The Happiest Place on Earth

Southern California is pretty much the happiest place on earth. How can you not be happy when it is perfectly gorgeous all the time? I was so happy to be there and not here in the dreadful snow. The sad thing is that everytime we go, I get really antsy to move. I start begging Kenyon to look for a different job.
We scored a pretty good deal on KSL classifieds and made for a pretty affordable trip to Disneyland. It was an early Christmas present. Hopefully the kids will remember how much fun they had when Christmas comes and there are no presents under the tree.

I think the highlight for Teague was getting to participate in Jedi Training.

Quinn loved just about everything. Except that she couldn't get down and crawl around. Elise's favorite was Screamin'. And Gavin's favorite - you'll love this - the Merry-Go-Round. Yep. He is a funny kid. He also loved walking up to strangers and trading pins. (Little hint - by the pins ahead of time off ebay. saves you tons of money.)

We tried a few new things. The Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island. We had NEVER been over there. It was fun. My kids LOVED it and begged to go back. Another thing we enjoyed was the Enchanted Tiki Lounge and the Pineapple Whip Float. Yum!

Another highlight - staying with my sister, Jen, and her family. And taking two of their kids with us to Disneyland one day while Jen kept Quinn. It is always fun to be with family.

You're My Only Hope

Princess Leia - costume and wig created by her Grandma Porter

We were SHOCKED that she kept the wig on the whole night.

Star Wars meets the Mummy (our cousin Max)

Check out Darth Vader's eyes.

Star Wars meets a Vampire
If I could only get my act together. If I had a little more time. If if if...Kenyon would have been Obi Wan or Jedi. Acutally he wanted to be yoda. But, I am just not that clever and way too cheap this year. Other than Quinn's (which was made) the costumes were borrowed or purchased at yard sale.

Happy?

So my sister Egan asked the family to respond to the question - List 5 things that make you happy every day. It has been fun to see the responses from my family (they are still coming in). Egan's was HILARIOUS. But I don't know if I can tell you. Kenyon said that one of the things that makes him happy is eating a bowl of ice cream while watching the Biggest Loser (that only happens once a week but apparently he looks forward to it all week).

Can you guess what makes me happy? Breakfast. It is my favorite meal of the day. Thanks to my super cute and talented niece-in-law for letting me steal this picture from her blog and her recipes!

So what 5 things make you happy every day?

A little trip up the canyon

I LOVE FALL! The leaves are amazing right now. We made a stop at Sliver Lake by Brighton Ski Resort. That is one of our favorite places to take a little walk. It was a little chilly though.

TWINS!

Who Cares What your Gym Teacher says?

Being that it was just conference weekend (wasn't it EXCELLENT? so many good talks. That deserves another post.)...I was spiritually fed. But dang! I ate a lot of food too (between the Friday night BYU football game and Sunday night dinner). I don't think I was ever hungry but I just kept eating. Dip to die for, cinnamon rolls, Hawaiian haystacks, Cafe Rio, papa johns. Oh my this is embarrassing. Plus we had candy bingo to play during conference.

Obviously I needed my step class at the gym this morning. It kicked my booty. At the end of the class my teacher/good friend/neighbor explains that the reason we might not be seeing results is because we are eating junk when we get home from the gym. And she proceeded to give us a kind little lecture about changing our eating habits. She said that it is basically pointless to work this hard and then eat that bad. I turned to my friend next to me and said (semi-jokingly), "that's why I come to the gym. So that I can eat whatever I want." :) Ha ha ha. Not really. I am not giving up my junk. I like it! And I like working out.

So I made the most DIVINE dessert for our FHE treat. You really should make it. Who cares what your gym teacher says? (she doesn't read my blog anyway so she'll never know )

Caramel-Glazed Apple Cake(from the Costco magazine)

1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (eek!)
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
5 Granny Smith apples
1 1/4 cup chopped pecans and walnuts
2 1/4 tsp vanilla

Caramel Glaze
4 T butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325. Butter and flour and a 9x13 pan (I did 2- 8x8 pans and gave one away).
Beat sugars and oil until well blended. Add eggs one at a time. Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture until just blended. Stir in apples, nuts, and vanilla. Pour in pan(s).
Bake for 50-75 minutes (mine was about 60). Let cool in pan while preparing glaze.
Glaze: Melt better over low heat. Stir in sugars over med-low and cook for 2 minutes. Add cream and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Stir constantly.
Poke holes in cake with skewer or toothpick. Pour glaze over the cake. Serve warm and top with whipped cream or ice cream. Yummers!

Cute boys and cool tricks

I love these boys. I also LOVE the new things I am learning on photoshop. So fun what you can do to photos.

Now I just need this new Photoshop. (just a little hint for Kenyon)