Christmas

First, we wrote a note for Santa

Then we put out some treats for him, and his reindeer

Then we waited. And waited. And waited. Santa came while we slept, but the boy patiently waited some more. His Christmas started at bedtime.

And then the happy little child was sent promptly to bed.

We went sledding down the big hill.

And had a frozen little boy in the end

Its almost here!!!!

I don't know about you, but we're getting pretty excited around here.

We played pin the nose on Rudolph

And last night we went to see Santa!

We were prepared for a screaming little boy that wanted nothing to do with a complete stranger, but much to our surprise, the boy would have happily gone home with jolly old St. Nick (as long as he could play with his beard the whole time...)

 Had the last picture turned out, it would have been my favorite. Someday I will learn how to take a picture that you can actually see.

Now I just have to keep Rogan out of the presents for a couple more days...

tree hunting

We started off this years tree hunt my making approximately  1 million salt dough ornaments, which the boy carefully hand painted.

Then off to the woods we went, hunting for the ultimate tree.

We found a tree that fit our extremely high standards, and from there Darth took over to get it home.

And the dad hauled the boy home.

but took advantage of the big hill on the way and hopped on for a ride himself...

We got the tree home, and the boy loaded it full of his beautiful decorations...

And has happily been sitting and watching the train ever since.

Countdown to Christmas

Our Christmas countdown started out a little differently than the average countdown.

We headed to "the big city" for an archery tournament.

We started our big journey with this beautiful view:

 We then continued on our journey and made it to our destination.

Unfortunatly all of the pictures here were of the back of the husbands head. 

We did manage to squeeze in a little Christmas though- we hopped on the train and headed to Temple Square to see all of the Christmas lights.

Where, as usual, all of my pictures were a blur.

So sister kindly took a family photo for us-the first since....well, probably since the boy was born.

We came home and decorated (and ate) sugar cookies

And of course-we cant forget poor Darth at Christmas time, so this afternoon the boy and I threw together a quick treat for Darth's stocking

If you feel like baking one day but want need to give your own waste-line a break from the cookie madness this time of year, here is the recipe:

Homemade Dog Treats

2 1/2 c whole wheat flour (I used regular all purpose flour)

1/2 c milk

1 tsp garlic powder

1 large egg

2 Tbsp flavoring (bacon grease, chicken/beef stock, tuna juice....whatever. we used chicken)

Mix together dry ingredients, then add the rest. mix well. Will be thick. If its too thick for your liking, add more chicken stock (if thats what you used)

Roll dough on floured surface to about 1/4" thickness and cut into shapes of your liking. We did snowflakes and triangles (I got tired of cutting "cute"cookies for the dog, so finished up with a pizza cutter)

Bake for 30 min. at 350*. Let them sit in the oven while it cools off to make them extra crisp.

Darth taste tested (even though they are for Christmas. We'll assume he'll forget about them by Christmas) and loved them.

little helper elf

Chocolate Peppermint Snowcaps

(adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

4 Tbsp butter

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

4 oz chocolate (bittersweet or semisweet) melted and cooled

1 Tbsp milk

confectioners sugar

In a medium bowl stir together dry ingredients. In a seperate bowl cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and peppermint. Mix in cooled chocolate. Gradually add in flour mixture, and beat in the milk until just combined. Flatten the dough in to a disk, wrap in plastic and freeze until firm (30-45 min).

Preheat oven to 350*. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in confectioners sugar (until no chocolate is showing). Bake on parchment lined baking sheets 2 inches apart until cookies spread and crack, 11-14 minutes (will be soft to the touch). Cool on wire racks.

Snowy Play

This boy loves the snow. LOVES it.

He just walks around the yard with a grin on his face.

But after a while, a cup of hot chocolate sounds pretty good....

ITS A....!

 

BOY OR GIRL!!!!
Baby wouldn't tell us! He/she was too busy sleeping, toes to forehead, to let us know.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see...
 

the weather outside is frightful

when the weather outside turns to this:

 we know its time for lots of this:

From the mouth of Rogan

Our driveway was full of little birds this morning. 

Rogan said:

"I don't trust those birds."

the handyman can

The handyman can cause he mixes it with love and makes the world look good

Husband continues his building streak and made me a brand new bedroom set!

Its so nice (and handy!) being married the the handyman.

What else should I have him build me? Or you?

Dear Husband

5 years.

5 years ago, you held my hand and led me into our new life together.

Oh the things we've done.

Remember the time we put make-up on each other in the philippines?

Used make-up?

That was gross.

Lets not do that again.

But what I'm really trying to say is- 

I love you!

And Happy Anniversary!

ps- lets remember to take more pictures of each other together.

Trick or Treat!

We were a little slow getting our pumpkins carved this year. But we finally got it done yesterday.

The boy painted his "baby" pumpkin, while the mom "gutted" and the dad carved the big pumpkins.

The boy requested a tractor pumpkin, so the dad did what he could to please him.The boy was pleased.

The boy was a caveman this year.

He hated his hair. But I told him people wouldn't give him any candy if he didn't wear it. 

He decided it was worth it, and kept it on most of the night.

Sorry for the blurry boy. I dont know if he was wiggling, or if my hands were shaking from a Halloween sugar high. Either way, most of my pictures turned out like this one.

But I must say-my son makes an adorable cave-boy.

And after a scary movie (we don't know why-he talks about it nonstop and always wants to watch it...??) we finally crashed in our beds and snored the night away.