Family Visit-The Larkin Family

Trent's sister Trina and her family came for a visit and we had such a good time. Michael & Trina have 6 kids. 1 girl an 5 boys, so Luke was in "boy cousin heaven"! We had a great time catching up and playing games.

We drove down to La Jolla to see the seals. We didn't see too many this trip and only a few babies. It must have been lunch time or something. It was still fun.



Then we went up to the San Onofre Beach to find some treasures. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach exploring and playing in the water...which was very brisk!

From L to R: Lance, Kameron, Zachary, Darin, Trina, Michael, Nathan, LeAnn

We had so much fun! Thanks for visiting us!

Twister anyone?

When was the last time you played the game Twister? Santa gave it to Emry and we've been having a lot of fun playing...very funny!

Christmas Morning 2009

Twas the morning of Christmas
and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse.....

Trent and I woke up to a quiet house on Christmas morning. Our initial reaction was shock, but then we both smiled and snuggled back into bed. It was 7:40, by 7:50 all three kids had wandered into our room and joined us under the covers. The girls were humming Christmas songs. Luke was practically vibrating, he'd already peaked into the living room to see that Santa had indeed stopped at our house during the night.

We let the kids loose and watched as they greedily unpacked their stockings, stopping momentarily to oogle at each item that was pulled out. Next we had breakfast (cereal & sweet rolls). Finally we opened the gifts from under the tree and all was well.

christmas eve 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with family and friends! We ate a nice dinner, had great conversation and ended the evening with a spiritual message about the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Menu

Honey Glazed Ham
sweet potato mash
herbed carrots
orange mandarin jello
homemade rolls with fresh raspberry jam
salad

cookies & mint brownies for dessert

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas
We would like to wish everyone a very merry holiday season!

HEY...QUIT EATING THE POPCORN!

Every year we string strands of popcorn and cranberries and then hang them on the tree. This year was no different. It was the first year that Luke was able to make his own strand, which was fun for him. Emry teamed up with Trent and Carley just ate and ate and ate popcorn. We ended up giving her a bowl of her own b/c she wouldn't keep her little hands out of the bowl. This could have been the end of my post.....

BUT IT'S NOT!

The other day, Luke caught Carley, eating popcorn off the tree! I'm telling you this girl will do anything for popcorn! So now we have a bare spot on our beautiful garlands of popcorn & cranberries.

Home Early

I love it when Trent gets off work early!
Such a pleasant sight to see his truck pull into the driveway early today.

2 Funny stories

A few weeks ago in primary, the kids started learning christmas song to sing in sacrament meeting. During Junior Primary (age 3-7) The chorister was talking about how Mary had to travel to Bethlehem while she was big and pregnant. She said, "Mary was expecting. That's a big word, expecting. Does anyone know what it means?" A few kids raised their hands, she called on one 7 year old boy who said very matter of factly, "My mom expects me to tie my shoes." All the adults burst out laughing!


Here is a conversation that went on between Trent & Carley at the dinner table tonight.

T- "Carley, what's your name?"

C- "Two!"

T- "No, that's how old you are. What's your name?"

C- "woof!"

T- "No, your name is CeCe"

C- "Naooooo!"

He kept asking and these are the other names she came up with: Poppy, Snow White & Cinderella...what a crazy girl!

SPEECHLESS

I am completely and utterly SPEECHLESS.

As of 10 minutes ago...my cute little red head is in BIG SMOKE TROUBLE!!!!
She has cut her hair and is now in bed.
I'm not sure if she'll be able to come out of her room at all the rest of the day.
The area she cute is huge. It goes from the tip of her hairline back to the crown of her head.
I have nothing more to say.

Pumpkin-Caramel Cheesecake-TO DIE FOR!!!

I may have put this on my blog before...but if not, i apologize because you've been missing out! For the last few years I've been making this yummy cheesecake for Thanksgiving! You've got to try it, I promise you'll love it!

The recipe is from Betty Crocker

CRUST:
1 1/2 cups crushed gingersnap cookies (homemade or store bought both work great)
3 T sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

FILLING:
3 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened (do not use margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned 100% pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup caramel topping
3 tablespoons flour
3 eggs (room temperature)

TOPPING:
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Wrap foil around outside of bottom and side of 9-inch springform pan to catch drips. Spray bottom of pan with cooking spray (if you put parchment down, spray it too). In a small bowl, stir crust ingredients until well mixed. Press isture in bottom of pan. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set.
2. Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed just until smooth and creamy. Beat in 1/2 cup butter until creamy. Do not overbeat. On low speed, gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Add pumpkin; beat until blended. Beat in caramel topping and flour. Beat in eggs, one at a time, just until blended.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 325 F. Pour filling into partially baked crust. Place springform in large roasting pan; pour hot water into roasting pan until one-fourth full. ( if i'm in a hurry i skip this step, turns out fine). Bake 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes or until edges of cheesecake is set at least 2 inches from edge of pan but center of cheeseake still jiggles slightly when moved. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 1 hour. Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.
4. In chilled medium bowl, beat toping ingredients with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.
   

HAPPY EATING!!!

Thanksgiving Break-Boredom Buster

When your kids are off of school and have lost sight of their good fortune of a week's vacation....one has to turn to the ultimate boredom buster...peanut butter playdough!!

18 oz. peanut butter
6-8 T honey
1/4c + powdered sugar
dry milk

Mix together until not sticky (consistency like bread dough). The measurements are really variable. Just do it to taste. (if you want you can add in some cocoa) Refrigerate for 15 minutes, and create.

Flowers on my tree

Here are the latest flowers that are blooming in our yard! This tree decided to bloom and we were surprised to see that the flowers were magenta! The other ones we have are white.