Drum Roll Please

Alright, here it is. A few people have wanted to see this so I am posting my belly for the first time. It is showing now and people come up me saying, "I didn't know you were pregnant." At least they know I'm pregnant and not just gaining weight :)

Oh, and I am definitely feeling the baby moving and kicking now. It's not big but it's something. This morning is even the first time Derrick felt little Caleb kick, that was exciting. We're already both enjoying this whole baby thing.

The Nutcracker

Through Stanford, Derrick and I got cheap tickets to see the San Francisco ballet perform The Nutcracker. We had never been inside the Opera House before and it was beautiful.

While there we saw a few friends from the ward and from our housing complex. Oh, and there were a ton of little girls! They were cute to see dancing around during intermission, trying to be like the ballerinas they're watching on stage. Here's us in our seats:

Hornblower Cruise

For one of my work parties, Derrick and I went on a Hornblower Cruise around the San Franciso Bay. We took a bus up to San Franciso and hopped onto a ship. We ate an amazing dinner, talked to friends, danced and walked around outside to look at the city's skyline. We went under the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge. It was a beautiful, clear and cold night.

Here's the crazy part: we got off the boat at midnight, home around 1:30am and Derrick stayed up until 6am doing TA work he had to get done. We wake up at 7:30 to get ready for church. After almost a week, he's finally recovering. We're both enjoying Derrick being on break.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Derrick did a family home evening lesson for us in April where he made a power point presentation. He edited this picture used it as the intro to his slide show. We both love it. For those who don't get what it is here's the real picture.



Here's a few great quotes that I love:
"Hi, I'm Michael Scott. I'm in charge of Dunder-Mifflin paper products. But I'm also the founder of Diversity Tomorrow... because today is almost over." - Michael Scott

"Whenever I am about to do something I ask myself 'would an idiot do this?' and if the answer is yes then I do not do that thing." - Dwight Schrute

Michael: Stanley, that's fricken brilliant. How do you know that? Did you learn that on the streets? (stutters and shakes head) I'm sorry.
Stanley: Oh, it's ok. I did learn it on the streets. On the ghetto in fact.

Abraham Lincoln once said that ‘If you're a racist, I will attack you with the North.' And those are the kinds of goals that I carry with me in the workplace." - Michael Scott

"I never smile if I can help it. Showing one's teeth is a submission signal in primates. When someone smiles at me, all I see is a chimpanzee begging for its life." - Dwight

Christmas Party

We can't believe how many people attended the ward Christmas party this year! It was the place to be on Friday night. I ate too many desserts and ran around the building trying to find a Children's Songbook (I ended up finding one hidden in the library). After that, I did have fun playing the piano for the kids while they sang Jingle Bells and Christmas Bells in their cute little blue choir outfits. Here's Derrick and I at the party (sorry it's a little blurry):

Sugar Cookies

I made sugar cookies by myself for the first time this last week!



My mom always made them growing up and I had no idea how much of a learning curve there would be. After trying a few different techniques I finally figured out how to make them come out well. A few people have been asking for the recipe so here it is:

Cut Out Cookies
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt.

1. Cream softened butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Mix flour, soda, cream of tarter and salt together in a bowl then add to cream mix.
2. Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
3. Roll dough on floured surface. Cut cookies with cookie cutters.
4. Bake 400 degrees 6-8 minutes (It was always exactly 8 minutes for me). Remove and place on cooling rack.

Here's a few tips I learned:
-Don't be afraid to use a lot of flour for the floured surface. I even kept putting flour on top of the dough to prevent the rolling pin from sticking. The cookies still turned out well with the extra flour used.
-I have an ultra thin spatula to pick up the cut out dough shapes which helped a lot.
-After you're done with the first round of cutting out cookies, brush the flour off the best you can, roll the dough together and roll it out again same a before--lots of flour on the bottom and add flour as needed on the top.
-As soon as you pull the cookies out of the oven take them off the pan--they won't squish together like other cookies will and if you let it cool a bit before taking them off they start sticking to the sheet.

Frosting:
1 stick margarine, softened
1/4 cup milk (I think I used just a little less)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb powdered sugar
pinch of salt

Remember to use coloring dye and festive sprinkles for decorating!