Ice Ice Baby!

Lately we've had a lot of fog at night. Last night it was much colder than it has been. When I woke up I was treated to a wonderful surprise. Ice. I went up to an old horse pasture that is vacant behind our house (there was more ice up there) and tromped around in my pajamas and slippers. I totally drove a neighbor's dog nuts while I was up there but I didn't care. It was too beautiful to let a yappy dog keep me away.

Brrrr. Doesn't that look cold? 

Christmas Eve

Paul and I worked hard the morning of Christmas Eve getting the house in order for that night. We cleaned, vacuumed, dusted, set the table and started baking. This is one of my favorite areas of the house. I love my Jim Shore santa collection and all the pictures from years past. Let me just say, the tree is already down but I will be keeping this up a little while longer. It makes me happy.

We had several people bring us treats throughout the day. It was so fun receiving so many wonderful goodies.

Think there is enough to keep us satisfied?

I made my pecan pie again. Yum. 

I used my red, white and green Fiestaware on the table.

We had a nice ham dinner with yummy potatoes (AKA~Funeral potatoes) and my rolls turned out perfectly. They were light and delicious. After dinner we let the kids show off the songs they had learned in piano. We read/acted out the nativity and then exchanged gifts. Paul and Emma got season passes to Park City's Mountain Resort from my parents and I got a new set of pans. Sweet! We really appreciated their generosity. 

Then the elves delivered our pajamas.

And we took some pictures in front of the tree. 

My parents with the kids and the blankets my mom made them.

After a while the kids went to bed (not asleep, just to bed) and up went the "no peak sheet" 

But Emma still tried to peak. 

Finally Santa was able to come. 

The annual Christmas tree picture. 

One more. 

It was a wonderful night. We enjoyed a lot of good food. We shared a lot of laughs over the letters the kids wrote to my mom. We felt the Spirit while we read the story of Christ's birth and we all enjoyed each others company. I'm a very grateful for the traditions we have has a family and for the memories we are making.

Last week is a blur...

I am exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for a week.

Last Tuesday, as I mentioned, brought snow. A lot of snow. We decided to stay in, bake our own treats and watch a Christmas Carol. I guess we will save going out for treats for next year!

Paul took some pictures of us while we were watching the movie. My thoughts are, the kids were tired of pictures at this point. 

 On Wednesday we all slept in and had a slow and lazy morning.

The kids guessed the clue right away. We thought the movie started at 3:00 pm but it was really 4:00 pm. 

We went over to the mall to kill an hour. Note to self, don't take kids to the mall just days before Christmas. They saw a bunch of stuff they liked but of course we were done with our shopping. It was crowded, loud and we saw vomit on the floor. I wanted to go home and gargle bleach. I was really worried we were going to catch something. We got to the theater, got the top row middle which I like and watched the movie. It was really cute!

May I have one of these for my house? I can't wait to see this movie. Captain Jack = Yum. 

Wednesday night we told the kids that they needed to know their clue early so they could get ready. They were going to grandma's house and needed to pack. It worked out really well. We got ready Thursday morning and met my parents in Sandy to drop off the kids. After the drop off we frantically went looking for slippers for Andrew. Somehow we had forgotten to get some. We found a clearance pair at Old Navy will skulls on them! Score. After that we headed to Tucano's for a birthday lunch. It was Paul's oldest sisters birthday. It was nice to go and see family and to eat yummy food. After lunch I got to take some pictures of Tom, Katie and my niece Mia. This trip was my first time meeting her. She is so cute!

That night Paul and I took advantage of the kids being gone. We worked for hours wrapping presents. It was so nice. Normally we have to do it all Christmas Eve. We wrapped and watched Christmas movies. Marius was there to cheer us on in his pile of blankets. 

The whole room was a disaster. There were presents, boxes, wrapping paper and garbage everywhere you looked but we got it all done. This was a first! We were finally ready for Christmas.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Monday Dec. 21st & The First Day of Winter

Yesterday was the first day of winter break!!! Wahoooooo. 

Sunday night it snowed. It was just enough to cover the grass and there was some in the trees but the roads were clear. It was perfect for the week of Christmas. It started to snow a little heavier so I headed out to the grocery store and left the kids behind. They slept in until 10:30! As I got into the valley the snow wasn't bad at all, it wasn't even sticking. I got home safely thank goodness. After lunch the kids decided to go out and play. They built a fort out of giant snowballs. As you can see we didn't get up all of our leaves before the snow started coming. They are too wet to deal with at this point. It should be interesting this spring.

The kids did an amazing job. I don't know how they lifted those balls. That snow was HEAVY!

They came in and the rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning, watching TV, playing video games and Andrew had a friend come over. 

While all that was going on I was mixing up one batch of cookie dough after the other. I made chocolate chip, chocolate mint, Mexican wedding cookies, Candy Cane Kisses cookies (click here to see recipe) and another cookie that you wrap around a chocolate kiss then roll in red sugar. I love making cookie plates and thought this year we could try to doorbell ditch them so it would be more fun for the kids. With all the snow I quickly nixed that idea. (Note: If you live in a high altitude area you may want to cut the butter back or add more flour. Mine didn't stay cute like hers did. The other thing is I used a food processor for the kisses and I think it made them too fine. That may have caused them to flatten too. I only used 1/2 teas. of peppermint flavor and for me it was just right! They were delicious just not as cute as hers.) 

When Paul got home I was in the kitchen playing with cookie dough. He asked why I was smiling. I told him I was happy to see him. A few minutes later the doorbell rang. I was guessing it was our neighbor coming for his brother. It wasn't. It was a floral delivery person. Paul had ordered me this ivy topiary. He had hoped it would come earlier (He thought maybe it had and that as why I had been smiling. He thought I was hiding it from him.) but it was fun to have him be there to give it to me. It made me tear up. It was so sweet. He wanted to thank me for all the hard work I have done to make the season special. It's so cute! 

After dinner I was losing steam. Emma was not feeling 100%. I think she got too cold and over did it when she was outside earlier. I baked a few trays of cookies but almost didn't go any further. They were coming out flat (I hate that!) and I didn't have enough to fill the big plates I had, etc etc. I was trying to find any excuse I could to not bake more. Finally I said what the heck and did it anyway. They were not the cutest plates I've ever made (They were in ziplock bags for crying out loud. Normally I put them in cellophane with ribbon, at least) but we got them done. 

I let Emma pick who she wanted to take some to and she chose her Beehive advisor. Andrew chose our next door neighbors and I took some to two of the sisters I visit teach in our ward. (Mormon thing) 

I'm so glad we went. Who knows where the treats will end up but we all had fun driving in the snow surprising our friends and neighbors. It gave me warm fuzzies. I know the kids felt it too. 

At around 4:00 am I woke up to find Andrew sleeping in the doorway to my room. It was almost as bright as day. I thought it was morning but I guess it was just the moon reflecting off the snow. When I checked the time I realized we had to power. In a half awake state I fumbled around, located my phone and figured out the time. I started to worry. My brain was going a mile a minute. How cold would we get in the house. Would we all die in our sleep? Should I put the stuff in the fridge out in the snow? What about the stuff in my freezer? Not exactly rational thoughts but that is how I work when I am semi-conscious. I woke up again this time it was morning. Still no power. I looked outside and saw A LOT of snow. The power came on a few minutes later after being off for five hours! I am so glad we have the new windows and doors. It didn't get any colder than what we normally set the overnight house temp at. 

I woke Paul up and we started to shovel the driveway and dig out his car. It was the heaviest, wettest snow I have ever felt. I could barely move it but we got it done. Welcome winter. 

(looking down our steep, steep driveway) 

Tonight we were suppose to go out for a treat at a bakery or get a peppermint shake or something. The snow isn't stopping and it isn't suppose to stop for days so that may not happen. I hate to drive if the temperatures drop and everything freezes. If we can't get around safely we will stay in a watch the Christmas Carol like were suppose to Sunday.