2015
  

A Year of Delicious Recipes with Gay Lea!

I spent a year posting recipes on this blog for Gay Lea foods and looking back on the year, there are a lot of great recipes, some of which have been among the most popular posts on this blog in 2015!



Here's a look at all those 12 posts and some of your favourite recipes from this blog over the year!

Happy Holidays!

I hope you're having a lovely time this season as you spend time making memories with those you love!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you!


Today is my girls' last day of school, so I'm signing off from the blog for a while so that we can spend time together. I look forward to sharing some fun things with you after Christmas!

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Montreal Temple, The Mint, & Beaver Tails!

I've already written about where we stayed, and some of the places we visited while we were in Ottawa and Montreal last month (and shared a video blog about it), but here's the whole reason for our stay!  The Montreal Quebec Temple of our church was having an open house.  Temples are very important to us because of our belief that when a couple is married in a temple, they are sealed to be together forever (even after death) and their family can be together forever.

In order to enter a temple, you need to be 12 years old so our girls have never been inside of the temple (even though we don't live too far from the Toronto temple, where we were married). We decided that this was an opportunity for them that we didn't want to pass up, so we made the plan to go!


The weather was cold and windy so we were happy about the warm tent outside of the temple with a large poster of the temple that you could have your photo taken in front of!  We're all warm and cozy and dressed up in the photo above, but we also wanted a photo of the real thing, so after we changed into our warmer casual clothes, we grabbed this shot as well:

True Meaning of Christmas - #ASaviorIsBorn

Well, we're less than 2 weeks away from Christmas- has the time flown for you as it has for me? As the number on our Christmas Countdown shrinks, I am well aware that there is no way that I can do all of the things I would like to do, to celebrate Christmas.  So it's time to take a step back and look at all of the options while thinking about my main goal, and decide which things are most important to do.

As a mother of small children, and as a Christian, it is important to me that my children feel the importance and actual meaning of Christmas during this time of year. I love the excitement of Santa Claus and gifts under the Christmas tree and fun or silly songs, and those things come pretty easily. It takes a little more effort to keep Christ in Christmas and to help my children to experience the deep meaning behind it.

If you've visited my blog this month, you might have noticed the widget in my sidebar that invites you to watch a video called "A Savior Is Born".  All of the 12 Days of Christmas Advent Activities that I have posted over the last couple of weeks have focused on the same topic.  If you haven't had a chance to watch this little video, I've included it below so that you can:



There are a lot of other videos about Christmas on the website as well.  I've shared some of the music videos this week on my facebook page.

As we approach Christmas this year, I hope that each of you reading this is feeling the love that others have for you. I do believe that God is our Heavenly Father and that He knows each one of us and loves us. Perhaps to some of you that will seem strange, but it is something I feel is true. So, I hope that you can feel that you are loved, and that you will take some time to show love to others.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!



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Day 12 - Silent Night (No Devices)

I know how much social media, smart phones, and other devices can distract us from things going on around us. I think most people have experienced this to some degree and many of us are familiar with the feelings that come with realizing that things have become unbalanced, and sensing the need to scale back on our use of technology. Day 12 focuses on limiting distractions. I love the idea of having a special "Silent Night" as a family, handing over all distractions, and focusing on what Christmas is all about!

This post is part of a series of 12 advent activities. You can find more details here.


Click Here for Day 12

Includes:
- A Scripture
- A Discussion Topic
- An Activity: a printable tag to attach to a basket or bin that encourages family members to have a "Silent Night".  There are so many great things you can do with your silent night!  We have a bunch of Christmas picture books that I think would be a great use of time and togetherness on a night like that!


If you'd like to see the other days, I have linked to them from this post!


I've teamed up with sugardoodleshop.com to provide this free advent for you. #ASaviorIsBorn

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Day 11 - Light of The World (Candle Votives)

I've always thought it was an interesting analogy to think about how you can have a totally dark room that is pitch black, and with one lit match, a lot of that darkness is dispelled. Although the world is filled with a lot of darkness, it can be dispelled with a little bit of light- light is strong!  Day 11 focuses on how Jesus is the light of the world.  We recently made little candle votives at a museum. Today's activity is very similar. Check out the link below for details!

This post is part of a series of 12 advent activities. You can find more details here.


Click Here for Day 11 Downloads

Includes:
- A Scripture
- A Discussion Topic
- An Activity: Instructions and activity ideas for making your own candle votives and discussing ways that we can be more like Jesus, and bring light into this world.


If you'd like to see the other days, I will link to them from this post as they go up!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 12

I've teamed up with sugardoodleshop.com to provide this free advent for you. #ASaviorIsBorn

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

PAM No Residue Challenge!

Have you got a pan in your house that is covered in blackness that won't wash off?  I have a cookie sheet that looks like that.  I keep thinking I should throw it out, but then I keep it for when I think the thing I'm cooking is likely to do damage to the pan.  These days, I cover it in tinfoil so that I can see that the food is on something clean- I'm telling you, I do clean the cookie sheet, but you can't even tell by the way it looks!


Cooking spray residue can be a true annoyance so I was happy to take on the challenge to compare PAM's cooking spray to another brand and see if it holds up to the claim that it leaves much less residue than other sprays.  I found a couple of interesting differences during my experiment so let's get to it!

Day 10 - A Gift for Jesus

Jesus is, of course, the real gift of Christmas. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas; His birth, His life and teachings, and the gift that He gave to all of us through His atonement. I love the idea of focusing on the Savior by thinking about what kind of gift we can give Him!

This post is part of a series of 12 advent activities. You can find more details here.


Click Here for Day 10 Downloads

Includes:
- A Scripture
- A Discussion Topic
- An Activity: a printable gift box that you can make and little slips of paper to write a gift that you will give Jesus (more details & ideas in the PDF linked above!)


If you'd like to see the other days, I will link to them from this post as they go up!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 11

I've teamed up with sugardoodleshop.com to provide this free advent for you. #ASaviorIsBorn

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

Sweets & Treats with Six Sisters' Stuff - Giveaway

I love fresh, homemade sweet treats and I love to make them, but I hate it when I find a recipe that looks delicious and then read the ingredients and realize that I will need to go on a huge shopping hunt before I can even begin to make it!  So I was pretty excited when I found out that the ladies behind the blog Six Sisters' Stuff just published a cookbook filled with sweet recipes that don't require fancy techniques or crazy ingredients.  Perfect!  It's called Sweets & Treats with Six Sisters' Stuff and it's published by Shadow Mountain.


The first recipe that I tried was No-Bake Cookies.  I've had no-bake cookies before, but I had never tried them like this.  The recipe included peanut butter and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I ate so many that I had to make another batch- and I got over 2 dozen of these per batch!  I made them and froze them (thinking they'd come in handy later), but I soon found out how delicious they were frozen and it was game over! ;)


Day 9 - Nativity Game

When I was little I used to like to "act out" the nativity with the little characters in our manger scene. I remember learning that the wise men didn't come right away (they had to travel far!) and bringing the different characters in one-by-one. :)  Now my kids like to do this with our little kids' nativity :) Today's activity is a really fun one for kids- it involves making a nativity and a game that the whole family can play over the next few days!

This post is part of a series of 12 advent activities. You can find more details here.


Click Here for Day 9 Downloads

Includes:
- A Scripture
- A Discussion Topic
- An Activity: a printable nativity and a fun game idea to play over the next few days, throughout your house.  Slowly bring the wise men closer to the nativity with this fun game (details in the PDF linked above! :)


If you'd like to see the other days, I will link to them from this post as they go up!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 10

I've teamed up with sugardoodleshop.com to provide this free advent for you. #ASaviorIsBorn

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

Advent Day 8 - Candy Cane Symbolism

One of the comparisons made in the scriptures is of Jesus to a shepherd.  I really like that imagery, of a shepherd who cares for his sheep and the idea that Jesus takes care of us in a similar way. A candy cane is similar to the staff of a shepherd, but that's not the only thing that a candy cane can represent!

This post is part of a series of 12 advent activities. You can find more details here.


Click Here for Day 8 Downloads

Includes:
- A Scripture
- A Discussion Topic
- An Activity: a cute printable that talks about different things that a candy cane symbolizes, and a fun way to show them to your family.


If you'd like to see the other days, I will link to them from this post as they go up!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 9

I've teamed up with sugardoodleshop.com to provide this free advent for you. #ASaviorIsBorn

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

Advent Day 7 - Link to God (Paper Chain)

Jesus is called by many different names in the scriptures. To help our girls to learn them, it has become a tradition for us to put up our "Names of Christ" ornaments on our tree by stopping to read the scripture that goes with each and then having one of the girls find the matching ornament to the name of Christ that is mentioned.  Today's advent focuses on the different names of Christ (but you don't need to buy ornaments ;)  and how those different names can help us to understand the different roles that Christ has.

This post is part of a series of 12 advent activities. You can find more details here.


Click Here for Day 7 Downloads

Includes:
- A Scripture
- A Discussion Topic
- An Activity: a printable paper chain craft (has different names of Christ on each link). You can have your family write their own name on one to symbolize that Jesus is their link to God.  (details in the PDF linked above)


If you'd like to see the other days, I will link to them from this post as they go up!

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 8

I've teamed up with sugardoodleshop.com to provide this free advent for you. #ASaviorIsBorn

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Please subscribe or follow to keep in touch.

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