Monday, November 28, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving




 


Decorating for Christmas

It just really brings the Spirit of Christmas into my home. I love it. I have started collecting Nativity sets because they really speak to me. I love how beautiful and unique they all are. It's so neat to see the artist's interpretation of the Holy family. 

This is my newest acquisition- Merry Christmas to me from my mother in law!
Thanks Mom! I love it!
 My very first Nativity- given to me by my big sis Jen
 Just a sweet little one I got a steal of a deal on

This is all I have so far- I hope over the years to add to it a little bit at a time.
Hope you get to decorate for Christmas soon too!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

From all of us Turkeys in Colorado!

  Brook's Turkey
Ellie's Turkey

Monday, November 14, 2011

Last Wednesday Baking Day, Which Happened On Thursday- Apple Pie

This is my Grandma, Trudy Smith's Apple Pie recipe... it's the best one in the world. 
And it turns out perfect every time!

Pie Crust: 
2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
3-5 Tbsp. Water
Mix ingredients until dough forms. Split in half. Roll out between two sheets of saran wrap to fit your pie dish.

Apple Pie Filling:
5-7 Apples (Golden Delicious are best!)
1 cup Sugar
3 Tbsp Flour
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
Peel, core, and slice apples. Mix with remaining ingredients. Place into pie dish. Put a few pats of butter on top. Cover with vented pie crust.
Bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes. Then bake at 350 for an additional 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or room temperature with cool whip and a slice of cheddar cheese.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Random IPhone Pics

Pink fountain in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness....
Brook was ECSTATIC:
It did this:

So we did this:
And Ben bought this:
 Just kidding. But he should have. It was amazing.
I'm just sayin.

 Ben's other Halloween costume-
Regis has a tradition of themed dressing up
I know, they're all identical- you can't tell them apart 
Ben is in the back left side-
the only one in purple suspenders....
 A trip to Chuck E Cheese:
 My ever-good-looking hubby with some classmates
Won't he be such a dish when he's done!

Also, a shout out to my lil sis Heather! Congrats on your new baby! Can't wait to meet him!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Wednesday Baking Day- FAIL!

So Brook and I made this pumpkin bread for our baking day today. We were supposed to make pumpkin pie, but I didn't have any evaporated milk because I used it all up for nachos.... anyway. So we mixed it up, put it in the pans, baked it for an hour, took it out- it was BEAUTIFUL! And it smelled AMAZING. We were so excited to eat it. So ten minutes later, I cut into it, expecting beauty and deliciousness.... totally not cooked. Completely wet inside. How I could insert a toothpick OVER 5 TIMES and have it come out clean I know not. So I shoved it rather angrily back into the oven... but it was no use. Never cooked. Went totally flat. Was horrible. Brook still ate some of it and loved it, but I threw most of it out and I am angry about it. I hate baking fails.

So what I'm still trying to figure out is why it didn't bake properly- is it the altitude or a crappy oven?
Yesterday we made leaf placemats- they kinda failed too. The leaves are turning all brown, even though I covered the placemats in contact paper.... sad.

Try again next week? We'll see....

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Happy Halloween!

 The beautiful Rapunzel

 The Lovable Pascal
 Mr Pumpkin Face
 Fleshy Fingers
 Monster Eyeballs
 Portrait of a Monster (my favorite by far!!!)
 The spread
Our Halloween party turned out pretty fun. The girls were showered with candy in a great neighborhood- they both got more than one full size candy bar! And NO nasty peanut butter taffy things- remember those? Gross. Anyway, it was a great night!
 Rapunzel, Mother Gothel, Flynn Rider (Eugene Fitzherbert), and Pascal
 Jenna was Waldo and Sam was looking for her. :)