Grandpa Hamblin feeds his newest grandchild. Josh is Ben and Heidi's third boy. They are all a little wild and crazy and we love them all.
The wild and crazy boys of Holly and Shon and Ben and Heidi. Holly will have one more boy in February to add to the wildness of the situation. Josh is the most smiling baby ever. This is the best picture of him and Grandma Hamblin.
Playing Carcasone. I don't especially like this game, but everyone loves it. It takes and long time and involves a bunch of strategy. I can't take it. I need easy clear cut games that are short like Tetris :)

Christmas Eve Breakfast cont.

Baby Josh playing on the floor.
Jake taking care of his little brother.
Jake giving little Josh a Christmas Eve kiss.
Poor, poor Zacky. He didn't want his picture to be taken. He wouldn't tell us why, he just said he didn't want any pictures.

Christmas Eve Breakfast

Christmas Eve breakfast of biscuits and bacon gravy. Ben and Dad made this for us.
Close up of the chef enjoying his masterpiece.
We were practically forcing all the boys to eat breakfast. Jake was the only one who ate semi-willingly.
Holly's cute Christmas pj's.
Just force the biscuits down with some apple juice and you can't taste a thing.

Hello To The Kleins

Zachy and Tyler sleeping on Grandmas floor. They were so very excited to see their cousins. They have been playing and fighting ever since. Tuckered out little boys need to take Sunday naps because they get a little crabby if they don't.

My beautiful graham cracker house. I made this at young womens this Wednesday. It is probably the best one I have made ever.

The Hamblin boys taking a sunday afternoon nap in Grandpas office. We didn't pose this at all. They had a really fun time last night and today, but didn't get to bed til late last night. We had a house full of pretty grouchy boys. Sitting at the table after everyones woke up from Sunday naps. Mom and Dad got tons of treats from the branch members at church this morning. This is only a portion of the goodies we have been eating. Mom has been baking us all sorts of goodies. We love and miss you Emily, Jake, Taylee and Rohne. You are in all of our hearts. Mom wants me to tell you that she is reminding everyone how much they miss you just as you requested. But, she doesn't have to remind them, because we miss you still. More pictures to come!

I DID IT FOR SURE

131.827!!!!! I beat the high score! I did it. HOORAH for all and to all a good night.

Close, very very Close!

If I may direct everyones attention to the Tetris high score side bar. As you will see, Bryce is still the current high score. However, just beneath him, closing the gap tremendously between opponents is his Wife Natali with a whopping 97,044 points! I am so elated. I have been playing a little everyday and my scores keep getting lower and lower I swear. Until this afternoon, when I was totally in game prime mode. Look out Bryce, here I come.

Watch Out Below! Here Comes ICE

We had a tremendous ice storm in Iowa today. I ended up not going to work because everything was closed down. I expected Bryce's school to close too, but to my dismay, it didn't. So, since we are only blocks from his school, and our car was a big huge ice block (that Bryce broke two ice scrapers in the process of trying to clean it off), Bryce just walked to school this morning. Branches were so heavy with ice they were falling off trees and power was out all over the state. I'm sure Dad just cringes when he reads this because the ice storms cause quite the trouble for power companies. Luckily, our power was only off for an hour or less. Some are out of power for a few days at the least. BUT, while Bryce was trecking to school through the ice and snow, he ran into a Newspaper reporter taking pictures for the Des Moines Register. He took this picture of Bryce before he even knew the reporter was in front of him. It was on the internet site for the newspaper and I wanted to share with everyone how famous and brave my husband is for going out in this terrible storm. P.S. He got to school, just to find out they were canceling classes and closing the school down for the rest of the day! He had a good friend who gave him a ride home though. Thanks Ben.

We Need a Little Christmas NOW

I love Christmas for so many reasons. I love the music and begin listening as soon as I can. I love to make and receive goodies from neighbors and friends. I can't wait to decorate my home and send out Christmas cards. I LOVE LOVE the decorations at the Mall. I'm not a really big shopper, but I love to go to the mall at Christmas time. This display was where Santa was visiting all the Children. The Tree is huge and i loved this golden reindeer. Bryce said he felt like we were steeling because just around the corner people were paying to get pictures with Santa by the same tree.

Young Women in Excellence

This is Jessica and Grace. Jessica is a Laurel and she received her Young Woomanhood recognition award. She recently moved out of the ward, but came to this to receive her award with us. She really is an amazing young woman. She also has a "weakness" for country boys and she loves Wyoming and Montana so we became quick friends.

We had Young Women in Excellence at our Presidents house. She has such a beautiful home and here is our elaborate dessert bar. There was cheesecake, chocolate chocolate chip bunt cake, nut cookes, TRUFFLES, and a chocolate fountain with all sorts of fruits and pound cakes to dip into it.

Another shot of the dessert bar. I ate so much sweet stuff is such a short amount of time. I came home sick. I told Bryce that I wish I had a way to spoon out all the sweets from my stomach so I could feel better. He then explained to me that all the calories were probably already digested. I felt a little less prone to over eat sweets since this night. OH, and the drink was sparkling egg nog.

Here is Jessica and I. We matched so beautifully we just had to get a picture together. Usually she is quite taller that me, but I had on heels and she didn't. GOOD JOB JESS. She is such an example for all the other girls.

Truffle Recipe
1 bag semisweet choc chips, 1 bag milk choc
4 T butter
1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
2 T shortening

Line cookie sheet with foil.
Melt milk choc. chips over low heat. Stir constantly. Remove from heat, add butter and cream at the same time. Stir until smooth. Add chopped ande's mints (or desired filling) opt.

Put in fridge for 10-15 minutes until the mixture can hold shape. Stir every once in a while to keep mixture creamy.

Spoon onto cookie sheet. Put in Freezer for 30 min.

Heat shortening and semi sweet choc chips over low heat.

Use toothpicks to stab truffles and dip into the semisweet choc.

Roll in any topping desired.

Let sit in fridge till set, then store in airtight container till served. Let sit out for 10-15 minutes before serving so they can be creamy and delicious.

(A close up picture can be seen on Emily Kleins blog. She has the recipe there too)

Santa Clause is Coming to Town!

Myah is the little girl I nanny for. She is six years old and loves to do crafts. Her brother Myles takes a nap every afternoon after lunch, and that is Myah's special time. She and I make decorations for the house and draw pictures or any sort of craft. She helped me with my Christmas cards and we had made this mask the day before. She wanted to wear it while we worked on my cards.

Snow in Good Old Iowa

It snowed about five or six inches here today. It is the most powdery beautiful snow. Bryce affectionately called it "Christmas Snow." He didn't really want to play in it as much as me, but he came out and I attempted to make a snowman. I wanted to be cool like Emily and have snowman pictures on my blog, but powder doesn't make good snowpeople! But I loved this big snowhill just the same.

I Sure Do Like Those Christmas Cookies Sugar . . .

Bryce and I made Christmas cookies to take to friends. It was so fun I was jumping up and down and constantly exclaiming "Bryce, this is so fun, I love this." WE, meaning both of us, decorated the cookies after painting them with a edible food paint made of egg yolks and food coloring. I only had summer paper plates so we covered the plates with foil. It made for a nice festive display. I enjoyed myself every minute of the 3 hours it took us to finish them all, not counting the hour last night preparing them. Then the eight or so hours they had to sit in the fridge overnight before we could make them. IT WAS ALL WORTH IT! We listened to Christmas music and just had a Holly Jolley time.

Hey! Cool Shades

Zack and Tyler tried on my sunglasses on the way to the movies over thanksgiving. Zacky wanted them because he was sad that he forgot his and the sun was so bright. Tyler wanted to try them on because I took a picture of Zack while he had them on and he had to be part of the action. Who wouldn't, they are really awesome sunglasses. They both look like Super Stars!