young to have watched the Pittsburgh of the 1970's but my brothers who were indoctrinated me in the true way of football. Unfortunately for me, Pittsburgh has had a rough time of it in the 26 years since their last Super Bowl victory. Many seasons I have been left utterly disappointed because quarterback after quarterback could not take care of the ball. I have waited patiently for this day to come and finally will be able to watch the Steelers in a Super Bowl. The last time Pittsburgh was in the Super Bowl (1996) I was in Brazil and was unable to watch that game. I remember hearing about the game the next day and I was extremely disappointed that the Steelers couldn't pull it off (O'Donnell's interception doomed us). Since that time I have seen the Steelers lose time and time again (at home) to other teams (who shall remain nameless, I can't believe I live where I do now) in the AFC Championship game. Finally I will be able to watch the Steelers in the Super Bowl. I hope that they have one more victory in them this season.

This year's team almost feels like a team of destiny. Unlike last year when they were 15-1 and the top seed, this year they had to work for it. Three road games against the top 3 seeds in the AFC and having to win their last game of the regular season to get it have made this team really come together. They have been in playoff mode for 2 months and it is showing. With Bettis possibly retiring after this year and a Detroit native it only seems proper that the Steelers and Bettis go out on top this year.

Come on over, pull up a chair, have some chili-cheese dip and cheer on the Steelers. Long live the Steel Curtain!!!

111111

Well this post is for my friend Jared because I know that I will be scorned by Michelle and my friend Bryan will only role his eyes in disgust for the boring and meaningless post. But I had to post because I haven't done so in quite awhile, and my odometer rolled to 111111. It happened as I was coming home from work this evening right as I got off the Air Force Base in the historic town of Lincoln, MA. It was last January in SLC driving on I-80 over State Street that I passed 100000. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera so no picture to post. However stay tuned for the ever exciting 112358 (Dr. Warnick figure out the significance of that one!!) and of course the ever popular 123456. And if I still own my car in another 9 years I will be sure to get a picture of 222222.

Oh Sweet Child o' Mine...

As her mother and the person who "made" her, I have total rights to bragging, so... after dinner tonight, I just had to "blog" her. She is a pretty unique kid in that she will eat very "grown up" and healthy food and usually prefers it to junk food or sweets (except chocolate - that's the only way I know she's really mine!) I always feel so sorry for my friends who have to make 2 options at every meal-time (one for the adults and a separate bland boring dinner for the kids.) Grace eats and always has eaten whatever we choose to eat. And, if you know us well, we don't usually eat foods that kids would like. I remember when she was just over one year old, we were eating chinese food and she went to town on my cashew chicken and rice. Tonight for dinner, we had cod with spicy mango salsa (cod caught fresh by our neighbor Roger in the Atlantic), greek roasted potatoes, and asparagus. Most kids would look at that and immediately ask for Mac and Cheese or a chicken nugget. Not Grace. She ate a good portion of the cod and roasted potatoes and chomped through 4 asparagus stalks like they were candy canes. Earlier today, we were out shopping (at the one shopping strip within 20 minutes of our house) and she got hungry. There was a health food store nearby and I asked her if she wanted to go in and get a snack. She agreed, so we proceeded in the store. She passed up some cheese puffs (organic cheese puffs?), some chocolate bars, and several other snack options. We came to the produce aisle and she said "I want pink bell carrots." (pink bell for Tinkerbell who also enjoys carrots for a snack.) Unbelievably, they didn't have any carrots at the HEALTH FOOD store, so we left empty handed. When we got home she ate half a bag of baby carrots.

Of course, she will eat mac and cheese and a chicken nugget and fries when offered to her, but they are hardly the substance of her diet like they are for most kids. I can't really claim that it has anything to do with my parenting skills. She is just a cool kid on her own. I think she was born with a craving for good food. When I was pregnant with her I always craved fruits and vegetables that I wouldn't usually eat in that frequency and I regularly turned down dessert which is definitely not me.

She's just a mystery to me sometimes. You might think from this picture that she has sweet little curls that she has in cute pigtails with bows all the time. Really, she just likes to have the curlers in her hair, but won't let me brush it on a daily basis, much less put cute bows and barrettes in it. She usually has what she calls "crazy hair" and loves it that way. I was always bugged by little girls I saw in stores or at church who hadn't had anything done with their hair, but now I'm not so judgemental.

I'm not quite sure who I'm raising, but I really like her and she's taught me a lot about being an individual and not doing things just because other people do. She definitely does what she wants to do almost 100% of the time yet she does it (and I quote from another parent who sees her a lot) without being tyrranical about it.
I can't wait to see what her little sister has in store for us!

Christmas 2005

It has taken me a few days to post about Christmas, but that's only because I literally JUST washed and put away the pans I used to cook Christmas Eve dinner. It's a bit slow going to clean up. Of course, we spent our first Christmas in New England this year and our first without family around. It was both very sad and at the same time sort of nice to not have to go to any family parties or have arguments over what we were going to do for the holiday. We knew what we were going to do - pretty much hang out with ourselves!

We do have really great friends here and that made the week-end go by a with a little less homesickness. On Christmas Eve, we invited our friends, the Yoho's, over for a fun dinner. They have 3 kids and Grace had a lot of fun with their 3 year old boy. They are from Utah too and were home this year without family as well. We have really enjoyed getting to know them and have quite a bit in common with them.

On Christmas day, I made the mistake of waking Grace up early to open her presents. The bit of kid in me just couldn't force myself to wait until after church (we had to leave at 9:30am all dressed for church.) So, after all of us going to bed at midnight, I woke myself up at 7:00 and then Grace up at 7:30. (very early for us - the two of us usually wake up around 9:oo or 9:30!) She really did have fun opening the presents she had patiently waited so long to tackle and was so excited to see that Santa really did bring her the things she asked for. However, I think she would have been even more animated and more excited if she had been half awake.

This was definitely the year of the train for Grace though. She got tons of Thomas the Tank Engine pieces from many different people (including Mr. Claus himself) and also discovered a new favorite movie "The Polar Express." She's watched it about 8 times since Christmas Eve and we went out and bought the book today (couldn't believe we didn't have it already!) Anyway - our lives are now centered around the adventures of all of her train friends - even the beloved horses (who are still beloved) have taken a second seat to the trains for the time being!

Anyway, by the time we got to church, she was not in a very good mood and then by the time we got home from church, she was down right mean. We forced her to take a nap rather than play with her new toys and then woke her up again to take her to Rita's house. She was soooo mean when we did that. Luckily, though, she adores Rita's boys (age 23, 19, and 14) and they adore her too. So once she got there, she had a total blast playing with Tom, Andrew, and Coleman. We had a really nice afternoon with people who really feel like family to me. Rita has really stepped in and taken care of us this year and we are so grateful for our relationship with her, her barn, and her family. It has allowed me to survive and be happy here and consequently to be a good mom and a nice wife.

Well, we are all very lucky and very blessed to have received so much from everyone for Christmas. Our family and our friends are simply generous and amazing and made our Christmas very rich (in more ways than with the incredible presents that showed up on our porch and in our mailbox during the month.) Grace of course got very spoiled from all directions. I think about all the kids in the world who don't have a single thing that she does. I wish I could fix all that, but I guess the best thing to do is to be grateful for what you have and try to share and be as generous as possible. I think we try to do that, but we know that the scales still tip very much in our direction.

Thanks to everyone for everything that was sent our way - gifts, cards, letters, phone calls, e-mails, prayers, and thoughts. We were very happy to receive every single one.

Grace and I will be traveling to Utah from January 17th through the 31st. We will try to contact and visit as many as possible. We look forward to seeing you all again! Happy New Year (what is it - 2006??!!!!)

I'm 30???

Old enough and young enough that no one took a picture of me on my birthday! Well, actually, I've been saying I'm 30 for almost a year now. David is about 9 months older than me and as soon as he has his birthday, I forget how old I am and I say his age. It's totally true. My birthday is so close to Christmas that by the time the holidays are over, I just forget about it altogether. However, I really am 30 now and have joined the ranks of the 30-somethings. No more being associated with those 20-somethings. The 20's were great - college, new jobs, parties, crazy trips with friends, horse shows, weddings and a few babies here and there. But, I'm ready to be one of those generic people who just strives to keep a clean house, a car that runs and isn't sticky inside (although, I'm still young enough I'm not willing to hand over my pathfinder for a minivan), clean and happy kids, a good marriage and a few close friends. It's nice not to worry so much about what I wear, what people think of me, and whether I have the latest hairdo. (well, I guess I never really worried about that, did I?) Now, people just look at what Grace is doing and wearing and saying and they assume that if she's put together that I am too. So, naturally, all my focus goes to her. That doesn't necessarily come with turning 30 years old, but being 30 instead of 22 sure does help.

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!

Well, I suppose we can understand those who like a real surprise on the day of delivery to find out the gender of their baby, but David and I are way too "type A" personality to wait that long and leave that much planning to chance! So, we figure, it's a surprise and really fun no matter when you find out who your next kid is going to be. We had our ultrasound yesterday and found out that we will be having another darling little girl. My mom said "you mean another barn rat." She's probably right. Grace and I will have her riding before she can eat solid foods. We'll have to resist stopping at the barn on the way home from the hospital in May. Of course, David (as all fathers do), was hoping for a son. He is still excited to have another "daddy's girl" and if she's anything like Grace, she will love to do the things he likes to do too. Grace loves all the sports, the outdoors, the hiking, the camping... He is going to be very out-numbered in our house though as every breathing creature here is female except for him! I told him I'd get him a male fish, but that didn't seem to help.

I am very excited that Gracie will have a little sister to be her pal. My sister, Melissa, and I have been best friends our whole lives and I hope the same will follow for Grace and.... (what's her name?) We've been debating on names. We had the boy name all picked out - very solid - to be named after my dad, but the girl names are becoming more of a struggle. Names I had once been set on aren't sounding right to me. David came up with Harriet quite a while ago and at first I thought it was just plain silly (if you were raised in the same SNL generation as we were with Mike Myers and the gang - you probably know the movie "So I Married and Axe Murderer." In the movie, Mike recites a poem about "Harr-i-et" and that is definitely going to stick!) However, the name is growing on me. I didn't even know what nickname you would use with Harriet (she MUST have a decent nick-name!), but my mom said that her Aunt Harriet was called "Hattie" which I think is actually pretty cute even though my mom doesn't like it at all. Gracie and Hattie? We'll keep thinking about it....the middle names are an equal dilemma....

Anyway, no need to go shopping for "boy stuff." I can delve into the 20 some-odd bins of girlie stuff I have in my basement and pull out all of the darling outfits I was hoping to use again. :-)

Let it Snow!

Well, we don't want to completely bore you with Boston weather, but we did get 2 feet of snow last Friday. It was pretty crazy and it has been so cold that very little of it has melted. Unfortunately Grace has been sick so we didn't go play in it much. She did ride Tinkerbell in it the next day and the two of them could barely get their hips above the snow. It has been nice though, to have white on the ground for the month of December. I can think of a lot of ugly Decembers when the Christmas lights try to reflect off of the brown ground and the grey sky.

David, of course, gets the job of snow clearing around here. He probably doesn't appreciate the snow as much as we do! Now the dog-gloo's really do look like arctic igloos. (like the dogs go in there anyway - it's so cold and the snow is so deep, they go potty as close to the house as possible and run straight back to the door to beg to be let back in)

"It is a bad bad weather day" (says Grace)

After lots of warm fall days, I'm afraid winter has finally set in. The snowstorm over Thanksgiving was cold but quick and it has been warm ever since. Today, it snowed again and I think it's going to be cold for many many weeks. (this is a view from my living room window looking across the Assabet river)

Yesterday I was just saying how I think my favorite season in New England is winter. (I'm not so sure about that today...) In my adult life, winter has been my least favorite season. Somewhere between high school and college (after I quit skiing and thinking that riding horses in any temperature was fun) I started really feeling the cold. I have terrible joints and as everyone says "no meat on my bones" and I get very cold in even the slightest chill. I also get winter-time depression. In Salt Lake, both of those things added up to hating winter because of the temperatures and the long gray inversions. Here, though, I'm at least finding a bright spot to winter.

I do still get cold and hate being cold and today - I AM VERY COLD!!! But, with all the trees in New England and the humidity and the bugs, summer is very claustrophobic for me and I dreaded going outside almost more than I do now. The sun never shone in my house through spring, summer, or fall because of the trees (sometimes, I was even turning on lights in the middle of the day during the summer), but now that the leaves are gone and the sun is low in the southern sky, I have sunny south-facing windows! I have enjoyed them every day. The sun comes across the river right into my living room and den and I remember now when we were looking at the house to buy last February, that I decided I could stand to be cooped up in the house in the winter with babies if I could sit in one of those sunny windows. Also, with winter, the bugs are gone as is the humidity.

So, winter is not all bad. I just wear so many layers that it is a chore to get dressed and undressed and do all my laundry. Also, with my new automatic garage door opener that David and his Dad installed for me, I don't have to scrape (nor do I have to go anywhere in the morning!) It doesn't compare to the days when I left my house at 6am in the dark and had to scrape my truck and warm it up before trudging off to work.

I do love Christmas and I love snow at Christmas time, so I guess I will endure the cold for the time being. I think I will want spring somewhere at the end of January though. Spring came very late last year here. In fact, we really didn't get spring. It went straight from winter to summer in the middle of May. Next year (as in 2007), David promises that he will take me somewhere tropical for a vacation in February to make the winter shorter. Hopefully, after the snowstorm passes, the sun will come out and I can sit in my window...

dancing sugar plum fairies and girls in velvet dresses...

Last night, we took Gracie to her first Nutcracker performance. We debated about attending the Boston Ballet at the opera house downtown, but decided it was too much for a 2 year old and also a little too expensive. We opted for a local performance put on by a traveling ballet company called "Commonwealth Ballet." They performed at the Acton High School. I was so excited to dress Grace up in her red velvet and satin dress (she wouldn't let me do much with her hair though) and take her. I have always loved to get dressed up and go to the Nutcracker. My grandmother has taken me every year for at least 20 years and now I get to keep the tradition going with Grace. The performance was done for a fairly small crowd and you could see very well from all of the seats in the auditorium. It definitely wasn't of the caliber of Ballet West and Capitol Theatre, but it was still really fun and they did have a few guest dancers from professional ballet companies who did a great job in the solo roles and such. Grace was really good through most of the performance. She was mesmerized by the dancers and the music. She got a little tired at the end, but still didn't fuss much. At one point, she was trying to move her arms like the ballerinas and singing quietly "do as I'm doing." We ran into several people we know (which seems weird now, to know enough people to run into them in public places...) Our friends, the Whatcotts were there as well as some girls from the barn. Grace pooled some money from her piggy bank with some money she took from my purse (she is very good at increasing her funds from going through my purse) to buy herself a little nutcracker and a ballerina to put on our tree. She is so much fun to have at Christmas, now that she understands and is big-eyed with wonder about the magical things to do with the holiday.

A little full, lot of sap...

The best part about the day after Thanksgiving is not all of the leftovers or great deals at stores, it is simply being able to begin thinking about Christmas and decorating the house. It seems as if every year, the stores start promoting Christmas earlier and earlier. I remember walking into Costco the week after labor day this year and already seeing Christmas items. I thought to myself, "Unbelievable."

Growing up, we always had an artificial tree that we put up and decorated the day after Thanksgiving. As I got older I became the setup and light man as my dad had lost all desire (or maybe just patience) after having done this ritual for so many years. Even after being married, I would still help my Mom out because I knew how much my Dad loathed the Christmas tree lights. Michelle and I always have had a small artificial tree because we have never had a place large enough for a big tree. This year we decided to do a real tree since we have a little more space and we both enjoy the natural pine smell. So after Michelle had spent all morning shopping (and spent all her money), we loaded up the family and drove to pick out the Chapman Family Christmas tree. While quite a few people around here like to cut their own tree, I saw no need to trudge through the cold with a 2 year old in tow. So we went to the local nursery, Stow Gardens, and picked out a perfect little tree.

As I hoisted the tree up on top of the car I couldn't help but think of Clark Griswald and hope that I was going to make it home without incident. Long story short, we got home with the tree intact and decorated it last night (little toy train included). Grace is so much fun this year as she is to the point where she understands what is going on. She was excited to help decorate the tree and now can't wait to give her presents we bought to people. I just hope that she keeps Michelle's present a secret. I have given her proper anti-revealing training, but she will probably be under heavy interrogation. Hopefully my techniques will keep the secret safe.

White Thanksgiving?

Well Thanksgiving morning we woke up to quite a bit of snow. It was acutally nice to see, as it gave the neighborhood a really nice look. Luckily the snow was light and fluffy and we easy to shovel, but Gracie and I were unable to build a snowman because it was so dry. So we had to settle for some snow angels and playing with the dogs. We all had a good time playing in the snow except for Michelle who hate the cold although she did get a few action shots.

For dinner we were invited over to our friend's, the Whatcott's, along with 3 other families from our ward. It was a lot of fun to have a big group for Thanksgiving and Grace had a good time playing with the dozen or so kids that were there. Grace still hasn't learned the joys of the turkey dinner as I think she ate the least of anyone there, but her daddy got his share. The food and company were both good and I think everything was a success. The Whatcott's did the turkey and stuffing and farmed out the other items. We brought a cranberry-pecan salad, sauteed asparagus and portabella mushrooms, and some famous carrot pudding. Sorry Dad, maybe next year. The carrot pudding wasn't much of a hit, but it sure was a conversation starter. That is one thing you have to say about English/Scottish dishes. You may not be able to stomach them, but they are great conversation pieces.

This was Michelle's first Thanksgiving away from family and my first since my mission. The holidays accentuate the fact that we are away from family, and can make the time difficult. However, it is conforting to know that we have friends nearby that help ease the pain during the holiday season.

Hiking the Whites

Yesterday I went on my first hike in the White Mountains up in New Hampshire. Hiking is something that I was really into in high school and my early twenties. I would occasionally go on small hikes with the young men back in South Salt Lake, but I haven't done any major hiking in a few years. It was nice to get out again.

The Lincoln Lab Outing Group (I hope their aren't any closets :-P) made their first hike of the season yesterday. Our fearless leader believes a hike is only worth it with snow, ice, wind and single digit or negative temperature. We chose Mount Carrigain for our hike. It is the 14th highest peak in New England and one of 48 peaks over 4000 feet. Coming from Utah, the height doesn't mean anything as I have done over a dozen 13,000 feet peaks. However, it was still a lot of fun. After many years, my equipment was still working well, the spirit was more than willing, but the flesh was a little weak. By the time we got home I could barely walk. My left knee with tendonitis was flaring up, both my legs were extremely sore from all the stepping motion, and I tweaked my right ankle and knee.

Once home, a nice hot bath and some Ben-Gay sure helped. I may not be 20 anymore, but with a little help the body will be back for the next hike in a couple of weeks. Some might say I am crazy to drive 7 hours (roundtrip), hike 7 hours in the cold and snow, and beat my body up for a mere 4700 feet tall mountain that wasn't even above the treeline, but all I can say is I did it "Because it is there."

A UTAH MAN AM I!!!

Last night after getting home from a hike in the White mountains, I was feeling pretty sore (more on that latter). I asked Michelle the outcome of the Utah/BYU game and when she told me 41-34 I thought she was joking. How could my Utes have done it? This is the team that gives away games in the second half.

Needless to say I was pretty happy and some of the pain from my hike drifted away. A dismal season has been replaced by a good one just from the fact that we have now beaten the "team down south" four years in a row.

Who am I, sir,
A Utah Man am I!
A Utah Man, sir,
Will be 'til I die.
Ki-yi!

Dear Santa...

Yesterday Grace decided she wanted to write a letter to Santa Claus. Michelle and I are amused by how quickly Grace has picked up the concept of Santa. We have talked to her about it, but haven't said a whole lot, but she has run with the idea. So here is the letter that Grace wrote (through Michelle).

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I would like: Thomas train, Percy train, Emily train, Edward train (or Toby), Henry train, James train, track, tunnel, sleeping place for trains, bridge, waterfall, one horse or two, books.

I already have a baby and clothes and movies, so no thanks.

Thank you Santa,

Love Grace

As you can see, Grace is big into Thomas the Tank Engine. Hopefully she will continue to be a nice girl and she might get some of the things she asked from Santa. I don't know if two horses, even Tinkerbell size will fit down our chimney though!

Not much to say for ourselves...

We haven't updated the blog in a week now. Mostly, it is because we haven't really had time, but it is also because our lives are pretty boring. We actually like boring for the most part. It means that things are going as they should and nothing requiring extra time, money, or worry has happened. We are getting excited about Christmas. Grace and I are especially into it. This is the first year for a very long time that I can remember it "feeling" like it should be Christmas. The last several years, it has come and gone and I barely had time to enjoy it or savor it. David says it's because I'm not working - specifically, not teaching school. That is actually a huge part of enjoying life for me. I've actually had time to sit and think about the holidays, what I want to shop for, and really getting into the mood. Grace has also made it much more fun. She really understands Santa much better this year and has cheefully made her list (mostly of Thomas the tank engine stuff) and is patiently waiting for him to "bring her a present." I also bought tickets for the 3 of us to go see the Nutcracker Ballet at a local performance done by the Commonwealth Ballet. I have always loved seeing the Nutcracker and I'm excited to continue the tradition with Grace. I hope she likes it as much as I do. We are dragging David to it. He doesn't like the dancing much, but does like the music.

As for Thanksgiving, we have been invited to eat with our new friends, the Whatcott's. They feel like family now that we've lived at their house for a week. Grace is excited to "go to Thanksgiving with her friends and eat turkey." I am looking forward to getting our first real Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.

Since we don't really have any particular event to document this week - here are some fun pictures of Grace (has she had her picture taken enough?)



We hope that this coming week brings fun and holiday spirit to all of our friends and family. We desperately miss those of you who don't live nearby and wish we could see you during the coming month. Please stay in touch, and don't forget us on your Christmas card list!

Doubling the Family

Well for the past week we have been babysitting/housesitting for our friends the Whatcotts. They went to France for a week and asked Michelle and me if we would watch their kids. We agreed so we moved into their house for a week to look after their four kids. It was actually a lot of fun, but Michelle and I both said it is a good thing that people don't generally go from 1 to 5 kids. When you just add 1 kid every 2-3 years you gradually go insane and don't realize it instead of instant insanity.

Grace had the most fun. She loved having her "friends" to play with and she cried every morning when they got on the bus to go to school. Whether it was playing jedi knight with a light saber or jumping in the leaves it was more fun with other people. She misses her friends but is now super excited to have a little brother or sister come May. Of course Michelle and I will be prepared for some more insanity, but isn't that what kids are all about?

FREEDOM!!!!

Well after 45 days of being under "house arrest" due to Shadow's unfortunate encounter with a skunk, the dogs are finally out of quarantine and free to roam about. What did the dogs do with the newly acquired freedom, you may ask? They both just sunned themselves on the asphalt on this beautiful fall afternoon. Ah, the dog's life.

Night Riding!!

Well with the daylight savings time change it is now officially dark at 5 PM and needing lights after about 4:30. Since I have been trying to commute to work by bike as much as possible the darkness poses some challenges. I hadn't ridden since mid-September due to Michelle being gone, my parents here, and then plain laziness. I am lucky enough at work to have a friend that use to race and has lots of fun bike gear. He has outfitted me with a nice headlight system and prodded me back into riding. I haven't done much night riding, but around here, it is kind of necessary. Since Boston is much closer to the start of the time zone relative to where Salt Lake City sits in the Mountain time zone, we get light earlier and subsequently dark earlier. Last night was my first commute home in the dark. Things went well although I did hit a big pot hole after being blinded by some car's xenon lights going the other way. I found that cars are much more cautious in the dark and I felt much safer that during the daylight. Cars that normally would pass me with only a 12-18 inches gave me 3 feet. It is nice to get back on the bike and hopefully I can continue to do so until it snows and the roads become significantly narrower and full of sand. Of course the best part of the bike commute--passing a mile worth of backup going to Route 2 and avoiding the long line of cars waiting to get onto the base. You have to take advantage of the perks of riding your bike.

Happy Halloween!

Well, we had a fabulously beautiful day for Halloween. It was warm and nice and just perfect to be outside. (hugely relieving after what we saw on Saturday!) The only thing that was bad about the day was saying good-bye to Aunt Emmie. She had to get home to see little Sean in his costume too.

Grace put on her Eeyore costume again and proudly wore it about the neighborhood. We went to about 7 houses near ours and then she and I were tired enough to go home. She got pretty good at saying "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" at the doorsteps. She collected quite a bit of candy between our generous neighbors and the very well-attended trunk-0r-treat. We only had one kid come to our doorstep, so now we really have a lot of candy. I feel very sick of it. I'm craving a good fresh salad - something with absolutely no sugar in it. Grace hasn't quite gotten her fill yet. She has eaten a lot of candy and doesn't seem to be slowing down- she isn't happy that we've slowed down. She keeps offering us candy and is upset that we don't want any more.

We put out our jack-o-lanterns. I think I saw one other in the neighborhood. I guess no one gets too excited about it around here. We don't have a lot of kids or younger families in the area, so it's not as festive. Still, we love our older neighbors. They are very good to us and couldn't have been more excited for Grace to knock on their doors last night.

Went to Maine...

We took a trip up to Maine yesterday to do some shopping in the Kittery outlet complex and add a state to our list of states we've been to. It wasn't great weather, but we decided to go anyway. In fact, it ended up snowing. This is the first snow we've seen since last spring. It was actually kind of depressing and very cold last night.
The shopping complex was too huge to do it all, so we just hit a few stores. Then, we drove to Kittery point to see the harbor and some views. Maine used to sound so far away, but it turns out, it's only an hour from our house now. We must live very far away! ---I forgot to add this photo - here's our first snowfall in our yard!!!