I have not posted anything for several months.  But if we're judged for whats in our hearts, I'm doing just fine.  I've composed several blog posts in my head, but they just never make it here.  The root of the problem is that I'm too lazy to find my camera cord, so I never load my pictures.  (My mental blog posts always have pictures to go with them.)

**Imagine a picture of lots of little plates of goodies**
Hyrum keeps saying, "What family traditions should we have??"  I'm a believer in letting traditions just happen-- there's already enough to keep me busy.  But we were thinking about things we can start doing.  One idea I had was to buy presents for someone in the ward and leave it anonymously.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I had a change of heart while I was reading President Monson's biography (highly recommended).  As we were reading about President Monson's years as Bishop I realized that sometimes anonymous giving is easier than actually giving of our time and visiting with people.  Each year Bishop Monson visited "his widows" and they anticipated his visits.  So I decided to make plates of goodies that we could take to some people in our ward who might be lonely.  We'll see how that goes-- hopefully it will instill some Christmas spirit in us.  (By the way, Laurel, we made your oreos in brownies--I liked them!!)

By way of other traditions, I asked Hyrum how they celebrate Christmas in Colombia.  He says that they always open presents at midnight  on Christmas Eve.  So I propose that we adopt that tradition-- are we in?  (Since we spend Christmas Eve trying to convince Mom that that is already a tradition... just saying)

We bought these nutcrackers in Target because it matches Hyrum's army uniform perfectly--and they're so cute.  (We're on the lookout for matching blonde one.)  We've added several other Christmas decorations to our apartment to make it feel very festive.  I made some count-down-to-Christmas blocks, and blocks that say "NOEL".  (Again, if I had taken/uploaded pictures, I would have posted about that LONG ago.)  It was fun for about an hour but all the painting/sanding/waiting got very old.  I will say, though: vinyl lettering done on crickets make craft projects look SO much better than what I would do by hand!

And lastly, I was going to respond to the Christmas letter that Jenna sent out.  Mom--I bet that 90% of the people that get the family Christmas letter would MUCH rather read the "edited" version than the proper one.  Honestly, I've read several letters already this year, and most people's lives just aren't that interesting.  We should spice things up next year.  And to you, Jenna, I deserve a much higher score.  My scoring would go like this:
2 points for graduating college with a degree that can get a job
1 point for getting the job
5 points (says hyrum) for marrying a colombian (By the way, I didn't decide post-mission that I was latina--I'm afraid that happened even pre-mission, and Hyrum told me that I'm at least half-latina now, or at least our kids will be, so I feel kind of validated)
1 point in general for being a female in our family and actually getting married
1 point for living by the parents
1 point for surviving machu picchu (and matt, ha! you know how he gets grouchy after long periods of time with little sleep)
1 point for no car accidents or sicknesses

That's all for now.  Maybe I'll go find my camera cord...

We are loving this Christmas season! Jake loves all our decorations and has surprised me by NOT trying to open any of the presents under the tree. He asks occasionally, but we haven't had any mishaps yet. He loved decorating our gingerbread house (he mostly just ate the candy and took a few bites of the house) and loves Christmas music. Anyway, here are some gems I discovered this year that you may want to try:

• Brownie Oreos - I wasn't sure if this idea was disgusting or really genius, so I tried them and think they're worth making. You literally bake an Oreo cookie into a brownie. Here's the link if you want to give them a shot. Using holiday Oreos (the ones with red or green filling) makes them even more festive. They're super easy to make too - it just takes a tad longer than it does to make brownies, though it probably evens out since the cooking time is shorter.
  
• Caramel Apple Cider. It tastes great, but better than that is it makes the whole house smell wonderful. Here's the link for that recipe. Mine tasted great but would have been prettier if our can of whipped cream wasn't defective. :(

We hope you're all enjoying the month! Lots of love from Doug, Laurel, Jake and Andrew :)

I think that by now most of you know that I am planning a trip to Kenya this summer, complete with an African Safari. However, in light of my current living situation, I may have to rethink my plans, as I seem to be surrounded by jungle animals on a daily basis.....

Ward Christmas Ugly Sweater Party.