Ok - I have to give you all this yummy recipe and like me, you'll never be able to eat just a regular can of cinnamon rolls again. This is sinfully fattening and delicious. Give it a try:
Pour 1/4 cup of melted butter on bottom of 9x13 pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar on top of the butter. Take two cans of cinnamon rolls and cut them into quarters. Put the pieces all over the bottom of the pan. Take another 1/4 cup melted butter and pour over the cinnamon rolls. Take yet another 1/2 cup brown sugar and sprinkle all over the top. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Then spread the frosting over the top. Gain a pound. Enjoy! Hurry and make these before you start any crazy new years resolutions to lose weight!
My next question -- have any of you brilliant ones figured out a way to print these blogs into a book? I'm hoping this reduces my need to scrapbook and print pictures in the future, but I have yet to hear of a good place to get the blog printed. Otherwise I'm done with this whole blogging thing (just kidding.) If you have any ideas, please do share. Thanks!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Can't believe it's over . . .
I'm always amazed at how long it takes to prepare for Christmas and then in an instant, it's over! So sad. We had such a fun Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to my mom's for a yummy ham dinner. It's also tradition that the children act out the Nativity. We have to read from the scriptures FAST or else the children start having meltdowns, but they did pretty well this year!
Another tradition -- we MAKE mom get out her accordian every Christmas Eve to play a few Christmas tunes. We all get a good laugh and have fun singing Christmas carols. And then dad always ends the night reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas". 
Then it's off to home to prepare for the big day. The kids get to open up one gift before bed -- this year they opened their sibling's gift! Then we check online to see where Santa's sleigh is -- it was in Canada still right before they went to sleep. Lastly, we sprinkle reindeer food on the grass and leave cookies for Santa! Then it's off to bed.
Christmas Morning - the kids woke up at 5:00 am! Are you kidding? Mom and dad just got to sleep a few hours ago, so we made them wait to come in to our room until 6:30. So mean, I know. They were sooo excited to start opening their gifts. We make them all wait upstairs so we can go down to the tree together. (Kate was mad that I wasn't carrying her down the stairs.)
Each kid has a chair or part of the sofa where Santa leaves his or her gifts and stocking.
Hayley was dying to get a styling chair and hair accessories. Beauty School here she comes!
Blake was thrilled with his legos, baseball bat and games.
All Chloe kept asking for was a scooter, a bouncey ball and a doll. Good thing Santa came through!
After playing with the toys for a bit, it was off to the Fosters for dinner and another round of exchanging gifts.
Remind me next year that I really don't need to buy my kids a thing. After exchanging gifts with cousins and after their grandparents and aunts and uncle spoil them rotten and Santa comes, there is really no need for me to buy them a thing! Here they are with their loot after receiving all of their fun presents from everyone:
Hayley & Blake's favorite gift? Their new roller blades. They've been wearing them in the house for 2 days now and on Christmas night even asked if they could wear them to bed. Um, no. All in all, it was a perfect Christmas. We are so lucky to have all of our family near by (at least most of them.) As sad as I am that it's over . . . I am so ready to rip down my Christmas tree and put everything away!
Ok - and I just had to add this cute Christmas photo. Isn't she darling?? This is Lisa's baby Macey who I got to take pictures of this week. I'm going to post some more of her cute baby pics here if you want to see them. Soooo precious!
Another tradition -- we MAKE mom get out her accordian every Christmas Eve to play a few Christmas tunes. We all get a good laugh and have fun singing Christmas carols. And then dad always ends the night reading "Twas The Night Before Christmas". Then it's off to home to prepare for the big day. The kids get to open up one gift before bed -- this year they opened their sibling's gift! Then we check online to see where Santa's sleigh is -- it was in Canada still right before they went to sleep. Lastly, we sprinkle reindeer food on the grass and leave cookies for Santa! Then it's off to bed.Christmas Morning - the kids woke up at 5:00 am! Are you kidding? Mom and dad just got to sleep a few hours ago, so we made them wait to come in to our room until 6:30. So mean, I know. They were sooo excited to start opening their gifts. We make them all wait upstairs so we can go down to the tree together. (Kate was mad that I wasn't carrying her down the stairs.)Each kid has a chair or part of the sofa where Santa leaves his or her gifts and stocking.Hayley was dying to get a styling chair and hair accessories. Beauty School here she comes!Blake was thrilled with his legos, baseball bat and games.All Chloe kept asking for was a scooter, a bouncey ball and a doll. Good thing Santa came through! And little Kate finally got her own doll and stroller set so that Chloe wouldn't have to "share" with her.
We were technically spending Christmas day with the Fosters this year, but the Lamoreaux clan came over for brunch and exchanged gifts with each other. It was de-lish and so much fun. (I need to post my sister's super easy Cinnamon Roll Bake!)
After playing with the toys for a bit, it was off to the Fosters for dinner and another round of exchanging gifts.Remind me next year that I really don't need to buy my kids a thing. After exchanging gifts with cousins and after their grandparents and aunts and uncle spoil them rotten and Santa comes, there is really no need for me to buy them a thing! Here they are with their loot after receiving all of their fun presents from everyone: Hayley & Blake's favorite gift? Their new roller blades. They've been wearing them in the house for 2 days now and on Christmas night even asked if they could wear them to bed. Um, no. All in all, it was a perfect Christmas. We are so lucky to have all of our family near by (at least most of them.) As sad as I am that it's over . . . I am so ready to rip down my Christmas tree and put everything away!Ok - and I just had to add this cute Christmas photo. Isn't she darling?? This is Lisa's baby Macey who I got to take pictures of this week. I'm going to post some more of her cute baby pics here if you want to see them. Soooo precious!
Monday, December 22, 2008
3 More Days & Counting . . .
Can't believe there are only 3 days until Christmas! As I was going down my mental check list of things the family must do and see still, I realized the other day we hadn't seen the Christmas lights yet! So last night we headed out with a Holiday Lights Map that Brent had gotten out of the paper. We discovered some fun new neighborhoods with crazy amounts of lights and decorations. Some even were handing out free popcorn and hot cocoa! But my favorite place is one you MUST go and see if you live in the area! The entire cul-de-sac is decorated. Every house gets involved. In order to truly absorb everything, you need to park your car and walk down the street with the kids. One house has even opened up their backyard and made it look like you're walking through Bethlehem. They have narration going on as you're walking and seeing pictures of Christ's birth, the wisemen, etc. Such a neat calm feeling you get as you walk back there. Here are the directions: From Country Club (Arizona Ave), head west on Guadalupe. Take a right on Cherry and then it's about 3 streets down on your right -- it's called Natal. This has become a little tradition of our family that we must see every year!
Our other favorite Christmas light spot? Of course, the temple. So we're heading there this evening (hopefully it doesn't rain!). Before we go, we're stopping at the Mesa Arts Center for Mark Mabry's book signing event!
So as I was sitting in carpool last week, I brainstormed some of the other fun Christmas traditions we enjoy as a family every year. Here are a few:
- Chocolate Advent Calendars for the kids
- The kids making gingerbread houses with Grandma Foster
- Helping Grandma Lamoreaux decorate her Christmas tree
- Dollar Store Shopping for Siblings - the kids LOVE taking their allowance to the dollar store to pick out little gifts for each of their siblings. We did this a couple of years ago and they've remembered and beg to do it every year since. So it's become a December FHE tradition. They get a kick out of choosing something special and spending their own money on each other!
- We do a scripture advent for the month of December. There's a different scripture each night relating to Christ's birth and a little song to go with it.
- Christmas Service FHE -- we find someone in need to help or cheer up and try to make their Christmas a little brighter!
- Baking our favorite recipes that mom used to make (and sometimes still does if we beg her!) - coconut balls, toffee, corn flake wreaths, sugar cookies, peanut blossoms, ginger snaps
- Celebrating our anniversary! Yes, every December we get to try and squeeze this into our schedule. Why get married in December, you ask? Well . . . we'd already dated for 2 years and didn't want to wait another semester. So now we're stuck with a December anniversary. Our tradition has become to leave the kids with Grandma from Friday until Saturday evening. Friday night we go to dinner and usually a movie. We usually just go home and spend the night since we're broke from Christmas shopping. Then Saturday morning we get up and go to breakfast and then Christmas shop together all day Saturday! We hit dinner before picking the kids up and it's such a fun weekend. This year, was even better, as Brent's incredibly generous brother surprised us completely with an amazing weekend! When he heard we were just spending the night at home, he decided to put us up at the W hotel in Scottsdale. I have never stayed in a hotel like this -- it was incredible. Very contemporary and quite the place to be in Scottsdale on a Friday night! The valet had to escort us in the hotel since we were guests so we could bypass all of the people standing in line outside to get into the club. We were a little out of our league :)
It was an unbelieveable anniversary we'll never forget! Hope you and your families all have a very Merry Christmas! We are blessed to have such great family and friends! Love to you all!
Friday, December 5, 2008
All Aboard!!
We were so excited to go and ride the Polar Express this year! Marci & Joe decided to go and so we tagged along with them. We had been 2 years ago, but it was even more fun this year with all 4 kids! I wanted to make sure we went while all 4 still believed in the magic and it was truly magical. Chloe kept saying "I can't believe we're really going to the North Pole!" So cute. However, Hayley and Blake had quite a few logistical type questions such as "How is it possible for a train to get to the North Pole so fast when it's not even on the North American continent?" Good question, Hayley. She wasn't doubting anything, just wondering how it was possible. It's a magical train I kept telling her. Here's a pic of all the cousins before boarding the train!
On the way to the North Pole, the chefs passed out hot cocoa and cookies. Chloe kept looking outside wondering where the wolves were and waiting to spot the North Pole.
And then they read the story to us and Kate couldn't get enough of it. Unfortunately we left our copy of the book at thome, but Kate insisted on touching the pages each time our chef walked by.
After we reached the North Pole and saw Santa outside with all of his reindeer, Santa boarded the train, but we had to wait a bit before he got to our car. So the whole train sang Christmas carols while they waited.
Finally, he arrived! The kids were so excited to receive their special bell from him.
After the train ride, we got to go and visit with Mrs. Clause. The kids wrote letters to Santa and dropped them in his mailbox!
We had such a fun trip. Hopefully we'll be able to return again in another year or two. Such a fun tradition. And here's my recommendation if any of you go. SKIP the buffet meals that they throw in to the package. We ate those meals two years ago and they were terrible. I wouldn't eat them again if they were free. So when you book your hotel and train tickets, tell them you don't want the meal package. You'll save about $60 and then you can go eat at some yummy restaurants. We went to the Mexcian Cantina across from the hotel from dinner which was good. And then for breakfast we went across the street to the Pine Country Restaurant which was DE-LISH! I am not kidding when I say that they had homemade pies that are 8 inches tall! I've never ordered dessert for breakfast, but we just had to try it. We ordered a slice of Chocolate Peanut Butter Fluff Pie and it was the best pie we've ever had. So skip the meals and Max & Thelmas and head over to these great restaurants instead!
On the way to the North Pole, the chefs passed out hot cocoa and cookies. Chloe kept looking outside wondering where the wolves were and waiting to spot the North Pole.And then they read the story to us and Kate couldn't get enough of it. Unfortunately we left our copy of the book at thome, but Kate insisted on touching the pages each time our chef walked by.
After we reached the North Pole and saw Santa outside with all of his reindeer, Santa boarded the train, but we had to wait a bit before he got to our car. So the whole train sang Christmas carols while they waited.
Finally, he arrived! The kids were so excited to receive their special bell from him.
After the train ride, we got to go and visit with Mrs. Clause. The kids wrote letters to Santa and dropped them in his mailbox!
We had such a fun trip. Hopefully we'll be able to return again in another year or two. Such a fun tradition. And here's my recommendation if any of you go. SKIP the buffet meals that they throw in to the package. We ate those meals two years ago and they were terrible. I wouldn't eat them again if they were free. So when you book your hotel and train tickets, tell them you don't want the meal package. You'll save about $60 and then you can go eat at some yummy restaurants. We went to the Mexcian Cantina across from the hotel from dinner which was good. And then for breakfast we went across the street to the Pine Country Restaurant which was DE-LISH! I am not kidding when I say that they had homemade pies that are 8 inches tall! I've never ordered dessert for breakfast, but we just had to try it. We ordered a slice of Chocolate Peanut Butter Fluff Pie and it was the best pie we've ever had. So skip the meals and Max & Thelmas and head over to these great restaurants instead!
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