Missionaries & Funnel Cakes

The "trio" Sister Missionaries

Elder "T"- He's from New Zealand and played professional rugby before his mission.

Yum, Yum,...deep-fried Oreos!!!! We need to fatten these sisters up!!!!

We cooked out in the garage!!

Greg is 6 feet tall so you can tell how tall the Elders are!

We finally had a chance to have the sister missionaries and the Elders over for dinner and funnel cakes. Only one of them had ever had funnel cakes; she's from Iowa. They loved them and we had a great evening.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

This recipe is similar to the pumpkin cookies I make. It made 5 really nice small loaves and was really moist and yummy. The whole wheat flour made them really hardy. Here's the recipe:
2 eggs
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 c. canned pumpkin
1/2 oil
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
(I used 2 c. whole wheat and 1/2 c. white)
1 c. chocolate chips
Mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin & oil. Add dry ingredients. 350 degrees - 2 large loaves 1 hour or 5 small loaves 45 minutes.
Great for gifts!

Merry Christmas, Mom

This is for my mom who didn't get to see the house with Christmas Decorations when she was here for Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas, Mom! We love you!

"Our Early Christmas Present"

"The Best Thing About Christmas"

Our "cozy" living room setting.

We had over 33 sisters in attendance!

"Mary & Joseph and baby Jesus" came out at the end of the song.

Tonight I know what it feels like to be a producer of a great movie. I had an idea which came from the most beautiful Christmas song that my son, Derek wrote. Then I picked great actresses and put the idea into action, and tonight I think I won an academy award for best producer/director for an Enrichment Night. Of course, without all of the players I would be nothing!!!!

All dramatics aside, our Christmas Enrichment night was so magical. Five different sisters, (all very talented) discussed different aspects of the Christmas season; when it comes to decorating the best thing about Christmas is......when it comes to homemade gifts the best thing about Christmas is.......etc. We also had talks about food, music, & traditions. It all goes along with the song. The song is about a little girl who is enjoying all of the excitement of the holiday season with her Mother and isn't sure which part she likes the best. At the end of the song the little girl comes to the conclusion that although she loves the cookies, the decorations, the music and the gifts, the best thing about Christmas is "the manger in the hay", "that He came to earth for me, He came to save my family."

This was truly a magical night and I will be forever grateful to everyone who made the song come to life. An extra special thanks to Derek, who not only wrote the beautiful song, but traveled from Nashville to spend the day with us and sing the song tonight for the Relief Society sisters.

To hear the amazing song "The Best Thing About Christmas" go to my sons website: http://www.thehinckleysmusic.com/live/