Christmas Week and Ambers Pie Story

We have had such a fun and busy week! It started Tuesday when we went with my family downtown to see the lights at Temple Square. It was cold and started to snow while we were there, but the lights were amazing! Christmas Eve we spent with Chris' family. We had a yummy ham dinner and enjoyed spending time with the family. Christmas morning we also spent with Chris' family. Maddy (Chris's niece) got a new puppy! It was fun to see the puppy and watch Maddy open all of her gifts. Then we were off to my parents house for our annual Crepe breakfast.

Here is the pie story-Christmas afternoon I had to bake 2 pies, mashed potatoes and rolls for dinner. About halfway through baking everything our power went out! I was yelling and was so mad! So I called my grandma to see if we could finish the baking at her house and she said yes. So I packed everything into the car. The last thing I grabbed was the pies. The pumpkin pie was in liquid form at this point. The pies were on a baking sheet so I placed them on a towel and headed to the car. I couldn't open the the door so I waited for Chris to come and open it for me. As I was waiting, a huge gust of wind came and blew the foil off the pumpkin pie and into my face. I didn't think anything of it and just placed the foil back on the pie. Chris opened my door and I got in and the set the pies on the middle console of the car and looked in the mirror to fix my hair. When I looked in the mirror I realized that the wind had blown pumpkin pie all over my face, hair, coat and sweater! All Chris and I could do was laugh at me! I had to change and we were almost late getting to my parents for dinner, but we made it. The worst part was that after dinner everyone was too full for pie, but after all that I had gone through to make the pies I made them eat it!

Christmas night we had dinner at my parents house. We got to talk to my brother who is on his mission and we finished opening presents. I had to work Friday but when I was off we had dinner at my grandmas house with all of my cousins, aunts and uncles. Some of them live out of state so it was great to see them! Then on Sunday we had The Annual Brand Family Party (my dads side of the family). Christmas is the only time that I get to see many of my extended family, so it was nice to have most of them there. We had tons of food, the gift exchange and lots of fun!

That sums up our week of festivities. We had a great Christmas and thank everyone for making it so memorable!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Chris and I hope you all...

Christmas is very special to Chris and I! 4 years ago on Christmas Chris proposed to me and I obviously said yes. He is the best husband and I love him so much! Chris has spent the past 3 weeks in Africa and will be leaving again Friday or Saturday to go to Louisiana. When he returns he is off to Africa again for 1-2 months. I cherish every moment that I spend with him and just want to say how much I love and appreciate him!

Friend Christmas Party

Monday night was our annual Friend Christmas Party! We had a great time eating chili and soup, making fried won tons and exchanging gifts! It's not easy to get all of us together, but I am glad that everyone made the effort, despite some being sick! It was nice to relax and spend time together and enjoy the Holiday spirit!

Leah had SO much fun!

Kaleb loved opening his gift!

Making Nutella Won Tons

Matt and Melanie

April and Matt

Ryan, Michelle and Skyler

Everyone eating!

Survivor!

I got this email today, it's really long but it's really funny!

THE NEXT SURVIVOR SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes. There is no fast food. Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean , correct all homework, and complete science projects , cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week. Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives , and send cards out on time--no emailing. Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment , a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function. Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times. The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done. The men must shave their legs , wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes , keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties. They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am. A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information:each child's birthday, height, weight,shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice. If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

My brother only has 5 more months left on his mission! I can't wait for him to come home! This is a picture of him and his favorite companion Elder Cheatam (i.e. Elder Cheeto).

Photos of the Puppies

I finally got a photo of the puppies..

7 Puppies!

My moms dog had her puppies this weekend! She went into labor Friday night and had 7 puppies. Then on Saturday morning she had 2 more puppies. 1 of them was still born and the other one died. So they ended up with 4 girls and 3 boys! It was incredible to watch the births take place and to be a part of the experience. The puppies are so cute! I took pictures, but did something to my camera so I will post them in a couple of days. She will be selling the boys for $400 and the girls for $500, let me know if you are interested!

Puppies Are Coming

My mom has 2 pure bred Golden Retrievers and they are expecting puppies in the next couple of weeks. We don't know how many puppies are expected yet but all of them will be for sale. My mom is thinking around $500. If anyone is interested let me know!

Not a winner

They announced the winner of the recipe contest on Good Things Utah and sadly I didn't win! Oh well! I still think that my recipe was the most creative and I had fun being on tv! Again, thank you all for your support!