HOLIDAY FESTIVITIES

We have had a lot of fun times this Holiday! We thought we would share some highlights:

1. Christmas Eve Bike Ride-- whole family, 18 miler!
2. Dave and Leslie's quest for the BEST chocolate cake ever -- we found it, we have the recipe if you're interested.
3. Nativity skit/and Christmas Day (Santa came!!)
4. Hike to top of Lone Mountain! (Notice VIVA in the background)
5. Matt taking FIRST PLACE in the Falcon Invitational Tournament!!! YEA!! YEA!!
6. Abbey coming for a sleepover! :)
7. Sledding at Mount Charleston! Woo Hoo!
8. Going to the movies (which we hardly EVER do) Girls: Enchanted, Boys: I am Legend! Both excellent movies! Fun fun fun!
9. Rang in the New Year at an awesome party hosted by Richard and Heidi with Nikki, Jordan, Sammy, Spencer, and Warren! Super Fun! Thanks guys! :)












YEA!

Waxing sentimental

I have been feeling quite sentimental this year about Christmas. Usually I look forward to the time of being here in Vegas alone with just our family, but this year I have had a surprisingly "homesick" feeling for the Christmases of yesteryear. Maybe it is because I miss my Mom so much at times like these, maybe it is because we might stay here the ENTIRE holiday this year, I don't know. But nevertheless, I long for those times when my whole family was gathered around the table with the amazing holiday meals my Mom prepared. The cheeseball, the Christmas punch, the ham, homemade rolls and all the trimmings. I loved being there! My parents truly knew how to make a house a home. I love all of the memories I have of my childhood Christmases. Even though we didn't have a lot of money, I have rich memories of singing around the piano, doing the nativity scene, reading from Luke and waking to find that Santa had truly come! I love to watch my children at this time of the year. What a blessing they are, they keep the spirit of Christmas alive in me! So, for what it's worth. Here's a warm thank you to my family for giving me those wonderful memories!!!

Katie and Lindsey's Christmas Piano Recital

Lindsey and Katie did a FABULOUS job on their peices at the Christmas Recital Saturday. We are proud of them -they are getting to be pretty good! :)

LANNIE-CLAUS Came To Town!

It's always like Christmas when Lannie comes to town! We had a fun week with Aunt Lannie, as always she spoiled the kids rotten! They love it! We went to the Bellagio yesterday and saw the "flower room". It was gorgeous! It was lots of fun being with her and Nathan! Thanks for coming to visit! We love you! She stayed long enough to see Lindsey and Katie perform in their school choir concert ~ they did a great job! Fun times!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY! #11! woot! woot!

Happy Birthday Little Miss Lindsey! We are so proud of our little Lindsey lou-who, she is growing like a weed, but much cuter than a weed! We love her so much! Thanks for being a great daughter and a good example in our family! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We woke up this morning and took the kids on a scavenger hunt... the kids had to follow the clues to find the different items for their breakfast, it was fun. We went to the park, ALbertsons, the church and Wal-mart to get the ingredients for a "grand slam" breakfast, after eating that, we hung out, opened presents, made jewelery, scrapbooked, did mattress surfing, and then had Rich and Heidi and the boys over for more mattress surfing, and cheesecake! Fun day!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDSEY!

Yummy Recipe-- BBQ chicken pizza

I was wanting to find some new weight watchers recipes, because I'm getting sick of my old ones and am having a hard time staying on this diet because I need VARIETY!! So I looked online and found this BBQ chicken pizza, but they said to use store bought refrigerated pizza crust, YUCK... I got this dough recipe from Heidi D. It is delicious. Its only 5 points a slice.... YUM! This is the best recipe for pizza crust that I have ever tried. This isn't the actual picture by the way, mine had much less cheese! :) Just wanted to get your saliva flowing with a good picture!

Pizza dough

1 ½ c warm water
2 tsp rapid yeast
2 T olive oil
4 T sugar
1 ½ t. salt
4 c. flour
Mix for 15 minutes in bosch with hook, then put towel over it and let it rise for 15minutes then cut into 4 sections. Roll out into desired shapes/sizes. Cook in oven 450 for 8-12 minutes with toppings on.
Cornmeal in bottom of pan.

Top dough with your favorite BBQ sauce, cooked shredded chicken, sauteed purple onion and green pepper(in low fat cooking spray), then top with 1 c. low fat mozarella. Delicious!

Matt takes 4th place at the Las Vegas High School tournament!

Matt fought hard all day! He worked so hard and did such a great job! He was awesome! It was long day for Katie and I who went and watched from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. But we loved every minute of it! Katie is quite the cheerleader! She is hilarious standing on the sidelines screaming her guts out! Matt was 4 and 2 with three of his wins being pins! He did a great job! He seems to get better every season and he LOVES this sport!! Sorry, I don't have any pictures, but I forgot the camera, we'll get some later on! Just had to announce his victory anyway! GREAT JOB MATT!