Candied Almonds

Taycina made some really yummy almonds and brought them to Grandma Grace for Christmas. Of course, Grace shared and I had to mark down the recipe some where so, I thought it might as well be here.

Here's her recipe:
1 egg white.


4 cups raw almonds.

1/2 cup sugar.

1/2 cup brown sugar.

1/2 tsp salt.

1 Tbs cinnamon.



Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Beat egg white until frothy.

Add almonds an stir until well coated with egg.

In a separate bowl, add sugars, salt and cinnamon and mix well.

Add sugar mixture to the almonds and stir until well coated.

Put on baking sheet and spread evenly.

Bake for about and hour and 20 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes

Wood Family Christmas Party...more traditions!

Every December, our big extended family gathers at WSU bowling lanes.  We rent out the entire place and bowl and eat dinner there.  Then we head to a church and play white elephant games until Santa Claus decides to show up. The adults and the children each have their own white elephant games and while we play, the story of the little star is read. Erin was a "guest reader" this year as grandma Grace was unable to be with us.

This year, mammy and Erin added a little something new to the "little people's" white elephant game.  Before the game, they all did the hockey pockey!  I noticed that Ellyse is getting a little too old for the kids version .  Next year, she'll have to join the adult version, but I think she might just be sad she'll have to miss out on the hockey pockey in the years to come. ;)

Hot Cocoa Rodeo

A few weeks ago, we were able to go to an indoor barn/arena and ride some horses of a friend of mine.  We all bring snacks and there's hot cocoa and we have an honored guest... Santa Claus!   It had just snowed and the canyon was just beautiful!

What a fun, fun day!  The girls keep asking when we do we get to go back. :)  Thanks so much Terra!!

TRADITIOOOON! Tradition!

Tradition # 1. The Christmas Tree.

Behold:  Our very first live Christmas Tree as a married couple/family. 

 Tradition Fail:  I've been very hesitant to getting a real tree because of the cost. Also because when I was a child, I remember my parents having a fake tree...once.  And it got so dry, we could never turn the lights on for fear of lighting the tree or house on fire.  I just recently found out that back in the day, instead of watering the tree like you're suppose to, my parents decided not to water it at all.  Umm, What?  Any one who knows my parents would be shocked to know they thought it'd be okay to do this. haha!

Tradition #1- The kids tree.  Every year the girls get to go to Rainbow Gardens and pick out a favorite ornament for their tree.  This was a tradition I grew up with and have cherished memories of.  My mom would take her kids there and let us pick out 1 ornament each.  I love looking back on all the ornaments I've been able to keep.  Plus, once Jason and I were married, we never thought about needing ornaments for a Christmas tree.  When I already had a stash to start with, it was a very nice way to bridge the first Christmas away from home and fill in where we couldn't really afford to go buy a ton of Christmas decor.

 Tradition # 3- Breakfast with Santa Clause with the Breakfast Exchange Club.  This is a relatively new tradition that started only about oh, 10 or so years ago but when we go past the Ogden Golf and Country Club, our kids shout out.." Hey, there's the place we go with Grandpa Boyd to eat Breakfast with Santa Clause!"  I think it'll be one of those memories they'll hang on to for years.

I love Christmas time!  I'm grateful for all the traditions that happen each year. I'm also extremely grateful for our Saviour who's birth we celebrate at this special time of year!  Without Him well, nothing else would matter.  Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

A little joyfulness....

 We've been so busy lately.  Not only with mundane everyday things but with a lot of fun joyful things too.  Here are a few shots of our more recent happy times.

Yes, I know my camera skills suck.  You'll just have to suffer through.

Here's the girls trying to access youtube on the mega computer screens at the Megaplex.  Nothing like trying to watch videos before you're going to watch a movie.  We saw Rise of the Guardians with the Wood's. Cute flick!

 This baby took up nearly 20 hours of my life in the last 3 weeks or so.  I became a bit obsessed with finishing it!

 Over the most recent weekend, we found ourselves a good old fashioned (1st ever live) Christmas tree....that was already precut.  No treking out in the wilderness for us! :)

 We partook in our ward Christmas party.  The kids were singing as part of the program.   We have a very small primary in our ward.

 I wanted to grab this shot to show cute little Brenton as well.  He's our little neighborhood friend.

And below comprise the outtakes and some real shots of an impromtu photo shoot in our very very orange bathroom.   I love the outtakes the most!  Keep in mind, the only thing I told them to do was to smile and make it look like a real smile.  Enjoy!

 I call this one the no upper lip.

 "Allie. Smile.  For real. "

 Success!

 What the?

 There we go!

 And a pose to close it out.

May you be finding much joy this Christmas season!!