Moulton Dec/Jan

Time flies when you're having fun!!! Seems like I've been gone more than I've been home! Busy couple of months!
December was great! First December I've been home and not working or teaching seminary! Hooray! Christmas preps kept me busy of course but I loved the freedom to do what I wanted when I wanted! We finally, after 5 years, got tickets to the Mormon Tab Christmas concert. So Jess took the day off and we hit some shops on the way up to Salt Lake. We picked Bryce up who was working at a clinic downtown. We walked over to the Conference Center from our hotel and got GREAT seats. It helped that we got there 90 minute early! haha! It was really an amazing concert! Last year, they had 'snow' falling from the 'sky' (ceiling). This year narrator,Tom Brokaw, shared a story about the "Candy Bomber" during WWII,  and little handkerchief parachutes fell from the 'sky' (ceiling)! Magical! They had a giant sheet/drape hanging from the ceiling so that some 1940 footage could be shown of the actual candy drop! Even had sound effects like a plane engine! Then the drape from the ceiling dropped and there he was, The Candy Bomber! Guess he lives just north of Salt Lake!!! And he wore the same uniform from the War!  Alfie Boe,  from Les Mis fame sang! Wow! After singing, Bring Him Home, he got an extended standing ovation! It was an amazing night!

We drove Bryce back to his car which he'd left at the clinic downtown and off he drove. Unfortunately, we didn't go anywhere. Our car was overheating. So we sat and waited and waited and waited! And the snow started! OF COURSE!!! It was almost midnight and not in a great part of town! Eeek! I suggested we walk cuz it was getting cold. We ended up calling Bryce who came back and rescued us! We left the car and Bryce dropped us off at the hotel. THANKFULLY, we had a room! Bryce picked us up in the morning and took us to a favorite breakfast spot! Suffice it to say, we made enough trips to Pep Boys to get to know them by their first names! It wasn't totally fixed but we got it home and then Jess did his magic! Whew!

We looked so forward to getting our Texas kids home! They drove 22 hours straight and got in Sat morning before Cmas! The next day was our Family Christmas party! It was dicey having it on a Sunday, especially when we had the 1-4 schedule when the party started at 5. Eeeeek! But it all came together! It was so much fun, more low key and just plain fun! Kathi and I are already brainstorming about next year's party! Fun to have Colin join us this year!!! We even had enough kids to do the nativity! My favorite characters: the donkey and sheep: Addie and Sophie!!!

Christmas Eve was magical because it started snowing! We made sure we placed luminaries on Jess' mom's grave: a Utah Co tradition! It's so beautiful! Packer's came but were delayed because of the snow! It was a little crazy finding places for everyone to sleep since Amy and Avery were with us this year. But we managed! Christmas morning was so fun to watch the 3 little ones! We had our new traditional breakfast: deep fried french toast with 5 diff syrups this year! Everyone seemed to have their favorite. Jess' dad was over for Cmas Eve and Christmas day. As usual we took our time and savored the moments! Jess (and everyone else) surprised the heck out of me with a new Hyundai Elantra! I love it! But boy was I shocked!!! Sneaky boy!!!

We looked forward to January because we were getting our new little grand daughter! Stephanie was scheduled for a c-section Wed, Jan 16th but went into labor on Monday the 14th so I raced over that evening  (unprepared!), while they took off  for the hospital! Little Ella was born at 10:22 (gotta get another clock for my house!) and we were so excited. I took the kids to see Mom, Dad and 'the new baby sister', the next afternoon. They were awestruck! Poor little Sophie ended up getting sick tho' so she had a rough week but we had lots of cuddle time! I've been back and forth to help Stephanie and the kids. Ella is such a little 'pipsqueak' (according to her doctor) and we're convinced she's gonna look more like Stephanie but we'll see!!!

We're getting freezing rain and snow like crazy lately! But I'm not complaining! I love it!!!!!!! Stay warm!

Baker News

Hello Family,
 It's been awhile since I wrote. I couldn't figure out how to post, again. Kathi told me the way and it works. I hope to post photos too.
 We anxiously awaited Sam coming home on Nov. 30. On our way to the airport, Sam called from Miami to tell us he missed his flight because they took too long in customs so he'd be in later than planned. So we had 4 hours to kill. That just made the agony of waiting that much harder.
 We finally went to the airport after we went to dinner and brought in a balloon bouquet and a sign that said "Welcome Home Elder Baker". Waiting, waiting and then, there he is! Coming down the escalator!! I was the first to hug him. So skinny and tanned. He looked great. Colin had come in from Wisconsin and Holly from South Dakota to be with us so we had 3 kids together. Sam had a hard time with English, talked really fast and was happy to be home. We didn't get home till 2:00 am. The next morning, our Stake President came over to release Sam. It's always sad to see that, a missionary being released. They live such a high life for 2 years, and now they're given back to the world. Sam was a little lost for a few days, felt guilty for all the free time he had. But he enjoyed being home and the ward welcomed him warmly.

 

The Castros came up the next day to see Sam. Joseph didn't remember Sam, of course, but he did well with him. The kids set up the Dicken's Village. And finally after 25 years of collecting buildings and accessories, we are finally done!!! We don't have anymore room for more buildings so it's time to be done. And it's a great set up. We're really proud of what we have. We held off having Thanksgiving till Sam came home and had it the next Saturday.

Just days after Sam got home, Calvin and Colin drove back to WI to pack Colin up and move him to SLC for his new job at KTVX Channel 4 as a morning news producer. The drive went well, they were nervous about weather across NE and WY. But all went well with the move. Colin lives in West Jordan in a nice 1 bedroom apt, goes to a single's ward and is enjoying his new job. It took him a few weeks to working nights and sleeping days but has adjusted well. The weekend that Calvin was in UT, he planned to see Jacob and family but was hit with the horrible stomach flu that was going around and didn't get to see them afterall. That was a blow, very disappointing. Once Calvin got home and recovered, he got a nasty cold that laid him low for days. I've been grateful that I haven't gotten either so far (knock wood) this season.

 Holly was able to come back home for Cmas and we decided at the last minute to have Christmas at the Castros. Kelli had to work Cmas night so that was easy for us to pack a few gifts and head down. Joseph was so fun Christmas morning. He loved all his Santa gifts. We had a nice Cmas dinner and then went back home that night and opened more gifts waiting for us under the tree.

Holly stayed a few more days with us and then went down to Kelli's to spend a few more days there before she went home. Colin spent Cmas with Jacob.

Now Sam has gone back to BYU and is busy with school and a small part time job. He likes his roommates and seems to be doing well being back in school. He's taking Jacob's Philosophy class and is enjoying it. Holly is busy with not only teaching, but being the prose editor to an online blog called "Segullah", a blog made up of LDS women writers. She's very busy.

 Calvin has been out of town alot lately, which I guess is usual. I do ok when he's gone. I'm so used to it. I've been working on family history lately, filling out a huge 15 genereation pedigree chart from info I find on Family Search. Calvin's dutch line goes back farther than we ever knew, in fact, one line goes back so far into the 1400s that I ran out of room to put the names on this huge chart! Very interesting and exciting to work on. There's been a ton of temple work already done.

I'm enjoying teaching Gospel Doctrine for the most part. It's not easy for me to pull a lesson together. You'd think after teaching Seminary for 5 years that it would be s snap for me, but it's not. In my quilt guild, I'm the new secretary this year and run the guild newsletter online. I taught a class last night at our January meeting.

Calvin has been asked to be the Trail Boss for the Pioneer Trek the stake's youth is taking this June. I guess I'll be the wife! They'll be going up somewhere in Michigan for the trek. We have our first meeting this week about it. I've never been on a trek. Should be fun?

  Happy 2013!

Heidi Nov-Dec-Jan

I really thought I'd posted more recently, but I went back through and my last newsletter was October 7.  Ooops!  Let's see what I can remember...
November:
My student teacher started.  She was really good and really eager.  I ended up taking a couple personal days and leaving her in charge so I could work on some business things.  Our business?  Well, it's doing really well!  Who could have guessed this??  I talked to my principal about taking a year off to see if I can do this full time.  So we'll see!!  It seems so crazy to be taking this direction, but I'm excited.  I think it will be good.  If nothing else I could use a change! 

December:
Knowing it was my last December in the classroom I really made it count.  We did fun (educational??) stuff every day.  It was pretty intense.  It was very nice to finally get to the break.  The family party was delightful.  The kids grow up so much from year to year.  I went up to the parents' house on Christmas Eve.  Addie kept announcing "Present time!"  She kept us all entertained.  Christmas was a lovely day.  Addie really got into it this year.  I got lots of grown-up gifts (new towels, silverware) and lots of little kids gifts for the preschool I want to open.  More craziness!  I'm hoping to do preschool in the mornings so I can have some sort of human contact during the day! 

January:
It is just no fair that I have to come back from Christmas and jump right into report cards.  What a bummer!  I guess that was the last time though, so I can't really complain!  My roommate Misty moved to Taylorsville so right now it's me and Adrienne.  I've been busy trying to reorganize the house--moving bedrooms, setting up an office, cleaning, organizing, redecorating--so I can get the rooms painted and the preschool set up.  Emily and I have been trying to figure out how to be business women.  We have a pretty limited skill set when it comes to accounting, so it's a big learning curve right now...So much to look forward to in 2013!

Stephensons Nov-Jan

Apparently I never wrote about November? In a nutshell, Jacob had a pretty busy rotation. He made the decision to switch medicine specialties and thus began the process of applying to programs all over again. He's switching from internal medicine to psychiatry. We found out (on Election Day!) that we're having another baby, due mid July. So excited about that. I worked like crazy to get the 1st grade morning work book finished and up in our shop for the after Thanksgiving sale. Thanks to Jacob and my family for all the help with Addie while we were in Utah because I spent the majority of the time working. I was so glad to see that project done. And so far it seems to be doing well in our shop. Thanksgiving was great and we loved spending a week in Utah. Dinner at Moultons was delicious and fun as always.  I started getting hit with morning sickness during the trip and by the time we got back to Fresno I was pretty much out on the couch for weeks. Poor Addie! She's as busy as ever though and just found lots of messes to make.

We started off December with Jacob doing a couple weeks of night shifts. In some ways it was nice, but it was hard on him. He's a morning person and hated sleeping the day away. But we usually had a few hours with him in the late afternoon/evening before he went to work. From nights he went to MICU which is one of the more time intensive rotations. Addie and I headed to Utah on the 15th but before we left we had our Christmas morning here. We didn't want to haul Addie's toys to Utah and back and the morning before we left was the only time we could find to do it with Jacob's schedule. Addie got a new fridge to go with her play kitchen and some more fun play food to go with it. Then her want/need/wear/read gifts. The baby also got want/need/wear/read gifts as well (which was tricky to pick out since we don't know the gender yet!)

It was a relief to get to Utah and get so much help with Addie while I was feeling so sick. Addie loves to be at Gamma and Gampa's house and got so excited every day when Gampa and Ian got home from work. Her sleeping has been troubled lately anyway so in Utah she ended up in my bed every night. I was so grateful to Mom for letting me get a nap most days!

Jacob was able to come up for a few short days before Christmas. We went out with Addie one night and tried bowling for the first time. She loved it at first but lost interest fairly quick. But she's asked to go again since then! He was here for the Family Party which was really nice this year. Fun to see Addie playing with Sophie and Luke (or more often, Nic and Rob!) Jacob had to work Christmas Eve. That morning we went to an early movie and lunch at Brick Oven before I took him (in the snow storm) to the airport. We sure missed him on Christmas but were glad we got to see him at all.

Christmas was wonderful! Addie was ever so spoiled. She absolutely adored the Little People princess castle from G&G and played with it a lot while we were in Utah. She also loved her tutu, wand and fairy wings. Ian got her a big Grover that she loved and Heidi gave her a really fun play wallet that has seen lots of action. I was really grateful for it on the plane ride home because it saved me for the part of the flight when you can't have the ipad on! Jacob and I got an Apple TV and have been using it a lot.

Addie and I stayed until Jan 5th. We mostly just hung around home but I did get to head to Springville one day with Addie to visit Heidi and some friends. I also got to meet up with a couple of med school friends in town for Christmas. The day before we left we went to the kids haircut place (Cookie Cutters) to get Addie her first official haircut. She lost a bunch of hair in the front when she got cradle cap last summer and it's growing in straight up, of course. It's finally getting long enough to tame. She, as I expected she might, freaked out and was not happy at all about the process. But as soon as it was done she was proud and talked about her "princess hair". We're loving it in the short, curly bob now.

We got back to Fresno just as Jacob was starting 3 weeks of residency interviews (using all 3 weeks of his vacation for the rest of the year, how depressing!) He was gone 4-6 days of every week traveling all over the country. So tiring and so expensive. We're pretty hopeful we'll be able to land a 2nd year spot in Psych. It sounds like he has one more interview in the works and then he'll be done done done. Then it's just the waiting game again until March for match day. I so did not expect to be doing this whole process two years in a row!!

I'm starting to feel a bit better these days which is nice. Addie is talking up a storm and singing and dancing like crazy. And we're looking forward to finding out the baby's gender in a couple weeks!

MASTER FAMILY BIRTHDAY LIST

JANUARY
 13 Tahni Cottrell
14 Ella Grace Packer (2013)
19 Adam Cottrell (2004)
19 Galen James Baker (2011)
31 Lindsey Cottrell

FEBRUARY
10  Colin Baker
19  Kathi Van Natter
25  James Ferguson

MARCH
1   Annette Moulton
9   Grammy
16  Jacob Stephenson
17  Jeff Cottrell
23  Bryce Moulton, Stephanie Packer, Rob Packer
30  Amanda Baker

APRIL
 4 Adelaide Stephenson (2010)
11 Mark Cottrell
12  Heidi Van Natter
25 Scott Moulton
28  Emmanuel Castro

MAY
11 Brent Cottrell

JUNE
2   Clara Baker (2006)
4   John Van Natter
15 Sophie Joy Packer (2010)
21 Mark Ferguson (2013)

JULY
11 Neil Patrick Stephenson (2013)

AUGUST
 2 Avery (Moulton) (2010)
11  Kelli Castro
29  Emily Stephenson

SEPTEMBER
1   Marianne Buhler
9   Sam Baker
12 Nic Buhler
25 Ian Van Natter
27 Luke Packer (2007)
30 Jacob Baker

OCTOBER
9   Calvin Baker
14 Grant Buhler (2013)
20 Braydon Cottrell (2011)
24 Isaac Cottrell (2007)
29 Kaitlyn Ferguson (2007)

NOVEMBER
3   Austin Cottrell
4   Jess Moulton
6   Linda Cottrell
8   Claire Baker, Julie Ferguson
19  Ethan Baker, Mylyn Baker (2003)
20  Greg Cottrell
28 Amy Moulton
30 Sarah Rose Cottrell (2005)

DECEMBER
12  Joseph Castro (2008)
19  Holly Baker
23 Keira Eve Ferguson (2009)
30 Eileen Cottrell

Mac & Cheese Canapes

I made these for the family Christmas party. Easy, and very yum! I reheated them at Annette's and they got a little dried out, so if you're in a similar situation, you might want to cover them with foil to keep some moisture in.
-Kathi
From: http://leitesculinaria.com/83177/recipes-mac-cheese-canapes.html

Mac and Cheese Canapés

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus more for the pans
• 1/4 cup toasted breadcrumbs (optional)
• 1/4 pound ditalini, which are essentially mini macaroni shapes, or other small, similarly shaped pasta
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup whole milk, warmed
• 2 ounces sharp Cheddar, grated
• 2 ounces Gruyère, grated
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (218ºC). Generously butter 24 mini muffin cups and, if desired, sprinkle with breadcrumbs. (If you’re baking the canapés in batches, reserve some of the butter and breadcrumbs, if desired, for the second batch.)
• 2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until it’s just barely beginning to soften and is at the early stages of al dente. Drain the pasta, rinse it under cold water, and return it to the pot.
• 3. Meanwhile, melt the 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and cook, still stirring constantly, for 1 minute, or until the mixture turns slightly beige and is bubbly. Increase the heat to medium and slowly whisk in the warm milk. Bring to a boil, whisking almost constantly. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the cheeses to the sauce in 1/2-cup increments, stirring until the cheese melts before making another addition. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir well.
• 4. Beat the egg yolk with the cream and mustard, if using, and stir it into the pasta. Season with salt and pepper, and press the mixture into the prepared cups. (You may not fill all 24 of the cups.)
• 5. Bake the mini canapés for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cheese sauce is bubbly and the tops are light brown. Let them rest for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn them out onto a platter and pass ASAP. The canapés can be baked, cooled, and refrigerated, tightly covered, for up to 2 days. Reheat them in a 375ºF (190ºC) until warmed through, 7 to 10 minutes.

Van Natter DECEMBER

Catching up: December!

I started the month really feeling like I had a handle on holiday things for a change. I didn't, as it turned out, but it was better than many other years in that regard.

 Annette came up early in the month to see our addition finally. The main reason we got together was to deal with Grammy's gifts for the grandkids. I had bought the socks and she had made the cupcake papers, so we divvied it all up to send off. The 'sock cupcakes' were cute and simple. Hope you all enjoyed them!

It was fun showing Annette my nativities on display in my new Expedit unit from Ikea. They weren't all out yet, but she got to see where I was going anyway. I took the photos once all the nativities were displayed. I think there were forty in all. A couple aren't in the unit such as the knitted one. And I gave away and sold quite a few awhile back. Still I easily filled 20 cubbies. The bottom row has bins and we kept toys, etc in those.

I got to Target for the first time in a year. Yes, that's right: A YEAR WITHOUT TARGET!!! My favorite store. The nerve pain in my leg had finally abated and I was able to go and spend lots of money without any trouble at all. I felt like hopping and skipping and kicking up my heels. But let's be honest - I can't do any of that! [And dangit but I've been having some nerve issues in that leg again recently. Boo!] Picked up the cutest dishes to use throughout December without fear of breakage.

We put the Christmas tree up in one of the family room windows. It seemed odd not having a tree on the main level. I did buy a small one but never got it put up. I had big plans to make a Names of Christ tree but like so many things during the holidays, I just didn't have the time. So I decorated it like I've decorated it for the last few years. And it was fine.

One of my favorite things to do, and I recommend it if you do much baking, is to make DIBs bags (dry ingredients bags.) In a very short time one afternoon I filled ziploc bags with the flour, sugar, baking powder/soda, salt that each recipe would need. Then the next day all I needed was butter and eggs mainly and made up my cookie doughs in no time. 8 cookie doughs: sugar cookie bars, shortbread, caramel pecan turtle cookies, cherry cheesecake cookies (not impressed with this recipe), peppermint kiss cookies, Biscoff Kiss cookies (like Peanut Butter Kiss cookies but sub Biscoff - Speculoos- spread- DELISH!), empire biscuits (my fave), and almond cookies (which I thought were a FAIL last year but John and Jacob loved them!)

Emily and Addie arrived on December 15th and stayed until January 5th. That's 3 weeks. With a 2 year old. And we LOVED it!!! The place was a wreck and it was hard to get anything done w/o a helper, but we LOVED it!! I had put nativities at her level that were less likely to break and she played with them every single day she was here. I tried to put them all back in their proper places each night, just to stay ahead of the clutter. She especially loved the little Indian set Heidi gave me back in high school. The pieces are only a couple of inches tall, just right for her little hands.  She'd put them in her mommy's shoe and take them for a ride, or a little toy truck, and she tried to take a handful of them into the bath with her one night! I examined them as I put them away, and several Indians no longer have the parts of their feathers that extended beyond their heads, but other than that, and a horse with a broken leg, they survived well. The Mary in the Nigerian set is missing an arm. That's about the only thing that wasn't fixable. I never found the arm, so no telling where it went! The photo was taken before Addie took these pieces for the ride of their lives!

 Above - one of many rides for the Indians. Mommy's shoe.

 I found this after Addie went to bed her first night here. Mary is part of the knitted set Grammy made for me a few years ago. She's taking a ride in Mommy's shoe.

Addie did not sleep well here and ended up in her mommy's bed every single night. In the morning I would usually take over and watch her while Emily caught some more sleep. One morning I put on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and she LOVED it. Well, she loved being scared by the Snow Monster! She'd run behind a chair whenever he'd appear and say "Scawy!" But then she'd want to watch that part over and over. It's like her love of Iron Giant last summer. Adrenaline junky??

Jacob got to fly up and stay from the 21st to the 24th, which went by too fast. But we were so glad he got to spend a few days right before Christmas with Em and Addie.

Addie arrived with a cold and within a few days everyone had it. Everyone was sniffling and snorting for days! With the inversion we've had, it has kept our noses stuffy for a month now.

I narrated the ward's Christmas Program in Sacrament Meeting, which was a special way to lead into Christmas. I then taught in Relief Society the same day. Got home and got everything ready to go and headed to Annette's for the family Christmas party.

We had it December 23rd since we wanted to include Scott, Marianne & Nic, and Emily. Jacob and Amanda came with their kids, and Colin too, now that he's a Utah resident again. We had such a fun evening. We had our traditional appetizer meal provided by everyone. It is such fun to have so many little things to taste and savor. We did our White Elephant exchange. Then the kids did a Nativity play for us while Jess read the Christmas story from Luke. Thank goodness for Ethan, Mylyn and Clara being old enough to take the main roles. Luke was a shepherd. Nic & Marianne stepped in as Wisemen. Sophie and Addie were either sheep or kangaroos. Hard to tell. Addie just ran back and forth, [see photo] and Sophie flirted with a wiseman. All in all, the best play ever!! Then came the Hot Cocoa bar and lots of visiting. Annette and I agreed that this year was more relaxed and enjoyable. Last year with Santa arriving earlier than planned, everything felt rushed. This year, with the party on a Sunday, Santa stayed home.

 We sure missed Jacob on Christmas. Fortunately it just seemed like a regular day for Addie so we were able to get everyone assembled and breakfast in the oven before going up to see what Santa had brought. We got her the Fisher Price Disney Princess Palace, which she loved. Her mommy and daddy got her a wooden dolly bed which she promptly tried to climb into and cover herself with the tiny blanket. Also an easel with chalkboard on one side and white board on the other.

 

 We all got wonderful presents. Addie played with her toys as we opened gifts, occasionally stopping long enough to open one of hers. She wore the Fairy Princess costume (wings, tutu, and wand) we got her the rest of the day. And the next two days! Then she didn't want to wear it at all! Go figure!!

 That's a tired Fairy Princess on Christmas morning.


Life slowed way down after that. Heidi stayed most of the week. It was nice to bask in the after-Christmas glow. Addie kept us all hopping and happy. The hardest thing was when January 5th rolled around and she took her Mommy and went home. The house was just too quiet and dull. It took us awhile to readjust to normal. 3 weeks into January and I'm still putting Christmas away!

New Year wishes to everyone!