Faces to go with the row of cups

Christmas in California

Christmas was wonderful! Everybody was home on the Bennion side, including the newest in-laws, Krissy and Ida. Cute place settings, Mom!

Well our Christmas was full of comforting traditions. A little backgammon...

A dozen artichokes...

Lots of family eating...

A couple hidden almonds in the tapioca...
And a long row of cups with our names on them.

Jane had her "comfort" belly button. She introduced her ring to it quite nicely.

Jane got lots of things to wear for Christmas. A tiara, sequin purse, tu-tu, shoes, boa, Princess pajamas, and the lovely ring. She's in heaven.

Now for this sweet little Audders: Doesn't she look sweet? Well, she is! But she is also very strong and very into chomping her little gums into everything that comes along. See how discombobulated my hair is? Audrey. See the bruise on my chin? Audrey's mouth. (Side note. See also the black pearl earrings? Adam!)

Here is Audrey's process in action:

I love how we are all just watching like it's a boxing ring. 5 bucks on Audrey! haha. Just kidding, I rescued Jane pretty fast.

Sunny Cali

Our stay in California was beautiful! Yes, it was rainy and a bit overcast some days, but we really had some lovely days as well. I took a few pictures of one of our walks. Jane is crying after Uncle Porter and Uncle Samuel because she wanted to ride a bike like they were. Isn't that truly the worst moment as a child--being left out? But Uncle Richard let her help walk Jens (their Cockapoo) and the world was sunny again (metaphorically speaking).

First time for everything

Hi there. So this is my first time contributing to my own blog. I think it's been running for about 8 months - but whose counting. Laura does a wonderful job posting cute pictures and eloquently writing about why we are "lovin livin." I sure do love her.

I've been somewhat busy as of late. I am actually too busy to make this a long blurb about how I would rather be oil painting, horseback riding, finishing my basement, starting my cedar wood strip canoe, buying a 4-plex, and buying an ice-cream franchise. Instead I just want to say thanks to my wife for doing a most amazing, selfless, and loving job raising our girls. Sometimes I feel like she is raising me :). The little ones are obviously cute and adorable, but that's because they got their mom's charm. The girls got all their good looks from me since Laura still has all of hers.

Thank you all for writing comments and keeping in touch. You make it all worth it!

Louisiana

Doubtless there are many more pictures to come of the Marriott Boys' trip to the Sugar Bowl this weekend, but for now let 's just marvel about these. One night Adam was at Gram and Judge's house (they live right on the bayou) and went outside for a gander (which means for a look-see) but couldn't really see much since it was almost pitch black. I don't know why--neither does Gammie--he decided to even take a picture, because I wouldn't have expected anything but black. But look what he got!

So if it had been me I would have thought, "Oh wow, cool! That was an awesome fluke of nature." You photographers out there would understand how this all happened, I guess. Adam understands a bit more than me, too, which is why he thought he could do better and changed a few settings. Here's what he got next:Looks like pixieland to me. Isn't that awesome?!?!

Where is Christmas news?

I have tons of pictures to bombard the blog with but I made Adam take the camera back to Milwaukee with him so I wouldn't have to tote it in the airport. So I'll be doing a big Christmas post in January...
I'm staying here in Monterey until at least Jan 5--maybe longer if the girls get the Chicken Pox in time! Uncles Samuel (10) and Porter (6) both had chicken pox since we've been here so we're sure to get it. I am actually very glad they'll both get it and be done with it for their lives. But apparently if they are contagious when are flights are scheduled, we'll have to wait until they aren't! Time will tell.

Like father like daughter

When I ask Adam to tell me what he was like as a child, I usually get a few stories about him sneaking under the kitchen window so his mom couldn't see him running away down the block, sneaking away from joy school by himself and walking home, etc. He was always wanting to be free doing something fun.
So we are here in California for the holidays (well, Adam has gone back to Milwaukee to catch a flight to Louisiana for the Sugar Bowl now) and Jane is starting to exhibit this same behavior. She has learned how to open doors here, since they are much easier to open than ours, and is abusing her talent, if you ask me. We were all in our room going to sleep the other night when we saw this little head bobbing along the wall, a hand reach up to the doorknob, and then some pattering down the hall even after Adam's stern "Jane!" Sneaky sneaky.
Today she wouldn't stay down for her nap. Gammie kept putting her back, the little stinker (Jane, not Gammie). Finally my mom came in laughing because she'd just watched Jane come out of the room on her bottom, scoot down the hall on her little rear until she was "all clear," then stood up, brushed her hands off with one of those "well that's taken care of" sighs, and ran off to play. She is certainly Adam's girl.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

My brother, Richard, scored us all some free tickets to the Aquarium while we were there for the holidays. Monterey is pretty famous for the Aquarium. It was fun!

Pointing to the otters

Watching the otters.

Jane and Adam stood under the wave tunnel. Very cool.

The Marriott girls at the touch pools.

Christmas in Milwaukee

We had part of Christmas a bit early so we wouldn't have to take some big and heavy items (a Kitchen Aid) to California, save room in the suitcases, and use some of the items (video camera, Christmas sweaters) before the big day. With no Christmas tree, our little ficus had to do instead.

This is Jane's 3rd Christmas. She can finally unwrap the paper! But she still doesn't understand Santa Clause. I should talk about him more, I guess.

Question: Who is the funniest person in our family?

Answer: Jane

Jane's 2nd birthday

What a fun day! Jane's birthday was December 4th--yesterday! The day before was Sesame Street's birthday theme--perfect tutorial for Jane. She was SO HAPPY all day long. From waking up to balloons in her bedroom, to the birthday song, to the cousins, to the candles, she was smiling so hard I think it made her cheeks hurt, as you can see in the cupcake picture! Pure joy in her little face! I know she really felt special. We practiced showing two fingers for "2," and found the easiest way was to use both hands. My little 2 year old! At her party (with Jack, Winfield, Charles, Audrey, Kate, Mommy, and Daddy) we played the piano, "Happy, happy, birthday!" (Duck, duck, goose), and "Pin the flower on the stem." We had confetti cupcakes and Jane's favorite ice cream: Peppermint.

The fastest man is my husband

Adam came home yesterday with a funny look on his face and made me guess what happened. Promotion? No. It was something good. But how would I ever guess that he won a handheld Dyson at work? He was the fastest in the company (until 2:00, when he became the second fastest--by half a second--to a girl who practiced all day) at assembling a big Dyson. Here's to 2nd prize! I can't wait to clean out the cars.

Thanksgiving disaster

Well, that's what the pie was. I was just going to comment on Kate's post (on our family blog) and confess to all the pie disaster but I also wanted to post a picture of the centerpiece (taken a few minutes ago rather than on Turkey Day), so I may as well make this a grandiose and lengthy post. Let's take the good news first.

1. 
   The centerpiece. No, this is no work of amazement. It's just what you see. 4 candles in the shape of pears on a silver platter and some red prettiness. But the stroke of genius was what I used--at the last second--as the red prettiness. Last year I had the missionaries gather fall leaves as their contribution to dinner and used them in the centerpiece. We didn't have the missionaries this year. I didn't want to gather leaves. Lo and behold, as I was wishing for holly berries, I saw our stash of FIREBALLS in the candy jar. Yes, these are the same fireballs that we inherited from my parents when we got married; I think the only person who has eaten them is Neill. They are proof that candy lasts as food storage. So I just popped a slew of them out on the platter and am mighty pleased with the result. Thank you, Kate, for being impressed. If anybody else is as well, please say so.


2. 
   My house. It was really quite prepared and clean. For this very reason, I am not as ashamed as I probably ought to be about the pie.


3. 
   The turkey. My first turkey! I cooked it in an oven bag with rosemary, sage, thyme, celery, onions, and apples. It DID turn out well and I even saw Christian eating some as leftovers the next day when there was Winfield's birthday pizza freshly delivered. That's when you know it was good! It wasn't dry and had great flavor. Why can I boast about this? Because I am now prepared to tell you about the pie.
   

The first risky thing I did was to use just raspberries rather than raspberries and blackberries (which equals a razzleberry pie). The blackberries were absent from Milwaukee groceries. The second mistake was that I didn't make it before putting the turkey in the oven. So, I knew I'd have to bake the pie just as we would all sit down to dinner. I really felt like a culinary show host at this point: I pre-measured my ingredients and had everything assembled and ready to toss, fill, flute, and slide into the oven. Only one dish would then go into the sink. Does anybody appreciate that? I sure do. And again, this is why I'm not really as embarrassed as I should be about making a pie disaster. Is a good pie better than a clean kitchen? I don't think so. I mean, I'm sorry for Kate because she's the one who took the first bite, and that must have been awful. I'm certainly not proud that I caused her to spit out the pie, and cry out "Laura!" I just crinkled my brow and said, "That bad, huh?" I've never seen Kate spit out my food before. Next she choked out, "Salt!" And that's when I remembered taking my 1-cup measure to the wrong jar. Instead of sugar, I'd baked that raspberry pie with salt.

Everybody in the ward knows about it now. Who should I invite to dinner?