Cookies for Santa

On Christmas Eve we made some cookies for Santa, they are just like sugar cookies except you don't have to cut them out and frost each one (I know I know- I'm all for anything easier!) P had such a fun time putting the sprinkles on them. At first he would just pick up one pinch of sprinkles and put them on the cookies but at the end he decided he was done and just dumped the rest of the plate onto the batch. We then cut them into squares and put them on a special santa cookie plate with a note to Santa. I turned my back for a minute and Love started eating the cookies off of the plate. Now I know we are still new at this whole parenting thing, but come on who eats the cookies for santa before we can even get them set out for santa. It did make me laugh so hard though because that's just Love, and I love him so much!!!


HERE'S THE RECIPE
1-1/2 C sugar
2/3 C butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-1/2 C flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp salt
Beat together sugar and butter until creamy. Mix in eggs, milk, and vanilla. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to sugar mixture and mix until flour is just barely incorporated. Do not over mix! Press into a jelly-roll pan (dough is too soft to cut out with cookie cutters.) Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. Do not over bake. Cool completely, then frost. Cut into 2" bars.
Frosting:
1/2 C butter
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
milk
Beat butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and almond extract together in a large bowl. While beating add milk until mixture becomes smooth and a frosting-like consistency.

Christmas Eve Eve

Every Christmas Eve we get together with the Luke side of our family, but for the first time since their marriage, my sister's in-laws were coming into town for a wedding so they were spending Christmas Eve with them. Long story short we got together Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd for those that can't keep up with the story). Everyone was there and it was so much fun to get together and exchange gifts. We always just do a buffet of finger foods and then start opening the gifts.
P, GG, my baby brother, Grandma Dorothy, and my brother-in-law.
Sister-in-law holding n/n #11 and Grandma Dorothy holding #9.
GG, my dad, n/n #1, P and #4.
Sister-in-law holding #11, my little brother holding #9 and Chubbs, my dad, and #4.
my mom, #2, 3, & 4.
#3 showing off all the presents.

Cookie Day

Every year, the girls in my family get together and make cookies and candy to pass out to our neighbors. This year since my mom and dad decided to "skip christmas" and no one else came, my sister and I (holding true to our traditions) decided to hold cookie day ourselves. We made a ton of candies and cookies and had lots of fun just being together. Thanks for the use of your kitchen Rachael, you are awesome!!The finished product. For a list of all of the goodies and their recipes go to my sister's blog here, and she has them all listed.
My niece #2 and I making candies.
My sister, Rachael.

Church Ball

N/n #1 was on the church basketball team.  He did such a great job and we are so proud of him!  His dad is also the coach (if you couldn't tell from the pic).

Another Snow Day

I know I have already posted some pictures of our first snow of the season, but P was so cute today. Love went out and was shoveling the driveway and P had to be out there to help him. He started out with this huge shovel (in the video) but then he went into the garage to see if he could find one more his size and he brought out this dustpan and started shoveling away the snow with that.

The Opening of the Presents

To finish off the wedding festivities, when my baby brother and his new wife got back from their honeymoon we went over and watched them open up their gifts. They think they got most of what they needed and wanted!

Christmas in Payson

Last week we went to my sister's house and celebrated Christmas in her small town . We started the night out by going to a train exhibit and P would have been content if we never left. He loved watching the trains go around and around. Then we went and watched a house who's christmas lights danced to the music (that's what the video is of) and then we ended the night by going to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what we wanted for Christmas. P of course told him that he wanted a train- what else would P wish for for Christmas??? He wasn't one bit scared of sitting on Santa's lap like I thought he would be. He just climbed right up on his knee and Santa asked him what he would like and P said a train.
P and his cousins waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap.
n/n #3 & 4 and their friends standing on the lamp post to see if they can see a glimpse of Santa yet.
P telling Santa that he wants a choo-choo train for Christmas this year.
At the train exhibit watching the trains go around and around.

Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas Tree

Every Christmas my parents put up their christmas tree and let the grandkids come over and decorate it. The kids have so much fun trying to put their ornaments on the highest branch while P and n/n #9 piled all their ornaments on one single branch. My parents really love having the kids over and enjoy their tree the rest of the season!
The finished tree!
#11 helping Grandpa put on the star.
#4 trying to find just the right spot!
#2 putting her ornament on just right.
#3 looking for his favorite ornament to put on the tree.
#9 trying to figure out how to get it to stay on the tree.
#1 seeing how high he can get his ornaments on.
P take the ornaments back off the tree and putting them back in the box.

Wedding Time

It's finally here!!!My baby brother got married on Friday December 5th in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was so beautiful! We are thrilled to have a new sister-in-law in our family now and know she will make my brother very happy. Here are just a few pictures from that day.

Lights on Temple Square

For family night we went to look at the lights on Temple Square. We rode trax downtown and walked around the grounds. As always everything was beautiful, this is one of my favorite times of year. P of course was more interested in getting back on the "train" (as he called it) so after we were done we rode around a little on trax.

P's presents

Everyone was so generous with the gifts they gave P for his birthday. He got a bubble machine from his Aunt Rachael, Uncle Clint and cousins, he got a basketball goal from Grandma and Grandpa Luke, he got a train video from Aunt Becky , a singing Elmo from Uncle Jim, Aunt Amy and the girls, a lego dump truck from Uncle Tom and Uncle Dan, he got train pajama's from Grandma Dorothy and a train set from Grandma and Grandpa Muir. It was such a fun night and he loved everything that he got so much that he didn't want to go to bed and during the night he would wake up and say "momma, bubbles" or "daddy, choo-choo". He couldn't wait to get up and start playing again!

P's B-day Cake

We celebrated P's  2nd Birthday on Sunday Nov. 30 with all of Preston's aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Since P is really into trains right now, I made him a train cake. Thanks so much to my sister for her help and inspiration!!!
This is a little video of P blowing out the candles on his cake (sort of)he really didn't know what to think. . .

Temple Day

My baby brother and his soon to be wife went through the temple for the first time on Saturday, November 29 in preparing for their wedding. We are so proud of them and are excited about their upcoming wedding. It was a little bit of a stressful day because Love and I thought it was at the Timpanogos Temple when it was really at the Provo Temple. Needless to say we made it in just the nick of time and it was a beautiful session!

Family Pictures

For thanksgiving we decided to take some family pictures.  These are all of my cousins and my dad's sister and both of my grandma's.  The one below is just of the Luke family with no cousins.

Preston's New Friend

My aunt got a new puppy chihuahua named Gracie. She brought her to the Thanksgiving dinner, and P of course fell in love with her because she was just his size!

Thanksgiving

This year was Thanksgiving with my family. We went up to Park City again at a resort that my cousin works at. We had almost everyone there.  We had a great time spending time together since it is pretty much the only time during the year everyone is there. We played a pretty intense game of thanksgiving bingo. Everyone was in charge of bringing a gift and when you got bingo you could pick a new gift or steal someone else's. It was so much fun!

Gina's Bridal Shower

My baby brother just has a couple more weeks until his wedding. We had a combined bridal shower with her family. These are some of the pictures.
The happy couple opening some presents.
My cousins and me.
My Grandma (GG) holding #11, her sister Aunt Chloe, my cousin and my aunt Deanna.
My mom with my niece #2
My baby brother aka the groom.