Cookie Party 2012

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the cookie party that my friend Marilynn hosts. This year, I made some yummy Macaroon Kisses... they are delicious (and I usually don't like coconut!)

Macaroon Kisses


1/3 cup butter (softened)
3 oz. cream cheese (softened)
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 ½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
5 cups coconut (divided)
48 kisses (dark chocolate)

Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg yolk and extract.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add gradually to creamed mixture.  Stir in 3 cups of the coconut.

Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until dough is easy to handle (if desired, I didn't find this to be necessary).  Shape in 1” balls or use a small cookie scoop and then roll in coconut.  Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (or until lightly browned.)

Remove from oven and push a kiss into each cookie.  Allow cookies to sit on cookie sheet 2-5 minutes until chocolate is soft.  Transfer cookies to cooling racks.

If you want to check out some other pictures and recipes for delicious cookies, check out the Christmas Cookie blog!

Thanksgiving 2012

We were so excited that we were able to visit Ryan's brother Scott and his family for Thanksgiving this year. Terri and Bruce flew out from Connecticut as well which made our stay even better.

Our kids loved being together... they played games, played with Nerf guns, played Wii, wrestled, laughed, crafted, played at the park, and loved every minute they had together.

Kristen and I had a great time baking and cooking. We spent Wednesday night baking pies... and managed to catch the oven on fire! I made a pecan pie and Kristen did such a good job making a beautiful apple pie (from scratch!) and we also made a couple of pumpkin pies. While it was baking the top crust from the apple pie broke off and fell onto the element, then some of the ooey goodness dripped out onto it and that caused a whole lot of smoke, and eventually some flames. We laughed and laughed (and felt grateful that the smoke detectors didn't go off). Despite their time in the fire and smoke, they still looked beautiful, so we figured we'd try them out the next day.

On Thursday we had mini pudding pies for the kids and grandparents for breakfast (tradition!) and we spent the next several hours making a delicious dinner. It was so fun to be together and share the cooking and dish washing responsibilities... Kristen is a wonderful cook and had several fabulous recipes. The kids had their own table which they loved... Alyza and Olivia had gotten up early to make table decorations and bookmarks for each of us :).  We ate until we were full (and then we ate some more) and waited a brief time before we went for pie. The pudding pie and the pecan pie were hits... the others had an odd smokey flavor :). It was bad, really bad. They tasted a bit like what we imagine an ash tray might. We decided that we couldn't do it... as much as we wanted to, we just couldn't eat the apple and pumpkin pies, so when we went out later that night for a few of the sales we hit the deli (through the crazed DVD shoppers) and picked up a couple of pumpkin pies... and wouldn't you know it, I got sugar-free... not as bad as the smoked pies, but still not great... thank goodness for Costco apple and pumpkin pies... they were purchased and consumed the next day :).

On Friday we did a little shopping and I met up with my friend from high school for lunch who lives in the area. We went to the Denver temple grounds and spent some time there. Sophia wasn't too happy to be there (she needed a nap desperately) but she finally got her cheer back when we encouraged somersaults (and joined in).

We had great weather while we were there... We visited downtown Morrison which has cute shops and great ambiance. Scott and Kristen shared with us a fun place for dipped ice cream cones.

Before we went home (to eat more pie) we stopped at the Red Rock amphitheatre to see a beautiful sunset.

On Saturday we drove to Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods... it was so beautiful! There were lovely clouds and the rock formations were breathtaking.

The kids enjoyed walking on the trails and climbing in and out of a very small opening in one of the rocks. Bruce and Ryan took some great photos (Ryan didn't even have his good camera, but was making the most of his iPhone :)).

Lovely, no?

We had such a great visit with Scott and Kristen and Sam and Lyz. We were so glad that Terri and Bruce were there also... it was so fun to spend time with everyone and celebrate the holiday.

The whole gang... minus Bruce who was taking the picture... Our cute girls Lyz and Soph were so sad to say goodbye, there were real tears shed over the thought of parting... we'd had such a good visit! We were so glad to see where Scott and Kristen live. It is obvious why they love it so much... they have a beautiful home and neighborhood and so many wonderful things to do nearby. We can't wait to go back and visit again!

What a sad, sad girl sitting in the middle there (the one by the window is hiding her face from the camera because she isn't too happy either.)

(We are happy too that we all fit in our little Prius which makes road trips super affordable.)

Hey Ferb, I know what we're going to do today....

 Trick or Treat!!!

Happy Halloween to all.... This year we decided to continue on with our love of Phineas and Ferb...

The Flynn-Fletcher Family... Sadly, Lawrence didn't make an appearance... and Ferb had to be on Coleman's bag since we couldn't convince any of our neighbors or friends to join our family for the night...

Liv made an excellent Candace... she doesn't often try to "bust her brother" and isn't in love with someone named Jeremy (lovely bag, no?) but she still pulled it off. She had a parade at school that Sophia and I got to go to. She had to explain to people who she was... but if they were fans of the show, they totally got it as soon as she said it. Sophia loved being there because all of the kids would point to her and say, "Hey, look! It's Perry!" She felt just a bit famous :).

Coleman loves, loves, loves this show. I love that the the characters are mostly nice to each other, tell the truth, and are quite intelligent. The plots are simple enough that Sophia likes it but witty enough that Ryan and I even sneak in an episode or two after the kiddos go to bed. People who know the show loved the costumes and recognized us immediately... those who didn't... well, they didn't. Some thought Coleman was a rooster! Sophia and I went to Coleman's class for his party.

Ryan made a great Doofenschmirtz... all evil and ugliness aside, he at least had the clothes down :). Sophia's debut as Perry the Platypus was great. We've been planning this for weeks... and a couple of weeks ago Soph decided she wanted to be a cat instead. We finally convinced her to put on her Perry costume by telling her she would be a kitty cat that looked like Perry the Platypus :). In the days leading up to Halloween we kept asking Sophia what she was going to say at the door... her response: "Me want candy!" I think she caught on to the whole idea of trick-or-treating... when they got home I asked her if they had gone to a few houses... she answered with, "No... a lot!" and then I asked if she got a few pieces of candy she said, "No, a lot, a lot, a lot!" She's been chowing down ever since.... She loved her Major Monogram bag and kept calling it "my Major Monogram bag."

Ryan rigged up speakers and played the "Doofenschmirtz Evil, Incorporated" jingle from his lab-coat.  We brainstormed about what "inator" he could carry around but never built one.... we should have made the Trick-or-Treat-inator to suck all of the good candies out of trick-or-treaters bags...

We all know that Linda and Heinz didn't end up together... but they did go on that one date... :)

It definitely wasn't my best year for creativity in the culinary area, but we had a few yummy Halloween treats... My headstone cakebites didn't work as well as I hoped (the white chocolate seized up, likely from the food coloring I added?) so we turned some of them into ghosts... We made some mummy pigs-in-a-blanket, spiderweb salsa with chips, and had some jack-o-lantern slush. The cake in the top right corner was made by someone at Ryan's work and I loved it... they just used strawberry pieces to make a pumpkin. I loved the Frankenstein rice krispy treats that two of my friends made for our pack meeting this month. We didn't have very many trick-or-treaters this year, which was strange because we had beautiful weather... 71 degrees! The ones that did come to our door got to take some Perry fruit snacks, Smarties, Nerds, or Dum-Dums. I am quite sure the significance of the candies was lost on everyone but me and Coleman (and Liv after we explained it to her) but that is okay :).

They got home with so much candy and spent a bit of time trading and paying the 'mom and dad tax.'

They taught Sophia how to say "Happy Halloween!"

Hope your Halloween was great too!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 Cute kiddos in their green t-shirts--said t-shirts delivered as per usual by the leprechauns who also left a box of Lucky Charms and green milk. Sophia was not feeling the St. Patrick's Day love...

...until Ryan took the camera and worked his magic.

Hope your St. Patrick's Day was great!

Happy Hearts Day!

Our day was full of Valentine's goodness...

The kids and Ryan got shirts and I got a lovely new scarf... plus candy all around. Ryan's fancy wrapped Symphony bar had an iTunes gift card stashed inside. We had tasty heart-shaped muffins and strawberries for breakfast... yum!

Fruit salsa and heart cut out cinnamon tortilla chips went to work with Ryan... and I took some to visit my friend Loretta who is in town from Alabama. We had so much fun visiting and chatting that I didn't take a picture. I love seeing her though!

Sophia and I got to go into Coleman's classroom party to help with a craft... we made flowers and cute little mice out of lollipops.

I love being in the kids' classroom, I wish I could find a way to go more often.

Here are my cuties. Sophia's smile is so cheesy! She likes to ham it up when we pull the camera out.

These were the fun Valentines we made for the kids to hand out... Olivia's says "Look WHOOOO's wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Olivia" and Coleman's says, "Valentine, I've got my EYE on you! Love, Coleman." Cute, cute! We made them by personalizing some business cards (only about $6 for a pack of 50--that's like grocery store prices!) through Heritage Makers.

Dipping our own strawberries should be an annual Valentine tradition, I just decided :).

Since someone in our family (who will remain nameless) doesn't like strawberries, I dipped some graham crackers too.

This was my Valentine craft this year... circles of felt, a whole slew of straight pins, and a heart shaped piece of styrofoam was all it took to make this beauty.

One of Ryan's coworkers made a great template that I loved, so I swapped in our names and  made it into an 8x8 canvas. So cute!

I adored all of my love notes from my sweetie and this print... it's our family photo printed on aluminum. It's water-proof and scratch resistant, so it could even go outside somewhere (although it might fade in direct sunlight). It is impossible to capture the coolness of this print in a photo... so you'll just have to come on over to take a look at it in person.

**Did you do anything special to celebrate the day?

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas!

Megan and Erin and her family came over for our traditional "Breakfast for Dinner" on Christmas Eve. My mom likes to host a brunch on Christmas day, so a few years ago we started making breakfast for dinner on Christmas Eve. This year we had french toast, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and orange julius.  We make cookies together (for Santa, of course!) before we wrap up.

The kids were excited to open their gifts from Grandpa Cole. The boys got cash which made them so excited and all of the girls got some cute jewelry boxes with lip gloss inside.

Sophia was thrilled with her box.... she has carried it around for days, saying, "bah!"

Liv's was purple!

Did I mention that the boys were excited about their money?

We loved having Erin's family and Megan come over!

After the party wrapped up we moved on to our tradition of new PJs. The kids were excited about their new duds.

Sophia wasn't too interested in opening gifts, but Ryan was good to help her with hers.

We still have believers (three!) at our house, so we hurried off to bed after we left cookies and milk and carrots for our nighttime visitors.

On Christmas day we got to go to church at 9 am. My master plan was to wake up and let the kids look through their stockings and open a few gifts (new church clothes) and do the rest after we got home. Ryan and the kids had another plan... so, majority ruled and we woke up at 6 am to enjoy all the goodness of Christmas morning with plenty of time to get ready for church.

I loved this look on Olivia's face. The funniest part is that she got THAT excited about a box of gobstoppers.  Classic.

That Santa is a clever one. He brought the book Goodnight Moon to Sophia, and Ryan got Goodnight iPad. It is pretty funny.  (And is written by Ann Droyd... get it? It took me a minute.)

Soph loved her new baby.

Coleman was excited with everything he opened. He's such a happy kid.

Church was lovely. Olivia and Coleman played their Christmas hymns for the prelude music. Ryan and Olivia sang in the ward choir, Ry sang with the men of the ward too. I even sang with Ryan and several other couples. I thought it was wonderful to be at church and feel the spirit and worship the Savior on the very day that we were celebrating his birth.

Aren't they handsome boys?

Sophia's favorite gift (for the moment) was her new baby doll.

Olivia was thrilled to have a new camera... and she has been taking at least 100 pictures every day since then. She confessed that every morning she takes a few self-portraits right when she gets up because she thinks it's fun to capture her sleepy face.

Coleman was so excited for a new Wii game... Harry Potter Years 5-7. He also loved his Ninjago alarm clock.

Ryan loves his new gadget that plays music from our phones without even being plugged in. While it was his gift and a surprise for him, I have to admit that I have gotten the most use out of it thus far. Lucky me!

My favorite gift is this beautiful canvas that Ryan made. He did a collage of our family photo shoot and the Proclamation to the World on the family. Love it!

My mom knits sweaters for each of her grandchildren. Amazing, no? Sophia's sweater is darling, and Soph is pretty darling too. I loved this picture!

I love Christmas... it's busy and can be stressful, but I love giving gifts and seeing the joy on these beautiful kids' faces when they open the thing that is just perfect for them.

**What was the best gift you gave this year?