President Hinkley

I realize I am a few days late, but this is to President Hinkley. Upon first hearing of his passing I was surprised and sad, but at the same time so happy for him. What an amazing life he led and what a moment in heaven it must have been. I am so happy that he has returned to our Father in Heaven and all the people he loved who went before him. He will be greatly missed. However, there is comfort in knowing that all of our future prophets will lead the church righteously just as President Hinkley did.

Twiddeling Thumbs in the freezing cold!

The last few weeks have been soooooo cold. Even for here. We are lucky if the highs reach the double digits. Because of the unusually cold weather we have been spending a lot of time at home. I don't seem to want to go anywhere when it is this cold out. One of the things I have enjoyed having time for is concentrating on new meals. We get stuck in a rut sometimes and have the same things for dinner. I wake up on Thursday and know it is Papa Murphy's night. Then on Friday it is tacos. And so our nightly meals go. Always the same. Over Christmas Elise and Brady shared with us a really easy and yummy meal from his family cookbook. We baked it at my mom's one night and then a couple of weeks ago I tried the same thing in my crock pot. So..., drumroll please.......

Sweet and Sour Chicken (which Tyler usually won't eat, but enjoyed)

1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 c. russian dressing
2 c. apricot jam (I used a little less for Tyler's sake)

Mix these together and pour over chicken. (I think we used 2 1/5 lbs. chicken breast at my mom's and I used about 3 1/5 lbs. of chicken legs, skinned).
Serve the chicken and cooked sauce over rice.

I also think it would be good to add some chunks of pineapple, but again Tyler wouldn't have that.

When we baked it for about and hour the sauce was a little thicker, when I did it all day in the crock pot it was thin so I thickend it like you would gravy.

Both ways were very simple and delicious. Thanks Martin's.

Try it out and let me know what you think. Also, anybody else with a fast and easy meal, please share.

BIG Helper

We made a couple of changes to our basement during the last couple of months. Damon loves to say that he helped dad build the new room. Tyler would give him little jobs to do so he felt like he was contributing to the project. So, when we started painting Damon was very interested in helping. I was not sure that was such a good idea. Much to my surprise he actually did such a good job. He was very careful about what he was doing and made sure not to make a mess. I had to go over his work when he was done but he did surprisingly well.

Go Jazz!

Last weekend we went to a Jazz game with Tyler's brother Jared and his wife Lindsey. We were very high up, but we had a fun time. Damon really liked it. He stayed pretty interested in the game. I stayed pretty interested in these old guys who sat in front of us.

They were totally decked out in JAZZ! They were very funny and I had to get a picture. They were true fans. It appeared that they might be a little superstitious and had some kind of routine going on. They were very into the game, even though they won by over 20 points. I was laughing at these guys the whole game, but I also admired their loyalty. It was great!

Rexburg Temple

On Tuesday we were very excited to go to the Rexburg Temple Openhouse. We waited too long to get tickets so we had to go early in the morning. I set everything out the night before so we could just grab it and go. On our way I was putting on my make up and realized I forgot my mascara. How stupid. I had everything but that. Then as we parked the car (late of course) I was helping Damon get dressed and couldn't find his shoes anywhere. Tyler got the pile of stuff I set out the night before and didn't know the shoes were a part of it. It was a little crazy. He went without. In the Temple you wear booties over your shoes so we were okay there. At Old Navy I made him sit in the cart most of the time, and at The Olive Garden his feet were under the table so all in all it worked out okay. I am glad we didn't have much else planned for the day. I should have just bought him some more I guess. Dispite forgetting things we had a great time. It was so beautiful and I was very excited that Damon could see where it is we are when we go to the temple. It was a fun day.

Play-Doh

For Family Home Evening last night we talked about Daniel and the Lion's Den. Then we made the character's out of Play-Doh.
Can you guess who did what. Hint: Tyler thought his needed a party hat, and Damon wasn't interested in creating a lion, but just playing with one.

Damon decided his lion was going to attack my lion and Tyler's boy. We changed his name from Daniel at this point so as not to get confused about the true story. This was much more fun for Damon. He was very funny making his lion. He just picked a color and squished it in his hand. Then he spent the rest of the time stomping the little ball of dough around the table.

CTR!

Damon was so excited to receive his first CTR ring today. He is so cute about it. He keeps looking at it and whispering, "Choose the Right." I guess it might work. He also seems to like his new teacher which I am very happy about. Starting the New Year off right!

My Little Puppies!

I heard lots of "little boy barking" the other day (not from Terk but Damon). This is what awaited me at the top of the stairs. Once in a while Damon likes to pretend he is a dog. It is cute for a little bit, but then he starts whinning. It is bad enough when Terk does it, but Damon is even louder. Terky is always looking down the stairs like this and I thought it was so cute when Damon did it, too.

Blessing Day

Elise's baby, Mylee, was blessed on Sunday.
We finally got a picture of Tyler holding Mylee before they had to leave.
We were sad to see them go. Hopefully it won't be too long before they can visit again.

Christmas Day

This is Damon, very excited about what he found in his stocking. I got him the fuzzy blue socks, which he is wearing in this picture, because he is always taking mine. I tried to tell myself that the blue was a little more boyish, but I am pretty sure I am the only person, ever, to buy socks like these for their son. Please don't judge me too harshly. I missed my own.
My mom had little games and competitions for us. Blowing these silly bubbles was one of them.
Brady, Taylor, and Lori had some really big ones. We all felt light headed after. Not just from all the air we blew into the things, but because there were fumes in the room that about made us pass out. We had to evacuate the room and open a few windows for a while.

Here is a comopetition to see who could shoot down the most bowling pins with a little gun. It was pretty fun and the guns where more accurate than you might think.

Christmas Eve

This year we got to enjoy Christmas in my parent's new addition to their house. They finished it just in time.

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year. We have many fun traditions in my family and I look forward to them sooo much.


We started Christmas Eve by meeting our new neice, Mylee. She is such a sweet little thing. It was so fun to squeeze her for the first time.

Ryan got a new guitar and showed us his mad skills. He even knows some Christmas songs.

We always play lots of games at my house, especially at Christmas time.

This is Damon trying to be involved in Apples to Apples. Notice all of the cute stockings.

Every year we all find things around the house to dress up for our annual Nativity scene. It is always so much fun. This year I was a shepherd and Damon was my little lamb. We have added new characters through the years as our family grows. Another tradition is to eat a dinner filled with things Mary and Joseph might have eaten. However, that has also changed over the years. It has gotten a little more elaborate. I don't know that they ate many of the things we did this year, but the idea is still there and the food was so good.