The Allred Front Door: traditions

Showing posts with label traditions. Show all posts

More Holiday Happenings...

We had lots of fun things going on this last holiday season (see part 1 here)!

I celebrated my 23rd birthday. It was a great one!

We attended two Ugly Christmas Sweater Parties! One at the Allen home, where we played Minute-to-Win-It games and had some yummy snacks. The other was at the Whiting home where we had a really cool hot chocolate bar with some yummy food as well (to see more of that party, go here).

Tacky never looked so good...eh?!

Christmas Eve Dinner with the Clark side of the family...

Landon got to be baby Jesus...so by default we were Mary and Joseph!

Didn't you know, baby Jesus sucked his thumb?!

On New Year's Eve, we hung out with Aubrey and Thomas. We let off the flying lanterns and sipped bubbly at midnight (I need to get pics from her, they got a nice new camera for Christmas that we used that night!). The next day, we ate breakfast at their house and then went out to the desert to go shooting. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anywhere to "legally" shoot. We need to do more research before we head out of town next time!

He makes me swoon in his flannel shirt and vest. Love my little outdoors man!

Expecting baby girl Whiting here at the end of January!

Thomas and Aubrey with cute Sasha!

We tried the Moby on Dad and went on some walks around the neighborhood (we tightened up the Moby a bit after this, it is hard to tie it on someone else when I can't feel how it is fitting them).

We have tried to stay warm in our pajamas when we hang out at home watching movies!

Family Fire Pit

This year, we got a fire pit for Christmas (thanks Melanie and Jared!).

So last Saturday night, we bundled up and hung out in the backyard.

We roasted some hot dogs for dinner.

Landon was in awe of the flames and just stared for a while.

It was a fun time just hanging out with our little family, doing something fun! We are planning on doing it again in the next week or so, along with s'mores for dessert!

Tamale Time

Christmas Time = Tamale Time

I don't know if you've ever had an authentic tamale, one from a restaurant doesn't count! It must be homemade by someone who has perfected it! Seriously delicious!

One of my good friends, Makayla, invited me to come along and learn how it's done...the right way!

The night before, all the men in the family got together and prepped the meat. Folks, we are talking 85 POUNDS of meat WITHOUT bones! That is a lot of meat...a lot of tamales!

The next morning, all the women get together and make the tamales, and then the men steam them. This is a huge operation, when you are dealing with 85 pounds of meat. Everyone has a job and things just keep going right along. I also loved that there were some tortillas there, you could scoop up a little of the meat and chile into a tortilla for a tasty snack!

Making preparations (while eating some Bosa Donuts of course!)

Everyone must wear a hat or scarf while prepping the tamales!

This little munchkin looked like this most of the time...

Making some final preparations before getting things going...

Mixing the masa. This is his job every year...he does it by taste, there is no recipe.

Spreading the masa on the smooth side of the corn husk (which can be hard to determine, both sides usually feel rough, but there is a smoother side). This was my job!

They start the girls young! They are wrapping the tamales.

This is the meat and chile being scooped into the middle, and then they are wrapped up.

After all of this goes on, they are taken outside and steamed by the men.

These are truly a labor of love, and what a good time it was!

A Halloween Tradition

Ever since I can remember, we went to my grandma's on Halloween Evening to eat goulash and get ready to trick-or-treat.

Well now, there are only a few kids left who trick-or-treat, but my grandma still has us over for goulash on the back porch. With a fire in the outdoor fireplace to relax nearby, and we top off dinner with doughnuts and hot chocolate!

It seems Landon is the star of the show now, so he usually makes an appearance in every single picture taken. He just went in a festive onesie, we didn't stuff him in the pinata one more time (pun intended ;)!

Landon with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Clark

Landon with Aunt Cassidy

Landon with Grandpa and Grandma Brown

Landon with Aunt Haley (who just got her mission call to Lima, Peru! So exciting!!!)

I love this tradition!

Bless my Grandma, she is too good to us!

Feliz Halloween!

We have had a busy week so far...between Halloween festivities and Brett's birthday.

One of those festivities was attending the Whiting's annual Halloween party!

(for last year's party and costumes, go here)

With a pretty brand new baby in tow, we had to get a little more creative.

We went as a Fiesta!

Landon was the star, he was our adorable pinata.

(found the idea on pinterest)

We won the "funniest costume" award (Brett is holding it in the picture above).

I just used onesie pajamas that I thrifted from D.I. for $1, and then spent a few dollars on felt.

The only other purchase made was for the mustaches. We borrowed a few things from my parents and had everything else already! Talk about inexpensive costumes!

We wish he was better at taking the binkie, so he could've sported his 'stache more often! Thank you Tara, for the mustache tutorial!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of the decor, like I did last year, so I pulled a few off of Aubrey's Facebook. Aubrey just recently graduated from ASU in event planning, and works at Stonebridge manor. So you can imagine how fabulous the party looked! It was "carnival" themed.

Loved their costume...housewife and the milkman!

Food included: build-your-own nachos, soft pretzels, and hot dogs, veggies and dip, apple and toffee dip, IBC rootbeer, spiced cider, hot chocolate, and donuts.

The centerpieces on each table were balloons tied to a big bucket of peanuts to munch on, and an orange paper table runner to doodle on.

There was cornhole, and a kid's table and games for them as well.

So glad we were able to go to this fabulous party, it kicked off Halloween week well!

Autumn Happenings

Love having the decor up, brings warmth and coziness

We watched Wait Until Dark with spiced apple cider and donuts, with our good friends Dave & Kelly (so sad I forgot to take pictures). We love this movie! Perfect amount of suspense, totally clean, and Audrey Hepburn!

Pumpkin Carving with the Whitings

Yes, we put Landon in his cute Jack-o-Lantern onesie, so he could be festive

Brett cleaning his guns

cool weather = shooting weather

Now if the weather would just continue to cool down so it would really feel like Autumn!

Grilled Pizza

Nearly every Saturday evening, we make grilled pizza.

Our favorite combination:

alfredo sauce

basil pesto

fresh mozzarella cheese

fresh sliced tomatoes

and occasionally, we throw on a little chopped chicken

Seriously delicious!

It tastes like a yummy pizza from a restaurant.

the grill master

I make an easy homemade dough (recipe below), but our friends have used the Trader Joe's whole wheat dough, and it is delicious! I want to attempt a homemade whole wheat dough soon.

I might be making this marinara sauce soon, it could be a good red sauce to try! I liked this marinara recipe because it uses the crockpot and doesn't call for wine.

Here's the pizza dough I use. It is simple, fast, and only needs to rise 5 minutes (but it can rise longer if needed).

1 pkg yeast (1 T)
1 c. warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp salt
2 T. oil
2 1/2 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Add remaining ingredients and beat 20 strokes. Let rise 5 minutes.

Grill the pizza!

(or bake at 425 degrees if using oven)

Although we love this combination and make it often, if we keep making pizza every week, we want to experiment with different combinations. What are your favorite pizza toppings?

Fun-Filled Weekends

We spent General Conference weekend in Willcox and Bowie (pronounced Boo-ee) with family. Landon was introduced to lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles on the Allred side.