Jingle What..?!

So I can't go into details of this event, however, I am posting some of these photos for my posterity, lol! In short, I had a little prank set up for my dear brother, Heath! With help from family, we pulled it off perfectly and got tons of laughs out of it!!

ok, so I'll go into a little bit of detail, well, not detail but just general information, we'll call it. Some of my extended family wanted to watch the video of Heath after having a surgery. He was high as a kite on pain killers when Kim video taped him.

Seriously, one hilarious video!!
we laughed

and laughed

and laughed!!!

OK...inside joke that I shall not go into detail about! Sorry, but this is the way things have to be people. I have sworn an oath to not devulge the details of this....esp on my blog!!Heath was a great sport and even got through all the gag gifts pretty well!

Discussing my Wish List with Jolly 'Ol St. Nick

Brant got a kick out of sitting on Santa's lap! Being 'older and wiser', he and Santa were able to have a little more of a heart to heart talk than in years past. Santa was impressed with how much Brant had grow and matured:)

Jacob went to see Santa well prepared! He had worked hard to get his list ready, including the item he wanted, where Santa could buy it (a back up plan for Santa if the elves couldn't get around to making it) and also included a drawing that he did of each of his Christmas wishes! This was a business meeting; no time for chit chat or small talk! Jacob felt so strongly about this that he ended his meeting with a hand shake...you know, to seal the deal!

Marissa wanted Nothing to do with this long, white bearded man! She wouldn't look at him or give him the time of day for nothin....nothin, that is, except for the beloved Candy Cane! Once she got a candy cane from him she had a change of heart!

Gingerbread Houses

Making Gingerbread Houses is one of our favorite Christmas Traditions!!! We love using all kinds of different candies to see what designs our creative juices can come up with!!

Mom takes this Gingerbread business seriously!

Dad is having way too much fun taking pictures !!!

In the end, this was our neighborhood that we built!! Dad was a little too busy playing with the camera so his house is still in 'construction' mode!! What a great way to start the Holiday Season off!!

An Artist and Photographer!!...and Artistic Photo Shoot.

So the day has come...Marissa has discovered my camera!! Let's just take a look at some of her latest photo shoot, shall we?!

....her baby's pink stroller...look at the way she brought out the straight lines with the angle of the shot....................amazing! This would look awesome, blown up to poster size, hanging in the garage.

The theme of most of her portfolio seems to be her baby dolls:) Here we see Baby Tigger laying relaxed, and upside down on his pillow. Very interesting. The baby's hand to the left of the photo and the leg of the baby to the right, draw the eyes directed to Tigger baby. Their placements are precise!! Wow! Love it.

Here she took a typical vaulted ceiling and she transformed it into a ceiling with color! She strategically shot this from a 2.339 mm angle at exactly 3:24pm, to maximize the reflection from the sunlight! The reflections from a wall of mirrors make for beautiful and interesting patterns, while at the same time, she captured a rainbow of colors around the light fixture. I'm telling you, the planets must've been aligned perfectly to get such a shot!....If only all of our ceilings could always look this beautiful!!

This photo is entitled, "Blurred Vision". As you can see, the photographer was going for a slightly abstract photo of her most prized possession..her little tiny, miniature baby.

I love the business in this one! You've got a dad, a brother, a piece of greenery and of coarse, the finishing touch, a finger at the bottom of the shot! Dad's beard gives plenty of texture, brothers one eye is interesting and the greenery makes me think of the "Singing Tree" in the movie, The Three Amigos! What more could be more interesting than this!!

Now, anyone in the market for a "self portrait", need look no further!! Is this the face of perfection or what?!! I love the way this artist smeared food on her cheeks, to distract from the pure beauty of her face! The way that she scrunched up her chubby little face and puckered her lips are just genius!...and the waves in her hair!! Masterpiece!!

One of Many Projects

One of our many projects that we worked on for Christmas was designing Jacob's very own book! Jacob is constantly drawing, sculpting his clay creations, building with Lego's and most recently, drawing and making his books. I constantly have papers laying around the house (all over the house:) with his drawings and imaginative creations on them! As much as I truly treasure them, I really wanted them organized and all together, so I decided to design a book for him where he can see them often and preserve them a little better. He was so excited about this project, so we got to work on it immediately....While I was organizing, designing and editing, he stayed busy drawing more and more and more and more-lol:) By the time I finished this book for him, he already had plenty to make the next one!!! Aw, It's so cool that Brant has put stuff together and we are now in the process of getting his book made. Here's a little sample:

This copy of the book is soft back. You can see the cover page is bent some from Jacob's love of looking at it!

Jacob drew all of these images free hand and in pen (his medium of choice, usually)! He now introduces himself as "an Artist" when meeting someone! These have been awesome projects! All of the grandparents got a copy of his book for Christmas...which really helped, bc I never know what to get them:)

A Salad Surprise & Ratatouille!...recipe included!

Today I had to run to the store. While I was gone, Chef Brant & Chef Cole made this delectable salad for me! ummmmm.........it consisted of: carrots, lettuce, apples, potatoes, celery, Raspberry Hershey Kisses that were in the freezer, spinach, ranch dressing and Reddy Whip!

I'm not too crazy about the Hershey Kisses and not quite sure about the Reddy Whip, but I've been picking out the carrots and other veggies from it and they are pretty good:) Thanks guys for Salad Surprise!!!

In return, I made them some Ratatouille while they were outside. Brant has actually been asking me to make it for a week or so now, so it worked out pretty well to go ahead and make it for him. About 15 mins after showing it to them...it was just about all gone!

Yummy stuff! It's a recipe that a friend of our 'invented' and I've enjoyed making it ever since!

Per Jenny's request here is the recipe: ...it's really hard, so get a pen and paper people:)

Ratatouille Recipe (Darren Gallacher's invention:)

Cut thin slices of zucchini and squash. Get a bag of pepperoni. Spray your dish with a non stick spray and then alternate Squash, Zucchini, Pepperoni...S, Z, P...S, Z, P...SZPSZPSZPSZPSZPSZPSZP....until you have filled the dish! ( You can go in whatever order you prefer...I've found that PZS works well too! ) If you are using a square dish, you might want to try a zig zag pattern:) Top it with Spaghetti Sauce of your choice and sprinkle with some Mozzarella. I like to add a little garlic and pepper to it, personally. Bake on 350 for about 20 mins. There will be some juice in the bottom, when it's done, that you'll see with your first scoop. I just suck it up with a baster to get rid of it. If you're really in the spirit of Ratatouille, you can watch the movie while you eat! Yummm!!

ps. Jenny, like the glass dish? It's one you gave me a couple of years ago:)

Firelight...or is it Twilight?

(pause the playlist to the right:)

I am so behind on my blogging!! For now, I'll just post a few things that have been going on.
#1--Thanksgiving Day Triathlon
Brant did an awesome job in the triathlon! Here are some pictures:

Here he is getting marked...early, early in the morning!!
Brant and Tyler...I'm so proud of both of them!!
First leg: 1 mile run. They started in the canal and then ended up on the sidewalk.


Here he is running into get his bike!!

After the 4 mile bike ride, he's changing for the swim.

...last leg of the race--100 meter swim.
WAY TO GO BRANT!!!

BIG thanks to Maddy and Dawn, who helped with Marissa so I could go get pictures and welcome Brant to the finish line!!! Marty was in charge of the traditional, Ward Turkey Bowl with the Elders Quorum, so he and Jacob were there. Dad was very sad he couldn't get there in time to see Brant, but was so excited to hear all about it and see pictures from the big event!
After the race. Way to go boys!!!



2. Jacob has been drawing tons lately!! He's done some really amazing stuff. It's amazing to me that he draws with a pen and really doesn't mess up too much. This is just part of one of the many of his "projects" that he trying to get finished.

3. Jacob got Student Of the Month!! Way to go Jacob!!! We're so proud of all of Jacob's accomplishments!! He's doing awesome and growing into such a fine young man!

4. One night the kids looked out on the back porch bc they kept hearing noises. That's when they saw this ferret wondering around in search of a snack!! The second I walked out with the carrots, she grabbed one and came running right over to me! A while later, we saw neighbors from down the street walking around with squeaker toys...so with that, I walked out to them and told them that we had had a great time playing and taking pictures with their pet and that she was in our backyard!! Just a week bf we found her on our porch, our neighbors found her in their HOUSE!! Can you imagine?! Esp if you were like, sleeping and this long hairy thing crawls in bed with you or something! ahh! ...we did have an experience like that once, now that I think about it! About 4 yrs ago, our pet Hamster got out of his cage, climbed up our comforter and into our bed!! I woke up to feel it crawling on me and freaked out! I flung the blanket as hard and fast as possible..you know, to be sure that the "8 inch tarantula" (as I imagined it!!) splattered on the wall! I heard the 'thug' on the wall and cut the lights on and we couldn't find a thing! Nothing! Nothing in the room, nothing in the bathroom. I sat down on the side of the tub to calm myself down and low and behold, little Mr. Hulk comes waddling into the bathroom! Poor guy! He lived a whole year after the drama...and he never snuck out of his cage again either:)
5. Rissa has been completely potty trained for a while now and rarely has accidents. She's such a big girl!! I have to say that she keeps me laughing bc, she's learning how to use this potty thing to her advantage! Before naps or bedtime, she is sure to say, "Mom, but I have to go pee again!". We mom's don't care to chance it, so I send her on her way...off to the potty again...just to be sure:) The best is when she talks me into sitting on the edge of the tub so she can have someone to chat with! She chats about her baby dolls and pushing them in her stroller. She'll look at her toenails and talk about her polish. Then she'll spend half an hour peeking in the toilet and talk about how all of her pee-pee's and poo-poo's are going down to the Ocean! It pretty much takes me an hour now to get her down for bed at night, but I'm just thankful she's doing so well with it!! I can't wait to go back home for Christmas and let Meema take on the roll of "Marissa's Potty-Chat Buddy"!! I'm sure my mom will love the experience :) and it'll be some real, bonding, memory building time for the two of them-lol!!