It's [kind of] a tradition

It just wouldn't be home without a trip to IN-N-OUT. 

We've eaten here twice in one week. I know, right?

I guess we didn't realize how much we've missed it☺

{Florida} Christmas goodies

Every year we try to make and eat

as many of these goodies as possible.

Modern blessing dress

A couple of days ago a friend from our ward asked me if I could help her design and sew a blessing dress for her daughter. She wanted something modern, with lots of ruffles and that wasn't going to cost much. I rummaged through our closet and found some scraps of white fabric from making Stephen's white shirt, and a onesie that he had left over from a silkscreening project. Once the design was sketched out, we went to work. A couple hours later (we only had a few hours to make the dress since Stephen and I planned to leave town the following day), this is what we came up with-

It's definitely not your typical blessing dress, but it is unique and designed especially for her.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

The other day Katie came over to bake cookies for her cookie exchange. We didn't have a recipe in mind, so she looked through a magazine and found a chocolatey chunk one, which we altered a bit by adding salt and espresso powder to it. I took that recipe and tossed in Andes peppermint chips to make cookies for a Christmas party that we went to the other night. Needless to say, they were a big hit. Three dozen cookies were gone in a matter of minutes. If you can't find the peppermint chips, you can crush up Andes peppermint thins, Andes creme de menthe thins, peppermint bark, or even add Guittard green mint chips.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Ingredients 
1 c. butter (2 sticks), softened
¾ c. granulated sugar
¾ c. packed brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. espresso powder
2 c. all-purpose flour
¼ c. unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
½ c. white chocolate chips
½ c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ c. Ande's peppermint chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, and baking soda. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
3. Beat in eggs, vanilla, salt, cocoa powder and espresso powder.
4. Add melted chocolate, then flour. Mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop dough on to ungreased cookie sheet in 1 ½ “ balls.
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
7. To store: layer cookies between waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. (makes 36 cookies)