The other day we went to Seal Beach to walk around and let the kids play in the sand. It’s hard to believe how fickle this Southern California weather is right now. One day is all beautiful and sunny….as it should be…and the next day a temper tantrum of rain gets thrown into the mix.

I didn’t have to photoshop too much trash out of this picture of Seal Beach Pier…ha!

Jake was happy to work on his sand castle and stay relatively clean.

Cooper and Jillian on the other hand, were jumping off the sand dunes and we had to basically hang them by their feet to get all the sand out of them when they were done!

This is my first video post on the blog…Cooper and Jillian attempting to jump at the same time. 🙂

Wow…the day after Christmas.  I can’t believe it’s come and gone.  This year, I had more time than usual, so I spent hours in the kitchen cooking and baking.  That’s something I love to do.  In fact it was my most favorite hobby until I discovered photography.  Anyway, I photographed a few of my projects to share on the blog.

Every year we kick off the season with a concert at church and it’s always amazing.  It’s nice to be reminded of why we celebrate Christmas.  The hustle and bustle can take away from the true meaning, so I love that we take the time to do this.  My father-in-law conducts the orchestra and choir, so it makes it even more special.

We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner because it was the day most of our family members could be there.  But, that didn’t stop us from having a big Christmas dinner too!  Jake helped me all day with the preparations.  He loves to cook and bake…probably the most of all the kids.

We made pan-fried onion dip for an appetizer and it was delicious!  It was a new recipe for me and like all of Barefoot Contessa’s recipes, it was filled with things not so good for you.  Soooo, I tried to balance it out with lots of veggies and some handmade crackers.  We use mini-loaves of bread that my mother-in-law makes and top them with a little olive oil and garlic salt, then pop them in the oven.

This is a totally simple recipe, but it comes together so well!

• 2 large yellow onions
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8-inch thick half-rounds.  (You will have about 3 cups of onions.) Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized.  Allow the onions to cool.  Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the onions and mix well.

Some great friends sent us a smoked turkey, so I just made some macaroni and cheese (I’ve posted about them before-recipe here), mashed potatoes (Jake peeled the whole 5 pound bag for me!), a green salad and some homemade cranberry sauce.

I love making cranberry sauce because it’s so easy and it tastes like you did something incredible.  I just use the recipe on the back of the bag of whole cranberries…that you find in your produce section of the market.  Serving it in an antique bowl makes it even better. 🙂

Okay…on to Christmas day.  My mother-in-law makes the most amazing cinnamon rolls, so we had those for breakfast, snacked on veggies and onion dip, then had our big Christmas dinner.  I made prime-rib.  My meat thermometer was broken since the last time I used it, so we just had to totally guess it and thankfully it turned out perfect.  We all love tons of horseradish…the stronger the better!  I made a double batch of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese from the night before, so it made it easy to just throw them in the oven.  Then we did sauteed mushrooms and a broccoli salad to top things off!  I have never been a huge fan of broccoli salad until my mom introduced me to this recipe.  It’s the perfect combination of tangy and sweet.  She wrote the recipe down for me with no measurements (ha!) so I eyeball everything.  You basically add a little mayo, vinegar and sugar to chopped broccoli, red onion, bacon and craisins.

Jake and I also made a pumpkin cheesecake that turned out amazing.  It was a little labor intensive, but totally worth it.  We got all fancy dancy and took out my frosting tips for the cinnamon whipped cream.  It was served with my mother-in-laws famous apple pie.  Then we all died from consuming wayyyy to many calories!

Here’s the recipe for the cheesecake:

Crust

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled

Filling

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon clove
• 1 cup sugar, plus
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

cinnamon whipped cream for garnish

• 1 cup well-chilled heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a bowl. Press onto bottom of 10 inch springform pan and bake for 10 minutes. Remove to cool. Make filling: Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, spices, salt and ¾ cup of the sugar. Cream together cream cheese and remaining sugar. Beat in cream, cornstarch and vanilla. Carefully beat in pumpkin mixture. Pour into crust. Lift pan 1 inch off counter and let drop (this breaks up any air bubbles in the batter that may contribute to cracking). Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until center is set. Run a thin, sharp knife around edge of pan to release crust (this too helps inhibit cracking). Let cool, covered loosely, overnight. For cinnamon whipped cream: Beat cream until foamy. Beat in sugar and cinnamon until the cream holds soft peaks.  Garnish with cinnamon whipped cream.

I have to leave you with a few pictures from Christmas morning…

I can always count on Cooper for a fantastic reaction to gifts.  This year was no exception.

I’m also hoping to find out Cooper’s secret for ripped abs.  I wouldn’t mind having abs like that. 🙂

-Kristin

While we were in Arkansas, my camera got a good workout!  I had fun taking pictures of all the goings-on of the day as well as family pictures for all that were staying at the house with us.  I also managed to fit in three photo sessions from clients I met the year before when I worked with Terra Tots in Fayetteville.

I meant to post these photos last week, but I came home to a FULL workload and a nasty cold.  So better late than never!

Such a great looking crew!  I’m so thankful!

-Kristin

We are wrapping up our time in Arkansas.  All the Eldridges are slowly filtering back to their homes and the big family reunion is coming to an end.  This week was filled to the brim with cousins, home-cooked meals, games, laughter and even more home-cooked meals!

The early morning risers were met with a crackling fire and a cup of coffee…

By the time breakfast was over, the kids were running outside and playing on the zipline.  Several years ago all the guys rigged up this semi-safe 🙂 aparatus and it’s become a fan favorite!

Here’s a glimpse of Thanksgiving Day…that’s a lot of people!   (and this table didn’t include any of the 10 children there)  We were all so thankful to be together and thankful for our gracious hosts!

Aunt Terri let Jillian ring the dinner bell…such a big honor.  And Jillian took her job very seriously!

After dinner we all went for a walk.  These are the walks I’ll miss…walks at home just aren’t the same!

I’m not normally really into landscapes, but I just had to take a few pictures at sunset.  The frozen ice on the trees and the colors of changing seasons look like a painting.

My cousin Katie is also a photographer, so I was lucky enough to be able to hand my camera over to her capable hands and be in front of the lens!  We spent a good chunk of yesterday doing family pictures, so I’m excited to share those as well.  But for now, we pack up and get ready to make the long trip home tomorrow!

Kristin

Before too much time passes I wanted to share about Halloween at our house!  It was a crazy blur of parties, pumpkins, candy, costumes and more candy!  On Friday night we hosted a party for our young families class at church.  My friends helped me decorate and I think it turned out so cute!

These are the same tissue paper poufs I made for my backdrop at Rascals to Rebels, but in orange, black and gray.  I tacked everything to the ceiling with sticky tabs and came to find out later that they peel off paint AND a layer of the ceiling!  Thankfully I have a nice husband, who also happens to be good at fixing things!  He spent the next day patching all the holes and we are back to normal.  And I promised to stop using sticky tabs on the walls, *even if* it will totally MAKE a party.

The party was bring an appetizer to share.  It was perfect for Friday night after a long week…and people went all out!  Of course, I didn’t get any photos of the table filled with food.  Maybe because it didn’t last long!  I made cider apple donuts.  The shape wasn’t fantastic, but they tasted good.  Especially right out of the pan!  Here’s the link to the recipe:  http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/10/apple-cider-doughnuts/

The next day we made it out to Pa’s Pumpkin Patch.  It’s kind of a traditional thing to do, but we had to laugh at the hokie-ness of the whole thing!  They charge you an arm and a leg, then it looks like someone was out with a sharpie coloring in the rides!

I had to head off to Rascals to Rebels for my photo sessions, so Brent took the reigns on the pumpkin carving adventure!  I’m still sorting through photos, so no costume pictures yet.  Jillian was a black cat, Cooper was Anakin Skywalker and Jake was a ninja.

This time next week will officially be Autumn.  How did it go by so fast?  I am transferring all my files to my new computer and came across a trip we took this summer.

It was the kids’ first time in a hotel.  They’ve flown and driven all over the country, but we always stay with family and friends.  We decided to take a little trip to Palm Springs.  In August.  For those of you that don’t live in California.  Those little words mean 119 degrees.  OR MORE!  But, kids don’t seem to notice heat and we still had plenty of fun.

The hotel had a parrot that would repeat words, so Cooper made it a goal to teach this parrot everything he knew.

On our way out of town, we spent the day at the water park.  This photo makes me laugh because the kids clearly look over-heated, but they wanted to spend the ENTIRE day there.  We did not leave the park until the minute they closed.

Fun memories!  Especially now that school is in full swing and summer feels like eons ago!

-Kristin

Okay…this is my favorite part!  Everyone had so much fun with the pirate accessories and the mustaches were a huge hit!  I just used black card stock to cut out mustaches and hot glued them to a dowel.  I made several different sizes, so I encouraged everyone to go pick out a mustache and pose!

I could post a million, but I’ll choose just a few.  Oh and the fabric backdrop is from Ikea…love it!

What a fun time!  I should do a photo booth every time I have people over!!

-Kristin