1 MONTH HIATUS

(I started this post on January 9th and finally finished it and posted it today, January 21st. I guess that's why it says posted on the Jan. 9th?)

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. After the busy holidays I got started redoing our basement and that has consumed most of my spare time, but I am finally finished, so now I can get back to my normal routine. I have a lot of things to catch up on, so this may be a long couple posts. 

Christmas morning we had at our very own house. This is the first time in 6 Christmases of being married that it was just us. It was kind of nice. On Christmas Eve we had a nice ham dinner and then opened our p.j.'s, but then we were left feeling like, "What's next?" I didn't take many pictures because we got our video camera fixed and so I just used that most of the time.

Addi got Baby Alive and Hally got a dollhouse. Tim and I bought a joint present, a couch for our basement. This cut WAY back on the stress that incircles my hubby around Christmastime. We'll probably be doing the joint present thing every year.

Hey, nice handlebar mustache babe!

Hally Blue Eyes

Then on Christmas afternoon we headed to Cedar. It was a good time as usual. There were 35 of us at Tim's parents house. It gets kind of crowded and crazy, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. Tim's mom, Becky is the BEST cook and always has food ready to serve. We also always stay up till 2 or 3 in the morning playing games. This year we played a game called Loaded Questions. I'm tellin' ya, if you are fan of games, then you will LOVE this game. We were laughing so hard we were crying..... it's fun. I can't forget to put in a good word for my other favorite game, Ticket to Ride. Have you heard of it? It's a great game!!! Hey let us all have a game night! Is anyone in?

Stubbs' Grandkids

Mayhem of opening presents.

Playing outside in the snow.

~I can't forget to mention the lovely party we had at my mom and dad's house the weekend before Christmas. Thank you mom for all of the good food and gifts! Once again I forgot my camera, urgh.

MORE SNOWMEN

We had a HUGE storm today and when Tim got home from work he had to dig out our parking spot before he could park. I tried to do it earlier in the day, but I'm not a very good shoveler, plus it just snowed again over everything I had already shoveled. Being the nice guy Tim is, he decided to shovel our neighbors parking spot out too. The kids decided to go out and "help" him.

CHRISTMAS SNOWMEN

Snowmen Cookies

• 1 c. powdered sugar
  
• 1 c. butter
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 c. & 2 T. flour
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. cream of tartar
• 1/2 t. salt

~Refrigerate for 1 hour. Cook at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. No cookie cutters needed for these snowmen, just roll dough in a ball and then decorate as shown.

Frosting

• 1/3 c. butter
• 1 t. vanilla
• 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 3-4 T. milk

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS THINGS

Temple Square

The brilliant lights at temple square have people traveling from far away to bask in the beauty. It's definitely worth bundling up for.

Christmas Music

There's nothing better to put you in the spirit of Christmas than some good old holiday tunes.

"An Airus Christmas" by Kurt Bestor has always been my very favorite.

It's a tradition in my family to sing along with Mitch Miller every Christmas Eve.

No one can deny the beauty of Josh Groban's voice.

You can't go wrong with Bing Crosby. You can count on him for all of the classics. He also sings one of my favorite Christmas songs, "The Littlest Angel."

 Christmas Movies

Another tradition in my family is watching, "It's a wonderful life." It will bring a tear to your eye and help you come to realize the TRUE meaning of Christmas. (They have it in color now!)

"A Christmas Story" is another one of my favorites, it's great for a good laugh!

Christmas Goodies

Penoche is a candy that's so DIVINE it will surely make you swoon. We have been making this candy since I can remember. It's very tricky to make and don't be surprised if you ruin the first batch every year. It truly is an old fashioned treat, you have to beat it for like two hours (by hand!), but let me tell you.... it's well worth the sweat and muscle ache. You have to taste it to believe it.

I am what you could consider a "choco-holic." :) Nothing's better than some good old homemade fudge. Need a good fudge recipe? I've got one that will make your knees weak! Not kidding!

Nativity Scenes

I love nativity scenes, they're so, so precious. Mary admiring her sweet little Jesus, Joseph looking on with care. Wise men traveling from afar to bring the little baby glorious presents. This truly was a special night. What a wonderful reminder of why we celebrate Christmas.

Decorations

I take after my mom when it comes to going all out in decorating my house for Christmas. There's just something about Christmas decorations, I love em.

Hot Chocolate

Nothing better to warm you up on a cold winter's night than some "Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa." They have all sorts of flavors, my favorite being the mint truffle. They have a new flavor called candy cane that actually has bits of candy canes in it.

Snowflakes

You can't have Christmas without snow. There is something so serene about snow falling, don't you agree? Especially at night when it's completely quiet outside and the snow flakes are gently falling to the ground covering the earth.

Cheese Ball

I think my sister in-law, Krista can appreciate this delightful creation. All I can say is, "Yum!"

FAMILY PICTURES

My sister took our pictures on Lehi main street over Thanksgiving weekend and here are some of our favorites. Check out Tiff's photography blog here.

THE TIME HAS COME

We are turning our blog private. I have been thinking about it for awhile, but after a lecture from my grandmother, I have decided to go ahead and do it. Generally I don't really listen when she lectures me and I hate to admit it, but she may have had a little sway in the decision. So if you want access to look at our blog, just leave a comment with your e-mail address. Thank you!

PHANTOM

My friend Trisha let me borrow this book and I just finished it. It was AWESOME! If you like The Phantom of the Opera, then you will love this book. It tells of how The Phantom came to be, from birth on. If you are a reader or not a reader (like me) you will love this book! Now I have another book to ad to the list of books I've read besides Twilight, how pathetic am I?!