Holiday Baking

We have a little tradition, every Christmas we make Gingerbread Houses. Our kids love it, and Wes & I have fun helping them. They sit on the counter until Christmas Eve, then Santa takes them to the elves to live in until next Christmas. (Tate is sure they lick all the candy off.) I'm not sure how this tradition started, but we've done it the past 5 years. Our kids were so excited, that they woke up at 5:00 on Sunday morning to start....

The finished product. Taylor's is on the far left. Tate's in the middle, and Tye's on the right.

Here are the Gingerbread cookies we made & decorated to eat. The kit was a package that I picked up at Target, it came with the mix, cookie cutter & paint for $3.00 - a steal!
Here's a picture of Taylor painting them.

The kids had fun making & painting them and Mom & I had fun eating them...they were actually so good, which was totally surprising!

I still have a few more baking projects, but I love Holiday baking!

Oh Christmas Tree...

I can honestly say this was such a fun experience! I read this ad in the newspaper that read come pick out your Christmas tree in a horse drawn wagon. We already had our Christmas tree up downstairs, but I thought..what the heck, let's put one upstairs. So off we went....

This was almost as good as the movies, you park your car and this horse wagon comes and picks you up. Then it starts taking you through this path in the woods through all kinds of Christmas trees. Wes kept making fun of me for smiling, but it was so NEAT...I have to admit it was chilly, 14 degrees, but totally worth it. I finally found one thing about Wisconsin that I absolutely LOVE!

Scoping out the Trees!

Tate found a stick, stuff like that keeps him occupied for hours.

Finally Wes wanted to get off and start trekking through the woods to find the perfect one. I love this picture of the kids marching through the snow! Look at Taylor carrying the saw! (Tate with his Stick)

Finally settling on a tree - We found SO many that we could have picked, I would like one, but Wes thought we could do better (Honestly, I was starting to get so cold that I was ready to just hop back on the wagon). Tate found about 16 that were about 2 feet tall, Taylor was just happy to be there. We had to find one tall and skinny, that would fit in the spot I wanted..and finally Wes found the perfect one!

(I know my clothes are hideous..but that ugly Carhart jacket keeps me so warm)

Cutting down the tree and loading it into the Wagon!


In the truck and ready to head home (notice Tye sitting in the backseat, he started pouting when we got there so we made him sit in the truck and wait for us...he felt bad when we came back, but they have to learn....he takes after his Dad!)

The Final Outcome, it's Perfect, and makes the house smell great. It was the best......

The Birthday Boy

Guess who's 33 Today!!!!

I had a little interview with the kids this morning to see how well they knew their Dad. (They cancelled school because we're getting 14 - 16 inches of snow today...Wes has already been in the ditch this morning, good thing we have access to huge tractors)

The Birthday Interview.....................

1. How Old is Dad today?
Tye: 33
Tate: 27
Taylor: 4
Mom: 33

What is Dad's Favorite Food?
Tye: Steak
Tate: Steak
Taylor: Apples
Mom: Wes loves all kinds of food, but one of his favorites is his Mom's Cowboy Beans.

What's Dad's favorite color?
Tye: Green (His favorite)
Tate: Blue (His Favorite)
Taylor Pink (.....you guessed...her favorite)
Mom: Purple - (Go Weber State!)

If you could get Dad anything for his Birthday what would you get him?
Tye: A new bridle
Tate: A Christmas stocking
Taylor: A Doll House
Mom: "Time" to do some Woodworking

What is the best present Dad ever got you?
Tye: Bear with Little Fishing Bear....when I was a Baby.
Tate: BB Gun
Taylor: my Horse
Mom: Bumpers for our ski boat that we just sold. It wasn't that I LOVE Bumpers, it was just so creative, out of the ordinary, and Wes knows how much I love boating....so the whole Bumper thing was just the idea that he was really trying to think of something I would enjoy. Crazy, but true.

What's Dad favorite TV show?
Tye: NFL/Sportscenter Football
Tate: Horse Training shows
Taylor: Mom....football - with her hands on her hips
Mom: The Unit

If you could take Dad on a vacation where would you take him?
Tye: New York
Tate: Horse Training Camp
Taylor: Disneyland
Mom: Some totally awesome hunt, where he could come home with a Elk, Deer, Antelope, Moose and everything else......I'd let him hang them in the garage!

What is Dad's Favorite thing to do?
Tye: ride horses
Tate: play with me
Taylor: work all day
Mom: This Blog is rated PG -no comment

What does Dad do to make you happy?
Tye: he's nice, he plays with me and gives me things I want. He's a good Dad, and helps me. When I'm struggling he teaches me.
Tate: He has a job so we can have a house, I'm glad he fixed the light in my closet, he bought me Molly (the Dog), he buys me stuff, he plays with me, he cleans the horse stalls, he sneaks in and sleeps with me sometimes....he takes baths with me.
Taylor: I don't know...tell me what him does to make me happy?
Mom: helps me around the house, plays with the kids, teases me...makes me laugh, takes me out to dinner, watches the kids so I can get my errands done, switched bed sides with me so I can have the lamp to read at night, too many things to mention.

(Start rolling your eyes now...heading to corny zone)
So to my sweet husband.....I am SO lucky to have you! Your simple, humble, loving, giving, tender, the best Dad and such a good person. You really make me so happy.....I wouldn't want to spend eternity with anyone else!!!!! Love you Forever.....

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Snow Snow & Snow @ 3 Below!

If anyone has been watching our weather lately - and wondering if I am surviving - I am - barely! It is SO SO SO SO cold - this morning Wes & I turned on the news for an update and sure enough it was 3 below without the windchill figured in. Wes than turned to me and asked - Can you go start my truck!!!!!

Surprisingly I did it - since Wes allows me to keep my two cars in the nice warm garage, I figured it was my turn to do something nice for him. However, when I opened the garage door this is what I found.......

There is at least a 4 foot drift in front of the garage, I couldn't get my cars out even if I wanted to. You can see where I started trying to walk through it, but once the snow started getting into my shoes I turned around......I'm not that crazy.......I asked Wes, what are we going to do? .......... Needless to say he's at the ranch getting the front end loader. I can officially add to my life experiences that I have truly been "Snowed In".....Does this mean I have a valid reason to stay home from church today? Luckily...Wes bull-dozed us out! Can you believe this?We got snow yesterday and we will get more tonight, I'm not complaining, we'll definitely have a white Christmas, and it is beautiful. The only part I don't like is driving in it. Luckily last month Wes bought me a Lexus SUV that has a snow/traction mode and I love it, so both our suburban and this car has all wheel drive, I couldn't live without it. I'm just waiting for the day I'm in the ditch. I've seen so many accidents, that I changed our insurance deductibles.

Getting in the Christmas spirit has been fun. On Friday I went to a Relief Society party where we put dinners together for people in our ward, I love doing stuff like that. Yesterday we had planned on going to a Christmas festival at Lambou field (where the packers play) but it was 4:30 we stopped for dinner and when we got back in the car our kids were like....we're so tired, we just want to go home....so we turned around, by the time we got home all 3 kids were sound asleep! At 6:01 - they house was silent.....that was definitely a Christmas present to me. I read, Wes watched a football game...it was lovely. I haven't decided what we're going to do this week, but I'm really having fun doing something "christmasey" everyday! Thanks for your great idea Karry -

A Great Thanksgiving

Well we had quite a trip....I love going on vacation, but coming home is miserable. The unpacking, the laundry, the mess in the car, going back to work, trying to get the kids on a schedule, no food in the house and I could go on and on...it's no fun at all. We did come back to a winter wonderland, we have SO MUCH snow, but it's beautiful out here in the country, although driving in it is going to take some getting use to. It's back to the reality of life, responsibilities, schedules and trying to get ready for Christmas....I'm so behind! Here are some snapshots of the trip. (with explanations below) When grandpa found out that my boys were experts at pulling hair out of backs, he was first in line. Tate is in charge of Wes's back, if there's one thing I can't stand it is a hairy back, so Tate loves getting the tweezers and pulling out the hair. Luckily Wes only has a few and it is a bi-monthly activity, but with Grandpa it took all 3 grandsons, and I don't think they even made a dent....

We got to spend two days at Flaming Gorge with Tanner & his family, it was so much fun. We went on a Wagon ride and it was great, I loved hearing the bells as we traveled through the forest. In Wisconsin, there are no Mts., no pine trees, just rolling hills, so it was so nice to be in real Mountains again.

They were also having Mule rides...so Mike (Wes's Dad) made Tanner (Wes's Brother) give him a ride....on his own mule, it was pretty funny...

Here was our thanksgiving dinner and the food was GREAT!!!! We ate dinner at about 7:00, which was nice, we had spent all day eating appetizers, so it was nice to eat a little later. Usually we are so full from eating,that it was great to actually be hungry. My mother in law is a fabulous cook and she made this White chocolate banana cream pie that is too DIE for, It will seriously be the first recipe I'll post - it's that good!

Plus I also went to the "Twilight" matinee - which I LOVED, believe it or not, but that's an entirely different entry. Plus I LOVE book 3 - totally worth plunging through book 2!~

These next two pictures is "Real Life" at my in laws. There are 9 adults and 8 kids, Tye is the oldest grandson, and Sadie, my niece, is the youngest. They range from 8 to 2, and with that many people in a little space, the house usually turns into tornado zone...look at the pictures below. My poor inlaws have a nice house, until the kids come home, but it's so fun to be together.

We did attempt family pictures, which actually didn't turn out half bad. I haven't done any editing yet, but this is a sneak peak!If Wes loves anything in this life, it's his brother Tanner. I LOVE this picture of them.

Our last night we went to Salt Lake and spent it at Temple Square, the weather was perfect, the lights were beautiful, and it just felt so good to be somewhere familiar...I love being there & love feeling the spirit, it always gets me in the Christmas spirit!

Of course, we couldn't let the night slip by without some sort of commotion, we caught the boys trying to dig money out of the fountain...we are so lucky one didn't fall in. 6 boys between 8 & 4, that would be a "Davis" classic!

My sister did this neat thing on her blog where everyday she's doing something fun to celebrate Christmas, I loved the idea, so I'm going to attempt to try it. Last night we read "The Christmas Oranges" which is one of my favorite Christmas books and tonight we watching The Santa Claus..
they started without me, so I better get on my way!!!!!