Christmas Adventures

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I love everything about the season including the music, the birth of our savior, the treats, the spirit, the shopping, the time with friends and family. I also love the traditions associated with Christmas. Dan and I were talking about traditions our families had and which ones we would like to continue. One of my families traditions was celebrating Christmas the Peruvian way. My mom would send us to bed early on Christmas Eve night, then wake us up at midnight on Christmas Eve to open presents. Afterward, we would eat our Christmas feast. It may sound odd, but as a kid I loved it because it meant I got to open my gifts sooner. However, Dan and I decided to celebrate our Christmas' the good old fashioned American way. We open one gift on Christmas Eve--not neccesarily PJs (this year it was slippers for Dan and a wallet for me), and the rest whenever we wake up on Christmas morning. One tradition Dan's family has is their annual Jensen family Christmas party. We look forward to it each year because it is always so much fun. We start the night of by riding around on a trailer full of hay caroling to various houses. We eat lots of yummy food, then the grand kids act out the nativity. Later on in the night Santa stops by for a visit and leaves everyone presents. Christmas morning Dan's mom makes her famous and delicious egg casserole and later on in the day we have a yaki niku dinner. This year we didn't make it down in time for the egg casserole, but we wouldn't miss yaki niku for the world!

This year, my sister Kelee spent the weekend with us, and it was a lot of fun! Christmas morning, I ended up waking first at 7:30, contemplated going back to bed, but finally my excitement got the best of me, so I took Yuki out to go potty, then woke Dan up. I went in to wake Kelee up only to find out she was wide awake, and had been since 5 am-- ha ha she was too polite to wake us up that early! We all came into the living room, checked out what Santa had left in our stockings (Dan and I never really buy candy to put in our stockings. I figure we don't need it, and get plenty of other holiday treats to make up for it :) But my sister Kelee was disappointed in the lack of candy lol)! Everyone got spoiled this year. Kelee's highlights: clothes, boots, and makeup; Dan's highlights: snowboarding coat, snowboarding pants, snowboarding day pass, cologne; Savannah's highlights: boots, food processor, Nook, clothes. After presents Kelee and I made breakfast cinnamon rolls (they are basically a biscuit dough that you roll out, cover in cinnamon and sugar, and roll up and bake. Very simple and delicious) and bacon and eggs. After breakfast we lounged around, played with our new toys, and got ready to head down to Payson to visit family. Dan's family also got spoiled. Santa brought them a Kinect, and we spent most of the day playing it. They bought Dance Central to go with it, and I'm addicted. It was so much fun, even the guys got into it. I recorded Dan busting a few moves, but he has forbidden me from posting them on here.

This time of year really puts into perspective how lucky and grateful I am for all I have. All of it comes from our father in heaven and our Savior, and I need to focus more on making this holiday about celebrating his birth and his life. I am so grateful for His love for me. I could not have made it this far in my life without Him.

Instead of posting a thousand pics, I decided to make a collage of our Christmas morning.

Kelee made this cute headband for me. I love it!

(P.S I have started up another blog specifically for food, since that is primarily what I have been blogging about lately. Check it out: jensenmenu.blogspot.com)

Holiday Treats

Dan loves spritz cookies. His mom made them when he was younger, and they have been a favorite of his around Christmas time. So we got his mom's recipe, and I went out and bought a cookie press...which I must add is a lot of fun and super easy! Anyway, the recipe made about 8 dozen cookies! Instead of letting Dan eat them all (which he very well could have :) I figured I would share with friends and family (don't feel bad if you didn't get any, it means you don't live close enough lol). I had some ripe bananas that were past the point of eating, so I made a few loaves of banana bread as well. Homemade spritz cookies was a first for me, and they are good, but not my favorite. They are not sweet enough for me. But they were fun to decorate, Dan was happy, and I got into the giving spirit of Christmas!

Christmas Time

It seems like Christmas is taking forever to get here this year! Is it just me? It might be because I started (and practically finished) my shopping early November, so I have had all this time to sit and get excited to give Dan and other family members their gifts. It might also be that with the exception of today we have had virtually no snow. Snow is a necessary evil at Christmas time. Without it it just doesn't feel right. Another reason may be that I have had Christmas decor up around my house since before Thanksgiving (don't judge me). But whatever the reason may be, these four days better pass quickly!

This year Sue showed Bridgette, Whitney, Chey and I how to make a great gift out of blocks of wood. We sanded and painted the wood, then mod-podged the pictures on, and decorated them with ribbon. It was a lot of fun, and I loved the idea so much that I decided to make a set for all my sisters and my mom. I wish I had taken pictures of each set, some turned out cuter than others! It was easy, cheap, and a lot of fun! Plus I think they are pretty cute and am going to be making myself some soon!

This was the set I made for my sister Jessie. There are pictures on both sides. Her little boy William is adorable!

This one was for my sis Ximena, but it was taken with my cell phone so it looks kinda fuzzy



Merry Christmas!

Grown Up Mac n Cheese and Asparagus

On the menu tonight...another new recipe. The "grown up" version consisted of extra sharp cheddar, Gruyere cheese, blue cheese, and bacon. I was suspicious of how it would turn out because I don't really like blue cheese and had never used Gruyere, but it was delicious! I used too many noodles, because it wasn't as cheesy as I would have liked. But Dan devoured the meal, which means it was a success!

If you're interested in checking out the recipe click here

What's for Dinner

If you are like me, you get sick of making the same things for dinner all the time. I have my regular ten or so meals that I cycle through...and don't get me wrong, they are not going anywhere, but when you eat them week after week, they get old.

SO, I turned to Google, surfed through a few blogs, and finally found one that caught my eye. I printed off a few recipes that looked good, and got to work. Saturday I made carrot cake cupcakes for a family party--one word... yummy!

Tonight I made an Italian sausage, mushroom, and red pepper risotto for dinner. I had never attempted a risotto, but it's safe to safe I will be doing so again! The possibilities are endless with risotto, and this particular version was creamy, flavorful, a tad bit spicy, very Italian, and just plain delicious! I want to try and cook a new meal every week and add to my repertoire. What are some of your favorite dishes?

It looks like mush...this is because I cannot take pictures of food and make it look good...not because it tasted like mush, trust me this was delicious!

Now share with me your favorites :)

The Celebration

Friday night we went to the jazz game to celebrate Dan's big 26. Daniel got the most amazing seats...Front row! Okay they were front row of the upper bowl, but still it was nice being able to put my feet up on the rail, and we had so much more leg room. The only down side of the night was the fact that the Jazz lost. The second half of the game was pretty pathetic. The jazz couldn't make a basket to save their lives, and Dirk Nowitzki was unstoppable...I wonder what it would take to get him on our team??? The celebration didn't stop there-- Saturday night Dan's parents took us out to dinner at Texas Road House (AKA Texas Mad House). Indeed it was a mad house, but we were able to get seated within 10 minutes (love call ahead seating!) The food was okay, but what I really love is their rolls with the cinnamon butter. Dan got some nice shirts, new jeans, new shoes, a new hat, and a nice coat (all black friday finds!) He looks very handsome in his new wardrobe. He also got a PGA Golf pass from his parents.

I tried to get him to model his new outfit for me, but he was not having it! I did convince him to at least put the coat on :)

Happy Birthday Hunny, I sure love you!

Tribute to the Birthday Boy

Dan is 26! He has been having an early mid-life crisis about it. Not really, but he seriously thought he was turning 25 this year. A few months ago he was convinced it would be his 25th birthday, and it wasn't until I pulled out the pictures of last year's birthday cake with the big 25 candle on it that he finally realized 25 had come and gone. So today I get to brag. Not that I don't want to brag about him everyday of the year, but his birthday is a day where I can do it and no one can get annoyed with me or think I'm being snooty. Dan has been on this earth for 26 years now and already accomplished so much. He has set goals for himself and our family and has accomplished many of them, and continues to work towards accomplishing the rest. In order to celebrate 26 and show him it's not that bad after-all, I came up with 26 reasons of why I love him/what I love about him:

1. Dan is a hard worker. He works 2 jobs and goes to school as well, all in order to be able to raise our future family, and save for our future goals.
2. Dan is not a complainer...he is the complete opposite of me in this regard.
3. He is a sincere person.
4. He reminds me that it's okay to not be perfect, and accepts me for who I am, while encouraging me to strive to be better
5. He has a great sense of humor, and makes me laugh without even trying
6. He has a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel
7. He likes to cuddle
8. He reminds me that life doesn't have to be a "stress fest" and gives me massages and tickles whenever I need to relax.
9. He looks at life as being "half full". He sees the good in every situation
10. He is very selfless
11. He is very intelligent, and likes to challenge himself
12. He is always there for me
13. He is very physically attractive...despite what people say, looks do matter :)
14. His eyes are a beautiful blue, I am hoping at least one of our children gets his eyes
15. He is very rarely angry or short tempered...again the complete opposite of me...I blame it on hormones :)
16. He is a good cook, and is always willing to help out in the kitchen
17. He is good at everything he does (sports, hobbies, etc)--it makes the seasons more fun!
18. He is not over-competitive, and can lose gracefully
19. He has the cutest laugh, I LOVE it when he finds something hilarious and just laughs uncontrollably!
20. He has strong values that have been instilled in him through living a good life and will not compromise on them
21. He has his priorities straight and keeps his long term goals in mind
22. He tells me I'm beautiful all the time...even when it's "that time of the month" and I can't even look in the mirror and it feels like none of my clothes fit...for some reason I still believe him even though I deny it
23. I love the times I see him playing with Yuki, and I can tell he *loves* her--admit it already Dan :) Nope, he never will, but trust me, I know.
24. He supports me in all my goals and aspirations. He was willing to quit his second job just so I could go to school full time.
25 To him, my happiness is more important than anything.
26. I have never doubted he loves me.

Well, this would be the abridged version. I know you all feel you have the best hubby out there, but let it be known...I have the best of the best. I thought it would be fun to post a baby/childhood picture of him. When I started looking through the pictures, I just couldn't choose one! (In fact I get so baby hungry looking at his baby pics because they are so cute!) Here are a few of my favorites!

Ha Dan's expression cracks me up! What a good big brother :)

This is definitely one of my favorites of all time!