Potato Boats

My BFF from high school, Samantha, posted this recipe on her blog. I have to pass the recipe on now since it is really good!

Potato Boats

4 small baking potatoes, cut into wedges
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted

To top it off:
grated cheddar cheese
crumbled cooked bacon
sour cream
fresh or dried parsley

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large resealable plastic bag, add the flour, cheese, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Mix together well. Put milk in a small bowl.
2. Dip each potato wedge into the milk and then drop into the flour mixture. When all the potato wedges are in the flour mixture, seal the bag up and shake until all are evenly coated. Drop each potato wedge onto a baking sheet and drizzle the butter over each one. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until nicely browned.
3. Once out of the oven, top them with the cheddar cheese and bacon. Put back in the oven just until cheese is melted. Top with sour cream and parsley.

Candy Cottages

Last month the Activity Girls made gingerbread (er, I mean graham cracker) houses. We supplied them with plenty of candy and gobs of frosting.

Chloe Orr's house, so cute!

What good is a gingerbread house if you can't eat it? Right, Amanda?

Julie is so proud of her candy cottage.

Yasmin is a great builder, just look at her concentration!

I can't decide what these two are doing. Counting their candy or picking out their favorites?

New year, new focus

At the start of the new year, it is always nice to start fresh, to flip open a brand new calendar and think about the year ahead. This year I truly want to focus on my blessings, especially in the face of hardship and trial. I am foremost grateful for the gospel and for my family and friends, but I have many other blessings in my life. I resolve to foster gratitude this year by taking pleasure in even small moments. I will count my many blessings often. This will allow me to gain proper perspective and even realize the silver linings in the clouds. Gratitude will help me weather the storms of life that are certain to come in 2009. So a new year brings a new focus: GRATITUDE.

Christmas morning

The kids' excitement on Christmas morning can only be captured in pictures. I am always exhausted after a Christmas season. It is so much work to make sure that everyone gets what they want and there is an even distribution of presents. I worry the kids have too much and then I worry they don't have enough! Still, it is all worth it on Christmas morning. Nothing is sweeter than Christmas day. Once all the presents are open and Christmas breakfast (traditional Danish abelskeivers) has been enjoyed, I enjoy a long Christmas nap!

Winter Fun

The winter fun continued when my mom and dad and Jake arrived for Christmas. I was very relieved when they finally arrived on the day of Mike's 36th birthday, December 20. They were actually in a car accident while attempting to drive to our home for Christmas. The road conditions were terrible! Mike was very heroic and braved the icy roads to rescue and retrieve them. Once here, the winter fun continued! We enjoyed winter hikes in the snow-covered woods, built a snow-men, and the kids built an amazing snow fort with Grandpa! We drank lots of hot chocolate and ate plenty of good food too. Once again, being snowed in at Christmas isn't so bad!

White Christmas

Christmas 2008 is a big white blur in my memory. The snow started falling Dec. 18 and kept falling and falling and still hasn't melted. In fact, we woke up to a new blanket of snow today to start the new year! Our Terrace View Drive is not very fun to navigate in icy winter conditions and our driveway is trickier. However, our steep hill makes one great sledding run! Plus, the forest behind our house is transformed into a beautiful winter wonderland. The kids and I could not be happier to be snowed in this time of year! We actually gained two more days of Christmas vacation due to snow days.

Where did Christmas go?

The holidays always go too quickly! Here it is New Year's Day 2009 and all that's left of Christmas 2008 is sweet memories. The Christmas festivities started mid month when Mike and I traveled to our old stomping grounds at Utah State University in Logan. We attended my brother Jacob's Air Force commissioning ceremony. Mike was able to swear Jake in as an officer and celebrate his graduation from Utah State.