Long time, no post!

Hey everyone, sorry that I didn't post the last 2 days of the 12 Days of Christmas cookies. After 10 days of eating cookies, we started to get sick of them!

Anyways, I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas, like I did. :0) I got the new iPod nano, in orange! I love it! After we all opened our presents my cousins from my mom's side came for a surprise visit! My parents knew about it, but us kids thought they were coming the day after Christmas! So it was nice to hang out with them for a couple of days.
Christmas night we really wanted to see the movie Avatar, so we bought our tickets and went at the late night showing. Let's just say this... it was pretty much AMAZING!! :D I usually don't like those kind of movies, but I loved this one! I definitely recommend it.
So now I shared a little bit about my Christmas and now it is NEW YEARS EVE!!!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a
HAPPY NEW YEARS!!
2010 here I come! :D

Handwritten Post

(You can click on the picture to make it bigger if you can't read it)

April Showers Link

12 Days of Christmas: Day 10- Gingersnap Cookies

Day 10- Gingersnaps

If you couldn't tell already, today we made Gingersnaps! ;) Gingersnaps are kinda like a soft Gingerbread cookie. I'm not a big fan of Gingerbread cookies, but these Gingersnaps were pretty good!

Just to let you know, I cut the recipe in half which makes exactly 2 dozens.

Gingersnaps

1 cup sugar

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1 egg

1/2 cup molasses

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tbls. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Additional sugar

1 pkg. vanilla baking chips

• In a mixing bowl, comine sugar and oil; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after eacha addition. Stir in molasses. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape into 3/4-in. balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cookies spring back when touched lightly. Remove to wire racks to cool.
• Melt chips in a small plastic bag in microwave for 1 minute; taking out every 30 secs to stir/mush in the bag. Cut a tiny hole in the corner of the plastic bag and drizzle on the cookie. (The bag works as a piping bag)
• Let harden for about 10 minutes (at the least). You can also put them in the fridge to harden faster. Enjoy!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 9- Homemade Sugar Cookies

Day 9- Homemade Sugar Cookies

'nuff said. The title says it all! We took it easy today. ;)

(Beware of unattractive picture of me!)

FYI: This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookes! I suggest that you cut the recipe in half.

Homemade Sugar Cookies

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

6 1/2 cups flour

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Sift dry ingredients together and gradually add to sugar mixture. Add sour cream. Roll out, cut, and bake 10-12 minutes.

Ta-da! Enjoy!

12 Days of Christmas: Day 8- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Day 8- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Are you a big fan of Reeses Peanut Butter cups? Do you like peanut butter? Do you like chocolate? If you said 'yes' to these questions then you are going to LOVE these cookies! (: They taste exactly like a Reeses peanut butter cups, and go perfect with a glass of milk. Yum!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 pouch Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg

1 pkg. Hershey's Kisses milk chocolate

• Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, oil, water and egg until dough forms.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately press 1 milk chocolate candy in center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 20 minutes. Store cookies in tightly covered container. 

**This recipe is from Betty Crocker. And if you want a HOMEMADE recipe, go to Kenzie's blog (one of my best friends!) here!**

12 Days of Christmas: Day 7- Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Day 7- Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Okay, so here's the thing... we didn't actual make these cookies today. We had a very busy Saturday including Kason's basketball game and Christmas party later. BUT this is the recipe we were going to make if we had time... but we didn't. (: So I'll post the recipe anyways. (I'm using the one my mom posted on her recipe blog. Go here if you want the actual post)

The Essential Chewy Oatmeal Cookie

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
1/2 sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 teas. vanilla extract
1/4 teas. almond extract
3/4 teas. cinnamon
1/8 teas. ground cloves
1/4 teas. nutmeg
1 teas. salt
1 teas. baking soda
1 large egg
6 tbls. corn syrup
2 tbls. milk
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. raisins
1 c. chopped pecans/walnuts
3 cup old fashioned oats

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease baking sheet; set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, shortening and sugars until smooth. Add in vanilla and almond extracts and spices, salt and baking soda. Beat in egg, corn syrup and milk. Add in flour, raisins, nuts and oats. Thoroughly combine, scoop onto baking sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes (depending on oven) until golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes and then remove from baking sheet onto a cooling rack. Makes approx. 30-40 cookies depending on size. 

**If we do end up making these cookies, sometime in the future, I will let you know and update this post with pictures.**

12 Days of Christmas: Day 6- Homemade Oreo Cookies

Day 5- Homemade Oreo Cookies

Ladies and Gentlemen... I introduce you to the one and only scrumdidlyumptious... HOMEMADE OREO COOKIE!! (This is where you clap, and scream for joy! ;D) Woohooo!

Mmmm, this has got to be one of my favorites! I mean, who doesn't like Oreo Cookies? Especially, HOMEMADE Oreo Cookies! Do you want to know what is pretty awesome about this cookie? That it is extremely easy to make! All you have to do is use this Rolo Cookie recipe (without the Rolos, of course), make the filling, and voila! your delectable homemade Oreo Cookie is made and ready to eat.

Here is the really easy recipe for the filling:

Oreo Cream Filling:

1/2 lb. powdered sugar (about 2 cups)

4 oz. cream cheese

1 cube butter

1/2 teas. vanilla extract

• 
  
  Beat until fluffy. Frost between 2 cooled cookies (Put frosting in zip lock bag and cut a small hole on one corner to frost...like a disposable pastry bag...works great!) Then refrigerate until cream sets up. Devour cookies with a large glass of cold milk...YUM!

Enjoy your scrumdidlyumptious HOMEMADE OREO COOKIES!! :D

**My mom got this recipe from one of her good friends, Brooke. THANKS BROOKE! (Even though, you probably won't ever read this blog in your lifetime. ;P)**

12 Days of Christmas: Day 5- Eggnog Cookies

Day 5- Eggnog Cookies

Are you an Eggnog fan?? Well, I'm definately not. hah! But surprisingly, I loved these cookies! I was really amazed to see that these cookies had a very little taste of Eggnog. Even if you aren't an Eggnog lover like me, you should still give these cookies a try! These cookies have a very mild Eggnog flavor, but it's the frosting that makes the cookie taste even better; sprinkled with a little bit of nutmeg on top. Don't be afraid, just try it! (:

Eggnog Cookies:

1 1/4 cups white sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup eggnog

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 
  
  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• 
  
  Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• 
  
  Cream sugar and butter until light. Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks; beat at medium speed with mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
• 
  
  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Bake 20-23 minutes until bottoms turn light brown. (Cookies will have a soft, pillowy texture to it)
• 
  
  Drizzle completely cooled cookies with icing and sprinkle nutmeg on top. Serves 24-36 cookies

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

2-3 tbls. eggnog egg
1/4 teas. ground nutmeg
Extra ground nutmeg for sprinkling

• Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, stir until smooth. Drizzle icing on tops of cookies, and add a dash of ground nutmeg on top.

**This recipe is from Allrecipes.com**

Hope you enjoy! (8 more days until Christmas, wooot!)

BTW: I updated the recipe for the Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies. So if you wan't to know the recipe go here.

12 Days of Christmas: Day 4- Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Day 4- Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies

Okay, so here are the Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies! I'm not a big fan of jam in cookies so I personally didn't like it. But if you are the jam kind of person, then you should definately try these cookies!

Unfortunetly, I can't post the recipe right now. It is the end of the quarter for school, so I have been studying for end of quarter tests and doing last minute homework, so I have been really busy. Sorry! Thanks for your patience, and sorry for the delay. (: Now, here's the recipe:

Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies:

1 pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

Butter and egg called for on cookie mix pouch

You will also need:

3 tbls. flour

1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam

1 cup white vanilla baking chips

Red and green sugar, if desired

• Make cookie dough as directed on package for drop cookies, except stir in flour
• Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls. Using thumb, make indentation in center of each cookie. Spoon about 1/4 teaspoon jam into each indentation. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
• Microwave baking chips on High 1-2 minutes; stir until smooth. Drizzle melted chips over cookies. Sprinkle with colored sugar.

**We found this recipe on the back of the sugar cookie mix. It also says to visit www.BakeLifeSweeter.com/cookies for more great recipe ideas. ;)**

BTW: I updated the Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies recipe! So if you want the recipe, go here.

12 Days of Christmas: Day 3- Peppermint Pinwheels

Day 3- Peppermint Pinwheels

They look pretty good, right? Well, unfortunately this recipe was kind of dissapointing. Surprisingly, this recipe didn't even call for any peppermint besides the chopped candy canes on top! Instead, it called for almond extract. Lame. So today, I am going to give you a recipe that we didn't actually use but is pretty similar. This one actually does call for pepperming extract! We haven't actually made this recipe yet, but it's a good substitute.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

1/4 teaspoon red food coloring

• 
  
  In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Divide dough in half, add extract and red food coloring to one portion.
• 
  
  On a work surface, roll out each portion of dough between waxed paper in a 16-in. x 10-in rectangle. Remove waxed paper. Place red rectangle over plain rectangle; roll up tightly jelly-roll style, starting with a long side. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or until firm.
• 
  
  Unwrap the dough and cut into 1/4-in. slices. place in 2 in. apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Serves 24

If you want to put a glaze on top with chopped candy canes to give it a fancier look and yummier taste, here's the recipe for that:

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbls. corn syrup
3 1/2 teas. warm water
5 or 6 peppermint candy canes, finely crushed

• Combine in a small bowl and spread over cooled cookies. And top with crushed candy canes.

**This recipe is from Allrecipes.com**

P.S.- Sorry I was late on posting Day 3's cookies. I had a busy night last night with lots of homework and other activites! :(

12 Days of Christmas: Day 2- Chocolate Rolo Cookies

Day 2- Chocolate Rolo Cookies:

Mmmm, don't they look scrumptious? This has got to be the easiest cookie recipe ever. This chocolate cookie has a sugar coating on the outside with a melted Rolo in the inside. When you bite into the cookie, the rolo just melts in your mouth! You've got to try this one! (:

Here is the recipe:

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 9 minutes

1 pkg. Devils's Food Cake

2 eggs

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup oil

• Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl until smooth.
• Use a small scoop to make small balls, and place a Rolo inside the ball. (You might want to roll it around in your hands to make sure the Rolo is in the middle of the ball.) Roll in sugar.
• Put on a baking sheet with parchment paper, and bake for 9 minutes at 350 degrees!

**FYI: Cookies will flatten out in oven!**

That's it! Enjoy! (:

12 Days of Christmas: Day 1- Snowball Cookies

This year, my fabulous mother had the idea to make one different kind of cookie each day for the 12 days of Christmas. Starting today, we are going to make cookies each day until Christmas. I will post what kind of cookie we made that day. AND if your your lucky I might post the recipe for that cookie. ;) Sounds good? Good. :)

(BTW: My Mom has a cooking blog where she posts all sorts of recipes, so go here if you want to check it out!)

Day 1- Snowball Cookies

Mmm, looks delicious and really easy to make!

Here's the recipe:

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 18 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups finely chopped pecas

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

   Powdered sugar

• 
  
  Heat oven to 325 degrees. In large mixer bowl combine all ingredients except powdered sugar. Beat at low speed until well mixed.
• 
  
  Shape rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 18 to 25 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; roll in powdered sugar while still warm and again when cool. 3 dozen cookies

**I found this recipe in the Land O Lakes-Favorite Holiday Cookies recipe book.**

Snow in Sunny St. George??

Yup, that's right! Sunny St. George got snow! It wasn't that much at all... but hey, it's better than nothing! It only snowed like 1/2 an inch. Pshhh. But that's ok... For the rest of the day, it just rained. :/

I remember last year in December, it snowed like 2-3 inches and we had a snow day. It kind of sucked though because it was the day before Christmas break, so we had to go to school the next day to make it up. So let's hope that doesn't happen again! Anyways, here are a few pics...

Today, I also saw my friend perform in The Nutcracker Ballet. She did great! Seeing The Nutcracker is usually part of our Christmas traditions, and it's always fun to go each year.

So overall, it was pretty good day!

Oh Christmas Tree...

"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree..."

Last night we finally decorated our tree! We have had the tree up for a couple of days, but haven't decorated it until last night. We bought our tree from our neighbors who were selling them from their property. So here are a few pictures.. (the lighting is kind of bad, sorry)

Our main colors were Gold and Bronze.

Kason and Jaynee posing in front of the tree...

So there you have it! I can't wait for Christmas, 14 more days!

Happy Holidays!

Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

My hip-hop-elf-dancing-family! (:

Yeah, cause we're cool like dat!

P.S.- You can "Elf yourself" by clicking on the link underneath the video that says "EflYourself" hahah. Enjoy! (:

Jubilee of Trees

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays! Being that today is the first day of December, I thought I would do a Christmas post. So one of the Christmas festivites that our community does is the Jubilee of Trees. The Jubilee of Trees is a show of custom designed Christmas trees. I enjoy going to the Jubilee of Trees because it gets me in the spirit of the holiday season! This year I went with my good friend Kenzie. It was really fun to see all the awesome Christmas Trees. :) Even though Kenzie lost her money, we still had a good time! ;)

Here are a few (not so good) pictures of my favorite trees...

This was the New Moon tree! Notice the apple, the flowers, and the ribbon. ;)

I loved the green and the red christmas presents.

This one was really cool. It was turqoise and brown themed (one of my favorite color combonations!) with the snowy tree branches.

This was probably one of my favorite trees! This one is actually the one I voted for. I just love the light pink decor with the diamonds and silver ornaments!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!