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!

Happy Thanksgiving

From all of us Turkeys in Colorado!

  Brook's Turkey

Ellie's Turkey

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.

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!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ellie!

Snow

 

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....

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. :)