Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

We had a Very Merry Christmas this year. This is our Family newsletter:
 I neglected to take any really good pictures of all our activities. Here are a few of the times I picked it up...
This is the gingerbread house the kids and I made from scratch! Yummy recipe. We're still picking at it. :)
 I always take a picture of the tree before we go to bed on Christmas Eve. I love setting up the gifts to make it look like there is more than there is. Did pretty good this year. :)
Our tree stand was melted last year, you can't tell that it's being propped up on one side by a cd case. *giggles*.
 I was blessed to be able to pay for all of our Christmas this year from my Etsy Business account selling patterns. Heavenly Father always provides a way.
We decided early on in our Christmas Preparations that we would start a new tradition limiting the gifts. The kids would get pjs the night before, one santa gift, filled stockings, and then 3 gifts from Mom and Dad representing the gifts given to Christ from the wise men.
Gold: Something Joyful (fun what they've been wanting)
Frankincense: Something Mindful (a game, book etc)
Merr: Something Meaningful (homemade, especially for them)
It worked out perfect. The kids were so happy with their gifts this year!
 Evelyn and her stocking. She got Princess PJS and a pink robe to sleep in on Christmas Eve.
 Egan and his stocking. You can't see his PJS, but he got Perry the Platypus fleece pjs. Love the antlers.
 Lego Building set.
 Easy Bake Oven from Santa.
 Princess Barbies! And a pretty girl with her eyes closed...

Trip to Utah Continued...

Coming from Logan to Salt lake we stopped to ride the "City Train" another one of Egan's must dos while in Utah. Here is a picture of the kids and Aaron waiting for the train.
 Egan SOOO happy to riding on the train. This kid just loves trains.
 Of course Temple Square was or destination.
Egan in front of the Salt Lake Temple.
 Evelyn. So gorgeous with the Salt Lake Temple
(Got a picture with her eyes open!)
 Aaron took this one of me and the kids. LOVE IT!
 Me and the Hubby! I love Temple Square. They were in the process of getting all the lights ready. Fun Fun. :)

Evelyn Lost her Teeth!

Evelyn lost her two bottom teeth! We're having a hard time getting her to keep her eyes open for pictures... this is the best I could do. LOL. She's still the most beautiful little girl in the world.
Evelyn struck it rich with the tooth fairy... the fairy's gonna go broke!
We sang quite a bit this Christmas "all I want for Christmas is my too front teeth." :)

Grandpa's Grape Juice

I grew up with homemade grape juice from Grandpa's (My Mother's Dad) little vineyard in Oregon. This year Grandpa Burt let us come and pick a BUNCH of Grapes. About 100lbs actually. He let us take home his steamer and gave me the recipe on how he's always done it.
Pictured in the collage are the grapes. There were green and purple!
There is no comparison from these Yummy homegrown organic gapes and the grocery store ones.
The kids helping us pick each individual grape off the vine.
The steamer draining the gorgeous juice into the jars.
I then added some fructose.
Put on the lids and steam canned the lids closed.
We made 48 quarts of concentrated Juice!
We gave some of the quarts away as Christmas gifts this year. Perfect!
I am so grateful to have learned this tradition to pass on to future generations. Grandpa has also taught me the art of whole wheat bread making, and the love of genealogy.
THANK YOU GRANDPA!

Thanks Giving SNOW

For Thanksgiving we took a trip to Utah to visit family. Our first stop was Logan to see Angie and Clint. Egan had been begging to see snow and boy did he get it! They built a sled hill with the snow off their back porch! Boy was it fun!


Snow Angels!

Super Cold!
Thank You Angie and Clint for the AMAZING fun Time!