A Tale of Two Trees

As you probably saw in my previous post, our Christmas tree was enormous. In order to make it fit into our house nicely, we had to cut a large portion off the top... about 5 feet. SO, instead of throwing that 5 foot tree portion away, we made it into another Christmas tree. We now have two Christmas trees!
It worked out really well, because the girls got to decorate the family tree with all the ornaments they wanted, and I got to decorate the small tree with only the ornaments I wanted. We spent time last night decorating the trees, and having fun together. The girls are very excited about Christmas, and it seems a bit closer now that we have everything decorated.

I'm thankful for Thanksgiving... and chocolate

We had Suzanna, Jeff, Chadley, and Dallin over for Thanksgiving dinner this year. I was so worried that it was going to be a disaster, and other than the turkey taking 2 hours more than expected to finish, it turned out okay. We got a 20 pound turkey, and made all the fixin's to go with it (so we would have plenty of leftovers!). The company was great and the food all tasted good. We really had a great time visiting with each other and eating yummy food together.


After Zanny's family left, Dave and I beat the fondant for homemade chocolates. I was so sure that it wouldn't work that I was ready to throw it out without even trying it. I thought I had overcooked it (like last year). I am glad Dave thought to try it, because it beat up really fast and turned out so good! We made olympia cream flavor (just fondant without flavor added... kind of like vanilla), lemon flavor, mint flavor, and cinnamon flavor (which was new to our candy flavors this year... and SO good!). Dave and I rolled the fondant into balls and then let them sit in the garage (until they were nice and chilled) overnight.


Friday we dipped them into the chocolate. We made different designs and toppings so we could tell them apart... I thought they looked so good, I took a picture of a tray of them. They turned out so awesome... they are heavenly! I am so grateful that we can have this tradition to do each year.

Christmas Tree Shopping

In years past, we have done like most people do. We bundle up and head to our local hardware store or Christmas Tree Lot to find the perfect tree. Sometimes it takes a long time, searching through several trees to find the right one. Sometimes, one of the first ones looked at speaks to you, and you are done. Last year, we went out into the wilderness of Idaho and cut our own tree. Like the pioneers. We decided to do it again this year.
Early Thanksgiving morning, we loaded up into our van, along with neighbors and their out-of-town family, and headed up to the wilderness in Idaho to find the best Christmas tree EVER. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to arrive at the cutting spot, which was covered in a nice 6 inch blanket of snow. We piled into two cars (8 adults and 12 children... rather squishy) and drove farther into the forest.
It took us about 1/2 hour to find the perfect tree. In among the tall old pines was a small, nicely shaped tree. Dave cut it, and we headed for home.
Little did we realize, but our tree was GIGANTIC! Standing among all the large pines in the woods, it looked small... when we got it home, we saw just how big it really was.
We love it! I will post more pictures once we decorate it! I think this will be our Christmas Tree tradition from now on.

Autumn

When I was pregnant with Autumn, I received a blessing that said (among other things) that Autumn would be a trial for me. I thought that meant that she would become a trial in her teen years. (What girl isn't?) After she was born, and developed colic, and cried (no, more like screamed) for six straight months, I thought that would be the trial. Then she got older. She still cried and screamed, and fussed, and was generally unhappy. About everything. I thought that would be the trial. Then she got older. And she started to get into mischief, both with Brooke and without. She is more moody than all of my other girls put together, and she gets into more trouble than them all combined too. Maybe that is the trial. Anyway, even with her moodiness, stubbornness, fussiness, and mischievousness, she is so darn cute. I can't help but smile (most of the time).
Take, for example, today. I was making some loaves of cinnamon swirl bread. Brooke and Autumn like to watch me bake, and I like them there. They also like to get onto the counter and sample what I am making. I don't really like that. Every time they climb up I tell them to get off the counter, and every time they try to sample I tell them to keep their hands out. Today was no exception. I was baking, and Autumn climbed up onto the counter and stuck her hands into the bag of brown sugar to help herself. I told her no, and to get down and keep her hands out. She said, as she climbed down, "There you go, meanie pants." That's Autumn for you. Gosh, we love her.