glazing ham like a boss

Read this list of ingredients and tell me if it doesn't make your mouth water:

*honey
*ketchup
*mustard
*worchestershire sauce
*minced onion
*ground cloves
*ginger
*orange juice
*molasses

Yep, Abby, Ryan, and I just came up with this sweet recipe all by our creative selves because we wanted to glaze the ham we just put in the oven. Annie was the taste-tester and gave it two thumbs up. You are reading the blog of the next Paula Dean. NBD. I thought I would blog about it before we tasted it so I can follow up with a raving review later on.

PS - MERRY CHRISTMAS! Despite Abby and I being sick as dogs, it's been a joyful holiday! I'll hopefully blog more about it later, but in the meantime, here was my glorious day: sleeping in (and waking up feeling a little less sick = win), watching Gilmore Girls with the sisters, reading some more of the books I got for Christmas, going to see "Les Miserables" with my aunts/uncles/cousins (it was INCREDIBLE. more about that later too), and now watching the Jazz game while we wait for our glorious ham and funeral potatoes to cook. Today is a success.

not to brag or anything...

Not to brag or anything (who am I kidding? the whole point of this post is to brag), but I have had TWO culinary successes in TWO days' time. Yes, it is true.

Success #1

So we have these tacos that go way back in my family. I'll be honest, I might be making the first part of the history up, but I THINK my mom's mom or grandma learned the recipe from some missionaries way back in the day. My grandma learned how to make them and would make them for my mom and her siblings growing up. She then made them while she and my grandpa were on a mission in Ireland. My mom got the taco-frying genes and I grew up loving them. We started feeding them to the missionaries when I was young and it became a big competition to see who could eat the most. I THINK Elder Falilu (spelling?) holds the record at 32 tacos. The most I have eaten is 14...not too shabby eh? We always have mom's tacos during the Priesthood Session of General Conference while the boys are gone. Annie fried them this time and did a fantastic job. We had leftovers Sunday afternoon, so I thought I should get some good practice in so I can carry on the tradition. Guess what, it was NOT an epic fail...they weren't half bad. :) Pretty proud of myself. 

Success #2

Let's just say Monday was not the best day I've had in my life. In fact, I wasn't a huge fan of Monday. I had the urge to make pumpkin break and got it in my head that if I could successfully make pumpkin bread, all would be right in the world again. Result? Some pretty darn good pumpkin break and and going to sleep Monday night feeling pretty good about life!

HAPPY FALL!

Busy transfer week!

We spent most of this past week in the mission home welcoming 10 new missionaries to the mission! We woke up at 3 am to take the departing missionaries to catch their flight home and pick up the newbies. My friend Mallory from a BYU ward was among those arriving!! Small world! I now appreciate how hard my mom works cooking for all the missionaries. We cooked for a solid 8 hours to make homemade chicken pot pie and homemade rolls for dinner. Here are some pics of the craziness!

grateful for family...

This summer, it's been fun to spend a lot of time with family! With the parents in Russia, the Bosters in Texas, and Josh in Mexico... Annie, Abby, Ryan, and I have gotten to hang out a lot! Ryan is such a champ to be the only guy most of the time haha. Some of our recent adventures include...

the CHEESECAKE FACTORY at city creek to celebrate abby's 23rd birthday!

i won 6 tickets to a country concert at the WESTERNER (aka a cowboy bar...good times) so i took the sibs, megan, and my friend darrell. the best part was ordering 2 orders of fries and 6 waters :) oh and playing pool was pretty legit too. ryan fit right in:

lots of random hangouts with annie! this one is from the night she came to a BASEBALL GAME with me to see a friend from my mission play... 

just last friday, annie came to provo to sleep over. we watched SMALLVILLE (our fav) with the shawcrofts while i made cream puffs for a bridal shower the next day. my first try was an epic fail (see top panel). luckily i had ryan, abby, and annie to help me get it right. turns out the words "rolling boil" are imperative. i was pretty proud of try #2 :)

it's also been a blast to see extended family recently! they are all so sweet to us with my parents off in siberia.

CAFE RIO with suzi when she was in town!

we also had a sweet visit with grandma and grandpa gibbons afterwards!

i'm sad i didn't get a picture last night of our party with the glenns at alta ridge! luckily it will be a fast sunday tradition, so i'll get a picture next time :) speaking of the glenns, it was a blast to hang out with them on andrew and haley's wedding day!

  

happy thanksgibbons! :)

so abby and ryan are headed to colorado for thanksgiving...so we decided to have our thanksgibbons feast on saturday before they left. this was our first time without mama to be the master chef! in annie's words, "not bad for some snot-nosed kids!"

Annie: Turkey and Rolls

Abby: Pumpkin Pie and Gravy

Liz: Mashed Potatoes and Corn

Ryan: Turkey Carving (by the way...check out that smolder)

Group Effort: Stuffing 

our spread!

Then...keeping with gibbons tradition, we opened up the Christmas season with WHITE CHRISTMAS!!

WELCOME CHRISTMAS TIME!!