Grease

This was a greasy pot left to soak overnight. The color wasn't enhanced at all. (Sarah will probably not endorse this post, but I thought it looked cool.)

Dry Pack Canning

Dan and I have been on a food storage kick lately. Well, actually, we've finally decided that it's about time that we START our food storage. We have no excuses any more . . . . our house has plenty of storage space, and we can no longer just drive to our family's house in an emergency. We had a great emergency preparedness enrichment night last Thursday, which I left with an overwhelming realization at how unprepared we really are. So I was excited to find out that some women from our ward were planning a trip to the dry pack cannery. It's time to get prepared!



We went on Saturday and canned food for over 3 hours.

Kandice was a canning machine!

Nollie and I show off some of our finished cans.

We canned a lot of food, and although it was exhausting (those flour bags are heavy!) we all felt like we had accomplished something good. It's great to see those cans on shelves in our basement. Our food storage is still nowhere near what it probably should be, but we've gotten a good start and it feels good.

Fire Museum

Today the girls and I met up with a group of friends from our ward and visited the Central Ohio Fire Museum. It was a fun little outing. The museum is housed in a restored 1908 fire station. I love old buildings and I wish I would have gotten a picture of the outside. We took a little tour and got to see some really cool old firetrucks.

But for the kids, the highlight of the trip was dressing up like firemen and playing in the children's play area!

Annie loved sliding down the pole!

Even Leah was loving it! She loves being a part of all the action.

Playing in the firetruck with their friend, Nessie.

Martina McBride Concert

We had a great weekend. Friday night we went to the Martina McBride concert at the Nationwide Arena, thanks to the free tickets we got from some ward members. We met up with Dave and Laurie Gustafson before the concert for dinner at Buca di Beppo . . . . yummy! Ater stuffing our bellies full of delicious bread, salad, and pasta, we walked across the courtyard to the arena. The concert was so fun!! She has such an incredible voice. Even Dan liked it, and he is not a country music fan. Although his favorite part of the night was the encore when she sang Don't Stop Believin' by Journey and Hit Me with Your Best Shot. My favorite songs of the night were This One's for the Girls, In My Daughter's Eyes, and My Baby Loves Me. Thanks to the Christensen's for watching our girls (we owe you one . . . . I mean, two!) and thanks to Emily Johnson for the pictures! It was fun to see you guys there.

Our Girls

Cole Family Picture

It was so fun to be all together for Christmas!

Christmas in California

Sarah's whole family made the pilgrimage back to Saratoga for Christmas this year. For us it was our first trip back west since our move to Ohio and an appreciated break from the snowy weather. We were welcomed with a host of eager hands to hold and take care of our girls. I think some people were even excited to see me and Sarah. With five grandchildren now for Kevin and Gina, a total of 16 people overran the Cole household for the week and shared Christmas morning together. (Thus the monstrous pile of presents under... or, around the tree.)


Annie admires her new doll house that Santa brought while Leah plays with her new animal train set that moves and flashes, and an overly enthusiastic female voice continuously sings an annoyingly contagious song (that I can still hear playing in the back of my mind... ...climb on board the animal train, come on, everyone...).




Annie loved opening her presents. This was a pink phone that she has been convinced for the last month and a half Santa would bring her. Looks like she was right.


Leah loved it too, but was easily distracted.


Annie also got a Leapster, an educational video game system that tricks kids into learning by masking it behind technology and princesses. Sarah got a new purse-sized camera, some jewelry, new clothes and a coat. I got a flash for my camera and some new shirts, ties, and sweaters for work.


The sisters all got matching pajamas. Aren't they cute? (Especially the one on the left.)


Here are the three cousins, Emmy, Leah and Halle in their Christmas pajamas.


Scotty and Annie, the other two cousins, enjoyed some good times together. They didn't always look like this, but they had fun most of the time.




One afternoon we went to the park to watch Mike fly his model airplane. All was going well until the plane's graceful landing approach was abruptly interrupted by a deceivingly close soccer goal post. Mike was sorely disappointed.


After Christmas we spent a few days down in San Luis Obispo where Ashley was playing in a basketball tournament. We had a blast one day cruising around the sand dunes at Pismo Beach on a couple 4-Wheelers.


Michael, tearing it up.


We had planned on touring Hearst Castle on the way home, but were surprised and disappointed to find all the tours sold out for the day. Instead we drove home along the coast on Highway 1, where we were able to enjoy the windy-roaded scenery for six hours, rather than the three hours it would have taken to get home the conventional way. A beautiful drive, just a little long.


On New Years Eve we fired up the hot tub and soaked in the final minutes of 2007.


The pool was a numbing 40-some degrees, but that didn't stop us from a brief dip at the stroke of midnight.