Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am so excited for today because we are going to my grandparent's and cousin's house to eat a lot of food and spend time together. We are also setting up our Christmas tree today and all of our Christmas decorations. As I have mentioned before (in my first post, I think), I LOVE the holidays especially Christmas. Most people think that why I would love Christmas is because of the presents. That is actually not true. I mean, I love the presents, but the reason that I love Christmas is because of the festivities and decorations. Christmas also happens to be the birthday of our Savior It is also a really fun time of the year for me and my family and friends. Anyway, back onto the subject of Thanksgiving, here are my 20 things that I am thankful for (I warn you now, they are kind of random #lol). I hope you posted yours. Love y'all!!!
I am thankful for:
1. Jesus Christ
2. My family and friends
3, My home
4. Food/water (provisions)
5. Freedom and the chance to celebrate Thanksgiving
6. Animals (especially horses)
7. Music
8. Snow
9. Rain
10. Rainbows
11. Stars
12. Sparkles
13. The color of the sky at different times of the day (especially the sunset/sunrise)
14. The aroma and color of beautiful wild flowers that are on our property (during summer, of course)
15. Starbucks
16. Candles
17. Christmas
18. Books
19. Warm blankets that are there to make me lazy
20. Being able to be in Guard
21. But most of all, I am thankful for my life

Most people take their life for granted. They think of it as a thing that they can bring to an end whenever they want. They honestly don't know how fortunate they are to be alive. The gift of life is the most precious thing in the world. Don't waste it!

~Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year because it reminds us to give thanks and to count our blessings. Suddenly, so many things become so little when we realize how blessed and lucky we are.~
Joyce Giraud

Since it is Thanksgiving, here is another quote that I like.

~I love Thanksgiving because it's a holiday that is centered around food and family, two things that are of utmost importance to me.~
Marcus Samuelsson

Karaoke night!!!

Who here loves karaoke?!?!?!?!?! I LOVE karaoke, but I am terrified of getting in front of people to sing. Well, we had a surprise birthday for my Aunt Holly. There was a disco ball and we had dancing and karaoke. It was soooooooo much fun. I sang two songs with my cousin Hannah (http://onceuponafantasy.weebly.com/) and was literally (#americanliterature #insidejoke) feeling shaky the entire time. Even though I was nervous up on stage, I had so much fun! My philosophy is do not wait until it's too late to try something new, even if you are scared of doing that something. Go out on the limb and jump. If you don't jump now, you may never have the chance to do it again. Trust me, you will most likely enjoy the way down. If not, then at least you can say that you tried it. (Don't literally jump off of a limb because you will most likely not enjoy your way down). That's all I have for today. Byyyeee! Love y'all!!!

~Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate in what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.~
Oprah Winfrey

Ok, so I just found this recipe on Pinterest for Pumpkin Cheesecake Snicker Doodles and of course I had to try them. I made a batch to bring with me to my Winter Guard practice. I am not joking when I say that everyone who tried one of these delicious cookies LOVED them! I would give these cookies a 5 out of 5 stars. They taste like pumpkin snicker doodles (duh) and kinda like a sugar cookie. They also, of course, have a touch of cheesecake flavor to them because of the cheesecake filling. These would be a perfect dessert for Thanksgiving with their festive pumpkin flavor. Happy Cooking! Love y'all!!!

~It's not the minutes spent at the table that put on weight, it's the seconds.~
Anon
(Remember this when you go back for that third piece of pumpkin pie with extra whipping cream on Thanksgiving)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Snicker Doodles

AUTHOR: ALYSSA

PREP TIME:  30 MINS

COOK TIME:  12 MINS

TOTAL TIME:  42 MINS

SERVES: 24

Delicious soft and puffy pumpkin snicker doodles with a surprise cream cheese center.

INGREDIENTS

• 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. freshly-ground ground nutmeg
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• ¾ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Filling Ingredients:
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Cinnamon-sugar coating:
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground ginger
• Dash of allspice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Set aside.
2. In a kitchenaid mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium high speed until fluffy about 2-3 minutes.
3. Blend in pumpkin puree, beat in egg and then add vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients on low speed just until combined. Cover and chill dough for an hour.
4. To make the cream cheese filling, blend cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together. Chill for an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and spices for the coating and set aside.
6. To make the cookies, take a tablespoon of the cookie batter. Flatten it like a pancake and place a teaspoon of the cream cheese in center. Form another tablespoon of the cookie batter into a flat pancake shape and place on top of the cream cheese. Pinch the edges together sealing in the cream cheese and roll into a ball. Roll in the cinnamon sugar coating and place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
7. Repeat until the dough is gone and flatten the cookie dough balls with a heavy bottomed glass or measuring cup.
8. Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes or until the tops start to crack. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy!

I found this recipe on http://therecipecritic.com/2013/09/pumpkin-cheesecake-snickerdoodles/#_a5y_p=1002519. 

Long time, no post!!!

Hey y'all!!! As the title says, it has been a long time, with no posts. Well guys, we are back in business!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner (9 days to be exact), and everyone is getting out the turkeys, hams, and their turkey/ham ovens and preparing to cook for the holidays. I will be posting as many recipes as I can for Thanksgiving/Christmas. Be prepared for the blog to be bombarded with delicious foods and cool decoration ideas for the holidays.
This Thanksgiving I am going to challenge you all to come up with 20 things that you are thankful for. You may think to yourself, I don't have 20 things that I am thankful for. If this is you, then you need to suck it up and think harder. There is always something that you can be thankful for. It could be as deep and well thought up as "I am thankful for when this person did this for me and saved my life" to something as small as "I am thankful for the color of the sky when the sun rises." Nothing is too small as long as you are thankful for it. I will be posting mine on my Thanksgiving post that I will post on, you will never guess, THANKSGIVING!!!! You can post yours on one of my Thanksgiving posts now or then. Whenever works, as long as it is before December 1, because then, we will be moving on to Christmas challenges.
I have one more challenge for you all to accomplish before Thanksgiving. I want you to challenge your friends and family to think of 20 things that they are thankful for and post their responses on one of my Thanksgiving posts. On my December 1 post, you can all let me know how many people you got to come up with 20 things that they are thankful for. Ready, set, go and be thankful! Love y'all!!!

~We're having something a little different this year for Thanksgiving. Instead of turkey, we're having a swan. You get more stuffing.~
George Carlin