Out with the Old . . In with the New

Here's a shout out for a Happy New Year! Wow 2009! I've been doing my usual out with the old in with the new activities which in part includes going through hundreds of digital photos, selecting the best of them to edit and upload to Snapfish for printing. This really helps with taking inventory of our events from the past year. So here is a list of 10 activities from 2008:

Quick Marker Family Recap of 2008

1) Jacob was baptised and joins cub scouts.
2) Dennis and AnaLee took a 9th anniversary/work trip to Las Vegas and Hoover Dam.
3)Cluff, Sorensen and Crowther Reunions
4) AnaLee & Khora flew to Delaware to visit Hackwell Family while Dennis took the other kids to the Greys River area camping with the extended Marker Family.
5) We found our very first Geocache and have added a few more to our log book throughout the year.
6) Dennis & AnaLee played co-ed softball for the Santaquin City team.
7) Isaac, Afton & Jacob participated in Soccer, Dance and Piano, respectively.
8) Harvest season activities ended with new shelves in the storage room and a new freezer to store the canned and frozen goods.
9)Work begins on finishing our basement which is nearly complete!!
10) Driving almost 900 miles back and forth during the holiday season to be with family.

In 2009 we’re looking forward to:
1) Finishing the basement
2) Celebrating our 10th Wedding anniversary
3) Continuing with our landscaping projects
3) Varied sports and school activities
4) Camping/fishing/geocaching
5) Isaac turning 8 and starting Scouts. (He will be baptized in January 2010)
6) Getting a year older and hopefully wiser too!

Some of my own personal goals for 2009 include:
1) Taking an on-line class (probably in writing)
2) Learning to play the guitar
3) Reading 20 books a month
4) Begin a Spanish course - (We have access to Rosetta Stone through Alpine Online.)
5) Continue with my Digital Scrapbooking
6) Put together the school/craft room, which includes moving the boys downstairs and shifting the girls into their old room.

Danish Aebleskiver

This Christmas I received a very fun new pan with a new recipe for Danish Aebleskiver. Jacob saw it and thought it would be so fun to make so we tested it out this morning. I thought that I would share the recipe here so that you can try it. They are very easy to make and very filling, but a little tricky to flip in the pan. I'm still getting the hang of it. Let me know what you think.

2 Cups flour
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs separated

sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Add buttermilk and egg yolks. Beat egg whites until light and fluffy, forming soft peaks. Gently fold egg whites into batter.

Heat Aebleskiver pan on medium heat. Grease each cut and fill 2/3 full. Cook for about 1 - 1 1/2 minutes per side until golden brown. Flip using toothpick. When both sides are done serve with a sprinkle of confectioner's sugar. Best when served warm.

Optional: Fill each cup only a 1/3 full with batter place a small amount of fruit in each cup and cover with an additional 1/3 batter.

Yealds about 35-40 Aebleskivers

Basement Update

Well, even though I won't have a finished basement to walk through on Christmas day, I'm still as excited about it! Dennis and I were up past 2am last night painting one of the bed rooms. Looking at it this morning we probably shouldn't have done it so late, but it's all good. We're still working on getting everything painted before the carpet can be put in. That's about all that is left of the major work. Then the great guys that have been working on this job can come in and do the finishing touches, like putting in the light switches and door knobs. It's been fun, with the one exception of picking out carpet. We still haven't ordered the carpet yet. We've been a bit non-committal about it. Ok, I've been a bit non-committal about it. What can I say, I want a guarantee that I'll like it. So probably sometime after New Years. I'll take pictures!

Vitamin C

Ok, I have a theory that I'm putting to work this cold season. Last year we went through three cases of oranges during the holidays. We did not get sick at all during that time. So I decided that if it takes 3 cases of oranges to keep us healthy we're going to do it. Right now we're working on our 2nd case. In my opinion it is well worth the $7 per case! I'll keep you posted on how it works.

Beautiful Snowfall

December 8th brought the most beautiful snowfall here in "apple valley". I think we got more snow here than anyone around. It was the light fluffy kind that just makes everything so quiet and still outside. It was also very quiet in my house because the kids made good use of it outside. They put together a very nice snowman, before the demolished it, of course. Khora was having so much fun helping out. She probably doesn't remember much about snow from last year. It sure looked pretty against our house trimmed with blue and white Christmas lights. It sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

The Polar Express

My parents took our three oldest children on a ride on the Polar Express, aka the Heber Valley Creeper. They had so much fun it was all they talked about the next day. They all got dressed up and wore their PJ's, under their coats and boots of course.


Mrs. Clause was there also because she ran out of sugar. She makes all the goodies you know. The secret ingredient in the cookies is . . . an elf's giggle.


They got to sing songs and visit and just have a lot of fun together. The kids talked alot about the Elves.
These are a couple of the Elves helping out on the train. Sparkle and Lolly Pop. Sparkle was their favorite, she's got her arm around Isaac.

My favorite part of the whole thing was the shopping time Dennis and I had while they were gone. They left at around 5:30 pm and didn't get back until after 10pm. (In fact they beat us home by 15 minutes. The children were all in bed at that time and Jacob yelled a good night to us when we got home. What a busy night!

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!! What fun memories!

Wolf Badge

This past week at pack meeting Jacob received his Wolf patch for Cub Scouts. He turns 9 in a couple months so he has been working so hard to get it completed. I think part of the motivation for it is that we told him that when he gets his wolf we will get him a pocket knife. He has been really motivated and brings his book to me so we can pass things off! Along with his Wolf he also earned 1 gold arrow point and 4 silver arrows. It has all been really fun for our whole family this past year. We've been able to do a lot of the requirements together. Last weekend we all went bowling so Jacob could earn his Bowling belt loop, we've gone swimming, visited the Fire Station, we even played a couple games of marbles. There are a lot of things to do as a family.