Santa Visit

It's amazing how much can change in a year. Here is last year's visit.
Then here was this year's visit.

FFF Christmas

Sunday we had the Fuller Family Function (FFF) Christmas party. It's usually Christmas Enve but since this year we are going to the Unitarian Christmas program it was moved up. The food as usual was awesome and I've found one more thing I LOVE at Costco - Chicken Noodle Soup. YUM! Kirsten made from scratch chocolate cheesecake that was awesome.


Also Tad's nephews did their own rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was hilarious. Then Debbie and my dad broke out in song. If you didn't know my mom and dad both play the accordian (except I don't think you could get my mom to play). So they played a couple songs. Then the rest of us sang Christmas carols including the correct version of Joy to the World.

Logan enjoying the accordian music.

Savannah and her little Christmas hat.

We Like to Party!

Tis the season for holiday parties. We had three parties this weekend. So no one come beat me up but it seems almost like Christmas isn't this week because it seems so calm. My shopping and wrapping has been done for over a week so it just doesn't feel like it's here all ready. Last year I did several homemade gifts and was scrambling last minute to finish them so perhaps that's the difference.

Friday we had a party at the Mitchell's. Lots of good food and great stories from Kim. Kim's an ER nurse so lots of interesting stories.

Saturday had the cloggers up for a party. Joey was in town so we got to see him for a little bit. I'm so excited that he is finally done with dental school this spring so maybe we'll see him more often. Here's a shot of some of the group.

Here is some of the food. I thought this looked so yummy, Gary did a good job of making a plate for his wife.

The adults exchanged white elephant gifts. There were some real winners like some solar vinyl shorts. Here we are all ready to exchange gifts. Addy if you look carefully you can see the new haircut.

Liz ended up with the wooden tulips from Holland. Those that don't know the story, I was in Amsterdam and we'd passed this tulip stand but I wasn't sure I wanted the tulips. So it's time to get on the bus to leave and I decide I wanted these tulips. Lucas was so nice and walked the mile back with me to get them and run back to the bus. Funny thing is I've never used them and they've just sat in boxes. Hopefully Liz can use them more than I did. We gave them several suggestions of where they could use them. ;) Can't wait for your Arbor Day party. Here is cute little Emery. She is a little feisty one.We piled all the kids on the couch to get some pictures. Depending on who your kid is one of these is the best picture of the dozen or so I took. Also Brandi you'd be so happy there is enough here for a precision team. Hee!

Someone brought some brownie things that were dipped in chocolate then candy cane crumbs on the outside. I need a recipe. I tried one because Blakely was going to town on them and they are SO GOOD. So if you brought them could you please share the recipe.

Christmas Card Outtakes

Hopefully by the time this posts my cards have hit the mail. My goal was the 15th but it seems like I always miss it by a couple days.

Here's Logan before we cut his hair again. His hair will only stay curly for a little bit. Here were some of our Christmas outtakes. I liked this one better than the one we sent out but Tad didn't like Logan's face. This is his "Whoa!" face.

The Last of the Leaves

This was just taken last weekend which is kind of funny now that we have at least 6 inches of snow outside. Our elm tree just barely dropped its leaves so Logan was out there to help. Tad tried to show Logan how you jump in the pile of leaves. Logan at least got down how you throw the leaves.

Sick Boy

The first week of December Logan kept getting a fever so we finally took him to the doctor. He had a swollen tonsil. He's always in such a good mood so it was kind of difficult to deal with him this week because his mood swings changed as much as his moms. ;)

Family Tree

Here is a gift I made for my grandma. I really want to make one for myself because I love anything that can display your family history. I digitally added the title to the picture but I'm going to beg someone with a die cut machine to cut out the letters for me. Also I need to add some leaves because I forgot to print out some of the names.

It was really easy I just enlarged a diagram that I found online to use a template for the leaves and tree. Here is the link.

Here is a close up shot to show that the names are on the leaves.

Here is a side shot to show that it's not just flat, I folded each of the leaves so it would give it some dimension.

Weekend

Thanks for all the answers. I found a snowsuit at Kmart for 50% off. Did lots of shopping over the weekend and saw Australia. It was good. Totally different from what I was expecting but still really good. Plus looking at Hugh Jackman for 3 hours. Yummy!

The best thing that happened over Thanksgiving is I got some new ski boots. I went to the Fuller Ski Swap and picked up some new boots. Tim and Kirsten are the best. So that means I'm all ready to go this winter. So, if anyone wants/needs to go skiing, I'm available. You just have to go to Park City because that is where my pass is at.

So did anyone else get that awesome cookbook at Costco on Friday. If you didn't it was packed with tons of great recipes (230 pages). If you did and you make something from it let me know how it turned out. I want to make everything in the book.

Also I've decided infant toys are way overpriced, especially when I know my kid will just read a book rather than play with his toys. Does anyone have either of these? I'm debating between these two and would love any opinion since I think they are both overpriced and look lame. The only other thing he'll play with besides books are balls.

Also does any one's kids watch Yo Gabba Gabba. There is a guitar that I know Logan would love and I'm debating on the DVD also but don't know anything about the show.

This will probably be my only post of the week since it's going to be busy again. Also I tried to think of topics to post on for this week and my life is just boring. So I'll see you next week.

Bring on the Funk, Bring on the Noice

Sorry Brek I hope you don't kill me for that annoying title. I think I have a new place to shoot photos. Another plus is it's close too - Main Street, Bountiful. I got to take pictures of Noices the other day. They were all such troopers because I thought it was pretty chilly and they didn't complain once. The boys were pretty funny, they just wanted to do goofy pictures. They were great though.

I had to put this one picture of Cooper because I loved it.

Carnival of Life

So last week was totally crazy. I had this huge combined activity that I really wanted to do so I volunteered to do all the decorations (which included 8 carnival booths). I'm so glad I did it because it really was a great activity and just hearing some of the comments from the kids made it all worth it. So there will be a ton of pictures, sorry.

D kept asking the leaders, I know there is some kind of trick but can't figure it out. It was so funny.

There was a constant line at the basketball game, thanks to John F.

Even though decorating was a lot of work and I had help from all of the other leaders. We could have never pulled off this activity without all our great volunteers. I even heard that a few of them enjoyed the evening. Below are just some of the volunteers.

Craig was in charge of the putting booth. He also was the one to throw the killer neighborhood tailgate party last Friday. He's helped out the YW before by coming up to girl's camp for the first time ever. He was fun to have at camp and try to eat all the weird things we'd cook up.

We had Melanie (front and center in photo) speak to the youth after the carnival. She did great as usual.

This photo isn't very clear but I LOVE IT. It shows John F. and even innocent Nanette (would have thought she would help the youth, lol), trying to entice C to get more tickets.

Sherm was in charge of our prize table where the kids could spend their tickets that they earned.

Ellen helped pass out the donuts. I visiting teach Ellen and she's great. She's helped us out before by teaching the girl's to make pie crusts. She looks so sweet but she was enticing the kids to spend their talents on donuts.

Jackie played all the songs for Name That Hymn and stumped most of the kids.
Ray, the Anti-Blogger was there to help and his game was just jumpin'.

Here's Garrett at the Old Testament game. He was seriously the biggest help. His wife is in YW so he was there to help with the set up (I don't think he knew what he was in for) and I had him running all over the church grabbing tables, chairs, chalkboards and anything else I'd tell him to go get. He was awesome.

Here is John & John. One was our angel and one was our devil. They both did a great job.

Cranberry Delight

Okay so we are probably all going to be cooking like crazy the next couple of days. I thought I'd post one of my favorite things we usually have at Thanksgiving.

Cranberry Delight

1 lb. pkg. fresh raw cranberries, chopped*

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 pt. heavy cream, whipped

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 package small marshmallows

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 (6 oz.) pkg. raspberry jell-o

Mix chopped cranberries and sugar. Chill for 2 hours. Combine whipped cream, vanilla, walnuts and marshmallows and add to the cranberry mixture. Chill another 2 hours. Dissolve jell-o set. When slightly thicken fold in mixture of cranberries, whipped cream and walnuts. This can be made the day before. Serves 12-15.

*You can replace this ingredient with 2 cans whole cranberries but then only use 1/2 cup of sugar. Also to chop them you can put in the blender.

Answers Please

I have some questions that I hope you can help me with. If you can answer any of them please leave a comment. Thanks!

Girl's Camp or Camping in General - We need to get booking our camp for next year. Name some good campgrounds that are not much more than an hour away but still are a lot of fun. We are also looking into the idea of maybe going near a lake so if there are good campgrounds by any lakes you know of also let me know.

Personal Progress Activities - Has anyone had some fun and/or good activities that got the YW to work on their personal progress goals?

Special Needs YW/YM Activity - In May I'm in charge of an YW/YM activity that is with the special needs mutual. There could be anywhere from 150-200 youth at this activity so things can get costly pretty quick and that large number also limits what we can do. Any suggestions?

Snow Suits - Anyone seen any snow suits for little boys that are size 2T? I'd prefer a one piecer but at this point I'd be happy to find anything. I’m starting to think it’s illegal to make a one piece boy’s snowsuit.

Amazing Race - Who is your least favorite team on AR? Mine is Terrence and Sarah. I can't stand him. You should ask Tad about him he gets so upset with him when he watches that show. Also I was sad to see the divorcees go because I loved seeing how bitter, stupid and immature they were.

Clogger Question - Does anyone know if/when Joey, Tyler G. and Shaun-boy are coming to town, if at all this Christmas?

Also I've quit Grey's Anatomy. I haven't liked any of the characters for awhile now and it's just the worst story lines I've ever seen. I watch a lot of trash tv but it was getting to be a little too much for me. I'd also get so mad that McDreamy was with Meredith because she seriously is no catch. It was a hard decision but after the first week of not watching I really wasn't missing anything at all. It’s now been 3 weeks Grey’s free.

Loved It!

Saturday I went and saw Twilight. I reserved 21 seats and we all went to see it. I totally loved it. Yeah there were parts that totally bugged me (meadow scene) but overall I loved it and can't wait to see it again.

I thought Rosalie could have been bitchier but maybe the second time I'll think she's fine. Wish Jacob had been on there more. Also there were some film things that I noticed they goofed on but I won't mention them because then you'll notice them and it will bug you too.

So after we went to the movie we came back to my house and had lunch. It was really good probably mostly because Brittany helped make one of the soups. Also if you haven't tried Costco's Double Chocolate Creme Pie do it. I'd never tried it and it's amazing. I also made these magnets for everyone that came.

As part of the whole celebration of Twilight coming out and that the studio gave the official clearance to release New Moon, I'll give away 2 sets of these magnets. You can sign up to win until Wednesday at 5:00. Just post a comment to this post and I'll draw a winner sometime over the Thanksgiving break.

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the big game and I'm sure the better team will win. Tonight we have our big neighborhood tailgating party. Tomorrow is my big Twilight party. If you were one of those crazy ladies that stayed up late to go see it last night, let me know what you thought of it. I can't wait to drool over Edward Cullen tomorrow.

A couple weeks ago I spent the majority of the day raking. Fall is my least favorite time of the year because it requires the most amount of work in our yard. I finally counted all the trees in my backyard - there are 42 trees in our backyard. 42!!!!!!!! Luckily I had some help from Logan. Tad also helped when he got home from work. I just raked the leaves into piles and Tad put them in the garbage bags (I hate picking them up more than raking).