Saturday, December 27, 2008

Miss S's Special Day

Today my sweet little Miss S was baptized...it was so beautiful and she is such a precious little angel:) And look at all my beautiful family that came for the occasion....from left to right, my step mom and dad, my brother Chad, me and hubby, my brother in law Rick, my mom and her boyfriend and we have my niece, nephew, Miss S and my sister Balls in the front row. Huge props to my mom for being so cool around my dad and step mom:) I know that has to be totally awkward. My brother just left tonight:( I'm so sad:(:( But I downloaded over 500 pictures that he took this week to my computer - totally cool!! You'll actually get to see a lot of pictures with me IN them:)

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

May this day of remembrance of the birth of our Savior be wonderful for you!!!! Presents are unwrapped, our bellies are full, and we are enjoying this beautiful day together. We love you all so much!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Birthday Girl

Today is my sweet baby's 8th birthday!!! Happy happy birthday!

A self portrait she took at Hubby's graduation over the weekend. I love it when she borrows my camera - I find lots of fun shots on it that she's taken.

This afternoon was my work Christmas party....I got my baby fix holding my co-workers ten week old baby. She was all wrapped up like a little glow bug:)

My Secret Recipe


I've made this fudge almost every year for the last 15 years....my co-workers even specifically ask for "Raesha's Fudge" but it's really called Creamy Double Decker Fudge. It's one of those recipes that is SUPER simple and SUPER yummy:) Enjoy!

Creamy Double Decker Fudge

Ingredients:
  • 1 cup Peanut Butter Chips
  • 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk), divided
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
  • 1 cup Chocolate Chips or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1. Line 8-inch square pan with foil.

2. Place peanut butter chips and 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; spread evenly in prepared pan.

3. Place remaining sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in another small microwave-safe bowl; repeat above microwave procedure. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; spread evenly over peanut butter layer.

4. Cover; refrigerate until firm. Remove from pan; place on cutting board. Peel off foil. Cut into squares. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. About 4 dozen pieces or 1-1/2 pounds.

NOTE: For best results, do not double this recipe.


Monday, December 22, 2008

Baking

Hubs requested goodie tins for his team members for Christmas....I don't think I even baked at all last Christmas so I'm pretty rusty. Here's the start of what I've made so far: white chocolate dipped oreos and chocolate fudge. The pretzels and candy canes I bought:)


And these are cooling right now - shortbread cookies sprinkled with red sugar. the second batch will have green sugar sprinkled on them.

I wanted to share my fudge recipe cause it's seriously like the easiest fudge ever. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt three cups chocolate chips and one can of sweetened condensed milk. Stir often. When melted and smooth, remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Spread evenly into an 8x8 pan lined with either tin foil, or wax paper. Cover with foil and cool in the fridge for about 2 hours. Once cool, turn out onto a cutting board (peel off the foil or wax paper) and cut into one inch squares. YUMMERS!!!

I have another fantastic fudge recipe for Double Decker Fudge - the bottom layer is peanut butter fudge and the top layer is chocolate fudge. I'll share that this week:)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

It's Official!

My darling, darling Hubby is now officially a college graduate! He graduated yesterday from the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management with a BBA....I am SO PROUD OF HIM!!!!! He did it all while working full time and still maintaining a 3.48 GPA. He rocks.

That's him in the middle of this picture:) My brother took a lot of awesome shots - but we haven't loaded them on the computer yet.

My sister, Ryalin, and her family, and my brother, Chad, were all able to make it to the graduation ceremony. Hubby picked Fuddrucker's for his celebratory dinner:) It was delish:)

In this picture: Hubby, Rick, Ryalin and Chad.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Why God Make Mothers

I'm sure most of you have seen this before but it makes me smile everytime I see it:)

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grand ma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd dye it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those in visible eyes on the back of her head.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Kickin it into High Gear


Christmas crafting in these parts is moving full steam ahead....here's a nice little stack of zippered pouches waiting to be filled with goodies for nieces and nephews. I figure if I do a little bit each night I'll get it all done in time for Christmas. On the agenda this weekend is our Christmas cards. I don't think I ever started them this late:):)

Monday, December 08, 2008

My Whirlwind Week

My head is still spinning from my whirlwind trip to Silverdale, WA last week. I am so blessed to have been able to travel home for my Grandpa's funeral. The service was wonderful and it was great to see all my relatives - even though it was bittersweet. I think the pictures say it best. Here are some of them - in completely random order cause I have ten other things to do tonight so this is a quickie:)

Heading into town:

Breakfast with my sister, my bff and her friend:


Mr. Rainier - so beautiful. It was rainy and cloudy all week except the day of the funeral. You could see Mt. Rainier so clearly. My Grandpa loved Mt. Rainier. My dad said that when they were going through Grandpa's slides before he moved into assisted living that there were about 14,000 slides and seriously 10,000 of them were of Mt. Rainier:


Little Bro - this one's for you. Apparently you and Tammy made a pact to get tattoos with each other's names in them. She held up her end of the bargain so you're next:) :


Rockin out. And yep - I'm completely sober:) With my beaner, Tammy, her sister and her sister's boyfriend.


This time we're all smiling pretty and you can please just forget you see that fat tire otherwise known as my belly. I'll have to crop that out and get copies of this for all of us - isn't this a great picture? We totally love each other so much:)


Look at my handsome Grandpa - with my Grandma and their oldest daughter, Peggy. I love old pictures so much. And isn't my Grandpa a little cutie pie!!! If I had to guess this picture is probably from about 1945ish.


At the funeral. Grandpa was in the Army Air Corp (now the Air Force) so the Honor Guard was there to play taps and fold the flag draped over Grandpa's coffin. That gets me choked up everytime.

My beaner and me. Getting a quick midnight snack at Shari's in Silverdale. Aren't her dimples the cutest!


Me and Ryalin with two of my cousins that we haven't seen in 20 years - Tanya and Dana. I always had a crush on Dana growing up - he's 6 years older than me and was the oldest boy cousin that lived in the area. He had the cutest little page boy haircut growing up. It was amazing to reconnect with them.

So that's it in a nutshell. I went from posting everyday in November, to Grandpa's funeral, to hardly posting at all. Christmas preparations are now in full swing here!!! I'm looking foward to wrapping packages and finishing up our cards...oops I mean STARTING our cards:)

Friday, December 05, 2008

Home

I'm home - safe and sound.

Monday, December 01, 2008

I love you!!!!

I'm sending each of you a big handful of daisies and hugs and kisses!!! Thank you all so much for your beautiful, kind and loving words as I mourn my dear sweet Grandpa Terry. I fly out tomorrow to Seattle for the funeral. I'm looking forward to spending a few days in my hometown of Silverdale - though it will be bittersweet. I wish I could visit all my totally awesome blogger buddies that are up the Pacific Northwest but that will have to wait until the next trip.

Until I return - I'll miss you and I love you!!!!