Dead Pig Smell - Yum! Yum!

TAKE NOTE: When you take a container out of the fridge that has obviously been in there for WAY too long and what used to be pulled pork is now unidentifiable, no ordinary person would open it because there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO OPEN IT. My husband is not an ordinary person and my office now smells like dead pig. Grrrr!

2009 Young Family Photo at Kopperskogen

I finally got to taking our family photo today. We started with the typical "everyone stand and look pretty for the camera" photo . . .


But in the end we decided it just wasn't us and went with this instead . . .

Julie & Julia

What a fabulous movie. Great story, fabulous food and some amazing acting by Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Julie & Julia really delivers. I heart warming look at a woman reaching 30 and searching for who she is. In her search she reaches out to do something. Not just something, but to make every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook. As we watch her take this challenge on we are taken back to Julia Child in the 50's when the cookbook is born.

For you guys out there, it isn't just a "chick flick." Robb and I both enjoyed the comedy intertwined in both the lives of Julie and Julia. Plus if you have ever known someone who sets a goal for themselves and is determined to see it through, then you will be able to relate to many parts in this movie.

It is a definite must see in my book.

Yum! Yum!

"Mom if you are going to write yum, do it right. It needs an exclamation point so people know you are saying it loud." No better way to express the fabulous cookies the three of us made. When I say "three" I use the word very loosely. What actually happened is I mixed, rolled, cut, scooped, baked, cooled, mixed and mixed and spooned and baked and cooled some more all while the girls continually asked me if they could sample just one. The sample requests started as soon as I had dough in the bowl and didn't end until they got one after all the cookies were made.

They abandoned me somewhere during the first hour of cookie making after the decorating was done. They had no interest if there wasn't decorating of cookies to be done. They ran off to their room to enter into pretend world. They sounded like they were having so much fun that I made the mistake, mid cookie baking, to glance into their room. Scary! (Note the exclamation point.) That really is the best way to explain it. It is almost as if they knew I was preoccupied and so they thought "now is the time for our room to suffer a natural disaster because what can she do about it? She has to watch the cookies baking in the oven." I quickly brought them back to reality when I told them they would not get any cookies until their room was cleaned up. This meant that the animal hammocks had to be put back up in the corners and the animals needed to be in them, the art stuff put back away, ponies and barbies and clothes (clean and dirty) needed to be put where they belong, new clothes put away, shoes in the closet, bed made. . . the list goes on. This seemed to work as a great energizer until Grammy stopped by and suggested they needed the energy only a cookie can provide. Thus they got a cookie and all ideas of cleaning were quickly out the window.

I entered into the picture the plastic garbage sack. There was hysterical crying and running and really the quickest feet I have seen in awhile. The room was cleaned with the help of mom, Grammy and the garbage sack.

Long story short, we got the cookies made and the room cleaned out. It was a win win day.

Cookies Take Two

About to embark upon the adventure of a day of baking cookies with my beautiful daughters. I will definitely fill you all in upon completion. :)

Looking forward to Christmas Eve.

I realized this weekend that I have yet another reason to be excited for Christmas Eve, other than the fact it is the night before Christ's birth. This will be the first year since our kids were born that we are going to have dinner at our house. In fact, it may very well be the first Christmas Eve that we have had dinner just us since Robb and I were married over 13 years ago. I am so excited. The girls and I will be able to get dinner ready, get all dressed up for service, go to service and then come home to a fabulous dinner just the four of us. Then the girls will be able to take baths, get in pjs, leave out goodies for Santa, say our prayers and thanks for our many blessings and get all tucked into bed at a decent time. I almost can't express with words the excitement I have for this. I didn't even know it was possible.

How about you? How do you normally spend your Christmas Eve? Are you busy like we have been in the years past, visiting family and friends near and far? I would love to hear how you spend your holidays. What parts do you look forward to?

New Moon

The new movie in the Twilight series is out with mixed reviews. I am not one of the avid readers of the books, but I admit I did see the first movie (only after I could get it on demand and watch it in my own home) and actually enjoyed it. Was it an epic? Definitely not. Did it entertain? Yes. Isn't that what a movie is supposed to do?

For all those out there that were upset that it didn't follow the books exactly, did you really think it would? I tend to set my sights low when a movie comes out after a book. Books are always so much better. Plus if you go into it just expecting an entertaining movie and not the book you are usually much more satisfied.

I think there is only once that I have read a book, seen the movie and they were almost identical. In fact I remember being in the movie theatre, having forgotten that I had read the book, and I thought I had seen the movie before. Amazing.