Giving Thanks

This year our little family is so blessed. We realize that we have so many things to be thankful for. We're thankful for each other, for our parents, grandparents, our home, our health, and so much more.

We had two Thanksgiving dinners this year. Ben's family came over to our house and I cooked my first turkey. Everything tuned out great. We enjoyed lots of yummy food and good company.

On Thursday my Mom did her first Thanksgiving dinner. She did a great job. The tables were beautiful and the food turned out so good. Better than the food I made the night before. My Dad was so impressed with the way it all turned out. I loved spending time with my parents and siblings and the kids had fun with all their cousins.

Bread Pudding

Once a month I get together with a group of friends from my neighborhood for a dinner club. We enjoy amazing food and great conversation. We take turns hosting the dinner and we usually have a theme. Last month our theme was Soup, Breads, and Spreads. I like to try recipes that I've never made before. If any of you have been to Porcupine Grill at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon you know their bread pudding is amazing. Well, I found a recipes that's so yummy and easy and rivals Porcupine.

1 Loaf french bread
2T Butter
4 Eggs, beaten
2c Milk
3/4c White Sugar
1t Vanilla

Optional (I don't use)
Raisins
Nuts
Cinnamon

Cut the crust off the bread, break into pieces. Place in a 8x8 baking dish. Drizzle with melted butter. Mix all other ingredients and pour over bread. Bake 45mins @ 350 degrees.

Carmel Sauce

1/2c Brown Sugar
1/2c White Sugar
1/2c Whipping Cream
1/2c Butter

Melt in a sauce pan, bring to a boil for 3mins. STIR CONSTANTLY
Spoon over Bread Pudding and top with fresh whipped cream. This recipe can be doubled. You won't need to double the sauce, it makes plenty. ENJOY!

No More San Francisco!!!

All day the kids have been chanting "No more San Francisco, No more San Francisco" .... We picked Ben up at the airport this afternoon for the last time. Ben has been working in San Francisco about 50% of the past 14 months. Wells Fargo put him through their management training program which has been like getting a second MBA. I don't know how he did it, I'm very proud of his hard work and dedication. The kids are so excited to have a full time Dad again. Although this year has been challenging it has reminded me how blessed I am.

One weekend when I went to visit Ben we rented a tandem bike and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge. We had such a great time, covered a lot of ground and saw some great sights. We had no idea it would be so hard. The bridge itself was easy, it was getting there that nearly killed us. I couldn't walk for about a week afterwards.

This is a picture of Alcatraz taken from a beach across the Bay.

Happy Halloween!

I get just as excited for Halloween as my children do. I love helping them decide what they want to be and planning the costumes. Of course, I procrastinate and end up working on the costumes into the we hours the night before. I always love Ashton's costumes, he lets me help him choose what to be and I usually make his. I think the homeade costumes are the best. I was so glad Ava wanted to be a butterfly, she's been a different Disney priness for the past three years. Peyton loves to go to the Halloween stores and pick a costume, he always wants to be something grose and scary. The skeleton was as scary as I'd let him be for 1st grade. As for Mitchell, I was just impressed he kept the costume on all day. The skunk costume was warm and fit his personality perfect, he's such a little stinker!

We has a crazy day. Three different Halloween parades, a dance class party, school parties and our tradtional Halloween party at Grandma and Pa's house. The kids had so much fun running house to house with their cousins collecting candy. Looking back the day is a little blurry. I do remember my children having tons of fun and I guess that's what it's all about. So now all fun is over, my house is over flowing with candy wrappers, and I have a major halloween hangover. Can't wait to do it all again next year.