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Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter softened (use butter)

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt (I leave this out)

2 t. vanilla

1 cup sour cream

4 cups flour (start w/2 cups and work up)

Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. roll out 1/4 " thick (or a little thinner). Bake @ 375 for 8 min, no longer than that. Makes about 3 dozen.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 pkg. cream cheese (softened)

1/4 cup butter (softened)

1 t. vanilla

Add a small amount of milk (2 Tablespoons or so) and enough powdered sugar to make the right consistancy.

The finished product. . . so good! I scored some major points with Chad yesterday. These are his favorite!

I'm ADDICTED!!!

I can't get enough. I hear about a book and I look it up on GoodReads. Then I'm stuck. I start reading reviews and they lead to another book. Then that leads to more reviews.
That leads to me going on half.com and ordering the book. I've ordered 5 books in the last week for .75 cents each. I was waiting patiently by the mailbox...going crazy because I had nothing to read. I didn't know what to do with myself. I had to read the Ensign cover to cover (not such a bad thing).
But I've realized how addicted I am to reading. I can't sit without having a book, i.e. waiting for my kids at piano lessons, sitting at high school soccer games, shoeing horses with Chad, etc.

So yesterday, it came! One of my five books. I was so excited to open the package and see which one it was! It was Frankenstein. Just in time for Halloween. It's interesting so far, written by a 19 yr. old girl in 1816. It is said to be the first book to spark the sci-fi craze. Not really my first choice of genre but Pen's reading for her book club, so we'll see...

I would love to see what you're reading/read and read your reviews. Goodreads.com

The Glass Castle

I think this could be my favorite book of all time. I found myself smiling, grinning from ear-to-ear as I read the first half of this book. I don't think you could make up a character as cooky as her dad. (or her mom for that matter) Their relationship was so disfunctional, it couldn't have been more disfunctional. I loved the things her dad would say and how he explained things. I was cracking up the whole first half. Then I would have to remind myself that this was a true story and these experiences really happened to this poor girl. I don't think you could make these things up if you tried. The second half of the book infuriated me at times!!! What were those parents thinking? The situations that they put their daughter in...were sickening as a parent of 4 girls. I wanted to ring their necks and call the child protective service. It's amazing to me that they survived at all, let alone went on to be productive citizens, making their own way in the world. It's a testament that if those kids could make it, then anyone can.

I also covet the author's memory. And to be able to put those instances into words and make the reader feel like she was there witnessing it all is a talent. I loved this book!

She won!

Sis ran for a 6th grade representative and won. She had to compete with 17 other candidates. She had to give a speech and she was so nervous. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Williams for coming up with her winning phrase "You don't have to go to Italy to vote for Sicilee". And thanks to Aunt Megan and Grandma Myrn for helping us make magnents to go on everyone's locker at school.

Ensenada, Mexico

We rented a golf cart in Mexico. It was the craziest thing I've done in a long time. It was like driving a golf cart down 17th street in Idaho Falls. The traffic was crazy and here we are in this little cart. I thought..."I'm not in America anymore!" The fumes were making Penny sick, Chad's driving was making me sick, it would back fire every time we stopped. Chad almost hit a poor man on a bicycle. He tried taking us to the slums of the city and we got on some back roads where I didn't feel comfortable...(imagine that). So me and Pen hit the shops and the guys did their own little tour of Ensenada via golf cart.

This is us in the middle of cars and intersections...in a golf cart.

This was another one of those moments when I thought "we're not in America anymore". We're in an open golf cart...these tigers, lions, panthers, etc. are in this caged truck right, I mean RIGHT next to us driving down the road. Pen was having a little anxiety over this.
We found a great beach. It was warm and the water was great. We had a great time playing in the surf. I am still digging sand out of my ears. This little creature climbed into the seat of my swimsuit...this was right before I felt it bite me and I had to get in the water and dig it out. It was a little transparent bug. We saw some black fins poking out of the water...turns out they were not sharks but dolphins.

Happy Anniversary

We never do anything for our anniversary...it's Dec. 16th. I remember my aunt Karen telling me not to get married this close to Christmas. But when you're young and in love, you don't care. But now...it stinks. We are always feeling poor because it's so close to Christmas. The weather is crappy. When Chad used to coach, he always had a ball game that night...Happy Anniversary...come watch me coach. We'll have a slice of warmed up pizza and celebrate, except you'll be in the bleachers with 3 screaming kids, cleaning up spilled sunkist pop and I'll be down on the bench, mad and frustrated because I can't win a game.
So last year, we decided to do something big for our up coming anniversary and we decided we'd celebrate it at a better time. So we took a cruise and Penny and Eric came with us. It was a great vacation...spent with my two favorite people (and Eric, no offense).
We docked in San Diego. We took to trolley around and spent a very relaxing day seeing the sights there. Penny kept getting in trouble with the trolley driver...apparently she 'missed the memo' about not talking while the tour guide was talking.
We anchored up in Avalon on Catalina Island. This was my favorite stop. I would love to go back there and live for a summer. It was beautiful. I loved the little streets, everyone drove golf carts, it was clean. Loved it!

We snorkled in Catalina...I was terrified of sharks. I stuck to our guide. Chad loved snorkling and kept getting left and the instructor would yell "keep up in back, swim, catch up!" We were suppose to stick with a buddy, use the buddy system, but my buddy liked to go out deep and into the kelp where you couldn't see what was down there...(like sharks) so I made a new buddy...the instructor. I figured he would save me when I got drug out to sea by a blood-thirsty shark. Chad wouldn't even know I was gone until it was too late.