Art

 Josh's art and story about his art was hung in the hall at school.

Toothbrush

Want some proof that I'm losing my mind? Don't answer that please :-)


Christmas Eve night, after I finished wrapping presents I realized that there were two gifts that I had bought for Mike but weren't under the tree. The first gift - a pair of jeans, the second a -toothbrush, its a long story as to why a toothbrush became an exciting gift, but it was.

I looked all over and couldn't find either.  Frustrated and exhausted I apologized to Mike that he will be short two presents this year and went to bed. 

Christmas morning we were opening presents and under the tree already wrapped were Mikes pants.  How did that happen? I don't have any idea. At one point I must have given them to Luke to wrap. It doesn't matter, one present found.

Now for the toothbrush.  I searched my room, I even CLEANED my room. Couldn't find it. I searched all of our hiding spots.  Still couldn't find it. I started to tell myself that I didn't really buy it, I just thought I did. Darn it, I found the receipt. I called Target, maybe I paid for it and walked away and left it there, because I surely did not have it. Target has security cameras with me on them paying for and walking out with a toothbrush.

This was becoming a hopeless cause, the toothbrush does not exist. Until just a few days ago, in the basement in my sewing machine box the toothbrush finally appeared.  How it got there I have no idea. Am I losing my mind? Yes. But who cares, Mike has a toothbrush and all is right in the world again.

Baptism

Last week began and by the time I blinked it was already over. So for the sake of catching up, lets pretend that it's still the beginning of last week.  

Sunday we left after our sacrament meeting and drove to New York to our friends the Brimhalls son Nathans baptism.

It was a very quick trip, but we wouldn't have missed it.  The fact that we drove 2 1/2 hours stayed for a few hours and then drove home, not hearing one complaint from the boys says a lot. In fact they were excited to go. 

 The baptism was at the church. Ben was able to give the baptism talk and did a great job. It was cool to watch him prepare and try so hard to do a good job. After the baptism, we were of to the Brimhalls for dessert.  It was so great to get to know their ward friends and neighbors.  They are such good people. It looks like we might be having some new New York friends headed our way soon.  Freedom Trail here we come (again)!

 The kids played hide and seek and I think Nathan found the best at least the most creative hiding spot.

 

 We love you guys!

 

Family favorites

 Chocolate Cake
I made this cake one night when the missionaries came for dinner. They (including my boys) were drooling as I made them wait so I could take a picture of the cake. Then the slices were disappearing so fast as the cake was being sliced and served that I didn't get very good pictures. Sorry! and no, I'm not about to make and eat, another cake so I can get better pictures.  

This cake is super easy, looks nice and tastes delicious. What more needs to be said.

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 small package of chocolate pudding

Make the cake as directed on the box EXCEPT add the package of pudding and instead of water add milk. THAT'S IT. For a more festive flavor you could add a tsp of cinnamon if you'd like.

Frosting
Hershey's kisses, or candy bars or some kind of chocolate

Butter

Melt these two ingredients.

Then add powdered sugar and milk to thin it.  You still want the frosting thick, but thin enough that the chocolate will drizzle down the sides easily.

I'm sorry, I don't have exact measurements for you. It turns out different every time. One of these days I'll pay attention enough to what I'm doing and write it down.  Just remember your experimenting with chocolate, butter and sugar.  You can't go wrong.

One more thing, you can also garnish it with powdered sugar or leave it plain. Either way is fine. I had some help with the garnish this time so its a little over the top.  But a light garnish is very pretty. Its best when served warm with either whip cream, home made is best, or ice cream.

Favorite pictures of the day

Not a super great picture but I love that smile.

Monday

snowball by Josh

Happy Monday

Winter

Winter came for a visit this weekend.

I don't think it plans to stay long

Family favorites

 POPCORN

One of my favorite foods is popcorn.  I could live on it, in fact sometimes I do. :-) When Mikes brother lived with us, he claimed that he had more popcorn in the short time that he lived at our house then he had in his entire life. What can I say? I like it! I grew up on it and still love it.  I pop a few different variations but here are my two current favorites.

 First, the popcorn has to be from the kernel.  None of this microwave business. Yuk. Second, a stove top popper is best. My mom always used a Whirly Pop type popper and bought me a whirly pop when I got married.  That is a good brand, some of the cheaper poppers don't work. Invest in the good kind, its worth it.

recipe #1

Butter popcorn

Put some oil in the popper, maybe 2 Tbs and 1/2 cup of popcorn. When done popping put in your bowl. Then melt 2-3 Tbs of butter and about 1 tsp of honey (yes honey). Adjust the measurements to your taste. Pour a little bit over the popcorn, sprinkle with salt and stir.  Keep doing this until the butter is gone.

I LOVE the honey.  It gives you your salty and sweet flavors all in one.  In fact just butter seems almost bland to me now.

 

 recipe #2

Kettlecorn

Put in popper 4 Tbs of oil, 4 Tbs sugar and 1/2 cup of popcorn.  Stir frequently while cooking. 

When popped pour onto a cookie sheet and quickly sprinkle with salt before the oil on the popcorn cools.  When it cools (it will take about 30 seconds to a minute) pour into the bowl and enjoy.

One more favorite thing.  My mammoth popcorn bowl. I've never seen a bowl this size. I grew up with this bowl as our popcorn bowl.  It was my moms favorite.  Whenever friends or family would come over she'd pull out the mammoth bowl.  I now have the bowl. I think of my mom often, when I pull out the mammoth bowl whenever friends or family come to visit us.

Duke's reception

 

When we live here before, my brother Nate who lived with us at the time was good friends with Taylor.  They were like brothers, and are still good friends today. We love Taylor, always have, you couldn't ask for a better guy. He was recently married to this awesome girl Katrina. They make a great couple, we're so happy for them.  We were able to go to their wedding reception this afternoon.  It was so good to see them even if it was just a short visit.

I don't know why but I love this picture

Favorite pictures of the day

 Lukes favorite

 I get two favorites

 Ben's favorite

 My favorite

 This one makes me laugh, at one point in the game, both teams had their smaller guys in. We were winning so they put Ben in to practice a few plays. They got the plays practiced but as you can see in this picture Ben was quite a bit taller then all of them.  He just sat under the basket, no one could get past him , and he got all the rebounds. Since the other team was already losing it was almost mean to have him in there.  He didn't last long before the coach took him out and put him back in when the taller kids were playing, but it was funny to watch while it lasted.

 Josh's favorite

My favorite

Date day

I've been wanting to go to Haymarket, a food market in Boston, for awhile now but haven't been able to find the time.  Yesterday, Mike had an inspection in Boston and I didn't have anything major going on. Haymarket AND a DATE! PERFECT!

 

I love having so many fresh fruits and veggies to pick from in the winter, not to mention the price. NICE!

 After I had my food, I  had a little more time before Mike was done.  So I wondered through the streets of Boston taking pictures, ending up in a cafe in the North End, on a couch in front of a fireplace drinking hot chocolate.  PERFECT? Yes, it was.

 

 

 

This was made out of masking tape

  

 
When I linked up with Mike we had lunch at this nice little Italian restaurant.  

It was such an enjoyable relaxing day. To bad we can't do that everyday!

Joke

\

Josh's latest joke

More good reasons

I have more good reasons to love my hubby

Saturday the toilet was plugged - he fixed it

Sunday the toilet (different toilet) broke (stopped flushing) - he fixed it

Monday the heater broke on the car - he fixed it

Tuesday I turned the car on and it looked like Christmas with all of the lights shining at me on the dashboard "check engine", "brakes", "ABS", "oil" I left the keys with him, took his car to get the boys to school. - he fixed that too.

I kind of like my handy hubby.  Thank you dear!!!

Did I mention we love puzzles?

Scriptures

 

We used to be so good at reading each night, but the last several months have really slacked.

We're trying to do better.
I love the feel in our home cause we are.