New Year's Eve, Afternoon!

I thought I would do an "over-cheese." We are gearing up for the New Year!!! I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes, but I overfilled them. Therefore they baked up and spilled over. They had to go in the trash, for they were unsalvageable. It's always a bummer to have that happen. I overfill cupcakes too many times to count. I never seem to learn:) Something for the new year, I suppose. Anyway, I made some AWESOME dark chocolate icing that absolutely must be used. Therefore, I am going to make some yellow cupcakes:) The girls should enjoy them!

We are still waiting to see if we are headed out this evening for a friend's house. However, I want to be sure that we have our New Year with Joe. Hence, we are awaiting news from Joe as to when he will get out of work!

I decided I should make some New Year fix-in's just incase! I am going to make twice baked potatoes, deviled eggs, baked buffalo tenders, and anything else I come up with between now and later!

The girls are excited to have their special drink and noise makers! I got them little Happy New Year's tiaras, noise makers, and special plastic cups for the sparkling cider! That's how we roll, here! I'm not big into the drinking, so I'm good with the cider. Ha-ha, not that Peyton and Addison would have the other anyway! Joe, perhaps, but not us!

I got lucky with the dislike of alcohol gene. Some used to tell me it was because I was young, and I didn't have the maturity that would enjoy the acquired taste. I believe it went along something like that. I remember thinking it odd when I heard it back then, still do. I would find better happiness in a delicious cup of coffee. So naturally, the New Year's festivities are usually lost to me, since they seem to revolve around some sort of alcohol. Bleh. I don't prefer being near the behavior after intoxication, either.

My Mother-in-law told me about how her dancing group goes out for the night, and dances and dances. This is not the booty-shaking nonsense, it's dance:) They do ballroom stuff, quickstep, etc. I thought, now THAT sounds like a lot of fun!!!

Anyway, I will post pictures of the girls in their New Year's tiaras later! I hope that everyone has a wonderful, blessed New Year's Eve!!! Be safe!!!

Gateway Worship (Kari Jobe), 'O The Blood', 2010, God Be Praised

This is my absolute favorite song right now! It brings me to tears, sometimes! However, it is such an uplifting song. Check it out!

Christmas Day 2010

The day arrrrrived, and the girls were extremely EXCITED! Joe and I had quite the interesting Christmas Eve getting ready for the Big Day! :) We started to head to bed, only to find out that our dog peed on the bed! What dog gets UP to go pee? I'm still perplexed by the whole thing. Anyway, we spent a majority of the time getting that out! We most certainly do not want that to remain in our bed. Luckily, as I type this, there is no sign or scent of the mistake. We of course, couldn't place a sheet on a wet bed, even after it was clean. It would soak through the sheets.

Therefore, we had to make the bed in the front room up. By the end of all the steaming and fuming, I had to sit back, stair at the ceiling, and just laugh. Joe had to have a chuckle too. We finally got to sleep, and we were awoken by Peyton Christmas morning.

She must have gone past the toys from "Santa" just looking for where Mom and Dad could be, if they aren't where they are supposed to be! She woke me up, and I said let's get you back in bed while I get you ready. She then saw her "Santa" gift, a scooter. When she got back in bed, she told me that she didn't know that Santa got her scooters! I simply said "Peyton." Then, she began to cry! I immediately understood she was feeling shame, and I tried as hard as I could to stop it! I don't want a tearful Christmas memory! No way! She did stop, and I got things ready for the morning. Addison woke up soon after, but she wouldn't get out of bed unless someone came and got her. That is when they saw their filled stockings and the scooters!

Peyton had observed the night before, that there was barely any room for Santa to place anything else under the tree! We had to agree. We were soooo blessed this year with all the gifts that people shipped in the mail! We had a full tree! The gifts were great, but it was the fact that so many people thought of our girls, as well as Joe and I! Thank you all so much for thinking of us this Christmas! We appreciate all that you did! One of my most favorite parts of Christmas, is getting Christmas cards in the mail! I absolutely love going to the mail and seeing more! They are all so beautiful and sweet! I especially love the ones with pictures!

We enjoyed a morning of opening gifts, having lots of laughs, and smiling ear to ear as we watched the girls. Joe made us fantastic pancakes for breakfast, and then we all settled in to play with the new toys! Joe set up his new toy, too. We all had a very relaxing day home, as a family! It was really the best Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve!

It is FINALLY here! Christmas Eve! The girls were pretty excited that this meant the next day was the BIG DAY. I still wanted them to appreciate the actual reason we even celebrate Christmas. It most certainly is not just about Santa, the tree, the presents, and cookies.

It is about something so much more important. We celebrate the day that Christ our Lord was sent to this earth. He was given to this earth to be a shining example of the walk we should be walking as humans. We are to do and be as Christ would be. We are not supposed to judge ourselves according to any other person. We don't get to see others lives, and think I'm doing MUCH better at things. We are supposed to look at our lives, comparing it with the life of Jesus, and adjust our steps accordingly.

We of course will always fall short of the glory of God. We know that we will NEVER be Christlike, for we are human. However, is that to stop us from following His commands, striving to be better in His Name? I happen to believe that seeking Him will be the only thing to give you complete fulfillment. Everything under the sun, will not.

Jesus was especially sent, after showing us what He is, all that is Holy, to die. He was sent to pay for our debt, our debt of a sinful nature which goes hand in hand with free will. He didn't create us to be identical drones. What would be the purpose of that. Just think about having only one relationship in your life with multiple people. They are no different from one another, all the same. That would be awful. He gave us the choice to be who we are, and the miracle is when people of sinful nature choose to follow the laws of God, and truly seek Him. He paid for our sinful choices by dying in our place. Otherwise, we would never be holy enough to deserve Heaven. He took our place, and the only thing we have to do is to accept His existence and that He died to give us eternal life.

We attended the Christmas Eve service at church. I wanted my children to have a glimpse of a non-commercialized view of what Christmas is about, that precious little baby. I love the song "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill, and "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant. We listened to a church member sing the song "Where's The Line To See Jesus?" It was such a wonderful song.

The girls enjoyed singing Christmas songs in joyous honor of baby Jesus. It was fun to have Peyton singing along with me. Addison won't be far behind. :)

We also heard the true story of Christmas in scripture.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the evening!

I am typing this after Christmas, so I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas!!!!

I will do a post of Christmas Day, next!

More Snow Days with Friends!

We had another great snow day before Christmas! This time, it wasn't really snowing, but we enjoyed the snow! There were so many children playing in yards dragging their sleds behind them! We started the late morning at a great local diner for brunch! The kids had their own booth, and they seemed to feel quite big because of it! They behaved extremely well, and I was pretty proud! I can only hope they will act like this every time we go out! I'm not holding my breath! :) They do fine most of the time.

Then, we braved Walmart for some much needed items, before Christmas!

We followed Walmart back at our friend, Meredith's house! They built a great hill for the kids to snow tube down, too. The girls really enjoyed hanging out with their friends, playing in the snow! Addison continued her "dropping" snow balls at the kids! :) She didn't like it as much when they got her back. It was humorous to watch. I can imagine she was annoyed that she hasn't quite grasped throwing it, to get anyone back. Merely dropping it, isn't satisfying enough!

We went to see Tangled shortly after playing in the snow! We were in one of the smaller theater rooms, and it was really a nice time. Addison was thrilled with her M&M's, and surprisingly stayed interested in the movie much longer than I anticipated. She's growing up, sniff sniff. Peyton gobbled down peanut M&M's and popcorn. She started to look a little sour, so I took the popcorn to pass down to friends. She told me a little later that her belly didn't feel so good. I explained again why we do not choose to eat like that all the time. I think she got it a little more, at that point! She seemed to enjoy the movie just as much though!

Meredith invited us back over for spaghetti dinner! It was such a great treat to have dinner made and done. It is hard on me to get back so late, after the 30 minute drive home, then prepare something. Crockpot meals are great, if I think of them before I leave! Hah!

It was a GREAT day!!!

Cookies, cookies, cookies!

This was another year of cookies! We made so many this year. It felt like I was always baking, and you do not even want to know how many times I was buying butter!! I refuse to do anything with margarine, so butter it is. I usually hate the idea of Crisco, too. There was one batch of cookies that absolutely called for it, so I had to comply for it. All the rest had Tillamook butter! I like that they promise their cows are treated with hormones, etc.

Anyway, this was the last batch that we completed! It was the famous sugar cookies in the Loeb house, with one difference, the frosting! That frosting calls for margarine and crisco. I just can't do it. I found a great alternative, that even Joe has told me rivals the other one! Hurray! It's a butter icing with raspberry flavoring! It is thick and creamy, and it doesn't give me a conniption to hand to my kids. lol, trust me they don't get a tray of cookies. I did let them splurge at the party and on Christmas, though:)

Snow Days!

We had a gigantic snow storm that has now hit the east! Good luck, y'all. Supposedly, our knocked down an essential cell phone tower, that has yet to be fixed! It is causing everyone in our area problems with their phones! I have had zero phone calls, just in case you have tried to call. Yep, it's bad.

Anyway, here are some wonderful pictures of our snow play day!!! Joe had this day off, and we took full advantage of him! He helped shovel and he also played with us in the snow! He started up this kid 4-wheeler, finally. It's been sitting in our garage waiting on a part for two years. He was excited to have it up, so he played around on a pink camo tike size 4-wheeler! hahhaa.

We had so much snow that we were able to build the kids a hill in the front to slide down in the tube. Usually, it takes us a few snow showers to do that. This happened with the same continued snow storm!

Addison felt it cumbersome to walk through the snow, so she waited quite a bit for the rest of us to move her! Peyton even helped out with that. Peyton would attempt to pick her up, make it a small two steps, and say that she couldn't do this. :)

I started to make snow balls, but the snow wasn't quite right. However, I made a couple and threw them at Joe! One landed on his nose! We couldn't help but all laugh! From that point on, Addison thought it was very funny to bring snow to you, threaten to throw it, then drop it! You have to love two!

Christmas Party!

We had a great time at the Nelson household for their Christmas Party! I baked, baked, and baked for the party! I wanted to be sure there was a little of everything in the way of cookies! I think I exhausted myself with cookies for awhile, but who knows. I still need to make cookies for Santa. However, I don't think having any more cookies around the house is a sane idea! I can feel the winter pounds starting to set in! Time to get my workouts going again!!!

Anyway, we were sad to have Joe miss this event! He has been working so much. He had to work out in the deep cold and snow! We made it home that night before he even made it home from work! We miss him terribly when he is gone, but we know that we have the better part of things. I don't know how he remains so jolly after that tough work. He came home with a blue fingernail the other day. A pipe he was holding started to slide down his hand, creating a nasty bruise on his thumb. His whole hand was sore!

However, back to the party! The kids decorated some of the sugar cookies I made! These are the famous sugar cookies that I remade from Aunt Jan's recipe! She's the best baker in the world! The kids did such a great job making sugar plum fairyland cookies!

Then, the kids played, kept sneaking cookies and punch, and waited for the glitter activity! The party was proceeded by present giving for the children, and lots of laughter! It is really wonderful to have such a great group of friends in this area. It takes the sting of being so far away from family a little less!!!!

Dinosaur National Park

We tried to spend a lot of time showing our friend, Nick, the area! There are so many beautiful scenes in the Uintah Basin! It is quite different from New York, etc. The landscape is completely unique, and at first I didn't appreciate it enough. Now, I have come to love it in a way I never did. I can appreciate the difference in it, and accept the area for all it is. It's not New York, or some of the other places that I have been blessed to live. However, I am finally at the point, four years later, where I can say that I am blessed to live in this place, too.

Peyton's First Performance!

She sung "Silver and Gold," and "I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas," with the rest of her class! They also completed a wonderful Christmas poem. We were extremely proud that she got up in front of the fullest congregation we have seen so far, in our church. She was adorable to watch with her friends. They would get really loud on the parts they knew, and quiet on the parts they didn't know as well.

She has such a wonderful teacher, who really treasures her time with our little ones. We couldn't ask for a better person to fill this role in Peyton's life at this time!

McKonkie Farm, Petroglyphs

Park City

Joe's grade school buddy came to Utah, for a visit! We don't have visitors on an everyday occasion, so we are always excited to have company!

We had to show him around Park City, and we had to show him some of the snow in the mountains! He is going skiing on the tail end of his trip! He was excited to get out in the snow with Peyton. Peyton was happy to comply!

The scenery from up here was amazing! Why didn't I take a picture of it?

Trimming the Tree

Sunday, we headed to church! I always love sharing time at our church with my family. This has become such wonderful place to be apart of! I cherish the moments spent there!

We followed the service, out to lunch with great friends! It's always fun to have laughter over food!

Then, we headed to Wally World to spend our gift money for some new Christmas decorations and cookie pans!

We were completely set for our family Tree Trimming!

First, we turned on our Christmas music, gathered our supplies and went to town on our gorgeous tree. Peyton, Addison, and Joe go to pick the perfect tree. It's become their tradition, and then we decorate it as a family. It's important for the girls to establish their specials things with Daddy.

It was nice to have my Mom there to share in the decorations. We have some great memories to hold on to in our future!