Up Coming Adventure

As most of you know Dave and I are moving to Lubbock, Texas on January 13th.

Located in northwest Texas, Lubbock is considered to be at the center of the South Plains. This is the area between the Permian Basin to the south and the Texas Panhandle to the north. Formed in the late 1890s and named after the former Texas Ranger, Thomas S. Lubbock, the town was officially incorporated in 1909. Today, it is the 10th-largest city in Texas.

I can't believe we are leaving in 14 days! That is just crazy! We have so much we still need to get done, let alone find a place to live. Anyone know anybody in Lubbock, Texas that is renting a home? We are very interested if there is. 
Have I mentioned how much I hate packing? I LOATHE PACKING! It makes me wonder how I acquired so much stuff, or "junk" as I like it call it. At least some of it, cause I really do have some pretty sweet stuff. :)


I Googled Lubbock, Texas here are some pictures that I came across. 

Statue of Buddy Holly



Texas Tech University 

Lubbock Temple

Not sure what to think of this...



The Chisos Mountains Of Big Bend National Park

Chapel Ruins

Dust storms




I am excited for this new adventure in our lives. I hope we enjoy our time in Texas, however long that may be. I am looking forward to BBQ, country life, George Strait concerts, Texas Tech Football, seeing cows, horses and old time cowboys. But I would be lying if I didn't say I was scared, and sad to be leaving behind everything I know and people I love. I am sure that we will have a great time in "Cowboy Country"! :)

Silent Night

My Dad played "Silent Night" last night on Christmas Eve on his harmonica. It brings tears to my eyes, I am going to miss being able to hear him play all the time. I am beginning to think Texas is too far away.....

Stalder Family Christmas Party

Here are some pictures from the annual Stalder family Christmas party. The party was great! We had I think over 50 people there, all in my Grandma's home. I took a lot of photos for memory since this is the last Christmas before Dave and I move away.

This is my Grandma's lovely Christmas tree.

These next few pictures are a little dark, my Mom thought the flash made the pictures too bright. They looked better on the camera then on the blog. Me and Dave in front of the tree.

Me, Grandma and Dave

My Mom, Me, Dave and my Dad

My cousins who live in Connecticut came to town! Savannah, Grandma, Cora and Owen.

Cora getting some of the delicious food on her plate.

More delicious food, and at the end of the bar Christmas slush! I love Christmas slush, it wouldn't be a Stalder Christmas party without the slush.

The family socializing, Aunt Kristy is laughing at something that Dawson did, he's the one in the brown and blue pajamas. 

More socializing

Me and Dawson, he has a twin brother named Marshall. They are cute!

Owen had me take a picture of just him, he is adorable.

Aubree and Sawyer, she is my cousin Tyson's daughter. She is a cutie!

Sawyer, Owen and Maddy

Santa came to visit! 

Look at these two cute little guys meeting Santa for the first time. Dawson is on the left, Marshall is on the right.

I even got to sit on Santa's lap! (I did squish his arm in the process)

This is my Uncle Steve, he has lived in Connecticut for the past 7 years. This is the first Christmas all my Grandma's kids have been together around Christmas for a long time.

Aunt Kristy who is married to Steve and mother to the twins and 3 other children. It was so nice to have them at the family party.

I absolutely love having a family that likes to get together around holidays! There is nothing more important then family. 

I hope we all remember the true meaning of the season. It is such a special time of year. Merry Christmas everyone!

Gingerbread Houses

We have a family tradition at Christmas time, we always make gingerbread houses. When I was a kid we use to just use graham crackers but my Mom has started making actual gingerbread homes. She does a lot to prepare for this, a lot of baking, making the frosting, and buying a huge assortment of candy. I would like to thank my Mom for keeping this tradition going, it is always fun! We usual eat pizza for dinner then clear the table for the creativity to start. :) We sure have some creative people in our family, they come up with some great ideas to decorate there houses.

Starting to put our houses together.

Houses are up and starting to get decorated.

Robyn's house

Bart's house

My house (I was not having a photogenic day :))

Nick's house

Blake's house

Shaylee's house

Chandler's house

Caden's house

Robin's house

Stacey's house

My parents didn't make a house this year, they were busy getting icing and helping grankids. Which I am sure without a doubt they enjoyed more then making their own. :)

Here are some more pictures from yesterday night.

This is Blake's new puppy, his name is Baron. He is CUTE!! He's gonna grow up to be a huntin' dog.

Shalyee, Dad and Caden

Robin, Dad and Nick

All of our houses! 

I love family traditions! I am off to another one, the yearly Stalder Christmas party. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Goodies!

My Aunt Julie came over tonight and helped my Mom and I make some Christmas Goodies. I love Christmas treats! For me, not only are they delicious they also have a lot of memories that go with them. The nice memories of my family are one of the most important parts about Christmas. I am so grateful for this wonderful time of year, for the true meaning of Christmas and for my wonderful family to be with during this time of year.

Any way on to the treats. :)

Caramels! (Carmels?)

I love these caramels. I look forward to the holiday seasons just for these little gooey wrapped deliciousness. My Aunt Julie makes these and no one can make them like she does. I have tried and they just don't turn out as well. 

Caramels

1/2 lb. butter

4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cup corn syrup

2 cans milk

Melt butter in heavy sauce pan, add sugar and syrup. Bring to a rolling boil and add milk with wooden spoon. Add slowly so it doesn’t stop boiling. Cook until it is a firm ball, pour onto a cake pan sprayed with Pam. Let cool, cut into strips, than cut into cubes and wrap into wax paper. Put in sealed container to prevent from going hard.                                                                                Julie Dunn

English Toffee!

Now I haven't had English toffee in a long. Mainly because most of them have nuts, and I normally don't like nuts in my treats. (I am starting to come around though, I have had a few treats with nuts in them and I enjoyed them.) Well my cousins don't like nuts in the toffee so Julie doesn't add them to her toffee.  Which is fine by me cause this stuff was GOOD!

English Toffee

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup chopped nuts

chocolate chips, melted

Boil butter, water and sugar over high heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to smoke and becomes the color of peanut butter. Pour onto a buttered cookie sheet  quickly. (My aunt buttered it and put the cookie sheet in the fridge while we boiled the ingredients so the sheet was cold when we pour the toffee on.) Do not scrape the pan. Top with melted chocolate and spread it around.  Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Break into pieces when completely cooled. (We put it back in the fridge so it cooled quicker.)

Mint Cookies

Now these little treats are a bit deceiving. They aren't an actual cookie, they are Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate that has mint flavoring added to the chocolate. They taste like Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints! They are so easy to make too.

Mint Cookies

Molding chocolate chips, dark or white (Do not use chocolate chips, the mint oil doesn't blend well with regular chocolate chips.)(Also if using white chocolate and you want to add coloring you need to use powder coloring.)

peppermint or mint oil, about 1/2 tsp. 

Ritz Crackers

Melt chocolate, we used the little crock pot we have to melt the chocolate chips, just fill it up till about an inch from the top. Add the peppermint oil, its really up to your taste on how minty you want it, so make sure you add too little to start then add more if its not enough. Julie did 1/2 tsp and it was perfect. 

Take the crackers and dip them individually into the chocolate and tap off excess chocolate.

Place them on wax paper until chocolate has harden. (Thank David for making me do a step by step demonstration of how to dip a cracker.) :)

Enjoy!