My cousin Robin lives in New York with her husband and son. I get so see her every couple of years but now that I live in Utah we'll probably get to see each other more often. We had Thai food with family for lunch and it was fun to catch up. Do we look related?

On my house hunt today I was able to stop by 7 houses and narrow down the possibilities. Although I'm not afraid of fixer uppers I am trying to avoid houses that look like this...the rest of it was pretty bad too.

I made a pregnant snow lady to sit on the chair outside our door. It started getting windy and snowy so I didn't quite finish her...thin legs and huge head...

I made a snow angel...maybe for the first time in my life. It is hard to see in the picture so I added a red outline. There was so much snow on the ground Christmas day and we "kids" played in it.

Marissa waving to Kyla

I was surprised that Kyla pretty much stayed on the sled and didn't complain

Matt being Matt

Tristin brought out root beer to add flavor to the snow

So, snow can be fun...but mostly I like to be inside and enjoy how pretty it is. Christmas Eve and day were full of great meals and lots of time with family.

Happy Holidays to you from me! You because you come to my blog and check up on me once in a while. I hope you are safe and happy this season and looking forward to 2009 with hope.

www.kristendukephotography.com

Today we went with Justin's family to Music and the Spoken Word at the LDS Conference Center in SLC. I'd never been to this presentation before and really enjoyed it. President Monson (President of the LDS church) happened to attend. After brunch, Justin, his dad, and I went to the Cathedral of the Madeline. We only caught the end of Mass but enjoyed the experience and walked around the cathedral after most people cleared out.

I'm not sure if I've ever heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in person before today. It really is amazing how all those people can cut off at the same time. I've been in several choirs in my life and I think it has always been a struggle to simply start and end together. The 30-minute program is quite impressive and that building is just fun to be in anyway. This program was special because they sang Christmas songs. They usually perform in the Tabernacle on Temple Square throughout the year.

My first memory of this cathedral is when my brother, Vern, was getting into photography. I was with him when he photographed around the building and even got some of me sitting on a staircase inside. My camera's batteries were low today and ran out so these were all the shots I could get. I love the windows inside and the colorful columns, trim and ceiling.

As we were unpacking the truck and packing our belongings into storage I made sure to pull my Christmas decorations. I hoped to put up more but this is the extent of Christmas for our little place. One side of the room on one table...I'll have to wait until next year for more decorating fun. (Kristen...can you see the silver bells?)

Shortly after we arrived in Utah it snowed...and a couple days later it was sunny and beautiful. Justin took the opportunity to get out and paint. While we were in TX he often said that he missed the mountains and wanted to paint them. I'm glad the cold and snow doesn't deter him.

I wandered around in the snow a bit while he painted. I thought these yellow swings looked kinda cool against all the white, blue and brown. There is something just not right about the icicles hanging from each seat...but pretty.

It may not be so obvious in these pictures but just outside our door we watched the snow pile up on this table. The seats of the chairs look like they have huge fluffy pillows to sit on.

Brian and Kris came out from L.A. and drove one of our cars to Utah for us. It made the trip more fun to stop and meet up for meals, gas and hotel.

When Brian and Justin get together it is like they are 12 years old again. You can just tell they have been friends for a long time. They were even wearing the same outfit when we met up in Austin. Exact same pants and very similar shirt.

After driving for 9 1/2 hours we were still in TX. We stayed the night in El Paso and the next morning ate at Denny's. On our way out it got super windy and rainy. Justin and Brian were out in it filling the air in the tires.

Just North of Gallup, NM we ran into some snow so pulled off to get gas and wait it out a little. Shortly after getting back on the road we came upon a tragic accident that had just happened. We pulled over and each of us took on a role to help out. It took 45 minutes for the ambulance to get there. It was a head on collision... 2 passengers in a truck (drunk and OK) and a smaller car with a family. The mother didn't make it and the father was in and out of consciousness. Brian pulled their little boy (cut, crying and swollen but seemed OK) from the back seat. Kris wrapped him in a blanket and consoled him until the ambulance got there.  We were glad to be there to do what we could. It was a sobering experience. The rest of the drive was spent pondering and in gratitude. You just never know how life can change so suddenly. We're glad we were safe and said a prayer of thanksgiving that night and asked God to comfort the families of those involved in the accident.

In Monticello, UT the next morning we had breakfast at the hotel. This is the only picture I got of Brian and Kris together.

We arrived in Provo around 2pm on Tuesday Dec. 9th and went straight to Cafe Rio for lunch. No pictures for that but still worth mentioning.

Three days before I was to leave I got to spend time with girlfriends. I went to lunch with three of my favorite friends I met at work.

The Relief Society had a Christmas dinner.

Justin was in California for work the last 4 days of our move. So, I was in an empty house. Kristen offered for me to stay with her and also said she would cover dinner for me each night. I was so grateful that I had a "family" for those few days. I'd call her at tell her where I was and what time I would be "home." Ha ha. It was a fun few days even though I still had to go to work during the day. I even got to join in on family prayer. Kristen made great lasagna and we went to a movie and stayed up late chatting that first night. In the mornings I got to spend time with her and her kids having breakfast. I was lucky to be there on a Saturday morning when her husband, Michael, made pancakes. It is a tradition in their family to have waffles, pancakes or crepes on Saturdays. I should have taken more pictures of all the fun we had. My last night there we had yummy zucchini soup that Kristen made and the Hansen's came over for dinner.

The morning I drove away from my house I stopped by Kristen's before they went to church. I got to say good-bye one last time. It was emotional for me and had we been able to just sit and cry about how sad we were we would have been there much longer. As it was I made her late for church. I'm glad to have friendships that I care so much about.

People were so nice to us as we were preparing to pack up and move to Utah. So many families offered to feed us dinner since our kitchen was packed up...we took several up on the offer and really enjoyed spending time with them. It makes it harder to leave as friendships deepen. The young women came to my house with good-bye notes, bumper stickers that say "Someone in TX loves me" and a key chain that says "I heart Texas." They stood at my door with their cute faces and I got to hug each one of them. They were a little upset that I hadn't told them sooner. Many friends asked what they could help with in the move. We had several guys from the Elder's Quorum come and pack up our truck (thanks for organizing the actual loading Michael), offering packing boxes, we were offered places to stay once our house was empty (I took up the Duke's and Thain's on their offers), offers to help clean the house (thanks Michele...my kitchen looked great) and so many other offers, gifts and good wishes. We felt so loved in TX and will miss it.

The children above belong to my good friend Kristen (below). She and her whole family came to help us load the truck. It was really nice to have them there. The kids really wanted to help load things on the truck...and actually did help.

After all the packing Justin and I spent the next couple of days packing up more items. We had at least 30+ more boxes to load ourselves. Our neighbor helped us with those.

Justin and I taught Kaely in Sunday school when we first moved to TX (she was one of our favorite students). After church a couple weeks ago she brought us this ribbon wrapped foil.

Turns out it was Texas chocolate. So cute. Her family is special to me as I've had great conversations with her parents and admire their three teenage children (of 8). I worked with all three of them in the youth program.

For Thanksgiving we got together with three other families from church. We all made delicious food if I do say so myself. Kristen had the table beautifully decorated and was willing to take on the turkey (thank you Kristen) as well as other dishes. I made pies, rolls and corn pudding.

It was a fun and memorable day. I will miss all of these people and am glad we were able to share this holiday together.

Here we are after we've eaten. The kids were playing outside except for baby Eva.
L to R -Justin, Natalie, Gabe, Becca, Michael, Kristen, Reed, Liz, Eva

So, I don't know why I take pictures of the food I bake. I didn't make the crescent rolls from scratch and the pie crusts were store bought. I guess I was just proud that I was able to fit baking in when I was moving. I was especially happy with the pies. I never really liked pecan pie before but this caramel pecan pie was so good I'm planning on making it again around Christmas time (for my dad). I never got a picture of the corn pudding which turned out really good too. Success in the kitchen just gives my ego a little boost.

Caramel Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Blackberry Cobbler (recipes below excluding the pumpkin pie...that was just a recipe from the can).

Easy Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

1 21-oz. can of blackberry pie filling

1 21 oz. can of crushed pineapple (juice included)

1 box of yellow cake mix

¾  C melted butter

1 C chopped pecans

Directions:

Pour pineapple (first) and blackberry filling in an ungreased 9x13 in. glass dish. Top it off with dry yellow cake mix and pecans. Pour melted butter over cake mix. Bake in preheated oven for 45 min. at 350.

Caramel Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

36 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup pecan halves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) In a saucepan over low heat, combine caramels, butter and milk. Cook, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Gradually mix in the melted caramel mixture. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown. Allow to cool until filling is firm.