Christmas 2012

We have so many pictures on two different cameras of our trip to Oregon for Christmas and New Years that we might be posting Christmas picks for the next few months as Matt gets them developed! It was such an awesome trip. We got to enjoy beautiful Oregon and Matt's amazing family for two weeks. It was a seriously good time folks. 

Granny and Grandpa waited to put up their live tree until we got there on the 23rd.  We got to go to the Christmas tree farm right next to their house and pick out a  tree to cut down.  I have pictures on the other camera of the huge tree Carlee picked out.  We had to go with a much smaller one but the girls were so thrilled to get to decorate it all by themselves after a delicious cup of hot chocolate (which Carlee informed me was much better than the hot chocolate I make).  I already posted on Facebook this story but when we found the tree above, just before Matt cut it down he asked Carlee what you say before a tree falls down.  Carlee thought for a minute and then said: "Uh oh."  Matt was looking for the word TIMBERRRR!  (The uh oh may have come from the event in the previous post because when our Christmas tree fell, there were lots of uh ohs said.)  

We acted out the nativity on Christmas Eve with their cousins.  Carlee and Dani made some darn cute Shepards... 

and Matt made a darn cute Samuel the Lamanite. 

The girls got new jams from their Aunt Natalie and Uncle Jared to wear to bed on Christmas Eve.  Oh ya baby!  Thanks guys!

 The big day started out with Merida Barbie and Brave for Dani and Rapunzel Barbie and Tangled for Carlee.

They were pleased as punch.

My mom made them these adorable jackets.  Ya, amazing.   

Funny story.  So Carlee has been way into dressing up for a while now but Dani just wasn't interested in that at all.  So naturally we bought her other things besides a dress up dress for Christmas.  Well, by the time Christmas arrived, she suddenly decided dressing up was her thing now too.  So come Christmas day after all the gifts were open, she was REALLY wanting to dress up like Carlee.  I felt bad.  So, the next day I ran to the Disney store to get Dani a Merida dress but of course, they didn't have any.  They did have some night gowns though so I took her home one of those.  Can I just say, she has literally worn that thing every single day since the day after Christmas.  She walks around as Merida with this high pitched princess voice and if you call her Dani, she says, "No, I'm Merdida."  The first thing she does whenever we get home from somewhere is bring me her "dress" to put on her.  Good thing it is a comfy night gown!  

Grandpa painted their nails with the Strawberry Shortcake fruity scented nail polish they got in their stockings.

 

By mid morning after custard french toast, they were worn out, along with their Aunt Molly! 

After their naps we spent the rest of the day and evening at Matt's brother Ben's home enjoying family and food.  The highlight for me was meeting Vallie, an older lady who worked with Matt's dad for man years and hearing her tell her story.  What an incredible story and incredible woman.

There was no snow in West Linn on Christmas (to Carlee's dismay), but shortly after we got to drive up to the majestic Mt. Hood and play in it's view in the deep deep snow. 

Funny stories while drinking hot chocolate and warming frosty limbs by automobile heaters after playing in the snow, does it get much better than that?  Nope.

The fog cleared by afternoon and being up at the base of that mountain with the blue sky and trees so heavily laden with snow was a beautiful thing. 

Many more pictures yet to come, stay tuned.

All Things Pink...

                                                     Now all things blue.
                                                                 ITS A 

December Happenings

 

Time to put up the outside lights!

                                                                 Oooh so pretty! 
  (Never played outside in just t-shirts after putting up Christmas lights until this year.)

                                                  Our little Christmas angels



I took the girls to a work party without Matt because he was working, I know, lame.  They got new dresses to meet Santa in and everything.  As it turned out, Santa wasn't really Santa.  In fact, he could barely pass as one of  Santa's helpers...but thanks anyway for trying guys!  I think we better look a little harder for the real thing, don't you?      

 

Last year they met the real thing (he does have a fake beard, but at least it is a pretty fake beard).

 

But, I must say, they walked away from the party as happy as two little girls could possibly be because they got princess dress up stuff.  Notice how it looks like fall, it finally came in December. 

 

                     
                   All the December fun makes everyone tired, but a very good tired indeed. 

 

 

We have to throw a couple of boo boos in too.  Dani got this shiner while putting up the Christmas lights.  Don't worry, she didn't fall off the roof, just tripped over a string of lights.  OUCH.

Carlee got her first black eye while playing on the treadmill in her new plastic high heels.  EEKS!



 
                                                        Funky new red glasses

                                 

                                                                 I'm half way!

                                                    Gender post coming soon...

 

 

 

                                           A few family Christmas photos for you

 

Reminiscing

I was just remembering what it was like this time of year where I use to work and the yummy things I use to get to make.  This was a busy time of year as a chocolatier, as you can imagine. 

Shortly after Matt and I were married I got a job Sarah's Candy Cottage in Idaho Falls and we made some yummy candy there.  I remember distinctly this black dutch fudge that only the owner Peter made in this huge copper kettle.  It was the best fudge, besides the Penuche that he made.  I made a lot of the fudge but never those two kinds, but I got to watch and help a little and every time my mouth watered the entire cooking process.  We would put all the ingredients in a big pot to make caramel at the beginning of everyday and let it cook all day long until it was golden and glossy.  Oooh, so good.  We made lots of batches of this amazing caramel corn and white chocolate popcorn and all different kinds of truffles.  I made batches and batches of different kinds of ganache.  But best of all, I liked making the cordial cherries.  We made the special fondant for the centers from scratch and there was a pro that came in just to work on the cherries.  That fondant had to be kneaded and and stuff until it was just right and this guy was so good at dipping them and making them the most gorgeous and delicious cherry cordials you ever tasted (even if you thought you didn't like cherry cordials, you would suddenly after tasting these)!  It is just a really cool place and the people that work there right now are busy busy busy!  So busy that during Matt's Christmas break he came in to work with me the week or so before Christmas and worked there because we needed extra hands for dipping and such!



Then we moved to Napa, Idaho because Matt was installing alarms that summer for Pinnacle.  I got a job at a donut shop and believe it or not, it was really fun.  I worked from 7 at night to three in the morning making donuts.  I loved it.  Those warm freshly glazed donut holes were so fun to pop in your mouth.  I popped way to many, I'm sure.  My favorite to make and eat though were the old fashioned donuts (called sour cream donuts at most bakeries). 

Then we moved to New York City and I found a job at Martine's Chocolates like one block from our apartment on the Upper East Side .  I thought I had tasted good chocolate but let me inform you that no one has tasted good chocolates until they have tasted Martine's Chocolates.  OK, that sounded like an advertisement didn't it?  Well, they are that good, I am telling you.  Nothing like them out there that I have ever tasted.  We wore chef hats and chef coats and made all the chocolates in front of the customers, including a shop right in Bloomingdales!  My favorite, the palette and the piano.  My mouth is watering just thinking about them.  They had to be refrigerated because they had fresh ingredients in them.  They had to be eaten right away too but that was no problem!!!  I do have some regrets about my experiences working there.  I am actually finding myself afraid to say too much based on my experiences there.  I am envisioning being tracked down and sued for saying something wrong on my blog about the said chocolate shop.  Eeks.  It was kind of a shocker to be living and working in New York City after having only lived in small town Price all my life and then Rexburg for college.  I had a lot yet to learn.

 

 

         
  

After quiting at Martine's, I tried to be a front desk person at a dentist office.  No thanks.  That didn't last long before I was secretly searching for another job as a chocolatier while sitting in front of the computer at the dental office.  Matt and I were sick of him having time off around the holidays because he was in school and me having to work my but off during that time and not being able to go see family and stuff because of my job (where I never made much money btw).  But, in the end, office work wasn't worth it.  So, I got a job at Sweet Bliss.  Don't worry, I didn't share any of Martine's secrets.  These two chocolate places were totally different.  This place is up in a beautiful loft on 27th street turned into a like a chocolate factory almost, only small scale, we are talking like three chocolatiers and two packagers.  No store front.  We made fancy chocolates with lots of art work and sold them to fancy stores.  I made a large batch of marshmellow everyday.  You can read all about it and see for yourself on the website.  Make sure and read about Ilene, pretty cool.  I got pregnant with Carlee after a bit and was sick.  I felt like a burden to them more than anything and I was way too chatty with the other girls that worked there.  After 7 months of working while pregnant, I'd finally had enough.  I worked through Christmas and Valentine's Day and then said goodbye.   Probably a sigh of relief for them, boo. 

And you know the rest.  Chocolatiering at home isn't very fun for me, lack of the right equipment and tools and temperatures and ingredients and such.  So I really don't much.  I am feeling very tempted however to buy some goodies from off their websites though, are you?

                                                                    Happy December!!!        

(Trying to make confections at our apartment in New York)