Young Women Christmas Extravaganza

**UPDATE: Hot Chocolate Bar Printables can be found HERE.

**UPDATE: Inn Crowd/Stable Few gift/printables are now available HERE.

We, the YW Presidency, wanted to do something special for the Young Women (12-18 yr old girls that attend church with my family) of our ward for Christmas, so we planned a progressive dinner for the girls which affectionately became known as the Christmas Extravaganza!

I made invites:

We started our evening in the backyard of one of our girls.  I was in charge of the hot chocolate bar.  {Someday when I have a minute, I'll share my printables & more details.}  The girls made yummy mugs of hot chocolate, the Grinch made a visit, & the girls enjoyed a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas around the fire pit.

After our tummies were warm with hot chocolate, we paraded next door to the home of two other girls for dinner, a visit from Santa, & a reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Our last stop was the home of a leader where the three wise men read a story to the girls, we enjoyed a variety of desserts, and had a little gift for the girls ... free printable for that to come too.

Raise the Bar: Self-Portrait

I came across a message on Facebook posted by my friend Libby ... she's hosting a photo challenge this year ...  one theme per week.  Maybe I'm too late to join the fun, but I still wanted to try this week's challenge because some of the other photographers had some fun results that inspired me & my cameras have been growing too much dust. Week one is the dreaded self-portrait.  To me, a self-portrait is nothing more than a crap-shoot cause I'm not behind the camera & able to see what's going on.  I fiddled around with my camera for a bit & gave-up because nothing was working how I wanted it to.  Tonight after the kids were in bed, I stuck my camera card into my computer and this one was my favorite:

To check out the results of some other photographers, go to Libby's blog!

Sunshiny Days

Last weekend we had some beautiful weather here!! It was sunny & in the 80's.  Monday was Hubby's birthday & a holiday, so my mom took the kids for a while so that Hubby & I could go on a date.  Bushka & the kids escaped to the splash pad.  The kids had a blast!!

Since the weather was just as nice the next day, Bushka & I took Mr. Turkey to the splash pad again the next afternoon. 

Baby Jada Part 2

I've been a bad sister.  I took photos of Baby Jada back in early September & still haven't given my sister a CD with all the photos, but I'm trying to go through lots of photos & clean stuff out.  TODAY I'm making my sister a CD so I can get that off my to-do list, so here is Baby Jada ... Part 2.

Penguin + Harp

We have a new, rising star at our house.  Penguin ... on the harp!  

In our part of the country, we have fall break ... a week off of school in October cause the weather is so nice here!  It's finally cool enough to go outside, but still quite warm.  We decided to take a road trip to UT for part of fall break to visit my grandparents for a few days.  While we were there, Penguin bugged my aunt for a couple harp lessons and now I have a harp sitting in my living room and harp lessons to attend.  Harp was not my choice, suggestion, or something I would've ever come up with, so this is all Penguin's doings & after 6 or 7 lessons, I'd say she's doing quite well!  We took some quick videos with my phone to send up to my aunt so she could see how Penguin in progressing with her new-found hobby.  Please excuse our out-of-tune harp ... tuning it is not high on my favorite things to do list. :)

The first two pieces are being prepared for the ABRSM Grade 1 exam in May & the last song is the one she performed at the Christmas recital a few weeks ago.

Works of Art

I am trying to de-clutter a bit & with all our great technology, it's easier to save schoolwork & art projects that my kids bring home.  Peacock is always busy creating.  Here is a sampling of her latest works of art.

Best Ever Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

Ahhh...Tuesdays with Dorie.  What a slacker I've been!  Today's recipe is an onion pizza thing.  I'm going to pass with a big no thank you.  I love pizza! A great pizza is on my top 10 favorite foods ... always has been.  But I wouldn't call today's recipe pizza....

Instead I'm going to blog about a recipe I made back in November and had done on time, but just never got around to doing my post about the recipe ... Best Ever Brownies.  If you know me, I'm into chocolate and I'm always in search of a best ever brownie!

Since it's been so long since I made the recipe, I can't remember all my thoughts & everything that I wanted to say about the recipe, but I do remember enjoying the recipe ... a lot ... and it seems like the brownies didn't dry-out as quickly as some other brownie recipes that I've tried.  The insides were gooey & fudgy, just like I like my brownies. I do remember wishing they had some chocolate chips &/or nuts though.

My camera & I were not seeing eye-to-eye the day I wanted to take photographs of these brownies, so instead you get iPhone photos.

dark chocolate crackles

Welcome to 2013!  I need to blog more this year than I did last year.  It's my way of journaling and a way for family & friends who do not live close to us to stay in touch.

My good friend, Angry Baker, made a request & nearly a month ago, I promised my faithful readers a recipe.   These cookies are yummy & always receive lots of compliments.

Dark Chocolate Crackles by Abigail Johnson Dodge ... 

Tribute to Newtown, CT

A beautiful video & tribute was made using a song by the group my kids & I perform with, Mormon Choral Organization, for the victims on Newtown, CT.  Enjoy & God bless!

Busy with Bashes & Baking

Life is crazy.  Why does it always have to be so crazy in December??? ... just when I want to slow down, bake, enjoy my family, etc.

Saturday night was the work party.  I don't necessarily like work parties (I'm trying to be honest but not too honest!) and I kept threatening to not attend this year.  I have so much to do or so much I'd rather be doing.  I tried to be a good sport and since the men of the office weren't taking charge, I did.  So, less than a week before the party, I figured out food, found someone to decorate, planned desserts, made a playlist on Spotify of fun Christmas party music, made my husband track down tables & chairs, put a few employees in charge of some odd jobs, and got another dentist to come up with a few games.





The employees wanted to have a simple-er party at the office so that some of the leftover money could make the pot a little sweeter for bonuses.  I ended up ordering all the food from Costa Vida ... a favorite local restaurant.  $7 a person was a great deal for homemade tortillas, sweet pork, rice, black beans, fresh pico de gallo, cheese, lettuce, etc.  

I made dark-chocolate crinkle cookies with orange zest... (recipe to come at a later date)

and mini-peppermint-Oreo-cheesecakes with Trader Joe's candy cane Joe-Joe's...

Heidi, from the office, made these beauties.  Please don't ask me what she called them ... some Spanish word that starts with a 'B'.  They tasted a lot like churros...

Another girl brought a huge homemade flan.


This funny elf showed-up to spice-up the party a bit ...

And last, but not least ... my best baking buddy ...