A Traditional Christmas

We started out having the husbands parents over for Christmas Eve dinner and later, as we used to do in the past when our boys were little, we went and looked at the Christmas lights around the valley.

Some people really put in the effort and go all out. It's quite impressive actually.

On Christmas morning the husband and I stuck with our family tradition of skiing on Christmas day even though it was just the two of us this year.

The mountain had dumped a lot of snow in the past couple of days and with the sun shining it made for a perfect day of skiing.

Then out of the blue, we saw Santa snowboarding down the hill. I guess after a big night of traveling around the world giving out gifts he decided to take some time and enjoy himself haha.

He was kind enough to let me snap a picture of him.

Knowing our grandsons would get a kick out of this, I sent them the picture. One of them said, 'Wait grandma, you saw Santa skiing?'

This was my first ski day of the season, which really just opened last week.

 In years past they've been open over Thanksgiving weekend but the snow has been slow to show itself this year. 

It was nice to have a relaxing day without trying to keep up with the kids haha. Our sons grew up skiing and it can be a bit challenging for this ol mama to hang with them on the slopes.

We truly had a wonderful Christmas and it's nice that traditions can still be alive and well even when the family dynamics change.

The Twelve Loaves of Christmas

All you gotta do really, is take 3 1/4 cups of luke warm water and mix it with 2 packages OR 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast and 1/3 cup of sugar.

If you wait 5 to 10 minutes until it gets foamy it should look like this:

Then add 2 Tbs of oil, 2 tsp of salt, 1 Tbs of vinegar and slowly 7 cups of flour. Mix that baby up so you have quite the wad of dough.

Let it sit for about 30 minutes to an hour so it can rise nice and big but not to big, you don't want it crawling on your counter.

It appears you could have one big hunk of bread on your hands but for the sake of your oven, its best to roll it out and divide it into thirds.

Once you have three even chunks of dough, grease your pans and place them in. They need to rise again for about 45 minutes then they should be ready to bake.

The recipe calls for an oven temperature of 375 but my oven runs hot so I lower the rack and heat to 350. After about 30 minutes of baking your house will smell great and you will have three amazing loaves of bread.

Now times that by 4 and give them out to your neighbors and friends for Christmas or anytime of the year really.

But don't forget the homemade peach jam.

A little disclaimer though, you could become their favorite person, just saying. 

Merry Christmas!

No Mistletoe needed.

Christmas Greetings!

The boys are in Kindergarten, 6 is their age,

Emerson and Tabitha's new venture, an escape room they did stage.

Derek's a National Champion, on his bike he took the win,

With a new job and house, George and Megan settle in.

I'm enjoying retirement, it's definitely my kind of life,
The husband is an amazing man who loves and supports his wife.

We're grateful and humbled for the blessings we receive, as we celebrate Christ our Savior in whom we believe. 

Wow! November went out with a bang.

November was welcomed with amazing colors of fall and beautiful sunny cool crisp days. Most of which was spent outside. The husband trimmed trees and rode his bike, we went on plenty of walks with our dog and rode the horses.

Then Thanksgiving rolled around and two of our three sons rolled into town for family togetherness and a wonderful feast.  

I love that both our middle son Derek and our youngest son George and his wife live within a few hours drive from us. 

And as it is with the married ones, sharing them becomes the new norm. Not that I'm complaining it's just naturally I want them all to ourselves haha. Last year it was Christmas and this year, Thanksgiving.

Our friends the Rothenbuelers 

 hosted an amazing dinner and we spent the evening visiting and enjoying each others company.

They invited us last year as well when there was only three of us, my husband, our son Derek and myself. This year we added four more to the invite, George and Megan as well as the in-laws.

Friends and family together under one roof made for a full house and much to be thankful for.

Five days later the husband and I loaded up the car and headed for Idaho. The grandsons had a 6th year birthday to celebrate and we didn't want to miss out because, if I know anything about the boys, they know how to party.

We went to Red Robin the night before for an early birthday dinner

and of course the complimentary sundae.

Much to our amazement, the morning of their birthday we woke to snow.

I really appreciated them taking the day off of school so we could have the entire day of being together.

Our agenda was to play until the party started and my motto was, 'It's your birthday so you get to do whatever you want.'

They were thrilled but their dad wasn't convinced, although he decided not to cross his mom in this matter and let grandma spoil her grandsons, which meant opening a few presents early.

 The MarioKart race track we gave them went with their Mario birthday theme because, well...

 they kinda love everything Mario.

The cake was beyond amazing.

It was made by their mom's friend and neighbor who obviously has an incredible talent in the cake decorating department. Everyone was blown away. 

She even filled it with a confetti surprise.

After cake and ice cream we all went downstairs for presents and games.

'Don't step in it' was a hit. A game where you try not to step in poop while walking blindfolded. Luckily it's just play dough you're trying to avoid.

Similar to our back yard but without the blindfold and the turds are real.

November was truly a month of thankfulness and gratitude and a great reminder of the blessings in our lives.

Escape the Maddness

Ahoy Matey's! 

Arrrr, a pirate's treasure we were after. Me husband and two of our mates joined together to seek after some hidden booty.

We only had one hour to find hidden clues, open locked chests and solve the mystery as to where the treasure was hidden.

Each locked chest or cabinet led us to another clue to unlock other chests. The clues were tricky and required thinking outside the box.

They're called escape rooms but in our case we weren't trying to find our way out of a locked room, but rather a hidden treasure somewhere in the room.

Escape rooms are becoming the new thing for groups of people, family and friends to collaborate, problem solve and work together under pressure.

It's a physical adventure game in which players solve a series of puzzles and riddles using clues, hints and strategy under a set time, usually an hour.

Neither of us, the husband, myself and our neighbors had ever experienced an escape room. We were talking about it during our monthly dinner date and decided to give it a try.

The pirate room was the easier of the two rooms available but holy cow what a challenge, a fun challenge which really tests your thinking skills.

If you are stuck and can't move on, you can ask for help. We had 4 hints available and weren't shy about using them. They provided a large bell so anytime we needed a hint we could ring the bell and someone would come into the room to assist us.

Luckily we weren't thrown overboard since we ran out of time but rather had a compassionate captain who helped us find the treasure.

I have to say, I'm kinda hooked. Now I want to try their other room. Instead of pirates and treasure,

It's a Pharaoh's Tomb complete with an ancient curse. The mission is to discover an inner tomb, identify the Pharaoh and escape within 60 minutes.

 All I need is a team of brave archeologist.....