Family Picture

Want to know why we don't get our family picture done very often?



We got one in the end!!

Continuing the delicious tradition

On Christmas Eve growing up we ate tamales, rice, beans, and tortillas while everybody else was having ham and potatoes or whatever. Seriously, which would you rather be having? It's no contest.

Carrie and I have always had a Mexican dinner on Christmas Eve, but it wasn't until last year that we made our own tamales. Every year the meal gets a little better as we add more pieces, improve on the recipes, and do more homemade. This time it was the best we've ever done. Tamales, rice, refried beans, red chile sauce, and flour tortillas, all homemade and from scratch. It was awesome. The best part: eating leftovers for another week.



And it looks like it might live on another generation - Sadie loved it. Dallin's not quite there yet, but he doesn't like anything that's not sweet.

Why wait until Christmas Eve to do it again? Other than the fact that it literally takes all day to prepare this meal, I can't think of any reasons.

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy New Year . . .

So, it's been a while and we need to play a little catch up. . . Shortly before Christmas we took a little family trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Do you know what is in Hershey? I'll give you one guess. Yep, the Hershey factory. And what better place to have a huge amusement park? Right next to it. We normally wouldn't be able to afford a whole family trip to the park, but in the winter they have it open for fun holiday festivities.





All the rides are operating except the big roller coasters and there are some pretty Christmas lights all over. They have shows and I think you can even visit Santa. The best part is that it only costs about $10 to get in. The worst part : it's cold! We didn't get very many pictures because neither one of us wanted to take off our gloves to operate the camera!

But as you can tell, the kids had a blast! Dallin was really good about staying with us and Sadie was good about not throwing any fits (she tends to do that) even when it was time to leave. Dallin loved the trains and Sadie loved everything. She really liked being the one to take Dallin on a ride. I even took the kids on a Tilt-a-Whirl. Dallin loved it. When it got too scary he would just snuggle up next to me and wait until that part was over. It was so much fun. I think it will become a family tradition.
Another family tradition that I would like to continue is Christmas pajamas. (I know it's kind of silly) I had a roommate whose family did this and I liked the idea. And who wouldn't? Look at how cute my Monkeydoodles are! Sadie especially loves matching with Dallin.


This was the only shot I got of Christmas morning! Sorry! I just got so caught up in the moment. I think the favorite gift has been Dallin's train set. Sadie plays with it almost more than Dallin . . . if he would let her. I think Steve likes it just as much as the two kids. After opening presents and stockings, we had crepes for breakfast. But even with all the new toys and clothes and movies, both of our beautiful children threw fits and cried and fought all day long. Why didn't anyone tell us that this kind of thing happens on Christmas? Children are supposed to be perfectly happy and well behaved on Christmas, right? I mean they did just get everything their heart desired. Maybe it's just our kids who do that. Aside from that, I can still look at the day with fondness. I guess that's a mother's gift . . . we can forget all the miserable times and just remember their looks of delight when they wake up on Christmas morning.

We also celebrated my birthday (not much to report) and New Year's (again, not much to report) Steve will blog later about our Christmas Eve tradition. And I made rice porridge for the first time. It was yummy, but for some reason the kids didn't eat any of it. We thought they would love it. Oh well.