Christmas Happenings

     We had a fun time exploring and counting all the elves at Gardener Village.  It was cold but was worth it, especially after our treats from Sweet Afton's!



























     Keaton decided to be in the school choir this year and this was his Christmas Concert.  It was a lot of fun.  He and his best buddy Moses are way too cool for their own good!




























     Our Peterson Family Christmas Party is one of my favorite Christmas Traditions.   We start by going to see the lights at Temple Square.  It was beautiful as always! 

    Avery was Grandma's girl!! 

                      Keaton                                                                        
                                                                                        My Dad and Adam at their best...weirdest selves.

     My two cousins Sam and Peter are some of my kids favorite people.  They're like extended uncles with endless patience for wrestling and teasing.  This is Peter, Sam had to work and joined us later at Aunt Tracey's house.

                                                                           Beautiful

                                               This girl has no problem posing for a picture!

     Getting a good picture of our family is kindof a joke.  I did laugh so hard though when I saw Brecken...what's he doing??

                               Yeah, it's the almost 12-year-old that ruined this one...sheesh!
     Who needs a good picture of their family anyways?  These are much more entertaining to look at!
     After the temple we looked at the beautiful decorated windows at Macy's, a great tradition started by the old ZCMI store.  Then we headed to Aunt Tracey & Uncle Brent's for pizza and presents.  They have a great home in the avenues.  Tracey is an artist and I love the magical feel of their home at Christmas! 
                                            

Happy Thanksgiving!

      There's something so satisfying about cooking a big beautiful meal.   We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our big extended families, but then (about a week later) we did our own.  

            Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of everything most important in your lives!

How...

                                                                ....Do you explain to Her that this is okay for everyone else???

St. George

     Our trip to St. George started in Red Cliffs.  It's always fun for Corey and I to take our kids places we went when we were first dating.  The kids were troopers and had a lot of fun hiking and playing in the water.  I'd forgotten about the natural water slides...beautiful!

      The rest of the weekend was spent hiking, exploring and playing with the other "Larrabee" family.  Jared and Kathy and their girls.  These pictures were taken at the Lava tubes in Snow Canyon.  A great place to explore. 

 

This picture turned out a little fuzzy, but was the only one I got inside looking out...really beautiful.  

     Thanks Jar & Kathy for such a fun weekend!!  We're so happy we get to spend time with you!

What happened??!

                        "Bwecken fwowed a fire twuck at my head" ...pretty much sums it up!

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeen!!

      Our Halloween Celebration started on Monday with pumpkin carving.  We had two pumpkin plants come up voluntarily in our yard this year.  We got about 15 small pie pumpkins and one carver.  We live in an old farming community with a lot of great, retired neighbors who love to garden so we always end up with pumpkins for Halloween without going farther than around the block.  The big boys pumpkins totally mirror their costumes.  Avery got the one carving pumpkin we grew ourselves and so she got talked into carving an "L" in it by her brothers.  I love how she's totally posing for her pic. 

      For Halloween this year the kids were all pretty easy and chose their own costumes.  Tate was a vampire, Breck was a "scawey montser." Corey donned his old fire gear to be festive, along with one of the kids fire helmets (they don't let you take those when you leave the fire dept.).  Avery was a princess.  Keaton made good use of the neck brace he got earlier in the year and was a crazy scooter-er.  McKay was Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs...pretty fun & creative.  Happy Halloween!!

Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce

     Every once in a while I'm particularly excited about a new recipe, so excited in fact that I must post it.  At the beginning of this year Corey and I escaped to the Grande America Hotel for an anniversary getaway.  At the buffet breakfast I discovered blintzes...yum.  I searched for a recipe and just recently tried it myself.  It's a bit involved, but worth it on a cold, slow Saturday morning.  Enjoy!

Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce (original recipe from food.com)

Blueberry Sauce

2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Blintzes

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
2/3 cup milk
shortening
1 lb small curd cottage cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
sour cream

Directions:

Make sauce: Wash and crush berries.
Mix in sugar thru salt and 1¼ cups water and put in saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Chill.
Make blintzes: Combine flour and salt, add 1 cup water and mix until smooth.
Add 4 eggs and beat well.
Add milk and mix to a thin batter.
Heat a small amount of shortening in a 6" skillet.
Pour in ¼ cup batter and cook slowly until pancake is lightly browned on bottom and set on top.  
Turn out with browned side up.
Repeat, making about 18 pancakes.
Using a hand mixer, blend cheese through vanilla with remaining egg.  
Put a spoonful of cheese mixture in center of each pancake, fold in ends and roll up.
Brown in a small amount of hot shortening.  
Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream with cold blueberry sauce over the top.