Hottest Ticket in town

Saturday we were Lucky enough to get four of the hottest tickets in town. We were able to go to the Tabernacle choir Christmas program with David Archuleta. Can I just say he is so cute. He seems like the same humble boy that we first saw on American Idol two years ago.

We knew the concert was very popular and the normal warning of being in your seat 30 minutes early might leave us without a seat. The news recommended at least 45 minutes if not an hour early. They were right it was crazy we were there 1hour and 20 min. early and it was crazy.

It was well worth it. Dallen loved it. We took Courtney and Dallen and rode Trax down. It was a highlight of the Day. It was a memorable day. If you see Dallen asked him about his run in with the law. It is a good story.

Gingerbread men.

Gingerbread Men

I love to eat Gingerbread Men. They are one of my favorite treats this time of year. Last night we decorated gingerbread men for Young Womens and took them to families in the ward. Nicole and I made 12 dozen men. The Young Women were so creative in decorating the cookies. I thought I would share the recipe.

Gingerbread Men

1 cup of shortening

1 cup of sugar

1 egg

1 cup of Molasses

2 tabl. vinegar

5 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2-3 tsp. ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

Mix together then chill for 3 hours. Roll out then cut. bake at 350* for 8-10 min

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to make candy. Most of it has nuts in it and I don't care for nuts but sometimes I make the caramel without nuts. I was unable to visit the ladies I visiting teach this November so I make some caramel and took it to them. They loved it. Here is the Recipe.

Caramel

2 cups sugar

2 cups white corn syrup

Bring to a boil, let thicken, but not change color, 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile

Scald 1 1/2 pints whipping cream

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (about 1/2 can)

then add milk mixture 1 Tbls at a time to the sugar/syrup mixture so it continues to boil. Cook to 238* .

Take off the stove and add 1 Tbls vanilla and a shake of salt.

(based on a candy thermometer that boils at 210*)

More photos from our Thanksgiving

Some more Photos from our Thanksgiving Day. I often am amazed when I look at my kids in photo. You forget how attractive they really are.

Marissa was the first one who had enough. When she is done she will not go on any longer. I was surprised to find this photo of just her in the middle of all the family shots. I thought it was at a later time and she was sitting in a chair but that is her Daddy's sweater so she is sitting on his lap.

The boys could go on and on forever. The girls are all done.

Let it Snow!!!!!

In the off season David has collected 5 new to us snowmobiles. We were able to take out the big ones a few weeks ago. Today was the first time we were able to try out the baby ones. They are 120's meant for kids. It didn't stop David from getting on one and trying it out

Dallen had some fun. He really got a feel for it. This is his first time driving himself he has been on back for the past two years.

I hope we did not drive too many of the neighbors crazy on a Sunday morning.

Happy Thanksgiving

This thanksgiving was a fun one. We figured we would start the day with a photo shoot. This year is going to be our last with my dad so we took a Thompson Family Photo Boys in Blue Girls in Red. I do not have those photos. I had Danny take a family photo of us with my camera.

Family Photos are always a challenge. The more kids you have the more challenging they are. With five kids I hoped we could get at least one good Photo. I am narrowing down the only 3 good ones. That is 3 out of 70 that almost look good. Here are the bloopers. I will make a Christmas card out of the good one.

The end

Young Women Christmas presents

Next Years (2011) Young Women's Theme is the 13th Article of Faith. We were just put in as a new presidency and the first question was what will we give the girls as Christmas Gifts. I opened my mouth and suggested a Scrabble tile necklace with word art from the 13th Article of Faith. The art above is what I came up with. I totally copied the idea from something I saw. It was a hard learning curve to figure out how to do it. I could not do it in photoshop because I could not get the fonts to look right. I did some research and found out fonts were vector based and i needed to use a program that was. I used inkscape and it all came together. I will post the necklaces once I finish one. IT looks better than the photo. I had to enlarge it so you can see it on the photo and in the process lost some letters. The tiles are only one inch.