Little Women

"Sisters, sisters there were never such devoted sisters..." When I had the opportunity to take Jane to my homeland of Redmond WA I arranged a great friend and photographer to do a little shoot for us. I got a little idea stuck in my head that wouldn't get out of having a "sisters/mom" photo while up there. It was a crazy busy weekend, but the hair brained idea was pulled off! 

I love how a picture can be treasured for all time. It can be a part of a families history, for generations to come. This is why I desired this photo. I wanted to capture our families women together in a moment of time. There is so much JOY in families and so much you learn from one another. Is that not why we are meant to be in families!? There are things you cannot learn in any other way than from your parents or siblings, and then things you never dreamed of when you become a parent and have children. There is such importance in the family unit. And a sisters relationship is a unique one. I love the movie "Little Women" and watch it each year around Christmastime. The interactions and things learned between the March sisters reminds me so much of my own sisters. And Marmee is awesome!! She and my own Mama are two examples of a true mother. I cherish these photos and cherish the people in them. Hurray for women, sisters, mothers, families!

Ice Ice Baby

We have some MASSIVE icicles on our home right now. They are beautiful!! I love to see them grow inch by inch each day. How blessed we are to have a warm home to sit in while we enjoy the beauty of winter through our windows. I love this time of year and quite enjoy being stuck inside with my buddy. 

The icicle at our front door is twice the size of Jane-dear-reindeer!! Quite amazing! 

On Christmas Day, On Christmas Day!

Christmas in a child's eyes is magical! Jane loved ripping open presents, eating all day, going on a snow drive, reading books and being an absolute Joy!

The colors of Christmas are my favorite! Reds, greens, whites and creams...they are colors that make me so happy!

It was so fun having a WHOLE day just being together as a family, chilling and laughing together. I loved playing games with my Mister James!

Food glorious food! Today was full of good food!!! Mmmmmmm holidays are delicious!

We have a spot we call "our place" that we like to drive to in Idaho Falls. Today we enjoyed seeing it covered in snow and looking over our city for Christmas. I love my little family and the joy they bring me! We are full and jolly after this wonderful Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!! A few of our family traditions for this festive night are dressing up for a fancy game hen dinner, opening pjs from Mr & Mrs Claus, reading from Luke 2, and giving a gift to Christ in his white stocking.

The dinner this year was epic! We mastered the best game hen recipe yet, Jane loved and Mister James' was kicked clean. We did fresh green beans with homemade hollandaise sauce, Swedish bread with apple butter and sparkling cider of course!

Eating by candlelight is so fun and special as well! It was a festive evening and really special. Watching Jane open her first present ever was simply adorable!!! I LOVE this sweet babe of ours. What a special time of year this is and so magical with a child to watch experience all its joys!!

The Lighting Ceremony

A Christmas tradition I treasure and have kept from my family is an evening for a "Lighting Ceremony." For this tradition you light up different parts of your Christmas decorations and sing a song with each piece. Celebrating the light of Christ! This year we had two dear families from our ward to join us in this event. The first song we sang was "Jingle Bells" to ring in the Joyous news of Christs birth. 

Then we lit up our Christmas Village...Bethlehem. This is a special one because the village I grew up with was so beautiful. And I was usually always the one to set it up. I found these beautiful ceramic pieces at a dollar store and got them as an early present to myself. With this we sang "Oh little town of Bethlehem."

We then lit up a candle next to the Angel. Choruses of angels singing to the king. Heralding the shepards to come and witness His birth, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

Our Christmas star is another favorite of our Christmas decorations. I love having a star lighting the top of our tree! When I think of that joyous light guiding and announcing His birth and coming, it is a sign of hope to me! With this we sang a song out of the LDS Childrens songbook, "Stars were Gleaming."

Then the most important symbol of all; the Nativity! Each year we give a sibling a gift and then it rotates. This year the Lara Seaver family had us, and they gave us a Toy Nativity for Jane and our kids to enjoy. Jane loves it. As we lit the stable we sang, "Away in a Manger." I am so thankful for the birth of our Savior and the light and hope He brought to the world! 

We then closed singing this song, "Have a Very Merry Christmas" also in the LDS Children's songbook and a VERY neat song, and watched this video;

http://youtu.be/tXXwtFWpAI8

And then dug into treats. We made our new tradition of Watermelon Smoothies at Christmas for everyone (we slurped them up before I took a photo :) ). It was a lovely and wonderful evening!

Christmas at the Zoo

Jane, Mister and me adventured to the Zoo today! They are open for just a few days around Christmas and Santa is there, it's decorated fun and they have the winter animals out. We made it just in time for Jane to meet Santa and get a candy cane!

It was fun to see the zoo all decorated for Christmas! The monkey house was my favorite! They even gave them wrapped presents to rip up.

Jane loved watching all the monkeys swinging around in their cages. She is so much fun to observe. She's definitely a curious, loving and excited young gal!

From the Spencers!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 2014 has been a wonderful year. It started out with a bang with Jane-dear-reindeer being born into our family and it's ending with James having begun the dream job. We have been blessed with flakes of joy all along the way this year....visits from family and friends, a new sister in law, Mary-Katherine, joining the family, wonderful news of our brother and sister in law, Matt&Paige, getting pregnant, James filming a short film, Carolyn getting called into the Relief Society presidency and pulling off many activities....countless flakes that have made this year shine!

We have loved becoming parents and have learned so much by having Jane join our family. She is a true JOY and a beautiful blessing to us! Watching her learn so much in just a years time has been incredible. And laughing at the many adorable things she does keeps our home filled with a youthful happiness.

How grateful we are to supportive and loving family, and to dear friends that make our lives so happy!! We can't thank you enough! Merry Christmas to each of you and may you look back on the year of 2014 and discover your golden flakes as well! Bring on 2015 and the joy it holds in store!

Love,

The Spencers


Go visit our this years message/theme of gold flecks here:
https://www.lds.org/pages/flecks-of-gold?lang=eng

Mountains of Joy!

This is one of my favorite sites to see when I open my oven!!!! Puffy, delicious Mountains!!!! Some call them German Pancakes, but not in our house. Growing up this was always one of our first picks for a special breakfast. It was always so fun to see how high the mountains grew! If you have never enjoyed eating a mountain you need to give this recipe a try. This breakfast delight is so easy and so delectable, and it makes for a really happy husband, and kiddos and YOU for that matter :). 

Mountains

Heat oven to 400.

In a 9X13 glass pan melt 1/2-3/4 cube of butter (you can just stick the pan in the warming oven to melt the butter in the pan. Just keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.)

Blend 8 eggs, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, a pinch of salt.

Once butter is melted, pour blended mix in. Trying to push the butter to the outer edges (this helps those fun mountain peaks form)

Cook for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy with syrup, jam, and a big glass of cold milk!

Sickie Yuck Yuck

Being sick as a mama I've decided is the worst!!! I have been sick for over a week now. A linger longer cough was the beginning and then last night the stomach bug joined me. I have not felt this weak or drained in a long time.

Our dear neighbor gave James a bag of oranges this morning to say thank you for some computer help, and they were heaven sent. Jane and I enjoyed sucking on them all day. I was so grateful Jane was such a good girl all day with a boring sick mama that wasn't to keen on playing too much. She is a sweet heart. We watched Dick Van Dyke together and she was hilarious! She would laugh with the fake laughter and danced each time the opening music came on. I LOVE this girl of ours so much!

The Animals Christmas

Each year we decorate a tree for the animals for their Christmas. This time we went to my cousins home, Jenny and Keith and their 3 boys, and then Becky and Andrew and Matt & Paige. It was so special to share in this tradition with them!

My favorite to make are the fun pinecone ornaments and popcorn chains. Becky did the honors of hanging the one chain of the night! 

It was pretty freezing hanging them out on their huge "Bilbo Baggins Tree" (that's what I named it! I love this fun tradition and that James reads the special Night Tree book each time we've done it.

Become as a Child

I taught our Women's Relief Society lesson last Sunday at church and it was a very dear topic to my heart! I had pondered and thought about it for months. The topic I chose to go off of was: Become as a little Child. This is one of my favorite teachings of Christ, and one that I believe is extremely important to develop. The Lord seems to couple tgis phrase with "or ye can in nowise enter the kingdom of heaven." So, that seams like a pretty big deal to me. Children can and do track us so much! 

I referenced a beautiful talk by Jean Stevens of the General Primary Presidency, used phrases from the song Believe by Josh Groban and had amazing comments from our group of ladies. I made some little bell handouts for each sister that had the phrase from the lesson for them to remember, "Become as a little child, Believe" with a scripture from the New Testament and Book of Mormon. After a comment was made in class I encouraged them to quietly jingle their bells. It was a fun soft reminder to hear the bells.

How thankful I am for children and the joy and happiness they bring to life. I'm grateful that we are asked to become more like them!

Also, at the end of the lesson I introduced the new theme we are using for lessons for next year in Relief Society and it will be Preach My Gospel, chapter 6, Christlike Attributes. I am SO excited to be in this great manual and especially this chapter. At the end of the chapter there is a little self evaluation/study of each attribute, I gave this handout to the ladies for them to start thinking of an attribute they would like to work on and study more this upcoming year. I LOVE this woman's blog and she has some really great printables for church!

For Attribute Quiz: Click here.

Sugar Plum Fairy Syrup

Some lucky friends will be getting a little neighbor holiday treat this year. Homemade Sugar Plum Syrup!! This gift was a labor of love and turned out finger stickin-lickin good! Gathering the plums, pitting the plums, cooking the plums, straining the plums, cooking the plums some more, sanitizing jars, filling jars and packaging them. Oh what fun! James is an awesome Husband, that's all I have to say! Thanks Mr for getting purple hands :).

I love the tradition of giving a "gift", usually something yummy, to neighbors and friends at Christmastime! That's what makes it the most wonderful time of the year! Giving and thanking others for being friends and leaders. I am thankful that we had such an awesome plum tree that produced so many plums so that we could share this delightful syrup with so many! I think those wonderful trees shall be dubbed, " The Giving Trees!"

11months!

Little Jane Dear Reindeer turned 11 months this week! Her gift was getting the flu shot (which she handled very well). I can hardly believe that next month she'll be ONE! When and how did that happen!

Jane is an absolute joy in our home and lives. She is a good natured, happy, dancing, army crawling, good eating, tender, funny, clever, curious, and beautiful girl. She has learned to sign for "more" and loves to eat whatever mommy and daddy are having! Loving to walk she has discovered that she can hold onto the walls to get anywhere :)! She sports her three teeth often with her wide grin. And she often is heard "dad da  daaaing" around the house.

One of my favorite things she has been doing lately is each time I get her up in the morning or from a nap I hold her on my shoulder and she lays her head there and pats my back. It's the absolute sweetest and most tender thing. I like to think she's telling me, "Thanks mom for taking care of me, you're doing a good job." That's what I like to think she's doing. Cause sometimes I have to wonder...am I doing this right? Is Jane getting what she needs from me? These little pats on the back help me feel like I'm doing my best. I love her sweet personality so much!

She is my best buddy and James and I are so blessed that she is ours. Happy 11 months my darling little girl!

Salty Delight

I've been wanting to make a handprint piece of sweet Jane's little hand for some time and finally decided to give it a whack. Not really having the funds to get a fancy kit or special mixture I found a simple salt dough recipe.

Salt Dough:

1 cup flour

1 cup salt

1/2 cup  (or a little more if it's to crumbly/dry) warm water

***mix and knead dough till it's well incorporated. Form piece and then stick those cute hands or feet or whatever in them. I used a cookie cutter to make the zaggy edge.

***then cook on low heat 200F for 3 hours or until dough is dried. Take out of oven, let cool and paint away!

I was able to make 4 large handprint pieces and had leftover that I then made a family motto pendant and gifts for the women in my Relief Society presidency! I'm a fan of this salt dough stuff! It was fun, easy, cheap and turned out looking pretty nice! Successful crafty holiday gifts.

Belated Birthday Boy Post

My gift to James this year was organizing a duck hunting party for him, since his ladies would be out of town. Well, I also got him his favorite fried pig skin (yuck yuck), Bunderburg ginger drinks and took him on a date to the movies the night before Jane and I left. He LOVES the movies and had been wanting to see "Guardians of the Galaxy" for a long time! But his main thing was the hunt. 

My awesome brothers, Matt and Spencer, arranged their schedules to make a weekend of it. They went out with Chevy dog and got 7 ducks!

I think James was in Heaven! He had so much fun! They enjoyed being out in the freezing cold and cooking up duck. Paige was so awesome and even put together a cake! She's the BEST! I was so happy that my man felt special on his birthday! 

Janes gift to daddy was a "hug" with her handprints attached to a long ribbon. It was a fun first time water color experience ;). We sure love our Mr James!!!

Oh Christmas Tree 2014

"Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, the leaves are so unchanging..." Tradition has continued! My family would cut a tree every year and sing this song as it came down. I love that James and I have been able to keep that holiday event going!

Idahos awesome cause you buy a $10 tree permit and then get to go out in the wilderness to cut it down. Jane was fascinated by the huge trees, the cold crisp air, pine needles, crows talking back and forth and everything around her. It's so fun to see her observe and take in the world!

James is our trusty timber man and always cuts the tree down. Saying TIMBER when it falls.

You can't really see it, but Jane had a little evergreen branch she held the whole time. In the family (Subaru ad ;)) photo she's pointing it right at the camera! So adorable!

Each year since we've been married we get a new ornament, this years is this awesome knitted bird. We visited the SLC Aviary over Thanksgiving with Aunt Andrea and had so much fun! This little ducky fellow brings back that sweet memory!