Cannariato~Almond Adventures

Santa stopped by after church this morning. It was really amazing as he filled the stockings and left the presents while we were in our bedrooms changing out of our church clothes. He is amazing that way! What a wonderful outpouring of love from so many. We love our gifts...every one!

This year's winner is BECCA!! We hope you all have a lucky duck in your family. And we wish you all a Merry Christmas. We miss you and love you.

We sure love you guys! Fun games and pretzel making with kids is such a great part of Christmas!

Congratulations to beautiful Stephanie Helen on receiving her Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education. You are wonderful and we are so proud of you!

How long do pumpkins last? How long do snowmen last? I'm hoping they both last all winter! I bought a pumpkin before Halloween for us to carve--but we soon discovered neither of us likes pumpkin carving. :) So on our porch the pumpkin sat, past Halloween, past Thanksgiving, and it even stuck with us through finals and the end of the semester. But what to do now? It's embarrassing to have a pumpkin still on the porch... (even more embarrassing for my neighbors who still have their carved pumpkins out! Or rather...moldy rotten remnants of carved pumpkins...yah. it's gross.) But I found this idea on Pinterest and I thought it was perfect for our little pumpkin friend. Now I hope he'll last all the way until summer! I think this could work all year round- paint hearts for Valentine's Day, make him a pot-o-gold for St. Patty's, a nice chubby bunny at Easter...wow, pumpkin possibilities are endless! -Eliza

This is definitely something we need to practice as a family! Maybe for next Thanksgiving when we're all sitting around the big table, or maybe for the next reunion family talent show! http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1017&sid=18510423

Here's a picture of my long hair! For the first time ever!

We love you all so much! Thank you for making the effort to be here in Boise to celebrate this wonderful holiday, and to spend precious time together as a family.

We are soooooooo excited to have you all joining us for Thanksgiving. We have been busy helping Santa so you married kids can take your Christmas Loot back to Utah! See you SOON!

I've been sick for what seems like forever, so basically finding gems like this on the internet makes me very very happy! These pictures are amazing. Just thought I'd share them with you. http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/11/national-geographic-photo-contest-2011/100187/

We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, but I'm obviously already thinking about Christmas! Especially if we are having Christmas over Thanksgiving when we're all together, I thought it would be a good idea to post some ideas, since I'm sure you are all super stumped  about what to get me! Here ya go: 1. This Zero-Energy Green Goo Fridge! 2. These totally awesome bandaids 3. Sudoku Toilet Paper . I think we need this in every room of all our houses! I know there are tons of more things I want, but these are just a few to get you thinking :) What do you guys want for Christmas? Love you all, Eliza

I finally have my profile up on Mormon.org ! You can check it out here . There's also a link to it on my blog . As you can see I'm pretty excited. Although it took sometime, creating a profile is actually very easy. All you do is answer the information questions about yourself and upload a lovely picture of yourself. If you're like me and you take 30 minutes to write one sentence, this might take a while. But it's fine; you can always come back and finish later. Once you finish that, you submit your information for approval. It takes a bit (I can't remember how long) but it is totally worth it. And it's a great way to do missionary work. So what I'm saying is... create your profile today!

We celebrated Grandma Hamilton's 88th birthday with dinner at McGrath's Fish House, and then brownies and ice cream at home. It was a fun evening.

Can you believe it? We cut the cord! That's right we no longer have a land line through Century Link, formerly Qwest, formerly US West, formerly Mountain Bell. We still have our same home phone number but now we place and receive calls through a VOIP service called Ooma. Here is the proof. Out with the old and in with the new! Who says you can't teach an old dad new tricks?

Home of really "Famous Potatoes" How about these dandies from our garden? Notice the resemblance to two people that you know and love?

Dawn the Birthday Girl and all around good sport agreed to go up to McCall to celebrate her birthday. She went hiking into Hidden and Lost Lakes on Friday with her husband and they went fishing. She handled herself very well for being a novice to the float tube and the fly rod. I am really proud of her for being willing to try new things with her outdoorsy husband.

First off, we are safe and secure between Alexis' apartment and our hotel just a block away. Friday we got to bike around central park, go out to the Stature of Liberty and Ellis Island and have a wonderful dinner in Little Italy. We have been out today - Early this morning we attended a session at the Manhattan Temple (they only had three sessions today) the buses and subways shut down at noon and by late this afternoon it is getting very quiet - kinda of like it's been Sunday morning all day long. We ate a late lunch at this restaurant as they were putting up the boards and getting ready to close. The worst is expected overnight and into the morning. High winds and lots of rain. We have stocked Lexi's fridge in case we can't get out tomorrow. Church has been cancelled. The weatherman says Sunny skies on Monday! Our love to all.

We deposited Miss Becca at ISU Thursday in her great new apartment at Bengal Creek. Note how big and spacious this place is. GO BENGALS.

So, each night of the week I attempt to cook a different style of food. Tuesday=Italian, Thursday=Mexican, Friday=Asian! Well tomorrow we are having a movie night with friends, so I moved Asian night to tonight because I had some bacon that needed some fried rice to go into! So I tried this recipe- I've never had General Tso's chicken before, but this was AMAZING! For the chicken, I didn't have ginger, but I added garlic to the green onion mixture. For the fried rice, I put in bacon!!! This was definitely a dinner we will have again and again!! General Tso’s Chicken ( http://www.tasteandtellblog.com/2011/05/general-tso-chicken/ ) adapted from Coup De Pouce Magazine (as seen on Tracey’s Culinary Adventures , who saw it on La Table de Nana ) serves 4 total time: about 30 minutes 1/2 cup brown sugar 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 3 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1/2 cup water 3-4 tablespoons cornstarch 1 pound boneless, sk...

...and to my wonderful nephews. Love you all!