Hallie's 2007 in pictures

Christmas "Wrap-up"

The food Our little family celebrated Christmas a day early. Sunday the 23rd was our Christmas Eve and we opened gifts the morning of the 24th. Later that afternoon, we traveled to Chris' Mom's who lives about an hour south of us. During the drive down Chris and I were talking about how easy-going our baby is. A mere ten minutes later, Hallie woke up from a nap and screamed at the top of her lungs for the remaining twenty minutes of the drive. We arrived at Mom's flustered and exhausted. But, we quickly relaxed when we saw the huge spread Mom had put out for us. She made the following homemade candies: peppermint bark, cashew brittle, almond joy, soft caramels, almond roca, and chocolate covered pretzels. I am tired from typing all of that. Then she fried homemade jalapeno poppers and made delicious pork tacos that we could "decorate" with sour cream, salsa, and fresh guacamole. Needless to say, we ate our way into Christmas comas. On Christmas morning, Mom made a hearty Denver breakfast scramble and cherry-cheese danish. Christmas night we had a traditional turkey dinner, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce, and Christmas Cran-Raz Jello-O. Santa should have dropped off a treadmill too!

The spirit of the season Chris and I enjoyed our Christmas Eve (23rd) by watching a video of the nativity and the movie Joy to the World. It was a wonderful way to place significance on the real meaning of Christmas. I cried while watching the nativity. I was particularly moved by the sheperds this year. After having my own child, I know how it feels after giving birth-- you want to show pictures of your child to the entire world! I thought how magnified that feeling must have felt for Mary and Joseph. They were alone with their sweet baby boy. But in addition to that, they had a secret-- Mary had given birth to the Savior of the world! How gratifying it must have been when sheperds came to acknowledge the most significant birth of all time. While watching the movie a beautiful soprano voice softly sang the words "Let earth receive her king!" That line of "Joy to the World" had never moved me as much as it did then. I cried and cried. On the real Christmas Eve, Chris, Judy, and I watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional followed by Mr. Kruger's Christmas starring Jimmie Stewart. I cried again. It felt so gratifying to feel love and gratitude in my heart instead of just anticipation for gifts.


The toys Hallie's highlights of the season were clothes from grandmas and great-grandmas and toys. She received puzzles, a toy mini-van, a book, and a stuffed puppy from Santa. Mom and Dad got her practical gifts-- such as a baby toothbrush, shoes, and bigger cloth bibs. Hallie's favorite toy was something Mommy and Daddy created especially for her. Because Hallie loves to play with buckles so much (trust me she loves buckles), Daddy dreamed up a contraption where she could play with buckles everywhere she goes. He told Mommy that we should make Hallie a backpack with buckles attached. So . . . I got to work and hand-sewed her a small Winnie-the-Pooh backpack that has two pairs of large black buckles on pink straps. Hallie's reaction upon opening it was priceless. She noticed the buckles first and then slowly produced a big bright grin.

Here comes Christmas . . .

We have lots to show you from Christmas. It will likely be accomplished over several posts for several days. Here is our first Christmas post. It is Hallie playing with her toys at Grandma Judy's house.

Hallie's Christmas Concert

For Christmas, Chris and I purchased a new camera so that we could show quick video of our growing baby. We do own a video camera, but it is much more complicated to load onto the computer. This way is much easier. Chris and I are still getting used to the camera. In the meantime, please enjoy a little Christmas concert offered by Hallie Laine.

Pine Cones and Hallie Berries

I cannot believe it is the 20th. It is practically Christmas already! I would still like to log some serious baking time in the kitchen. I need to grocery shop for Christmas Eve Clam Chowder (a Skaggs tradition) and Chinese food for "A Christmas Story" night (a new Hinkson tradition). I make egg rolls and wontons so we can watch a Christmas story because at the end of the movie, Ralphie's family spends Christmas day at a darling Chinese restaurant. We will likely watch the movie Saturday night. I also need to finish a little shopping. Where has the month gone? Where has the year gone for that matter?

Here are pictures of Hallie getting into the Christmas spirit.

Pink Polka Dots and the Vicious Vaccum

Here is Hallie. Hallie's greatest fear in life is the vacuum. She cries even if Mommy holds her while she is vacuuming. Regardless of Mom's attempts to "introduce" Hallie to the vacuum (showing he is friendly by patting it softly,) Hallie is still afraid of the vacuum.



Mom... why did you have to vacuum?



It's just sitting there, waiting to pounce at any moment.



If I am very quite, maybe it won't know I am here.





Yay! Mom put the vacuum away!

Merry Christmas!

Family Date Night at Chuck-E-Cheese's

Check out those smooshed chubby cheeks...

Since babysitters are few and far between, Chris and I have a lot of "family date nights" with Hallie. This past Friday, we visited Chuck-E-Cheese's around the corner from our apartment. I printed off a coupon from the Chuck-E-Cheese's website and we enjoyed pizza, soda, and games for two hours. We thought Hallie might be a little young to enjoy the atmosphere, but she was exhilirated by the lights and music. And our little Hallie is always excited to see other little people playing.

Our coupon alloted us 40 tokens and we used every last one. We put Hallie on little rides, had our faces sketched and played my personal favorite-- Skee Ball! If I could have a Skee Ball alley in my house I would never be bored. I thought I was pretty hot stuff when I scored a 2200. But, then Chris gave it a try and scored a 3400 without breaking a sweat! Despite my competitive streak, I still loved the game.

We had plenty of tickets so we were able to pick our prizes. I picked three long Tootsie rolls for Chris, as well as two plastic heart barrettes and a small box of crayons for Hallie. We really enjoyed our family date night!

NEWSFLASH!

I'm sick! After taking care of sick Chris and ill Hallie for two weeks while I watched all my friends succumb to sickness around me, I have finally caught the dreaded head cold. I feel lousy and tired. Okay, okay, enough whining already.

Enjoying the holidays

We are receiving lots of Christmas cards from family and friends! Thanks-- we just love them. I am not doing a traditional Christmas card this year; I will likely do a fun email and save up for a fabulous card next year.

We are really enjoying this season. We have watched lots of movies so far. Last night we watched "It's a Wonderful Life." Chris had one little tear but I was full-blown crying. It really is such a motivating movie. It makes me appreciate loved ones in my life and contemplate how I may have changed the life of others.

This morning I had friends over for a Christmas brunch. We ate and sang Christmas music on our karaoke machine. Good food and friends makes for a very pleasant morning.

And onto our Hallie-baby...

Hallie discovered how to say "Ow!" But she uses it in the wrong context. In fact, she loves to sing about "ow!" and composes little songs going up and down the scale singing "ow" and will add crescendo and decrescendo at various times. Did I mention that she can also sing "Row, Row, Row, Your Boat?" She really only gets out the "Row, Row, Row" part but can hum the "gently down the stream" part fairly well.

Hallie's fifth tooth popped out to say hello today! Her greatest joy right now is stuffed animals of any sort. She calls them all "baby" and loves to hug them. In fact, she is so committed to hugging her "babies" that she does a pitiful crawl where she crawls with one side and dives to the ground with her shoulder as she hugs her animal. It is a funny sort of "hobble-crawl."

These photos were taken by my sweet friend Amanda. She did a photo shoot for Shanda's baby Talia and our little Hallie. There are also some gorgeous formal shots but I am saving them to be revealed at a later date.

Daddy-Daughter

Here are my two "sickies" several weeks ago during happier times. Both are ill right now. I am still feeling well though. Thank goodness for that. We received snow this weekend. It is perfect snowman snow.

Our most exciting news right now is that our friends Luke and Ashley had their second baby-- an adorable girl named Aubrey Lyn. From the pictures she looks beautiful. That makes two beautiful daughters; their sweet Brooklyn Nicole is so pretty as well!

Pigtails!

Look what is happening to my baby! She is growing up before my eyes. Today we fixed her hair in pigtails for the first time and I am amazed at how grown-up she looks. Yes, she is still smalll but time is flying by so fast. Our baby is feeling much better than she has in days. She suffered her first ear infection. It was so heart-wrenching to take care of her while she cried pitifully. I know my pain was nothing to the pain she was feeling. But my heart felt crunched to pieces to feel her fevered body radiate heat and see the glazed look of her normally bright eyes. She is definitely feeling much better but I can tell she isn't quite her old self yet.





Also, check out what happened when I let her feed herself yogurt yesterday. I think the project was a flying success!

Christmas is coming quickly-- almost too quickly. I want to hold onto it longer!

Growing up... again!

I took these pictures just days after our sweet girl turned 14 months. Isn't she adorable? She has perfected the word "Mommy" and it melts my heart. She also can answer questions with "yeah." The only hitch-- she'll say "yeah" to anything. Example: "Hallie do you want to go to bed?" "Yeah," she replies in a nonchalant voice. I doubt she really wants to go to bed. She loves to jibber-jabber to herself non-stop. Most of the time it sounds like Chinese.

Girl's Day Out

Three generations of girls went to Downtown Disney on Saturday, November 10. Hallie, Mommy, and Grandma "Laine" enjoyed roaming the Disney store and ate lunch at the annex of Ralp Brennan's Jazz Kitchen.

Happy Birthday Chris!

Today, November 25 (it's past midnight at my house) Chris turns 29!

Snow baby

Ha ha ha! These pictures make me laugh so hard!

Thanksgiving

Even though the turkey and pie took much longer, my Thanksgiving pride and joy is my cornucopia. I have been making this ever since Chris and I were married. It is so fun to make something so pretty for our table. It combines two of my favorite hobbies: crafting and cooking. We had the most pleasant Thanksgiving in our apartment. Chris' mom and brother, Michael, were kind enough to visit and bring more good food. Our menu consisted of: Sage-Butter Roasted Turkey, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Corn Bread Dressing, Herb Dinner Rolls(made by me); as well as Pinapple Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans and Bacon, Asparagus and Cheese Sauce, and Cranberry Sauce (made by Mom Hinkson). For our appetizers, Michael made a to-die-for Spinach-Artichoke Dip and I made a cheeseball. For dessert, Mom made a lucious pumpkin cheesecake and I made my apple pie. Before dinner we quickly stated what we were thankful for-- the common denominator was family. Hallie loved the food (and has since polished almost all our leftovers). After dessert, we cleared the Thanksgiving table and put out our Christmas tablecloth and nativity. We wanted a fun way to usher in Christmas and we couldn't think of anything more to be thankful for than the Savior, so the nativity seemed perfectly appropriate.