To The New Year

This year my word is… Live. I have tried to come up with a word that describes what i want to accomplish. Live is it. 2014 was not my most graceful year. A lot of it i straight up don't remember or want to remember. The rest was pretty great but still a struggle.  I want so much for 2015 to be magical and amazing and the best way for that to happen is to live it up.

I feel like nothing extra special has to happen for this to be a great year. I am not trying to diet, trying to get pregnant, aiming to travel the world, finishing school or anything else that would be big or super note worthy. A simple year is just as special and needed for all of us. I am going to live for the simple and special and everyday.

Whats your word or resolutions this year? Do you have anything you'd like to work for or change? I'd love to hear it. 

A White Christmas

Cedar City has been pretty dry and warm this winter. Since our first winter here, 5 years ago, i have never seen such little snow. It really seemed so strange that the ground wasn't white leading up to Christmas. When we woke up Christmas morning that was not the case though. Leighton looked out our bedroom window and said "It's a Christmas miracle!" It really kind of was. 

After opening presents and talking to my sister Leighton excitedly asked if she could play outside. Even though it really was freezing we thought it would be fun. The day was so low key and nice, why not throw some snow around. Our poor girls look like the boy off the Christmas Story once they are all bundled up, but apparently they are warm.  Emersyn didn't last too long but Leighton stayed out back for almost an hour. 

Little em isn't sure how she feels about the cold white stuff yet. If she is anything like her sister though, she will love it soon enough. 

Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the Leavitt side of the family and it was perfect weather for playing outside. The wind wasn't blowing so it honestly almost felt warm in the sun. We hooked up the sleds to Penn's four wheeler and dragged the girls around the yard. Their yard is perfect for sledding.

Snow or not, all of our holiday celebrations were amazing! Really we loved spending so much time with our families and the girls were so much fun. Kaden got to have several days off of work and that is always a treat. I felt so blessed to have such a beautiful Christmas and to have so many special people in our lives.

A Bright Light for Christmas

This year has been crazy in so many ways. When i look back at it i honestly can't believe it is almost over and that so much fit into one year. I feel like emotionally and mentally this has been my biggest growing year. I spent most of my time wallowing in my thoughts and struggling with ppd, not understanding how big my problem really was or that i could find help for it. I started seeking help about two months ago and honestly the peace it has brought to my life already seems unreal. 

The Christmas season has always been special to me. My love language is gift giving for sure. Is that a love language? I love receiving and giving the same. Partly because shopping could be my love language too but i truly enjoy gifting or serving or seeing someone light up because of something i gave or did. So much of Christmas is about that. This year though i have realized an even deeper reason for my love of the holiday.

As i have been working on finding myself and learning how to recognize what is truly me and what is just a thought, one thing has been very evident. So much of who i am is my family. I define myself by them. Mainly my husband and my daughters but my parents and sisters as well. I am nothing if not for my family so really family is my everything. Christmas has always been the one holiday that we are all together for, that we get along on, and try our best to show each other how much we care.

Now that Leighton is old enough to understand Christmas i have made a huge effort to start traditions with her and teach her about the true meaning of the holiday. While teaching Leighton about our savior and his birth i have thought a lot about his mother. I know so little about Mary but i wonder if we all know more than we realize. Sometimes i look at Emersyn and think she is as close to the perfect baby as it gets. Did Christ cry less than her? Did he cuddle his mother more? Did Mary never have to leave the market mortified because of something her two year old did? 

Thoughts like that make me giggle but really even if Mary's son did something he wasn't supposed to, Mary probably was patient and understanding and a great teacher. I have tried so hard to be that way lately. Honestly the peace I have felt between Leighton, Emersyn and me has been extraordinary. There is something so special between us and I am so grateful for this season and the bright light is has brought back into my life.

Kid Proof Sugar Cookies

Last year Leighton and I made christmas cookies together for the first time and i told myself that i wanted to make it a tradition to keep every Christmas. So Saturday we made sugar cookies.

 This girl just keeps becoming more of a handful everyday and doing things that are creative also stress me out because they are messy. So when i found this amazing recipe that seriously the closest thing to mess free as it gets. I call it the kid proof sugar cookie. 

If you read up on the recipe from its original blog, then you'll read all these amazing things about it. 

No chilling, Mixes in minutes, No floury craziness all over the counters, 

Rolls out easy and Bakes quickly.

 What you'll need. 

- 1 cup softened butter

-1 cup granulated sugar

- 1 large egg

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-1 teaspoon almond extract

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

-3 cups of flour

Directions.

-pre heat oven to 350

-Cream butter and sugar in large bowl.

I do this in my kitchen aid on a level 4 for about 3 minutes.

- once creamed, leave the mixer on and add egg, vanilla and almond extracts.

allow ingredients to mix well.

- in a separate bowl sift flower and baking powder together. 

- add flower mixture to wet ingredients slowly. 

I do this while my kitchen aid is running at a 4 as well. Near the end i turn it to a two.

Allow the dough to mix into one large ball. (If your dough is very dry kneed it with wet hands until combined.)

lightly grease and flour cookie sheet.

There is no need to chill the dough, take out workable portions and roll or flatten with hands on a dry/ clean surface. My counter tops worked perfectly. We used large cookie cutters and made our dough just over 1/4 in. thick.

Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes.

Cool on sheet for 1-2 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

****We live at 6,000 ft. I put our oven at 360 and baked for 11-12 minutes.

I will never use another sugar cookie recipe again. These are so simple, delicious, the clean up was perfect. We made 3 batches, each batch made about 16-18 large cookies. 

Now we have another gift for all of our neighbors and Leighton will have cookies to eat all week long.

The Neighbor Gift

 Neighbor Gifting- The act of giving your neighbors or friends a small gift to let them know you are thinking about them during the Holidays.

I kid you not, I have been thinking about what to gift this year since about August. This is when my canning obsession began. Really, i was obsessed. I canned about 20 jars of this amazing, delicious, and crazy simply/ healthy freezer jam. I know freezer jam isn't really canning but i did can lots of syrup, peach curd, apple butter and apple sauce.

I love to get crafty or give homemade gifts but they usually turn out looking like a 5 year old created them or costing me more in time and money than seems worthwhile. This year i was genius though, hence the 5 months of planning.

Almost every neighbor gift, teacher gift, or friend gift will have started out from our garden. Our raspberry bush supplied us with a bowl a day until October and they were the best raspberries ever. Our  herbs grew great as well and we didn't have to start drying them till pretty late in the season too. 

So here is the easiest raspberry chia seed freezer jam recipe. 

2 cups raspberries

2 tablespoons orange blossom honey

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor. 

Put into air tight container and chill for 2 hours. 

It can keep for up to two weeks in the fridge or 1 year in the freezer.

This recipe can be tweaked with out much change to it. I never really measure anything. This drives my sister crazy. I typically just fill my little Ninja blender full of raspberries and as much of the other ingredients as i think look good. It's always turned out yummy.

I am obsessed with these quilted mason jars so everything i make goes straight into one of them. 

Now Add a bow and veala! Am i right?

Life Lately

We have been going non stop lately and I have loved it. Since Thanksgiving we have been to Logandale twice, shopping a lot and just spending time together at home. The girls have  been so fun lately it is like we can't get enough of doing things with them. 

 Leighton is quite the helper with all things Christmas and lights are her favorite.

She had her first dance recital. Talk about a mom's heart melting. There isn't anything quite as sweet as a two year old in a tutu.

 We went to visit Santa Clause. Leighton decided she was afraid of him and cried the entire time. But she keeps asking if we can go see him again to get more candy. Emersyn didn't know what the heck was going on but she didn't seem to mind him at least.

 My work Christmas party was at the bowling alley and the girls are pros. Grandpa helped them a lot and i discovered i bowl way better with a baby on my hip. 

 Emersyn is quite the little shopper now. 10 hours in vegas two weekends in a row and she rocked it. Seriously this girl soaks up all the attention she can get.

Leighton is obsessed with my camera and tries to take pictures everyday. This one actually turned out. I can't wait for Santa to bring her own though. My 7D is not quite kid proof.

Keeping Christ in Christmas

I love Christmas! Really though, who doesn't? I usually am the scrooge of the family and not the one to listen to christmas music or go crazy with decorating but there is something about traditions with my daughters that makes me want to enjoy every second of the season. It is so easy to become caught up with all the extras of the holiday though. Every year i strive to feel the true meaning of Christmas but tend to worry about wrapping and shopping more than coming closer to Christ. This year i really have put forth that extra effort though, especially to teach Leighton more than just Santa Clause.

What are we doing to keep Christ in Christmas? Celebrating the true reason for everything. Leighton has helped me shop quite a bit. I am not scared to venture out of the house with both girls in toe so as we shop i ask Leighton to help me find presents for grandma or a gift for May May. We talk about Jesus and his birthday and how he was give gifts and I have even gone as far to say he still gives them to us everyday. Leighton might only be two, but she is learning to give, not just receive. Thinking about gifts in a spiritual sense has made them that much more special to me. Honestly my love language is giving and receiving of gifts. It always has been but the real thought behind them is a huge reason why i love it so.

Leighton and Emersyn both have their own Nativities. Emersyn's is a stuffed one and Leightons is a wood one. Both girls play with theirs and Leighton tells Emerysn, this is Jesus, this is Mary, This is an
angel. Does she really understand? Maybe not, but maybe they understand more than we even do. Either way a foundation is being built and my heart grows 4 times larger every time i hear them play.

 

We are reading the Christmas story. Even if it is only a scripture or two a night i read out loud from The Bible or Book of Mormon about the coming of Christ. I have learned so much from doing this and honestly this has brought the spirit of Christ into our home more than anything. Leighton also has her own book of the real Christmas story. The pictures have helped her to really learn who everyone is and to see the story of Christ's birth. Tonight while reading her book she smiled when we got to the birth of Christ and pointed at him and said "Oh Happy Day!" What a happy day indeed.

Emersyn's First Party

Emersyn turned 1 last month and I still haven't posted her party. It was basically a dream of a first birthday. Emersyn was surrounded and celebrated by friends and family and loved every second of being the center of attention. 

She had the funniest personality, just smiled and laughed at everyone staring at her and ate her cake for like 30 mins and didn't even make a dent in it. What 1 year old eats a cake so dainty?

The decorations were beautiful. Pink and Gold everywhere and i was obsessed.

A piñata is always a good idea. Babes fighting for candy really is as entertaining as it sounds.