Christmas Party

Mike's work had a fancy Christmas party this year that was adults only and "formal." It was wonderful to leave the kids with a baby sitter and go to a catered event and get to know some people a little more while enjoying time with each other. We told Santa what we wanted for Christmas, but he said that we've been too naughty for a million dollars and a 1964 Corvette.

Christmas Part 1

We had our annual family Christmas Dinner and gift exchange at Mike's parents' house the other day and the girls are now totally in love with their new presents. I can hardly keep Brooke off of her little car and Princess Eryn has been quite the demanding little diva. They're both so happy and have stopped pestering me about Santa coming and what day Christmas is now. If only the joy of 1 or 2 presents could last forever... Sigh. I'm soaking it in and LOVING the fact that they're both so happy and content right now.

If only we didn't have to watch Rudolph everyday!!!!!! I'm so sick of that little red-nosed misfit that I could scream.

Let It SNOW

We were blessed with about 20 inches over the last 24 hours yesterday, so I bundled up the girls and we went outside so that Mommy could play in the snow!

Doesn't she look just a little too happy?

Brooke couldn't move in the snow. She all ready has to suffer with short little legs, but to be in snow that deep was torture.

After clearing her off a place to walk around a little she was much happier.

Eryn made a snowball and set it down and it disappeared into the huge pile of fluffy snow on the porch.

It was too warm to play outside for very long. (Strange, huh? When does that happen?) It's difficult to play in the snow when it's 40 degrees and it's melting quickly and then before you know it you're soaking wet from the snow and sweaty from being super bundled up for the cold that just isn't there.

7 Years

It's hard to believe that it's been 7 years all ready, but it has! 7 years ago today Michael and I were married and seal to be together for time and all eternity in the Detroit Temple.

Since taking on the new titles of husband and wife we've expanded to father and mother. Time goes so quickly, yet at the same time so slowly. It seems like we've been together forever all ready, but it's only just the beginning still.

As I see the struggles of so many of my friends in the romance department, I am only more grateful each day that I have Mike in my life. He is my balance in everything. He calms down my hot temper, soothes my frustrations, and still manages to tell me that everything is going to be all right even though I might think that the sky has fallen.

Christmas Spirit Has Landed

Last night's addition of snow to the mix has sure helped me to be in a Christmas frenzy! The last couple of days I've been making candies and finding places for all of the bulbs that we can't hang on the tree this year. (Thank you Eryn... Grrrr....)

I made Carmel! They are AMAZING and took forever!!!!! Totally worth it though to hear how good they were from the few people I could share them with.

Toffee! Crunchy Carmel-ish bottom, dark chocolate, and toasted almonds made this a treat so good that I had to defend from Mike to give to someone very special!

The quick kitchen make-over included lots of bulbs in the containers that grace the cupboards all ready. Eryn really likes it and we're pretty sure that Daddy hasn't noticed yet!


Brooke calls these "balls" which is no surprise, but putting them in a Ball brand glass jar totally made me chuckle.

Award Winning Dessert

I have award winning chili, but now I can add award winning dessert to my list of accomplishments! These are cheesecake bites topped with a strawberry and drizzled with dark chocolate. I need to work on my drizzling skills though because they look like strawberries with bad hair styles to me.

At our church Christmas party we had a dessert contest. I won the "tutti-fruity" away since I was the only one who use a fruit. That and the judges said that mine won the "best presentation" award in their books too!

Amazing what you can do with a quick google search for desserts to make with cream cheese. Brooke loves graham crackers, so we had those on hand and frozen strawberries were super cheap at Thanksgiving so I grabbed a bag. The dark chocolate chips were for another treat to come, but I thought it needed just a little something more. I guess that I was right!

Beauty Shots

Eryn was pretending to take pictures with a toy the other day, so I gave in and played with her. We dressed up Brooke and took a few pictures of her and then Eryn wanted a turn to have her picture taken. There is hope that at one point she'll LIKE having her picture taken and actually look happy in more than 2 pictures at a time!

Playing

What parent wouldn't be just a little terrified to look up a solid flight of 14 stairs to see this?

Eryn was pushing Brooke around in the old laundry basket that their stuffed animals usually go in and was claiming that it was a car and the were going to the doctor's office.

Brooke obviously enjoyed it!

So cute, but so evil...

As the latter was proven when she painted her own fingernails later than day!

Gingerbread House

Back in July my Mom sent us a gingerbread house kit. When I was a kid Christmas in July was a BIG event. We would go to Frankenmuth to look at the HUGE Christmas store and I would even hang up lights in my bedroom. Now, it's a difficult tradition to keep being so far from the amazing store and my Mom who really inspired the Christmas spirit all year round.

For a family night we decided to work together on the gingerbread house. THIS is what we ended up with!

Eager girls ready to pounce on the project.

Brooke ate a ton of candy! Including whole gum balls.

No shocker to anyone that a BYU logo made it to the roof.

We did end up putting a star like blob in that big empty space on the front of the house. I just have no pictures of it because it really didn't turn out the way we wanted it to look.

Oh look, the Utah Jazz logo in their new colors! Brooke's little hand is on the right side still in the Skittles bowl. She LOVES Skittles almost as much as my brother Sam does.

What's this?

Sparty!!!!!!! When does an MSU logo end up on a Utah Family's Gingerbread House? When the Mommy happens to really like Michigan State! :)

Putting on the final touches.

Merry Christmas from the Utah Jazz, Brigham Young University, Michigan State University, and the McCorristin Family!

Decorating this little house was pretty fun and tested Mike's artistic ability to include all of the logos. He suggested Sparty and I wasn't sure that he could do it. Yet again, he has proved me wrong and pulled off an amazing Sparty in icing!

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Mike's brother Sam and their parents in northern Utah this year. The event went as planned and everyone seemed pretty excited to be there. Over all a successful event with lots of screaming girls and dress up!

James played video games.

Grandma supervised in the kitchen.

I let the potatoes boil over while just taking a picture... Oops!

Eryn and Allie did lots of Princess dress up and ran around singing Disney songs.

The cheese balls and crackers were a big hit!

The Turkey

The Epic Battle of the stuffing ragged on again this year! Grandma makes what's in the bird. Those of us who didn't grow up on it prefer the box.

Brooke was excited to play with the table settings and pretend to eat!

Although Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday in the world (no cake) it was a pretty good one this year. Thanks to Chelsie for hosting and the whole family for a pleasant event!

Movie Review

I haven't done a movie review in awhile, so I figured I'd just give a few quick blurbs about a couple we've seen recently.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Done well, but I'm going crazy waiting for the rest of the movie! Ha ha. The "nude" scene was a joke. I've seen commercials on regular tv stations that are spicier than that part in the movie. It was great to leave the girls and enjoy a movie at the theater for the first time in a long time!


Robin Hood (with Russel Crowe)

Although the reviews on this weren't that great we enjoyed it. I like the fact that it wasn't the typical Robin Hood movie and that the acting was really amazing. Still not so proud to say that I'm related to the evil King John, but you know... There's a few bad apples in every family tree. Ha ha! I still fought the idea that Maximus was playing Robin Hood. Ridley Scott can't make a movie that will ever top Gladiator in my mind.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

While out and about on this long holiday weekend we saw the big man himself! Brooke isn't such a fan of babysitters and we were pretty sure she'd scream and freak out, but she did OK and even attempted to talk to Santa. Eryn was excited to go and tell Santa that she wants a Princess Microphone. (Thankfully the ONLY thing that she's really looking forward to for Christmas is pretty inexpensive! That's probably never going to happen again!)

Surprise...

The vacuum cleaner died! Surprise, guess what we ended up buying on Black Friday? A new vacuum. Wow, such fun and what an amazing Christmas present... Sigh. I hate carpet.

Super short post today, but I'm so tired and just haven't been feeling like myself lately. The furnace coming on and drying out my nose and making my skin itch and super dried out is just making me miserable. Cranky? Yes, I know.

The best news this weekend though was that we lost Brooke's little blanket at Wal-Mart and after loading up all of our purchases in the car and nearly crying we went back into the store only to hear the speaker announcing, "Would the owner of a pink and yellow blanket please return to the fitting room." Never thought we'd see it again.

Carpet Cleaning

You know you've seen those unbelievable ads with the piles of dirt and debris for the vacuums to clean up and you just laugh because no one lets their house get THAT dirty. I always thought that they were ridiculous until today.

Thanks to the girls I gave our vacuum a serious test drive. The potted palm tree like plant in our bedroom was turned over and the girls had taken little hand fulls of soil and located them very neatly all over the room!

I was going to take a picture, but I was so mad that I didn't!!!!!!! Just imagine little mounds of dirt all over and how happy that moment made me. Sigh. Our vacuum did suck it up, but I'm sure that it just ground in a good portion of it into the carpet forever.

Rivalry Week Is Here!

Chuck Norris does not usually root for any team, but when he does...sorry Utes!

Thanksgiving Time

Thanksgiving time has never been my favorite time of the year. It means that college football is almost over, turkey is coming to the table for dinner, and that Christmas is right around the corner and I'm no where near ready for it!!!!!!!

Although I dislike the lovely fat bird and have never really enjoyed the big traditional feast that goes along with celebrating the Pilgrims, I really do look forward to Thanksgiving. I like hearing what people are thankful for. Our lives are truly blessed in so many different ways and hearing (or reading) about the things that we are given by our Lord and Savior help me to know that prayers are answered and serves a a good reminder that everyday we have something to be thankful for.

John Adams

This is the Gilbert Stuart portrait thought to have been painted in Philadelphia in 1798 and is considered to be the finest portraits of him.

This semester for my history class instead of doing a typical research paper, we were asked to do a book report on a historical book from the time period of the beginning of our country to 1877. Although I love "The Killer Angles" an have read it several times, I opted for a book that I haven't read before in hopes to expand my historical knowledge. It worked!

Before reading this I knew that John Adams was the second President of the United States and not much more. Now, I know much more about him and his life. I am pleased to say that although he was not the most favored man of his time, he truly walked among giants of men. Not only did he walk with them, but he was able to help them to be better and set a shinning example for future generations. His love of his wife and his family were strong even though his work was demanding and often took him away from them for months or years at a time. John Adams was and is in my mind the unsung hero of the founding fathers. Thanks to David McCullough, my history teacher, and my Father-In-Law I know have much more respect for him and his great work towards making our country what is it today.

No More Piano

Elvis has left the building!

Mike officially bid farewell to playing the piano for the Primary at church after a little more than 3 years. He is now the 1st counselor in the Elder Quorum Presidency. The kids made him a bunch of cards and this poster to let him know how much he meant to them and to thank him.

Major Award!

I WON this major award from Mike's work a little while ago. They had a chili cook off contest and of the about dozen different entries, I won! I can now officially claim that I have, "Award Winning Chili!"

Voting Day

When Mike and I went to vote we went together and that meant having to take the girls. The line wasn't as long as I had feared and it moved along pretty well. Standing in one place and waiting is difficult enough for most adults, but for Eryn and Brooke it was total torture!

Brooke would run away and be with Eryn and then scream and come back for us to hold her. Then, squirm to get down and start the routine all over. That really wasn't too hard to handle.

Eryn thought it was fun to run as far as she could and then come back. She did manage to draw a ton of attention to herself and make a bunch of people laugh when she asked, "Is this the gift shop?" When she realized that she got a laugh kept asking things like, "Can we go to the gift shop?" and "Where's the gift shop?"

It was funny and totally random like Eryn. Perhaps a good indicator that we go to a lot of national parks, museums, and other places like that where gift shops can be found. It might be time to go on a mini vacation to a place with a gift shop!

Halloween Fun

This year is the year of the marathon Halloween. We're talking celebrations, parties, candy, and costumes all week long! The girls are loving it.

Eryn complained that I put my make up in the wrong spots. What can I say? I had to do something to hide those wicked dark circles under my eyes!

The fact that their costumes coordinate is adorable, but was never my intention. Eryn acquired this little dress up mermaid costume and giving her the opportunity to wear it in public was like saying that she had permission to be a princess! I found Brooke's little pirate costume at Costco and fell in love with it! It's a little big, but nothing that a couple of safety pins can't fix.

Halloween and dressing up has always been a favorite time of the year for me. When we were younger it was trying to find costumes that were big enough to go over your coat so that people could see them or ones that we could create out of random stuff that Dad had accumulated in the basement.

My favorite Halloween memory will always be the year that we went trick-or-treating by Grandma Crawford's house. All 3 of us kids would go to the door, give the usual saying, get candy, and say thank you. Then, Sam who was probably 3 would say, "My name is Sam. S-A-M." The reactions were amazing! "Oh what an adorable little boy. Here have some more candy!" Little stinker probably got 3 times the candy that John or I did that year. Brilliant? Oh yes. Are we all jealous that we didn't think up something like that when we were kids? Yep.