Halloween at the Dyers

We had so much fun celebrating Halloween this year in our new house and neighborhood!

James actually thinks he IS a fireman, and he wears his uniform with pride.  He also thinks that candy is part of the gig.

 Preston (3months old now) is our Fireman's faithful rescue dog.

 Cutest rescue dog I've ever seen.

Happy Easter

From Shane, Myself, and this not-so-little-anymore guy. Why is he growing so fast?

Halloween

This was James' first trick-or-treating experience.

He picked it up in no-time.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for.

Happy Easter

And happy spring too.

Valentines Day

I just want to say thank you to my sweet valentine. Thank you for making me feel beautiful everyday. Thank you for taking such good care of me and our baby. Thank you for putting me to bed last night and letting me sleep - it was the best gift you could have given me. I love you. Happy Valentines day.

For everyone else - we are busy baking right now, and tomorrow I will have some yummy dessert recipes to post.

Happy New Year!

It's a new year! It's time to celebrate! So, put on your party hats and wear something sparkly, and go out and paint the town. We'll be doing something similar here, I'll just be wearing more comfortable and less party-like shoes.

Happy New Year!

Farewell Reno

It has been a nice and cozy snowy holiday. The next time Shane's family gets together our numbers will have been increased by 3 babies! We will miss everyone until then, but we are excited to go home and prepare for our own new arrival.

Gingerbread Kits

Making gingerbread houses is one of my favorite holiday traditions. They're sort of an all-in-one activity - baking, crafting, eating, and spending time together.

Design your house using heavy cardboard to cut our your pattern, and roll out your dough on parchment paper an 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your pieces and pull away the excess dough, then cut the parchment around your pieces and arrange them evenly spaced on a cookie sheet. If you want to do Stained Glass Windows - just crush some hard candies like life savers or jolly ranchers in the window space of the raw dough. The candy will melt and distribute as the gingerbread bakes, and will pull away easily from the parchment paper.

Make a platform for your house ( I just wrapped tinfoil around some cardboard) and begin assembling using the Royal Icing recipe below. Let the houses set for an hour before you begin decorating.

Then let the fun and decorating begin! No clothing required.

This gingerbread recipe is really soft and yummy, so don't wait too long before you start eating!

Gingerbread Recipe
6 cups all purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cups shortening
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 eight-ounce container sour cream
2 eggs

Method
In a large bowl, measure 3 1/2 cups flour and remaining ingredients.
With mixer at low speed, beat until well mixed, constantly scraping bowl with rubber spatula. With hand, knead in remaining 2 1/2 cups flour to make a soft dough.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or until dough is not sticky and is of easy kneading consistency.
Roll out 1/2 the dough at a time.

Royal Icing
3 ounces pasteurized egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar

Method
In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on a low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks - about 5-7 minutes. Put in disposable pastry bags - 1 for each house. We tripled the recipe, and that was just enough for 5 houses.
Warning: this icing is your glue - it will harden really fast so make sure you keep it airtight if you aren't going to use it right away.

White Christmas

We are entirely socked in here. It's amazing. I woke up this morning and it felt like Christmas, even though I'm not at home for the first time. The presents have all been opened, the kids are outside playing in the snow, the fire is going, and we're making hot chocolate. It's really a perfect day.

Merry Christmas.

Sweet Spots

We had a long drive to Reno today to spend Christmas with Shane's family. So, of course we needed some cookies for the road. These are peanut butter cookies that are rolled in sugar, and finished with a Hershey Kiss. Peanut Butter + Chocolate = Very Satisfying Cookie. Cookies are my ultimate weakness.

This recipe makes 3 dozen cookies. I doubled it so I would have enough for our trip, for Shane's family, and to fill these little boxes to spread some holiday cheer.

Ingredients
3/4 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 T milk
1 T vanilla
1 large egg
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 t baking soda
3/4 t salt
sugar for rolling dough in

Method
Preheat oven to 375
Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended - medium speed if using a mixer.
Add egg and beat until just combined.
Add combined flour, baking soda, and salt on a low speed until just blended. I like to do half by mixer and the rest by hand so I don't over mix.
Roll rounded tablespoons in sugar to coat, and place 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet - or you can use a Silpat or parchment paper - I like both.
Use the bottom of a cup to slightly flatten each cookie, then put in the oven and bake for 7 or 8 minutes.
While the cookies are baking, shell your kisses so they are ready to go while the cookies are hot.
Remove the cookies from the oven and push a kiss into the center of each one.
Let them cool on the sheet for a minute or two, then move to a cooling rack.

The kisses will become melted all the way through, but will not lose their shape. If you want, you can spread the melted chocolate all over the top and eat while they are warm - a very good idea. But, I recommend letting the chocolate set up again after the cookies have cooled if you are giving these away.

I wish you all safe traveling and happy eating.

I Heart Mercury Glass

My house growing up was a Winter Wonder Land for the whole month of December. My Mother has the most beautiful decorations - The Snow Village, The Carolers, Her Santa Collection, the Nativities, and the beautiful unique details she puts around every inch of the house.

My very favorite part about Christmas at home is the White Tree. Every branch is carefully wrapped with lights, so that it's glowing from the inside out, and it is adorned with all manner of glass ornaments of various sizes - all silver and white, and hand made snowflakes, and white birds, and crystal garlands, and white bows, and birch branches, and a beautiful Angel at the top. The bottom of the tree is surrounded with red poinsettias - about 25. It is heavenly. I wish that I was gifted enough with words to do it justice. Every year I sit and stare at it in amazement, and I get that magical feeling of Christmas where everything feels perfect and right.

I think all of the members of my family will have a White Tree in their own homes eventually. This is the first year I am attempting my own. It takes years to collect all the beautiful things that my Mother has on her tree and in her house, but I am happy to be where I am right now with a handful of glass ornaments and some pretty lights.

Getting Ready for Christmas

We're back! Sun Valley was amazing, and it was really hard to leave my family, but we had to come back to reality sometime. The best part of our return is that now I can finally get ready for Christmas! The nativity is out, the garland is up, and the tree is waiting to be trimmed. I'm drinking hot chocolate with every meal, and Johnny Mathis is starting to get a lot of playing time on my ipod. I love the whole month of December! Happy Christmas season to you all!

Happy Thanksgiving

I love that there is an entire holiday dedicated to the idea that we should be grateful for what we have. I have so much to be grateful for! My faith, my Husband, my family, my friends, this baby that will be arriving soon, my comfortable home, my dog, my computer, food, Tums, elastic waistbands, my sewing machines, my snow and graham calendar, books, fireplaces, hot chocolate, slippers, modern medicine, art...the list goes on and on.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, my family goes to Sun Valley every year for a Barlow Family Reunion. That picture up there was taken 2 years ago, which was mine and Shane's first Thanksgiving together - 5 days after we became engaged. Sun Valley is one of my favorite places. Its a rustic and quaint ski town in Idaho with interesting little shops (including my all-time favorite yarn store), and some cool history. And, it is home to a breakfast place called "The Kneadery", which makes the best eggs benedict ever.

My Thanksgivings at Sun Valley are very non-traditional. There's no kitchen for my sisters and I to crowd around in preparing a meal. And, for all the recipes I have collected over the years, I don't know the first thing about preparing a traditional Thanksgiving menu. I have never eaten cranberry sauce, or that sweet potato dish with marshmallows, and I had green bean casserole for the first time at my friend Kelly's house a couple of weeks ago.

The nice thing about Sun Valley, though, is that we get to have uninterrupted family time. Everything we do, we do together. There are no time constraints, no shopping to be done - just eating, talking, playing games, and being together. What more could I want out of my holiday weekend?

So, that's where we'll be for the next few days. I hope you all have a lovely holiday with your family or friends wherever you are.

Classic Musicals

The Holidays are almost here and my family is in town, so it's time to break out the old classics! We are big musical lovers in my family (Fiddler, Funny girl, American in Paris, Singing in the Rain...) and tonight we're going to watch Gigi. Shane has never seen it, although he's had to listen to me sing the songs all the time - poor guy. So, bring on the Holidays, and the musical marathon.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fun

We had our friends over tonight for a little Halloween celebration. Everyone dressed up and we had so much fun!

Here we have Shane and myself as Juno and Paulie Bleeker, being very serious.

Newly-wedded Brian and Andrea as The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who. Also featuring our little Lucy as "The Grinch's Dog".

Sheldon and Staci were our resident Greek Gods.

Jake and Cody as a 1970's sleeze bag film maker - right Jake?, and construction worker.

Jo as Kanga and Little Roo, and Lee as Christopher Robin. Jo is due to have baby Soren in 5 weeks!

Stacey (sans Shawn, who sadly had to work) as a Gypsy with her beautiful little girl Avery as herself, an Angel.

Some ferocious lions - Olivia and her Dad Chad the Cowboy on our left, and Matthias with his Dad Sheldon - Greek God on our right.

Here is Olivia again with her Mom Alexis, who is Samantha from Bewitched, who also made Olivia's costume by hand.

We love our friends!

What are you going to be?

Things are starting to get spooky around here...

I have never decorated for Halloween before. I don't know how that happened, but I have no idea where to even begin. So, when I was asked to host this month's book club on Dracula, and told that "everyone usually throws theme parties" I was a tiny bit nervous. But I've realized after looking around for ideas and getting started that decorating for Halloween is SO FUN! Spooky cobwebs and witches - I have the song "This is Halloween" from Nightmare before Christmas stuck in my head all day long. Anyway, I haven't gotten things going in full swing yet, but we had the book club meeting tonight so I covered the Vampire basics.

The classic garlic and wooden stakes.

Holy water - BYOV (bring your own vile)

And a Coffin Cake, made with this recipe.

I know I'm missing some crosses, but that's a long story.