A Few Firsts

This past year has been full of so many firsts and lasts for me! Here are a few of the most recent ones:

Morgan's first snotty nose - she's finally not looking like an open-mouth cod fish out of water! Poor girl hasn't breathed through her nose for almost a week. This increases the drool factor and snorting while decreasing the sleep at night (for the whole house) and interest in food. I think we're on the upside of it now.

The perfect dinner roll - I've been on a search for the perfect dinner roll that doesn't have a recipe that gives me the jitters on first glance. The current winner came from a Swedish cookbook published in the 1950s. I had to call my Nana and find out what a "cake" of yeast was. Turns out they don't really sell yeast in the form any more....the normal little packets work just fine. These rolls were great with my soup!

A "hit" food at a party - I'm not exactly Betty Crocker, though her and I do team up for dinner occasionally, and I've never managed to bring a food to a party that has been a total hit. Until yesterday! We went to a pumpkin carving party at a friend's house and I brought a pumpkin dip that is super yummy...and everyone loved it! The recipe is from Sister Miles, the Young Women secretary in my ward. She apparently got it from a Hilary Hunt (no relation).

Pumpkin Dip

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger

Beat sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended. Cover and chill. Will last 5 days. Great for dipping pears, apples, and ginger snaps.

Chadwick carved an awesome little pumpkin - he's amazing! And go Broncos!
I have a confession to make about the pumpkin. We've known about this pumpkin carving party for several weeks. Since the birth of our little girl, I've been much less organized than in the past. So Saturday night as we're getting ready for bed I am thinking about Sunday - my lesson, the party.....the party...we need a pumpkin! To avoid having to go to the store on the Sabbath, Chadwick's brother James and his family were nice enough to donate this one to us. Thanks, guys!

Morgan is up on all fours - she is so close to crawling! She can pull herself to her knees on my legs or the sides of the pack-n-play, she reaches for things out of reach while in a crawling position, and she can take about one step before landing on her stomach. She's so strong! I've been wanting her to crawl to increase her independence....and I think this wish may come back to bite me. =)