She's on the move

For over a week now, we've watched Grace pull herself up onto her hands and knees, then rock back and forth or even make a crawl-like movement or two, and we knew that any day, she would finally just get up and really crawl, and last night SHE DID!

Just look at her go!!

Another of Grace's latest accomplishments is eating table food. It's mostly toddler puffs and pieces of bread that we've given her so far, but she LOVES them and does SO well eating them. This is especially rewarding for us because, after seeing her gag on anything even slightly solid a couple of weeks ago, we had been worrying (irrationally, I know) that she would never eat solid food and we'd be feeding her pureed bananas for her first birthday (and the rest of her life). But after seeing her eat some pieces of sweet bread last night and being all over that, I have a feeling that she's going to like birthday cake just fine.

We are so excited about our Grace's new abilities and are so SO proud of her! "You go girl!" (hehehe)

Pictures from our pre-Christmas trip

We recently returned from a trip to San Diego and Tucson to visit Jenny's family. Jenny may do a bonafide post on the trip one of these days but in the meantime I thought I'd post some of the pictures of our trip so you all can at least see some of those. Enjoy!
(P.S. Don't forget to look at our Christmas Newsletter in the post below this one.)


a 4-generation photo


Jenny made this scrapbook documenting Grandpa Roger's acting career



A pic with all of us at Grandpa Roger's retirement community in San Diego


Jenny's dad was kind enough to go with us to the San Diego temple. It was a wonderful experience in a beautiful House of the Lord.



Grace loved sitting in her high chair

Grace having fun with Grandpa Roger

Grace meeting Helen (Grandpa Roger's wife)

One last pic before leaving San Diego

Grace and Grandpa playing at their house in Tucson, AZ

Grace loved when her Grandma read stories to her

A pic of Grace with her second-cousin, Ray

This was taken at a park we went to. We're not used to views like this in December.

Loving the peanuts at Texas Roadhouse

Grace had fun playing with whatever she could reach on the table

Grandma Bern meeting Grace for the first time

Grace liked it when Grandpa fed her

Almost everyday we walked to this park in the neighborhood. Grace loved being outside.

She didn't like it when we told her she couldn't eat the rocks.

Grace is still trying to figure out what to think of Uncle Jim

A group photo with Santa Claus.

Here we are at the park again

This is Grace opening a very nice blanket she got from Jim and JoAnn.

Christmas Newsletter

Dear Loved Ones,

2009 has been our most eventful year ever! Let's take a quick look at the past 12 months:

In December of last year, Jenny graduated with a Bachelor's Degree from BYU-Idaho.

In April, Travis finished his undergraduate work at BYU-I.

In May, we welcomed our sweet daughter, Grace Lorraine Holloway, into the world.

In July, we moved cross-country to Ohio and began renting our first house.

In August, Travis started his first semester at the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine.

In November, we had our first Thanksgiving away from home.

And in December, Grace met her great grand parents and Travis completed his first semester at OCPM as a straight-A student.

All of these changes, though big, have been such a blessing for us. Although we miss being close to family and familiarity in Idaho, we really enjoy living here in Cleveland, and feel blessed to still live close to some family (Travis' brother and sister-in-law) and to enjoy all of the new opportunities that are here on the East Coast. We like our new ward, and enjoy the friendship of the other students and their wives that are in it. Travis is currently serving as the Second Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency (over the Teachers) and I am the Compassionate Service Leader in the Relief Society, both of which keep us busy. Travis enjoys Podiatry school, and we're all so proud of how well he's doing. Jenny loves being a stay-at-home mom and homemaker, though it's harder than she expected! And Grace is almost 8 months now, and enjoys sitting, scooching, smiling, laughing, talking, biting (with her 4, and almost 6 teeth), eating, bathing, and being the joy of our lives.

At the end of this big year, we feel extremely blessed and grateful for all that the Lord has given us, and we hope that, in this new year, heaven smiles upon you too!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Jenny, Travis, and Grace Holloway

Root Beer Float Cake

This is our all-time favorite chocolate cake recipe--we love it! And since we've shared the actual cake with many of you, we thought we'd share the recipe as well so you can make it too!

Root Beer Float Cake

Ingredients

2 cups root beer (not diet)

1 cup (dark unsweetened) cocoa powder

1/2 cup (unsalted) butter (1 stick), cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup (dark) brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray the inside of a 10 inch Bundt pan (we use 2 9-inch round cake pans) with nonstick cooking spray, or butter generously and dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

In a large saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. Add sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten. Then whisk into the cocoa mixture until combined (Note: you must let the cocoa powder cool first as per the directions, or you'll be cooking the eggs in it right now!). Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy. (You can give it a quick whisk if you like, but don't over beat the batter or it could cause the cake to be tough. Don't worry, the batter is very loose.)

Pour the batter into prepared pan(s) and cook for 35-45 (25-30 minutes for the rounds), rotating the pan halfway through baking until a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean (ignore this for the rounds). Transfer to a wire rack to coll completely, then loosen edges with a butter knife and turn out onto a cake plate.

Chocolate Root Beer Frosting

Ingredients

2 ounces 60 % cocoa, melted (we just use Hershey bars or chocolate chips)

1 stick (unsalted) butter, softened

1 tsp salt (you may want to use less, maybe just a 1/2 tsp)

1/4 cup root beer

2/3 cup (unsweetened) cocoa powder

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or using an electric hand mixer, beat softened butter and cocoa powder, Once combined, add the melted chocolate, salt, powdered sugar and root beer. Beat together until smooth. Spread on top of cooled cake. Slice and serve with vanilla ice cream.

This cake is awesome--like your favorite chocolate cake with a little extra kick, and it's moist, and the frosting is deliciously light and creamy (our favorite frosting EVER)....SO GOOD! Anyways, we hope you all enjoy this treat as much as we do!

Halloween 2009

As it was Grace's first Halloween this year, there was a lot for her to learn about this ghoulish holiday, like:

1. Pumpkin carving.
We bought a Grace-sized pumpkin for her, and although she wasn't sure what to think about it at first...


she warmed up to the idea pretty quickly...

and then had some fun watching Travis and I carve our pumpkins!

Travis (aka the headless carver) with his pumpkin:

His pumpkin all lit up--pretty sweet lookin' huh?


Me and my pumpkin:

Boo!

Our family of pumpkins on the front porch:

2. Dressing up

Call me cheap, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a costume Grace wouldn't remember anyway this year, so I borrowed a cute caterpillar costume from Rachel instead, and...

Super cute huh?! I didn't think caterpillars could be so cute, but there she is--living proof!

I just wanted to squeeze her!

She didn't LOVE wearing a costume (being a girl who loves to eat her toes), but I have a feeling she'll have a blast with it next year (I mean, what girl doesn't?).

3. Trick or Treating (which is, quite possibly, the greatest idea anyone ever came up with).

Right from the start, Grace knew that this trick or treating thing was a good idea (notice the way she's staring at the candy in this picture--love it!).

Here in Cleveland, people sit out on the front porch to hand out candy during a designated time slot (also genius), so here are Trav and Grace on the porch ready to deal the goods:

Rachel gathered all of the kids on the front lawn for a picture before her and I headed out trick or treating with the kids. (I knew Grace was pretty young for it, but I thought she'd enjoy being with her cousins anyway, and the neighbors had fun seeing her.)

We just made it up and down our own street, but that was enough for Grace to gain some experience AND some candy. Yummy Crunch bar!

And now that Grace has been schooled in all things Halloween, she's all ready to take it on again next year! Til then...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Funny Grace

I just wanted to share a funny thing Grace did yesterday. Travis and I were at the dinner table, saying a prayer over the food , when we heard some clinking noises. We opened our eyes to find that Grace had grabbed the serving spoon from the vegetables and was shoving it in her mouth (successfully, I might add)! Needless to say, we had to take a little break to put the spoon down and get a few giggles out before we finished the prayer. What a funny girl!

Patterson Farms

Today we loaded ourselves up and headed over to Patterson Farms for a bit of Fall fun. This place was amazing! The foliage there was beautiful, and they had tons of fun things for kids to do. This is definitely some place we'll return to year after year!

Here's the entrance to the Farm:


And from there, we were kindly escorted to the rest of the farm on a tractor-pulled-trailer. Grace thought it was a super fun ride (though you can't tell from her expression)!


A view of some of the fun kids toys (that Grace is going to love next year):

They even had some adult toys too. Here I am trying my hand at stilt-walking. I have to admit, it was pretty tricksy, but after (cough) several tries (and some help from one of the farm hands), I actually got the hang of it.

After a little fooling around, we headed into the woods...

....for a ride on the 50 foot slide...

...some time on a tree fort...

...and a gorgeous walk through their acres of woods!

The foliage was SO BEAUTIFUL!! I'd never seen so many colors of leaves! And it was just so nice to be out and enjoying the beauties of nature as a family.

After our wonderful walk through the woods, we did some more walking--but this time it was through the Corn Maze.

Travis and I had always meant to go to the one in Rigby but never got a chance to, so completing Patterson's Corn Maze was something we couldn't miss!

Travis and Grace thought it was pretty great...

and I got kinda claustrophobic. But hey, now we can check "do a corn maze" off our list and move on, right? I had fun taking pictures of it at least.

After going maze crazy, we finished off our day of fun with another tractor ride, or two.

And Grace learned that driving your own tractor is just as fun as getting a ride from one!

We had such a fun day together as a family, and can't wait to go again next year!