Happy Holidays!

Alpine Sweetie

Once again, I am not a great photographer. I wanted to take some pictures of Erin's adorable Alpine Sweetie outfit. Don't you just love her fur vest? SO CUTE! Thanks Gymboree! (And Gma!)


Erin LOVES to eat "nos" (snow). That's how she says it. She mixes up the sounds in the words sometimes, but it's dang cute!

Even though I have this awesome camera, my pictures usually turn out fuzzy, and I can't get Erin to look at the camera. Mostly I get pictures of her back, which, although cute, is not as cute as her front!

Thanksgiving Adventures

So, I was on my own for Thanksgiving for the first time in my life this year. I was a little nervous. I'm writing this as it goes, so you'll have to wait for the end to see the exciting results. P.S. I had grand plans for glorious pictures, but my camera's battery died, so I didn't get very many.

Wednesday Night-

the pie:

Tyson decided that he would rather make the pie than for me to buy one at the store because I said I would not be making a homemade pie. I've never understood the saying "easy as pie". It is not easy, it's a pain. Tyson's cooking methods drive me nuts. He just went right in with hardly any preparations. He did clean off the working surface first, though. Then he made the crust without reading the directions carefully. He forgot the butter. So then after crust number two was made, he found out we don't have a rolling pin. I told him to use a glass. After he rolled it out, he said "do we have a pie plate?" I said, "I think so". Then he proceded to get a cake pan out of the cupboard, and I told him that wouldn't work. Finally he found the pie plate and put the crust in. Then he made the filling, he was going to half it cuz he didn't want two pies, and after he added all the ingredients he said "you know, I forgot to half it. I only halfed the sugar." So I made him put the full amount of sugar in. Then he poured it in the crust, and I thought it looked really weird and lumpy. I noticed there were no empty evaporated milk cans around. "Did you put the milk in?" Nope. So he tried to pour the filling back in the bowl, and of course lost his crust. He thought he could make it work. I said no. So, after putting the evaporated milk in the filling and making crust number three, he put the pie in the oven. There was some debate as to whether we should have baked the crust first or not. We'll have to see. It looks pretty, though. Kindof.

the rolls:

So rather than make home made rolls, we decided to do rhodes bake and serve. I went for the "quick" method. They got a little over done. Not too bad, though.


Thursday Morning-

the turkey:

I had put the turkey in the fridge on Tuesday morning, thinking since it was small it would be thawed by Thursday morning. No. It still had ice on it. So, I haven't cooked a lot of turkeys in my life, and it's been a really long time since I did one. It was just a breast, not the whole thing, so it was going to be easy, right? I took it out of the platic and looked at it. I thought, wow, this is a really deformed turkey. The breast is the part with the rib cage, right? It was really thin and wimpy, and the back was HUGE. What a weird looking bird. So I called Tyson in, and he said, I think that's the spine, not the rib cage. Whew! That's much better.



So as I'm rinsing the turkey in the sink, my cat gets up on the counter and starts licking the juice on the plate. ARG! So I put the turkey down, then wash my hands and throw the cat out the front door. Not realizing that my neice's dog (who we are watching while she's in Florida) was right there waiting to run out the front door with him. UGG!

Thursday afternoon-


the yams:

I found this recipe for maple glazed yams that looked really good and decided to try it out. I'm not a huge fan of yams, so I wasn't too worried about it. I peeled them ahead of time and got the glaze ready, stuck them in the oven and stirred every 15 minutes. They turned out okay, but not really worth all the stirring.



the potatoes:

Tyson was a really big help in all of this, considering he is a man. He peeled the potatoes and started boiling them for me. Then later, he mashed them, too. He is not familiar with mashing, so he put too much milk and not enough butter. They were gluey. I did appreciate the help, though- Thanks My Love!

the fillers:

I decided that I would have a relish tray, cuz it's not Thanksgiving without sweet pickles, if you ask me. I went to Wal-mart and they did not have non-pickled beets. Then I went to Fresh Market, and they had them. I was about to get Fancy Small Beets, then saw that there were tiny ones, and got them instead, cuz they are hard to cut and I thought it would be nice to just pop them in my mouth. When I got them home, I read the can better and it said Fancy Tiny Pickled Beets. Arg. So I tried to make the brine better, but it didn't work out so well. They still tasted like pre-pickled beets. But the tiny sweet pickles were really good! Erin loves the olives, and we also had Zesty Dills that Tyson and his brother love.

Thursday evening (the crunch)-

the turkey, part two:

So, I looked at the turkey and it looked really good! I vaguely thought I had a meat thermometer, and found it in the drawer, and the temp was good, then I sliced it and it looked white, the top was beautiful and brown, and it was Done! The only success so far!!

the gravy (or, disgusting gloopy mess):

The past several times I've tried to make gravy, it has absolutely not worked. I actually made the rue right, I think, and then it was actually looking like gravy. Then I put waaay too much kitchen boquet (browning sauce) in it, and it ended up darker than beef gravy. EW! I also forgot the secret ingredient, so it was too thick. Or the rue was too thick, either way. Disgusting! I thought maybe it could be salvaged, but then I had it ready too early and it got way overcooked, burned on the bottom with a skin on the top. GROSS! It was really a complete disaster. Grandma, help me. Maybe by the time I'm 50 I'll have it mastered.

the finish:

I put all the food in its fancy dishes, got the table set with the help of my brother, then the guests arrived. Nate and Jessica and Ammon (plus their two dogs) came to share Thanksgiving with us. I am thankful that this was their second meal today. As we all sat down to eat, I remembered the stuffing. Thankfully, it was Stove Top, and only took 5 minutes to make. THE END.

The moral of the story is: Next time I want Mom to cook it! Mom, I really appreciate all you do and how awesome you do it! I am thankful for you!!

If wishes were fishes

This is what I wish my table looked like all the time. What you don't see in this picture is what I have carefully cropped out: The big pile of mail spilled all over the floor, food on the floor, the missing lightbulb in the ugly chandelier and the box of ant bait that's been on the cabinet for about a year.

This is what it actually looks like all the time. Ug.

Oh well. At least that's the remnants of an actual cooked dinner instead of cereal bowls. I'm not even gonna show you what the other side of the kitchen looks like.

Obsession - Karlee Ericksen

Sometimes I get obsessive about things. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Right now I'm obsessing about the fact that the new "cutest blog on the block" logo matches my blog. I'm crazy. What can I say.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a busy day! First we went to Auntie Terry's house for some fun, then we went trick-or-treating (sort of) at Grandma Ericksen's house.
Here are Tyson, Erin, Conner and Grayson playing in the leaves in Aunt Terry's back yard.

They had fun throwing leaves on each other.

Then we played "monster mash" but Erin wasn't too into it. She didn't get that you were supposed to stand on the plates when the music stopped, but fortunately, no one else did, either.

When we got to Grandma Ericksen's house, all of Erin's cousins had already left, so we didn't get any good pictures of my little bat. Here are the best ones.

She loved the smoke and bubbles that Grandpa rigged up.

Ready for takeoff!

Here we go!!

Here is Erin and her cousins walking down the street off to trick-or-treat!!

We ended up only going to a couple houses before it rained, but Erin had a good time knocking on doors!! Hopefully next year won't be so rainy.

Fabulous Fall 6

I have been wanting to go to thanksgiving point all year, and I finally got there two days before it is going to close! It was a tad chilly, but we did okay! We started out on the pathway and Erin kept saying "oooh, pretty". It was so darn cute!! Love it!!

When we got to the Monet bridge, she decided she wanted to get out of her stroller and check out the water.

It's hard to see, but there was what I think was a blue heron right there in the pond, about 3 feet away from Erin.

She tried to get him, but he kept running away. They always do. Smart birds.

He finally decided that it was safer from her on the other side of the pond.

Then she found some snow, and decided to eat it! It was funny! Hopefully she will like the snow this year, we won't make her wear a snowsuit that is too small this time.

She loved the fragrance garden, these columns were fun to take pictures of. Erin just kept running around all over the gazebo and the tall cement planter boxes.

There are benches about every 10 feet, and she went around sitting on all of them.

Chairs, too.

I think this plant next to her was anise, it smelled so good! She is actually standing in a flower bed, my girl is not one to stay on the path. Unfortunately.

Then she decided she needed a rest. She wanted me to get down on the grass with her and rest a minute. Cute!

Then she found all these tables and decided it was time for lunch.

When we got done with the gardens, we went to the barnyard, which she absolutely loves!

This little donkey was curious about Erin, she kept saying "donkey" She got that word from "Shrek".

These are the cutest pigs I've ever seen! They were so active and curious! Their ears were so perky! We did a lot of oinking.

Erin absolutely adores all animals, even flies.

I love this picture so much! She was not remotely afraid of these huge "Horsies". They were really calm and friendly.

She even fed them some corn. I think her whole head would fit in their mouths, but it didn't bother her! The signs say "please don't feed your fingers to the horses".

Chickens! She loves em!

The pheasant really wanted some food. We were all out.

The main thing we came here for was a pony ride, which we did, but I didn't get any pictures, cuz I had to hold her on the pony. Way fun! Someday I'll have to get her a pony.

I love Thanksgiving Point! If I lived closer I would get a season pass. It is so much fun! You should go.

Jack-O-Lanterns

Since the pumpkins started showing up around here, Erin has loved them. She has tried to pick up the big ones, and carted the little ones all over the yard. She says "punkins" so cute! She points them out all over the place and gets really excited at the grocery stores when they have big displays out front in the parking lot. We went to a craft store and they had a huge foam pumpkin right in front of the door, and the whole time she was in there she kept saying "big punkin!" It was so funny.
I was hoping she would love the whole carving thing, so here's the experience! This is Erin's first time carving pumpkins, she was too little last year, so we didn't even do it. Let me first say that it has been a while since I carved pumpkins; I'm sadly out of practice. Here are some lessons I had to re-learn. Lesson number one: don't buy cheap safety knives at the dollar store. It's worth it to get good ones. Lesson number 2: let the pumpkins warm up inside for a while. They are cold. Lesson number 3: remember to cut the top big enough for your hand and the tools. Duh.


Erin wasted no time in getting right in there. She's like that. She just grabbed the knife, but I wasn't worried, cuz they are safety knives, right? We'll see.

She said "oooh" when Tyson pulled the guts out. I love it.

She smiled really big when he first put the guts in her hand, then she dropped it immediately. I think she didn't like how cold and slimy it was. Funny!

She also helped me scoop some guts out.

So you were all thinking it would be Erin who learned lesson number one, right? Nope. It was me. Trust me to cut myself with a "safety" knife. The problem was they were so cheap that the blade broke off the handle, causing me to cut myself on the jagged snapping point. Of course. I broke three of the four that I had. Needless to say, after we were done, I threw the last one away, too. This is a picture of my owie. Erin is not really as concerned about it as she appears, she's trying to see Lightning Mcqueen on my bandaid.

She got really excited when we lit the candle! Sorry the picture is fuzzy, but it was cute.

Here are the finished "jacks"! We tried to get her to say "jackolantern" but it was too many syllables. She only does one. Cute!