Christmas 2009

Well, it is the last day of 2009 and the holidays sure were great! We spent the Christmas week down at my sister's place in Medicine Hat and just had a lot of fun together. We got there on the 21 and spent the next day or so doing Christmas baking and playing lots of games of course! We made a batch of lefse this year and it sure didn't last long! It's one of my family's Christmas traditions and we don't fancy skipping out on it often. In case you don't know what it is, it's a thin potato pancake thing and you put butter and sugar on it and roll it up! So delicious, although a lot of people don't really like it. It might be an acquired taste ;). The next morning we went and did some last minute shopping for food and stuff for boxing day and whatnot. That proved to be a busy one because of all the last minute Christmas shoppers! Superstore and Costco were a nightmare!! But we got out of there without a bruise, so all was well! The next night we went to Terry's mom and dad's place and visited with them on Christmas Eve. We went to the Christmas Eve candelight service at their church first and then went over to their place afterwards. Then on Christmas morning, we woke up around 9 and began opening presents, and boy did we all get spoiled this year!! It was really fun to watch Evan "open" presents this year, although he was definitely more interested in the wrapping paper than he was in the presents! So Marlys just opened his presents and gave him the wrapping paper to play with haha. Christmas day, Terry's mom and dad were having the Christmas dinner at their place and they invited all of us over so we spent another day at their place feasting and playing games, and again, hot tubbing. We went home pretty late and all just crashed from the hot tubbing I think. The next day, my dad, Terry and I went snowboarding out at Hidden Valley ski hill in the Cypress hills! It was so much fun, but I hadn't done it in probably 2 seasons so I was pretty sore for awhile afer, and I actually still have a sore ligament in my hip that I pulled pretty bad near the end of the day! But it was still worth the pain. When we went back home, Mom and Marlys had gotten a early Birthday fondue party going to me! It was so fun. We did meat and veggies in oil, and then of course the fruit and chocolate. My birthday "cake" was half an apple with sparklers in it, but I loved it :) Then the next day, we had to say goodbye and we headed home. Now we're looking at just a quiet evening at home tonight playing games and welcoming in the new year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a safe and Happy New Year!!!!Mom, Marlys, Evan and I on the couch (just Evans head haha)

Dad and Evan playing under the table. Too funny!

Evan "opening" Gifts

His Christmas Loot!

Mom and Dad bought Kyle a used Guitar for Christmas! He loved it.

My Birthday "Cake"

Birthday Fondue!!

The big 9 month old boy!

So funny! I was playing with Evan, and halfway through, Marlys comes and my mom says
"oh look there's mommy!" and he turns and looks at my sister and just holllers at her. Too good!

German Pretzels

We have some friends in Sexsmith who moved from Germany around 3 years ago. They come and visit us in Edmonton fairly frequently and Hanna just loves to go to the German bakery in downtown Edmonton. One time, she wanted us to try German pretzels, so she bought some and brought them over for breakfast the next morning and boy were they good! They were fairly thin pretzels actually and had a doughy center but a chewy brown crust, and you ate them with butter. They were so good, that I actually found myself craving them for the past couple of days. Not being able to put up with it for too much longer (and not wanting to drive to Edmonton to buy some) I decided to find a recipe to make them myself, and they actually turned out just fantastic!! They were so delicious, that I wrote them down in my recipe book immediately! It's quite a process actually. You have to let the yeast sit in the flour for 15 minutes, then you have to leave the dough (once it's all mixed) for a half hour to rise, then once you have the pretzels formed, they sit in the fridge uncovered for an hour, and then once that is over, you boil each pretzel in baking soda water for 10 seconds on each side, and then bake them. It's a 3 hour process, but really not that difficult, and besides, it's so rewarding when it's all finished :) Take a look!And actually, both my parents and I think this recipe is better than the one they used at the German bakery. These were a little bit more doughy and less tough, which makes them much more delicious ;)
If you're interested in the recipe, here's the link
*Side Note* If you do ever decided to make these, make sure you sprinkle on a light amount of salt, the pretzels are already salty from the baking soda water, so to add too much (like I did) makes it just a tad too salty.

Last project of the semester

Just finished it, and it took me FOREVER! I think I put more effort into this project than the rest of the projects from the semester. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out! We pretty much had free reign on what we wanted to do, so I decided to turn myself into a cartoon and then make my hand look as if it is disappearing into a cloud of swirls and flowers. Looks really cool! Check it out...

School Blog

Our school program started it's own blog and posts events and photos regularly. It's pretty neat to see the talent all my classmates and the first years have! Take a look!

Too cute not to post!

My sister sent my mom some recent pictures of Evan. He's 8 months old now! Haven't seen him for 2 months, so I'm excited to see anything of him! Here he is...

Falling asleep after a good meal...
Trying to feed himself that good meal!
And my absolute favorite. Evan in his cute chicken hat! Marlys saw that hat in a baby clothing store before he was born and just had to get it! Cutest thing ever.