Gingerbread Men Cookies

We made Gingerbread Men Cookies for Luke's Christmas preschool party. They were easy and turned out so yummy that I wanted to share the recipe.  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. butter softened
• 3/4 c. brown sugar packed
• 1 3.4 oz.pkg. butterscotch instant pudding
• 1 egg
• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tblsp. ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 F.
• In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, dry pudding mix and egg in a large bowl until well blended.
• In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients
• Slowly add ingredients from secondary bowl to the butter mixture.
• Refrigerate for at least one hour or until dough is firm.
• Roll dough out on a floured work surface to 1/4-1/2-inch thick. Use cookie cutters to shape cookies.
• Place cutouts on a greased backing sheet.
• Bake 10-15 min. or until edges are lightly brown.

The only things I would do differently next time (1) roll the doll not so thin- closer to 1/2 inch thick, (2) not refrigerate it overnight. It was so hard that I had to let it warm up to roll it out. We dipped the legs in white and milk chocolate. Our favorite was the white chocolate.

Grandma Munns

My Grandma Munns passed away almost two weeks ago. My life is forever blessed because of her and my Grandpa. How do I "sum up" such an influential and incredible person in my life? She was an amazing example of service, gratitude, loving others, sharing her talents and hard work. She often bore her testimony to me about living her life and finding happiness by following the teachings of the gospel. In one of our last conversations, she shared kind words and advice with me that were much needed. She always knew the right thing to say. I already miss her. However, I'm so grateful that she is back with my grandpa and other family members. I was able to attend her funeral and felt like it was a beautiful tribute to her and her life. "Until we meet again…"

The silver lining of funerals is spending time with family.

My five brothers (and adorable niece!) and me. We span from coast to coast so getting together doesn't happen too often. Love these guys and proud to claim them as my brothers.

Citrus

One of my favorite things about moving to California is all of the yummy produce! Right now, lemons are in season. A member of our church had more lemons than she could keep up with. She invited us over to pick whatever we could use. They smelled sooooooo good! Yum! We've enjoyed them in our recipes, as fresh squeezed lemonade, even just in our water. Delicious.

Super Heroes

It is almost on a daily bases that my two favorite super heroes will appear to "save the day!"

Graham Cracker Houses

We continued the tradition of making graham cracker houses. Luke was really into it this year and did 90% of it on his own. Emma took my approach and ate more candy than actually made it onto the house. It is a loved tradition by the entire family. Luke informed me that he thought this would be a good activity for every family night.

Oh Christmas Tree

We enjoyed our visit to Utah, but it felt so nice to be home! We jumped right in and started decorating the house for Christmas. The kids were very eager to help and make the house look "just right."

The stockings were put to a literal use rather than a decorative use. (Only for about 5 seconds before "no-fun mom" ripped them off- those are some serious family treasures that Bryan's mom makes for each family member.) 

The newest gun at the Nielson residence. It "fixes" bad lights or finds the one bulb that is causing the problem. Revolutionizes hanging Christmas lights.

Decorating the Christmas Tree.

One needs to be creative when limited on vertical space for ornaments.

Perfect.

This video is a typical home video-nothing too thrilling. It does capture me saying, "Christmas 2015." Yikes. The sleep deprivation and prego brain struggle is real.

 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

on a Firetruck! That's right. My hometown, put on quite the show for the arrival of Santa Claus. I couldn't get Emma within 2 feet of Santa and Luke wasn't convinced that he needed to sit on his lap. I'll be honest, not my favorite Santa and I think Luke's face in one of the picture's below sums up his thought on this impostor.

By the Courthouse, they have miniature houses with various displays in them. Most of the displays are very well done and cute, a few others are just down right creepy. The kids were more into the displays this year than last. The fact that it was 50 degrees instead of 10 degrees also helped.