Jack and the Chocolate Factory

To celebrate the holiday season and the many events that happen in our particular family this month, we went to Theo's Chocolate in Seattle to take a tour of their facility. We got to see where they process the cocoa beans and make chocolate treats.

Of course, everyone on the tour had to wear hair nets to prevent contaminating the chocolate. And babies are not exempt from this requirement. Doesn't Jack look handsome?

Here are Mom and Jack in front of some machinery with those stylish hairnets. The tour was no "Willy Wonka" tour, but it was still interesting.

Here are Dad and Jack lookin' manly. Jack was the only baby on the tour and he did very well. Everyone thought he was just so cute and he smiled at all the ladies. Such a sweet little boy!

Happy Anniversary!

It's hard to believe it's been five years already! We celebrated our 5th anniversary on Friday, the 26th. We went to the Outback Steakhouse, Sander's favorite restaurant, which was actually our first date in over 7 months! I guess it's time to find a regular babysitter back home...

When we got back, Jack was so excited! He's just happy that he has two parents that love each other and love him, too! He said, "Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!"

Jack's First Christmas

Better late than never, here are some pictures from Jack's first Christmas. We spent it in Washington with the Culwells. We've actually been up in Washington since early December (with the slight detour to New York), so Jack is quite comfortable here now.

Here are Jack and Mom opening some presents. He was very excited, but he wasn't really sure what was going on. He loved seeing all the colorful paper and boxes. He actually preferred playing with the boxes over playing with his toys! 

Jack's Great-Grandma Culwell made him a brand new stocking for Christmas. Now he has one that matches his mom and dad! He decided he needed to check the authenticity of  his Target gift card. He's excited to start his shopping spree!

Here is Jack playing with his brand new toys. We had to put the boxes and wrapping paper out of sight. Then he found that his toys really were fun! He got some great new toys, along with a couple of very cute outfits.

And here is Grandpa Culwell admiring his bottle of "Lawyer Breath" Hot Sauce from his sister.

And here is a cute picture of Uncle Steve and his girlfriend, Shanai. It was great to be together with family and friends for a Christmas celebration.

Snow Family

Clearly we've had an unusual amount of snow this year in the Puget Sound area. It allowed for plenty of snow time hijinks like sledding, snowball fights, and of course, the traditional snowman. My sister and I made a little snow family and then decided to make them colorful. We named them Simon, Simone, and Simian (the baby).

Here we all are in a nice group shot. It's hard to tell, but Simon (the dad) is blue, the mom is pink, and the baby is purple. Interesting, huh?

The snowman family enjoying a refreshing break in the yard. They love spending quality time together!

And here I am with my creations. I've created LIFE!!

Snow Angel

How to make a baby snow angel:
(as illustrated by Jack)

Step one: Place baby in snow

Step two: Assist baby with arm and leg movements

Step three: Somehow get baby out of snow without ruining snow angel

Step four: Admire the perfect baby snow angel!

Family Pictures

We got some pictures taken at JC Penney in November when Jack turned 6 months old. Here are the pictures. They're scanned in, so they might not be the best, but at least we can share with everyone!

New York (the state, not the city) Trip!

We recently visited some family out near Rochester, New York. They invited us to visit and see some sites, along with getting some info on a possible job. The traveling was a little tough on Jack (not to mention us), but we are all still in one piece.

It was very cold, being winter, so Jack is nice and bundled up. Here are Jack and Dad in front of the Palmyra, NY Temple. This is the view from the path near the Sacred Grove.

This is the beginning of our walk. Jack's nose got pinker and pinker as we walked!

It's hard to see, but in the background there is a little bit of the stone fence that the Smith's built to mark their property.

Here are Jack and Mommy near the stones. Again, it was VERY cold!


Dad and Jack in front of a historic building.



And here is Mom in front of the rebuilt Smith home.

We had tons of fun visiting our family. Jack got to meet his cousins and his Aunt and Uncle. It was cool to be on the opposite side of the country. We had never been to New York before. And now we know, it's not all crazy taxi drivers and rats running the streets!

Preparing for the Winter

So in preparing for our trip to New York, I figured I should find out if Jack's snowsuit/winter-suit fits him. We hear it might be pretty cold there and perhaps we might see some snow. So I got it out of the back of the closet and strapped Jack into it. He wasn't terribly happy about being a giant puff man.

Here he is struggling to roll over in his giant suit. He was grunting and rocking side to side.

Finally success... but then, he had nowhere to go. He still couldn't move. He's getting pretty good at scooting around on his belly, but not in this outfit!

Here are just a few pictures of Jack on a walk the other day. He's wearing little tennis shoes, which he took a while to get used to! He actually rarely wears shoes, since he can't walk!

On another note, can I just say that I love blogs? I think it's very cool that we can all stay in touch and find out what is happening with each other's families. We can see our nieces and nephews growing up and hear funny stories about kids being cute. We can share our opinions and make interesting points that others can read.

I like posting on our blog just because I know in the future, my kids will like reading about what their lives were like when they were little. To keep me motivated, I like to pretend that there are hundreds of viewers out there who are just dying to know what is happening in our little apartment. If anything even mildly interesting happens, I have to post it because otherwise I will disappoint our fans! In reality, I bet only one or two people will actually get to the end of this paragraph. But for all you imaginary fans out there, I'll make sure to post lots of pictures of our exciting Christmas break coming up!

Peas, please!

Here is a video of Jack eating peas for the first time. It's hard to tell whether he likes the food we give him or not. It seems like he just tolerates it. He has eaten squash, peas, and pears now and he seems to have reacted the same to all of them.

In other news, Jack went to the doctor today for his 6-month checkup. He got three shots and he was very brave (although it's easier to be brave when you have no idea what's coming!). It turns out he weighs about 20lbs, 3oz which puts him in the 90th percentile again for weight. His doctor was surprised because he has been in the 90th for the past three appointments and apparently not many children are that consistent. He's just a big boy, what can we say. What's funny is that he is in the 70th for height, so he's a little chunky boy, and he's in the 99th for head circumference! We think having a huge noggin will make him extra smart!

Gingerbread Houses

First of all, I can't believe it's December already! Time has gone so quickly this year. It seems like everyone says that, but I really felt it this year!

Anyway, the Culwells have a yearly tradition of decorating gingerbread houses in November. I think the numbers have gone down as the years have gone by, but it's still fun! It used to be all 6 Culwell children and maybe a friend or two. Then as we grew up, my mom has had to bake less gingerbread! That's probably a good thing for her!


Here are Miriam and her friend, Kacie, working hard on their houses. It's always a mess, but in the end, the houses turn out great! Not to mention delicious!

Thanksgiving!

Our family spent Thanksgiving in Washington this year and we had tons of fun! Here is the table all ready to go, with Thomas waiting patiently for the food to be served.

And Jack waiting patiently for HIS food to be served. He didn't get to enjoy the turkey and gravy, but he got some squash and pears!

And here's the whole family sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, which was actually served in the afternoon, so it's Thanksgiving lunch. (Sander got cut off from the picture, but you know he's there.)

And, of course, the annual Turkey Bowl of the Soos Creek Ward. I know it's hard to tell, but Sander and Grandpa Culwell are in the center-left of the picture. Sander's got the ball. I'm sure they're getting ready for an outstanding play. The teams were old guys vs. young guys, and the old guys one, by the way.

It was pretty rainy and cold during the game. Here are Aunt Miriam and Jack on the sidelines.