mY CaRaMeLs

I just posted the recipe for my caramels...I've been making these for YEARS every Christmas! It's become a tradition at our house. Give them a try, you can do it!


♥ I've been catching up on a few things so check it out down below if you'd like. :) Thanksgiving, Halloween & Kelsie's birthday!

Our "Charlie Brown" Christmas Tree!

Our last Christmas in Colorado Springs we decided to be like the Griswalds and cut down our own tree! Our neighbor had done it for years and always had the most BEAUTIFUL tree! She assured us it was easy and only $10 for a permit so off we went. As we were traveling up the mountain road there was a sign that stated you should have chains or four wheel drive to continue on up the mountain. NO worries we moved forward in our chainless mini van. It seemed like we could keep going forever... and the kids were getting antsy so we found a good place to pull off the road. Hiked around for a little bit...none of the trees looked like my neighbors big, full noble fir. Pretty soon I could see that we were going to be leaving treeless so we just hacked down this tall scrawny tree and went on our merry way! I didn't think it was that bad until I was trying to put the lights on it...and realized there really weren't very many branches! (Note the lights hanging down in the picture!) Even then I didn't realize how bad it was until I found this picture from Kelsie's blessing day recently. WHAT A HORRIBLE TREE! I am just cracking up that I even let it in my house! And we took a picture in front of IT! I remember my family making fun of it and being a little irritated...I guess they didn't understand my sentimental attachment since we CUT the tree ourselves! So...the other funny part to me is the picture of us when we actually cut the tree. Again I have to say, What were we thinking?? Look at our attire? The saw? The newborn babe? (Yes, that's a real baby!) The two year old? These are all things that might make some people think twice before heading up into the mountains to cut down a tree...apparently not us! I'm glad we did it now...these pictures make me LOL! Kenna's face is seriously my fave.

P.S. One thing thing that makes this even funnier...in another life I've been known by friends and family to be VERY picky about our Christmas tree. I even used to make Red drive to multiple tree lots to find the PERFECT tree! WHATEVER! Sometime I'll have to post some pic's of our "perfect" trees. They are not nearly as memorable! I'm glad things don't have to be perfect at my house anymore. :)

ThAnKsGiViNg 2009

We hosted Thanksgiving in our home this year and had about 25 people for dinner. My parents drove here all the way from South Carolina and we had a blast! It really was fun. Red's family also came and everyone brought a lot, which made it much less stressful! Although I do have to say that my rolls did not turn out which has never happened and really ticked me off and stressed me out! Figures....Thanksgiving they don't turn out for some reason! I'm still not fully over it. Still, it was a great day, playing games and spending time with the family. Thanks everyone for all the great food and fun! We are so grateful for both of our families and all they do for us. We are truly blessed. Friday, we went with my parents and Scott and the kids to the movie The Blindside. We loved it! We spent later that evening with some good friends and went to Avery's baptism on Saturday. It was a good weekend!

hApPy HaLLoWeeN!

Okay...so I'm a little behind! We had a really fun Halloween this year. Very low key. We went to some fun parties, enjoyed festivities at the school, carved pumpkins and ate a lot of soup and of course too much candy. Tanner was that scary thing with the mask, Allie was Lucille Ball (she never let me fix her hair!), McKenna was a vampire and Kelsie was a witch or a cheerleader depending on the day! Halloween night we watched Twilight Zone the movie...super weird!

mY BaBy tUrNeD FiVe!!

Waaay back in October, Kelsie had her fifth birthday. I had planned on finding a few more baby pictures to add to her digital scrapbook...but that has not happened so I just completed it with what I had. I can't believe this girl is five already. Turning five is like becoming a 'big girl' to me...so I am a little sad. Lucky for me she will always be my baby! Kelsie relishes in being the youngest and is definitely spoiled and loved by everyone in the family! She has such a fun personality and loves to be the center of attention! Her primary teacher recently told me she will probably be a student body officer when she's older. (I think that might be a little premature :)But, that kind of explains the kind of personality she has! I love her and I love her energy. I even love her little lisp and kind of wish she would keep it forever. Kelsie loves hanging out and playing with her big sisters and adores her big brother. Happy Birthday sweet girl! A little late..... So glad you are in our family! Above are a few of the scrapbook pages I did for Kelsie and below is the eight page album.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What's for breakfast???

Edamame (soybeans)

Kelsie Anne woke up this morning with a hankering for edamame pronounced (edamamaid) by her. So, I obliged by steaming up a bag for her liking, complete with sea salt and chocolate milk. What a nut she is! I do have to say though...I love that she's not a picky eater. She will eat just about anything that is put in front of her! She busted me snacking on edamame one night when she was supposed to be in bed and has been hooked ever since. If you haven't tried them...you should. They are the perfect snack. Seriously way better than popcorn or chips! But....for breakfast! 

***Sorry I'm so slow posting! The recipe for the Tomato Basil Bisque is on my sister-in-laws recipe blog. It was posted in Oct. 2007. I changed it up a little because I wasn't going to the store. So, I had just canned quart jars of salt and pepper tomatoes, instead of the tomatoes and juice called for in the recipe, I pureed two jars of my tomatoes for the soup. Also, I didn't have shallots so I used some sweet onions I had on hand. As for the ciabatta, I just toasted it with the brie, pears and pecans and drizzled a little olive oil and balsamic on top along with ground pepper. 

ThE PuMpKiN PaTcH

Last week we took a little trip to the PuMpKiN PaTcH! Twice, actually. The first was with Kelsie's little preschool class and the second time just with the girls. They had a great time making their way through the corn maze, sitting on the tractors and carefully selecting a pumpkin. It was a beautiful sunny fall afternoon, a perfect day to be outside! I do love Fall! (I know some of the pic's are the same)

Chick Food!

Apparently....it's my fault the Patriots lost on Sunday. Red asked if I would make nachos for lunch and instead I opted for Tomato Basil Bisque, toasted ciabatta with apples, brie cheese and pecans and a salad with blue cheese, apples, toasted almonds and dried cranberries with balsamic vinaigrette. Doesn't it sound yummy. Of course I like nachos too and had I known what a disgrace it would be to serve such food...well I'm not sure I would have done anything different! Next time I'll try to be nice and go for something a little more MANLY!! Just to clarify...he cleaned his plate...but since his team lost...it must have been the lack of nachos! ???

I NEED LASIK!

A couple of months ago...I was rushing off on a Saturday morning to a baptism for one of the cute kids in our ward. I was putting my mascara on and Red was standing by the kitchen sink. So...I asked him if he would clean my glasses for me?? He said sure, where's the glass cleaner? I said, it's right by the sink in a white bottle...I meant can. Anyway! He started cleaning them and soon I hear... Oh SH....BEEP! A word he VERY seldom says! I look that direction only to realize I can't see...so I run over for a closer look. (These are my fairly new glasses that cost us a small fortune! I don't get new ones very often!)  My husband has just "cleaned" my glasses with fabric glue!!! HELLO! Who does that?? Luckily I didn't have to flip out for very long. Amazingly the glue came off pretty quickly and my lenses were in tact! What is the point of this story? I have no idea! I'm just saying...I need LASIK! Maybe my husband does too! I love you Red! :) Oh and when my girls are done making felt clothes for their webkins... it would be nice if they put the fabric glue away! That's all I have for today!


P.S. I've resumed the cleaning of my glasses! :)

If You Find a Mouse in Primary...

This past weekend was the primary program for our ward. This is a cute little program put on by the children who attend our church, with speaking parts and lots of music. Anyway... I was pretty involved with it this year...you might say. ;) So, we were at our church building on Saturday to practice when a friend came walking over holding a dead mouse by the tail. (Thanks James) He had just killed it! :( I don't do rodents! I remained pretty calm for me...I think? and we continued with our practice. The next day we had the program and it went wonderfully. Really it was great, the kids were so cute and it was perfect! I was even able to block out the fact that a mouse could be crawling up my leg any minute!(Because, you know if there's one...there are twenty and they're all having babies!) When the program was over we were getting ready to take the kids and head upstairs to the primary room for a snack and a movie, to celebrate... someone came down and said we needed to wait. Apparently a mouse was trying to crash the party! I could tell they didn't want to tell me what was going on. Long story longer...about four men in suits were trying to corner/kill the little mouse in our primary room. We waited a little longer and...mission accomplished! Now, I'm feeling a little guilty. (Not really.) I mean, haven't you read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? Maybe he just wanted to worship with the kids. And listen to them sing I am a Child of God or something. Who knows?? More likely...he wanted to enjoy the saltines and hot chocolate we found lurking in the singles ward's closet!! I'm just saying...I don't do mice! So...if you find a mouse in primary...he just might end up in Heaven!