Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

We celebrated New Year's Eve by playing in the snow at the Phoenix Zoo. Avery and Trent hadn't seen snow before and we weren't sure how they'd react to it. It took Trent a little while to get into it, but after a few minutes, he was having a good time jumping in, kicking, and running through the white stuff. Avery enjoyed watching all the kids, but wasn't too fond of getting her hands cold. I think both of them are fine with living in the desert and not having snow to play in during the winter. I think they would get used to it, though...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Pure joy...







As always, we're filled with gratitude for all the amazing gifts we receive from family and friends. Not just the toys, but the love that's behind them.

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I'm always on the lookout for great recipes that have the potential to become the stuff of holiday tradition. Let me tell you, I will be keeping this recipe because these cookies are amazing! They're closer to truffles than cookies. I think they taste best a day later. An added bonus: this is possibly the best raw cookie dough I've ever tasted. I found the recipe on the Baking Bites blog.


Chocolate Truffle Cookies
1 1/4 cups butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips
approx. 1/3 cup cocoa powder (for rolling)
approx. 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar (for rolling)

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar, adding sugar in slowly so that it doesn’t turn the kitchen white. Sift in cocoa powder and salt, and mix until well integrated. Beat in sour cream and vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low, blend in flour until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in chocolate chips.
Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in the cocoa powder and place on baking sheet. Do not flatten cookies. Cookies will not spread too much, so they can be placed fairly close together. If your kitchen is very warm and the dough is hard to handle (i.e. if you’re making these during the summer, you might want to refrigerate the dough for 30-60 minutes before shaping the cookies).
Bake for 10 minutes. Cookies will just barely be set. Let cool on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
When cookies have reached room temperature, after about 30-45 minutes, roll in powdered sugar until completely coated.
Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 4 1/2 dozen.

We're Famous!

I was sought out by the talented Kristie Stuckel of Bella's Bowtique to take photos of some of her new hair accessories. Avery and I have been featured on the Bella's Bowtique blog, as well as her Etsy shop. Check it out!

Construction - Day 13

Jessica shot a wedding on Saturday (12/19). Between the ceremony and the reception, we stopped by the new house to check the progress. The slab was poured this week. It really helps to get a feel for how the house sits on the lot, how big the back and front yards will be, etc. It seems like things have moved pretty quickly up to this point.


Here's a detail of the slab. More to come...

Construction - Day 6

We stopped by the house today to sign off on a few things. Construction continues to progress.


Jessica and Avery are right inside our front door in this photo. Exciting stuff!

Construction - Day 1

The agents at Old Stone Ranch where we are having our house built told us that they were scheduled to break ground the week of December 7th. They really weren't kidding! They sent us this picture today, and sure enough, ground has been broken.


We've had them put off getting started as long as possible. The standard build time for Shea homes is 135 days. If things go nominally, that would put us moving in at the end of April. We would like to time things so we move out of our current house just as Trent's school year is finishing up, which is at the end of May. We'll do what we can to push things out as much as possible, but with the housing market the way it is, builders are definitely anxious to get properties off their hands. We'll see how it goes...