Christmas

We had a great Christmas and feel very blessed. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas too.

Cookies

I made a ridiculous number of cookies today. These ones were particularly tasty (recipe courtesy of my friend Heather):

White Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies
1 cup butter (I used 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening)
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
3 c. flour
~3/4 cup white chocolate chips
~1/2 cup walnuts
~3/4 cup dried cranberries

Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. You can use this as the base for any mix in -- milk chocolate, semi-sweet, butterscotch chips.. but the white chocolate, cranberry and walnut was delicious and festive looking (that from me-- I'm generally not a fan of fruit in my cookies).

White Christmas

I do like seasons and I'm glad that it appears that we will have a white Christmas.

I just find myself dreaming of sunshine, blue sky and warm water instead of "dreaming of a white Christmas" I could be done with winter at the end of December.

Easy Salsa

I got this recipe from my sister in law & we make it all the time. Its supposed to be like the salsa at Chili's. All I know is that I made it to go with some nachos the other night and the whole batch was gone by the end of the evening. Its just so easy too-- comes mostly out of cans that I always have on hand, but makes you feel like you're eating fresh salsa year round.

1 can Rotel diced tomatoes & green chiles
1 can whole peeled tomatoes (or diced tomatoes)
~1/4 of an onion, chopped (red or yellow)
2 T. canned diced jalapenos
~1/2 t. garlic salt
~1 t. cumin
salt and pepper to taste
handful of fresh chopped cilantro (its better with cilantro, but still good if you don't have any)

Put all ingredients into a blender or food processor. Pulse a couple times until its the desired consistency. The amounts are all basically adjustable depending on your taste. Enjoy!

Tagged

A. I was tagged my my pal JoDee, so here it is: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Five Things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. It was the year I graduated from USU
2. Spent the summer at working at Mt. Rainier.. spent all my $$ on a road trip around the Pacific NW with my friends on the way home.
3. Came home, got a job at Borders
4. Living with my parents
5. Trying to find a real job and a life after USU

Five Things on my to-do list today:
1. Kids Dr. appointments, get flu shots
2. Go to Target
3. Exercise!!
4. Make mashed potatoes for church Christmas party.
5. Get the mountains of dirty laundry under control.

Five Snacks I enjoy:
1. Chips & salsa & guacamole
2. Homemade chocolate chip cookies & icy cold milk
3. Chocolate covered pretzels
4. Trail mix
5. Toast with peanut butter

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
1. Pay off the house
2. Buy a vacation home on Maui
3. Go on some great trips (too many to name)
4. Finance kids education & missions
5. Save/Invest/Donate/Share

Three of my bad habits:
1. Not making my bed
2. Stressing about things that I cannot control
3. Procrastinating

Five places I have lived:
1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. Logan, UT
3. Succasunna, NJ
4. Edmond, OK
5. Paradise, WA

Five Jobs I’ve had:
1. A Mother
2. Epidemiologist at the Utah Department of Health
3. Gift Shop Cashier at Mt. Rainier National Park
4. Borders Bookstore
5. Cardboard Factory (sweet temp job during winter break from USU- ha!)

5 Things people probably don’t know about me:
1. I have now lived in Salt Lake City for 9 years. That’s longer than I have lived any other place.
2. I occasionally crave a corndog—mmm.. hot dog on a stick…
3. I clean when I am trying to avoid some other undesirable task (this was big when I was in school. Now cleaning is the undesireable task, so I get online and complete surveys instead)
4. Russ & I have been to Hawaii 3 times in the 4 ½ years since we’ve been married
5. I once backpacked 93 miles around the base of Mt. Rainier.

I now tag Cheryl & Rob & Kirsten, Allison & Teresa. Dave & Kristen, don't feel left out- I didn't tag you because Cheryl said she wants to.

Winter Wonderland

Our 1st big snow of the season.

Neil needed to be under shelter..Ultimately, happier to be inside though.