Merry Christmas

Having children is an extraordinary thing! Landon and Travis have taught me how to smile and laugh more; they've taught me how to love. This year my greatest gift was sharing this special holiday with my husband and children. 



Landon and Travis looked so cute in their Christmas pj's

Jesse and I decided that each Christmas we wanted to read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This is a story that teaches that change is possible. That no matter who you were yesterday you can choose to wake up a better person today. I look forward to reading A Christmas Carol each year. Jesse and I finished reading it on Christmas Eve.

That evening we tried to watch the Muppet Christmas Carol to see how similar it was to the book. Landon was running around the living room acting like a wild child while Travis was spitting-up every three minutes. About half way through we decided to stop everything and get the boys dressed in their Christmas pj's, take pictures and put them to bed. After they were in bed, Jesse and I shared our own Christmas with each other. Jesse got a frame for his diploma and I got a vintage plate that had my favorite quote on it.

"This Is My House

I'll Do As I Darn Please"

I plan on hanging this in my kitchen for everybody to see. It will be the Rachelle Egbert Motto.



Jesse brought both of the boys down on Christmas morning.

On Christmas morning Landon woke up at 5:30. Jesse and I decided the night before that no matter what time Landon got up we would get up too. So, being the good parents that we are, we changed Landon's diaper, gave him a sippy and let him play in his room until 7:00. All the while we were snug in bed.

Every time I leave the office door open Landon will come out carrying a pen and paper to color on. I decided it's time for him to have his own learning space. So we got him an easel/desk for Christmas. I was really worried that he wouldn't like it, but I was excited to see Landon happily coloring away all Christmas morning. Travis got rattles, teething toys, and a blanket. We even got a present for Penny. She got a bone that was 2 feet long.

Landon and Travis didn't know why they were getting so many cool presents, but they weren't complaining.

Since Jesse and I wouldn't be going to Utah for Christmas this year some of my family came to us. Landon was already acting pretty spoiled, but at 9:00 am, when my parents got here, he was so overwhelmed with presents he didn't know what to do. We finally had to put his desk in the back room so he would open the rest of his presents. For Christmas Jesse got a Kindle and I got a new bed spread. I also got my dream time out corner: a head massager, a neck pillow and a hot cup for my hot chocolate. These are supposed to be used with my foot bath I got for Mothers Day. I plan on spending a lot of time in time out.



Penny got new booties for Christmas. She slipped and face planted it in the snow. I think this pictures is so funny I had to include it.

It's the most yummiest time of the year



Travis is huge and didn't fit on Landon's lap. It didn't help that Landon didn't want cute little Travis to be touching him. Poor kid.


Christmas is the only time of year where I kick back and eat what ever I want. I love food and I am slowly but surely beginning to love cooking too. I thought I would share some of my favorite holiday recipes that I grew-up with and am now sharing with my own children.

BARBECUE MEATBALLS

75 Italian style meatballs
4 cups ketchup
3 cups brown sugar, scant
3 1/2 tspns liquid smoke
2 tspns onion powder
1 tspns garlic powder

Mix together ketchup, sugar, liquid smoke and powders in a large bowl. Add meatballs and mix until meatballs are well coated. Pour meatballs and sauce into crock-pot; cover and simmer for 3-5 hours.

WASSAIL

(Read the NOTES First.)

• 1 gallon apple cider

• 4 small cans frozen orange juice, diluted

• 2 small cans frozen lemonade, diluted

• 8 cinnamon sticks

• 40 whole cloves

• 20 Allspice berries

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 8 cups water

• 4 cups sugar

Simple Syrup: Put water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, Allspice berries, and ginger in crockpot, and let cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. I normally do this overnight.

Mix in 5-gallon container: orange juice and lemonade according to directions on the juice cans. Add apple cider and spiced simple syrup. Strain while pouring the spiced simple syrup into the juice ingredients 

Stir well.

Notes:

• For a deeper flavor, I add to the crockpot simple syrup, the water used to make the 2 concentrated lemonade cans. I put the concentrated lemonade in the 5-gallon container and the water in the crockpot. 

• If you don't have a crockpot simmer the simple syrup on low heat in a covered pot for 4 hours.

• We use a 5- gallon orange Igloo drink dispenser.

• Serve hot or cold; store in the refrigerator.

• Makes 4.5 gallons.

PAZOLE

Ingredients:

14 cups water
3 lbs. boneless pork country style ribs or pork loin (cut into beef stew size)
5 cloves garlic, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt to taste

6 (1 lb. each) cans Juanita’s Mexican Style Hominy

1 can Las Palmas Red Enchilada Sauce

2 fresh tomatoes

¼ cup Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor powder

1 tablespoon oregano

Garnish

1 bunch radishes, chopped

1 small cabbage, finely shredded

3 to 4 fresh limes, sliced

5-6 avocado's sliced

1 bag Guerrero Tostaditas

1 container sour cream (as a spread on tostadas)
Fresh salsa

Instructions

In a large pot, boil pork meat, 5 cloves garlic, and salt for about 45 minutes. Add hominy. In a blender, mix red enchilada sauce, tomatoes, 1 clove garlic, bouillon powder, and oregano. Add blended mixture to pot. Simmer for 30 minutes. Put garnish in separate bowls and allow guest to garnish how they please.

Serve with tostadas spread with sour cream and fresh salsa.

Note: Put radishes, cabbage, and limes in separate bowls. Soak the radishes and shredded cabbage in cold water and refrigerate until ready to serve. The Guerrero Tostaditas can be purchased at Macey’s.

First Snow

I don't consider it the first snow of the year until it sticks to the ground. I used to hate winter but slowly I'm finding it to be my favorite time of the year. It forces us to slow down, stay home and spend less. Our apartment is right next to a forested area and Landon loves to look out our kitchen window when it snows and point to the forest and say "no'', he is still working on his "S".

Penny began her life with the Egbert family in this snow covered forest. She loves to belly flop, eat and play in it. After every snow storm Jesse and Penny will take a long walk and take pictures of all of the beautiful scenery.

Often when Penny and Jesse come home from a walk her nose is covered in snow.

The other day I was complaining that Penny is a wimp and a useless animal. Jesse decided to take Penny on a walk and take pictures of her being confident and beautiful to prove me wrong. I must admit, I do love this dog. Sometimes I feel like she is my third child. 

Christmas Decorations

 

For Christmas this year we are staying snug as a bug in Flagstaff. So we had to get some decorations to make it feel like Christmas. Jesse surprised me one Saturday early in November and said "lets go get a Christmas tree." If you know me, you would know that I don't like to start Christmas until after Thanksgiving, no decorations and no Christmas music. Thanksgiving is just a forgotten holiday, and I for one am not going to forget it. But...this year we were in definite need of some Christmas spirit, so I didn't complain. We drove all around Flagstaff and priced out Christmas trees. We settled on a 7.5 ft tree from Home Depot. Then Jesse told me that I had no more then $30 for ornaments. This was a hard thing for me because I really wanted nice ornaments, but I finally decided this is for the kids so I just picked-out one of those shatter-proof ornament kits and decided to make gingerbread men.

After we got our tree decorated, we woke Landon up from his nap and told him to come and see the tree. He was in a really bad mood because nobody, and I mean nobody, is allowed to wake him up. Well, I guess Penny is the exception to that statement. Anywho...we told Landon to come and see the tree and he of course refused and started throwing things, so I grabbed him by the ankles and carried him to the stair landing. He stopped crying and looked at the tree for a long time then with a big smile he looked up at me and said "tee".

The next weekend we went to Wal-mart and got the rest of the necessities: tree skirt, Christmas star, stockings and garland. While Jesse did homework and Landon took a nap, Travis and I decorated the rest of the apartment.

Travis is captivated with the Christmas tree lights. He likes to have tummy time in front of the tree.

Landon likes to eat his breakfast next to the Christmas tree. Sometimes he eats the Cinnamon dots off of the gingerbread men, but it's so cute that sometimes I have to pretend I didn't see it. I am so grateful to spend Christmas with my children. It gives me great joy to see them happy and excited.

Happy Graduation #2!

I can remember while Jesse was attending Salt Lake Community College, we would have several conversations about the future: Get accepted into BYU, Get a Bachelors Degree, Get a Masters Degree, Get a PhD, Publish research, Present research and most importantly do that best you know how to do. As years go by Jesse is accomplishing our goals that we made together at the very beginning. He graduated summa cum laude with University Honors from BYU and, as of December 15th, Jesse received his Master's degree in Teaching English as a Second Language with distinction from NAU. He is officially starting his final degree.

This semester was so ugly and exhausting that Jesse and I celebrated his graduation the only way we could possibly handle...sleep. Jesse came home from his last final, ate dinner and tucked Landon and himself into bed. We are officially slowing down. No more running when you can walk.

Happy Graduation!

On December 9th I said farewell to Jesse and Landon and said hello to an easy weekend of movies and sleeping. Jesse's brother Rob graduated with his MBA, and Jesse drove to Utah to surprise him. Because I am at my wit's end with Jesse's school, finals, and research, Jesse thought it would be nice to take Landon off of my hands and give me a day or two off from Landon duty. It was a lot of fun!

Rob graduated on December 10th with honors from Weber State University. It only took one painful year to do it, and it was just that: painful. It was a two year program, and he finished it in half that time. I know he couldn't have done it without his wife, Jocelyn.

As you can see, Landon had a blast with his cousin Rylee.

Landon is a smart little boy but when it comes to girls and hugs he's at a loss.



Hmmm...what to order. Landon and Rylee had fun at The Olive Garden.

 

They're just good friends!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Jesse and I decided that because this was our first Thanksgiving with our little family we would each come up with one Thanksgiving tradition. I came up with decorating gingerbread men to hang on our Christmas tree while the adults made Thanksgiving dinner. Jesse came up with making turkey pot pies on the day after Thanksgiving. They both turned out so well, we hope to keep these going for years to come. Grandma Egbert, Cameron, Melissa and Jenna came to help create these fun traditions.

Decorating Party! Melissa and Jenna were pros.

The Feast!

We also went to downtown Flagstaff to go window shopping, after nearly freezing we decided to go and get some yummy chocolate and watch movies. When we weren't watching movies, eating, talking or playing games we were swimming. Landon and Travis had a lot of fun with their aunts and uncle.



I think there should be a swimming pool for every holiday. Whenever I got stressed out and needed my apartment back I sent everyone to the swimming pool. It was great!

Book of the Month

"The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic adventure novel, the storyline of which takes place in the early years of the French Revolution. It is also a precursor of spy novels, as the title character, the Scarlet Pimpernel, works undercover and in disguise to save French aristocrats from the guillotine."  (http://www.goodreads.com/).

I normally don't like spy books or masked heroes, but this book was awesome. Jesse and I saw the movie last Christmas. Needless to say, he hated it and I loved it. This is a classic novel.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving Jesse and I wanted to stay home for the holidays. I originally started this blog to organize my recipes and to have access to them whereever I go. When we moved to Flagstaff I decided that in order to keep my family and friends in the know, I would need to turn this into a family/recipe blog. So I thought it would be fun to share my first Thanksgiving dinner with you. I have posted several of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes. We also had smoked turkey, homemade rolls and strawberry rhubarb pie. I didn't include the roll and pie recipes because I have posted them already. You can find them in the Recipe tab under desserts and breads.

CANDIED YAMS

2 large can sweet potatoes
4 teaspoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
large marshmallows

Drain most of the juice from sweet potatoes. Place in a casserole dish and dot with butter. Mix brown sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top. Cover top with marshmallows. Spray aluminum foil with Pam and loosely cover casserole dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 325°F. Remove aluminum foil and let bake an additional 5 minutes or until marshmallow are golden brown.

STUFFING

1 loaf  dry bread
1 package Mrs. Wright's Seasoned Dressing
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1/2 of a large onion
3 medium carrots, grated
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons sage, or to taste
1 cup chicken broth
3 to 4 cups hot water
Salt and pepper to taste

Tear dried bread into bite-sized pieces, In a large bowl add bread, seasoned dressing and butter. Add onion, carrot, celery and sage. Toss together; mix chicken broth into bread mixture. Mix hot water into bread mixture; salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into baking dish; cover and bake at 350°F for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE

2 cans French cut green beans
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1 can French fried onions

Stir the soup, milk, 2/3 cup of  onions and beans into a casserole dish. Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with remaining onions. Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

CRANBERRY JELL-O

1 Large package raspberry JELLO
1 can cranberry sauce, jellied
1 8 oz package cream cheese
2 cups frozen raspberries
2 cups mini marshmallows

Make JELLO as directed on package minus 1/2 cup water. Mix together cranberry sauce and and cream cheese until smooth. Add JELLO and mix thoroughly. Lightly blend frozen raspberries into JELLO mixture and pour into a bowl. If you want to keep the fruit whole, pour mixture into a bowl and gently fold in the raspberries. sprinkle marshmallows on top. Refrigerate until firm.

Busted

I'm pretty sure Landon and Travis have teamed up against me. Lately, when I am taking care of Travis, Landon will run into another room and do something naughty.

How long does it take to destroy a living room? 3 minutes. I was changing a dirty diaper and came downstairs to a disaster zone.

I just finished giving Landon a bath and getting him dressed when Travis woke up. I went to get Travis and then came back just in time to watch Landon dump a cup of water over his head and all over the floor.

Being outnumbered is hard enough but it's impossible when they team up against me. Landon is just lucky that he is so darn cute or he would spend most of his day in time out. 

German Pancakes

I've been trying to find fun ways to keep Landon occupied during the day. Baking has been one of our favorite things to do together. The first thing we ever made together was German Pancakes. He loves how tall it gets in the oven. Every time I pull it out of the oven he will point and say WOW! We half the recipe when it's just the two of us eating.

GERMAN PANCAKES

6 eggs

1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place butter in 9x13 baking dish and place in oven to melt butter, tilt to coat bottom of pan. Place remaining ingredients in a bowl and blend until smooth. Pour into buttered baking dish.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with favorite syrup or fruit with powdered sugar.



Hash Brown Quiche

Everytime  my mom comes for a visit she makes us something new to eat. On this particular visit she made us yummy quiche. This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes.

HASH BROWN QUICHE

3 cups shredded hash brown potatoes

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup diced cooked ham

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 cups chopped fresh spinach

3 eggs

1 cup half-and -half cream

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Press hash browns onto the bottom of casserole dish. Drizzle with melted butter and bake for 20 minutes, or until it begins to brown. In a small bowl, combine ham, onion, spinach and shredded cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, and salt and pepper. When hash browns are ready, spread ham mixture on the top then cover with egg mixture. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is puffy and golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Note : Egg mixture should cover the top of the ham mixture if it doesn't you can whisk a few more eggs and pour it on top.

Spaghetti Di Mare

I've never been a big fan of spaghetti but how can you say no to scallops and shrimp. My mom made this for me while she was staying with me in September. I couldn't believe how yummy it was.

SPAGHETTI DI MARE

1/2 lb. spaghetti

1/3 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, diced

1 pinch red pepper flakes

1 Can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes, drained

1 pinch salt

3 TBSP balsamic vinegar

2 bouillon cubes, crushed

1/2 lb. scallops

1/2 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 TBSP lemon juice

3 TBSP butter

1/4 cup parsley, shopped

Cook pasta according to package direction. In a large skillet, combine olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Cook on medium for 3 minutes. Crush Whole tomatoes by hand. Add tomatoes, salt, balsamic vinegar, add bouillon cubes. Bring to a boil. Add scallops, shrimp and lemon juice. Reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Add butter and parsley. Cook for 2 minutes. Serve over cooked pasta.

Note: We used frozen pre-cooked shrimp and scallops.

Happy Birthday Landon!!!

November 11, 2010
I can't believe Landon is 2. He is growing up so fast. I LOVE birthdays and I really wanted Landon to have a great day. So as soon as Jesse got home from school we went out and had some fun!

Landon must have been really excited for his birthday because he got up at 5:00 am. Then he called Grandma Egbert at 5:30am, oops.

We took Landon out to lunch. He was really excited to eat!

After lunch we went to Target to pick out Landon's present. It was really cold outside.

What to choose, what to choose?

Landon finally settled on a Leapfrog laptop. He wouldn't let anyone hold it.

We were going to end the day stong and go to the pet store. We never made it.

Baby Blessing

November 07, 2010

What's New with the Egberts

I was reading my journal the other morning, taking a walk down memory lane. I was taken aback by how fast life goes by. It seems like it was just yesterday Jesse and I were getting married and starting our lives together. Well, we have only been married for 3 1/2 years, but our lives have changed dramatically since May 2, 2007. We now have 2 beautiful boys, Landon and Travis. Jesse has graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Linguistics and is about to graduate with his Master's Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language.

Each year Jesse and I commit to slow down our lives, and each year we speed up. Come 2011 our lives really will slow down. This semester has been the worst it has ever been. Jesse was called to serve as an early morning seminary teacher and is also in the hardest and busiest semester of his life. To add to Jesse's already busy schedule we decided to have a baby, just to make things more exciting. Because of Jesse's hard work he will graduate a semester early and has now been given an early acceptance into the Applied Linguistics PhD program. I'm so proud of Jesse for working hard; he is such a great example for our boys!

Because of Jesse's new calling as an early morning seminary teacher our entire family now begins the day at 5:30 am. This is not by choice on my part, no matter how quiet Jesse is, Landon will use his super power hearing and wake up. I can't complain too much though, I have my apartment cleaned and my boys down for their first nap by 9:00 am. Having 2 kids is hard; I am just now getting a good, solid handle on things. This is only accomplished by both Landon and I spending several minutes a day in time-out. I firmly believe time-out is just as effective for adults as it is for children. So, when life is out of control go to time-out for 5 minutes and you will feel much better. Also, I started running this week. I can't believe how much it helps me handle the stress I face each day. If I have any more kids, though, I might find my self running several times a day.

I hadn't done laundry for a while. So their clothes don't really match.

Landon has adjusted remarkably well to being an older brother. If it wasn't for Landon's help, taking care of Travis would be more difficult. Travis throws-up a little too often and as soon as it happens Landon is running for the burp cloths and the wipes. Then when we get to the bathroom to give Travis a bath. Landon always has the toys in the bath even though Travis is too little to play with them. We make a great team. Travis is growing up way too fast. He can now roll over and is already wearing 3 month outfits. I wish my little guys would stop growing-up so fast. I love them so much!

Book of the Month

Excitement fizzes through the Bennet household at Longbourn in Hertfordshire when young, eligible Mr. Charles Bingley rents the fine house nearby. He may have sisters, but he also has male friends, and one of these the haughty, and even wealthier, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy irks the vivacious Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the Bennet girls. She annoys him. Which is how we know they must one day marry. The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and Darcy is a splendid rendition of civilized sparring. As the characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, Jane Austen's radiantly caustic wit and keen observation sparkle. (http://www.goodreads.com/).

Jane Austen is a brilliant author. As soon as I saw the movie I knew I had to read the book. At the end of my senior year in high school I finally picked this book up and it wasn't until I finished, that I put it down.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

I made these for our Halloween party. I hate making caramel apples so I thought this would be a fun replacement. When you frost them with the caramel I would suggest doing a fun drizzle rather than putting a thick coat on top.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 rome apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded
1 1/2 cups chewy caramel candies
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Arrange a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350°. Line a cupcake pan with baking liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream. Microwave for 1 minute at medium power, then stir; repeat in 30-second intervals until melted and smooth. Let cool. Spread the frosting on the cooled cupcakes.

Happy Halloween

Growing-up I would have never imagined living in another state from my family. Well, here I am doing just that. We will establish most of our family while living here in Flagstaff and some of the most special memories we share were created right here, too. There are times when we both miss our families.  It gets lonely and sometimes we feel forgotten, but it's in those lonely times that Jesse and I become more united and grow closer together as a family. Because of our newest edition, Travis, we are going to stay home this year for the holidays. We've been married for 3 1/2 years and we are just now starting to form our own holiday traditions. We're a little late, but it's never too late to start.

For Halloween, we had a few parties that we went to on Saturday night, but the real fun started on Sunday. We had our very own family Halloween party. Landon and Travis were both sick, which was kind of a bummer, but we still had fun. We played the powdered donut game. Landon cheated and used his hands. Then we watched The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Landon normally isn't allowed to watch movies so he was pretty captivated with it. We couldn't even get him to look away from the TV.

On Saturday night we dressed Landon in his Halloween costume for the ward trunk-or-treat. He was so excited that we couldn't get him to stop running around the living room.  Landon was a pirate and Travis was a cute little baby.

I love my...

When my Mom left and Jesse went back to school, I was left alone with 2, terrifying boys. How was I suppose to take care of these kids all day everyday without help? Well, clearly I figured it out, I just had to rely on things rather then people. When Landon was still using a bottle I will never forget getting-up and 2:00am filling a cup with hot water and then wait and wait and wait... all the while looking at my microwave and just thinking to myself just this once. It won't hurt to do it just this once.  So this time around I spent the $30 and got a bottle warmer. I love my bottle warmer, it is a true love that you can only experience at 2 in the morning. By the time I change Travis's diaper Jesse is coming back with a warm bottle. We are back, snug in our bed in only 20 minutes. Also our bottle warmer comes with cold compartment so we never have to go down stairs, we can just stumble to our bathroom and then stumble back to our room. It's extremely handy when Travis is starving and Landon is throwing a temper tantrum.

My extended family bought me a swing for Landon's baby shower. And of course Landon hated it. But, now that I have two kids I have no choice but to use it. I can't really put Travis on the floor or couch. Landon has the idea in his head that he would rather walk over or under things instead of going around them and any time I put Travis on the couch Landon will try to play catch with him. So the swing Landon hated has become Travis's safe haven.

I thought Penny was making a break through
and trying to be close to Travis. After closer
observation I realize that Travis was in
the only sunspot in the living room and she was
just trying to get in on the ray of sunshine too.