Christmas Day

We slept over at my parents house Christmas Eve, and everyone decided we would get up around 7:00a.m., so 6:00 Rob and I wake up because we are freezing cold. So I turn the thermostat up and put two extra blankets on and we fall back asleep. At 7:00a.m. there is still no one up so we fall asleep again. Finally at 7:40 I get up and put my contacts in and go downstairs where my parents are up and my grandpa, I ask them where the party is. There reply was "You tell me," so I have a sweet roll while we wait for everyone to show there faces.
Here is Robert and I in all our glory first thing in the morning, so excited. I wish I had a camera to show everyone Robs Christmas happy dance. He was so excited. I was just excited to spend Christmas with family this year.

Usually my youngest brother and sister are the ones trying to get everyone up, and my brother actually took a shower before he came down. So once everyone was awake we all went back upstairs and welcomed Christmas. We all have to enter at the same time to see the Christmas tree and all the gifts. First, we head to our stockings, and see what goodies Santa brought us.

Then we have to guess our number on our gifts. We have to have a reason why we chose the number, then after everyone knows there number we pass out the gifts.

This year we took turns opening gifts. We would open one and then the next person and so on, I liked doing it this way because then we were able to see what everyone got and there reaction. It took a lot longer though than it usually does.
Here is my sister and brother in law, they got this cool bouncy ball that had glitter inside.

My sister with a card game she got.

Here is my grandpa that stayed the night, one thing he got was 8 full size Hershey bars.

Here is my dad opening the gloves we gave him.

We had my brothers name for Christmas this year so we checked his list and got him this brown belt he wanted.
(sorry, can't see it very well)

This is my youngest brother, he got this cool blanket with a sheeps face on it, he had to go around the room and have everyone feel how soft it was. You will notice his green blanket from last year draped around him.

And here is my youngest sister opening some of her gifts.

My parents dog Buster even got a new toy for Christmas.

All of my brothers and sisters went in together and got my mom this big Christus statue, she was so excited.

We were done opening gifts at about 10:00. We headed home to get ready so we could head over to Robs parents house for more festivities. I did not bring my camera so I don't have any pictures, but we had fun visiting and opening more gifts.
Before we left to go over we hurried and opened our gifts, we got some new furniture this year for our basement that we got a few weeks ago. I will post more pictures of that later. I did get a whole bunch of presents from the kids on the bus that we haul around. I also got the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and two pairs of pj's. They are so comfy.
Rob got "Stargate" on Blueray and some other very nice gifts.


A few years back, quite a few actually, I asked for "The Book of Mormon for Latter-day Saint Families," I never did get it and I forgot that I wanted it until I opened one of the packages to Rob and I from my grandpa A. And there is was, my grandpa is moving in with one of his sons and his wife and so he is giving a lot of his things to family. I guess my mom got this and then gave it to us. So, my grandpa didn't even know he gave this to us until we opened it Christmas morning. It will mean so much more to me now, knowing it used to be my grandparents.

We had such a great Christmas, and we loved spending time with family.

Happy Christmas Eve!!

As I was getting ready for the day today I started to see the sun peeking through the blinds and I looked outside and saw blue sky's with those few clouds around. The crisp snow just glowing from the morning sun. We have not seen the sun in a few days from all the snow we have been getting. Perfect weather for Christmas Eve, I love crisp snow covered mornings like these, it just makes me smile.

I took these on my way to pick up some last minute gifts, don't worry, there was no cars around and I was driving really slow. Such a gorgeous morning.


My grandpa A. was able to come down on Sunday and will be with us until this Friday, my grandma and grandpa would always come to our house on Christmas Eve and we would have Christmas Eve dinner with them and also with my Aunt and her kids. Ever since I can remember we have done this.
There has been a few years where they have missed, and with my grandma passing away at the beginning of this year, it is nice to have my grandpa here to celebrate the holidays with us. We sat around the table tonight and just talked, laughed, and had a good time.

I am not a huge fan of Egg Nog (why I only have a little in my glass), but you cannot have Christmas Eve dinner without it. The only way to drink it is to mix it with Sprite or 7-up, gives it a little fiz and doesn't make it as strong.

This is my brother and sister having a good ol time before dinner started.

Rob was starting to get tired so he rested on the couch before we ate. He is wearing his Ghostbusters shirt that he loves, our brother-in-law got it for him a while back. I bet you can't guess what it says on the back of the shirt?
"Who you gonna call?"


We decided we would make two snow forts tomorrow morning and have a snowball fight before we get ready for the day. We have never done this before and so we will see how it goes. I think I am going to freeze because I don't have any snow pants or boots, so I might end early.
Well, we are getting ready to read the Christmas Story and then play games and do whatever before we go to bed.
We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas, and hope everyone is safe and well. And never forget the real meaning we celebrate Christmas, it is more than just gifts, it is the wonderful birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Never forget that.
We love you all.

Pretzel Salad

For one of our family Christmas parties this year we were asked to bring a fruit salad, so I decided to bring my moms yummy pretzel salad. It is so good and everyone seems to love it. I decided I would post in online so everyone could enjoy the yummy goodness. It works all year round. We have it at about every family get together.

Pretzel Salad
Bottom Layer:
2 cups crushed pretzels
1/2 cup melted butter
3 T. sugar
Mix well and press evenly into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 min.
Cool completely.


Middle Layer:
1 - 8 oz. cream cheese
1 - 15 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup powdered sugar
1 - 8 oz. Cool Whip
Mix cheese and powdered sugar well. Add pineapple and mix well. Add Cool Whip and fold together. Spread over cooled crust.


Top Layer:
1 large pkg. raspberry jello dissolved in 1 1/2 cup boiling water. Add 1 1/2 cup cold water and 1 pkg. frozen raspberries. Stir well and refrigerate just until jello begins to thicken. Pour over the cream cheese layer and refrigerate until set.

The jello should look like the consistency of egg yokes before you pour onto the cream cheese layer.

Serves 24.

SNOW for Christmas!!

Well, we got our first big snowfall of the season last week, and we got another 6" this weekend. I have been meaning to post this for a while and now today is Monday and we are supposed to get another 4-8" of snow. And the best part about it is I don't have to shovel snow this year. I shoveled all the snow last year with the help of neighbors and my parents, who I am so grateful for. This year Rob bought this beauty a day before the first snowstorm we got. Yeah!!

He has used it a few times already and it is so nice, we get the driveway cleared a lot faster. It seems pretty easy to use. I am just excited we will have snow for Christmas.

Family Pictures

The day before Thanksgiving my sister in law Heather (www.heathertaylorphoto.com)took some pictures of my family. The most recent family pictures have been from Weddings, so it was time for a new one. She did an awesome job. I love them all and am having a hard time choosing which ones to have printed.

Besides this picture of Rob and I, we also went down over this last weekend and had more pictures taken, so I am going to have a lot to choose from.

And this one of my sisters is probably my favorite, I love the head shot of all of us.

And here is my cute mom and dad. So exciting to have new updated pictures to hang on my walls.

Thanks Heather, they turned out simply wonderful!

The Christmas Season is here!!

Well, the day after Thanksgiving I broke out the Christmas decorations. I did all the decorations myself, because I have to arrange the decorations on the tree just right. Two of the same ornaments can't be right next to each other. The tree needs to be balanced. In the future I will need another tree that the kids can help decorate and I won't care where they put the ornaments.


I made this tree when we were first married and it has worked just great for us. I also bought a grouping of three trees last year that were to go outside but they kept falling over so I decided to keep them in this year and decorate with leftover ornaments since I bought new ornaments this year.

After getting everything set up I realized I missed one very important thing when setting up Christmas. The Christmas MUSIC, how did I forget that! Probably because we don't ever have the radio on and so we are used to the quiet. I will have to remember to turn on the Christmas music more often this month.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The night before Thanksgiving my sisters get together and we make small cookies to put in cornucopias by our plates for Thanksgiving. We had a good time and listened to Christmas music and watched "27 dresses".

We went to my parents house for Thanksgiving and had some of my moms side of the family over. We had a good dinner with plenty of good food.

We left to go visit Robs family after dinner and had a good time. Robs sister Jen, was there with their new little daughter and she was sooo cute. I was not able to hold her, because of a little cold I am getting over. Bummer, but we will see them this next week. This year has been a tough year for us, but we have received so many blessings and have much to be grateful for. We are so excited for the holidays, since we missed everything last year. I am grateful for the trials we go through to help us become stronger, and grateful to my Heavenly Father who never leaves our side. I am grateful for a loving husband, who is so PATIENT and ENERGETIC. He just makes me laugh. I am super grateful for good health.

All-Time Favorite

My favorite meal is Broccoli and Potato Soup, I was grocery shopping yesterday and bought some fresh broccoli and potato rolls. I had some red potatoes in my fridge that were still good(I don't ever cook with potatoes) so I thought would make potato soup. It has been more than a year since I have made it and with it being cold and rainy and dreary outside, I thought it was the perfect opportunity. It turned out better than I have ever made it so far. Mmmmmmmm!!!! Soo good!

If any of you want to make it, it is really easy, here is the recipe.

Broccoli and Potato Soup


Cut up about 6-7 medium potatoes and put them in a pot and boil for about 20min. Cook until you can poke a fork in the potato and it comes out easily.
While that is cooking, you will also cut up some broccoli in bite size pieces and cook until tender.
While the broccoli and potatoes are cooking, you will make the white sauce.

White Sauce - (6-7 potatoes)
1/4 cup butter
dry onion
MELT above ingredients together in pan and do not burn.
1/2 cup flour
MIX enough flour in until moistened with the butter.
1 cup cold milk
WHISK while pouring. Mix until there are no butter/flour chunks.
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups water
STIR on medium until thick.
1/2 cup hot water
2-3 tsp. chicken boullion
MIX water and boullion together and then add to white sauce.
1/2 cup grated cheese
HEAT through good and then add grated cheese.
Take off heat and when potatoes and broccoli are done, add sauce to soup.

I like to keep my potatoes and broccoli in separate pots and just add the sauce to each pot. Then I can mix how much potato or broccoli soup I want to my own bowl.

Eating dinner with my HUBBY!

We haven't ate at our dining room table very much since we bought it. We have been eating in the front room for quite a few months. So, I have been trying to eat at the table from now on. And one of the best things about eating at the table is that I get to sit across from this hansom cheesy smiling face. I absolutely love it. He is so cute.

I am so lucky.
Since he is feeling better, he has been happier than I ever remember. Its the Happy in LOVE happy. He just makes me feel so good!
Love ya, honey!

Trying new recipes

Lately Rob and I have the hardest time thinking of what we can have for dinner, so I have been trying some new recipes. I found this enchilada recipe on the back of a food storage paper for dry beans that I got in Relief Society a few weeks ago. It was really good. And better still, Rob liked it!

Enchiladas

1 pkg. flour tortillas
1 medium onion
1 can enchilada sauce
1 can tomato soup
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 can refried beans
1 lb. ground beef

Brown meat, season and add a little chili powder. Add 1/2 of the soup and 1/2 of both sauces to the meat. Into tortillas put 2 tbsp. refried beans, 2 tbsp. meat mixture, some grated cheese, and chopped onion. Roll and lay flap down in a casserole dish or cake pan. Combine the rest of soup and sauces and pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onion. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.

I also found it useful to spray the pan. It stuck pretty good. Enjoy! I halfed the recipe and still had a ton.

The next recipe I tried was from the Kraft Food and Family magazine. I love this magazine, because there are easy recipes with simple ingredients.

Taco Soup

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
3 cans (15 1/2 oz. each) mild chili beans, undrained
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) whole tomatoes, undrained
1 can (14 1/2 oz.) corn, undrained
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1pkg. (1 1/4 oz.) Taco Bell Home Originals Taco Seasoning Mix
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese

BROWN meat with onions in large saucepan, drain.
ADD all remaining ingredients except cheese; stir, breaking up tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-low heat 5 min., stirring occasionally.
SERVE topped with cheese.

Enjoy!

Canning Chicken

They had chicken on sale at Macey's for 1.19 a pound. You had to buy 40 lbs, it came all in one box. There were four separate bags inside. So I got some on Tuesday. I had to cut all the fat and stuff off of it. So Wednesday morning I started and only got about 10 lbs. cut, then I started to get hungry and sick feeling from the poultry smell. So I stopped and did some more later after work. Wednesday night I went to my moms right after work and cut some more and started the canning process. It is alot easier canning when you have a gas stove. I had to wear my apron, so I did not get any chicken goo on me.

For canning chicken all you have to do here in Utah is cut the chicken into strips. I washed the canning jars in the dishwasher so they were freshly clean. I squished the chicken in the pint size jars to about an inch from the top. You don't need to add water. They will make their own juice while cooking. Then you put the lids on and put them in the pressure cooker with a couple of inches of water on the bottom. The first batch I did, I got 18 pint jars in the canner. After all the jars are in the canner, put the lid on and latch it down. The stove should already be on. The vent at the top should be open and once the steam starts coming out really good, then you set the timer for 10 minutes. After the ten minutes, just pop the vent down and start watching the pressure, get it up to 13 and a 1/2 pounds and then set your timer for 75 minutes. Whoa! Get a chair out and sit down, it is going to be a long time.

This is the part I remember as a kid when my mom would sit a stool in front of the stove and watch the pressure gauge. You cannot let it get below 13 1/2 lbs. or you have to start the time over. You don't want it to get to high either.


So, here I sat for an hour and a half last night watching this gauge.

During this process, my mom had gone to class and so my dad made some spaghetti for dinner. There was some french bread leftover from a previous dinner so he decided to make garlic bread. He buttered and seasoned the bread and I turned on the broiler to LOW, and moved the rack up. We stuck it in and a little later I realized somebody better check it(you really should watch it, doesn't take very long), I asked my sister to check on it and you probably guessed it. They were a blazing, my dad rushed in and pulled them out of the oven and blew the flames out and ran outside. The smoke detectors did not even go off. Amazing! Well, no garlic bread for dinner. That is okay, everything else was good.

When the 75 minutes were up, I turned off the stove and my dad moved the pressure cooker to another burner to cool down. This takes a little while. Probably about a half an hour. When the pressure gets down to zero, I took a fork and lifted the vent a little to see if there was any pressure left inside, there wasn't, so I lifted the vent all the way up and waited two minutes. I then lifted the lid off and lifted all the jars out to cool down and seal. They all sealed, yeah!
From start to finish it took around 3 hours. Today is Thursday and I just finished the last of the chicken and got 16 more jars full. I had never thought I would cut up so much chicken and I am glad I am finished. I also thought I was done canning this year, I think now I am really done for the year.

Here is all 34 jars of canned chicken!