Low Fat Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cookies

This is for you Aleisha! I found this recipe on another bloggers site and I tried them tonight. They tasted pretty darn good, so I thought I would share it with everyone.
1 box of spice cake mix
15 oz. pumpkin puree
1 bag of chocolate chips
Mix all together, bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
Not only is it low fat, but it was super easy with not a lot of mixing. When I took the first bite, I thought, "Hmm, spongy and it needs butter (even though that would defeat the purpose of making them low fat.)." But after the second one I was hooked! I actually really like the batter just plain. There aren't any raw ingredients in it, so I don't feel so bad licking the bowl. I am trying to figure out a way to fatten it up and turn that batter into a pie somehow. I imagine this batter in a pie crust and a mound of whipped cream on top, but I think I would have to add something to the batter to make it a little more moist. I will keep you posted if I come up with it, if anyone has ideas let me know.

4 Weeks Old

Hannah is already 4 weeks old today. Just wanted to post some pictures, I especially love the last one. Such big brown eyes, she is so cute!!!

So Sad

How pathetic is it of me to add a counter to my blog and notice that it only goes up when I look at it. I am so lonely.

Putt-Putt Fun

The Monday before Grandma left we all went to play putt-putt for Family "Home" Evening. I put home in qoutation marks because sometimes we like to go out and do something fun for our FHE's. This was the first time Emma has ever gone to a putt-putt place and she really loved it. Miriam was really into it also, she had to get the ball in the hole before moving on to the next. Tobie was a little anxious and kept putting his ball in the hole when he didn't get it the first two tries. We kept having to call him back because he would get like 3 holes ahead of us.

I was not going to be outdone just becuase I had a newborn hanging on me. Needless to say we did not keep score, for obvious reasons.

After putt-putt we went inside to the Arcade part and played on some of the games. You get tickets depending on how many points you get on any particular game. Then you take these tickets to the counter and trade them in for prizes. Usually the prizes are pretty lame, cheap-o ones that you could have bought 20 of with all the money you wasted on the game in the first place. But we still play them for the novelty of it, and the kids feel that they have accomplished something really cool. Well since the prizes were slim pickens the kids all decided they wanted these teeth with fake silver teeth. They had a lot of fun with them, and it only took a few days for them to be lost. But we got some really good pictures, the one of Miriam at the botttom was Theo's and my favorite.

Hannah's Blessing

Hannah was blessed today. She was so pretty in her white dress and bow. Unfortunately when Theo was blessing her she decided to start screaming her head off. No one could hear what he was saying, and even when Theo said amen the men in the circle didn't pick up their heads because they didn't hear him, and they were right beside him! That is how loud she was! Theo filled me in on what he said and I think he did a great job, as usual.

Muir Woods

We finally got to make it to Muir Woods this Saturday. A few months ago we tried to go with my sister and mom, but we couldn't find a parking spot for a couple of miles away and I was 8 months pregnant having to relieve my bladder every 30 minutes or so. So a 2 mile trek just to get in wasn't something I think I could have managed. But when we went yesterday we really lucked up and got a great parking spot. The weather was pretty chilly, but we came prepared with jackets although Miriam wouldn't put hers on for anything. It was really difficult trying to get my kids to walk through the place. We only went through one grove of trees called the Cathedral Grove and that took us about 2 hours to walk a half mile. We had Tobie running ahead and Emma not wanting to move and Miriam was in the middle doing one or the other. They seemed to enjoy it, but I think it would be nice to go with just Theo and I and see more of the woods.

Emma was fascinated by this creek. She would stop beside it every other foot or so and just stare. We couldn't get her to move on a few times and then when she finally would start walking she started waving and saying 'bye-bye' to the creek.

Family Home Evening

Last week we had a lesson on Daniel in the Lions' Den. After talking about the story we had the kid's decorate these plates and pretend they were Daniel with lions. Tobie was Daniel and the girls were the lions. Emma especially got into the part of the lion, she was growling at everyone, it was a fun night.

Catching Up - Labor Day

I have been meaning to upload lots of pictures, but with a newborn my time is really crunched. Here are our pictures from Labor Day. We went to Limontour Beach and it was a really beautiful warm day there. Usually the beaches here are freezing, so I made sure that I brought jackets for everyone in case we couldn't get in the water. But as you can see there was no problem there and it was a very fun day.

San Fran

Saturday we ventured into the city to show Theo's Mom around. We don't seem to have much luck when we go into the city, we always find that there are too many cars and not enough parking spaces. I thought this was a cool picture even though the sun was behind us and the wind was horrible. But as much as I get frustrated at this city you have to admit the views are spectacular.
We went to down Lombard Street and then headed to Coit Tower. I didn't get a picture of Coit Tower, but here are some pictures from the top. It is 12 stories up and after getting off the elevator I could feel the Tower swaying. I don't think Miriam liked it either, she kept sitting down and saying that she wanted to go down now. I didn't blame her, so we didn't spend too much time up top, but I got some pretty cool pictures. Here is one of the Bay Bridge.

Here is a picture of the downtown area. I can't remember what the name of the pointy building, but it's pretty famous.

This is back towards the bridge, you can see it very clearly in the background. We do seem to get lucky every time we go that there is never a lot of fog, it's always very clear.

After the Coit Tower we were going to try China Town, but after driving past the street to get in we figured that a double jogging stroller would not be sidewalk friendly. So we decided to try Golden Gate Park. First we got lost, then we got stuck in horrible traffic. After an inching along for about an hour we finally made it to the park. Unfortunately we couldn't find any where to park, that place was packed. So must of our day was spent in traffic which is the story of our lives when it comes to venturing into the city. If anyone has some recommendations we would gladly be open to them since we don't have a very good luck in that department.

My Little Preschooler

Miriam started preschool today, and boy was she excited. We are lucky enough to have a preschool here that offers free schooling to Coast Guard. Probably because without the Coast Guard paying for everything we would be living in a van down by the river! She has another LDS Coastie friend that goes there, so there was a familiar face for her there. She wasn't shy or anything, she walked right in and didn't even turn around or freak out.

Here she is in front of her cubby. Doesn't she just look so cute! When we picked her up later her hair was completely down. I guess tomorrow I will just leave it down. Oh well, she was adorable for her first impression anyway.