Christmas celebrations...

We had a really great Christmas! On the 23rd Justin's brother Kyle and his beau Andy came into town for a visit. I was so excited to see them, I could hardly wait till they got here. We ended up being able to spend a couple of hours with them that night. The next night, Christmas Eve we spent with Kyle, Andy and Justin's parents just visiting for a bit. My kids really loved their Uncle Kyle and Uncle Andy. Kyle and Andy left early Christmas morning to St. George. Christmas morning was great we slept in a little bit and we were up around 9am and then we opened gifts. A little later Grandma and Grandpa came over to let the kids open their gifts. Then we headed to John and Marisa's to exchange gifts with them. Next we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and Grandma made us some Norwegian omelets they were so good! Finally we headed over to my mom's house to exchange gifts with them and then we spent the rest of the day hanging out there. We had a great Christmas dinner and lots of fun playing video games and visiting.

My mom gave Justin a hoody it is the first one he has ever had and he looks really good in it. She made a quilt for our bed and it is really beautiful. It came with a brown bed skirt. John and Marisa gave us brown sheets that match perfectly.

The kids got the things they really wanted the most. Ashton ended up with Legos and more Magnetix. Elyssa ended up with a new dinosaur that is huge.... She named him Rocky

She also got a terydactyl and a triceratops and then my mom got her a set af small dinos that matched the big ones we got her. It is funny how they all came in different sets. Now she has families....

The best day of this celebration for me was the day after Christmas. Justin and I spent the entire day together. It ended up that we really just focused on each other and spending lots of quality time with each other. Well we did have errands to run, First we had to go down and start the refinancing paper work for our house. Can you believe we are going to refi' from 6.25% to 5% or lower we have only lived in our home for 7 months but rates are really incredible right now. Next we went to IKEA and I promised him we would go through the store really fast. We went to get my new mirror. It is really big about 72 inches long by 37 inches wide and it weighs 66 lbs. I really fell in love with this mirror when I saw it a few months ago. And it was a steal at $99.00!!!

After that we went to the bank to pay off my car.... YIPEEE!!!! Then we went to a few pawn shops treasure hunting. Actually Justin was looking for a certain guitar he really wanted. We did not find it at a pawn shop so we ended up going to Guitar Center. We found exactly what he was looking for there. He purchased a Gibson Studio Les Paul Cherrywood guitar. It is really pretty and it sounds soooo nice. I really love the sound that comes out of that thing. After all of that shopping and driving in the really bad weather and awful roads we came home for a bit before having dinner and then going out again to walmart to look for brackets for my mirror. So even though it seemed like a long day of never ending driving and shopping I have to say the time we spent together made me completely euphoric. I can't tell you how much I love being with that man!!! This was the best day of the whole Christmas season. There was no stress, no drama, no problems..... just fun stuff. I hope you all had a really great Christmas and at least one day where you could just enjoy some down time.

Loves, S

My Christmas Gift to You

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!

This year I plan on giving out my Buttermilk Syrup for Christmas....

However it needs to be refrigerated so I can not send it out to any one that is not local. I can only give it away to the ones I can see in person.

But I thought that as my christmas gift to those of you who are far away I would put my recipe on this blog and you can use it for your very own Christmas breakfast if you wish.

My family really loves this syrup and we do not buy the store bought maple syrup anymore.

We prefer this carmely goodness on our pancakes and waffles. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, from start to finish, and chances are you have everything on hand already.

Buttermilk Syrup Recipe

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup or 1 stick butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

3/4 cup buttermilk (or 3/4 cup milk with 3 tbsp. vinegar added mix well let stand 2 min.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

In a very large sauce pan or stock pot melt the butter add the sugar and corn syrup stir very well. Pour in the buttermilk and stir or whisk until combined add the baking soda and stir well, at this point the mixture will froth quite alot ( the reason for the large pot) just keep stirring over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into a jar or something that you can serve it out of. You can use this immediately or make ahead and store in the fridge. Just microwave for 20 seconds and stir before serving.

I hope you all enjoy this syrup as much as we do. Let me know if you try it....

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS!!!!

It's a Christmas Miracle....

I know Christmas miracles exist, it has just been a very long time since I have seen one up close and personal!
Let me tell you about it.
Today while shopping with my mother we found a really great deal on a family size waffle maker. I wanted it really badly, but the very sad truth of the matter is that I can not make a waffle to save my life. I had a really nice waffle iron when we got married but every time I tried to use it, we ended up going out for breakfast. I got rid of that waffle iron after a few breakfast fiascos. I was envious of my little brother who has never had any issue when he made waffles.

Well this waffle iron we looked at was really nice and my mom wanted to buy it for me. She was insisting and I finally talked her out of it. I don't think it is a good idea to have something you can not even use. We finally made a deal. She would buy the waffle iron for herself and give me her older $5 Black Friday special, with the stipulation that if I wanted to use the big one I would borrow it. Great idea.... now I just needed to learn how to make a waffle that was edible, one that actually came out of the waffle iron in one piece.
So now what to make for dinner tonight? hmmmm? Maybe I will try my hand at waffles I thought to myself.
Ok now I am geared up to make waffles and I make sure that I have mac and cheese on hand as a back up.
I got out the box of pancake /waffle mix. And followed all of the directions for waffles. I remembered all of my mother's directions for using the waffle iron.
1. wait for the light to turn on before filling the iron with batter.
2. close the lid and latch it.
3. wait for the light to come back on before opening the lid again.
4. oh and don't forget to spray the waffle iron with cooking spray first.

Well as it turned out I still did not have all of the instruction that I needed because I was still unsure if I had everything right. Luckily I had Elyssa to help me with the rest.
She told me that every thing I was doing looked right so far and that at the hotale (this is how she says hotel) at Disney Land it looked exactly like this when grandpa helped her make waffles. the next thing she said when I asked how much batter to put in was "the amount that a dixie cup holds." Oh good now we are getting some where. I just need to know if it is the small 3 oz. dixie cup or the larger 5 oz. dixie cup. we settled on trying the 3 oz. first and I got a good size for a small child then we tried the 5oz. it was a perfect fit.
I can't tell you how proud I was of that very first waffle. I had to ask Elyssa if it was crisp enough or not and she said it was perfect.
It truly is a Christmas miracle. I can make a waffle!!!!

Aunt Jemima, Betty Crocker here I come. I am going to be making waffles morning, noon, and night. I have been waiting 14 years to be able to do this and now I have some catching up to do! No more Eggo waffles for this family.

My Beloved Protector

My Beloved protector takes his resposibility very seriously......
A few nights ago while the kids and I were frosting sugar cookies, there came a very loud knock at the door. Elyssa decided that she would be the one to open the door. Mind you it is late about 9ish. I told her to ask,"who is it?" She did and there was no answer, she asked again still no answer. I immediately got up and went to the door and asked,"who is it?" Still no answer so I peeked out the window. No one was there so I felt it was safe to open the door. As I looked out I saw a small package on the door step. There were also 2 papers attached to the package that I am now realizing is piping hot. As I turn around to go back up the stairs. I see Justin standing there with a gun drawn and pointing it out the door just above my head, taking a very police officer stance. I have to say I started laughing really hard. I almost dropped that hot package. The papers attached said we had just been "ELFED" and that elfing should ensue all around us once we took part in elfing someone else. But the best part of elfing someone was that you got to hide and watch as the poor elfed person opened their door. I really feel bad for those poor elves. Justin probably scared the elfing spirit right out of them. We probably will never be elfed again due to the violent nature of my gun toting husband.....my beloved protector. By the way the package contained brownies that were still extremely hot, I am guessing they came right out of the oven and landed on my door step. I am supposed to go elf somebody else, I was supposed to elf them within 24 hours by the light of the moon. I admit I probably broke the elfing cycle but I think as long as I do it before Christmas it will all work out just fine. I was also supposed to hang one of the elfing papers in my window saying I had been elfed. Does any one really want to admit they have been elfed? well if I don't elf someone else the kids will never leave me alone about it. The problem is I think Elfing is a highly Mormon cultural thing so there may not be anyone left in the valley that has not been elfed by the time I get around to it. I may have to go to another neighborhood or even maybe to Kearns. I might find out if I can virtually elf someone via email. However it won't be as sweet a treat. . . Maybe I will double elf someone ha ha some one that has posted they have already been elfed.
so if you are out there elfing people I wish you Happy Elfing. A word of warning Elfing Can be dangerous work. Use every precaution and don't hang around to see the elfed one open the door.

penguin joy / closet desk

Ok just a quick post to let you all see the latest in happiness and joy for me!!!!!!!!

Last year I was determined that I was going to have a penguin Christmas tree this year. However after the move and our new budget kicked in, it was virtually impossible to get my penguin tree. Well my dear friend Miss Connie found out I wanted a penguin tree. And she made me open her gift early..... inside I found the cutest little penguins. 4 of them to be exact and they just made my heart sing! I really love these little guys..... they change colors too!

Ok now for my desk!!!!!

Justin finally made my desk in the school room closet, I am just thrilled about this. I now have a full length desk to work on. Right now it is a little crowded until he is able to put up a shelf above my computer monitor, it will be for the printer..... Yea!!!! and then he is going to build a few extra shelves for me above that so I can store all of my scrapbook stuff..... But I am just pleased as punch right now.

for some reason I am not aware of the photos make the desk look alot smaller than it actually is.

look this is where I blog from.....