This is the Way We ...

... Have a crazy fun week!

1. Making Snowflakes ... wishin' for real snow (kids only) ... and boy, did it come!

2. Making Daddy's yummy fudge ...

3. Decorating ginger bread houses with some of our favorite people ...


4. Shoveling snow ... I must have a problem, because in the time it took me to shovel our driveway ... some Fieldstone dude shoveled the entire walkways AND drive-ways of 3 houses that have not been moved into yet.


I DID have this cute and funny thing as a distraction, though ...


And we finally finished ...


5. Attending the Pre-school program ...


6. Being with family. Not many pictures taken - perhaps I'll be able to track some down.

Merry December!!

Taylor Family Annual Christmas Celebration

When: Saturday, December 20th at 5:00 pm
Where: Lakeview Treatment Center: 1175 E. 300 N. Provo, Utah
Assignments:
Larry and Cindy: 6 dozen rolls and butter
Angie and Tracy: 1 (9x13) cheesy potatoes with serving utensil
Lenny and Amanda: 1 dessert
Tiff and Kent: 1 dessert
Lindsay and Michael: 1 dessert

Pat and Brent: 2 turkey breasts cooked and sliced
Michelle and Tyler: 2 (9x13) green bean casseroles with serving utensil
Kristy and James: 1 (9x13) cheesy potatoes with serving utensil
Melynda: 1 (9x13) cheesy potatoes with serving utensil
Kent and Leisy: We'll miss you!! But, we're excited to see you the 21st!

Pam and Randy: 2 turkey breasts cooked and sliced
Mandi and Paul: Desserts (36 servings-ish)
Jaime and Jed: 1 (9x13) cheesy potatoes with serving utensil
Heidi and Gary: We'll miss you guys!! We'll be thinking of you.
Ike and Jen: 1 (9x13) cheesy potatoes with serving utensil
Zak and Tiffanie: 1 dessert

Ron and Soni and family: We'll miss you guys!! We'll be envious of your cruising!

Ed and Julie: If you can work it out to come (we hope!) - 1 or 2 desserts
Katy and Brandon: 2 (9x13) green bean casseroles with serving utensil
Becky: 1 dessert

Grandma and Grandpa: plates and cups and utensils

Miscellaneous: ICE = Brent and Randy - haha!

We are so excited to all get together for our big Christmas dinner and white elephant exchange. Good tradition - good food - good memories - GREAT company!!!! I would like to send everyone an e-mail invite, but don't have many email addresses. My e-mail is mbjenson@msn.com ... please e-mail me with WHATEVER e-mails you have from the above list. Thanks!! Hope to see you all on the 20th. Merry Christmas!

Some days ya just have to give in ...

Krystal is truly a homebody. She is so excited when I tell her we're just staying home. Nowhere to go ... AT ALL. She loves wearing whatever as much as she loves dressing up ... and she is just as picky about leaving her hair "blonde" (down and not fixed) as she is about the details of me fixing it. When we're just home - she entertains me with song and dance ... and endless make-believe. Oh - to freeze time. Here she is in some of her "improv" moments ...

Days of Christmas Festivities

Decorating Christmas cupcakes was a fun and yummy hit ...

These girls are so silly - this pic was the most wiggle free of about 6 takes ... :)

Cute buds ... Abbie Pie and Missy Dee ...

Kryssie helped me get everything set up while we waited for "the kids" (that's what Krystal calls Marissa and Aaron) to get home from school. She's my cute lil' helper/poser ...

Aar-Bears Masterpiece ...

Marissa devours her cupcakes ... while the littles finished decorating pretty quick and then played on the stairs for 30 minutes straight. Oh, the joys of being a kid ... pretty easy to find good entertainment!

CHRISTMAS PUZZLE:

M helped us finish it up ...

December is such a fun month!

On the First Day of Christmas ...

Today we began our 4th annual tradition of "The 24 Days of Christmas". We hang stockings/gloves ... 1 for each day of December ... for the kids to take down (and then use - haha) - inside is written what we will do together that day. Today we decorated the Christmas tree ...



I forgot to post about this super fun FHE the Mendonsa's invited us to. We made "Thankful Trees". It was very fun and inspiring. I want to do it every year. The idea is to make the "tree" grow the whole week of Thanksgiving. We didn't do too hot at that. BUT ... we WILL next year! :)


AND .... here's me and Miss hangin' out on Black Friday morning! I love my sweet girl. It's so fun now that she's getting older to do these kinds of things together. Thanks for a great time, MissyDee!

Happy December, all!

Lately ...

I've really been in a "blogging Blah" lately. But, seeing as this blog pretty much serves as all my scrapbooking lately - I've gotta get all the going-ons down.

As fast as possible ...

Here goes (in no particular order):

Happy Thanksgiving!! We had games and munchees (M's homemade rolls for Turkey samiches, dips, crackers, veggies, drinks, treats - yum!) at Gma and Gpa Millers. I didn't get many pics - but, here are the few I got. All the kiddos are constantly surrounding M. SO funny. They love her ... she's so good with each of them.

Have any of you played speed scrabble before? It is so SO much fun. Plonnie and Tina ... you two have to play it with me sometime FOR SURE!!! Gramps and Hanna spelling post game ...

I had to snap this ... Ty's post scrabble excitement ...

Melynda and her permanent team for every game we play ...

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Gma and Gpa Jensons. Very Delicious - and a super fun crowd:

RyRy with his 2 buddies ... (Krystal LOVES him so much!)

Cute lil' baby Ty - kept his arms folded for the entire prayer. haha. I HAD to snap a picture. So, my eyes weren't closed, OKAY? I admit it!!!!

Aaron's Thanksgiving program at school. I cried. It was so cute. He is growing up toooooo fast!

Sunday dinner at MY house! Tyler brined a turkey - and it was SO DAM good!!! We joked to each other that it's about time we learn how to cook a big dinner on our own. We ARE in our 30s already!! haha. Mom still had to come early to make the gravy. Everyone contributed - it was really yummy.

We've signed Aar-Bear up for Little Hoopsters this year with his buddy McEwan. It has been such a blast going to their practices and games. It's quite the crack-up. But, they're learning quick - so, it's been really fun watching. I'll probably post more pictures as the season continues.

Who doesn't love a treat stop after a game? Sophie was cracking us all up. There was some guy in the restaurant that SLIGHTLY resembled Santa ... all the kids couldn't stop sneaking peeks at him. SO FUNNY!! Sophers kept putting icecream all over her face to say, "Ho Ho Ho". Quite the hyper bunch. Good times.

Best buds ...

I think it's so funny that the boys will stand about 2 feet away from each other saying, "Pass it! I'm open!!" I really think that's my favorite part ...

Well - there it all is in a nutshell. Hopefully, I'll feel motivated to keep up to date a little better. I sure enjoy keeping up with all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh .... here's one more pic hangin' out at the bottom ... :)

Home Again ... New Plan

Our Aar-Bear took his turn in the hospital this weekend ... our little 24 hour get-away (haha). Anyway - it's been a little frustrating, because every time our kiddos get sick we see a different doctor (they, of course, never get sick during regular hours - only during on call hours). And, every minute counts with these kids. They get SO sick SO fast. Having to travel and explain over and over and over again ... and try to find past information ... is very time consuming. And, really - I HATE feeling like I need to convince whoever I'm talking to that my child just needs some IV fluids - and they'll be fine. The response is always, "Well, we'll see." So, we have FINALLY wised up and talked with the on-call doc this time about a different plan - so, maybe we can just be in the hospital for a couple of hours rather than over night next time. So, apparantly, doctors offer a "Care Plan" for special needs children ... and Krystal and Aaron qualify. YAY! We will be meeting with their pediatrician this week to get a plan typed out and signed that we can just bring RIGHT to the hospital when the vomiting begins. And they should be able to get treated without doubting our explanations. We are so SO happy to be home. And very grateful that we have all had the flu this year. We should be good for about a year now. :)

Homemaking Heaven

If only homemaking could be like this every day ...

White bread:

2 cups flour + 1 cup bread flour (I just use all-purpose flour for this too)
1 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. salt
1/8 cup sugar

1 cup warm milk
2 Tbsp. butter (I melt this with the milk when I warm up the milk)
1/4 cup lukewarm water

Mix the dry ingredients together, and then add the wet ingredients. Mix until a ball forms (adjust water and flour as needed)

Be sure to take a picture of the homemakers involved ...


Knead dough for 10 minutes on a floured surface ...


Put kneaded dough in an oiled bowl and let rise for 90 minutes.

Go shopping during that 90 minutes ...

Shape risen dough into loaves and let rise for 60 more minutes ... Krystal even made her own little loaf ...

Make cookies and play games in that 60 minutes ... take 25 or so self portraits and then pick the only one with everyone in it (barely) .... :)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes - bread should be golden brown and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom ...

Reap the rewards ...

A mom needs a homemaking day with most of the kids away every so often! :) Thanks for a spectacular and yummy day, Plonns!