Noodle Legs

For FHE this past Monday we finally fulfilled our yearly tradition of going ice skating. Tyler had been bugging me for weeks to take him but I kept putting it off because its SO dang expensive. Deke and Tyler both suggested we buy our own skates so we can at least avoid the rental cost every year. I think I'll be spending my time on craigslist looking for good deals before next years outing! Who knows, maybe with our own skates we'll feel like going more than once a year :)

I told Tyler that he has "noodle legs". Every time he tried skating without help his legs wiggle and wobble all over the place! Its pretty funny.

It looks like Deke is about to take a nasty fall right here but in fact he was attempting to skate on one leg.

A New Years Eve Tradition

For as long as I can remember its been a family tradition to make egg rolls on New Years Eve. All the other appetizers and entrées have varied but one thing has always remained consistent, homemade egg rolls. I've had egg rolls in many different restaurants but none will ever compare to these egg rolls. Maybe it has something to do with the fact my dad served his mission in Taiwan and is now a master chef in Chinese cuisine? I don't know, but if you think you've tasted the best egg rolls put me to the test and make these! They will rock your socks off!

Prepare the following:

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 large onion (we always put it in the food processor to avoid crying)

1 cup celery (also put in food processor)

1 pound cooked ham cut into matchstick pieces

1/2 cup sliced bamboo shoots also cut into matchstick pieces

2 cups of finely shredded cabbage (food processor)

Combine:

1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon of dry sherry. set aside.

Directions:

Heat wok or wide frying pan over high heat. When pan is hot, add 2 tablespoons of salad oil. When oil begins to heat, add garlic and ginger. Stir once, then add onion and celery and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add ham, bamboo shoots, and cabbage; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Stir cornstarch mixture once, add to pan, and cook, stirring until sauce bubbles and thickens.

Once mixture has cooled down prepare the wraps for frying.

You can find egg roll wrappers at most grocery stores

How to roll egg rolls:

Below this picture shows the beginning process for rolling. You start by placing 1 large tablespoon of the mixture near bottom of the wrap. Roll once, then tuck in the sides, roll once more, then apply water to the top point. The water acts as your glue and now roll once more to complete the roll.

Sauce:

In a pan combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 3 tablespoons each sugar and wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon each soy sauce and chili powder, dash of ground red pepper (cayenne) and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Cook, stirring until thickens. Let cool.

ENJOY!

Christmas 2010

WOW! Can you believe that 2010 is almost over?! This month has been SUPER busy for us (like always). My sister and her family visited from Wyoming, we celebrated 3 family birthdays, did LOTS of holiday baking, made crafts, made Christmas gifts, went to 6 parties, and I made LOTS of cakes, seen HERE and HERE. I hope everyone had a wonderful, spiritual, and lovely Christmas too! Here are a few of our highlights:

Tyler had the opportunity to go on the Polar Express with Deke. Believe it or not this is the only decent picture Deke took of the entire event. If I were there I would of taken a picture of their faces for sure!

We went to our ward Christmas party and Tyler got to see Santa Clause!

In Orangeville there is a culdesac called Dove Court and its well known for its outlandish display of lights. We went with my girlfriend Tiana and her daughter Hailey. I've taken Tyler to this spot every year since birth but it was a first for Hailey. They loved it!

We celebrate 3 birthdays the week of Christmas. My dad turned the BIG 6-0 on December 21st.

My niece Jenna turned 3 on December 22nd...

And my nephew Travis turned 5 on December 23rd.

The kids celebrated their birthdays on the same day with a Star Wars / Hello Kitty theme. My sister Cynthia made Travis's Death Star cake and I made Jenna's Hello Kitty cake.

Here is my parents 13 foot tree they got from the Dold's Christmas tree farm for only $36 bucks! Its probably the prettiest looking tree they've ever gotten... and you can't beat the price!

PS... this picture was taken BEFORE Santa came. When you have a big family Christmas just looks ridiculous.

Here's Tyler and his cousins anxiously awaiting the arrival of their next girl cousin (no-name yet) due February 28th!

The kids loved the pillows I made them!

Here is our Christmas Eve MAYHEM!

The kids ready for bed and can't wait for Santa to come!

I read them "T'was the Night Before Christmas" and a few other Christmas books before the lights went out.

Christmas morning! The kids look tired but they were very excited!

Santa brought Tyler another bike! Hopefully no cars run over this one!

Tyler thought it was funny that he got a few lumps of coal in his stocking. I told him Santa must of thought he was a little bit naughty but not enough to get a stocking full of coal. Don't worry, he got plenty of goodies in his stocking as well...

Tyler picked up this new habit from Grandpa Hyde: Trying to guess his presents by placing them against his forehead. Grrrrrreat.

Since we travel a lot I got Tyler this new suit case. Its a Pottery Barn suit case originally $130.00 that I only paid $12 bucks for! Impressed? I sure was! The reason I got it so cheap was because it was pre-embroidered with the name "Josh", so I just placed an American flag patch over it and VOILA!

I think Jenna liked her new chap-stick lol

Look HERE to see Tyler's Christmas list and then you'll understand this shirt.

Boys and their toys!

Tyler and Travis were seriously jealous of Jenna's "girl" toys.

'Till next year! ♥

Birthday / Christmas cake order

Here is the cake I made on Christmas Eve for a Christmas birthday. Two-tiered yellow cake with chocolate frosting covered with marshmallow fondant. I didn't want the cake to be too Christmasy or too birthday so I settled for something that was a little of both.

A Homemade Christmas

This year Deke and I decided to try making some Christmas gifts. Not only did we think it would be cost effective but also more meaningful to the receiver to get something from the heart.

Deke made our niece Jenna (age 3) this cute sun dress made from an adult size t-shirt. That's right folks, Deke made this all by himself! Pretty impressive eh? We got the idea from this blog.

I made a few Infinity scarves. Idea from this blog.

I also made my two nephews and niece travel pillows with some of their favorite characters on them. Travis really wanted Star Wars but I looked in 3 states and couldn't find that fabric anywhere!!!! I put pockets of the front to hide goodies or teeth for the tooth fairy.....

And left them plain on the back with the character fabric.

My mom even got onto the sewing machine this year and made all her grand kids these Christmas pillow cases, just like when I was a kid!

More cakes!

I've had a few days off from work and it seems like all I've done is make cakes! Which I love doing so its a perfect way to spend my mini vacation. First I made a cake for my co-worker Holli for her birthday (rose cake below). Today I made my niece a Hello Kitty cake for her 3rd birthday and I have to say, I'm VERY proud of that one! I've made fondant cakes before but this was the first time I made the fondant myself. I used a marshmallow fondant recipe so it actually taste as good as it looks! Then I got an order for another birthday cake to be delivered on Christmas so I will probably start on that one tonight. And all this on top of normal holiday baking and the 3 family birthdays this week. I guess you can just call me a baking fool!

Jenna is SUPER proud of her cake. I'm keeping it in the fridge so the bow doesn't collapse and we've lost count of how many times she's opened the fridge to look at her cake. I think she'll be heart broken when we cut into it tonight!

That's me, super proud!

Snowman POOP!

"You've been naughty this year so here's the scoop, all you get for Christmas is this snowman Poop!"

This is what I gave my sunbeams today after class, snowman poop. Idea from this site. I tried to find a more friendly poem but snowman poop is simply classified as something nicer than coal on the Internet. So I just added the disclaimer before handing them out that they are NOT naughty, I just made them for fun. They are a great bunch of kids and today was our second to last Sunday with them! :( We have 13 sunbeams but rarely ever have 100% attendance. Since we've been given the calling the only time we've had all the kids was for the primary program. Of course I forgot my camera THAT day! So today, being Christmas Sunday, I was hoping everyone would attend primary so I could catch a few pictures of our darling bunch. Unfortunately, we were still missing a few kids but I figured as time is running short I should capture the moment regardless. So here are the cute kids I'm always talking about!

Left to right: Tyler, Daniel, Jonah, Noah, Eli, Shannon, Spencer, Sana, and Lucy. (and Deke's hand)

Gotta have a silly picture!

This little jumping bean is known to us as Lucy-Goosey. She is quite the wiggle worm and loves to hang ALL over Deke every Sunday. I just keep telling him its preparing him for when he has daughters of his own. lol

Warning to my sunbeam mothers

Made these bad boys today, reindeer cupcakes for my little sunbeams! I only have 3 more Sundays before they move onto CTR5 and I get a new bunch of cuties. Sorry moms but I'm going to spoil them this month because I love them so much and will miss them terribly after they advance! Just a forewarn...

Deke gets what he wants.

Last week Deke said he wanted to get a little tree for our room so he could put my gifts under it. I told him that we didn't have enough space for a tree in our room and I really didn't want to spend the money (trees are expensive!). Well, that didn't stop him from getting what he wanted. He ended up making this cute little tree out of foam paper and started putting my presents under it. He is so dang crafty. :0)

Tyler's Christmas Craft

Tyler and I went to the Dollar Store tonight and I had him pick out items to make a Christmas craft, he decided he wanted to make a wreath for his bedroom door. He picked out all the decorations and then glued them on with a hot glue gun. I think it turned out pretty dang cute! Not to mention he was quite proud of it :)