Niece

Okay, so I am a little behind on posting about this, but I really wanted to wait until I actually saw the little tyke first and got to hold her.  My sister Jennie gave birth to her little girl Emma on December 8th.  She is the first grandchild and the first niece in my family.  Emma was born at 5:06 am and weighed 7 lbs, 4 oz. and was 19 inches long.  She is a tiny little thing.  You can see more photos of her at Jennie and Ryan's blog, Horne Happenings.  But these are the ones that we took the other day as a preliminary kind of a photo shoot.  I really need to practice more on Emma though to figure out how to photograph a newborn. 

One of Emma's eyes is still a little swollen so she gets a funny little squint going that is really funny.  But sometimes she can open both eyes all the way. 

Emma with her Aunt Jessica who absolutely adores her.  Jessica said that she is going to teach Emma how to swim and how to speak Spanish.  She said that I get to teach her to litigate.  Obviously, Jessica is already vying for favorite aunt.  Jessica wants to be called Tia Jessica instead of Aunt.

Emma with her Aunt Amy. 

Looks to me like she is going in for a little snack here.  Sorry Emma-girl, better see your mama. 

She really is a sweet little thing.  I love how she grunts with her entire body and sometimes gets cute little hiccups.  She has the cutest yawns.  Jennie says that she is a really good little baby and doesn't fuss much except for at night and even that has been getting better.  Her feet are teeny-tiny.  We think that she has Ryan Horne's lips and chin but she definitely has Jennie's strawberry blonde hair, even though she doesn't have much of it yet. 

She loves to scrunch up her little legs underneath herself and keeps pulling her arms out of her sleeves so she can hold them closer to her body.

Mama hard at work.

We love you Emma!

Life is a Highway

Today Paul and I drove from California to Utah in record time.  It took about 10 1/2 hours from our place to my parents' house.  Along the way we saw this sign which makes me laugh every time because my sense of humor is not very sophisticated.

We also listened to the Glee soundtracks (both of them) two and a half times, singing along with most of the Rachel and Finn songs. 

We ate an entire batch of salted brown butter rice krispie treats rather than stop for lunch.  My friend Sarah from law school got me hooked when she brought them to our "New Moon" viewing event, which was disturbingly fun even though the movie made me cringe.

Finally, when we got really bored, we attempted to quote quasi-ambiguous lines from Christmas movies and made each other guess which movie we were thinking of.  Wanna try?  Here's what we came up with:

1.  I want to make shoes!
2.  I'm gonna give you to the count of 10 to get your lying, yellow, no good keester off my property before I pump your guts full of lead.  One, two, ten .... Keep the change you filthy animal.
3.  She wore the dress, and I stayed home.
4.  You want the moon?  Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. 
5.  Bright light!  Bright light!
6.  Yippee-kai-yay...
7.  I want to be a dentist.
8.  I must get that hat back! Think nasty, think nasty, think nasty!






Scroll down for answers...






Ready for the answers?
1. Elf
2. Home Alone (technically though, this quote is from "Angels with Filthy Souls")
3. White Christmas
4. It's a Wonderful Life
5. Gremlins
6. Die Hard
7. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
8. Frosty the Snowman

Losing our minds

Since neither of us is working yet and we are finally totally unpacked, we have a lot of free time on our hands.  So this morning we decided to try out a local donut shop that a girl I met at church told me about.  It has reportedly stirred up some controversy with mental health groups which is why it came up in our conversation.  And you know how I like controversy.  Donuts too, for that matter.

And Paul and I have really been looking forward to California's many donut shops for a long time now after experiencing the dearth of good donuts in Utah.  Seriously, you cannot find a decent donut in that state.  Except maybe the blueberry donut at Mad Brooke's in Layton.

So Paul paused the 70's horror flick he was watching ("Empire of the Ants", which he said was about radioactive giant ants that killed people) and we went to this place called Psycho Donuts.  And while they weren't the best donuts I have ever had, they certainly made the donut experience more interesting with their wild flavor combinations, inventive naming, and the friendly girl behind the counter dressed in an orderly's uniform.  Which is the reason behind the controversy I guess. 

Names like "Cereal Killer".

Or "Headbanger's Evil Twin" which had raspberry filling "blood" oozing out.

Or "Mood Swing", "Glazed and Confused" or "Jekyll and Hyde".

Here are some of their other creations:

And I love how their sign for their holiday hours (which you can't see really well behind me) talks about when the shop is "in lockdown" and how there is a note on the door that says "Push, Dummy". 

I think they should add more half-and-half options like a vanilla and chocolate donut with names like "bipolar" or "split personality", but those are probably even more controversial.  Or maybe they already have it and that was the "Jekyll and Hyde" donut that they were already out of.

Anyway, I get a huge kick out of trying bizarre places and doing random things, and this was just about as random as it gets.  Although I couldn't bring myself to buy the "Hamburger Donut" with sesame seeds on top and strips of bacon in the middle of a glazed donut.  Gross.

Incarcerated

The first thing I think when I hear the name Martha Stewart is "she went to prison", not "she is an amazing cook" or "she created a business empire".  But I made her recipe for marble cupcakes this past week and they were delicious. 

And I have been feeling very Martha Stewart lately, and have been on a big baking kick.  Not because it is the holidays or anything but just because I like to bake.  And I found this really amazing recipe for soft gingerbread cookies, which I made to take to "Cookie and Movie Night" with Paul's cousins.  When I walked in with a big red platter of iced gingerbread, I have to say that the reactions really were just what I was hoping for. 

So even though it is sort of out of character for me and blogging about food might be boring, and I know I just posted about fruit pizza a month ago or so, I couldn't resist posting the photos I took of these gingerbread cookies.  I found the recipe here and I completely admit that her cookies are even more beautiful than mine - her piping skills are way better.  But mine turned out pretty nice too, so I thought I would share:

Soft and Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 egg
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg (*note - I was too timid to do a full 2 tsp of both ginger and cloves so I only did 1 tsp of each, but having made the recipe now I think it would be great with the original amounts, albeit with more spice - its up to you); blend into the molasses mixture until smooth. Cover, and chill for at least one hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Let cool for 10 minutes on pan. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost or decorate when cool with Royal Icing and sugar.

They really did stay soft and chewy and were delicious even without the icing.  I highly recommend adding this recipe to your holiday collection.

Tis the season?

When is it too early to start wearing things you (sort of) give yourself for Christmas?  And what do you mean you aren't supposed to give yourself something for Christmas?  I'll bet lots of people do this.  Just not openly.

Because I may or may not have done that this weekend.  Paul looked at me disapprovingly and said "Amy..." very stern and threateningly, which was adorable, but I pretended like I didn't know what he was talking about.  That's it.