New Year's Eve "New Food"

Mashing the avocado to make guacamole!

Every year for New Year's Eve as a family we try new foods, though we sometimes do eat some of our favorite foods, too!  Did you know there was such a thing as A&W Root Beer flavored topping for ice cream?  Yes, that was a new food to us!  We will be trying it a bit later with root beer floats.

This year we tried pierogi, a Polish dumpling.  Now we weren't so adventurous that we tried making them ourselves: I admit we tried a freezer version.  But they were tasty, nonetheless.

And somehow, I don't know how this tradition started, I always make guacamole on New Year's Eve.  It's one of my favorite foods that I don't make very often.

And since it is New Year's Eve, here's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"

2012: Year of the Deno

Deno

2012 is definitely the "Year of the Deno."  We adopted him from the Humane Society and have loved every minute with him!

In 2011, our first corgi, Dylan, passed away.  We had him for 12 years.  He was also a rescue.

Dylan (19??-2011)

We loved Dylan and all his quirks.  He was a character.  We didn't want to replace him--how can anyone "replace" a pet who is a member of the family--but eventually we did feel there was another dog out there for the Chastons!

So it was quite a surprise when in May of this year, I was at the Y105 station and Jane McCall from the Humane Society announced on air that a six-year-old male corgi named Deno was available for adoption!  We took him home that day.

He is a very loving guy and just wants to be with his family!  And we love being with him!

Last Christmas, all we wanted for Christmas was to have another corgi with us.  But not just any corgi--THE corgi.  Even though we didn't have him for 2011, now we do.  So here's "You're All I Want for Christmas."

Deno sheds A LOT and he is a sucker for brushing--as long as he can sit in your lap!

Deno even gets into the spirit with his own BYU shirt!

Linzer Cookies

Linzer cookies, those intimidating little sandwich cookies, actually aren't that hard to make!

Erik gave me a special Linzer cookie cutter with removable shapes for Christmas this year.  So Amy and I tried it out today.

It worked great--and they are mighty tasty, too!

And even though we are past Christmas, don't Linzer cookies just make you think of Christmas?  Kind of like "Frosted window panes...?"  So here's "The Christmas Waltz."

Snow Days

I love snow.  I grew up with snow.  I was born in February with snow.  I just love snow!

So it was great that today it snowed a new layer of snow to cover our Christmas snow!

To me, even though the "snow is snowing,...I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm!"