Olivia's camera

This is one of Olivia's favorite dresses.

Sam lined his trucks up and asked Olivia to take a picture. They are great friends.

"Livvie, take my picture."

Park Days

Daniel tries to get home early from work so he can take the kids to the park a couple times a week.

I decided to go today to document their fun. It was very windy,
but coats were still not wanted.

Cuties

I am going to title my post "Cuties" when I just have something cute I want to remember.

Chloe is barely one and I know she is going to have photogenic issues. She is a ham for the camera, but she always closes her eyes in anticipation of the flash!

Sam on the other hand thinks when I say, "Cheese"
that means close your eyes and smile.
I think Sam's favorite color is yellow.
He always colors with a yellow marker on yellow paper.

Livvie loves any color, and a lot of it. She colors everyday. Her new thing is to color the entire page one color after she has made a drawing. Olivia draws people, houses, grass, dirt, and swirly non-shapes, then colors them in with different colors.

Visiting Mimi in Phoenix

We went and visited Grandma Mimi. She always has so many yummy treats!

Before we had to leave for home lunch with Barbie at Nordstroms was a must.

Winter Break in Phoenix

Olivia had a week off preschool, so I took the 3 kids to Phoenix to visit Barbie, Mike, Kira, Jim and Leslie.
We went swimming everyday.


Barbie treated Kira and Olivia to matching "parade" outfits and a pedicure.

Sam got some Boy Toys.

Valentine's Day

We love DAD!

As usual the kids are great cooks! Olivia is great at cracking eggs and Sam is good at licking the beater!

Discovery musuem

Daniel and I took the kids to the San Jose Discovery museum last Saturday.

We met up with some friends, Orion and Braedon.







Orion belongs to Kaylene and Michael, and baby sister Chloe.








Braedon belongs to Kelli and Brad, and baby brother Josh.









Hopefully this is the first of many 'mega Bay Area outings'!

Train Ride

When Barbie and Miike come to town one thing the kids love is the TRAIN RIDE!!

We love Pappie Mikie

We rode the train up to a park in San Mateo.

Chloe's 1st birthday

Andrea's family came over for a great birthday feast celebrating

Chloe's 1st and Spencer's 13th birthdays.

Barbie was able to come to town and help us find some yummy cakes.

Chloe had a cute banana cake.

And Spencer had a chocolate cake with piano keys on it. It was cool.

Thanks to everyone who helped make the dinner so nice.

Chocolate Molten Cake

1 cup flour
1/3 cup coco powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine above ingredients.

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoon melted cooled butter
2 teaspoon vanilla

Add above ingredients to dry mixture. Pour into buttered souffle dish.

Boil 1 1/2 cup water
add 1 cup brown sugar and
1/3 cup coco powder

Pour into mixture in souffle dish

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes
-From Martha Stewart's tv show

Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

deep dark chocolate cheesecake Bon Appétit | October 2006

Makes 12 servings. Jeanne Thiel Kelley Crust 24 chocolate wafer cookies (from one 9-ounce package) 1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted Filling 1 9.7-ounce bar Scharffen Berger 70% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate,* chopped 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Scharffen Berger) 4 large eggs Topping 3/4 cup whipping cream 6 ounces Scharffen Berger 70% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate,* chopped 1 tablespoon sugar Bittersweet chocolate curls *If unavailable, substitute another high-quality bittersweet chocolate. For crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Blend cookies in processor until finely ground; blend in sugar. Add melted butter and process until well blended. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom (not sides) of prepared pan. Bake just until set, about 5 minutes. Cool while preparing filling. Maintain oven temperature

or filling:
Stir chopped chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water; cool chocolate until lukewarm but still pourable. Blend cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa powder in processor until smooth. Blend in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in lukewarm chocolate. Pour filling over crust; smooth top. Bake until center is just set and just appears dry, about 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes. Run knife around sides of cake to loosen. Chill overnight.

For topping:
Stir cream, 6 ounces chocolate, and sugar in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until smooth. Cool slightly. Pour over center of cheesecake, spreading to within 1/2 inch of edge and filling any cracks. Chill until topping is set, about 1 hour. Do ahead: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover with foil and keep refrigerated.

Egg Rolls

-from Cook's Illustrated #79

Filling
3 cups minced napa cabbage
3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 pound ground pork
6 tablespoons minced scallions
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon garlic minced
2 egg whites, beaten

square gyoza wrappers (packaged)

1. Toss cabbage and salt in colander. Let stand 20 minutes; press cabbage gently to squeeze out excess moisture. Combine cabbage with all other filling ingredients. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes up to 24 hours.
2. Place large spoon full of filling in wrapper and fold as shown on package. Moisten final edge with moist finger and finish wrapping.
3. Fry in deep fryer asap.

Rich and Tender American Dinner Rolls

-From The American Test Kitchen cookbook

It's important to keep the pieces of dough cover while rounding them into rolls; otherwise they will quickly dry out and develop a dry skin.

1 1/4 cups whole milk, warm

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 large egg, beaten

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for counter top

2 tablespoons sugar

1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoon) instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Mix 4 cups of the flour, the sugar, the yeast and salt together in a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook. Wisk the milk, 8 tablespoons of the butter and the egg together in a medium bowl. With the mixer on slow speed, add the milk mixture and mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute.

2. Increase the speed to medium-low and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (If, after 5 minutes more flour is needed, add the remaining 1/4 cup flour. ((I don't recommend this- wetter dough is better-I think))).

3. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. ---OR----- you can place the dough in the refrigerator for up to 16 hours. If you do this, let the dough set at room temperature for 30 minutes before going on to step 4.

4. Divide the dough into 24 even pieces and cover with plastic wrap. Working with one piece of dough at a time (keeping the other pieces covered), round them into small balls. Space the balls evenly on a parchment-lined backing sheet and wrap loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until the rolls have dearly doubled in size (they will touch slightly) an the dough springs back slowly when indented with a finger, 30-60 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush the rolls with the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and bake until golden, 20- 25 minutes. Let rolls cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then serve warm.

Alternative make ahead method:

After laying the shaped rolls on a baking sheet in step 4, cover the baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the rolls for up to 16 hours. Before baking let them sit at room temperature until they have nearly doubled in size, 30 to 60 minutes.

Getting out in St. George

After Christmas we went on a couple fun outings, about 14 kids and 10 adults, it is great!One day we went to the Movies and milkshakes. Another day we went swimming at a great pool by Ann's house. It had great slides and a water vollyball court.

Our family trip came to an end with the baby blessings of Elizabeth & Ricardo's 5th child Jacob, and Aaron and Georgina's 6th child Tawnnie.

Where are these Ledesmas:

David has been living with Ann for a few weeks.

Aaron and Georgina drove all the way from Oklahoma to be their for Christmas.

(It took them over 24 hours because for snow storms.)

Their children are Wesley 15, Arrie 13, Annah 9, Jaron 4, Larra 2, and Tawnnie 6 months.

Elizabeth and Ricardo drove down from northern Utah.

Their children are Ricky 7, Jennifer 5, Christian 4, Aaron 2, Jacob 6 months

Hangin' out with all the family

Here are all the girls just hangin' out. Georgina, Arrie, Olivia, Annah, me- and Sambo.

Olivia, Daniel, Ricky(in front), and Jaron

Another yummy dinner.

Aaron and his kids love to have statue races. They taught Olivia how to do it!

Christmas 2007

For Christmas we drove down to St. George to visit Grandma Ann, David, Aaron and his family and Elizabeth and her family.

We celebrated the birth of our Savior on Christmas Eve by reading and acting out Luke 2. Everone had a part.

Chloe loves Grandma's toys!

We had a wonderful Christmas eve and Christmas day dinner with Grandpa Jack.

Christmas Tree Cutting

We have started a fun Christmas tree cutting tradition with Andrea's family.

Todd & Andrea live near us.
They have three boys Spencer 12, Aaron 10.75, & Chase 6

In early December we drive to the coast and cut down our Christmas tree.

Our favorite thing about this spot is all the swings located throughout the area.

Our adventure ended this year with the Andrea's car and Christmas tree

being towed away b/c of car troubles.