I love to cook

I think I've always known this, but it's been suppressed since we moved to Taber. In our Picture Butte house we had a HUGE kitchen!!! We even did reno's and put in all new cupboards, it was beautiful! It was one of the few things that I was sad to leave (second to some really great friends!). In Taber, we have a teeny tiny kitchen! (seriously) So I find I don't look forward to trying new things that are going to require a lot of room (aka lots of bowls, pans, space for spreading out). But since getting my Velata Raclette and trying new things with it and new recipes with my other Velata products (you know, that awesome Belgian Chocolate, or the fabulous Wisconsin Cheese, and don't forget the amazing Artisan Rubs), that desire to try new recipes and create amazing things (and sometimes not so amazing things) is coming back! I am really bad at inviting people over to try them (mostly because I think my house is too small), so invite yourself over if you want to come try something fun!

now I'm going to go wash the dishes and clean off my counters so I can create something amazing tomorrow!

#raclettewars

This was dinner tonight (and dessert) :) LOVE IT!!

Bedtime

Some of you may know this already, but my kids go to bed at 6:30pm. YES, 6:30!! There is a reason for this...my kids are up EARLY! so what, you may say, 7:30 isn't so bad, yes, 8am would be nice, but 7:30 is doable. NO, that's a miracle if they sleep in until 7:30. When I say early, I mean EARLY...5:30am!! 6am if we're lucky!! This may be our own fault, Chris leaves for work at 6:30am, when I work (2 days/week) I'm up at 5:30 to leave by 6:30 as well. It doesn't matter what time we send them to bed (Kayla has been known to stay up will past 10pm), they are up early! So, to make sure they're happy and rested, bedtime is 6:30pm.
It actually works out pretty good for us, I'm done work at 3pm when I work, Chris is done at 3:30. Once everyone is home we can eat dinner 4:30/5pm, enjoy some time together, then send the kids to bed. It's actually kinda nice to have some quiet evening time to get stuff done.

Olympics

I love watching the Olympics! I remember as a child watching them and cheering on Canada, it doesn't matter the sport, or if I even know who the athletes are, they are from Canada and that is enough! I even get emotional as they win gold, silver or bronze, or even when they fall. They represent all of us and do the very best they can. I am proud to be Canadian and cheer for them.

If you want to know how awesome Canada is, read this article it sums it all up!
Now go watch some olympic coverage and cheer really loud for Canada!!

New Year's Eve celebration

As the mother of 3 young children, New Year's Eve is a little different than when I was young...I was in bed by 10pm (though I was woken just after midnight by Kayla having growing pains!). But it was a great night with my family and a fabulous way to end the year.

Velata chocolate fondue, cheese and crackers

a very cheesy husband :)

sausage and potatoes on the raclette

then we did cold slab ice cream...

I chilled the granite top from the raclette in the freezer for several hours, then add ice cream (we did vanilla, but you can get creative and do different flavours)

add in some treats, I had a mini cupcake, smarties and velata milk chocolate. the kids liked crushed oreos, kitkats and smarties.

mix it all together 

Enjoy! It was AWESOME!

here's the stuff we had to add in, mini cupcakes, apple pie filling, chopped kitkats, smarties, and oreos, caramel sauce and velata milk chocolate.

I think next time it would be fun to do a banana split theme, bananas, strawberries, Velata chocolate, caramel sauce, cherries, marshmallow cream, anything you want on a banana split!

New Year!

As I sit here and do a little organizing and planning for the new year, I am taking time to set some goals for the next year. I've posted my goals on my whiteboard. some of them include, run a 1/2 marathon, pay off credit card debt, go to Cancun (Scentsy leadership retreat) in 2015, run 1,000km this year and complete an olympic length triathlon! Not only did I set the goals, but I am also in the process of making a plan on how to achieve these goals, like my goal of running 1,000km this year requires that I run 3 times/week. I'm looking now for a 1/2 marathon to book so that I have a deadline. I'm excited about what 2014 has in store for me and my family!
Do you make goals? write them down, show someone, it makes you accountable and helps you achieve them! Set BHAG's (Big Hairy Audacious Goals), even if you don't achieve them, you'll be further ahead at the end of the year than you are today! I'm going to make it a double yay year!
Here's to 2014!!

Christmas 2013

I love Christmas! I have my nativities up on November 1st, I start listening to Christmas music as soon as Chris will let me! I love the smell of a real Christmas tree, I love giving to others. This year, as I sit here at the end of Christmas day 2013, I'm happy!

I wasn't really feeling the Christmas feeling this year until about a week ago. I was driving into Lethbridge listening to some of my favourite Christmas carols. My favourite carols are the Forgotten Carols. I love the message each song has and they remind me of those people we often don't think about, like the inn keeper, Joseph, and those that weren't there, but heard about His birth and still believed. As I listened to the songs I was struck by gratitude for my Saviour and His sacrifice for me. I love that we can celebrate His birth and His life, not just in December, but all year long!

We've started a tradition in our family of having Santa Claus come a few days early. That way the kids can open their presents and enjoy the gifts they receive. That leaves Christmas day a day we can focus on the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

This morning we started with stockings and had a great Christmas morning breakfast:

Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole

4 cups of shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
10 eggs
8 pieces of cooked bacon,chopped
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/3 milk
4or 5 green onions, chopped
Hot sauce to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of additional shredded cheese for top of casserole

Mix all the ingredients together except the 1/2 cup of cheese. Pour into a greased 9×13″ pan. Top with the shredded cheese. Cover and put into refrigerator overnight. Let sit on counter for 5 to 10 minutes and then bake uncovered at 325* for about 45 minutes or until the eggs are cooked.

(I actually cooked it for about 1hour and 15 min), It was great, even Ryker, who "doesn't like eggs" ate it!
Then we acted out the nativity. We don't have enough in our little family to fill all the parts, so we enlisted the help of some "buddies"

This Christmas has been a little different than most, we started renovations on our bathroom last week Friday and we've been slowing working on it since then! so today we kept working on that, I'll post pictures of the final project when it's done (soon I hope!)

We had the missionaries come over this evening. I remember being a missionary at Christmas time, and I appreciated the members that allowed us to be a part of their Christmas and I wanted to return the favour. It was the beginning of a new tradition, Velata for Christmas dinner. Everyone loved it! Raclette to grill up the meats, Cheese fondue, and Chocolate fondue! One Elder was very adventurous and dipped everything in the chocolate! I mean EVERYTHING, including pickles, cheese, carrots and shrimp!

After dinner we tried a new program from the Friend magazine...

Elder Jones played piano for us and Kayla and Blakelee held up all the letters for us! It was a great way to end the day and remember again the true reason for the season!

It's been a fabulous day! It is my hope and prayer that all of my friends and family had as good a day as I did! MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!!

(I'll admit I love my Scentsy buddies and I did my own nativity when the kids were done)