Decorating the Tree and Grandma Cookie Day

On Sunday, Alta and Ellie helped me decorate our Christmas Tree.  It looks beautiful!  It is so much fun to have them to help as they get excited and also they take home all my discarded ornaments.

Those not decorating the tree.

Growing up, I loved frosted-cut-out sugar cookies.  We didn't make them that often and I always wanted to make them with my own children, but I was too busy or didn't want to deal with the mess.  I found the perfect solution, granddaughters!   Alta and Ellie came over all day to day and we made the dough, cut out the shapes, cooked them and then decorated them with frosting and sprinkles.  They liked the "Grinch" aprons I made for them and loved taste testing at every step.  Ellie liked lots of sprinkles and Alta was very insistent on doing everything herself.  After lunch and cookies, we read lots of Christmas story books and then the girls took naps.  I think this will be a new tradition, we had so much fun.

A Short Visit to Stanford

We went to Palo Alto to visit Natalie, Jeremy and Kaitlyn.  We had a great time the whole rainy weekend.  It even rained enough to cause a flash flood.

We drove up above Palo Alto into the beautiful foothills.  I don't remember ever going there when  I lived in Sunnyvale and San Jose.  I looked up the story that my Grandpa Packer used to always tell me about how Stanford was started.  It was an urban legend.  Mark thought that was so funny.

We went to San Francisco on Saturday.  Nat volunteered to run a 5k race with some young girls from an underprivileged school.  It rained the whole race which was in Golden Gate Park.  Mark, Jeremy and I along with Kaitlyn drove around and saw the angry ocean while we waited.

We walked around Fisherman's Wharf and had lunch at Boudin's.  It was so good. We came back to the apartment at Stanford where Jeremy is attending Law School.  He gave us a tour of the wonderful campus.

We went to church and Steve Young was there with his family.  He looked like he was stressed getting his kids to behave.  He looked good but not as tall as I thought.  Mark said he has a real nice voice that he heard in Priesthood meeting.  

On the way home from church, we dove by the house and apartments that my grandparents lived in, in Menlo Park.  I remembered the address and we drove right to it.  I loved visiting there and spending time swimming in the pool, sitting and telling scary stories in the sauna and swinging in the old trees with all of my cousins.  I missed Shelly so much, I wanted to call her and reminisce about all the fun and crazy times we had there.

Most of all, we loved watching and playing with Kaitlyn.  She is so cute and so smart, we never got bored at all.  Natalie made us a wonderful dinner and we flew home.  It was a quick trip but we loved it.  I can't wait to see them in Draper for Christmas!

Thanksgiving in St. George

Dad's Birthday

First Big Snow with Grandpa

Making Hungarian Pastries

Secret Rocky Road Recipe

I have had so many requests for this recipe lately, I decided to repost.

2  1/2 pounds milk chocolate

     I like Guittard or Callebaut, you can get 10 lb. blocks at Orson Gygi.  Do not let one drop of water near the chocolate, dry all bowls and spoons and scissors.  If even one drop of water meets with the melting chocolate, it will seize up and be completely ruined.

2 pounds big marshmallows cut in half longways

      Look for fresh ones that are not sticking together in the bag and scissors are the easiest way to cut them.  Make sure you get 16 oz. and not 10 oz bags.

2  1/2 cups toasted whole almonds

    Toast raw almonds for about 15-17 minutes at 350 degrees.  They burn if cooked too long and need to be medium brown inside to be done.

Finely chop chocolate and melt in a glass bowl in the microwave on 40% power one minute at a time stirring in between until smooth and creamy.  It should not get hot, just warm --under 100 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Test on your lip, should be the same temperature as your lip. Pour over cut marshmallows and almonds.  Mix together until every marshmallow is coated and then pour out on into a parchment lined or buttered jelly roll pan.  Let cool and cut into bite size squares.  This looks pretty in the cellophane bags you can also get at Orson Gygi.