You are Going to Love me For This One...

this recipes is AMAZING and incredibly easy.

It just can't be this easy and that good...but those of you that trust me and make this one will sing my praises forever.

Actually you should be singing "mi amiga" Mehgan's praises, it's her recipe.

But I am the messenger. That should count for something.

So {drum roll please} here goes:

I will call them Mehgan's Magic Miracles, what do you think?

3/4 cup Butter
1 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup approximately of chocolate chips
Saltine Crackers.


Place tinfoil on a cookie sheet, lay the crackers down evenly with the salt facing down. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in a sauce pot, add sugar stir briskly until it boils. Continue stirring rapidly as the mixture congeals and gets thicker, approx 5 minutes. You want it to stay a golden colour. Pour over the crackers, then sprinkle chocolate chips on top and place in the oven until the mix starts to boil through the crackers. Let them cool.

That's it.

They are delish. Sorry I don't have a picture. In the end they will look like a thin piece of chocolate covered English toffee.

Enjoy!

Last Call for Christmas Cards...

If you'd like to send us a Christmas card we would REALLY love to get it!!!

Wes's mother is coming down for Christmas. If you send it out to her today or tomorrow she'll bring it down to us.

Oh, and THANK YOU for taking the extra effort to get it to us. :)

The Banagas Family

c/o Colleen Foote

32801 Silver Charm Court

Menifee, Ca 92584

So for gifts this year we have decided the kids are getting 3.

One from Santa, we talked to him to confirm this would be o.k.

One store bought and brought in from the states. (Toys here don't last more than an hour or two)

And one handmade.

I have actually had a great time hand making the 3 gifts that are done.

Yes I know Christmas is in less than a week and I have 2 left. (AUGH!!!) :)

So I made a tutu for PAIGE with all the frills. It's is adorable, I hope it can survive what she will put it through. I'm sure it will end up on our dog at least a few times.

Aiden and Landon are receiving super cute Superman capes. What boy doesn't deserve one of these. We've always tied towels, sheet or pillowcases to create them...that is until now. Now they will have professional supercapes.

I think I will keep this tradition. (the hand making of presents...I don't know if the 3 present idea will fly.)

A little Catch-up...

We ran out of Internet...so here is a week's worth of photos.

What is sweeter than 2 little boys, fresh out of the bath wrapped up in a white towel (or sheet because laundry wasn't done)?

Nothing.

My friend Costa Rica has helped catapult my children's imagination to higher levels. I'm so thankful. Here my little guys have found pet snakes to play with. {Daddy's belts}
Paige made this caterpillar out of a broken ornament and tape. {I think she was involved in the crime, breaking the ornament}
But isn't Henry the caterpillar beautiful? He gave her at least an hour of entertainment.


This is the designer wrench my sweetheart created for me when he changed out our shower head. He thought the juice was off in the bathroom, but alas it wasn't. :)

It was quite scary...the electricity in the entire "casa" went off for a few seconds and with the scream that came from my honey's mouth at the same time left us all quite concerned. Turns out the sparks that were flying were the reason for his yell.

Whew!!


I had to throw this one in for good measure. Paige has given me a hard time with taking medicine lately, so I've had to be a little creative. I pull the capsule apart and then plan my creative attack. I thought this was funny...I spread the capsules on the frosting of a homemade cookie and the medicine looked like white sprinkles.

Smart, huh?

Nope...she caught me! Wouldn't even swallow it.

Back to the drawing board.

Cute (freaky) Snowmen..

I saw this over at skiptomylou.org . Candy corn for noses and candy eyes for...eyes. Put them on small white powdered doughnut and you are the domestic queen!

Wouldn't this be adorable for Christmas morning?

Cookie Exchange and Saving Money...

Kelly from www.2passthetorch.com had this idea to share:

How to host the perfect Cookie Exchange Party
1. The husbands and kids went to one house, with snacks to share and beverages.
2. The wives went to a house directly across the street, with beverage and six dozen cookies, in half-dozen packages (so each woman arrived with 12 small bags containing six cookies each.)
3. We put our cookies on the table and opened one package as a sampler. This left 11 bags of half-dozen cookies to be exchanged.
4. We enjoyed conversation, drinks and snacks and when the hostess rang the bell, we each chose three baggies from the table. About 10 minutes and lots of laughter later, she rang the bell again. We each chose three more baggies. And so it went until most the cookies were gone.

There were probably 15-20 women at the gathering and we stayed for about three hours. But the system would work no matter how many women attended. Thanks to my very smart neighbors for creating such a perfect and fun way to host a cookie exchange!

So here is the money saving idea:

Check this out...tons of promotion codes for shopping online or in the store. Very cool! Don't ever shop online without a code! Please.
www.retailmenot.com

14 days left!!

Did you know...

goodreads.com has a Mormon book club?

Me neither.

Want to check it out?

Go here. I just joined. I'll start with January's book.

Enjoy!!!

Old Navy Deals...

I wish I could really present you with a gift card...but finances won't allow it this year. Maybe next year. However I have something almost as good.

This promo code 20FREESHIP . There it is. Isn't it beautiful? Enter that number/word in the promo box at check out and get 20% off your order plus free shipping if your order reaches over $100.

You can do what I did and only go through their clearance items (make sure you do a search under clearance for the size you are looking for or you'll be frustrated with how many items aren't your child's size).

My breakdown:

Initial cost of the items plus shipping $278

But since all my items were clearance it was only $147 and change with shipping.

Then after entering my magic promo code it plummeted to $120.32

Can we all say, "SWEET!"

This is ONLY good Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday and online only. (shipping is only $7.00 so if you don't want to get to $100 it's not that big of a deal.)

Merry Christmas!

It's Getting Hot in Here...

So our weather is opposite of all of you who live north of Mexico. Us southerners are headed out of "rainy season" and into "dry season". Now that I'm ready to stop making the cinnamon rolls, soups and hot chocolate {although it was a stretch to try and feel that it was cool enough to make those} you are ready for them.

So in honor of Christmas {and winter for you} I'm going to throw a great sugar cookie recipe at you. And free of charge, a few tricks I've learned.

TRICK # 1
When rolling out your sugar dough, use powdered sugar instead of flour to prepare the rolling pin and counter so the dough doesn't adhere. Don't worry, it won't make them too sugary. I promise.

It will however make sure that you don't get floury dry tasteless cookies. Trust me on this one.

TRICK # 2
If you are using shortening instead of butter, put plastic wrap into your measuring cup before you add the shortening. Then when you have packed it in, you just pull up on the plastic wrap and pop the shortening out.

This ensures you get all of it out and you don't have a greasy measuring cup to clean afterward.

TRICK # 3

Did you know you can purchase something called "butter flavoring". It's lovely. Add a little to this recipe {or your homemade rolls} and watch out! You'll have your sweety asking for these cookies even more than he asks for....ahem....water.

Your welcome...oh and don't double this recipe like I did. It already makes 60 servings.
This is courtesy of www.allrecipes.com


The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies
Submitted by: Jill Saunders
Rated: 4 out of 5 by 2071 members Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 8 Minutes Ready In: 3 Hours
Yields: 60 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Seven Month Mark

Just a picture of what a typical street looks like here. Costa Rica does have it's U.S. type streets but not very many of them.

So we have reached the seven month mark...I'm going to take a moment to pat myself on the back here.
{pat...pat...pat}

I've come up with an analogy for my relationship with Costa Rica. Do you want to hear it?

I figured. {Just humor me} Here goes.

When I first met my friend "Costa Rica" she was beautifully dressed, calming and full of adventure. I wanted to be like her. She seemed perfect.

Then I got close enough to see many brown spots, crows feet and a few occasions when she decided to behave with less than stellar character. {Our floods, struggling with the language and the difficulty of raising a large family here} I had to ask myself if I still wanted Costa Rica as a friend? Did I?

No, I was angry and disappointed.

I quickly learned that I couldn't avoid her. She was everywhere; the store, in town and even in my home. I then decided to stick it out and see what I can learn from her. Boy have I sat at the feet of this instructor. And now, finally, from this view, she is again beautiful to me.

I don't expect her to be something she's not. Her crows feet and quirkiness are what make her more attractive. I'm not trying to make her {Costa Rica} into what I think she should be and then be disappointed when she doesn't conform. I'm starting to love her for who she is...and our relationship is blossoming.

We've Been Busy...

I haven't posted much...partly because of our Internet situation and partly because we haven't been here.

When my sweetheart and his sister have appointments out of town we usually all head out and enjoy a short weekend trip. Lately we've been adventuring through Costa Rica.

I wanted to post a few shots of Punta Leona, I'm not sure I'm spelling that correctly {but most of you won't know that}. Wes sister from LA came to hang with us for Thanksgiving. Did I mention my honey, our two oldest and his visiting sister had lofty plans to escape Costa Rica and head into Panama? Did I also tell you that they {accidentally} went an hour into the country without having their documents stamped? Did you know that you can't cross into Panama with a rental car?

We've learned so much this last week.

When someone {with HUGE guns} finally stopped them in Panama..he just keep repeating their version of "Oh my ___! Oh my ____!"

Finally out of the kindness of his heart {or fear of having to complete a lot of paperwork} he gave them back their passports and said..."Head for the border and don't stop! I never saw you!"

So here we are, spent the money to get the kids their required time out of the country, and no stamp on the passport to prove it.

Soooooo back to what I started to post...here are some pictures of our time at Punta Leona.

My guys castle building {although Troy clearified he was building a fort}.
The younger ones in line for sand packing.
Paige started a sand fight...and won. {Until Wes threw her into to ocean.} Yuck! I hate having sand everywhere.
The beaches are so beautiful here, these are Wes' little sisters. Rusti is due in 5 weeks...doesn't she look great! She gained about 3 pounds a month. Doesn't it make you SICK! :)
More sand sculptures.


My sweetie, his sister Brie and our little Dallin enjoying family time on Thanksgiving day.
Our Thanksgiving day hosts had a boat which kept the kid's entertained most of the day. See Paige playing "little mermaid" at the front? It brought back memories of the Williamson's boat that was stored between our homes when I was a kid. Such great imaginative memories.

What about this view? They were getting ready for a beach wedding. Too bad the rain came 20 minutes after this shot.

Have a happy {no sand} day! I'm off at 12:30 {10:30am your time southern Ca) for my girls getaway. I can't wait.

I've Been Asked to Explain our mail system...

how the mail works here.

I remember when we lived in the states and I would question Rusti about sending her a birthday card or such...she would try to explain it to me...but we mail receivers just can't seem to comprehend the no mail concept.

So here it is:

Basically, Costa Rica does NOT have a government run mail delivery service. The equivalent of our United States Postal Service. Many roads don't even have a street name much less a house address. Our home is home # 43 in our housing tract, however we don't have a street name. No one has mailboxes...oops that is not true. I did find a cute housing tract here that has mailboxes however they are better spider homes then mail deliverers. Of course I have a picture of the mailboxes...somewhere.

So we can get a package shipped here, but it comes through Miami and then we pay a small fortune to pick it up here at the local DVD rental store. Oh, and we have to keep checking in with them to see if it has arrived. They won't call and tell us.

So mail here gets delivered through private companies like UPS, but the mail takes forever...and is costly.

The missionaries here get their mail through the church's pouch system. I'm not sure exactly how that works.

I have to throw in a picture. I took this in San Jose (the Costa Rican capital) last week on one of our adventures.

This flower is absolutely huge! I made Wes stop the car and let me out to take this shot. I dedicate it to my BFF MaryAnn.

Anyone Interested in Studying Abroad?

I found this on one of the Costa Rica "news" blogs I follow. I don't know if anyone is interested but I thought I'd put it out there. :)

Scholarship opportunity for study in Costa Rica

There is a highly regarded study abroad program which offers intensive Spanish immersion in one of the most biologically diverse countries on the planet. Take a good look at Costa Rica ¡Pura Vida! for the summer experience of a lifetime. Partial Scholarships covering two-thirds of all costs are available. Priority application deadline for these $3,466 grants is fast approaching:

Scholarship application deadline is Dec. 5; Priority application deadline is Feb. 6, 2009.

Costa Rica ¡Pura Vida! combines intensive language instruction, individual homestays and field trips to three areas of the country. Students will experience unspoiled national parks, a marine biology sanctuary open only to scientists, a village of 12 families in the midst of the Cloud Forest, and birds, animals and tropical flora beyond compare.

Who is eligible? High school students aged 15-17 with two years of basic Spanish and course in biology by June 2009.

Program dates:

June 26-July 22, 2009 and July 10-Aug. 5, 2009

Interamerican University Studies Institute is a non-profit educational exchange organization linking the Americas since 1986. More information at www.iusi.org or 800-345-4874.

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