The Joys of Teenagers (and their friends)!

This was not the "White Christmas" we were dreaming of! Blasted teenagers ...

Jacob's 14th Birthday Celebration

Kraig arrived back in Denver after 10 days in New Zealand and we drove downtown and met him at Rodizio Grill for Jacob's Birthday. It was so much fun! Ate way too much but it was worth it!

Good to have Dad back home and spent the evening together! Jessica sent Jacob this hilarious tee-shirt in the mail -- he loved it and wore it to school.

Record Low at Denver International ... -18

Wasn't quite -18 here in Castle Rock ... but when I took the kids to school, this is what the car temperature said! Brrrrrrrrrr .... that's not even counting the breeze!

A Few of My Favorite Things ...

Spreading Christmas Cheer

Our youth group at church went to decorate the Cantril House, which is an old house in downtown Castle Rock that was built in 1907 and is now an assisted living place. We had almost 50 youth and leaders "take over" the house and decorate it inside and out with Christmas decorations and trees. We played their piano and sang Christmas songs. Talked with these sweet old people and heard all their past Christmas stories. My favorites were Margarett and Mildred pictured side-by-side on the couch at the very bottom. They had their nails done, their hair done and were two classy women -- it was so much fun to talk to them. It was a great night that filled our hearts with the Christmas Spirit.

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's House

We had lots of fun up at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Kamas, Utah, where we went for Thanksgiving. Can't believe that I didn't get any other pictures of Thanksgiving Day with all the cousins there (must have been too busy cooking with Grandma in the kitchen). But we had a great long weekend just hanging out with Keith and Karmen and Jessica and Nate. Played lots of games, and ate, watched movies, and ate, we talked, and ate and had lots of fun and then ate some more.

We spent the afternoon going through boxes of old pictures. I wanted some copies of pictures of Kraig's Grandparents and Great-Grandparents. It was fun to look at all the pictures and hear all the stories. Keith, Karmen and I went through an old, old, album that they had and with their geneolgy sheet tried to put names to all of the pictures. We actually wrote the names on the backs of all the old pictures that we could. A great job done!

Jessica inherited a fun chip and dip bowl set that was given to Keith and Karmen for their wedding.

I received a beautiful dish that was Kraig's Great-Grandmothers on his Dad's side. It belonged to this woman in the picture below. Her name was Fannie Mariah Clark Naylor. It's so fun to see her face and imagine her using it. A cherished family heirloom!

Found the Great Recipe ... Made the Perfect Roll!

The search is over!!!! I found a great recipe and got up early on Thanksgiving morning and made THE PERFECT ROLLS! They turned out so good! This recipe is exactly what I was looking for -- I made then with half wheat/half white flour. Everyone loved them! In my mind I imagine these to be the rolls that everyone asks Grandma Sherrill to make for Thanksgiving and other special occasions. I know I'm a little strange but I'm excited that a new tradition was "baked" this year and will carry on!

Below is the link to the recipe for those who want it. The recipe actually comes from The Lion House in Salt Lake City. You can roll them out and shape them differently, but I shaped the dough into round balls a little bit bigger than a golf ball and placed them beside each other, slightly touching, in a 9x13 pan with sides. I doubled the recipe and with their larger size, I got 40 rolls.

The Lion House Rolls

In Search of the Perfect Roll

Over the past year I have pretty much perfected my bread-making skills. I am so proud that I can take whole wheat berries, grind them and make them into beautiful loaves of whole wheat bread (kind of have that "Henny-Penny" thing goin' on). However, I have been wanting to make the perfect whole wheat yeast roll. You know the kind ... tall and square and fluffy! My friend gave me -- what she thought was -- the "perfect" recipe. I decided I would try it today so that I could perfect it and WOW them on Thanksgiving but it's NOT the one! Too much like cinnamon roll texture and kind of sweet. Don't get me wrong --- they are dang tasty but the search is still on!

These are the kind I want (on the left) these are mine today (on the right). Just need different dough and make them rise a little higher -- I'll let you know and post the "perfect" picture of the "perfect" roll. (That is if I can "waddle" on up to the computer after all my experimental tasting!!!)

Twilight

I took a bunch of girls to the midnight showing of Twilight lastnight. We have all read the books and it really was a good movie -- followed the book really well. However, in my opinion I would have picked a better looking Edward but, then again, I'm 49! The girls LOVED him. A bit too "goth" for me. He could have ditched the lipstick!!! It was fun -- we are all tired today!

BYU WINS!!!

Our friends, the Ropers & Nathan Wagstaff, came to Colorado

for the weekend and the big BYU/Air Force game in

Colorado Springs. A quick trip -- but LOTS of fun!!

(Cindy Roper, Kelsey Naylor, Kevin Roper, Jacob Naylor,
Nathan Wagstaff, Casey Roper & Kraig Naylor)

Jacob's favorite friends and college team!

Dramatic entrance onto the field of chosen Air-Force para-troopers.

The Air-Force "Falcons" have the only living mascot of the college teams. A real falcon! They did a great exhibition of him soaring above the stadium.

Several jets did a fly-by at the beginning of the game that was VERY impressive and VERY loud. Not to mention VERY fast -- could only get a couple in the picture.

BYU won 38 to 24!