Santa visited us!!

Surprise surprise...Santa came even though we were so excited we forgot to leave him so cookies and milk!! We had so much fun at our Party, we forgot to put out some treats! Poor Santa had to search the cupboards for a little snack!! :0) We decided to just let the girls wake up whenever they did, and luckily it wasn't until about 8 that they woke up! We went out and saw that Santa had come, and played with the toys for a little while before opening presents. My parents came over to watch the girls open presents.

Here's Teniah with her new clothes! Yay for new clothes!!!

Here's Kierstin with her baby and carrier! Oh how she loves this baby!!!

My cute little cheeser!

Opening presents!

After that we went over to my parents house to talk to my brother Kyle. He is doing so great in Indonesia! We are proud of him and all the hard work that he is doing!! He had just played Santa at the mall....and we all got a kick out of that one!! People of Indonesia...NO Santa isn't over 6 foot tall and skin and bones! They had done a little program at the mall and he said it was so much fun! It was GREAT to talk with him! As my only little brother, I have missed him more than I thought that I would...and it was awesome to hear his voice!

While we were eating our Christmas lunch, we all decided to go to Avatar!! So we hurried up and got in the car, and drove to the theater. OH NO...it's broken!! But, they had it at the other theater, so...back in the car, and across town, we went. There I am standing in line, and I see a sign, HEAT BROKEN! Oh great...in what movie? Of course it was ours. Luckily we lived close enough that we were able to run home really quick and grab some blankets! The movie was AMAZING!!! We all loved it!! Hard to believe that it was CGI after a while! Teniah enjoyed the visuals, but couldn't stop listening to her "Ipod"(really a mp3 player)!! Kierstin surprised me, by sitting through almost the WHOLE movie!! She lasted til the last 30 mins or so.

We had the BEST Christmas!!

Christmas Eve PARTY!!!

It's always a blast at the 'P' Family Christmas Eve Party! There is always good food,
(Here's Teniah...by all the goodies of course!!)

lots of fun and games. Sometimes movies, and of course PRESENTS!!

Kierstin got a baby doll, do you think she likes it??

Grandma got a Christus Statue


Teniah got Mariposa Fairies



And Grandpa got a skunk (inside joke!)


And of course...the Christmas Eve Pajammies!!!

Oh Christmas Tree

Robert went out the day after Thanksgiving and cut down our Christmas tree. He picked a really good one. It was about two feet too tall, but we took care of that really easy!! Our tree was about 12 feet tall! This year Robert convinced me that we should flock our Christmas tree. I was a little hesitant at first, but it turned out so pretty, I think we may do it next year too.We did a blue and silver tree, very classy and beautiful. I love Christmas trees!!!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I can't believe how much good food there is to be eaten! First we had a dinner with Robert's family, the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We sat around and ate dinner, and then we watched the newest Star Trek. We had a blast visiting with everyone, and eating all that YUMMY food! Then for actual Thanksgiving, we went to my grandmas house in Parowan. She has been feeling down in spirits for the last few months, and then about two months ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has been such a strong woman and has dealt with it very well. She had a surgery, and all the cancer is gone. She won't need any chemo or radiation, and hopefully it will stay away. But, she was in the best of spirits on Thanksgiving, because all of her family was surrounding her. We had a HOUSE full of people ... close to 40 ... and we only had a few people missing two cousins, one husband and one missionary! We had so much food that we actually had thanksgiving two nights in a row!! It was great!! I love potatoes and homemade noodles and fresh cherry pie!! Oh...it was all WONDERFUL!!

Leftover Turkey Soup

On Sunday, we were able to have Thanksgiving dinner with some of our BEST friends. The food was amazing, and the turkey was perfect and juicy! Needless to say, I cooked WAY too much food, and we have been having leftovers all week. Tonight, I decided that I wanted to make some soup. So here is the recipe for all of you to enjoy! You might need it next week to help with your turkey leftovers! :0)

2-3 c cut up turkey meat

1 large can cream of chicken soup plus, 1/2 the can water, and 1/2 can milk

1 can carrots

1 can and 1 small can of cream of corn

1 spoonful minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Add 1 TBS oil and garlic to your pot. Warm up and add the turkey. Saute the turkey for a few minutes. Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil.

Enjoy!

Recipes

Hey all! I decided that every once and a while (probley once a week or twice a month) I am going to post a recipe that we love. I know that I am always on the prowl of new healthy easy recipes. So here is the first of those to come! :0)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!!

(Now I know that cookies usually aren't considered healthy, but hey, these are made with veggies!! LOL)

1 Spice Cake Mix
1 Can of pumpkin (if you use the one that already has the spices, then you don't have to add anything else)
1 cup of chocolate chips/raisins

Mix all together, and spoon on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees! Big HINT: DO NOT add any water!!! The pumpkin moistens everything!!

Happy Halloween!

We had such a great Halloween this year. Sarah and Cooper

came down to visit and go trick or treating with us. We had dinner and took pictures of the kids.

Heres the two hardest kids to take a picture of!

Here we have Vampire Hannah Montana

The Gang!

Little Pebbles

Maybe we had too much fun taking pictures! HEHEHE

Then headed out into the neighborhood for our treats. We ran into this scary monster, who wanted Cooper's banana. (love Cooper's face!)

Kierstin loved trick or treating. It didn't take her long to figure out that she would get candy if she knocked on the door. She was so cute! She would take at least two candies from each house, if they offered her the bowl. She was so cute they didn't get mad! :0) Little stinker!