Christmas

So, as you've noticed, I haven't been up on my blogging lately. Well, usually I take lots of pictures so I remember what I did...(I'm gettin' old). I didn't take any pictures this Christmas. I can't believe it! I kind of remember some of what we did, so here goes...
Leah was going to come out for Christmas, but a couple of days before she was shoveling and threw her back out. We were totally bummed!
We had a pretty low-key day. Adam, Janae & their kids were out of town as were David, Melody & their kids. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and program at mom's house. We also exchanged gifts that night.
On Christmas Day, I headed over to mom's at about noon. Some of the family came over sporadically throughout the day.
That night, we went to Dad's house and headed up to Bountiful to take dinner to the grandparents.
All in all, it was a nice day. Merry Christmas to all!

Present Exchange

So, I love socks. Any type of decorative socks. Long, short, ankle, crew, striped, argyle, polka dot, checkered, solid. You name it, I like it. So, this year, Steph got me a sock bouquet! Is that the cutest idea ever? I thought it was! I got her a Scentsy candle, which was super cute, but not nearly as creative!

Me & Kira with her new counting turtle

Kira helping Steph open her present

Christmas Baking

We have started a tradition to have a Girl's Christmas Goodie Baking Day. This year, we went to Jonathan & Ali's house. We made tons of stuff from chocolate dipped everything (candy canes, oreos, pretzels...), shortbread, chocolate crinkles, saltine toffee, english toffee, peppermint brownies, peanut butter balls, and more...I wish I had more pics from our fun day, but here's what I have...I didn't get any of Jenn or Melody & Lilah. :(

Ali, Val (Ali's Mom), Lona (Jenn's mother-in-law) in the background

Momma

Sarah & Janae

Ruby & I dipping away... Me & Sarah making Chocolate Crinkles Me, Sarah, & Ali

Baby Benjamin

Ruby Lou

Chris and Rachel Get Married

My step-brother Chris got remarried on 12-5. The wedding was small and quaint and turned out really nice. Favorite quote about the wedding: [regarding the wedding kiss] "Becca, do you remember when Chris was chewing on Rachel's tounge when they got married?" Ha! Priceless!

Here are a few pics of some of the cute guests...

Isaac, Gavin, Aaron

Caleb & Jenn

Book Club

I'm a little behind in writing about our book club...We had a get-together at Brooke's BEAUTIFUL home in November. Our book for that time was The Thirteenth Tale. I had heard from a lot of people that it was such a good book, so naturally I was excited to read it. It was alright. It kind of took a while to get into, but it ended up being interesting.

In December, we had a meeting at Shelby's house, which is so cute! We had a yummy dinenr that her husband cooked for us. We missed a few people from our group, but we had fun anyway. Our book for December was Skipping Christmas. If you're looking for just a cute little story about Christmastime, read this...or just watch the movie Christmas with the Kranks. This book is about this family that has a daughter that joined the peace corp and was going to be in Peru for the holidays. Her parents decided to skip Christmas and go on a cruise instead. The story is just about their difficulties with the community when they make this decision. Steph and I had already left by the time the pic was taken...

Congratulations, Jenny & Alan

Jenny and Alan got married during Thanksgiving, so we got to celebrate with them. We went to The Wight House for a wedding dinner which was really nice. There were a few highlights including the raunchy server, the raspberry butter voice, and the "Wal-Mart worker" advocates. Oh yeah, and you should probably take note of who the grooms parents are. Anyway, fun was had by all! So, Michelle's eyes are closed, but this is the only picture I had of that night...

The wedding was the next day, so here are a few pics from that...

Waitin' in line to see the couple...

A little dancin'

Da girls. Steph, Michelle, Kira, Jenny, Me, KarenAnd last, but definately not least...This is what you get when you leave your veil and flowers just hanging around with a certain person...

Chocolate Pecan Pie

I had a special request to post my chocolate pecan recipe. I should probably give credit where due, so I actually got the recipe from my mom via Karo Syrup. That's the best recipe for pecan pie we've had...it's on the back of the bottle. We just add some chocolate 'cause that makes everything better, right!?!? Here goes...

1 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extra
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 unbaked 9-inch deep dish pie crust

Stir the first 6 ingredients thoroughly using a spoon. Mix in pecans.
Pour into pie crust.
Bake at 350 degrees on center rack of oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Cool for 2 hours.

Tips: Pie is done when center reaches 200 degrees. Tap center surface of pie lightly; it should spring back when done. For easy cleanup, spray pie pan with cooking spray. If pie crust is over-browning , cover edges with foil.
For ease, the frozen pie crusts work great.

Hope you love it as much as we do!!!

How do you like them apples?

It's that time of year!!! Yep, gift show time which means buckets of apples...

Come check out the gift show. Here are the details:
Here are just a few stages of the yummy treats that I have in the show...