Christmas 2011

We had such a fun Christmas this year! It was Savannah's first and although she didn't really know what was going on it was SO fun! She was more interested in the wrapping paper then all her new presents! ;) Usually we fly home to Georgia for Christmas but both mine and Stephen's parents moved here so it was nice not to travel and have everyone close by!

Here we are Christmas Eve morning getting ready to go to

Nana's and Papa's for a day full of fun!

Savannah loves her Nana... she is a lucky girl to have two great sets of grandparents.

We always make gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve... it is such a fun tradition. One of the best parts is getting to munch on all that candy. I ate way to much sugar over the holidays.. yikes.

Collette and Kyle working hard on their house. Don't you love the pretzels they used as shutters?...so creative!

Aunt Kathleens and Uncle Johns masterpiece!

The boys with their finished products... not too shabby!

We also always play Bingo...and we win a couple prizes!

Christmas morning!

The new doll she got from Nana and Papa... she loves it!

This was a Christmas present for both Stephen and I. We have been wanting a nice blender and LOVE the Blendtec. I make a green smoothie every morning and Savannah will even drink it. It tastes delicious and is so healthy. I also make Savannah's baby food with the Blendtec which is much more healthy than buying it. Plus baby food is expensive... and most of it is just water. We have made milkshakes, salsa, soup... you name it... this blender can do anything. It also comes with a recipe book with tons of good ideas. We love it!

My Mom and Dad got me this wrapping paper station for my craft room. How fun is that? They know me so well!

Stephen surprised me with this amazing camera. I was in shock... I hadn't even asked for it but he knew how much I love photography and taking pictures. It is an amazing camera and I am learning so much about it!!

We had a great Christmas and were all very spoiled. Savannah has enough toys to last her a lifetime. Stephen got a tool set and a new suit. We had a lot of fun and I hope everyone else had a great Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!

Love, Savannah

Tiff's wedding...

My good friend Tiffany got married last Friday! She got married at the SLC temple and it was so pretty with all the lights. Although it was freezing cold it was a ton of fun and I am so happy for her. Here are a slew of pictures of all us girls. I love those girls... and it was SO fun spending the day with them. My mother-in-law watched Savannah for the whole day and it was the longest I have been without her...it was so weird. Anyways we had a lot of fun!

I threw Tiffany's bridal shower along with her sister at my house. I did a hot chocolate bar. Her colors were all different shades of blue so I tried to incorporate that. We had a lot of fun!

Congrats Tiffany and Crosby... I am so happy for you!

9 months old!

It feels like yesterday Savannah was just born and we brought her home with us from the hospital. She was so little and we could hardly believe she was ours...now she is SO big and is already 9 months old.

I love this age. She is such a smiley happy girl. She is crawling and cruises all around the house. She is very mischievous and I have had to do some major baby proofing because she seems to get into everything that she isn't supposed to. She has 6 teeth, she is a pro at nap time, she loves baby food...especially squash, carrots, and applesauce. She can say mama and she can do 2 signs... we are still working on more. She loves reading books and turning the pages. She is full of personality and we love watching her grow!

Giveaway on Make it and Love it!

Make it and Love it is doing an awesome giveaway.

Ashley said,

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Have you been over there before? Maybe you should hurry on over and see what you’re missing. I could really use a new set of knives. And who am I kidding…….I’d love a whole new set of pots. Santa’s getting a long list from me this year. Yes he is!"

Go check it out and enter the giveaway!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I LOVE Christmas time... the lights, the snow, the sweaters, the hot chocolate, the bon fires, the decorations, and the cuddling. I love this time of year!

Stephen and I got a little anxious and put our decorations up a couple days before Thanksgiving... I know I know that is forbidden but we couldn't help it. We like to enjoy our Christmas tree as long as possible. I was worried that it would be a pain keeping Savannah away from pulling down all the ornaments but it hasn't been a problem at all due to our floor plan which is nice. Every time I take her to the tree she looks at it in awe and always wants to play with the glittery ornaments. They are plastic so I have given her a few to play with and she is in heaven! Christmas is even more fun now that we get to share it with Savannah!!!!

Here are our Christmas decorations... enjoy!

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Pizza (lowfat)

I am taking a cooking class on BYU Independent Study and I have had so much fun trying lots of new recipes. We were required to pick a dinner recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook and I chose the Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Pizza. I love fresh Mozzarella and it is only 90 calories per slice so I just had to try it out and see if it was good! It was SO delicious... I recommend it. Stephen said it tasted like Pizza in France which is his favorite so it deff was a success. The key is to use fresh mozzarella... not the kind that is already grated for you at the grocery store. Buy it fresh and grate it yourself... it makes the biggest difference!

At the bottom of this post will be the recipe for this delicious pizza!!!

Here are the ingredients:

Fresh basil leaves, salt, pepper, fresh mozzarella, 2 Roma tomatoes, and pizza sauce. (Sorry the pizza sauce was not pictured).

Ingredients for pizza dough: warm water, flour, sugar, active dry yeast, and salt.

I also made another recipe from the Betty Crocker book called Savory Cheese bread! YUM!

Here is the pizza right before I place it in the oven... just looking at this makes me want to go eat some leftovers. ;)

topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, basil leaves, salt, and pepper.

The finished product. Make sure you use extra virgin olive oil... I used regular olive oil and the pizza stuck to the pan like crazy. It was so hard to get it off.

Here is the recipe:

Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Pizza (Lowfat)

Prep: 35 min Rise: 20 min Chill: 2 hr Bake 20 min 1 pizza, 8 slices

Italian style pizza dough (recipe below)

1/2 can pizza sauce

4 oz fresh mozzarella cheese, grated

2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/4 tsp salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

1/4 cup thin strips fresh basil leaves

1 T oregano leaves (I forgot to add this)

1 T small capers, if desired

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1. Make italian style pizza dough.

2. Move oven rack to lowest position. Heat oven to 425. Grease cookie sheet or 12 inch pizza pan with oil. Press dough into 12 inch circle on cookie sheet or pat in pizza pan, using floured fingers. Press dough from center to edge so edge is slightly thicker than center.

3. Pour pizza sauce on dough and smooth around with a spoon. Grate mozzarella cheese. Place cheese on dough within 1/2 inch of edge. Arrange tomatoes on cheese. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, 2 T of basil, the oregano and capers. Drizzle with oil.

4. Bake about 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with remaining 2 T basil.

Italian style pizza dough

1 package regular or quick active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in half of the flour, the oil, salt and sugar. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 min or until smooth and springy. Grease large bowl with shortening. Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in warm place for 20 minutes. Gently push fist in dough to deflate. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours but no longer than 48 hours. (If dough should double in size during refrigeration, gently push fist into dough to deflate.)

Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it with the Jett family and it was DELICIOUS! We were all stuffed on all the yummy thanksgiving food we had... not to mention all those pies!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed spending time with their families.
I have SO much to be thankful for!!!!

Back in the day!

I was looking through old photos and found these of Stephen and I while we were dating.
We always had so much fun... he was about to run us through that water!

Bow Holder

Yay... I finally finished the bow holder I have been sewing for the last month for Savannah. It was a lot of work because the vinyl always stuck to the presser foot and I wanted the bias tape on the edges to look nice and straight which isn't an easy task for a beginner sewer. I am glad it is finished and I love the way it turned out. Now instead of throwing all her bows in a little bucket I can see them all!

Here is the front with all her clip on bows...

and here is the back with all her headbands.

Now on to my next sewing projects which is making fabric covers for my bowls!

I am loving my sewing machine!!!!