Thankful

"Family, like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one"  Anonymous

This quote nicely sums up my thoughts on another wonderful year and how, while the family continues to change, we always remain as one family.

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents and sisters.  Dinner this year was at my parent's home and it was yummy food with lively conversation.  Evan and Tori were so thrilled to be there... really they weren't to thrilled but they did enjoy the food.

Todd was helpful and carved the turkey for my Dad, while Dad stirred the gravy.  Delicious!

Three of my sisters were there.... someday it will be all of them.... until then we'll enjoy those that are with us.  We had Kayce, Nan, and Carol there.  Also in the picture is me and Mom.  It's amazing how sisters can be so different but yet so alike.  When we get together and talk it's like reading each others minds.  We can bounce around from subject to subject because we just know how the subjects connect even though those around us may be confused.  It's great! 

Spencer and his wife, Ashley, spent Thanksgiving with her family but then came to visit us over the weekend.  I'm always in heaven when all three of my children are with me.  Spencer had just given himself a lovely haircut and it fits his personality.  He's always been a bit of a rebel punk... love that boy.

My Dad was able to stop by for a visit with us also and spend some time catching up with my wonderful children. Yet, another year to be thankful for family and another year to focus on how swiftly time flies and to always be thankful for our precious time together.

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a wonderful life I lead.  I'm so very blessed to have my husband and children and so thrilled to have them all home for the holidays.  We don't get to see Spencer and Ashley very often now that they've moved and I was just overjoyed when they came to spend four days with us for Christmas. 

It's tough for a Mom to adjust to having her children leave the nest, at least for this Mom it's been tough.  I cried for days when Spencer moved out.  Having him home with us along with the addition of Ashley, his wife, was an absolute joy.

As you can see from this picture, I've got some pretty good looking kids (just ignore the silly face Spencer's making.... he's just a good looking kid).  Oh, by the way, can you see that Evan is now taller than Spencer?  Evan has grown like crazy this last year.

Sadly we're missing Todd from the picture.  Poor Todd.  Just two days before Christmas Todd had surgery on his shoulder to repair some damage done after a skiing accident dislocated his shoulder.  The accident had happened early December and it took some time to determine if he would need surgery.  Once it was discovered he needed surgery we decided to move forward as quickly as possible so he could recover more quickly and avoid taking a lot of time off from work, which resulted in surgery just two days before Christmas.  No fun.  He's been such a trooper and was involved with all our family fun but generally spent his time laying on the couch or resting, which resulted in missing him in our family picture.

Say your prayers for a quick recover for Todd.  He really struggles with not being in tip-top-shape and keeping busy.  Recovery from this injury will be a long, slow process and that's tough.  Say a little prayer for him.

On Christmas Eve we had my parents over for a Christmas Eve family dinner.  We love having them over and, of course, had to capture the moment since we don't get to have Spencer with us very often.

Here's my Pops with his two oldest grandchildren, my wonderful sons, Spencer and Evan.

Here's Mom and Dad with my three crazy, wonderful, beautiful children.

My favorite picture of all.  My sweet oldest child who said he missed me and missed my cooking.  Isn't that just the nicest thing a son can say to his Mother?

Christmas Treats

Every year we have a Christmas tradition of making yummy treats for our neighbors and friends.  This is a tradition that I learned from my Mom.  How she did the cooking each year with eight kids, I just don't know, but she did and it was fun for all of us.  We all enjoyed running plates of yummy treats around the neighborhood and, most of all, enjoyed eating the goodies.

The goodies my Mom would make each year without fail are her famous peanut brittle, home-made fudge, and rice krispie squares.  Have you ever made peanut brittle?  It's tough.  I don't know how she manages to get it just right every year.  I've got her recipe but I seem to burn it each year.

So, as I mentioned, I've continued the tradition making goodies.  I don't always make the same treat each year because I like to try new recipes but typically I make something chocolatey (it's not a treat if there's no chocolate involved, right?).

This year I'm making Merry Mint Fudge, something I've made in the past and is my absolute favorite kind of fudge because it's got mint cookies in it.  I just love chocolate and mint together.  Here's a link to the recipe I posted last year.... Merry Mint Fudge Link.

I'm also making chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks, which is a super, easy treat that anyone can do and most everyone loves the combination of salty and sweet.  The pretzels can be dipped in milk chocolate or white chocolate.

Lastly, I'm making Peanut Blossoms.  All three recipes are easy, yummy, and involve chocolate so I'm happy.  Hopefully the neighbors are happy also.  Either way, it's been a great tradition to continue.

Peanut Blossoms
1 cup shortening (I actually substitute butter for the shortening and think the cookies taste much better with the butter.)
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar for decoration
2 (9 ounce) bags milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and stir in the milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture until well blended. Shape tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. 
3. Bake for 10 to12 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven, and immediately press a chocolate kiss into each cookie. Allow to cool completely; the kiss will harden as it cools.

Christmas Lights

Just after Thanksgiving we headed up to Salt Lake City to spend some time with Spencer and Ashley. I miss that boy so much and was so happy to spend a day with him.  The original plan was to have the whole family together but unfortunately both Todd and Evan had to work that day so it was just me and Tori with Spencer and Ashley.  No matter, it was a wonderful time.

The day after Thanksgiving is the traditional lighting ceremony of the Christmas lights in Temple Square, Salt Lake City.  Have you ever seen the Christmas lights in Temple Square?  If not, I highly recommend making it a family tradition.  It's a beautiful sight and puts you right in the Christmas spirit.

Spencer and Ashley, such a cute couple.

Some of the sights at Temple Square. 

Can see why it's a great suggestion for a family tradition?  If you go, be sure to bundle up, it can be cold.

Thankful

I am so thankful.  So thankful for my husband and children.  So thankful for my parents and siblings.  So very thankful for our freedom, our home, the beautiful area we live in, the home we have, for our health, and so much more.

This Thanksgiving we spent the day at my parent's home and I sincerely appreciate their hospitality.  Four of my sisters were there and it was just so much fun to spend time with each of them and their families.  It seems that I never get enough pictures.

Me with Kayce and Alison.  Missing is Carol and Nan who were also with us.

It's always so nice to see the cousins enjoying time together.  In this picture are three of Kayce's daughters with Tori enjoying a board game. From left is Emily, Tabitha, Katy, and Tori.

It's also fun to see the men in the family together.  It seemed they were either in the living room waiting for the food to be ready or downstairs watching a football game after gorging on Thanksgiving dinner. Seems to be a tradition. :-)

My sweet Evan.  When did he get so tall?

My sweet Tori.

Tori with her cousin Emily (Kayce's daughter).

As I mentioned, we are so very thankful for each other.  After Thanksgiving, we were able to spend the day with Spencer and his wife, Ashley, visiting Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  I really missed them at Thanksgiving but I'm very thankful to spend time with them.  Next post, I'll share the pictures.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Yum!

I'm always in the mood for pumpkin cookies around Thanksgiving time.  Add chocolate chips and I'm in the mood for these cookies all the time!  Need a good recipe?  Here's a great recipe from Libby's Pumpkin brand.

Pumpkin Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour (high altitude add additional 1/4 cup)
1 1/3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3/4 cup raisins (optional)


Preheat oven to 350° F.  Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and/or raisins. Drop ¼ cup dough onto prepared baking sheet; spread into 3-inch circle or oval. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Yet another wonderful Christmas for the Glassford family.  All the family gathered around the tree early Christmas morning to see what Santa had delivered the night before.  (I can hear the kids groaning as I type this.... "geez Mom, we know there's no Santa".)

Christmas morning and the entire day is one of my most favorite days of the year.  It means spending all day together in our pj's playing games and eating lots of yummy food.  The sad exception this year is that we missed having our grown-up Spencer and his wife with us; they spent the holiday with Ashley's family this year.  We missed them both!

In keeping with tradition, we all rummage through our stockings first to see what yummy treats and little odds and ends have been stuffed inside.

We then go for the presents but usually take things a little slow by opening our presents one at a time.  This allows for me, the official picture taker, to take plenty of pictures along the way. 

It was fun this year to actually surprise both Evan and Tori with a few presents.  They typically know what they are getting because they enjoy spoiling their Christmas surprise by snooping around the house but this year I was able to keep a few things a secret.  Tori was happily surprised with a camera, something she had been asking for since I don't know when.... a long time.

She also got the guitar that she just had to have... it was a matter of life or death.... very dramatic stuff.

Evan got a nice surprise by getting the paintball gun this year, along with all the many required things that come along with a paintball gun.  Required things like a protective face mask and protective clothing... those paintballs really sting. 

Our fat, lazy, lovable cat got the gift of wrapping paper and ribbon, he was in heaven.

We have been blessed with yet another wonderful Christmas.... our family is truly blessed.  Not only have we been blessed with gifts under the tree but we have been blessed with each other, our health, our jobs, our love for each other, and best of all.... having the knowledge of the our Savior and Heavenly Father through our membership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Do You Believe?

Merry Christmas from the Glassford family.  We wish you all a wonderful Christmas season.  May we always remember why we celebrate Christmas.... to celebrate and focus on the birth of Christ, our Savior and the Son of God. 

Almond Roca - A Tasty Kitchen Recipe

Looking for a yummy recipe for the holidays?  I've found it.... the perfect recipe for your holiday treats.  Easy to make and yummy to eat.  It's a recipe for Almond Roca - no need to buy that pink can of treats every again.  This recipe tastes just like the store bought, golden-wrapped treats.  I found this recipe at Tasty Kitchen.  Love this website.

Almond Roca

• 4 sticks Butter
• 2 cups Sugar (rounded)
• 4 Tablespoons Water
• 2 cups Almonds, Chopped
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips
• ½ cups Almonds, Finely Chopped, For Sprinkling

Combine the first 3 ingredients and cook on high, stirring constantly through 3 stages:
1. Runny
2. “Cheesy”—it will look like melted white cheese
3. Runny and smooth, caramel brown color
Make sure you have the fan on your stove going, cause you’ll probably set off the smoke alarm towards the end.
When it is runny, smooth and caramel brown in color, remove it from the heat and add the almonds. Stir until combined and pour the mixture onto greased cookie sheets. Spread it into an even layer. It will harden as it cools.
While it is still warm, sprinkle chocolate chips on top and let them melt enough to get soft. Spread the chocolate in an even layer across the candy. While the chocolate is still “wet,” sprinkle the finely chopped almonds on top.
At this point, while it is still warm and soft, you can score the candy with a butter knife to make it break evenly, or just let it harden and break it into rustic pieces.  Store in airtight containers.

It Was a Great Feast of Food and Family

We had yet another wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  A wonderful day filled with lots of great food (too much food actually) and lots of wonderful family time.

Just as we were getting ready to sit down to eat, our newly employed Evan was called into work at the movie theaters.  So before he dashed off to work, and after much wailing and tears and threatening to call his boss for having the audacity to take him away on Thanksgiving and Evan feeling such horror over my threats, just kidding (sort of), I made my three lovely children pose for a picture.

Aren't they just the best looking kids ever?  I love them so much.

So.... then.... we proceeded to eat.  It was great food, thanks to everyone's contributions.  Spencer and Ashley were there, my Mom and Dad, Kayce and Jared and their cute kids, Nan and her darling Helen, Carol, along with a surprise visit from Alison and her two darling children. 

Todd was very patient with it all because he knew it was a night of food and football... oh, yes... and he enjoyed time with the family.

It's was wonderful to have Spencer and Ashley with us.  We don't get to see them enough.  Love them dearly.

Spencer got to catch up with his Grandpa.

We loved having all the darling nieces and nephews with us and wish we could have had all of the family with us. 

Best of all was time spent with my sisters.  I won't even tell you what we talked about while adding calories to our waste line.  It's talk that's not appropriate for this blog (not really even appropriate at the dinner table) but that's just what sisters do.  I love these girls.  We sorely missed Rebecca and Lillian.

To end this post, I must include our furry member of the family, Tabby.  He's really a good member of the family, and a good cat, and is generally very tolerant; however, by the end of the evening he was looking for places to hide.  Maybe if he lost a few pounds he would actually fit.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Glassford family.  We hope you have a creepy, fun-filled Halloween and all your tooth-decaying, stomachache-promoting, candy wishes are fulfilled.

If you stop by our house, you'll see my most creepy Halloween nightmare displayed.... spiders.  Great big, hairy spiders.

I hate spiders.  Really, truly I do, which means I have to display them on Halloween because, to me, spiders are the scariest.  Give me a haunted forest with a chainsaw-wielding psychopath any day over spiders.

Guess I'm just a little weird like that.

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a very, merry Christmas at the Glassford house. We had a beautiful tree, lots of presents, and family all together. The family all together is my favorite part of a very, merry Christmas.

As you can see between the couches and chairs there is no where to walk.... too many presents. It was a good Christmas for the Glassford children.



















Here's Todd and Tori staging their surprised looks at their Christmas gifts.... already opened. Thanks for the photo guys.


















My darling Tori with her very strange camera pose and showing off her teddy bears. I hope she never gets to old to enjoy getting teddy bears for Christmas.

















The Glassford family got a Wii for Christmas... Santa finally broke down and got them a Wii. Here's the kids and young-at-heart figuring out how this new game works.
















Later that day, we gathered together for a family Christmas dinner. Todd was so kind to carve the turkey for us while wearing the lovely pink, polka-dotted apron Tori made in her school sewing class. Only real men can boldly wear such an apron and feel confident in their masculinity and Todd wore it well.



















My lovely Tori getting ready to eat but no quite ready for pictures.














We were so thrilled to have Spencer and Ashley visiting for the day. I thoroughly loved having all my family together to celebrate the holiday.

































Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from our family to yours.