A good recipe

A recipe for the perfect Christmas tree:

1 massive Christmas tree with a baby frog hiding inside waiting for the dog to find in the morning.


3 strands of white Christmas lights. Preferably with Danielle stringing the back half while holding onto the wall to keep from falling into the tree.



Handful of ornaments, most of which include the words "Our first Christmas". Don't forget that your tree will probably look slightly under dressed so have two boxes of candy canes on hand to fill the holes.


If you want to throw in something special, add 5 strands of lights outside.



Toss together, preferably with the one you love. Perfect for family, friends and neighbors.
Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Disneyland!

Last Saturday my parents took James and I to Disneyland. I had not been since my high school grad night and it was so much fun! They had the whole place decked out in Christmas lights and the haunted mansion was completely different with the Nightmare Before Christmas theme. We even saw Santa in the parade. It was a very fun day, even when it rained for a little bit! To top it off we went to Target on the way home. How lucky can a girl get? Thanks mom and dad for a great weekend, we really had fun. Thanks too to our puppy sitters :)

Gobble Gobble!

For some unknown reason, James and I decided that it would be fun to host Thanksgiving this year so I bought the bird and made the fixings. Okay truth was that James and I made the turkey and our family made everything else. But hey the turkey was a massive 22 pounds and it was my first experience cooking with the slimy poultry. Everything went well up until we had to put it in the oven and the oven would not heat up! I was panicking, thinking of what I could come up with instead. Burgers? Mac and Cheese? Cereal? But as luck would have it, okay we both prayed over the oven, it started heating up and we had a cooked bird! Pretty good too.

I have the before and after shots of the turkey, but didn't get the right out of the oven shot. I was too scatter brained to think about the darn camera. Good times by all but I am tired! Next year I plan on showing up at eating time and then going home. Props to all who host Holiday dinners. I don't know how you do it year after year.

Birthday Celebration

So for the actual day of James' birthday we had to work but that night we ordered take out from one of the two restaurants in town and took it back to the house to eat. It was great eating at home and not having to cook! I thought the candles added a classy touch to the take out :) Earlier in the day after Andrea and Brian took us to lunch, I snuck over to James' work with my mom and tied a bunch of balloons to his car. It was a lot of fun and Cocoa enjoyed playing with them, especially after they started to deflate.


That Sunday we had our family over and had cake and ice cream as well as presents! James got a Beebe gun from my parents so he can join in the Christmas festivities of shooting fruit and bad presents in my parents' front yard. We enjoy the white-trash type Christmases. I also made a chocolate cake for the party with chocolate shavings on top. It was chocolate goodness but when James blew out the candles, the chocolate went flying all over! Oops, I will have to save the shavings for non-candle cakes. Anywho it was a great weekend and a lot of fun. Happy Birthday James!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

Happy Birthday James! Unfortunately I am at work and do not have access to a picture of my handsome hubby but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to the best husband. You are truly an amazing person and I feel so blessed to be married to you. Hope the day is as great as you are. Love you!

For the Record...

Ladies remember when we were young and wanted to wear makeup and cool clothes to look older? Well apparently I will be stuck in this phase forever. I don’t know what it is with me but people never think I am as old as I am. I am not saying I want people to think I am 60 but come on do I really look under age? Let me relate two stories to prove my point.

One year ago, James and I were at the Salt Lake Airport checking in for our flight to come home for Thanksgiving. Due to some problem with the website, we could only book one ticket at a time so when it was my turn, I went up to the counter by myself and the conversation when like this:

Airport lady: Danielle Mathews?
Me: yes that is me
Airport lady: will you be traveling with a chaperon tonight?
Me: um………no…….(confused look)
Airport lady: (noticing the confused look) I am sorry are you over 18?

Then just to solidify the fact that people think I am younger, last month after a full month as the Laurels advisor plus speaking in church with my husband, the bishop’s wife comes up to me and says “I finally figured out who you are! You are the new Laurels Advisor right?! I thought we had a new Laurel.”

I have a husband, a college degree, a corporate job, and a mortgage, why do people think I am not even old enough to vote! My whole life people have thought that my younger sister was in fact older than I am. Do I need to change my hair? Or is it my clothes? My makeup? What is it!

I know it is not a big deal, but I feel like I need the credibility, especially at work. People tell me that in 20 years I will be grateful of my youthful looks but just for the record, I will be 23 in April and no I do not need a chaperon.

First(ish) Halloween

This was the third Halloween since we have been married but this year felt like the first. Probably because in Utah we never had any kids come searching for candy, and it always seemed like I had a mid-term around that time.

So for the first Halloween in our new house we were very excited about starting new traditions. The Sunday before Halloween we made caramel apples. They turned out great and very tasty! Okay to be honest we have only eaten one each because they were super sweet but they were fun to make :)

Then for family home evening we carved a pumpkin. Since California is so humid, carved pumpkins don't last very long so we bought three pumpkins with the hope that the other two un-carved pumpkins can last until Thanksgiving. So far so good!

We had no idea how much candy to buy because we have never had trick or treaters before so we thought two bags would be enough. Our first trick-or-treaters were a princess and a ghost, so dang cute. For the next hour and a half we had sixty-five kids come by and yes we kept a running total! We had plenty of candy left over so James took most of it to work. It was a lot of fun and Cocoa did very well with the kids. She was mainly interested in the door bell.

So Halloween is gone, but exciting because Thanksgiving is right around the corner as well as James' birthday and Christmas! Such fun times to be with family and start new traditions in our own home.