Happy Birthday to Andy!

Andy is now (as of yesterday) 19 years old! It's crazy. He's so old!
He's getting ready to go on a mission in a couple months. He's going to be such a great missionary!

I remember when he was just little and he wanted to be just like me.. I remember one Christmas when he was just 4 or 5. I got a barbie and I was so excited about it, and he opened his remote control car and started crying because he wanted a barbie like me.
He would always sing in a loud high pitched voice with his incredible vibrato. He's always had a great voice... so lucky.
He was born 3 months early, they said his skin was so fragile that they had to wrap him in plastic so they wouldn't break the skin when the touched him. My mom said I really wanted a sister but when I saw him in the hospital all hooked up to everything I said "Aww Mommy, he NEEDS me!!" :)
Ever since then we've been great friends, we always will be!
Love you Andy!
Happy birthday!

Birthday boy with the beauty queen :) 

Birthday party face on? Check!

Something about our family... There a LOTS of pictures taken. On every occasion. No matter what. That's just how it is...

Me and grandpa having a picture taking war.

By this time every one was freaking out 'cause they were scared the ice cream cake was going to melt haha. Too many pictures. Oh the joys of birthdays.
Happy birthday, Andeen!

Halloween cookies

Last week we made some Halloween cookies. 

They looked nasty. They didn't taste that great either. 

 It was fun making them, though. Even if most of them ended up in the garbage. 

My sister helped me make them. Amy was proud of how real hers looked so she stuck her finger by it to compare. :) 

Fingers.. YUCK!

{witch finger cookies}

cookie ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tablepoons icing glue (see below)
50 pretzel sticks [for the finger bone]

directions

1. in a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
2. add the sugar, egg, peanut butter and vanilla extract and mix well.
3. add the flour, baking powder, and salt and beat until completely mixed.
4. cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes. [very important that they be chilled at least 30 minutes before baking so that they will keep their shape after they are baked.]
5. preheat the oven to 325°F.
6. with your hands, roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a finger shape around a pretzel stick for each cookie. if the dough gets sticky and hard to work with, put it back in the refrigerator for a little while. Place fingers on an ungreased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Place sliced almonds on the end of each cookie.

7. use a butter knife to make knuckle marks on the finger cookies. slightly flatten the front of the finger to create a nail.
8. bake 20-25 minutes, until fingers are slightly golden. remove from the oven and let cool. 

To make it real nasty looking we brushed them up with cocoa powder to give them that dirty look.