Our Christmas

Christmas has come and gone. It feels like every year it seems to come faster and faster. We actually had to have our Christmas two days earlier. Brian had to work and it was was the first time he has had to in our 4 years of being married. So we decided to have it early instead of making the kids wait. Aria was super excited and woke up way to early on our Christmas morning. We told her she had to wait in her room until Audrey woke up. It was very difficult for her. Finally Audrey woke up and we decided to have breakfast and then open the pile of presents Santa left for us. We alternated opening presents between Aria and Audrey.

Audrey went first and it was a book.

Aria opened some DS games. She wanted a DS for Christmas and Brian and I was going to get it for her, but she did not know that. So the whole time she was opening DS stuff from Santa, but no DS.
Audrey getting the hang of this present thing.

A DS cover, but no DS

My parents have this same cash register at their house, but theirs is a hundred years old and I think it only has two coins. The girls always play with it and I saw one at Toys R Us and had to get it for Audrey. She laughs every time the coins come down.

Mrs. Potato Head

More books! She loves her books!

Is this the DS? Where is it?

She loves books also.

Little People Farm Set

Finally the DS!

Grandpa and Grandma Muhlestein came over for brunch after we opened all our presents. Audrey warmed up to Grandpa as long as he kept reading books she was happy.

The girls posing in their new towels.

Silly Girls!

We had a great Christmas!

Homemade Ornaments

This Christmas Aria made some ornaments for her friends. We really had a lot of fun making them. I got this recipe from a Gold Medal Flour Children's Cookbook. We have made this recipe before and made necklaces and hand prints.

You Can Dough It!

Baked Dough Creations

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

craft paint

clear sealing spray for crafts

glue and glitter

string or ribbon

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Stir flour and salt in large bowl until well mixed. Stir in water. Put dough on lightly floured surface, and shape into a ball, using floured hands.

2. Knead dough by folding and pushing with the palms of your hands, then make a quarter turn. Repeat these steps to knead 5 to 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap. Take out only as much dough as you will use at one time because dough dries out quickly.

3. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Put shapes on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 1 hour or until dough is dry and just begins to brown. The bake time will depend on size of shapes. If more bake time is needed, turn shapes over and continue baking until dough is dry. Take shapes off cookie sheet. Cool completely.

4. Paint shapes with craft paint and after dried spray with sealing spray.

Aria rolling out the dough

Cutting out shapes
Poking holes in the top with a chopstick before baking.

Ready for the oven. They look like cookies, but don't eat!
Painting a bell

Add some glitter and spray with sealer. Thread a ribbon or cord and here are our beautiful ornaments!

Magazine Christmas Trees

I was watching Martha the other day. She had on some ladies making trees out of magazines. I thought they looked cool and a great way to recycle old magazines. I immediately grabbed a Avon catalog and started folding away. I also found out later that this is a really old craft and people have been making these for years from Reader's Digest. I made three trees in three different sizes. I used a Avon catalog, Reader's Digest and a Racheal Ray magazine.

First, find some old magazines, preferable ones with lots of pages so it will be able to stand up.

Then break the binding of the magazine, so it is more flexible.

Repeat this process with every page. It is very tedious, great to do while watching TV.

Voila! Now you have some trees. Martha spray painted hers gold, but I am more of a silver girl.

After the trees have dried you can spray them with spray adhesive and sprinkle with glitter.

Sensational Chicken Noodle Soup

On a cold fall/winter day or when you are feeling a little under the weather it is so nice to eat a nice bowl of chicken noodle soup. I love soup and I am very disappointed with canned soups lately, they either are flavorless or are too salty. This recipe is so easy and tastes so good you will never open a can of soup again.

*I learned a little tip from a pampered chef party that I had. If you have the large micro-cooker you can actually cook two boneless chicken breasts in the microwave for 7 minutes and they are fabulous. I have also used canned chicken breast in this recipe if you are in a pinch.

Sensational Chicken Noodle Soup

4 cups Swanson Chicken Broth (Regular, Natural Goodness™ or Certified Organic)
Generous dash ground black pepper
1 medium carrot, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
1 stalk celery, sliced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup uncooked extra wide egg noodles
1 cup shredded cooked chicken or turkey

Directions:

Heat the broth, black pepper, carrot and celery in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat to a boil.

Stir the noodles and chicken into the saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 10 minutes or until the noodles are tender.

SYTYCD

It is Wednesday night the kids are finally in bed. I turn on the TV, grab the remote, push the button, My DVR......and there is it two wonderful episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. My hearts starts to flutter and I snuggle down in the blanket and watch with a huge smile on my face. I love dance and all forms. I started watching SYTYCD dance about 3 or 4 years ago and have been loving it ever since. When I watch these dancers I get chills and want to get up and celebrate with them the love of dance. This season, season 6 is really great and they are so talented. I found a few videos and I hope you will watch them and get addicted like I am to SYTYCD. I could not find a lot from this season but I did find one and then the following three are from past seasons. The hummingbird is one of my all time favorites. Enjoy!

Thankful

This week instead of posting a recipe.... I thought that I would just express some of my feelings about the Thanksgiving Holiday we all just enjoyed. I truly am thankful for all the many blessings I have been given in my life. I would also like to thank a few people in my life. First I am thankful for the pilgrims who came across the ocean so they could practice religion freely. I am so thankful for the gospel in my life that I can attend church weekly. Also I am thankful for prayer that Heavenly Father does listen to us and answers our prayers. I am thankful for my parents and how supportive they are and good examples for my children. I am thankful for my children. My children make me smile every day and they are my everything. And lastly I am so very thankful for my best friend, my help mate, my husband, Brian.

Aria pretending to be a pilgrim. She packed up some food in a towel and said she was getting on her horse and going to cross the lake.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

I have actually never made a pumpkin pie. I love to eat pumpkin pie and I have made pies, but I have always left it up to my mother or my father-in-law, who both make wonderful pumpkin pie. I got this recipe from a Kraft foods e-mail and have made it quite a few times and it is delicious! Not quite as good as my mother or father-in-laws pie, but a great substitute if you are afraid to make a pie or need some fall goodness in a pan.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Prep Time: 15 min
Total Time: 55 min
Makes: Makes 24 servings.

What You Need!
1-1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) cold butter or margarine
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 cup chopped Pecans

1 pkg. ( 8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
3 eggs

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice

Make It!

HEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; grease foil. Mix flour, 1/4 granulated sugar and brown sugar in medium bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in oats and nuts.

RESERVE 1 cup oat mixture; press remaining onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min. Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, pumpkin and spice with mixer until well blended. Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

BAKE 25 min.; cool 10 min. Use foil to transfer dessert from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

Stove Top Kettle Corn

Never again will I buy kettle corn at any sporting event ever! I got this recipe from http://www.ourbestbites.com/ and it is so simple! It is highway robbery what they charge for kettle corn at events I have been to. Brian and I decided to give this recipe a try Halloween weekend and it turned out so yummy and good, the second batch anyway. Be careful when you make this popcorn. It does not take very long to pop, maybe only a minute, so our first batch burned a bit, but it still was good. I love this recipe and will definitely make it when I am in a pinch for time and need something sweet and salty.

Stove Top Kettle Corn

Recipe by Our Best Bites

3 T canola or vegetable oil
1/3 C popcorn kernels
3 T granulated sugar
kosher salt

1. Place a large stock pot on the stove top. Set heat to medium-high. Add oil. While your oil is heating (it won't take long), measure out your popcorn into a small bowl. Add sugar to the kernels. When it's time to cook, everything moves very quickly, so it's important to have it all ready to go.

Now, wait until you see your oil smoke. This is one little trick that a lot of people overlook, but it's important. The smoke is very faint, but if you just stare at the pot (it helps to get down parallel to it), you'll see little billows of smoke coming up. That's your cue!

Pour popcorn kernels and sugar into the pot.

Immediately stir using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, scraping sugar from bottom of pan. This step should only take about 10 seconds because I don't want a lawsuit from someone who got pegged in the eye with a popping kernel. Got that? There's your disclaimer. 10 seconds people!

Hold the pot by the handles in a way that you're securing the lid on as well. Shake the pan side to side in all directions and up and down a few times. Do this every 20 seconds or so. It will keep the sugar from burning on the bottom and help the kernels to be evenly coated.

After a few minutes you should start hearing the pops. (If it doesn't start popping after a few minutes, crack the lid to let some of the pressure out. Chances are when you put the lid back on, it will pop away). Continue the shaking every 20 second or so until you can tell almost everything is popped. Remove the lid and stir immediately.

Sprinkle Kosher salt to taste and then keep stirring.

All for One and One for All!

Today we invited over our good neighbors Abbey and Makayla for a Barbie and the Three Musketeers party. Aria has been wanting to rent this Barbie movie ever since it came out and I thought it would be fun to invite some friends to watch it with us. Aria found some fun crafts on Barbie.com to go along with the movie also. I thought it was fitting to invite these two girls because often it is the three of them playing almost every day together.We had a little snack and the girls got to spear their food and of course we had to have 3 Musketeer candy bars.

Makayla
Then we made masks

and fans, it is all part of the movie you must watch it to understand all these items we made.

and then of course we watched the movie with popcorn!

Audrey even sat for a minute and watched.

The 3 Musketeers! Girls Rock!

45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

My dad is a wonderful baker and if you have ever had the pleasure to experience one of his yummy cinnamon rolls or homemade bread it is wonderful. I have not even attempted to make my dad's cinnamon rolls. I have tried to make his scones and some other recipes that requires the raising of the dough. I guess I am not a patient person or my house is not the right warmth or humidity, but I have not had much luck. When I found this recipe on http://realmomkitchen.blogspot.com/ I had to give it a try and it was very successful even the second time. I also love this recipe because it does not make a lot. Enjoy!

45 Minute Cinnamon Rolls

1 1/8 cups warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 T yeast
1/4 cup sugar or honey
½ tsp. Salt
1 eggs
3 ½ cups flour

Filling:
1/4 cup butter, softened
cinnamon
sugar

Icing:
2 1/4 C powdered sugar
3 T butter, melted
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
milk ( probably a couple tablespoons or so for desired consistency)

Mix 1st 4 ingredients and let rest for 15 minutes. Add salt and eggs - gradually add flour.Roll out into a 9 x 13 rectangle on a well floured surface. Spread butter on dough. Sprinkle dough generously with cinnamon. Follow with sprinkling sugar over the cinnamon. This is also a generous amount. Enough to completely cover the cinnamon so you can't see it. Roll up from the long side to make a log. Then cut into 12 slices and place on a greased cookie sheet. After shaped, let rest for 10 minutes. Bake 10 - 15 minutes @400 degrees ‘till golden brown. Remove from oven and mix up icing. Let the rolls cool a little before you put the icing on.

4 down....forever to go!

Today is Brian and I's 4th wedding anniversary. We were married on a lovely fall afternoon in a little church in Corinne. After we had a yummy luncheon provided by friends and family and then a fun reception. We then headed to Maui for our Honeymoon. Later in April of 2006 we were sealed in the Manti Temple for time and all eternity. Us posing after our honeymoon. Brian insisted on buying me a fresh flower lei in the airport. This picture was taken right before we were heading to his parents to open our wedding gifts.
Brian is such a loving and caring person. On our first date I was pretty sure that I was going to marry him. I know it sounds kind of cheesy, but Brian is my soul mate. I love my husband so much and he just puts a smile on my face. I believe that he was saved for me at this time in my life. Brian has to work away from home a lot, but when he is home he is all for us. When he is home we do everything together and just love being together. I am so blessed to have a husband that has the same goals as I and wants the best for our children. I could go on and on, but my heart just bubbles over with how happy I am to have Brian in my life. Happy Anniversary Lovey!

Brian and I in Hawaii last year. We took the kids to Hawaii with some of Brian's family. Brian would live in Hawaii, but I am not to sure. I love the change of seasons.

Brian and the girls. Brian is so loving and excepting of my daughter Aria. I never thought I could find someone half as great as Brian, but I did and I am so thankful. Now we just need to have a little boy for Brian and his life will be complete.

Cheers! to many more joyous years!