Trick-or-Treat!

Since we decided not to Trick-or-Treat on Sunday, the 31st, we took Emma out for her first Trick-or-Treat today. It wasn't much of a candy grab, but there were a few folks in the neighborhood and in the family that we wanted Emma to see while she was in her cute costume. We had a fun Halloween running around in our costumes and even observed our annual viewing of "The Nightmare Before Christmas". We've still got one more day of Halloween fun ahead too!

Costume Contest - The Awards

We're taking our bows after winning second place for the hour. One of the MC's (local DJ's with an A.M. drive show) said Emma was the cutest piglet you'd ever see. I think Emma was the show stopper for us. She is adorable in her costume. Mom and I might not be as impressive on our own but between the thee of us, we came out winners. Or in otherwords, Hannah and I were excellent backdrops for Emma's costume! You might have noticed in this picture that Emma is waving to crowd along with us.

Thanks again to Shelby who took these photos for us.

Costume Contest - The Judging

Here we are on the platform being judged. In fact you can see the heads of a couple judges in this photo, take note of Cosmo Cougar in bottom left corner, dressed as a pirate.

Thanks to Shelby for taking this photo.

The winners and most adorable overall...

We won second place in a costume contest held in downtown Salt Lake
City (across the street from Hannah's office). There were hourly
contests judged by local VIP's. Among the judges were the Jazz Bear
(The Utah Jazz Mascot) and Cosmo Cougar from BYU.

There were several classifications. Hannah, Emma and I were in
cocordinating costumes so we placed ourselves in the "Groups" class.
After all was said and done, we walked away with $100 in gift
certificates to the mall where the contest was held. There was a
grand prize of $1,000 for the overall winner. Maybe we're not done
yet!

We'll put a couple pictures from the event up soon. We don't want to
spoil the surprise for those who haven't yet seen our fabulous garb.

Eye On Emma: Issue TwoCatching up

Much has happened for Emma since our last update on the old Emma site. Here's a brief round up of the latest news:

• Emma becomes a world traveler after vacationing in Canada.
  
• Emma has now visited seven states: CA, TX, LA, NY, VT, NH & MA.
  
• Emma climbs her first stairs at Alamo Rent-A-Car in Boston.
  
• Emma visits Disneyland for the first time as she turns 9 months.
  
• Emma has two teeth on the top, but the center two on top are still waiting.
  
• Emma has her own Jeep now, a Jeep Liberty Renegade... baby walker.
  

Our baby keeps growing up. Mom and I measured her at a healthy 29 1/2 inches tall and we estimate she's about 19 pounds now. (The supermarket scale showed 17 1/2 pounds two months ago.) She's figured out how to climb onto the sofa on her own and has learned that with a quick spin move she can evade mom and dad's grasp. Sheesh!

Just Plane Cheesy

When I stumble out of bed in the morning, I typically stagger to my desk first thing and check E-mail, catch up on the news, etc. To my delight this morning I found these nifty little cheese snacks on my desk, left there by my cute wife. It looks like SkyWest has a new snack they're serving on their flights, at least the ones between SLC and JAC (Jackson Hole, WY). Hannah knows I enjoy inflight snacks (SkyWest serves some particularly good ones) and is always nice enough to bring me a sample from a flight she's been on. SkyWest also serves a cookie from "Coach's Oats" in several flavors. Knowledge of my love for these cookies is wide spread and Hannah feretts hers away to share with me back home. These cheese crackers are cute enough they're almost hard to eat. I hope they become a long time fixture for SkyWest.

The DougandHannah bookshelf

BookCrossing - the DougandHannah bookshelf.

Bookcrossing bears a number of great programs, one of which is providing a place for us to showcase some the books in our home library. Read and release!

Eye On Emma: Issue OneIntorducing the new format

Since the day Emma was born my wife and I have endevored to keep friends and family updated on her progress. We take great joy in announcing the milestones she reaches and sharing our experiences with our closest aquaintences. As blogging has become our preferred method of web publishing, we're in the process of eliminating the old static site and have decided to cease posting updates on the old Emma Page. Instead, we'll start keeping folks up to date here in order to simplify our publishing process and to centralize the family news to one spot.

Now we'll make note of Emmas advances here in the blog under the title of "Emma Eye-Openers". As these posts enter the archives we'll keep a list in the sidebar so you can recall past issues. We hope you enjoy hearing about Emmas accomplishments as much as we enjoy sharing them, thanks for reading up.

Happy Anniversary

It's our anniversary today and we're very excited to be turning three! That's right, we've been together for three years through thick and thin, good and bad. It's been a wonderful experience to watch our relationship evolve over the years and it's exciting to think of the years ahead. Emma is the crowning achievement of our marriage and we love to have her in our home. We took some time bringing her into the world, trying to tackle all the economical and social issues newlywed's face, but we don't regret having her with us at this time and in this place in our lives. We'd be remiss not to thank those who have helped us to get on our feet and start a new chapter in our marriage, as well as those who support us as we forge new bonds with our little family.

I'm sure there were many who balked at our short courtship (a little under four months) but supported us anyway. I hope that the strength of our relationship stands as a great reward to those who had faith in us. We knew from the beginning that our union was ordained and we have seen evidence of that routinely though the past three years as we have fought challenges and celebrated accomplishments.

I love Hannah very much and I am continually reminded of the fortunate circumstances I find myself in to have such a wonderful woman by my side. I'm sure Hannah has similar feelings. If she weren't in Bakersfield today taking a hit in order to support our family, she'd be sharing those thoughts with you. Until she can, we'll say thank you again to those who brought us together, supported our marriage, befriended our family and share their love with us.

Emma was enjoying the drive in her new car seat. Even more so when she wiggled out of her shoes!

Poor sick Hannah. She dragged herself out of the car to take a picture for Doug. Since she was here, we snapped a quick photo together.

Good ol' Devil's Slide. Always a cool sight to behold.

Youngberg Family Campout:Evaluating Zarahemla

As we're considering places to hold a family camp out I have recalled a camp the Viewmont Seminary Council used a few years ago for a day long retreat called Zarahemla. Zarahemla (N 40° 58.158 W 111° 40.356 WGS84), located on the South end of Morgan before entering East Canyon, is a mid-size campground used often by stakes for young women camps. It is either owned by the church or a member. There is a caretaker that lives on the premises. I estimate the camp to be about 20 acres. There is a lodge with spacious kitchen facilities and a multipurpose room approximately the size of a small church cultural hall. Other facilities include: Amphitheater Cement basketball court Sand volleyball court Creek with swinging ropes Baseball backstop Individual campgrounds with leader cabins/equipment shed We were driving by there a while back and stopped by to check the place out. There have been a few improvements since I was there 10 years ago. It's not as manicured as the Uintah campground we evaluated earlier in the month, but it is well maintained and more than sufficient. Being able to hold a family camp out in self contained grounds similar to this would be an advantage that is hard to overstate compared to using the state or federal parks system or KOA type accommodations. Additionally the drive to this campground would be quite short, a little over a half hour from Centerville. I welcome your input. I have yet to find out how to get in touch with anyone regarding reservations. We hopped to find some info at the camp, but nothing appeared. I remember someone on the council reserving it through a ward when we were here last, but I don't know even how they were able to locate and reserve the facility. Please click on the comments link below and offer your insights. You don't need to become a member to write a post, just select "comment anonymously". Your comment will be posted in bulletin board like format for others to see.

Rob & Amada news

Well we celebrated with Rob and Amanda tonight over the pending birth of thier - drum roll please...

SON

Baby boy Tanner Robert Ingram
The due date is still up in the air, but they are both quite excited. They were also the first couple at the facility to use a brand new ultrasound machine that created a DVD of the procedure. Fascinating isn't it?

You've got a 50/50 chance

Rob and Amanda, Emma's aunt and uncle, are expecting a baby. In fact, they'll be having an ultrasound performed in a few days where, among other things, they will learn wheather they're expecting a boy or girl. We invite you to guess:

Will Rob & Amanda be having a boy or girl?
	Girl
	Boy
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Feel free to invite others to vote, you can click on the envelope below to E-mail this post to a friend. Afterword, you're welcome to tell us why you chose as you did by clicking on the comments link or leaving a message on the board at your left.
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Congratulations Alex!

We learned last night that Hannah's cousin Alex will be serving a mission based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada! I have known several people who have served there, one who is there currently, and all have loved the experience, the beautiful land and the great people. Here's wishing you continued success Alex. We'll see you in church soon I'm sure.

In honor of Alex' announcement, I am placing this link to
Live Toronto Webcams. Enjoy!