Ratatouille

Saturday night, Ryan spent a good deal of time in the kitchen with the kids preparing dinner. Not just any dinner either, but Ratatouille. (I hadn't even heard of this dish until the Disney movie came out.) Anyways, it is a beautiful dish with a fabulous medley of vegetables and was very tasty. My kids however, were a little wary of some of the vegetables, especially the sauteed eggplant. Watching them eat the meal (or not eat the meal) was very entertaining to me. I watched as Clay took a piece of zucchini and observed it on his fork. He then very slowly took and bite and said "Hmm, I wont be eating that for awhile!" It made me laugh. I chuckled again when Kaycee asked, holding a piece of squash "will you take the nuts out?" I had to give them credit though for at least trying the Ratatouille, so we all then enjoyed dessert. A mixed berry trifle. I love it when Ryan makes dinner!

Some News

Ryan posted this on the Hunt Family Blog and then I thought we should post it here too. Here is our news:

It is with much excitement, and a little trepidation, that Honey and I would like to make an announcement.

Honey and I are expecting another little baby. Honey has her first appointment and ultrasound on Feb 8th.

As you might imagine, the experience we have had with and continue to endure with our baby Honey has been an opportunity of great growth. While it has been an extremely challenging time, we have also had moments of great peace that have expanded our understanding. Naturally, some hesitation exists, on my part at least, because of our recent memories. I think, though, we see the Lord's tender mercies through the occasional sadness and are learning that "It's ok". We are extremely excited to be graced with the opportunity to bring another special spirit into this world.

Right now, we would expect this little one in September; we'll see what the doc says.

We all do it....don't we??

So, I've wondered this for a while now. How many of you when you're reading someone's blog, click on their links to other people's blogs? You probably don't know who they are, but just for fun you click over. I do this all the time! I think I'm secretly hoping that I'll find a connection somewhere...that someone I know (or kind of know) knows someone I do or I stumble across someone's blog that I didn't even know had one. Does this make sense? We all do it, don't we?

Now, my next question. Assuming you're all like me, and randomly check other people's blogs, do you ever leave a comment? I do not. Sometimes, I want to because there is a connection, but I don't. They may not remember me, and I don't want to scare people. However, I would love whoever is reading my blog to leave a comment, I love comments!! Not necessarily random people per se, but those that share a connection some how. (A friend of a friend, or cousin of a friend or siblings in laws etc.)

So, if you're reading our blog and not leaving comments, I invite you to do so. I would love to know who's reading and checking in. (Watch, I just think people are reading and there are actually just a few of you...that's okay. I still appreciate you!)

Kaycee Ruth

This is Kaycee. Our little Kiki Woo. She is 3.5 years old and has such a care-free spirit. She is so fun to be around and has such a darling smile, even when she tries so hard to hide it. She loves to copy her older siblings, especially her brother. I have found them with their shirts off having a picnic in the front yard. She is so sweet and helpful. I love how she bounces around with excitement when she wants to show me her bed that she made so neatly, or how she's unloaded the clean utensils from the dishwasher and put them in their proper places. Sometimes, I even have to laugh when she gets after me, or tells me "You're evil." I didn't even know she knew that word. She has such a cute, little voice, almost cartoon-like, that I love to hear. She is at the stage where she wants to assert her independence and wants things her way, but she will always be our Kiki Woo. Such a sweet, little person to be around and love to pieces!

Warm Hearts, Warm Babies

Last night, I attended an enrichment of another ward, a "baby shower." They had opened it up to the Stake and I was thrilled to be there. There were about 30 sisters there to learn about a non-profit organization here in Colorado called Warm Hearts, Warm Babies. This is a wonderful organization where they "provide clothing, blankets, and essential items to premature and newborn infants, and young children, in crisis, free of charge." They also provide little burial outfits for those little babies that don't make it. This organization is amazing! It first started out as a mother who had a baby very prematurely, that ending up passing away. They brought her her baby just on a silver tray. She was devastated at this presentation and vowed to not let this happen to anyone else. Can you image?!

As you can probably tell, this particular part of the organization touches my heart. Providing little burial outfits for these tiny (or not so tiny) babies, when the family perhaps has nothing. When we had baby Honey, she was so tiny, about the length of my hand, and although she was so tiny, her body was so perfect. It wasn't until a nurse came in with a little, pink crocheted blanket (just smaller than a wash cloth) with a little hood that tied with pink ribbon, that we knew what to bury Honey in. It was perfect! A week or so later, I found out that this ward (the one that put on the shower last night) were providing these little blankets/hoodies to hospitals in the area. I was so grateful!

It is so sad that there are so many needy babies here in Colorado and throughout the nation. But thankfully, Warm Hearts, Warm Babies with their hundreds of volunteers are there to support these families in need. What a wonderful organization! Last night, we had two long tables piled high and deep with baby accessories. What a wonderful way to help! It was so touching and truly an enriching activity.

http://www.warmheartswarmbabies.org/

O Christmas Tree (and decorations)

You want Christmas stuff? This is the best time to get it!

If you recall our post about our Christmas tree and how we are planning on getting new decorations for it, well I found them! I hopped over to Target and hoped they'd still have some nice decorations on clearance, and I found some lovely ones. These little pearly, silver balls along with some pearly, silver beaded garland with some silver, pearly elongated decorations with a blue strip winding down them. Can you see my color scheme here? I thought next Christmas, or perhaps throughout the year, I would find some pretty ribbon to decorate with it too. So pretty!

But why stop at just decorations? If you recall, half the lights on our little tree, were not working. So, I started looking for trees. Pre-lit trees. I looked online at Home Depot and Lowes and found that they indeed, had wonderful pre-lit trees for about $30. However, it wasn't until Ryan went to King Soopers, our grocery store, that he found a steal! It is a 7.5 ft. Alberta Spruce with 900 clear lights for only $20! A smashing deal! Not only do we get a "more sophisticated" LOOKING tree, but a fabulous PRE-LIT tree as well! I was so close to putting this new tree together and decorating it that night, but had to put everything else away first. I usually get sad when it's time to take down all the Christmas stuff, but I bought a huge storage tub (also on sale!) and was excited to see if everything would fit in it. I was tickled that everything did. Mind you, that huge storage tub and the tree, in it's box, are still sitting where the tree was, but I am so excited to see and decorate this new tree. We need to make sure the tree works right, right?

Aren't we a sight?!

I stole this picture from my sister's blog. (Thanks, Patti).

This Christmas, was the first time that all of the LIVINGSTONE family had been together in a year and a half and aren't we a sight?! It's amazing at how much we've grown (literally) in just the last 10-15 years. It started with 7 children, 6 girls and 1 boy, to 14 children, 7 boys and 7 girls. Thus, producing all these beautiful children. 8 grandsons and 16 granddaughters (only our baby, Honey Mary, is not pictured).

I can't tell you how much I love my family, and even more so, these past two months! I have such amazing examples to me of strength, love, endurance, compassion and so much more. If you could spend just a few minutes with all my family, you would see how great they really are. We have so much fun together! We couldn't be as successful as we are (we really are pretty cool!), if it weren't for our wonderful parents. I've heard my dad tell several people that "you won't ever know how much your parents love you, until you have a little one of your own." So, to all my family, I love you.

More Wedding Bells!

The last engagement announcement from the HUNT Family is that of Carla and Kyle. Kyle proposed to Carla on Saturday and she said "YES!" Congratulations!! Now, Miss Carla sports a beautiful engagement ring along with our sister, Katherine, and our sister to be, Angela.


Now, for those that may have forgotten, there are 7 children in the Hunt family, and the first 4 boys all got married in the year 2000, just 99 days apart! So it shouldn't be any surprise that they would finish with the last three children in the same year, 2008.

We look forward to Aaron and Angela's wedding on February 15 in Salt Lake. Carla and Kyle's on April 12, here in Denver, and Katherine and Michael's, tentatively set for August, in Bountiful. We have all waited patiently for these individuals to steal our siblings hearts and we are so happy to welcome them into our family.

Party Time!

Here's the latest

Here is Rylee, just minutes after she lost her first tooth! She is ecstatic. I think mainly because we told her if it wasn't out by Friday, the dentist would have to pull it (and can you believe I would have been charged $170 for that!!). So needless to say, her parents are very pleased too. :)

I thought I would show you Rylee and Kaycee's hair cuts too, done by yours truly. (With a ton of help from Christina and Rebecca. Thanks ladies!). So, here are two of my pretty girls, and one handsome boy!

I said I wasn't sore...

I wish someone would have taken a picture of this, but one of the highlights (for me) of this Christmas was when me and my sisters (all but one) played some floor hockey. I found it interesting that this was the first time any of us had played (and we call ourselves Canadians!). We played Christmas Day at Dad's Stake Center. The teams were set up as the 3 "big girls," including Jeannie, Marcie and Patti, against the 3 "little girls." Which were Micki, me and Reecy. We first started out playing the length of the gym until we found ourselves so winded by the time someone scored the first goal, we decided to do the width of the gym. It was a great time. Here are some of the games highlights/awards:

Best defense: REECY (at one point she had "boxed out" Jeannie three times into the metal partition. Pays to have some bball skills!)

Best finger cruncher: HONEY (oops. I got Jeannie AND Marcie. Probably not the best defense eh?)

Best Slash: JEANNIE (yeah, right to my throat! I'm okay though, luckily it only slapped it)

Best wipe out: PATTI (fell when running without time to stop her face from hitting the floor. Ouch! But she jumped right up and started playing again - way to take one for your team Pats!)

Best offense: MARCIE (she was everywhere!)

Best Face-off person: MICKI (I think she got the ball every time she was up)

Most goals for the "little girls": REECY (she got three of the four)

Most goals for the "big girls": I'm not sure, but they beat us by two. (I hate losing!)

It was so much fun! And, what a great work out! They day after, Jeannie called over to mom's house as we were leaving to come back to Colorado and asked if I was sore. I told her I wasn't, but it wasn't until I had been driving for about 3 hours when I noticed my abs were sore and I had bruises on my hands from holding the hockey stick. I still have a bump and bruise on my shin, but all totally worth it!