Temple Square Lights...

So for FHE (Family Home Evening), we went to see the lights on Temple Square and boy were they pretty. Ashlyn loved the lights and the pretty Christmas trees. But her favorite part, the Nativity scene - especially when they talked about baby Jesus. She didn't want to leave "baby Jesus" so we told her that we would be back - and much more prepared for the cold and I'm not talking about the kiddies (they were very well bundled up), I'm talking about Todd and I. We at least had coats but no gloves and our hands were freezing (thank you Utah winter). Afterwards, we had a little dinner at JB's. It was a nice way to get warmed up and enjoy some family time.

Pretzel Makers!!!

So last year, we had this fabulous idea to do dipped pretzels for Christmas - ya know, the ones that are dipped in caramel and chocolate and more chocolate and more yummy stuff? Well, we were hooked. They were so darn good that we decided to do them again this year. Can I say YUMMO!! And it was so much fun for us girls to get together AGAIN over food.


We dipped the long pretzel sticks in caramel, then chocolate and then we sprinkled some with nuts and with others, we drizzled white chocolate. We also dipped the traditional twisted ones just in chocolate and then drizzled them with butterscotch - VERY, VERY GOOD!! It seems like this will be a tradition of ours - Corrine even commented that maybe we should do 10 lb of caramel rather than the 5 lb we did - all I can say is...that's a whole lotta caramel and a whole lotta pretzels to be made and given away!!

So, to the lucky people that live around me - you'll get to have some and I do hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making AND sampling them!

Just for fun!!

Girls Outing

So my sister-in-laws and I (plus 2 kiddies) went out for lunch - just us girls and it was great fun! I have to say that this was the first time we've done this since babies started coming into the family and it may become a regular occurance. There's something very theraputic about "girl talk" especially when it involves your "sisters." I'm ever grateful for the diversity and positive influence that Alice, Corrine and Stephanie bring to my life. Thank you Alice for getting us all together - let's do lunch again!

Traditions

I've always looked forward to establishing our own family traditions. When I asked Todd what he remembered about his mom during the holidays, he said that his mom always began the Christmas season AFTER Thanksgiving...so after Thanksgiving, we're going to being our Christmas holiday with the placing of a wreath on Grandma Ginny's gravesite. Ashlyn thought this was great fun and I think she sensed the importance of what we were doing. Afterwards, we got our little tree out and Ashlyn helped decorate it with "crackernuts" (nutcrackers) and "star of Bethlehems" as she calls them. She LOVES to sit by the Christmas tree and I can't blame her...I, myself, still find a decorated and lighted Christmas tree fascinating and special.