Pardon our tardiness, but we've been busy....

As Christmas / New Years newsletters go, this is definitely late. But we have a somewhat decent excuse for it. 2011 was a fun, exciting, and eventful year for us, and we'd like to start by introducing the above-mentioned 'excuse'.
So, without further ado, we introduce you to Ember Elise McKeachnie, born December 27th, 2011 at 7:19 a.m., measuring 8 lbs 11 oz, and 22 inches long.

She is absolutely perfect, and adored by every member of our family. We look forward to letting you get to know her better in the near future on this blog.
As if welcoming this sweet baby into our family weren't exciting enough, the other major event that took place this year was the purchase of a great home in Payson, Utah in May. The house is in a fantastic location, on a very friendly and safe culdesac, with a view of the new Payson Temple grounds (groundbreaking in October 2011) just 2.5 blocks away. We have made many wonderful friends and already feel like members of the community.

We did not go on any grand vacations this year, but we did very much enjoy a spectacular week-long family reunion at Ruth's parents' cabin in Bear Lake in July. There was zip-lining, four-wheeling, swimming, cave-hiking, volleyball, river-rafting, lots of Mafia-playing, and many more games and good times.

Along with the wonderful things that have happened this year, 2011 will also be known as 'The Year of the Medical Bills'. We have had a plethora of doctor and hospital visits, and we all contributed (though some more than others).
Here is what we have each been up to in the year of 2011:
Clint: After graduating from BYU in December 2010 with a Manufacturing Engineering degree, Clint was promoted in January 2011 from his engineering intern position at Precorp Inc. However, instead of being offered the engineer position that he was interning and preparing for, he was instead offered the plant manager position, which he gladly accepted. The job has been a huge blessing for us, and Clint has been doing many great and wonderful things for the company. Clint started the year in our old ward serving as the ward financial clerk, but is serving as the primary teacher to the 4-year-olds in our new ward. At the start of 2012, Brennen is actually in Clint's class, which allows Mom to hear the little nuggets of spiritual wisdom that come from his little mouth.
Clint's contribution to the medical bills: Oddly enough, Clint's contribution was the smallest, offering only his annual $trepp throat infection.

Ruth: Pinterest, pregnancy, Facebook, pregnancy, home projects, pregnancy. Ruth spent the majority of the year being pregnant (although it felt like a year and a half), but between the many naps she took, she still managed to find time to do some painting, decorating, and organizing of the new home. She has never considered herself a very domestic creature, but with the help of Pinterest, she has found enough inspiration and motivation to try new things, and feels moderately successful. She started the year serving as the primary music leader in the old ward, but has been serving as the relief society meeting coordinator in the new ward, and she enjoys the people she serves with.
Ruth's contribution to the medical bills: She started the year off great by stabbing herself clear through her thumb with a brand new kitchen knife she had purchased about 30 minutes earlier (6 $titches). She continued with a 3-week bout of pneumonia, then finished the year with a c-$ection.

Tayson: In school, Tayson finished 1st grade in Orem, then started 2nd grade in Payson, and has been making many new friends. The culdesac on which we live has an abundance of boys his age, all of which are great kids. He has decided that reading is actually enjoyable, and especially enjoys reading The Magic Treehouse books. He shows an aptitude for math that warms his mother's heart.
Tayson's contribution to the medical bills: Tayson made a great early impression in our new neighborhood by falling (jumping???) off our neighbor's trampoline 3 weeks after moving into our new home, and snapping both of his wrist bones in half. Unfortunately, the bones were not set properly in the emergency room, so they had to later be rebroken and set again in the outpatient $urgical center.

Brennen: We don't know if getting a new baby sister is a good birthday present or not, but that's what Brennen got for his 4th birthday. They will forever share the same birthday. Brennen has outgrown his adorable curls, but is still the same cuddly, mischievous, independent, and determined little boy we love. He goes after what he wants, and rarely lets anything get in his way, or even asks permission.
Brennen's contribution to the medical bills: On a family outing to Costco just before we moved into our new home, a boxed 50" tv fell off a pallet onto Brennen, resulting in a trip to the hospital and a cat $can. Fortunately, everything was fine, and he walked away with a goose egg, a bruise, and a headache.

Ember: The little princess joined our family towards the end of 2011, and quickly became the queen of the family. She enjoys playing dress-up (with Mom's help), eating, sleeping, and being cuddled and adored.
Ember's contribution to the medical bills: Well, considering the fact that the 4 days of 2011 that Ember was alive were $pent in the hospital, that's contribution enough.

We feel very blessed by our Heavenly Father with a great job, a nice house, and a healthy new baby. And especially for great health insurance. :)

A word, please.

I have come to the conclusion that Tayson has uttered the word 'hungry' more often than any other word in the English language during his 6 1/2 years of life. The end.

Just call me Betty...



The title of this post is a shout out to my old college roommates. Whenever one of us saw another cooking something, we would ask, "Whatcha makin', Betty?" (I should probably not admit that as the clueless freshman that I was, it took me several days before I caught on that they were referencing Betty Crocker. Duh.)
Last week, I decided to channel my inner Betty and chain myself to the oven for a Holiday bake-a-thon. I was in the Christmas spirit, full-swing, and eager to get some neighbor goodie plates prepared and delivered. First, I had to decide what I wanted to make. I pored over my cookbooks and various recipe websites, and found many tasty-looking recipes. I had trouble deciding what I wanted to make, so I narrowed the selection down to three recipes and decided to make all three! :)
None of the recipes were particularly difficult, but they were all new to me. All three of the recipes were found on Food.com, and were chosen because

a) they looked yummy
b) the recipes and ingredient lists seemed fairly simple
c) they were all rated highly by many other website users.

I printed off the recipes, made my shopping list, and went to the store. The night before my bake-a-thon, I did as much preparation as possible. I had my strategy in place (mix the dough for this recipe while the dough for that recipe is chilling in the fridge, etc). I had all the dry ingredients I needed organized on my counter, my dishwasher empty and ready to be loaded with my baking instruments, and all my Christmas CD's stacked in the order that I wanted to listen to them.



The morning of B-day, I sent Tayson off to school at 7:45, as usual, and wasted no time getting started in the kitchen. Well, okay, first I set Brennen up on pbskids.org for a little game time to keep him out of my hair for a while. (Yes, I used an electronic babysitter. Judge me if you will.) My plan was to have all the goodies prepared and delivered on that same day, and everything was going according to schedule. The problem was this: I was in full Betty Crocker mode, and after my small, healthy breakfast (about 200 calories), I completely forgot to eat for the rest of the day. It just never even crossed my mind. So, at about 2:30 in the afternoon, after more than 6 hours of being on my feet in the kitchen, the 200 calories long since burned off, I hit a brick wall. My body and mind joined forces in rebellion and refused to function anymore.
I had just pulled the last batch of goodies from the oven and turned the oven off. However, I still had several dozen cookies to frost and goodie plates to be loaded, wrapped, labeled, and delivered. I was completely unable to do so, however, and instead sat on the couch in a trance-like state, letting my children wreak havoc around me.
Clint came home from work early, bringing dinner with him, which I ate listlessly while still sitting on the couch. After eating, knowing the kids were in good hands, I tipped over sideways and took a much needed nap. At about 7:30, I woke up with my will-power back in control, and my body and mind beaten into submission. I went through the bedtime ritual with my kids, then got back to work in the kitchen. I hand-painted the icing onto the cookies with a small paintbrush, as the recipe instructed, distributed the goods to the plates, wrapped them up, attached labels and bows, and set them aside to be delivered the next day. After some rudimentary tidying of the kitchen, I fell into bed, exhausted, at about midnight.

So, what did I make?

Sugar Cookies with Icing that Hardens

(click for recipe)



Fudge Crinkles

(click for recipe)

Chocolate Mint Candy (Fudge)

(click for recipe)

So throw them all together, and what do you get?

And multiply that by 35, you have:

So, were the goodies tasty and worth all the time and effort put into making them? I honestly have no idea. I forgot to taste-test any of them. :D

Twister

No, we have not been hurt, killed, or rendered homeless by a rogue winter tornado.  However, this is something that Tayson lives in daily fear of. 
Last spring/summer, Clint and I put in Twister after the kids went to bed.  At some point during the movie, Tayson woke up with a mild tummyache, and we allowed him to lie down on the couch by us and finish the movie.  Big.  Mistake.
That one poor decision sparked an obsessive fear / fascination with tornados that has become exhuasting to Clint and I as we try to battle it.  At first, we just thought it was just a  fascination, and Tayson would ask repeatedly to watch the movie again or to see more videos of tornados.  Clint would happily jump on the internet and look up tornado YouTube videos to show him (another brilliant decision).  We soon realized, thanks the nightmares and the tearful tornado-related questions, that it is part fascination, part terror. 
We have done our very best to reassure him that he will not be swept away by a tornado, and will probably never even see a real one in his whole life.  Doesn't matter.  He will still wake up sobbing if there is a storm with any type of measureable wind. 
We have even shown him maps (repeatedly) and shown him the part of the country where tornados are common and how far away Utah is from there.  Desperate, we told him that tornados DO NOT happen in Utah (I know what you are thinking, and you are all forbidden to ever mention in his presence the huge fatal tornado of Salt Lake or the smaller tornados that happen in Vernal and elsewhere around the state.)  Of course, showing him the maps, along with pointing out where all of his relatives live only served to make him more concerned since his cousins live in Tennessee (sorry, guys.)
Tayson is able to somehow turn any image or conversation into a tornado comment or question.  Here are some examples:

Tayson:  See that funny shape in the clouds?  That looks like a tornado!
Mom:  It's not a tornado, I promise.
Tayson:  But maybe it's a tornado.

Tayson:  Mom, I see a tornado!
Mom:  No, Tayson.  That's just a smokestack.

Tayson:  Mom, where does Grampa Piggott work again?
Mom:  Algeria.  It's another country far far away.
Tayson: Are there tornados there?

Tayson:  Why is this movie called Madagascar?
Mom:  It's a country.
Tayson:  Do they have tornados there?

Mom:  Guess what?  We get to go to Arizona for Christmas and see Grandma and Grandpa Piggott!
Tayson:  Do they have tornados there?

Mom:  Your cousins, Sienna and Colby drew your and Brennen's names for Christmas, so they will be giving you Christmas gifts this year.
Tayson:  But they live far away, so how will they give me the present?
Mom:  They will mail it to you.
Tayson:  But what if their mailman gets blown away by a tornado?!

Tayson:  I hope I never see a tornado because I really don't want to get spinned around by one.

Conversations like this happen daily.  What I wouldn't give to turn back time and either stop that movie when Tayson came out of his room, or just sent him back to bed.

Aviation Nation 2010

Yes, ladies and gents, we went to another air show. Earlier in November, we invited our friends, the Howcrofts, and all drove down to Las Vegas for the Aviation Nation air show at Nellis AFB. Okay, it is a little misleading to say we drove to Vegas. Vegas is a disgusting, horrible, smelly city, and I wanted nothing to do with it. So, we happily stayed in St. George for the weekend, and drove to Nellis on Saturday, where we could see the impressive skyline of Sin City from a safe, un-smelly distance. :)

Us

The Howcrofts

Our 'spot' (before the crowd moved in around us):

The kids:

The planes:

My favorites were the F-22, which really does seem to defy all principles of physics, and, of course, the Thunderbirds, whose pilots seem to defy death by flying so close together and so fast.

It was very fun to go with friends; the kids entertained eachother, and the adults enjoyed socializing together. The weather was perfect, the air demonstrations were fantastic, and we all had a great time. There was the slight hitch in our day, when the Howcrofts' 4-year-old son, Alex, went missing among the tens of thousands air show enthusiasts, but thanks to the boy's bright yellow shirt and Clint's sharp eyes, the tear-streaked child was shortly reunited with his not-quite-histerical-but-quickly-getting-there mother. But no big deal, right?

Tayson has always been a big chicken when it comes to loud noises, and usually tightly plugs his ears when we light piddly firewords on the street during the 4th of July. He was no different here at the air show.

Brennen surprised me by being the one to enjoy the show the most out of all of us. The noises didn't even faze him, and he loved all of it.

Me? I was fortunate to contract a nasty head cold the day before traveling south for the weekend, so I spent the day enjoying the warm weather while blowing my nose and sucking on cough drops. Awesome.

Clint enjoyed pointing out just which jets were built with the tooling that his company, Precorp, manufactures. (Boeing is by far their biggest customer.)

This was our second time attending the air show at Nellis, and we enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Now we get to debate going to the air show in Phoenix this March....

Mischief Managed

For those of you out there who are Harry Potter fans, you will understand the title. It also happens to be one of our more appropriate names for Brennen.

The other day, I was talking on the phone with my mom, discussing the possibility of my family traveling to her home in Arizona for Christmas. She mentioned that she would put Tayson and Brennen in her guest room, and Clint and I would sleep on the bed in the office, just because there are too many drawers full of pens, pencils, staples, paper clips, etc. for Brennen to get into. I open my mouth to tell her that he really isn't as bad at that as he used to be, but then caught sight of Mischief Managed himself out of the corner of my eye and shut my mouth.



Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is a crayon resting cheerfully in his nostril. You may rest your case, Mother, and Clint and I can sleep in the office.

New Job

I realize that this may be old news for many of you, but for those of you who don't really know what's going on in my life unless it's posted on this blog, this will be news. Clint has a new job. Last spring, a wonderful job pretty much landed in Clint's lap, and it has been a huge blessing in our lives. He is working as a manufacturing engineer for a company called Precorp. We feel especially blessed that he has landed such a wonderful job in this rough economy before he has even graduated from school (this December). They have been treating him very well, and exciting opportunities are coming his way (I will not post about them until they actually happen.) For now, though, life is great, and we have a great future to look forward to! :)

Fridge Elf

So I cleaned out the fridge the other day. I mean the kind of fridge clean where I take the items out, throw out all the nasty leftovers, remove all the shelves and drawers, and scrub, scrub, scrub! (Please remind me to do that more often. Please.) Anyway, as I stood at the sink, scrubbing the last produce drawer, I realized it was entirely too silent behind me. Sure enough, Brennen was nowhere to be found. Until, that is, I opened the fridge door.

I'm back! And I'll just say it once....

Yes, ladies and gentleman, I have returned once again to the blogging world! I realize that after an 8-month absence, I have a lot to catch up on. That is one of the things that has kept me from returning thus far. My solution? I decided to not get caught up! How simple is that? I may backtrack on some things, but I think I will just start fresh and move forward.

But, first, I must answer some questions that some of my past blog followers may be asking. That's right, it's about the New Years Resolutions that I mentioned in January, and was keeping track of on my blog. Here is what we are going to do: we are all going to take a deep breath, then when we exhale, we will all forget that there were any such goals ever mentioned on this blog. I would not call myself a complete failure regarding them, but I was definitely less successful at some than others, and I feel it would just be far less embarrassing for myself if I would just erase it all from my blog. So there! Abra Kadabra! There will be no more mention of such silly things. Together now, let's all inhale....... and exhale. Viola! Talk to you all again soon (I promise!)

Brennen Randomness

You can't really call yourself a true toddler if you don't have any bumps, bruises, or scrapes to show for it. This particular toddler tripped himself on the bottom step of our front porch, while going down the stairs. So, he landed face-first on the concrete sidewalk and howled up a storm. But, he did have a nice battle scar to sport, which included all three of the above-stated requirements. He had a nice, large, quarter-sized scrape on his forehead, which swelled up into a nice fat goose-egg immediately, then became a lovely purplish bruise that stuck around for a few days. And, as any such scar would deserve, he received lots of lovely sympathy from the ladies at church. :)

Our closets are not filled with all the frilly princessy dress-up clothes that fill the closets of little girls. So, when Brennen gets lonely while Tayson is at school, and the dress-up mood strikes him, this is what happens:

What Tayson doesn't know won't hurt him. :)

Spirit Week

With the middle of March came spirit week at Tayson's school. I think they actually called it Stallion Pride week, but you get the idea.

Monday was Crazy Hair Day:

(Brennen also wanted to show off his everyday crazy hair):

Tuesday was Crazy Hat Day:

Wednesday was Crazy Sock Day, as well as being St. Patrick's Day:

Thursday was Backwards Day:

And Friday was Career Day. Being a family full of boys, we are a little shy on dress-up clothes, so this casual-Friday-style doctor's getup was the best we could come up with:

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday this year. Well, no holiday is going to keep me from taking my standard Sunday afternoon nap after church. I fell asleep in my bedroom, dreaming about the heart-shaped pancakes I would make for dinner after I woke up. When I woke up 3 hours later, however, I found our kitchen table set up in the living room, lit by candlelight, and the table laden with steak, shrimp scampii, pasta alfredo, vegetables, and rolls. Our coffee table had been moved to the kitchen, where the kids excitedly sat on little stools, eating their dinner. My wonderfully romantic, and culinarily talented husband had created this sumptuous feast for me! I am so lucky.

Bunk Beds

We had planned on buying a set of bunkbeds for the boys in the months following Christmas, and we kept our eyes on sales, as well as ksl.com and Craigs List for any good deals.
One morning in February, Clint called me from work to give me some happy news. A coworker of his had walked in that morning and announced to the employees that she had a free set of bunk beds, including mattresses for anybody who wanted them. Clint immediately jumped at the offer, especially because it was the size that we wanted, with a double bed on bottom and a twin bed on top. I am always happy to receive something free, especially if it is something I was planning on purchasing anyway, so this news made my day. Clint informed me that he would be bringing the bed home that very evening, so I set about rearranging the bedroom to make room for the bunk beds, getting rid of Tayson's very old (and ready to be donated) twin bed, and disassembling Brennen's crib. I did not have the time to go get any fun little boy bedding for the new beds, so I just dug deeply into our linen closet to extract old double-sized sheets and blankets I saved from my college days.
When Clint arrived home, we set up the beds, made them up, and prepared the kids for bed. Tayson was absolutely thrilled to be able to sleep on the top bunk. And Brennen sure thought the bottom bunk was fun to play on. He was not so keen on sleepin in it, though. He cried long and hard until he eventually fell asleep, then continued to wake up hourly throughout the night, pitifully wailing, "Bed, peeze!" (By bed, he was referring to his crib, which he missed horribly.)
The first night was the worst, and the next day his nap went very smoothly (probably aided by the lack of sleep the night before), and bedtime went off without a hitch the next night.
They both now love their beds, and enjoy a little slumber party together on Brennen's bed every Friday night. :)