MAGGIE HOLMES Photography and Scrapbooking Blog

Arizona Here We Come!

Arizona it is!!!
Wow - thanks for all of the guesses! I wish that you all would stop and say hello more often!!
So the winner is Jennifer Kallevig! She was the first one to post a comment and she was right! - I guess it wasn't that surprising since we are in Arizona every month practically!! lol!

So, the story is that we have always wanted to live in Arizona - ever since we got married. We have always just loved it there and we are both fans of the heat and not the cold! I don't know if either of us thought that we would ever really move there but things have just fallen into place the last couple of months and so... we are on our way. We will be in the Mesa/Chandler/Gilbert area - not sure exactly where yet but somewhere in there!
And, now that we are telling people and moving forward, things seem to be progressing along very quickly! We just put our house on the market last week and it is already sold! We had a bunch of showings through the weekend and we got an offer Saturday night. Crazy!!
I am kind of freaking out now because it is all becoming so real! I am definitely excited but it will be really hard and emotional to leave family and friends! I can't even talk about it with my family because it is just too hard. I am sure that we will be visiting a lot and they will be coming down a lot too!
We are excited to get down there though. It will be a lot of fun and I am sure that it will be a great experience. We can't help but feel like it is meant to be the way things are all falling into place!

I am sure there will be more to come on that subject as things get closer.

In other news we are all happy and doing well. We gave the boys a haircut the other day, including Nathan. He still has the bald spot/area along the back and sides of his head and the top had gotten so long. He looked like an old man with a fake hair-piece! So, we cut it really short - hoping that it will all start to grow in together now. He looks different though and more grown up! sad!! I need to take a picture of him! He's such a little cutie - our little "Nooter Punks." I think nicknames are so funny. When you think of names for your children you try to think of all the not-nice nicknames that the other kids could come up with so you don't curse them and then we end up calling them the weirdest things that we never would have thought of! It started as Nafanoots (because Tyler and Matthew called him Nafan) and also punkinoots (because Brian called him his little punkin) and now we call him our Little Nooter Punks!

Anyway - Congrats to Jennifer. Email me your address and I will send you a package!! Lots of great guesses! It was fun! I'll have to do something like that again!

It's Official

We are moving... the "for sale" sign just went up in our front yard yesterday.

This has sort of been in the works for a while and things have slowly fallen into place to make it all happen. We made the final decision about a month ago but couldn't tell anyone because of my husband's calling in our church. He is the Bishop of our ward and so we had to wait until the Stake President gave us the o.k. to announce it and put our house on the market.
We are excited and yet sad at the same time - sad to be leaving family and close friends - excited for new opportunities and to meet new people and make new friends. Excited for the future.

I was going to tell you where we are moving - [yes it is out of the state] - but let's make this fun.

The first person to post a comment with the correct guess to where we are moving will get a fun little goodie package from me. (I have told a couple of people so you are not allowed to play - obviously! lol)

Happy guessing!!

Tagged

by the sassy and hilarious Margie and the sweet Christina.

It's always fun to do these because you get to know everyone a little better and I am forced to share some things that I wouldn't have thought of sharing! Here goes...

Four jobs you have had in your life:

1. Medical Assistant : I always wanted to be a doctor but this was as close as I got because I chose to be a mama instead!
2. Model Home Cleaner : worked with my sister-in-law cleaning model homes for a while... not my fave job but we had fun!
3. Library Worker : hilarious - I know... worked in the library at Occidental College in California my freshman year of - checking out books to people and also filing books away!
   
4. Artist/Designer : love this one because I get to do it at home and on my own schedule - perfect for me and my life! plus it is fun!

Four movies you would watch over and over:

1. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
2. Free Willy (I am totally kidding - don't know where that came from!)
3. The Wedding Planner
4. Rush Hour

Four places you have lived:

1. Blair, Nebraska (Where I was born)
2. Sandy, Utah
3. Pasadena, California
4. South Jordan, Utah

Four TV shows you love to watch:

1. 24
2. The Amazing Race
3. The Today Show
4. American Idol
   

 Four places you have been on vacation:

1. Arizona
2. Hawaii
3. California
4. San Francisco (next month - so excited!)

Four websites I visit daily:

1. Two Peas
2. blogs of all my friends
3. Jinky Art Photography
4. more blogs

Four of my favorite foods:

1. seafood
2. pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
3. diet cherry vanilla dr. pepper
4. marshmallows

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. anywhere warm!

Four bloggers I am tagging:

1. Loni
2. Rhonna
3. Jessi
4. MaryGrace

Practice Makes Perfect

My mom and I have been attempting to master the art of gluten and dairy free baking for years now and let me tell you that it is no easy task. I have made many a batch of dry, crumbly cookies and cakes.
Well, after a lot of trial and error, I can finally say that I have mastered at least one thing - pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! I figured out the secret ingredient that solves the dry/crumbly problem - egg replacer. (This is a dry powdered product that can be found in health food stores.)

Here's the recipe:
2 C Gluten Free flour blend (I use the Authentic Foods Multi Blend Gluten Free Flour but you can also make your own - email me for details)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 Tbs egg replacer
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 C sugar
1 C shortning
1 C canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C gluten and dairy free chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugar, pumpkin, vannilla and egg. Mix dry ingredients. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir in chocolate chips. Drop onto greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes.

Trust me - they are delicious. We had some friends over for dinner last night and they said that these are the best pumpkin chocolate chip cookies they have ever had - even better than the non-gluten/dairy free version! Success!!!

Arizona Photos

Here are some of the pictures from our Arizona trip. I just downloaded them - didn't do any editing or any of that yet but wanted to get them on here! This is for you mom!! :)

1 and 2: Nathan's new love - this kid loves to eat!!
3 and 4: Brian and the boys riding the scooter at the park. Tyler really mastered it this time! He was going down small hills and riding that thing around and around! He loves it! I love to see him doing well at things like this!!
5: Matthew at the park being wild and crazy - his usual self!!
6: Matthew's new best friend - Ellie. She is spunky and so cute and they got along so well! The first thing Matthew would ask each day when we would pull up at the Edwards' house was "Is Ewie dere??"
7: The "boys" playing Jack Bauer. They all got BB guns and would go to the park at night to play! I swear Brian has just as much fun as the little kids when he gets together with his brothers and nephews!
8 and 9: Some of the cousins hanging out -
10: Brad and Sunny blessed their little guy, William, on New Year's Day. He is so cute. He is the one that was born on Thanksgiving Day when we were last there! Their little girl is Haylee Mae - such a cutie!

Home Sweet Home

The day after Christmas we left at 5am to drive to Arizona. We drove down with Brian's parents and stayed with Brian's brother, Steve, and his family. We just got back last night and it feels good to be home! Vacations are a blast but there is just something about home and your own bed! I have spent all day today taking Christmas down and unpacking. I knew I should have taken it all down before we left but I just couldn't bring myself to do it on Christmas day!
The boys were sad to leave all of their gifts from Santa at home but they quickly forgot about all of it once we got there because they have so much fun playing with all of their cousins. Brian has 3 brothers and 2 sisters in Arizona and then 2 of the other brothers came down with their families also. So, there were plenty of activities and tons of fun to entertain them from dusk till dawn!
And that's about what we did - hung out with family - playing, talking, laughing, eating! Good, good times! I am lucky to have married into such a fun family that I really get along with! I always have a blast! Plus it is no secret that I love to escape the cold and snow for such nice weather! I couldn't believe it - we were out at the park almost every day - the kids running around and playing - they really loved it.
Of course it wouldn't be a "typical" trip for us without some type of mishap! lol! One night, when the kids were all playing Power Rangers, Tyler fell and cut his head open! He fell right onto the cable jack that was sticking out of the wall and it made a big T-shaped cut right on top of his head. We took him to the children's hospital emergency room at about 7pm and didn't get home until 2am! They were packed and so busy and so disorganized! It was frustrating and exhausting! He ended up getting two staples in his head! The poor guy - he was hurting but he was so brave and such a good little boy! He just seems to amaze us lately with his progress and how well he is doing with his communication and social skills!! We really feel blessed that he is doing so well!! He was great with all of the doctors and nurses - so calm and nice and social! He is such a special guy! We love him!!
Well, I have a ton of pictures from Christmas and our trip but need to download them tomorrow. I will post about Christmas when I can include the pictures (hopefully in the next day or two). It was a great day - details to come!