2 down, 1 to go...

Thanksgiving is what I'm talking about. We have already had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and still have one coming on the actually day:) We celebrated Thanksgiving with our HFG (Bible Study) this last week and we put together a pretty good spread! I made homemade bread and pumpkin pie for that one. On Saturday, we had Thanksgiving with Travis' family. I made bread again and pumpkin cheesecake. We've enjoyed our dinners so far and can't wait for another one. On Thanksgiving day we will be going to my mom's house and bringing pumpkin cheesecake again and some sweet potatoes. This year will be an interesting one because it's the first turkey day without my grandma. I know she's not worrying about us down here, so I should try not to worry about her up there:) She's happy and I can be thankful for that!
With Thanksgiving comes of course the Christmas holidays, which I LOVE! I love everything about Christmas (except the shopping:). The music, the cookies, the beautiful tree, the lights, the Christmas story, the snow, the food, and the decorations. This year I am behind:( Usually by now I have all my presents bought, wrapped, and waiting to go under the tree. I do have my Christmas cards ready to go and my cookies all done in the freezer, but not all my shopping is done (thanks to a car repair that cost us almost $2000). And you know what, it's OK... I'll get my shopping and wrapping done eventually and this is helping me take a step back and think about what's really important. We are so enormously well blessed and most of us don't even know it. We have a house to live in, 2 cars to drive, heat, food, clean water, healthy children, clothes to wear, ect. The list can go on. So this year I'm taking a deep breath and remembering what the holidays are all about... It's not about the presents, the decorations, or even the Christmas parties, it's about Jesus. That's it. So I encourage you to take a deep breath too. Don't get all stressed out, or be one of those crazy shoppers at the mall. It will be Ok:)

Braided Bread

Since I was a little girl, I've been watching my mom make homemade bread. That is probably my one favorite thing to eat: fresh homemade bread with butter on it. I do love to bake, but bread in my mind is in a league of it's own. It's very temperamental. My mom has always made this beautiful braided bread, and I finally thought I could tackle it. I wanted to bring it Thanksgiving with Travis' family and had to practice making it yesterday. It was time consuming, but really fun and so good! I thought I would share a picture because I'm proud of it! Although it doesn't look as good as my moms, it was a good first try:)
Since we are talking about food, how about a good crockpot recipe?

Sour Cream Crockpot Chicken
4 frozen chicken breast
1 package of taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups salsa (not pace picante, but real salsa)
Sour cream

Put the frozen chicken breast on the bottom of the crockpot. Add taco seasoning. Cover with salsa. Put on low and cook for 7-8 hours. That's it!!! When it's time to eat the chicken is so tender it just shreds on it's own. You can serve it on rice with sour cream on top. Or, serve it as tacos in tortillas with all the trimmings. So good and so easy! Let me know if you give it a try.

Halloween Pictures

Ok, one of these pictures is of Brayden in 2006, and one is of Peyton this year. Who's who?
Brayden was an astronaut (even though he doesn't know what that is, but hey it was free:) and Peyton was a recycled lion.
We went to go visit daddy at work...
And Papi at work (just across the street)...
We went to Lita and Papi's for dinner and some treats with the hulk (Pedro) and the chicken (Roman)...

And then to Ranierview for Nite Lite with cousin Tanner and Cooper. Brayden had a blast this year. I think he's finally understanding that he gets candy for no reason and likes that.
Peyton didn't seem to mind her lion suit. She was a little concerned it looked boyish so mommy fixed that with some bows. Cute! As we wrapped up the night at church, she fell asleep on daddy in the backpack. It was a long day for the lion. But we had a fun time with the kids:) Happy Harvest!