My Mother-in-Law learned the art of Chocolate Dipping, from her Aunt Vita,(sp?) and has been doing it for years, she has taught her daughters, and (daughter-in-laws) the beautiful art.
Here is me and Cat, doing double dipped Mints. Yum.
I am concentrating so hard to make them look nice…
I have been lucky enough to take part of the chocolate making process since Toph and I have been married. Every year, I love the feeling of warm chocolate, and getting it to the right temperature for dipping. I love to dip, and of course to taste them. That is one of the best parts, tasting, as well as watching others eat them. Because Honestly, who doesn’t like chocolates?
Category: Emily
Last Monday, we had a crazy day. A day that I will remember for awhile, a day full of gratitude, a day we were all blessed by the hand of the Lord in our Lives.
They day started off abnormally when our children slept in until 8:20. Anyone who knows my children, know that sleeping-in from them is 7AM, so a weird start to the morning, we had a busy morning, getting Tuck ready for School, cleaning up the house, and etc.
I was just walking out the door taking Tuck to the Neighbors house to be carpooled to school, when the carbon-monoxide alarm started to go off. I just assumed it was the batteries going out, so I took the boys across the street, and came back home, to change the batteries before I brought Tru back home. I just wanted to make it safe. As I was changing the upstairs alarm, the downstairs alarm started to sound. I wasn’t sure if it was just coincidence, or what, so I changed the downstairs batteries too, and then borrowed my neighbors plug in the wall alarm. All three began sounding at the same time. I new then, that this didn’t have to do with batteries. I have great neighbors/friends. Jamie took Tru to Diana house, (Diana had playgroup at her house, and gladly took Truman), then went to double check on Tucker at preschool, to make sure he was feeling okay. What Good Friends.
After a few phone calls, I finally got ahold of the nice gentlemen at the fire station. One of whom came right down, in his firetruck. He came into the house, and put his detectors in, our bottom family room, walked out, left it 2 minutes. He went back in to checked it, and already the levels were at 17. (which is high). He usually waits for the complete reading after 5 minutes, but because our Alarms were going off, he figured they were high. Because of the levels, he called Questar Gas Company, told me to stay out of the house, and so that is what I did.
I waited for a little over an hour, until the gas man came. He came with his special sniffers, and between him and the furnace guy, it turns out we didn’t have enough ventilation going into our furnace room. We were finally able to return to the house, close the doors and windows, turn our furnace back on and try to return to normal life about 5 PM.
We were just grateful to be alive, and encourage all of our loved ones to purchase Carbon Monoxide Monitors.
We want everyone to be healthy and safe.
An important Hunsaker Tradition that our family does every year is Gingerbread. I love making gingerbread, I love how it tastes, I love cutting it out, and baking it, and of course decorating it.
I never thought that anything could make gingerbread better, but watching the children having that joy, made our gingerbread making a fanstastic, memorable adventure.
Last Friday, my boys, Andy and I spent the day, beginning at 8 am until 7 pm in the gingerbread process. The Process: Go to the store to buy Molasses, make the dough, refrigerate it, Roll it, cut it, bake it, cool it, make frosting, frost and eat.
(by the way, take a look at my STYLISH son Truman, he has taken to layering his clothes. This day, I am especially fond of the stripes/plaid combo!)
I love Gingerbread. It tastes like Christmas.
I love traditions and I love Christmas.
This is only our second big snowfall! The first one melted before we could really play in it. We weren’t going to miss the opportunity again–so when it started to snow, we were ready!
Catching the snow:
Tuck Tasting the snow:
Truman rediscovering snow:
Building the snowman:
Tuck and the snowman:
This is the Snowman that got knocked over by Truman 2 seconds after this picture was taken:
What fun playing in the snow can be when it is NOT Bitterly cold outside! How I love Utah County!
Holiday Time is Family Time. On the way back from Logan after Thanksgiving, we stopped over and stayed a few days at the Cabin with the the Great Hunsakers. The Thanksgiving Celebrations were just ending as we arrived. So it was only Ry, Tiff and the kids and the Great Hunsakers for most of the time. It was a fun weekend.
Of course we enjoyed hiking around on the Cabin Trails, up to the Beaver Pond (and the new cabin being built there). Here are some fun pics from our ‘walk’ :
Tucker in Grandpas Canoe:
Greenes on the Iced over Pond:
Following Aunt Tiff:
Hiking Cousins:
Just ‘da boys at the Beaver Pond:
Dad and Tru:
Belle and Ry:
At the beaver pond, of course the kids wanted to throw things in, Truman really wanted to throw BIG things in. As big as he could hold. Then he would say, “Help me please!” as he would find large massive boulders that he would want to throw in. Silly Boy.
A few closeups of the kids, while they were tossing things in:
Ikey-
Tru-
Tuck-
This was Good Company and a Good Place.
Anther important Phillips Family Tradition. The day after Thanksgiving is Tree Day.
The Phillips Family always head up to Idaho, up Strawberry Canyon to be exact, and hike up the mountain until we find the perfect tree, cut it down, and bring it home.
This year was no exception.
WE had a wonderful time, and got some fun pics too of course.
Toph and Tru fell asleep:
Tucker with his new loader:
Geared up and Ready to Go:
Hiking:
Cutting the Tree:
The Cut Tree:
Tuck Sliding down the mountain side:
Cold Cheeks!:
The Evelyns:
Cat and Madalyn:
Truman just decided to run to Toph and give him a huge hug, as a parent, these are the things that melt your heart:
Handsome Mikey:
Tucker and Truman had a great time. While we were hiking, we crossed over a river that had frozen over. Tucker made a funny comment. As he was walking across, he exclaimed, “Look at me, I am like Jesus. Walking on Water”. We didn’t quite know exactly how to respond to that comment. But we are grateful that his thoughts are on our Savior.
I love “Charlie-Brown Trees”, so I am always satisfied with our tree hunt! 🙂
And of course after the trees were found, loaded in the truck, we enjoyed Chili and Cinnamon Rolls at the River. Delicious.
Here are some silly faces in the car on the way home(not the best shot, but a good memory):
The past few years, In an attempt to stay ahead of the Christmas Season, I have started a Thanksgiving Eve tradition. This day is reserved for our family, making our own Turkey, and putting up the Christmas Decorations. (all except for the live tree of course)
I find it a wonderful way to get in the holiday mood, and refreshing to return home to a clean Christmas Home after attending the Thanksgiving Celebrations at our parents homes.
This year was no exception, a wonderful day.
Here is Tucker and Truman in front of “their tree”. Tucker was thrilled about putting it up, and putting it together. He really got into the Christmas Spirit, and had so much fun putting this tree together, and later decorating it.
My mom gave us these plastic ball ornaments a few years ago, they are great, because they won’t break, and if any of them get ruined, I don’t care 🙂
It was so fun to watch Tucker put the balls on the tree. Most of the ornaments ended up right next to each other on the same branch, but Tucker enjoyed having a tree to decorate.
Truman on the other hand was more interested in pretending to a pirate and playing Firemen than decorating.
We had our own little Turkey on Thanksgiving Eve, Here is a picture of Toph Carving the Turkey.
It was yummy delicious, and we had a great time, kicking off the Holiday Season.
Categories
A non-wanted break..
Due to the fact my computer is having a melt down,and is choosing to freeze, not open my applications, and etc.
I am forcing myself to take a break from blogging. This is why there have been no posts in the last week, and will be no post until our little apple decides to function properly. 🙂
If not I would spend countless hours trying to make ONE post. So, when I come back be prepared for an onslaught of posts 🙂
Previous Leaf Total: 37
Mowed up: 6 bags
Raked up: 2 bags
New Total: 45 Bags
A house up the street from ours, had a sign out front
“Bagged Leaves Wanted”.
Tuck and Toph loaded up the truck and took care of that, the sign isn’t there anymore.
Categories
Ever Wonder…
Ever wonder what you would like if you were a robot?
I probably haven’t ever wondered that, but now I don’t have to ever wonder any more.
Tucker has drawn me…the robot mother.
