Quick trip to Portland

Quick trip

All photos

Day one:

packed up the pictures I painted for little baby Liam! He is my sister in law, Erins and her husband, Matts first baby, he is almost a month old.

Drove 3 hours and finally got to hold the little one...can't really say little since he weighs 10 lbs at 3 weeks old!!

Look at those cheeks....he is storing nuts for winter

**I am awful at taking pictures, for better pictures go to Erins blog**

Day 2:

Gabe showing his enthusiasm....actually I think he was the most excited out of all of us. He keeps asking when James and I are going to have another (not anytime soon)

Getting ready to go to good ol IHOP (Gabe's favorite)

Liam is by far one of the best babies! Never cried and only whined when he was gassy, and he would just fall asleep while looking at you, no rocking, no feeding to make him fall asleep...what a dream!

Erin let me dress him....I was getting him ready for his ski trip

Gabe did so well on the trip, he was so happy and always a jokester

I love my sister in law Erin, she is such an amazing sister and I am so lucky to call her one. She started off as my best friend, and I wouldn't be married to James if it wasn't for her!

Day 3:

Morning before leaving. These kids play so well together. And I think this was our 3rd time having pancakes on the trip :)

Yippee, snow storm. It was NUTS. It didn't look that bad, but there were accidents everywhere.

We saw a lot of this and lot of cars facing the wrong direction. We drove 40 mph all the way to The Dalles and then it was sunny warm and dry!

We HAD to stop at Burgerville so I could have a Chocolate Hazelnut shake. Gabe thanking James with kisses....this is about kiss number 30 at this point.

Nolan downing his fries

almost home. Nolan wasn't falling for Gabe's trick of pretending to be asleep

So it was quick, fun, and exhausting. That night, I fell asleep so fast, I don't think I have slept that good in a long time.

a new passion

My lack of posts.

What do I have to say?

I am still baking a TON but a lot of old recipes that I have already done and posted on here.

I am still thinking of new recipes........but had quite a few failures lately and they were so bad that I am ashamed to say what they were:)

I am reading the partial Midnightsun when I get a chance.....thanks a lot Krista! (said sarcastically) now I have one more reason not to do the laundry and vacuum! lol.

But I have picked up a new hobby. One I have always wanted to get started in. One that I have always knew I would have a passion in.

Family History

It is so thrilling to learn more about my family tree. I have already felt the blessings that come along with genealogy work. We can go really far back on some sides but there is one side we just can't crack! It is really a rush to find a little more and it drives you to find out even more and so on and so on! I am staying up way too late, but I am loving loving loving it! My mom and I are working really hard on one stubborn line on my grandmothers side, it gives us more to talk about and it is bringing us closer......we are actually on a secret mission right now with it so I can't talk too much about it :)

So my lack of posts although as much as it bothers me because I look at this blog as a place to journal/record my favorite recipes/post cake pictures. I am going to have a lack of posts so I can work on what Heavenly Father wants me to do. As a convert in the LDS church, I feel like a pioneer in my family, I will get my family history done. I will.....

“Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand; … Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple … a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptance.” D&C 128:24

Gabe's look-alike

2 weeks ago, I got bought some clothes for the boys for next winter since there were a lot of good sales.
I picked up a fleece for Gabe that I thought was cute and knew it was too big for him to wear this year. Of course when I got home he had to wear it right away and wouldn't take it off....he actually wore it to bed 2 nights in a row. James didn't like it though, but oh well....can't beat 6.99 right?!?!
Well, after a few day of looking at it, James and I started thinking it looked oddly familiar and that we had seen it before. But we were stumped.....UNTIL.....
We watched Backyardigans one morning since they were all new episodes and I particularly think the show is so darn cute. James picked up on it before I did though......
So what do you think? This could be this years Halloween costume, huh? lol.

Gotta love Tyrone!!

:)

Little gems

I came across this recipe on Gourmet.com they are called Aunt Sis's Strawberry Tart Cookies. I saw how cute they were and just had to try them. They ended up being the perfect little snack cookie. All it is, is a sugar cookie, but it has an interesting way to prepare the dough. I was questioning how easy it was, but within a blink of an eye, it all came together. These HONESTLY were one of the easiest cookies I have made, but definitely very special. Next time I am going to roll the balls in some sugar to give in a nice crust.

**this makes a whole lot of cookies, I recommend halving the recipe the first time if you are just trying them**

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 large egg yolks, beaten lightly
1 cup strained strawberry jam

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, the sugar, and the salt, add the butter, and blend the mixture until it resembles coarse meal **use a pastry blender or two knives cutting the butter in or ever just a fork**. Stir in the egg yolks, blend the mixture until it forms a dough, and chill the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Let the dough soften slightly, roll level teaspoons of it into balls, and arrange the balls about 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each ball, being careful not to crack the dough around the edges. (If the dough cracks, re roll it and try again.) Fill each indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon of the jam and bake the cookies in batches in the middle of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are pale golden. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, transfer them to racks, and let them cool completely. The cookies may be made 1 month in advance and kept frozen in airtight containers.

I used Strawberry Jam, seedless black berry jam, Guava jelly, and my favorite...Lemon Curd

I have a confession

Just let me state that I am not happy to post this (okay maybe a little)
I truly did try to stay away
I rolled my eyes
I snickered
I said "no no no" when someone would offer me their book
I didn't see why everyone thought Rob Pattinson was so darn good lookin

That was before.....
That was in the past......

I have succumb to temptation

I HEART EDWARD CULLEN!

How in the world did this happen?!
I went and saw the movie, which is when I first saw him as the romantic, fierce, bad boy that he is.
That night I finally gave in and thought to myself "okay, lets see what all the hype is about"
I didn't know what I was getting myself into.

I read all 4 books in 3 weeks.

What have I done?

I am joining the masses and announcing that I am a Twilighter.
Now I have this urge to talk about it, make sure everyone around me reads the books too so they can join me in my love of vampires :)
Now.....
I ask James if he can grow out his hair....because when we were dating, he actually had Edward hair......seriously.
I ask James to bite my neck
I sometimes wish that James' skin was ice cold
I had a dream about Edward one night and woke up and told James that him and Edward actually smell exactly the same. A mix of old spice and Aqua Di Gio. This could have also happened because while I was dreaming of Edward, I probably had my face near James' armpit.
A good thing out of all this? James is so much like Edward, he loves me more than anything in the world, he is old fashioned (I love that about him), he dances with me, sings to me (it isn't a lullaby, but close) and he calls me his spidermonkey.........okay, he doesn't........but that is pretty funny.

New Years Resolutions

We have never done Resolutions. This is the first year.

We sat down as a family and talked about what it means to have have a goal and that it should be something that makes you a better person.

Gabes:

~Be funnier (can that be possible?)

~Have the whole family be together more

~Make the earth healthy and clean

Nolans: (Me James and Gabe thought of these for him)

~Be potty trained

~sleep in a big boy bed

~Give up the binkies

~~ and after all that Nolan piped in and said "And HULK SMASH!"

Mine and James' are more personal.....lose weight, go to the temple more, yada yada yada

Altogether as a family:

~Leave the TV off more

~Read the scriptures every night TOGETHER

I love this picture

compromise

Nolan has fantastic hair, James and I always disagree on how it should be cut though.

I like it shorter.

James likes it longer.

After many many haircuts already, James and I decided just to compromise and cut somewhere in the middle. I like it :) (excuse James expression....this is his tough guy look)

What do you think?

I guess they will come back!

Remember when Heather and I made the couch cake? (here is the story)

Here is the picture he gave us

Here is what we came up with

Well, in a somewhat last minute order, the husband and wife came back to order two more cakes. Very simple, very easy. A "Happy birthday Jesus" cake and an anniversary cake for her parents. Since so close to Christmas and how busy everything was I took them on myself and couldn't believe how quickly they came together!It was so nice to see someone who liked the last one so much that they wanted another one....or two! so nice :)

This cake had gold sparkles all over the ribbon, the second picture you can see them better without the natural light.

Gosh, I need a better camera....maybe next Christmas :)

Christmas day

We had a wonderful Christmas. Quiet, calm, but filled with laughter and family.

Checking out what Santa brought

Very curious

Ahhhh.....the clean up

We finished up the night with a delightful game on Back Alley...any holiday wouldn't be complete without at least one game!! **photo courtesy of Gabriel**

I hope all my loved ones and good friends had a wonderful Christmas also, We love you all.