I Always Wanted To Be A Spy...

When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about being a spy. It was so romantic, so thrilling, so exciting... Okay, I still occasionally find myself dreaming about espionage, daring rescue operations and saving the world. In fact, when we lived in Virginia, I could not go to Washington D.C. without the theme song from Scarecrow and Mrs. King running through my head at some point!

The shows that I watched certainly helped to fuel my imagination - Scarecrow and Mrs. King, MacGyver, Knight Rider, and Mission:Impossible were just a few of my favorites. And thanks to the miracles of modern technology and the internet, I have found some of these shows online! I have found a website that carries several episodes of Scarecrow and Mrs. King as well as MacGyver. Richard Dean Anderson isn't quite the hottie that I originally thought he was, but he's still way cool!

If you are interested, the website is www.sling.com. If you have found any Knight Rider or Mission:Impossible shows (either the 60s or 80s version), let me know!

Merry Christmas from Texas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Our Christmas Eve was quieter than expected as there was some sickness in Daron's brother's family, with whom we were originally going to spend the evening. So we spent it at home.

For those of you who don't know, our family has long had the tradition of making homemade pizzas on Christmas Eve, a salute to my Sicilian great grandmother who would make pizza to supplement the usual holiday feast. This year our pizzas were a BBQ chicken with shredded gruyere, and the other a pesto, tomato, and mozzarella. Very delicious.

We watched the Joy to the World video with the kids, then each opened a Christmas Eve present, except Nathan who had already had enough and was sleeping soundly. After we put the kids to bed, we watched The Nativity Story, our new tradition. The kids wore their Christmas pjs and we got some cute pictures of them snuggling next to the tree. Nathan has been sitting up so well in just the last day or two!

We did a short nativity pageant right before presents. Esther got to play "Married" as she kept saying. Nathan was an angel. And he truly was, just sitting so quietly watching all the action. But being his father is Daron, I don't know how long that will last! Daron and I played all the rest of the parts. Do you like Daron's sheep?

For dinner, we had some friends over. We had Italian Wedding Soup, turkey, green beans with toasted cashews and shallots, roasted fingerling potatoes with olive oil and rosemary, and a walnut, feta, and cranberry salad. And pumpkin and apple crumb pies for dessert. (Thank you, Ronnie!) Very simple and not too stressful. It just took awhile to clean up the big mess we made!
This afternoon we played together, and watched Horton Hears a Who and Wall-E, neither of which we'd seen yet. And if you haven't seen Pixar's new short film, Presto, you really need to. It's hysterical!!

A very quiet Christmas all in all, but very enjoyable and memorable! This year we really made a special effort to focus on the Savior in all that we did. It truly brought the. Spirit and a greater feeling of love and peace into our home. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!

Happy Hanukkah!

We were at the library today and I wished the librarian a Merry Christmas. And Esther adds Happy Hanukkah! That's what happens when you have a Christian who marries a Christian with Jewish roots!

We had our annual Hanukkah celebration with Daron's brother and family at our home on Sunday evening.
The feast! The brisket and sauerkraut is probably my favorite, but the latkes are close!

My Alter Ego

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say. So, thank you to Heather B. for your fun idea!

My alter ego is Jane Austen.I only wish I could be so witty and clever, knowing exactly what to say in every situation. And what aspiring writer doesn't wish for several famous, extremely well written novels to be published? Not to mention the fact that she lived in an age where the dresses were beautiful, the gentlemen (for the most part) polite, and they styled their hair like Greek goddesses. Oh, the balls, the long trips to visit far off places, the elegant meals, the etiquette!

So now I'm curious, who is your alter ego?

Love, Discipline, and Tender Hearts

My sister sent me this link to an article that was printed in our monthly church magazine, the Ensign, in 1989. It is a wonderful article about raising children. I thought I would pass it on.

Read article here.

Opening Shop

So here I am, joining the blogging community. While our family website was fine, there was a lot that I wanted to do with it (like archive the posts) that I didn't know how. And any free time that Daron has, I'd rather spend it with him than have him glued to a monitor programming for me. Nor did I want to learn more programming right now. There is already too much going on in my life right now. So I decided to simplify - do the blog which I just fill in the blanks; no programming required!

I chose Peace and Plenty for the name of our blog because, although I often feel like we're living in chaos and don't have enough of whatever it is we want or need, when I sit back quietly and think of what is most important, I realize that we truly have peace in our home and have been blessed with the wonderful things of life.

Welcome to our little corner of the world. Come enjoy the ride with us!