December 2011

We had some good times in December. Lots of Christmas parties and get togethers with friends. But, we rarely took any pictures. Here are some of the events that we did take pictures:

For our Ward Christmas party, there was a theme of "Ugly/Festive Christmas Sweaters." First of all, we thought this was pretty funny. In fact, when they announced it in church, I looked around the room and noticed about 4 older ladies wearing the "Festive" sweaters that I would have rocked in an Ugly Sweater Contest. I thought it was very classy to throw the "festive" in, as to not offend anyone in the ward.

Naturally, Kyle and I decided go all out for this. We love making fools of ourselves...any of you know that. We decided on Festive Ugly. Introducing our very own glue and stick holiday cheer sweaters...

Tassels and nasty mustache included:

We walked into the church with pride, wearing our homemade cheer. In our old ward (LSW), we had many friends who would rock some fantastic ugly sweaters. So we were excited to see who would rock the ugly in our newer ward. To our dismay, ugly sweaters in our new ward meant cute, modern, normal sweaters. There was only one person wearing a rudolph sweater in which the nose lit up. He was the M.C. I really think that our ward folk looked at us like we were crazy. But, we laughed and wore our homemade cheer with pride - still a little disappointed that we were the only ones wearing the "Ugly/Festive Sweaters." Oh well. We have fun.

We also took a trip out to Half Moon Bay to celebrate my birthday. We (maybe I) love HMB. It is beautiful, the drive is gorgeous, it is much cleaner than Santa Cruz, and there is some AWESOME food. We love Sam's Chowder House - some of the best Clam Chowder around. We had a beautiful lunch overlooking the beach. Afterwards, we headed over to The Ritz to enjoy the views.

They were having a Gingerbread House Contest. Here were some of our faves.

This one looked like a true house. But it was all made of Gingerbread. I hope this one won.

It was a perfect day - and a great way to celebrate my birthday.

One last thing. For my birthday, I told Kyle that I was a little tired of my birthday presents being mingled in with Christmas. For as long as I can remember, my presents would be wrapped in Christmas wrapping. I know... horrible to be complaining about a gift that someone gives me. But, I did it anyway, and he took it to heart. When he brought out my gift, he brought it in this wrapping paper:

It was a Cuisinart Food Processor, by the way, and I was so excited. But the wrapping made it that much better!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

It is December 19th, and I am just now posting about Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it is a little late, but life has been crazy busy with all the shopping, baking, parties, and so forth, all while trying to deal with some pretty nasty pregnancy sickness. Blogging has been one of the last things on my mind. So without further a due, here it is:

Thanksgiving weekend was a huge success. First, we went over to the Jensen's house for the big Feast. We go way back with these guys. Adam worked with Kyle at BYU, and now they work together at ValleyCrest. Wendy was my boss in Provo at her IT company. We were so excited when they decided to move out to CA a few months ago. We did our Sager family tradition of going around the table and telling what we are thankful for. This year, Kyle and I definitely had a ton to be thankful for!

Here is our craptastic picture around the table. It's a must, even though it is always the most awkward picture.
As you can see, there were only 4 of us, plus a babe. But, we did not let that get in the way. We still feasted like kings - which meant more leftover turkey sandwiches for all!

On the menu:

Made by the Sagers: Turkey, Stuffing, Candied Yams, Frosted Cauliflower, Homemade Cranberry Sauce, and a non-traditional Pumpkin Cake

Made by the Jensens: Mashed Potatoes, Fruit Salad, Homemade Rolls, and a Homemade Apple Pie.

The turkey was, hands-down, the best turkey we have ever had. It was so juicy, delicious, and cooked to a golden perfection. There was not a single dry piece of meat.

The secret: CHEESECLOTH! I made the turkey as usual, stuffing the cavity with aromatics, and stuffed the skin with an herbed butter. Then, I took a pot of melted herbed butter, and soaked the cheesecloth in it. I laid the cheesecloth over the turkey and baked to perfection. If you want details, let me know. I will never cook a turkey any other way. The cheesecloth is the way to go!

If you are not a stuffing lover, than I can convert you. I promise. My family has converted many people to loving stuffing after this one. Please don't mention "StoveTop" around me. I may say something rude. This stuffing is a bacon, sausage, sage stuffing that is to die for. It is a Stevens family tradition, thanks to my Dad!

In the back of this picture, you can see the candied yams. This is a Sager family tradition, thanks to Kyle's Grandma Lambert. Kyle made them himself! It is seriously like eating a candy bar. You can also see my homemade Cranberry Sauce, which has a hint of orange and cinnamon. This is my Grandma O's recipe, and it is a favorite in the Stevens' household.

Instead of Pumpkin Pie, I decided to make a Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. I did this only because I made a pumkin pie the week before. You can see it peeking out of the back of the picture. And Wendy's Apple pie was beautiful. She makes amazing crusts!

As you can see, we do not mess around when it comes to food. Even though there were only 4 people for dinner, it did not stop us from eating delicious quality food.

That weekend, we decided to head up to Temple Hill in Oakland for the Lighting of Temple Hill. First up was the concert before the lighting. It was "breathtaking." That's all I will say. Here are Sariah, Brett, Kyle, and I taking a lovely picture right before the concert.

The lights on Temple Hill were beautiful. Before lighting, they said they were going to be reading a scripture when they turned on the lights. We listened, and listened, and we could never hear the scripture. I turned around for one second, and boom, they turned on the lights when I wasn't looking. I was a little sad. But the lights were beautiful. The palms matched the temple with the gold on the top, which was really neat.

It was a great way to set off the Christmas Season after a great Thanksgiving weekend!