Pretzle Hug Yummies

If you love chocolate covered pretzels you will like theses. They are easy and kid friendly to make. I am not sure where we got the recipe from. My mother in law was the first to make these and now we make them every Christmas.

What you will need.

Hugs (It take a little over one bag of Hugs to do a pan)
Pretzels
M & M's

*Pre heat oven 200F
*Unwrap Hugs
*I line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper and then put a layer of pretzels.
*Put a Hug on each pretzel
*Put pan with Hug and Pretzels on it in oven for 10-12 minuets
*after you remove pan from oven press an M&M into the center of each Hug
*place in refrigerator until firm.
*store in an airtight container.

I make bags of these to give to friends each year. They are a favorite and I always have people ask if I am going to make them.

They are fun to make and the kids like to unwrap the Hugs and place them on the pretzels. Now that my boys are older they like to put the M& M on top too.

Have fun!

Dining Room decor

This is what I ended up doing with my dining room table and light. I have the table set with my snowman plates on silver chargers. Greens with ice crystals branches on them down the center of the table. I have metal snowflakes scattered in the greens. I put a ivory table cloth with an overlay that has snowflakes on it. I found a swag that looks like branches with ice crystals all over it and wound it around the inside, then hung metal snowflakes that glitter and Christmas balls.
What do you think?

And then there were two

So Archie is back for his yearly visit and this year he brought a friend. Jedediah Tiberius or JT for short. They have been friends since they met in Elfementary School. Unlike Archie who went to Mischief school JT has only read "Mischief Makers for Dummies" He started it on the trip here and apparently only made it to chapter 5 " The Many Uses of Toilet Paper". They have been having lots of fun Here are a few things they have done. I have more photos but haven't loaded them onto the computer yet.



Archie is on the left and JT on the right.


Justin with Archie and JT the morning they arrived


JT


Archie


They put cotton on the Christmas tree the night we got it. They had heard Chase asking for a flocked tree because it looked like snow. They said they wanted it to look like snow too so they would not be so homesick.


The boys went with Drew's parents to Callaway Gardens this past weekend. Ava went to and did a little bungee jumping. JT and Archie saw the video that Justin had taken and decide they needed to try it for themselves


The other night the boys forgot to put out crackers and water for the Archie and JT so they had to fend for themselves. They went fishing it looks like they had lots fun and did quite well.

PS if you didn't know the water reminds them of the melted snow they drink at home and the crunch of the crackers reminds them of the sounds ice burgs make.

I'll be back soon with more adventures of Archie and JT

Happy Birthday Deb

This my beautiful little sister Deborah. She was born my Freshman year of High School. I remember being called to the office to go home the day she was born (thanks you got me out of English that day). I was so excited. The next day at school I went around telling all my friends that I had a new baby sister. I wish I could find the picture of the day she came home from the hospital. I had so much fun holding her. She has been a joy to my life. I love her more than I could ever express. She is a lot of fun to be around. She is good a lots of things and is a great Aunt to her niece and nephews. I wish I could be with her today to celebrate. She is a great woman, friend, and sister.

May your day be filled with joy and this next year be a blessed one. I love you

Here are a few more things about her enjoy getting to know my little sister a little better.

I think this was while I was on my mission. She must have been around 6 or 7.

At Deb's graduation in November She graduated at the top of her class and had the highest average ever in the 25 years her instructor has been teaching!! Way to go Deb.



What is your favorite thing to do?

Right now my favorite thing to to is probably riding my horse, Nova. There is something very therapeutic about it. Riding my motorcycle comes in second, though. I can go fast for a long time and not feel bad about making it work hard, like I do with Nova. :)

What is your favorite color?

Green

What is your favorite book?

Ouch! I don't think I can narrow it down to just one. My old faithful is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've probably read and re-read those more than anything. I also love Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I have to give a shout out to our sister Betsy and the book she has written. It's excellent! One of the best romance books I have ever read.

***I have to agree with this and can't wait for it to be published***


What is your favorite food?
Dang. If I have to pick I guess it would be and Indian dish called Matar Paneer with some nan bread on the side. If you put that in front of me I'll eat it until it is gone, every single time!
What are you most afraid of?
My family becoming gravely ill or terribly injured. I believe that is an unavoidable by product of my profession, however.


What are you most proud of?

Becoming a Paramedic. When I was a kid, I'd see the ambulance go screaming by and think, "wouldn't that be cool one day?" Now it's a reality and it's just as cool as I thought it would be. How awesome is that?

What is your favorite music?
Classical, hands down. Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Vivaldi...I love it.
What is your favorite movie?
Labyrinth. I know it is juvenile, but I loved it the moment I saw it and haven't ever stopped. Plus it has a great moral: Don't ever give up. If you want it bad enough you can overcome anything. (And I had the worst crush on David Bowie because of that movie, too!)
What is your favorite memory of me ?

When you gave me the tape of Labyrinth. ;) I still have it, too. Seriously though? That's tough. Anything you did when I was a kid was special to me. I loved being around you. You were so beautiful and grown up! Lots of my favorite memories are of us just sitting around and you playing with my hair. I still like it when you do that. Some stuff just doesn't change.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
Going out to Utah to visit Grandma Vel.
What do you love most about life?
Learning new things and going new places. The two go hand in hand. I've been very fortunate in my life that I've gotten to travel and see new things and meet people and learn new ways of doing things. I have a job where I have to constantly learn to keep up to date. I have an insatiable curiosity and I'm blessed to be able to feed it as much as possible.
what are you really good at?
Crafts! That is one thing I can do, for sure. And I love it that you are crafty too. I can talk to you about knitting or whatever and you don't think I'm insane!

Thanksgiving better late than never

As usual three cooks, untold hours cooking, and 20 minuets after we sat down its over!

Drew's parents brought games for the kids to play. It never ceases to amaze me how creative they are!

The first game the kids had to find 20 pieces of paper each that had been hidden in the yard. Each child had a paper bag with some kind of picture on it and the kids had to find their papers. One of the pictures had the word "prize" on the back they had to find that one to be able to claim their prize.

Chase and Justin at the start of the hunt

dashing through the woods

GAME 2

Notice their is a boy and a girl turkey!

The kids had to drop candy corn into the mouth of the turkey

Ava and Chase with Tess looking on

Grandmommy, Tess, Ave, Max and Chase

Ava and Justin with Drew looking at all the candy corn on the floor

half of Tess and Justin

Ava, Grandmommy, and Tess

GAME 3

Toss the coins

Chase with his cute smile

Justin with Aunt Sandra next to him



GAME 4

Grandaddy aka as Mac Daddy put an orange in the leg of pantie hose and tied it around the kids waist. They then had to use hip action to swing the orange into another orange that was on the floor and get across the finish line. This was a timed game ( of course in Grandparent world there are no losers!)

Justin and Grandaddy getting ready

Justin was the first to go

Ava was a riot to watch boy she sure can use those hips!

Finally Chase got to go he was the fastest I almost didn't get any photos of him he did it so fast!

Uncle Max and Justin no words needed just look at their faces it say it all "Here comes trouble!"

We hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. I am so thankful that we live so close to family and are able to spend time with them. We have been blessed this year with many friends old and new in our lives and are looking forward to spending more time with them this next year.

Merry SITSmas from our home to yours

Secrets in the Sauce is at it again! It is Merry SITSmas today. With a prize every hour with the grand prize being a $200 gift card to Target! So remember tis the season to be jolly so go spread some SITSmas cheer.

Archie

Dear Archie,

We really enjoyed your visit last year and are looking forward to your visit this year.We hope you will find our home comfortable while you are here. I would like to ask you to remember a few things. First the flour is for baking not making "snow angels" though I have to admit it was really great to see how much fun you had. Second please be very careful we were really worried about you last year with the dental floss incident. We thought we were going to have to rush you to the ER when we saw you hanging from the stockings. Not to be a "fussy" mom about everything I also wanted to compliment you on how sweet you were with the other Christmas visitors. You made them feel welcome in our home and I really appreciate all that you did.

The boys will be leaving crackers and water to invite you in very soon. We hope you have a safe trip! See you soon.

Love,

Your adopted family

PS if you see Drew bring in Godiva Key Lime truffles let me know and I will share a bite with you!