christmas party craziness: part two

ready to party.

Because a few of our friends thought quickly, we were able to throw together a fun little party with some of our friends before a few headed off for the holidays.  It was super low-key (theme of my life) and contained all the elements that make for a good time in my opinion; fun people, delicious food and good conversation.

Some of our friends have a sweet little guy a few months younger than Lee, they don't really play "together" as much as "near each other" yet, but they're sure to become great friends.

Cute little Ry-Guy.

Lee was super social the whole time...

A few of our friends suggested we make gingerbread houses. It was really fun...not all of us were as skilled (or dedicated) as others...but it was delightful.

can you tell this was the engineer collaboration?

We had such a fun time, it was such a great way to start the month off.

christmas party craziness: part one.

Christmas time is so fun and so insane.  I didn't know how it would be for us this year, staying home and being so far away from family, but we had so much fun with so many friends this holiday season.

One Saturday in early December we had back to back Christmas parties. The kids did better than i expected they would.
First we had a brunch with our church congregation.  I love breakfast so I quite enjoyed myself. Our good friends in the ward are professional (in all seriousness) french horn players and they played a few songs, it was delightful, even if the gym we met in didn't do them justice at all. Lee rocked out the whole time they played.

groovin'.

We headed straight over to Kevin's work for a Christmas party for families.  They had men on stilts, jugglers, face-painting, balloon tying, a breakfast bar (too bad I was already full...) and several Christmas-themed activity stations. Lee would only get a balloon animal.  He cried when we tried to get a Rudolf nose painted on his little nose. His favorite part of the event by far was the fact that the windows overlooked a lake. He cried, "wa-wa! wa-wa!" enthusiastically over and over.

"wa-wa"

yep. we were both done. :)

 We didn't stay too long because the boys (and their parents) were partied out, but we had a great time.

all smiles: christmas card outtakes.

Funny thing is we weren't even planning on using these pics for our Christmas card, I just wanted to snap a few pics of the boys to send my missionary siblings before they wrote the next day. (It's probably why they smiled, the pressure was off)

Some of these pictures really caught some classic faces that the boys always make too.  (love it when that happens)

Christmas Greetings (and new years...) 2013/2014

2013 Merry Christmas

Friends and Family,

We hope that this email reaches you in good health and spirits at this holiday season.

We feel that God has been so good to us in this year of changes for our family.

Kevin finished his Master’s Degree in Geology at BYU in April.

We moved across the country in May.

Kevin started his first post-grad job working as an Onshore Exploration Geologist for a large, independent oil company.

We bought our first home and MOST IMPORTANTLY the morning after moving in…

We welcomed our second son, Drew into our family just 14 months after having Lee join our family. We are so grateful for our two miracle boys.

Michelle is experiencing just how big of an adjustment going from one to two children can be, her two under two keep her very busy. In her “spare time” she still loves painting, blogging, exercising, “keeping house” and is loving making new friends in Texas.

Lee (20 months) could not be more enthusiastic about life; everything is new and exciting to him. He is also quite the picky eater and he generally prefers sautéed veggies to a pb&j, though “nack nack” (fruit snacks) are his favorite. 

Drew (6 months) is our first Texas baby and he is a speed demon when it comes to growing.  He and Lee weigh-in less than 5 pounds apart and can share diapers since they wear the same size. Drew has a nearly-always happy temperament. (What a blessing!)

We are most grateful for you, our wonderful friends and family and most importantly for our Savior and the eternal potential of families because of Him.

Love,

Kevin, Michelle, Lee and Drew

old-fashioned shortbread cookies: great-grandma myrtle's recipe.

The beginning of December we had a little gathering at our house with some missionaries from our church and some friends to watch a Christmas fireside broadcast put on by the leaders of our church to issue in the holiday and give beautiful reminders of “the reason for the season”. 
We had a little hot chocolate bar with these cookies to munch on while we watched.

These shortbread cookies are flakey and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. And they make the perfect companions to a steaming mug of hot chocolate.

Like everything else I make, they are extremely easy.

(Be warned they are what my family calls “more-ish”…you’ll find yourself wanting more and more.)

*This recipe makes quite a large batch so I’d recommend halving it unless you plan on giving some away.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. salted butter (softened but not melted)

1 c. powdered sugar

4 c. flour

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together, I actually used a pastry cutter/blender and it worked like a dream.

Roll dough out on a silicone pastry mat or wax paper. Cut dough into squares and poke with a fork. (I didn’t poke mine and they didn’t bubble but better safe than sorry, right?)

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Our first pan took quite a bit longer than 10 minutes.

Let cool on cooling racks and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

thanksgiving capers 2013.

sitting down to eat.

 

obligatory Thanksgiving selfie.

This year marked our first ever hosting for Thanksgiving.  Kevin’s parents and his cousin and his family were able to join us for the festivities.  I was kind of worried about the logistics of making that kind of meal for the first time but everyone did a lot and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. 

 

what's a holiday without snacks?

We started our meal out with Hungarian sour cherry soup. All the food was delicious, (though I didn’t get to photo document it all the way I wanted) Kevin’s first ever turkey was gourmet and the best tasting I can remember eating. We had a great time enjoying lights and music down near the waterway in city center where we live. 

lee boy had surgery.

Lee in his "special pj's" playing with toys waiting.

With Papa.

more toys. more waiting

About a month and a half ago now (I’m so behind) our little Lee boy had to have a small surgery done to get some things that didn’t fully work themselves out during prenatal development fixed. The surgeon assured us that it was a standard and low-risk procedure but it would require an anesthesia-induced sleep.

Try as I might to fight it, on the days leading up to the surgery the thought that kept creeping into my mind was “what if something happened? Something can always happen.”

I got really anxious.

Partially because it’s true that something can always go wrong and partially because anxiety is real for me, I thought a lot of scary thoughts.

Eventually though, I found myself thinking about what it must have felt like for God to sacrifice His Son, as the center of the plan that redeems all of us.  It’s quite hard to actually grasp the depth and breadth of that sacrifice for both Father and Son.

I could try and share more of my insights where that is concerned but I have a hard time finding words that could adequately describe what that sacrifice means.

The whole experience became another example of how good God is.

(A recurring theme for me, I know, good thing it’s a good theme, right?)

Somehow He managed to turn something, like my struggles with anxiety, into a chance to gain insight, understanding and strengthened faith in His perfect goodness and the perfection of His plan for me and everyone else for that matter. 

Post-surgery before he woke up from the anesthesia.

Lee boy’s surgery went well, he was in a lot of pain that day but his recovery was remarkably quick. It was a long, scary/stressful day but we absolutely felt the prayers and fasting offered in his behalf throughout the day. And kids truley do bounce back so quickly, it is a miracle.  

We even had some inspired and wonderful friends offer to bring us dinner that night, first time having jambalaya…good gravy it is delicious.

I love my boys.  I am more grateful than ever for the miracle of even having them and that, on top of that, they have healthy, proper-functioning bodies.