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)

Raclette. Serving up Memories

(check out even more great raclette ideas at www.createthosememories.ca)

I love traditions. I love doing things that bring my family together. As Christmas comes I start to think about traditions that I have...
I loved fondue. I don't really remember when we would do it as a family, but I remember my mom pulling out the fondue set and we'd sit around and enjoy the food and fun and family. It could have been just once or twice that we did it, but I remember it and remember loving it. As a young adult my favourite group date was fondue! When we got married I loved it so much that we made it a yearly tradition for new year's eve. Some of the best times were when we shared the tradition with friends! The prep was fun, the clean up wasn't, but it was all worth it!
I do remember New Year's Eve as a kid, it would be one of the few occasions when the fine china came out and we got to have a "fancy" meal. The one thing I do remember eating was cream corn. I always thought it was such a special food that we only got it once a year. I later learned that my mom hates cream corn and my dad loves it, so she would let him have it once a year! :)
I remember visiting my Grossmutti and Grossvati (Grandma and Grandpa, Dad's parents). They came from Switzerland and my favourite meal was when the raclette came out (I didn't know that's what it was called at the time). We'd start with a vinegar/lettuce salad (I don't know the exact recipe, but I found something close below) then fry our potatoes on top and melt swiss cheese underneath. I loved being able to melt my own cheese and fry my own potatoes! As I started my own family, I searched for something that would recreate this experience. A few years ago I finally found one, it was cheap and didn't work perfectly. Then, Velata introduced their own Raclette this past October. I am in love!! I love being able to cook at the table and share this tradition with my children. As well as introduce many more traditions (we made french toast, turkey bacon and fried eggs last night for dinner on the Raclette)
This is why I am in love with VELATA! I love that it brings family together (even when I don't really want to share, as soon as my Velata warmer is going (with either cheese or chocolate) I am guaranteed to have someone wanting to share :)

www.nataliezuidhof.velata.ca

Lettuce Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce (I like it shredded)

1 cup vinegar

sugar (enough to make a thick syrup consistency)

wash and cut lettuce, set aside.

put the vinegar in a bowl, add sugar to desired consistency and mix well so sugar is dissolved.

spoon the syrup onto the lettuce and mix lightly.

Bucket list

I have decided i need a bucket list...here goes

1. complete an Ironman triathlon
2. complete Escape from Alcatraz triathlon
3. become a Scentsy Family SuperStar Director
4. go to Jerusalem
5. go to Switzerland
6. go to Australia and New Zealand
7. Run a Marathon
8. go up in a hot air balloon
9. go to Mt. Everest base camp
10. return to the Philippines

Is that a good enough start? I can always add to it, can't I.

Scentsy Family Reunion 2013 part 2

The thing that I love about the Scentsy Family, they love to have consultants share what they know, and all those consultants are willing to share what they know to help everyone grow and improve. This year at reunion we had several consultants speak to us. Here are a few of the points I enjoyed the most...

Sarah Matanane: she talked about booking blitzes (calling/texting/messaging as many people as  you can in a short period of time with the sole purpose of booking parties). one quote she used was by Mark Victor Hansen  “Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”

Danette Kroll said "it's not the gift that matters, it's the value YOU leave"

Teri Newman said "if you have the will to achieve your goals, you will WIN"

Jenae Sexton quoted Hank Aaron  “The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favour and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting."  I've got the bat, the weapon is in my favour! I will not fret. It's about loving what you do and sharing it with the world, build those relationships so that they know why you want to share it with them.

Maurita Tollestrup was my favourite consultant speaker of the week, not only because I know her, but I really did love the message she had to share. She talked about beginning with an end in mind, then map it out. If you plot where you are going, you are more likely to make it there as our actions will lead to the results we want! 

Here's part of my map, though not the end, just some steps along the way, these goals will guide me to the end I'm aiming for!

quick weekend getaway

Last week Monday Chris suggested we go camping on the weekend! We quickly checked out Waterton Springs Campground (a great campground just outside Waterton Park). They had 1 spot available and we snatched it up! We packed everything up on Thursday, then Chris and I worked Friday and headed out after work. We didn't have time to do anything Friday night, but Saturday was filled with all kinds of Waterton traditions...

We all made it up Bear's Hump! (those stairs they added are HUGE, poor little Blakelee could barely make it up some of them!)

Then we headed over to the Prince of Wales Hotel. The last time we were in Waterton the kids wanted to know what that big house was, so we told them, Kayla asked where the wales were :) then this weekend Blake said, it's the dolphin house! 

We stopped by the cabin to see Grandpa Ted (my grandpa) and he invited us to go fishing. We spent the afternoon on the boat enjoying the sunshine and beautiful scenery. We didn't catch any fish, but it was still lots of fun.

We stopped by the big scoop for the traditional icecream cone and Kayla had chocolate, can you tell?

S'mores by the campfire made even better with Velata caramel milk chocolate!! YUM

Sunday morning before church we stopped by Cameron Falls and climbed up to the lookout. Kayla wanted to stay all day long!

Goodbye Waterton, but only for a few weeks, we'll be back!!