2 Days, 2015 Miles, 6 States, & the Surprise of a Lifetime

So, we never ever ever figured we'd drive the distance from NOLA to Idaho since it was sooooo far. But as the holidays approached and we got looking at when we would possibly be going for a visit, we realized now might be the only time for a long time that we could go. So, somewhat last minute, we decided to pack up the car and surprise our families over the holiday. We left our house at 5 am on Saturday and made it to Amarillo, Texas and spent that night there and hit the road again at 4:30 am Sunday morning and rolled into Garrett's parents' house at about 11:00 pm. And we've been going around surprising everyone since then. And I think it's safe to say that it's been a pretty huge surprise since no one ever in their wildest dreams expected us to do this.

So we are spending some time getting in some winter fun. Garrett will fly back home and work for a week and a half and then fly back to Idaho to help drive us home. So, that's what we're up to. We are still trying to recover from the insanely long ride in the car, but we were really blessed to have pretty decent roads the majority of the trip and the kids did better than we expected in the car. But I'm still not totally looking forward to hopping in the car and doing that drive again!

Christmas Wrap-up

OK, so I know I've warned of long posts before, but this one may beat all other previous posts. But I just wanted to fit it all in! And document the holiday as I remembered it. So here we have a little wrap up of our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities.
Christmas Eve started with gingerbread house making while Sam was taking a nap and while Garrett was at the office (yes, on Chrstmas Eve, yuck). So Tyler and I got to work. I think we made an awfully great team, if you ask me.
I love watching Tyler do stuff like this because he concentrates so hard.
And of course a sampling of the treats happened on more than one occasion.



Here we are with our beautiful creation (after Garrett got home, so he could take a picture and obviously after Sam woke up if you'll notice a little someone in the bottom right...).

And after the afternoon naps and a little house cleaning, we headed out to Gramercy to the Christmas Eve bonfires. We went for the first time last year and it was so much fun. It's such a great tradition...and this year was even more fun because we have been reading these books pretty much nonstop this December, especially the Legend of Papa Noel, a Cajun Christmas Story. And in the story, Papa Noel lives in the "deepest darkest swamp in Louisiana" and spends all year making toy pirogues for little boys and cypress dolls for little girls and hitches his alligators to his pirogue and makes his way through the swamp on Christmas Eve to deliver them to all the "good little Cajun boys and girls." But one Christmas Eve, it was particularly foggy and Papa Noel didn't know if he and his alligators would be able to get through all that fog, but low and behold, those Cajuns had built bonfires on the levee of the Mississippi River so he could find his way. Because of the bonfires, he was able to successfully make his way through the swamp and deliver the pirogues and dolls to all those little Cajun boys and girls. So, that is the story in a nutshell.
So, for our ornaments this year, we all got little wooden pirogues. Tyler's is green, of course. Sam's is yellow and the family's is natural wood. Tyler has absolutely loved this story and practically has the book memorized. I love hearing him quote lines from it! My favorite is when he quotes Papa Noel by saying "Mais non! Just look at dat fog rolling in. It's thicker dan gravy on rice!". LOVE it!!
So, imagine his delight when we saw this scene
in person!



Dem Cajuns definitely had the way lit for Papa Noel and it was fun to go see it for ourselves and not have to worry about him getting to all those Cajun boys and girls! While we were there, Tyler kept quoting more lines an pointing out more things (like the cane reed that was used in some of the fires).
After the bonfires, we grabbed some gourmet Christmas Eve dinner at McDonald's on our way home and got the kids to bed about as quick as we could because it was so late. Before bed, we quickly set out some cookies, opened up our new jammies from Grandma A, and wrote a note for Santa
and made sure our stockings were hung.
And then it was off to bed. Funny how I think the kids slept waaaaay better than the parents that night, though. You'd have thought I was the 4 year old waiting for Santa by the way I slept that night!
So morning finally came and we got to see what Santa brought us, and boy was it exciting!
Tyler was just discovering that Santa came through for him with the camera he wanted.
And Santa came through for Sam as well, even though he's been very naughty, if you recall!
Santa also came through with a space shuttle, phew! Good thing Santa had been on a business trip a week earlier and found one in an airport gift shop!
After Sam hopped off his rocking giraffe, he quickly discovered that his stocking was full of candy and that he had free reign over it. So here he sat for the better portion of the morning. Eating candy,

candy,

and more candy.

We finally got him over to open some presents, which he quite liked, with his mouth stuffed full of candy, of course.
One of the funnest things throughout the day was this little cheap-o $1 styrofoam airplane Garrett gave to Tyler. They put that thing together and flew it all over the house all day long. It was great! If only I had known how $1 would make this kid happy! Tyler was also very cute throughout the day...when he'd pick up one of his new toys, he would think of who gave it to him and make sure he came over and thanked you for it. So he was thanking us all day long. How nice! :)
And generally this is exactly where the airplane flew...
And when Tyler wasn't flying airplanes, he was taking pictures of EVERYTHING with his new camera! It was SO funny! He absolutely loves it. And all I can say is now I'm getting a taste of my own medicine...


He took a picture of EVERY present he got that day. He was very proud of his new toys.
And Tyler and Garrett also spent some time learning how to play their new Wii Music game.
And I got to play with my newest toy...SO excited about this.
And Garrett played with his newest toy...but not without some serious instruction reading of course. It wouldn't be Christmas without the thorough reading of instructions, for sure!

And call it a Christmas miracle or whatever you'd like, but I think I'm safe to say our little Sam is a walkin' man! And it only took him 15 months to do it. Phew! It's been a long time coming, but I still think it's the dang cutest thing in the world to watch him waddle around!

And that's a wrap of our Christmas celebration. We had SO much fun and enjoyed just relaxing, with nowhere to be and no more lists to cross things off of. I just love spending time with this little family of mine and am so grateful that we have the chance to focus on the Savior and celebrate his birth and his life. What a blessing it is! Hope you have all had a Merry Christmas!

On the Home Stretch

Wow...two more days 'til Christmas. I can't quite believe it but I am sure getting excited! The shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, packages have been mailed and some have been delivered, photo sessions are wrapped up, pictures have been edited (not all made it to the blog--figured it was best use of time to get them finished up for people!), cookies and ornaments have been exchanged, weight has been gained--so that must definitely mean that it's Christmas!

With all of the big stuff out of the way, I got a chance to do a few fun little projects that I'd been hoping to get to this year. I'd seen an idea for some rolled paper glass ornaments some time last year, I believe, and have had the idea just sitting in my head hoping I could actually make some this year. So I made one for an ornament exchange last week and had so much fun making them, I wanted to make one for every single soul I'd ever met! :) But since that wasn't possible (because even if I'd made that many, there's no way I could get them all to you!), I decided to at least make some for all of my Young Women and a few friends and a few for me... It was such a great way to use up a bunch of Christmas-ish scraps of paper that I have loads of plus rub-ons and ribbons. I will definitely be making more next year. So here are a few of the many that I made.



And next on the list was to make Lexi's mint oreo truffles. She made some last year and I was lucky enough to sample them and I'd dare say they were one of the most delicious things I'd ever tasted in my life and I have craved them regularly since last year. So...I demanded that she give me the recipe, which she was nice enough to do, and I tried my hand at making some. Mmmm, yum! These will definitely be going on my regular holiday goodie making list.


Mint Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. Oreos - Cool Mint Flavor
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
1 lb. Baker's Semi-Sweet chocolate

1. Finely crush the cookies in a food processor or a ziploc bag with a rolling pin, set aside 1/2 cup (for sprinkling on top of the truffles after they are dipped in chocolate).
2. Stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together completely.
3. Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Place covered in freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes to help retain shape when dipping in melted chocolate.
5. Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry. Sprinkle some of the crushed oreos (that were set aside) on top, before the chocolate completely sets up.
   
6. Refrigerate and enjoy

Makes about 30 truffles.
And would you look at this! I have gained a second helper in my kitchen these days. So now it is a fight over the stool in my kitchen since Tyler AND Sam both insist on watching my every move. And maybe it's kind of sad that Sam usually wins that battle (maybe because I kind of let him because otherwise he just screams if Tyler's on it and he's not?)...
He is cute, not very helpful really, and definitely still in his pajamas at noon. Don't we all need a day like this every once in a while???

And next up was caramels. I can't go a holiday without making caramels. So that was definitely on the list this week. And I find that everyone has "their" recipe and I have mine too--it is my mom's recipe that she always used. So, of course it's my favorite! Isn't that how it usually works? Your favorite way to make something is usually the way your mom made it when you were growing up? So the caramels were made yesterday and I have been asked for the recipe a few times, so I figured I'd go ahead and post it here.
CARAMELS
1 cup butter
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
dash salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in heavy 3 qt. saucepan. Add sugar and salt, stir thoroughly. Stir in corn syrup and mix well.
Gradually add milk, stirring constantly.
(I personally think it is the sweetened condensed milk that makes me like this recipe so much...)
Cook and stir over medium heat to firm ball stage (245 degrees), about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9x13 pan.
Cool and cut into pieces and wrap in wax paper. And then you've got caramels!
And in the midst of all of this, I also made a pan of peppermint bark and a batch of Pioneer Woman's chocolate candy cane cookies (they were just OK, in my opinion--I don't know if I'll be making them again. They were cute, though, so that has to count for something!). And I made a big huge double batch of caramels on Saturday hoping to take some to Young Womens with me...I used a candy thermometer which I usually don't use (I generally just do a cold water test) and the candy thermometer failed me BIG time. I kept thinking they were cooking for an awfully long time, but was trusting what it was telling me. Low and behold, they were so hard, I threw the entire pan away. So I won't think about the wasted pound of butter, pound of brown sugar, bottle of corn syrup, and two cans of sweetened condensed milk. Ugh! So the second go round (where the pictures were taken), I went back to my old method and they turned out beautifully. Definitely learned my lesson!

And that's a wrap of holiday projects for 2008 (I think...). And tomorrow we'll just be preparing for the Big Guy to make his appearance. It's getting pretty exciting around here! Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!