THE santa cookie

I spent the morning learning how to make Santa cookies with friends. We had a lot of fun.
These fulfilled the 2 requirements i have for spending a lot of time on a baked good - which are - 1, it has to look good and 2, it has to taste awesome. We gave these to our old neighbors wrapped in cellophane bags with big bows. So cute!

elf on our shelf

Joan ordered us an "Elf on the Shelf" several years back. This is our fourth Christmas with our elf, and he is off to a naughty start, evidenced by the pictures below! Teeny Tiny Snowball (as the kids named him) is usually uncreative and only hides in different spots every day, but this year he has some new ideas and we area all having fun with him. The boys have been waking up earlier than normal to find him, then they run into our room every morning to excitedly report. Oh what fun!

He toilet papered our tree!

And drew on our pictures!

christmas card

christmas advent calendar

Instead of treats, we have a fun activity countdown to Christmas this year. I made activity cards with some home-brewed scratch-off paint over the words. The boys are having a good time scratching off the paint with coins and love doing something Christmasy every day. 

1. "Tinsel through Time" at the Governor's Mansion
2. Watch "the Grinch"
3. Stay up 1 hour past bed time
4. Watch Luke 2 on DVD and sing Silent Night
5. Let's have pizza tonight!
6. Let's make gingersnaps!
7. Start a puzzle
8. Tell our favorite Christmas memories before bed
9. Ward Christmas party
10. Sleep under the Christmas tree
11. Caroling with the Brenchley's
12. Indoor snowball fight
13. Gingerbread house
14. Read "A Christmas Carol" before bed
15. Cut snowflakes
16. Hot Chocolate party with friends
17. Drive around town to see lights in PJ's
18. Learn new card game
19. Ice skating
20. Christmas shopping for brother and wrap presents
21. Drive to Utah!
22. Pioneer Village
23. Jones Family Christmas Party
24. Leave out cookies for Santa & sprinkle Magic Dust
25. Merry Christmas!

thanksgiving pictures

This was our first Thanksgiving home since 2005. We absolutely loved spending time with our families in Utah. The boys couldn't get enough of their cousins and were super disappointed when it was time to go. I felt really sad for them, they just love their Utah families so much.

Pics taken by Brad.

Love.

 These are with the Sayer Family. Love them too.

my take on silhouettes

I've been wanting to make family silhouettes for a looooooong time. The plain black silhouettes are classic, but I wanted mine to be more unique and creative. I used the cover of each person's favorite magazine. They look perfect up on my mantle!

Matthias - High Country News

Andrea - Fine Cooking

Ty - Lego Club

 Beckham - "If I Ran the Zoo" by Dr. Suess

bread bowls

One recent evening we had bread bowls with home-made tomato soup for dinner. We all LOVED them!