The Spencers : A 2013 Year in Review

There are many things that we, as a family, are stellar at. Laughing, making party treats and things of that nature.
Sending out an annual family Christmas/New Years card/letter? Not so much.

You would think that wouldn't be too hard. It is like the most simple of Christmas recipes.

Grandma's Holiday Christmas Cards

1. Take a picture. 
2. Go to Walmart/Target/Costco/Walgreens/AnyRandomPhotoProducingLocation
3. Make selection and order them. 
4. You don't even necessarily have to send out a letter with it. All you have to do is have a little "Merry Christmas from the Spencer Family!" or "Happy Holidays!". 
5. Throw it in an envelope
6. Add address and stamp
7. Send

There are some that are Christmas Card/letter superstars. First of December rolls around and their card appears. As the month progresses, letters and cards continue to roll in. The fact that people can even find addresses is amazing. The letters are well organized. Some are even witty.

An example of what could be but never is

We, the Spencers, Chris and Heidi and Co or Chris, Heidi, Alex, Alysse, Chloe....we do not do this. We have great intentions. Those intentions end and go down in a fiery ball of flames shortly after we have the idea to send a card. To do so, one would need to get a recent picture taken. And then get it printed up. And do all the other aforementioned things.

What to do?

Well, this year, we start ..... THE BLOG YEAR IN REVIEW. Then a link will be created and said link can then be emailed or posted in a very quick and somewhat lazy fashion getting to all those who happen to be in our address books. How convenient and festive! Yet in the end, pragmatic as we will have effectively achieved our goal : Spread our feelings of holiday wishes to one and all and feel good about having shared a few happenings in our lives with the ones that we know. care about and obviously don't get to see as often as we want.

So here goes. The first annual Spencer family year in review.

2013 has been a good year for us. Things continue to be exciting and different and a lot of that stems from the uniqueness of our little family. We did a couple 5Ks, developed new hobbies, discovered Netflix, continued to love raclette and all things yummy, went camping, finished a couple of large home renovation projects (gutted Alex and Alysse's rooms), got older, wiser (some of us more in the smarty pants department), and generally, just continue to learn and grow. Let's break it down by individual.

Chloe, A.K.A Moe, A.K.A Schmoe, A.K.A MoeMoe, A.K.A Moe-isha, A.K.A SchmoeMoe, Not A.K.A Chewy (unfortunately) turned 11 and is in grade 5 (5th grade).

 

It is amazing to believe that our baby is getting so much older. It was a crazy year for her. She did gymnastics part of the year and then proceeded to break her arm doing some sort of gymnastics related maneuver at school. This led to a few months in a cast and finding out that she could be ambidextrous. She has been growing on and off which is great. She is doing really well in school and is as excited about every cause or contest or campaign that happens to cross her path. She is Dad's fishing buddy although showed her big heart and continual love of all animals when she caught her first fish and went from super excited to very distraught when she realized that it wasn't going to make it. She likes mustaches or at least drawing them. She is a sweet girl (although we are very excited for her to be out of the pre-teen and early teen years) that we really love.

Alysse, (still) A.K.A Peanut is 14 (going on 20).

 

She is much taller (there was and continues to be much debate about whether she passed Heidi this year) and has had a great year. She is in her last year of junior high (grade 9) and is still enjoying school. She did really well in the school's Model United Nations (top delegate) as she represented the UK which must have been because she followed her father's advice and didn't call anyone a wanker.
She also decided to make a goal of trying out for the basketball team. And she made the team! It has been a great learning experience so far with the highlight of the season for sure being when she shut down a 6'5 girl and limited her to 1 point in 2 1/2 quarters.
Alysse continues to love to cook, watch Studio C and listen to (and sing along with) music. She is a goofball and we really love her.

Alex A.K.A Alex is 16.

 

He has had a big year and alot of that has to do with his size. He continues to get taller (which is only annoying when he decides to comment on the sparseness of hair on the top of Dad's head). We think he is about 6'3 but it could be closer to 6'4. He is doing well in school and looks forward to graduation next year (even though Mom and Dad aren't ready). He took the ACT this year, got contacts, made the tennis team, took driver training (and can get his license whenever Mom and Dad are ready to add him to the insurance), got asked to his first formal dance and continues to act more grown up all the time. He is great with his cousins and is generally a really nice guy who is willing to serve others and just lend a helping hand.

Heidi, A.K.A. Mom

Heidi had a big year as she turned the big 4-0 this year. She took it in stride and she continues to amaze all of us with her ability to do many many things. She bought herself a Kindle and basically spends alot of her spare time with "the boyfriend" (as we call it) reading. She still works at IMFT (Intel-Micron Flash Technologies) and still loves it. She is a counselor in the Primary presidency at church and also went to girls camp this past summer to take care of the food. It apparently went well since she is going back again this summer. Heidi had some health things this past little while that she has taken in stride as she does all things. We are continually blessed by her efforts whether it be the 4 AM runs to FedEx/Kinkos to print off papers for school or making amazing treats for any one of the different things we go to. We love to hear her laugh and cheer. It is like music to our ears.

Chris, A.K.A Dad, A.K.A Dance Master Thrilla D (this last one might be made up)

Chris continues to be the 4th child in the family. He still works for Ancestry.com and likes it alot. This summer was about discovering and developing a new hobby : Fishing which also involved a new found love of Mountain Dew and Salt and Pepper or Bacon flavored sunflower seeds. He also continues to enjoy watching football (enjoy seems like a bit weak when describing that) and basketball as well as reading and doing things with the young men at church. He has been the inventor of several epic dance moves which have been displayed in the newly created family disagreement resolution method of "DANCE OFF". He continues to enjoy embarrassing the kids when taking them to school in the morning. He tries his best to 

We live a good life. We are blessed seemingly at every turn. We have a wonderful family both near and far, good friends both near and far, and enough experiences to inject spice and variety into our lives. We are looking forward to 2014 and all of the fun things that we will see and do. We wish all of the success possible to all of you in the coming year and as much happiness as you could possibly stand. Happy Holidays and may the love and Spirit of the season continue with you all year long.

Love, the Spencers (Chris, Heidi, Alex, Alysse and Chloe)

Super Bowl? Not so Much. Super treats? YUP!

I love football. I also love the Super Bowl, the culmination of the NFL season. This year I really wasn't all that excited about the game. Honestly I would have been thrilled if both the Patriots and Giants could have lost. Not having my Steelers in the big game made it somewhat less compelling but that being said, I was still excited for getting together with company and most especially the food.

A couple years ago, my wife had to make a presentation for a class that she had done through work. She decided talk about how to throw a Super Bowl Party. That really started things for us and she went all out. A sheet cake that looked like the football field, sugar cookies that were shaped and frosted like the two
teams' football helmets and a variety of other yummy treats. It became tradition.
Here is last year's cake.

This year was no exception despite our somewhat lessened interest in the game. First the cake.

My wife is pretty amazing. I think she did a great job. She actually used a brownie recipe this year instead of a cake. The cake was super delicious.

Next was the strawberries. They were dipped in chocolate and then she used butterscotch chips (melted) to draw lines on them so that they looked like footballs.

We got the idea off Pinterest. Worked out great.

We tried another idea off Pinterest. Mini Corn Dog Muffins. They turned out really well. Kids really loved them. They were from a blog called iowagirleats.com. Super easy to make and really tasty.

We had a couple other items like a queso dip, mini smokies, a 7 layer bean dip, mini pizza bites (that I will post a recipe for some other time) and another dip that had cream cheese and peppers and some other things. I will be getting the recipe soon. Guaranteed.

One of the other things that we tried for the first time was this Buffalo Chicken Dip. I didn't take a picture but here is the recipe.

4 c. boiled shredded chicken breast (boil in chicken broth)
1/2 - 3/4 c. Franks Hot Sauce (has to be Franks)

Mix these together and spread in the bottom of a baking dish (9x13 or slightly smaller dish)

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. Ranch dressing (could also use blue cheese dressing)

Mix together and spread on top of chicken

Shredded cheddar or Colby jack cheese

Sprinkle on top and bake at 350 for about 15 min. Long enough to be slightly bubbly - but not too long - the dressing can get a little weird

All in all it was a good night. Way too much food but so yummy. And we managed to try a few new recipes. Super treats. Oh and there was a game on at the same time.

My family tree

I have always been fascinated by the comparison of a family to a tree. I guess it is a sensible comparison because a family starts out small and then steadily grows and branches out. The desire of a family is to set down roots and continue to grow as it weathers the winds of life. Pretty neat.

A few years ago, while I was still teaching in Canada, I decided to make a special present for Heidi. I have made her homemade gifts in the past and it usually drives her nuts because I spend so much time on them, I run out of time to get her something practical or that she really needed or wanted. That is not to say that she hasn't appreciated my efforts but still. It i s probably a desire to have me listen to what she wants.

But I digress....

I decided that it would be great to have a family picture that could be updated frequently. I struck on the idea of a family tree. I envisioned a magical and elderly oak, beautiful and majestic and strong.

I got a large piece of mat board (36x24) and asked Michelle, a student of mine who was a very talented artist, to draw me one. I had her draw an ancient looking tree that had one set of roots and one main trunk but then had it branch out into two trees. One for my family and one for Heidi's family. To say that it turned out amazingly would be the understatement of the year. IT WAS AWESOME.

To make it pop a bit more, I used embossing powder and embossed it. It was pretty neat.

I then cut holes in the tree for a full family photo of each side of the family and then a smaller spot for each individual family member and their own families. It was my hope to continually update these photos. To help do this, I put photo corners on the backside of the mat, so that photos could easily be interchanged.

The one part that I really loved about this was our family photo in the middle of the trunk and then the kids' photos in the roots.

I have a really nice ornate frame that this is meant to be in (although it is really heavy and needs new wire so I can actually hang it on the wall again). I am hoping to update it again in the near future and also get it back up on the wall. I will be replacing the now broken glass with plexiglass soon as well.

I just want to have the reminder of a strong family tree to look at. I am proud of my family and what we are. I look forward to our tree continuing to branch out.

And as a preview of things to come soon, I have decided to write about my roots that I have been expanding in my family tree. I'll be talking about a different ancestor each week (hopefully). Stay tuned.

Working out

So with the new year comes a desire for renewal and for making changes. Change is always a challenge and I guess that is why people don't. It is always helpful to have someone else to push you along or inspire you.
In my case, I am lucky to have my wife. She is, quite frankly, amazing. At some point in the last 4 months or so, she decided to make changes. She started eating better and most noticeably, she started working out. It started with early morning walks which quickly morphed into walks/runs to the local Rec Center and even more. She was soon doing strength and toning classes as well as Boot Camp. We aren't talking a couple times a week. We are talking 6 days a week for 2 hours a day. M W F she goes on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes. She then heads to a strength and toning class for 30 minutes of work with dumbbells, resistance bands, exercise balls mixed with aerobic exercises. She then follows that up with another 30-45 minutes of elliptical work. Then on T TH Sat, she goes for an hour of elliptical and then an hour of Boot Camp.
It is truly amazing. I am super proud of her. She has lost weight and inches and more importantly, she inspires me. She says she has a long way to go. Maybe. I don't know.
All I know if that I am all in. Or at least that is what I am trying to do. I am getting up at 4:40 AM with her and going to the gym. I am not ready enough for Boot Camp or brave enough. I did try the strength and toning class but that was not good. Felt like I was going to throw up and had to stop and compose myself so that I didn't heave in front of a bunch of ladies.
But I will go back soon. Right now I am trying to increase my endurance and strength. I am counting my calories with the goal of getting down to the weight I was at almost 16 years ago when Heidi and I got married.
Is it out of my mind to think it can be done? Not at all. It feels great to set a goal and to continue to work at it. I have felt miserable for quite some time and want to feel better. Physically and in terms of how I feel about myself.
So working out is where it begins. Actually, it began because my wife took a step in the right direction. All I have to do is follow her.

Pie

Some years back, my family started a tradition. Not sure exactly when and it seems like the reasons were varied. But New Years Day became a pie fest. I think we were mostly done eating Christmas related leftovers and so it was a snacky type of day. Pie seemed to make its way onto the menu and so it was college football bowl games and pie.
On top of this "tradition", I like making pie. My mom and dad both were pretty good at making pie as was my maternal grandmother. There was something strangely artistic about a pie. Grandma Binnie's Blushing Peach pie is still by far, my favorite looking, smelling and tasting pie. It was truly a thing of beauty. It is also one that I have continued to make the most frequently when I am in the mood to make a pie. It is pretty simple to make. I used to make it for people in France my mission to give to people. Most people were blown away that I could make pie and it was something that they didn't commonly have.



Like i said it is pretty easy to make. Here is the recipe and some more images of the process along the way.

GRANDMA BINNIE'S BLUSHING PEACH PIE

Sugar Crumble Topping

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup water

2 cups sliced peaches

one pie shell

Cut butter into flour, sugar and nutmeg until it's crumbly. Sprinkle half the mixture on the bottom of the pie shell. Arrange peaches over the top. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of water. Top with the remaining crumbs. Bake at 425 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

NOTE : If my butter isn't terribly soft, and the crumbly mixture is being difficult, I will add in the water then and you end up with a paste rather than a crumble mixture. It still works.

I made a few other pies this year. I made a traditional French Canadian meat pie called Tourtiere (pronounced Tort-yair). It is basically a very rich meat pie made with ground pork and ground beef.

I also made a Cherry Crumble Pie (mostly because I didn't have any more pie crust.


I also made a couple of quiche. To make things interesting, I used cheddar and gouda cheeses Yum!


Ahhhh pies. One of my favorite things to make.

Crafts

So I enjoy doing crafty things. Always have. Not sure why. Also not sure when that started. There were lame attempts at crafty things when I was a kid. I can recall multiple projects involving glue and popsicle sticks. I admit that my twin, Rob, was much more gung ho for that type of thing as was shown in his numerous popsicle themed Christmas gifts.
When my wife, Heidi, and I were married, we did a few things. Heidi taught me how to cross stitch and we started working on Christmas stockings that had alot of intricate detail in the cross stitch patterns.

We never actually finished any but it was a nice thing to spend time together doing.
I have tried other things over the years. I've made some nice photo collages and a blanket or two.
One thing that has recently come back. Probably 14 years ago we discovered some little ceramic Christmas village houses. A craft store in Saskatoon was going out of business and we snapped a bunch up. We enjoyed painting a few of them but had so many that we never finished all of them. We packed them up and they have stayed packed up in a box where they have been subjected to probably 12 moves.
This past week before Christmas I got them out again and started painting more of them again. It was fun. Relaxing. Not completely mindless but just something that wasn't work but was still a challenge.

These are just a couple of them. And just one of the things that I enjoy doing. And to avoid being judged or being asked to hand over my man card. I am certainly able to multitask and watch football and basketball at the same time.

Softball

So I started playing softball a couple years ago. I played a season in Provo and then switched to leagues in Orem and have probably played the last 4 seasons (spring and fall) there. Most of the guys on the team live in our neighborhood. Scott, Brad and Bracken live around the corner. Ryan is just down the street. Craig, Brian and newcomer Robert live a street over. Tom is Ryan's cousin and doesn't live too far away. Gary has been with us all the seasons I've been there and is a great guy. We have a couple of other guys that sub for us and they are all great.
Growing up, softball was slopitch and I think that the only time I ever saw it was tournaments on holidays (like over the Canada Day long weekend). There were even occasional sno-pitch tournaments in the winter with a flourescent ball. I never played and really didn't see any point.
Now, it is one of the highlights of my week. I look forward to that evening of the week. I was trying to decide why I enjoy it so much. There are probably several reasons. First would be the team. I play with a great bunch of guys. They are all decent players. They all enjoy winning and doing well. Nice thing is that it really doesn't matter whether we are winning or not. We all just have a good time. We have our up and down moments. First week, we got absolutely owned in our first game. Gave up 19 runs in one inning! We have seen loads of team start to fight with one another, guys that throw temper tantrums like 3 year olds, teams that just give up. Not our guys. We just play. And then the next game, we blow out the other team by 20 runs.
Yeah, Sweaty Mess (that's the name of our team), doesn't get all catty and stupid. We just play and have a good time.
Another thing I love about the team is that there are no set positions. No one goes and says, " You have to play this position". Instead, it changes whenever. We take turns sitting out. No drama, just fun.
I think another reason that I like softball is that I found a new thing/skill to learn. I started pitching last season. It is way harder than it looks to pitch. I love it. I love the challenge. I love throwing a pitch where someone whiffs on it. It can get a bit windy down at the fields. It is a pretty good challenge to figure out the wind and to get the ball across the plate and into the strike zone. There is also the chance that a ball will get pounded right back at you. I have almost been hit a couple times. I have managed to get out of the way and have even managed to snag a fair few. Quite the rush.
I just love being out and doing something. The fact that it happens to be with a great bunch of guys playing softball, is even better.
GO SWEATY MESS!