Christmas

Every Christmas I spend so much time worrying that I haven't taught my boys enough about the Savior. Do they know what Christmas is really all about? Do they understand that the gifts are such a minor part of the celebration? Do they know that our love for them is only a shadow of a greater love from their Heavenly Father? Have we told them enough that there is more to this life than what they see before them?

I don't know that it's quite fair to expect our boys to have a total comprehension of the Atonement and all that the Restored Gospel encompasses when I, myself only seem to have hit the tip of the iceberg of the knowledge available. I suppose that's why we celebrate Christmas; to remind ourselves of what our lives are becoming and how in-line they are with our spiritual growth. As we are children ourselves, we can ask ourselves the questions we wonder about our own children. Perhaps our children will only truly understand Christmas when we do. So, this year instead of sharing what each of us has done through the year I've decided to share something that is greater. Here is an excerpt of the testimony of our Savior that I can not put into better words.

"He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the

Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father,

He was the creator of the earth. “All things were made by

him; and without him was not any thing made that was

made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to

fulfill all righteousness. He “went about doing good”

(Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a

message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow

His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing

the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He

taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal

existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential

for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come.

He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great

atoning sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned on

spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced

to die on Calvary’s cross. He gave His life to atone for the

sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in

behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth.

We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all

human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded

on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only

Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world." - The Living Christ

Merry Christmas!

Tried and True-sday

Christmas just isn't the same without building Gingerbread houses. I decided to make this one of our activities while Brett was gone last week. I made one and the boys had fun making a whole production of theirs. Hyrum had a whole story behind it. We decided to build them with no candy this year, since I know we would just eat all the candy off. The great thing about real Gingerbread is that it tastes so good soft or hard. We've been munching on it every day since they were made. Noah especially loves to climb up to the counter and gnaw on the roofs and trees(great teether). . . they don't look like much anymore. This will be my last recipe of the year, so enjoy and happy cooking:

Williams-Sonoma Gingerbread

Mix together and set aside:

5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. ground ginger

4 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp. allspice

1 1/2 tsp salt

beat on medium speed for 4 minutes:

2 sticks softened butter

then add and beat for another 2 minutes:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Add and beat gradually:

1 cup molasses

1 egg

Combine the dry mixture into the wet mixture gradually, mixing in between. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Form the dough into 2 smooth mounds. Shape each into disks and wrap separately with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Let dough stand on counter for about 10 minutes. Then roll (one disk at a time) out to about 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters or just a knife to make your desired shapes then place on baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Tip: The dough will rise a bit in the oven, so if you want the shapes to stay exactly the same than you should roll the dough out on the baking sheet and then cut the shapes out without removing the excess dough. When it comes out of the oven you can re-cut out the pieces with a knife and take them out for a perfect shape.

Kid friendly frosting(it doesn't stick well, but they can decorate with it and eat it without worry):

Lots of powdered sugar

milk (Tbsp. at a time until you get frosting consistency)

Royal Icing (this is really like glue):

3 egg whites, room temp

1/2 tsp. cream of tarter

1 lb. powdered sugar

Combine and beat at high speed for about 7-10 minutes. Keep covered with a damp cloth because it dries really fast.

Reality and Make Believe

Brett left us for Florida on Monday morning and got back on Thursday afternoon. I knew we would be fine, but things are admittedly much easier when Brett's around to rescue me at the end of the day. The boys really missed their Dad. Noah's becoming quite a Daddy's boy and I was pretty worried how he would do without him. The week stayed full with Joy School for Hyrum and I prepared fun activities to do each day. Since he's been home the boys have been pretty clingy to him though, which is kind of nice for me:)

On Friday I packed my 'errand running and need to keep the boys happy' bag full of snacks, treats, camera, etc. We started drive. Just before the Freeway on-ramp there was a big Ford truck stopped. I was just passing the sign that said we did not need to stop if getting onto Freeway, so I gave a friendly double beep of the horn. He didn't move. As I started to get closer I slowed down some more and honked again. He didn't move. I continued to put my foot on the break, but then I hit some black ice and couldn't stop. I put my hand on the horn and didn't stop honking. The truck wasn't budging. There was a big Yukon behind me who also was gliding on the ice. Crash. Crash. Noah was silent at first and then he started laughing. Hyrum was crying and screaming. I turned to see if they were alright. I calmed Hyrum down. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. We were all fine(Miracle 1)Then I pulled out my handy dandy bag of miracles (miracle 2) and gave them both some juice and fruit snacks while I got out to talk to the other drivers. The Ford driver was a 70 year old man that didn't seam to know what happened or what was wrong. He insisted that there was a red light. . . hmmm, funny since that lane has no light. He evidently also didn't hear my continuous honking, or see the two cars out of control coming right for him. I called the police and then got out my camera (miracle 3) and took pictures of everything including the no-stop sign and the icy conditions. The officer arrived and was amazing. He was friendly and calmed us all down. He told us to go ahead and wait in our cars, and he would come to each of us to get our info. I went back to my handy dandy bag to find that I somehow forgot to put my wallet (which was in my usual purse) into the bag of wonders. . . ahhhh! The officer came. I was so nervous and stressed about the accident and then forgetting my wallet that I couldn't think strait. He asked me for my birth-date and I seemed to be able to remember my phone number several times, my boys birthdays, maybe even historical dates, but it took about the 5th try before I could finally recite my birthday. I think the officer felt sorry for me. When he went back to his car I said a little prayer with the boys in thanks that we were safe and also a plea that the officer would show mercy. No tickets or citations were issued. (Miracle 4) The front and back of the car look a bit squashed, but the car was still driveable (Miracle 5). Hyrum had a lot to say about the whole thing. In general: "Do not like car sandwich!", "Do not want car sandwich again, Mom!". Geared toward other cars involved, "Not very nice! You did not listen to Mom! She honk lots of times. Supposed to listen to honk, when you make bad choices! Supposed to say sorry!" He was pretty worked up about everything and it was his topic of pretty much all conversation for the rest of the day. I really feel that everything went ideal, considering. It could have been much worse, the officer could have been less nice, the boys could have been more hysterical. . . I have much to be grateful for, and I really felt that we were watched over that day. Brett was home from his trip and in his office only miles away (Miracle 6) and was able to comfort me and be such a great help after it happened. He even took charge to call all of the insurances so I wouldn't have to worry.

One of our errands we were planning on running that morning was to go meet Santa. I have to admit that despite my Santa Vs. No Santa post last year, I still struggle a bit with the concept, but I'm trying. As evidence of my efforts I wanted to take them to see the big man. The boys were very nice that morning when I told them we would have to see Santa later because our car was broken. We were so lucky that there were no lines when we got there and the boys were able to chat with him for awhile. All Hyrum could talk about was the accident, so Santa jokingly said that he would give us AAA for Christmas.:) The boys had fun, and it was a nice distraction from the previous events of the day.

The Boys Room

When we first bought our house (almost two years ago! Wow time flies) I really liked the boys room. The walls were the same sand color as most of the house but it had a thick red stripe on the upper third of the wall. I thought it was pretty cool. . . until it came time to hang anything. It seemed like a weird height to put anything on the walls without it looking weird. And when we did put a shelf up we realized the stripe was actually not level. Anyway, I've been wanting to re-do the boys room for a while and so I decided to make a goal of having it done before the end of the year. At the beginning of the year Noah was in a crib and Hyrum was in a cool big boy bed. Now the crib is stored and we sold Hyrum's bed on KSL classifieds (an awesome free online classifieds for the area! I love it!) I wanted their room to look nice but also be a place that I wouldn't be upset if things broke. So, we bought their dresser and storage ottomans off people on KSL for a great deal. I got some great thrift store finds, and we decided to make inexpensive art part of their room. I hit the Joanne's Black Friday deals and got some great canvas' and

paint that the boys can create art on. The thing I love about canvas is that it's hard to break and they can recreate their art every year. My Mom is an artist and I want to be sure that our boys have an appreciation for art.

First I want to give my mom a little plug. CLICK HERE to see her gallery. This is one of my favorite pictures my Mom has painted:

So I look funny in this pic but I love how diligent the boys were. They had SO much fun!

Here's the art up. We did two tones of brown on the walls. And, please don't judge the fact that I painted the white branches on top of their art. After they finished I realized that it was so dark that they kind of blended into the wall too much. Hyrum likes it. He said, "Look! A tree growing on my picture!" Brett did an awesome job hanging their names up! Oh, and why do I seem to always make indoor pictures blurry? Even though it's blurry I had to use this picture because both of the boys are swinging their lassos (Brett's boot shoelaces). This is a daily occurrence:) Sorry, Brett.

The old beds got traded in for bunk beds! They've done really well in them. And we got an awesome deal at a furniture warehouse place.

This was my art contribution:

Tried and True-sday

With Christmas coming up in less than 2 weeks things have started to get a little crazy. . .but good crazy. We've had a lot going on and Brett is on his first business travel trip this week. I feel like such a grown up knowing that Brett is traveling on business. :) The boys and I have been having fun and staying busy. Last week we had our annual adult-only Street Progressive Dinner. There were 13 couples that were able to participate this year. It was so nice to visit our neighbors without kids running all over the place and have a somewhat 'formal' evening together. I volunteered to do the Main Dish this year for 6-8 people. Because of some last minute cancellations one of my neighbors that was also supposed to feed 6-8 people was down to 4. So, I invited her group and her food to come to our house for a big buffet. It was A LOT of food for only 10 people. Especially considering we already had appetizers, salad, and dessert to come. No one seemed to complain though:) The food was amazing and I have to thank Mike and Brittany Allred for giving me this awesome recipe. It is a major crowd pleaser that leaves you wanting more. You've got to try it! Happy cooking!

Cafe Rio Shredded Pork

2 pounds pork roast

3 cans Coke (NOT diet)

1/4 c. brown sugar

dash garlic salt

1/4 c. water

1 can sliced green chilies

3/4 can enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness)

1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight. Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork. In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little. Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!

CILANTRO-LIME RICE

1 c. uncooked rice

1 tsp. butter or margarine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

1 can (15 oz) chicken broth

1 cup water

1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tsp. sugar

3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice. If you want to use Minute rice just improvise so that the liquids equal the rice measurements.

BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 1/3 c. tomato juice

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. (**NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was AWESOME! We recommend doing this even though it's not "traditional Cafe Rio")

Serve these on Tortillas with cheese, olives, sour cream, or whatever else you would like to add.

Traditions - in a Pear Tree

Today I laid down on the floor by the tree. As I looked up at the lights they looked like little stars and it was beautiful. The ornaments looked so big from the floor. I imagine the tree must be such a magical thing for the boys. All those fun ornaments and lights sitting on a tree, of all things. Almost all the ornaments have a history and meaning. Brett's family has an ornament tradition that has been going on forever. . .or at least as long as he can remember. Every year around Thanksgiving time his Grandma-ma Long would gift each of the kids an ornament that somewhat resembled that child or events that happened that year. Each year the ornaments are carefully packaged and labeled with the date when it's time to put them away. Now our boys are also getting ornaments and it's so fun to pull out Brett's that were given to him at the same age. As we look at the tree it's like looking at a scrapbook of where we've come, each year holding a new meaning.

Around the Holidays Brett and I always start talking about traditions and what we want to pass on to our family. Last year he told me about their stockings. Each of them had their own special stocking that had a nickname on it. As they got older the nicknames didn't always stick but it became a fun thing to pull out every year and remember. Amy=Namy K, Ryan=Dr.Yan, Chris=Christopher Robin, Kaley=Curlz, and Brett=Bretter. I decided that I would make the boys stockings with their name on one side and nick-name on the other. This became a perfect opportunity to also complete a Personal Progress Project. It took a lot more time than I originally thought, but I enjoyed learning some new things and making these stockings for our boys to have memories with. They're really pretty big, so there's plenty of room for foot growth:)

Tried and True-sday

When I make chocolate chip cookies my theory is that there should be just enough dough to hold the chips in form, no more. The real feature is the chips. Here's a little Christmas flavored deliciousness you will not regret making:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Christmas

cream together:

2 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

stir together:

4 cups flour

1 cup oats

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. soda

1 cup chopped nuts

1 1/2 pkg. milk chocolate chips

1/2 pkg. Andes mint chips

1/2 pkg. peppermint chips

Combine the two mixtures. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. (Don't over bake)

You'll love them. It makes a lot but they freeze really well for last minute desserts whenever you need them. Happy cooking!