Christmas Letter 2008

Onion Rings Anyone?

For the past two years (after moving to Athens & having cable) one of our favorite channels to watch has been the Food Network Channel. From "The Barefoot Contessa" to "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives," we love to watch all of the different cooking styles & recipes they have to offer.

This weekend Cody decided he wanted to try one of the recipes he saw for Battered Onion Rings.

He cut the onions rings & made the batter for them to soak in - onions were a little strong - love the protective goggles!



He dipped them in another batter & flour mixture before frying & waallaa....



I'm happy to say, I didn't have to do a single thing for this cooking adventure.

Great Job Cody!

Christmas Candy

The chocolates are finally done!



For the past 10 years I've enjoyed making chocolates at Christmas time. I always tell myself I'm only going to order enough chocolate for what I NEED to make for family, teachers, and a few others, but somewhere between that thought & ordering my chocolate things get a little out of control, and I end up with way more than is needed.

It works out o.k. though, with lots of samples to be had for everyone...



A friend joined in on the fun this year, and her little boy enjoyed many reachable treats!

Christmas Photo

It always poses a challenge to get a photo for our Christmas cards, and this year was no exception. Cody couldn't wear shorts, Ryan had to stand still for a few seconds, and Kaitlyn wasn't happy with any of her pictures.

Take 1


Take 2



Take 3



The Keeper

Athens Stake

Yesterday was the groundbreaking ceremony for the Athens Georgia Stake Center.



It covers 20 acres & Casey is pointing to the baseball diamond & volley ball courts. It should be completed sometime next year, and the best part about it is that we are only 3 miles away from what will be our new stake center!!

"29" and holding!

It was Casey's birthday yesterday & he had only 2 requests - 1.)A carrot cake made from scratch (his mother's recipe), and 2.)A potato dish (also his mother's recipe). Sounds easy enough...although, I tried to convince him it would taste just as good coming out of a box. He wasn't convinced, so I grated carrots & made his "Happy Birthday" Cake from scratch. It turned out great, but the cream cheese frosting was the favorite!

Thanksgiving weekend

We had friends from North Carolina come in to visit for the Thanksgiving weekend. The first stop when everyone arrived was the leaf pile. They had all kinds of crazy fun jumping in, over & on our pile of leaves.





Aside from a sick-coughing child(Ryan) & rain most of the weekend we had fun playing games, eating, watching movies and just hanging out!!!!