Snow much fun!

It's official! We are covered in a layer of snow and it is sticking around ... and snowing each night and some days. So, even if it warms up and melts off in the day, it comes back in the night and we wake up to a good covering of the white fluffy stuff. It finally feels like it is really winter around here. The girls LOVE the snow. If the snow is melting away when we are heading out, Allyson will find any little patch of it and eat it. So cute. It is quite an adjustment planning enough time in the morning before we go anywhere to warm up the car, and get hats, gloves, boots, and coats on. Coats don't go on easy when the little ones have thick long sleeves on. It's hard to keep the shirt sleeves from bunching up in the coat sleeves. Ah, the problems of the snow! We have snow tires with studs and snow scrapers in the car. This is such a contrast to Houston. I do believe we have gone from one extreme to the other.

Little Lambs

We have a family at church that keeps a flock of sheep. While the mama sheep usually have their babies in the spring, one of the little boy sheep got "too big for his britches" (as they tell us!) and 3 sheep had lambs last week. So the family is busy trying to keep these little babies warm and fed in the cold December weather. Thinking that Allyson and Lauren would really enjoy seeing the lambs they invited the girls and I to come out last week and look at them. The girls did love it. Allyson kept telling me that she was a good mom and Lauren had a little one following her around. Allyson held one and fed one - good mom! Lauren was just curious about the whole affair and went from sheep to sheep to check it all out. Lauren has no fear of any animal. She charges right in. They have a dog that lives with the sheep and it is half St. Bernard and half something else - anyway this dog is the size of a small horse with long, thick, and stinky fur (lives with the sheep) and Lauren was hugging and kissing him. This really was a treat for the girls and a treat for me to watch them enjoy themselves so much.

Recipe to Share

These are a little on the sugary side, but who can fault a cookie for being too sweet? I got some coupons in the mail the other day and there were a couple of recipes included. The girls and I tried this one today! I think they taste delicious. They are sweet and crispy. They don't taste like Vanilla Wafers, but they taste yummy anyway. This was a quick and easy recipe to make and it made two cookie sheets - so quick batch to whip up if you need something sweet to take to someone.

Vanilla Wafer Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ..

I can't believe we are already into the month of December. We have been busy doing fun and festive things. Putting up the tree and seeing Santa being at the top of Allyson's list! Allyson has a look that she gives Santa (the same one she has reserved for my dad) and it is of pure love and admiration. Lauren was not too big of a fan of Santa. She's kind of in a mommy phase right now and handing her off to some strange man at the mall was not her idea of a good time! They both love the tree and Lauren gives it hugs and kisses quite often.

Here's a couple of pictures...

Quick and Easy

I am totally behind on blogging lately and I know it! So... I will catch you all up soon on our family and the fun times we've been having just being a family and enjoying our new home...but I've got some pictures to go through to get loaded so for now I will just post a recipe that I tried the other day.

Sour Cream Muffins

2 cups "Self-Rising" flour
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 cup of sour cream

Mix all three ingredients together until a batter forms. Drop spoonfuls into ungreased muffin tins. I fit all the batter into one muffin tin (12 muffins). Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

I think that these taste so good and are quick and easy for dinner. They end up really tasting a lot like really good biscuits. Justin said he likes my yeast rolls better because he was expecting rolls and these pretty much are just more along the lines of biscuits. They would be great with soup or stew. I got the recipe from Paula Dean - gotta love the food network!

Enjoy :)

6th picture

So I was reading everyone's blog yesterday and Lindsay had posted her "6th picture." She had been challenged to post her 6th picture from her 6th album on her computer. Then she challenged others to do the same so here goes... this computer only has pictures dating back to september of 2007 ... the other computer is in the closet and we haven't moved the pics yet. So here is my picture:

My little two year old! She is almost 3 now ... I can't believe it!
So....anyone who reads this that hasn't already done the 6th picture thing - go for it! If you don't have a blog, email it out.

Our first snow!

We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground. By the time Allyson was up the snow was falling pretty heavily... it is not going to be cold enough to stick around all day, but Allyson was sure excited about it. So, we went outside and caught snowflakes in our PJs! Then we came in and had hot chocolate (and coffee!) She was shivering! But, she loved it.

Watching Daddy scrap the snow off his car:

October

We had a really great October. The girls got to experience a lot of different things. We took a trip to Redstone to look at all the leaves changing colors. We took walks to the park. We played with friends. We made Halloween sugar cookies and played with icing and sprinkles. We got to go 4 wheeling with one of our elders and his wife up at their cabin in the mountains. We visited the pumpkin patch. We carved pumpkins. We had a visit from our friend John Kirklin and headed up to Independence Pass and saw the Continental Divide. The view was amazing as well as the drive up to 11,000+ feet. We trick-or-treated, and the next morning Allyson woke up and asked if we could do it again. The next evening Lauren picked up her plastic pumpkin and headed to the door asking (in her own way) to go out and get more candy!

I posted lots of pictures on Facebook ... Just FYI!

There is so much to see and do and it is so much more fun to do it with these little girls. Justin and I are blessed and our family is really enjoying our new home!

"Our love for thee Cascade..."

Because we live in a world that has been made much smaller due to the Internet I just came across some sad news about the College that Justin and I attended and graduated from. It appears that they are closing their doors next spring. Here is a link to the article from their website:

http://www.cascade.edu/news.asp?newsid=317&cat=0

Please be in prayer for all the students, faculty and staff that are going to be drastically impacted by this situation.

This caught my attention.....

http://dirtyharrysplace.com/?p=4913

Any thoughts?

The Land of Seasons

We woke up this morning to quite a chill in the air - first time in a few years that I have turned the heat on in October. I believe it was down in the 20's last night!

When we came here to interview at the end of February I took a picture of the sign at church with some of the mountains in the background.

Then when we got here in May I did it again. And, the other day, once again. So, here is West Glenwood in February, then May, and finally in October.

I am going to try and do this a few different times of the year. It's just kind of fun to see all the different ways God can make the same exact place so beautiful.

For the Love of Fridays

Being in ministry and Sundays being considered a work day, Justin has always had Mondays as his second day off each week. Since we moved to Colorado he has taken Fridays off. I love it. Thursday evening is always exciting because it is the start of our weekend. And, it is so nice to have him home two days in a row. We have been making Fridays our family day since most places are more busy on Saturday. Some days we just stay home and play, other days we go out and explore our new home. Today is one of those stay at home days - so far! And so this morning when Allyson woke me up before 7am she and I went out to the kitchen and had our usual hot chocolate (coffee for me) and bible story. Then we made Bubble Bread. So yummy, so easy, and the whole house smelled so good. I thought I would post the recipe so you could enjoy it with your family if you would like. It is a fun one for the kids to help out with because there are a few of the steps that are easy for them to help with.
A lot of people call this Monkey Bread but when we were talking about making it I told Allyson that we could pick what to call it - either monkey or bubble and she decided since there were no actual monkeys we should call it bubble bread. Makes sense!
We have all been munching on it all morning. Here's the recipe:

Bubble Bread

INGREDIENTS:
3 (12 ounce) packages – I used 2 (16 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough - I bought the Wal-mart brand of biscuits because they were a lot cheaper.
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 9 or 10 inch tube or bundt pan.
2. Mix white sugar and cinnamon in a plastic bag. Cut biscuits into quarters. Shake 6 to 8 biscuit pieces in the sugar cinnamon mix. Arrange pieces in the bottom of the prepared pan. Continue until all biscuits are coated and placed in pan. If using nuts, arrange them in and among the biscuit pieces as you go along.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the margarine with the brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for 1 minute. Pour over the biscuits.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 minutes. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a plate. Do not cut! The bread just pulls apart.

Fall is fun!

It has been a while since I have lived in a place with a changing of the seasons. Fall is in full bloom around here. The leaves are changing and the nights are quite chilly. Last Friday (Justin's day off) we headed up toward Aspen to take a drive and look at the colors. Amazing! Also we went to a small little town - Redstone. There are pictures up in the top corner from the day. We ate lunch in the Redstone Inn, walked down the main (only) street of town, visited the General Store, and played at the park. It was a very fun family day. The girls had a great time.

Fall is by far my favorite season. I love the colors, I love the change in the weather, I love bundling up and playing in the leaves! We've busted out the spiced cider candle, the girls Halloween clothes and PJ's and I am in the mood to make glazed pecans, pumpkin bread, and soup.

We'll be heading to a pumpkin patch in the next week or so - more pictures to come!

Our Visit to Puyallup Washington!

Wednesday night we flew back from a wonderful visit to Grandad and GranJan's house. I am going to post a few pictures here, but the rest will be in the slide show up in the corner. Also within the next few days I'll have some albums on my Facebook and the pictures will be bigger and easier to see there.

We flew in on a Tuesday afternoon and hit the ground running. Living in a small town now it was fun to be back where there were lots of options of things to do. The main reason we went this time of year was to make a trip to the Puyallup fair. It is a pretty big fair and I've been going my whole life. The last time we went I was pregnant with Allyson and we had evacuated from Houston for Rita. This time was so much fun with the girls. Their little eyes see so much and they loved it. If you notice in the pictures it looks like we were eating the whole time - not really true! But that is part of the fair - so much yummy food. It was kind of disappointing because there was a whole section of rides for the littler kids and as we were walking through Lauren was noticing all of them, pointing and saying, "please" to ride them. Then it turns out you have to be 2 to ride ANYTHING at the fair - even the carousel. We were kind of surprised and she was pretty sad when I took Allyson on the carousel. After that we left the rides and looked at other fun things.

The rest of the trip was full of time with my parents, and extended family. Oh - and shopping! The girls enjoyed Grandad and GranJan to the fullest extent. Allyson was my dad's shadow and Lauren - as always - was her usual independent self. She kind of makes herself at home where ever and finds lots to do and lots to get into. They both did really this trip.

On the way home from the airport Allyson asked if we could go back to the airport "tomorrow and go back to Grandad's house."

That about sums it up!

Hurricane Ike

Just thinking of all our friends and family in Houston with all this Hurricane business ... Justin and I are praying for every one's safety through it all. 3 years ago we evacuated and Rita didn't hit ... maybe that will be the case again.
We love you all down there.

Isn't it interesting ...

.... how you have a thought and then it is reaffirmed by something you hear or read? I have been thinking - been reminded by God that I have been lacking in my time with Him, and how I need to have Him stored up in my heart so that the overflow is good. Yesterday morning before church I was reading from My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. (I have a copy of this book that was given to me Christmas of 1993 by a friend from Highschool youth group, and it is the book aside from my bible that is the most used by me!) His thoughts reflect a lot of what had been going through my mind. You can read the daily devotions from his book on www.heartlight.org, so I am going to copy and paste part of it here to share. If you want to read the rest of it just get on the website!

From the September 7 excerpt:

“The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water.”John 4:14
The picture Our Lord gives is not that of a channel but a fountain. "Be being filled," and the sweetness of vital relationship to Jesus will flow out of the saint as lavishly as it is imparted to him. If you find your life is not flowing out as it should, you are to blame; something has obstructed the flow. Keep right at the Source, and - you will be blessed personally? No, out of you will flow rivers of living water, irrepressible life.

We are to be centres through which Jesus can flow as rivers of living water in blessing to every one. Some of us are like the Dead Sea, always taking in but never giving out, because we are not rightly related to the Lord Jesus. As surely as we receive from Him, He will pour out through us, and in the measure He is not pouring out, there is a defect in our relationship to Him. Is there anything between you and Jesus Christ? Is there anything that hinders your belief in Him? If not, Jesus says, out of you will flow rivers of living water. It is not a blessing passed on, not an experience stated, but a river continually flowing. Keep at the Source, guard well your belief in Jesus Christ and your relationship to Him, and there will be a steady flow for other lives, no dryness and no deadness.

Reminded

As a mommy of two little ones (and so many other mommies have 3, 4, or even 5) I feel a little crazy at the end of a lot of days. So many questions to answer, messes to be picked up, sippy cups to fill, pretend trips to the pumpkin patch to make, fights to referee, dolls to diaper, and the list goes on. I hear the words, "Help me please" over and over again! And this is my job - and really the best one I could ever have. Lately, however, I am feeling crazy within about 10 minutes of being woken up in the morning instead of nearer to the end of the day. Instead of feeling patient and delighting in the curiosity of my sweet little ones, I had been feeling quite a lack of patience and frustration. Don't get me wrong, I still find much joy in my girls! I have been convicted - often - of what a huge responsibility it is to raise a little baby into a toddler and into a child and so on. To raise children into fully functioning, spritiually minded young adults seems like such a huge task. If there was ever anything I didn't want to mess up, this makes the short list!
So, as I have been again processing through all of this and reflecting on how I have been treating my girls (more in my head than in my actions, thankfully) I was reminded of something. When I feel like I don't have more to give them it is clearly because I haven't been receiving myself. What I haven't been doing is taking the time to fill my heart with God. What I haven't been doing is taking time each day to sit and be still before Him and fill myself up. When all is emptied out how can I expect to have anything for these girls?
In Matthew 12:34-35 Jesus says this: "You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him."
I was reminded that I need to be filling my heart with things of God so that what flows out on my family is good! How can I teach them the things of God if I am not even spending time with him myself?
One thing that I have learned from having children is a whole new kind of accountability. I want to be the person God created me to be even more because I want them to desire to be His also. I must make time in my day first and foremost for God if I am ever to be all I need to be for my family. I am so thankful that God is so patient with us. I am so ready to store up the good things!

Beer Bread

Matt and Lauren were summer youth inturns at our church. Most Thursdays they came over for dinner - one of the highlights of Allyson's week. The last Thursday before they left to go back to Texas they brought dinner over to us - a nice treat!
Lauren made beer bread and it is so yummy and delicious that I got the recipe from her. I haven't made it yet, but wanted to post the recipe before I forgot - it sounds so easy and it is really good. Here is it:

Beer Bread
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1 bottle of beer
Mix together really well and put it in a sprayed bread pan.
Put it in the oven on 350 for 40-45 minutes.
Take it out and pour one stick of melted butter on top,
then put it back in for 5-10 minutes. Then just let it cool! :)

Tana and Grey

So...it has been a few weeks since they left, but I am finally getting around to posting a few pictures of our visit from Aunt Tana and Grey. The girls had so much fun with thier aunt and cousin and we all enjoyed the visit so much. We packed quite a bit into the week that they were here and took lots and lots of pictures to send on up to GranJan....I won't post them all here or you would be looking all day.

Enjoy!