Zoo Day!

No More...

Diapers in this house!!! This girl did it in 3 days!!!!!

Happy Valentines Day!

SURPRISE!

SURPRISE! I flew into LA on Friday afternoon to surprise Michele "Meesh" for her 40th birthday! We had been planning the surprise party since October. Ahna picked me up from the airport at noon...we grabbed Justine and the headed to Kingsburg. We made it into a reunion of the group that used to all hang out when we lived there.

Meesh thought she was just going to a simple dinner at Salazars with her family...when she was completely surprised by about 15 of us!

We made it into a great weekend of talking, eating, laughing, hot tubbing and shopping!
Hope to do that at least once a year!
WE LOVE YOU MEESH!!!

Snow Day!

They call a snow day for school when it is 0 degrees and no snow...but we don't get a snow day when it's 19 degrees with 6" of snow?! Go figure!

Dancing Girl!

Ashtyn had her first ballet class today. I couldn't stop smiling the entire class...she fit right in and loved every second of it! Both of my girls will now be in the ballet recital in June....here we go!

Nothing better than Mickey Blueberry Pancakes on a snow day!

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On the 4th-12th Day of Christmas...

...My True Love Baked for Me: Hannah came over for a full day of baking before Christmas! I can't even believe how many different creations were made!!!

I happen to have two amazing little helpers ;)

4. Sugar Cookies

One cookie to decorate...one cookie to eat...one cookie to decorate...one cookie to eat ;)

WE MADE:

5. Thumbprint Shortbread Ccookies

6. Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls

7. Ranger Cookies

7. Haystack cookies

8. Kiss cookies

8. Chocolate Covered Pretzels

10. Banana Bread

11. Peanut Brittle (over done, under done, and just plain wrong...take your pick)

and

12. Didn't quite make it that far :(

Ya right like I would be able to get all those up with the step by step recipes! Ha! I do have all the recipes close however, if you would like any just let me know!

Christmas Festivites

We had such a great Christmas this year with the girls! So much fun now that they understand so much! Here's a few pictures of our festivities:

We enjoyed stockings and presents from Santa at our house Christmas morning and then headed to Mimi and Papa's for a huge dinner and more presents! :)

The girls got this train set from Grandpa Larry and Nana Jan...hands down probably their favorite toy!!! Had a birthday cake for Jesus to celebrate His birthday on Christmas Eve.
Loved having brunch Christmas Eve with part of the Page family.

I do still have a ton on recipes for my 12 baking days of Christmas...just need some time to get them all up :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

On the 3rd Day of Christmas My True Love Baked for Me

Pumpkin Muffins!!!!

All you need:

1 box yellow or spice cake mix

1 can Pumpkin

1 TBS Cinnamon or Apple Pie Spice

Mix well, pour into muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes! So easy and so delicious!!! ENJOY!

(Thank you Hannah for this amazing recipe!)

Haileys Heart

Hailey had her cardiology appointment yesterday. She was being so sweet to all the doctors " you are not going to give me a shot right!?" She has the heart condition SVAS a narrowing of the left valve in the heart. The doctor said that it is ok for now because she is growing so slowly...we could have a problem if she starts growing faster and it doesn't grow with her. I did ask what the chances that she would have to have open heart surgery and the doctor said probably close to 50%...she acted like that was really good news....doesn't sound too good to me! We will just have to cross that bridge if and when we get there...and hopefully it never does!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas My True Love Baked for Me

Chocolate Mint Crinkles!

You will need:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 teasspoon salk

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 teaspoon mint extract

1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a small bowl mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt

2. In a large bowl, whisk togethe sugar, oil, eggs, and extracts until well blended.

3. Stir dry mixture until combined, Cover bowl and refrigerate two hours.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll cookie dough in powdered sugar and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Add mint baking candies to the center of each ball.

5. Bake for 9 to 12 minutes. ENJOY!

On the 1st Day of Christmas

...My True Love Baked for Me:

CARMEL CORN!

You will need:

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1 cup butter

1 tsp salt1 tsp baking soda

8 quarts popcorn

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

I can never get the regular popcorn not to burn on my stove...so I use good old microwave bags! Combine all but baking soda and popcorn in a heavy pan. Bring to a boil at a rapid boil for 5 minutes. Then add soda. This will make the mixture rise so your pan should be big. Pour over popcorn as the mixture is rising. Mix with two wooden spoons until popcorn is fully coated.
Bake at 200 degrees for half an hour turning the popcorn over every 15 minutes.
Enjoy!! It's our tradition to eat while were listening to Christmas music and decorating our tree :)

Getting Festive

Happy 2nd Birthday my precious Ashtyn!

Celebrated her birthday at her Grandpa Larry's and Nana Jan's

We watched Toy Story 3 in their movie theater.

The girls loved it!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween

Stole a few pictures from Summer from our Halloween trip to Texas.