Snowy Saturday

December Fun!

What a busy last couple of weeks. We've done our fair share of cookie decorating for the season. Kids can never get enough of it. We captured some fun moments in our backyard during the last few warm days of December. Now that it has snowed we'll have more fun moments and be sure to capture them on camera. Lindsey's brother just graduated from Weber this weekend in the radiology program. We went to dinner at Ruby River with the family afterwards. Fun times!

Our Anniversary

Our anniversary is actually December 1st but we just celebrated it this weekend in Park City. 8 years! We stayed in a condo at the Silver Baron Lodge in Deer Valley. Our condo was massive as you can see from the pictures. We originally rented a one bedroom and then when we got there we asked if we could be on the top floor and they practically upgraded us to a mansion. We had so much fun and were so impressed that we decided to make this a tradition every year for our anniversary. Someday we'd like to purchase our own condo or cabin in Park City.

We ate at Cissero's and it was some very fine Italian dining. We felt like were eating somewhere in Beverly Hills or New York City. What a fun time we had but it wasn't long enough.

Our room

The guest bedroom

Room upstairs

Videos

Funny Videos

From One Holiday to Another

It seems like we are always decorating the house for some kind of holiday. Here is a slide show of our recent festivities in the Rietzsch household.

A Visit with Santa

We went to the mall on Saturday to see Santa and get Paisley's 3 month pictures taken. She was not a happy camper so we didn't get any pictures of her but she did fine with Santa. It's funny how the girls at Kiddie Kandid Scared her but a big old scruffy man didn't. She must have known to be on her best behavior or she wouldn't get any toys.

We made these really yummy "Whopper"cookies after our ordeal and thought we'd include the recipe below.

Whoppers Cookies

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups crushed cornflakes
• 3 cups malted milk balls, crushed (12 ounces)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees�F. In a very large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until well combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs, oil, and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour and the cereal. If desired, reserve 1/2 cup crushed candies to sprinkle on top. Stir remaining candies into dough.

2. Shape dough into 1-1/2-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden. Place cookie sheet on a wire rack. If desired, immediately sprinkle tops of warm cookies with reserved crushed candies. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool completely.

3. Makes :about 60 cookies

Pizza Pizza!

We made the yummiest pizza on Sunday. Manuel described a pizza he tried at work last week and so Lindsey tried to recreate it. Here is her recipe if you'd like to try it. Hope you enjoy the slide show which features the creation of the pizza from its humble beginnings as ingredients to the masterpiece it became. Don't drool on your keyboard!

Grecian Pizza

Pizza Dough:

• · 1 ½ cup flour
• · ½ cup corn meal
• · ½ tsp sugar
• · 1 pkg. dry active yeast
• · ¼ cup water
• · 1 Tbsp oil

Pesto Sauce:

• · ½ cup olive oil
• · 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• · ¼ cup pine nuts (or your favorite nuts)
• · ½ Tbsp basil
• · ¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
• · 1 clove garlic
• · Dash of salt & pepper

Toppings:

· 1 cup of salami or sliced Italian sausage

· 1 can red olives

· 1 large can artichoke hearts, halved

· ½ cup sliced mushrooms

· 1 pkg. feta cheese (usually in the deli section)

· 1 ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese

In a large bowl combine ¼ cup flour, salt, sugar, and yeast; blend well. In a small sauce pan heat water and oil until very warm. Add to flour mixture. Blend until moistened. Stir in ½ cup flour to form a stiff dough. On a floured surface kneed in remaining flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 40 minutes).

Punch down several times. Remove all bubbles. Sprinkle corn meal on a flat surface and roll dough into shape of your pizza pan. Dust cornmeal on edges of crust. Bake at 425° for 9 minutes. Blend pesto sauce ingredients in blender and spread over crust. Add toppings and cheese and bake at 400° for about 18 minutes.

October is Gone

What a an eventful last week. Manuel turned 28 on the 30th. Lindsey took him to dinner at Joes' Crab Shack and we both enjoyed seafood fondu and a huge bucket of crab legs, shrimp and other yummy stuff. Grandpa took the kids to her work Halloween party. The next day we went trick-or-treating at Manuel's work in Midvale. Both floors were all decked out in Halloween decor and just as good as any haunted house but free. Manuel's department had the Harry Potter theme and so he dressed like Harry Potter. They give all the departments an allowance just for decorating on Halloween. We then went to a really cool house by our neighborhood. They built a haunted forest in their yard and you have to walk through it in order to get candy at the door. This week Lindsey has a booth at the Country Barn Boutique. It's kept her busy but she enjoys it. After this week we'll finally take down our Halloween decorations and get ready for Thanksgiving!