New Year new start!

Ok, well 2008 has started and its been interesting from the start. We counted down at a friends house and then watched the Fireworks at the Space needle start off, and then stop,... and then start again. Yup, partway thru they just quit. Music still rolling and everything... Someone is gonna get fired over that one!! But then they started up again and everyone had a nice laugh. (Is this an omen?, and will we be laughing?)
On New Years day I made the main course for a multi-family dinner and it was SO GOOD!!! so here's the recipe. Though instead of basting on the sauce I marinated the fish for 3-4 hours, then broiled them. YUMMM! Best fish I've EVER made.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Barbeque-Halibut-Steaks/Detail.aspx


So a few happs over the past month. At the beginning of Dec. there was a massive storm that drenched western washington. Major flooding, hurricane force winds, downed trees and major power outages. Dans Brother who is a Branch President had to deal with this serious emergency and he's only been the BP for less than a year! He did outstanding! Over and above. Dan gathered a group together and went to help clean up the mess the next weekend. A local paper took pics and put Dan on the front page! I'll email a link to those interested in seeing it.

Dan was really in his element as this is the kind of stuff he has trained to do all this year (and really enjoys).
Dan has also been finishing the office section of his new shop/office and has got one of the offices ready to texture and paint. All he needs after that is flooring and to set up furniture. Kudos to him and all his efforts!

December was a goodbye month too, as we sold our goats and our rabbits. Feeling the urge to simplify has been strong lately and so we finally did it. We still have bees and cats. And are planning on getting chickens again... but we need to get better protection from predators for them. Our last two batches got eaten!

Gideon and Claire used to feed the goats and rabbits (respectively). Now they have less chores to do in the morning and I'm trying to transfer those good habits to somewhere else. :)

I've kept myself busy this last month singing. Yup, the girl who wouldn't go to choir with my family as a teenager had 4 different singing performances this last month. I sang with a group of six (SSSAA) on the 16th of Dec in sacrament meeting, Mary's Lullaby. Then on the 23rd I sang with the ward choir, a Christmas Cantata... very nice. I was asked to sing a duet in RS with one of my bestest friends Eva, and we sang 'O come let us adore him', and it was great! THEN on the night of the 23rd there was a Stake Christmas Devotional with a stake chior that is OUTSTANDING. (Our director was the assistant to the BYU Mens Chorus for a time. Boy has he got some SKILLS, and is good at teaching them!) We had 5 pieces to learn for that one and we practiced once a week for about 2 months. It came off beautifully.

So for December I marinated myself in song. It was musically delicious!

Now kids are back to school and I'm trying to get a more normal schedule going again. After spending lots of late nights and fun times at friends houses over the last two weeks its kinda nice to settle down. Though I will miss all the Jeff Dunham quotes we kept sharing with everybody!

Isaac is full on crawling and starting to explore... so I expect to get more excersize this year.

Another thing that happened to me over the last two months is I went on a Sugar Diet. Or rather a NO sugar diet. I hoped it would help Isaac's baby acne... which he still had a 7 months! Grrrr!..... So right before Halloween I cut it all out. I gave myself dessert (and a headache) on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Isaac's face has really improved and has had almost no new break outs, though the marks from the old spots are still there...sssslllooowwwlllyyy fading. Poor guy. But as a serious side benefit, I've lost 18 lbs. NO excersize, tons of food, just nursing and no sugar. WOW. I didn't loose a pound from two weeks after he was born to 7 months, then in two months I drop 18 lbs. So for anyone looking to loose weight... cut the sugar... and I mean ALL of it. I did use honey to sweeten things. Just no refined stuff. So on that happy, loose jeans note, I will sign off!