Here's to you.....Denisa

Denisa.....my sister in law.....is a faithful reader of our blog! Yeah Denisa! Thanks for reading. Well, after our crazy holidays we had a nice vacation in January. A trip to Visit Nani and Papa D and a few days at Hume Lake. While visiting in Fresno we took a day trip to visit my brother and his family in Merced. Here's the boys.... Jack, Joel, Graham and Seth. All, of course, acting like perfect angels and smiling obediently......sorta....
Ok, not really obeying their frustrated mothers at all and pretty much doing whatever they want. But at least they are actually on the couch.
So....while in visiting our Merced fam we learned the amazing art of Wii. Of course we know it's "all the rage".......but we live in rural small town america.......and had never played. It was awesome. I beat Josh at Boxing, twice. And my brother Dave...killed Josh at Tennis. And watching the little ones play was hilarious (especially boxing). What an awesome time. Sorry we don't come visit more......we love you guys.

White Boys Christmas!

Just thought this was a fun pic everyone would want to see.

WHITE CHRISTMAS...HA HA!!

Yes, we had a White Christmas, in fact we do every year. So here are a few pics to give you a small glimpse in to a White Christmas.
Craziness ensued, it was a blast having Christmas with Funcle Jared and Auntie Steen!




Auntie Steen and beautiful little Abbey, her first Christmas!


















Seth enjoyed a baking set that Joel actually got. But ultimately his favorite was his "choo choo bieke" which unfortunately didn't make it on to our camera so that will come later.















Joel posing in front of Grampa and Sweet Gramma's Christmas tree in Hemet. It was great to spend time with the extended White family and with so much AMAZING food! (Gramma, if you ever read this, just know that you are the best cook in the world!) Also, thanks everyone for the gifts, love ya!







Josh after prime rib, cheesy mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, honey baked carrots, a bowl of olives, some fiery jalapeno cheese, a beef stick, some smoked gouda, ceasar salad, some more prime rib, definitely more cheesy potatoes, wine, a spoonful of horseradish, a few chocolate peanutbutter balls, gingersnap cookies, creme de menthe flourless chocolate cake, harvey wallbanger cake, and two glasses of Gramma's version of a protein shake...CUSTARD! He was just doing what Grampa White always says, "Why be uncomfortable when you can be miserable!" Thanks Grampa, you rock!

Snow Friends!

Some of our friends, Brian, Stacie, and Logan (Lolo) came to visit us in the snow. Here are some pics with us sledding and building a snowman. It was so much fun to have them come up...except for the part where we had to push them out of our driveway, what's up with 2-wheel drive in the snow!? We welcome visitors, especially those who enjoy sledding, snowball fights, and building snowmen.

Sledding (Part Deux)

Here's a video of Joel just going for it while we were sledding. He was totally not himself on the sled hill. Typically he's very cautious but he wanted to sled down the steepest hill and go as fast as possible. He even sledded right in to a pole once, unfortunately we didn't get it on video...and he was OK!

Pioneer Man & Woman Make "Crack Rolls"

So first we have to thank our friend Stacie for pointing us to this awesome blog called "Pioneer Woman Cooks". This lady lives out in the middle of nowhere and spends some of her time coming up with some of the greatest dishes on the planet. This is the second time we've made her cinnamon rolls, which another friend of ours, Gino, has lovingly dubbed "crack rolls" (because they're just somewhat addictive).







Here we have the first batch of dough, which we made from scratch, rolled out and then smothered with a pound of melted butter, a cup of sugar, and a whole lot of cinnamon.












Next we roll it up, probably the hardest part because all of the stuff starts oozing out of it. Pioneer woman helped with this part but was taking the picture just now.










Here is Pioneer Man using a very sharp knife to cut the roll in to the individual rolls. Pioneer woman would then put them in to little foil things to bake.















Here is one of the yummy goodness just before it goes in to the oven.











Here they are baking.






Here we have hot Pioneer Woman making the glaze that goes on top of the rolls after they've baked. The glaze is "AMAZAZING". It has coffee in it, maple, and ALOT of powdered sugar.




Here is Pioneer Woman glazing the rolls with yummy goodness, as if there wasn't enough of that already!















And alas we have finished product. Pioneer Man then ran out and gave most of the crack rolls to a few friends. So far the comments we've received from these are:
"They were so good we just ate them for dinner."
"They were gone in 3 minutes."
"If you don't give us more our marriage may be over."

If you're feeling adventurous and want to eat something that is absolutely amazing then lookup Pioneer Woman cooks and go for it...or I'm sure my beautiful Pioneer Woman would give you the recipe if you asked nice. Merry Christmas!!

Sledding

We got about 18 inches of snow in the last several days so since today was sunny we decided to go sledding with the Tates. We went out near their house....
Well I'm sure our kids will be surprising us for years to come but to day Joel SHOCKED us! He just went crazy. He was climbing to the highest, steepest hills he could find and just going for it. He loved it. It was a blessing to see him let go of any sense of fear and have a wonderful time!
Seth isn't really a snow bunny but he had a good time as long as Josh was willing to carry him up the hill since 18 in. deep snow is hard for a little guy.

Here's Josh T. with his daughter Lucy, who wasn't too sure about sledding, but she was willing to try. We had a great time, we thank God for the "white stuff" and for a great start to our Winter.