Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread is a family favorite for the Rhodes family and is a tradition at our house to eat on Christmas morning so I thought I would share our tradition with you. I always thought that it was called Monkey Bread because my Dad always called us kids his little monkeys but I found out last night as I was googling for a picture it is the actual name for this recipe.

Mix:

1/2 Cup Sugar

1 TBSP Cinnamon

in a large freezer bag

Cut:

2 Cans Refrigerator biscuits

into fourths and add to the freezer bag

Shake:

until covered well and Place in a greased bunt pan

Melt:

3/4 Cup Butter or Margarine

Add:

1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar

to butter, mix well and pour over biscuit pieces

Bake @ 350 for 30-34 min

Enjoy!

You can also add nuts or raisins to the Monkey Bread but I prefer it without.

So Many Things

I'm playing catch up! One big thing is we finally got a car!!! Woohoo! We ended up getting a Nissan Pathfinder the day before Thanksgiving. We love it! Its alot of fun having an SUV. I have been meaning to post about this for a while now but I keep forgeting to take a picture when it is clean. Oh well!

What we have been up to:

We of course celebrated Thanksgiving

Nick and Mitch decorated the outside of our house

And I decorated the inside

We went to Leavenworth

I helped Mom get ready for her and Dad to go on a hot date. After all of these years they're still so in love!

My primary (sunday school) class came over, we decorated cookies and went Christmas caroling

Jared and Cooper (My cousin) Played with Papa's new train set. The picture was just too cute to not post

I learned how to make cool blog title scrapbook pictures

Just a little tip: export as JPEG and you can put it in place of your blog title and its FREE!

It has been a busy couple of weeks. It always is around the Holiday's but time just really seems like its flying this year! Only 6 more days until Christmas and only 2 more weeks until Nick finishes his internship and is FINALLY HOME!!

Wicked

So the other day my good friend Linda let me know of all of the awesome musicals that will be coming to Seattle this coming year and I am so happy to announce that WICKED is coming to the paramount in September and I can hardly wait! Nick and I have been tentatively planning a trip to LA (its the closest show location to us) for quite a while so we could see this show and of course go to Disneyland but this makes me so much happier that it will be so much closer to home! I must admit however, that the music will not be the same without Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel but it will still be awesome! Some of the other shows that are coming to Seattle are:

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

THE LION KING

CATS

RENT

I just thought I would share my excitement with you. I'm affraid that I may be spending all of my extra money to see shows this coming year. Anyone want to double date sometime in Sept to see the show?

Don't be a scrooge!

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire post and paste into a new post. Change all the answers so that they apply to you......'Tis the Season to be NICE! 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Usually wrapping paper but I like gift bags too, its nice that you can reuse them. 2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, I love the smell of real ones but I hate the maintenance that comes with it! 3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving. 4. When do you take the tree down? Usually new years. 5. Do you like eggnog? Not at all! 6. Favorite gift received as a child? The funniest was a copy machine that I so desperately needed/wanted and then I played with it like 3 times. So bad of me. Remember that Mom? 7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, two of them. 8. Hardest person to buy for? Nick's family, sadly I don't see them enough to know what to get them. 9. Easiest person to buy for? My Mom. 10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail, its more personal that way. 11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I really can't think of one. 12. Favorite Christmas Movie? The Grinch. 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I have money. 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No. 15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My dad's homemade fudge and pecan logs. 16. Clear lights or colored on the tree ? Clear. 17. Favorite Christmas song? The Christmas Song by Celine Dion, Oh Come All Ye Faithful by Celtic Women. 18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home. 19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Sure can! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixon, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitsen and of course Rudolph. 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, Mitch thinks I need an angel but I like my star. 21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? In the Morning, that's what makes Christmas morning so special. 22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Yucky roads but luckily we haven't seen much of that yet. 23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like my red and gold ornaments on my tree. 24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We usually have Ham, and all of the other yummy stuff. 25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing really, I haven't really thought about it yet. I Tag... Cindy, Carolyn, Becca, Rachel and anyone else who thinks it would be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving day. We went to my parents house for the day and had so much fun. My parents were so happy to have all of their kids and grandkids there. Here are some pictures of our day.

Grandpa Sabin Turned 80

A couple of weeks ago, Nick's Grandpa Sabin turned 80 and to celebrate Nick's Aunts and Uncles and his parents threw him a surprise birthday party. Paul Sabin is probably the strongest and sweetest man I have ever met. About 8 years ago he had a brain aneurysm and not long after that he had another one. He had to learn how to do everything over again. Most people don't live through one brain aneurysm let alone two and today he can walk, talk, eat, and do things that most people can do. Even though the medicine he has to take makes him dizzy, sensitive to noise and gives him constant headaches he still gets up everyday and with a smile he says "I'm lucky to be alive." Here are some pictures from the party.

Here is Grandpa Paul and Grandma Helen Gene Making their grand entrance.

Here is a really cool plaque with pictures of his life.

Here are Nick's cousin's Allison and Chandler and his brother Taylor having a lemon eating contest. Taylor's face is priceless.

Here are Nick's cousins Aubry, Allison and the baby is Nick's cousin Paula's little guy Drew. He was such a trooper through the party. We pretty much played pass the baby and he was so good for everyone.

Drew, Nick and Nick's Brother Brook.

The Sabin Clan

Front Row: Grandma and Grandpa Sabin.

Second Row: (Sister) Amie, (Brother and Nick Clone) Taylor.

Third Row: Me, Nick, (Brother) Brook, (Dad) Larry, (Mom) Sherrie, (Sister) Kristin, (brother in law) Ryan.

Allyson Cecilia Rhodes

If you haven't guessed from the title and picture, Nick and I are auntie and uncle again. Baby Allyson is finally here! She was born at 1:15pm. Mama and baby are doing really good. She is 6lbs 8.5oz and 19.5in long! Ally has tons of dark, curly hair and is absolutely beautiful!

Little Ally Girl with a big Yawn!

The Happy Parents.

Papa and Pea waiting

Great Grandma Judy

Proud Papa Steve

Happy Nana Carole

Bobbie aka me and Ally

I also had to throw in a picture of Jared being cute.

Congratulations Aaron, Carolyn and Jared! Allyson is beautiful and she is going to be a wonderful addition to your family!

Pumpkin Carving Contest

Last year we started a tradition of having a pumpkin carving contest with my family. So here is this years contest. Sadly Aaron, Carolyn and Jared didn't make it but hopefully next year!

Here we all are just working away! Mom opted out and was the judge.

GW with his school spirit pumpkin.

Mitchie and his cute pirate! Arg matey!

Me and the Jolly Roger.

Dad and his goofy pumpkin, He actually won but with a different pumpkin.

Nick workin' away!

This picture shows off Mitchell's really good, there is Mine, and Nicks.

Here is a sweet picture of the pumkins in the dark. Mitch's, Mine, Nick's and one of Dad's.

The pumpkin in the middle is the winning pumpkin, way to go Dad!! We have another crazy weekend coming up! Stay tuned!

Weekend Shenanigans

This weekend we went to Pullman to visit my friend Greg who attends WSU. Our cameras battery died halfway through the first quarter and I forgot the charger so I didn't get all of the pictures that I wanted to get but that's ok. Its just an excuse to take another road trip!

So about forty five minutes into the three hour trip to Pullman, I got a speeding for going 70+ in a 60. Opps! Right before I got pulled over I looked at Nick and I asked him if he had seen a sign with the speed limit, and about that same time I looked up and there is an officer standing in the middle of the highway waving me to the side of the road. They tracked me from a plane! I didn't know they could do that, but I sure know now!!!

Starting about Royal City, this is what you see....

Barn after barn covered in Couger pride! I have never gone to a town that has so much pride. Even the grocery stores in Pullman have plasic grocery bags with the couger symbal and the football schedule on them. Also at the game EVERYONE knew the fight song and sang it loud and proud! I was almost in shock! I had never heard anything like that before! Here are some pictures from the game.

After the game Greg's mom threw a rockin post game tail gating party. She made all kinds of awesome food! It was a lot of fun! One of the best parts of the weekend was not only seeing Greg but I also got to see Bobby and Drew two of my other good friends from High School. The four of us walked at graduation together and we all haven't been back together since then. A little bit later in the evening we went to Applebee's and had appetizers with Greg, Drew, Bobby, LeAnne (Greg's Mom) and Bob and Shirley (Bobby's parents). It was alot of fun! Thanks Greg for letting us come and spend the day with you!

Baby Shower / Battle In Seattle

Saturday was a fun day. In the morning my Mom and I hosted a baby shower for Carolyn. She got so many cute things for Miss Ally and Jared got a few things too! I think she's just about ready for her to come now! :o)

Here is a picture of Carolyn with her cute Mama Belly and her Diaper cake my Mom made for her.

After the Shower, my Dad, Nick, Mitch, Garrett and I went to the Battle in Seattle. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is when Central plays their rivals Western Washington University at Quest Field. Needless to say we kicked BUTT! We won 50-28. GO CATS!!

This picture is for you Mom!! Mitch, Dad, Me, Nick, and Garrett.

Tag! Your it!

This is really fun. Thanks for passing this on Heidi :o)

1. I absolutely love fall. I love the colors of the changing leaves and how the air is cool in the morning and warms up in the afternoon. I love getting to wear long sleeve t-shirts and jeans and cute little jackets. I love decorating my house with fall colors and have our annual pumpkin carving contest with my little brothers for Halloween, and then being able to be with my family for Thanksgiving. 2. Even more than I love the fall I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! My husband thinks I'm crazy but If my house could be decorated year 'round for Christmas, without people like my husband thinking I'm crazy, I would always have my house decorated for Christmas! I love to sing Christmas carols. Just the other day I caught myself singing "I heard the bells on Christmas Day" it made to so happy to think that Christmas just 2 months away and in just a little over a month (the day after Thanksgiving) I will get to decorate for Christmas and people won't think I'm nuts for listening to Christmas music! I love the lights, the decorations, the first time it snows, the smell of a fresh evergreen tree, the story of Christ's birth and more than anything, I love that people are more giving and loving to others. It seems the whole month of December peoples attitude towards others change, I can't really explain it but everybody seems to try a just a little bit harder to be kind towards others. 3. I really love to scrapbook. It is so much fun to me to be able to make something beautiful out of just a few sheets of paper and a picture or two. It is kind of my thing to do when I want to relax. The only thing I don't like about scrapbooking is I don't get to do it enough! I feel like my house has to be completely spotless and I can't have anything else to do in order to have time to scrapbook. I need to find a group to scrapbook with so I don't have an excuse! Anyone interested? 4. I played softball competitively for 11 years. I was never the best player on my team but if you ask anyone I played with I always had the best attitude and the most passion for the game. My Senior year of high school I was the captain of my team and I loved getting to be the their leader both on and off the field and as a cheerleader on the sidelines. I definitely miss playing competitive ball but I have a lot of fun playing in the adult slow pitch league here in town. 5. When I was 3 years old, I was ran over by a cow. I know, I know that sounds ridiculous but I was literally ran over by a cow! When Aaron, Mitch and I were little our Dad worked on a farm and small ranch. One morning, like most mornings in the spring we woke up to several new baby calf's and I HAD to be my Daddy's helper that day, so my dad being a sucker for me got me all bundled up and out the door we went. The first thing my dad told me was "Talk quiet and walk slow," and well the first baby calf I saw I squealed and went running after! The Mama cow didn't think that was ok and ran after me and knocked me down and just stood there on top of me until my dad came to the rescue!! Thats only one of the reasons why my Dad is my hero! 6. I absolutely love kids! Unfortunetely I don't have kids of my own yet but I seem to adopt everyone elses kids as my honorary nieces and nephews. Of course they don't replace my addorible nephew Jared or my neice Allyson (who will making her grand entrance almost any day now and I can't wait!), but they seem to fill my void. Playing with a toddlers and young kids is so much fun, they are so curious and inventive. It is so fun getting to see their immaginations develop. I love what little kids call me when they just learn to talk, Beba (Paul), Bobbie (Jared) are my favorites. Holding a newborn baby is the best thing in the world! They are so perfect and innocent. Just a wonderful little miracle and I can't wait to be able to hold a newborn of my own someday. 7. My favorite day of the week is Sunday. Sunday's all of us kids go over to my parents house and usually eat dessert, play games, watch TV or just spend time together. It is so nice to have my family here in the same town so we are able to have that time to spend together. Sunday nights hold some of my favorite family memories! I tag: Carolyn http://rhodesrules.blogspot.com Rachel B. http://crazybennetts.blogspot.com/ Becca http://a-dailey-blog.blogspot.com/ Jen http://jake-ifer.blogspot.com/ Beth http://tunnells.blogspot.com/ Kirsten http://bktrent.blogspot.com/ Lore http://loresmart.blogspot.com/

Car Update

Yesterday we found out our car is totaled, which is a huge bummer but like I said before I am so happy that you can replace cars because you can't replace husbands! So now we are in the market to buy a new car. So we'll see what we end up getting. Nick is doing really well, he found out on tuesday that he has a pinched nerve in his neck from whiplash and is seeing a Chiropracter to get that taken care of. So hopefully it will be a quick and easy recovery and he will be back to himself soon. Thank you for all of your prayers and warm thoughts!

Free Handbags

Ladies... you have to check this out. This company is giving away free handbags! Click on this link www.handbagplanet.com to check them out. All you have to do is select the purse you like and then post a little blurb on your blog to get more chances to win! Good Luck!

Nick's Car Wreck :o(

It is official to say that Nick had a really crappy day! At work today one of his co-workers got laid off and then on his way home on I-90 right before Issaquah he was rear ended. It wasn't his fault which is good, the guy who hit him just didn't pay attention when Nick had to slow down. Luckily he is fine, he is just soar, there are so many things that could have made this much worse. After almost 3 hours of getting a tow, police report and a rental car Nick was able to drive himself home. I took him to the ER just in case when he got home and they gave him some pain meds and a muscle relaxant so hopefully those will help. We won't know what will happen with our car until Monday, we are just hoping it isn't totalled. I'll keep you posted.

Nick said the right side of the car is really bad, you can't open the back passenger door at all. I will just take his word for it because I haven't seen it. Hopefully everything will be fixable. One good thing is you can replace cars but you can't replace people. We are very blessed.

Busy Day

Yesterday seemed like such a busy day, it seemed like we just went from one place to another. We also got a new camera so we of course had to try it out!

We first went to the Central Vs. Humbodt State football game. CWU won 48-10! After the game we went out to my Aunt Connie's house for a family get together. My aunt Cami lives in Boise and came to visit for the weekend. She also brought her kids Danny and Misti and her grandson Frankie Jr. All the girls with Grandma Georgia Left to right: Me, Mom, Aunt Connie, G. Georgia, Tabby (Kathleen's Baby), Kathleen, Misti and Aunt Cami All the girls and almost all of the great grandkids with Grandpa Pinky. Mom, Cami, Connie, Kathleen, Misti, Me, Kristl, (Front Row) G. Pinky with Tabby and Frankie Jr. (Misti's son) The Gentleman with Grandpa. Mitch, Danny, Kenny, Nick, Dad, (front) Don, G. Pinky and Frankie, and Garrett.

Me and Misti, we are the closest in age of all of the cousins.

Kristl and I being goofy!

After the get together we went back to our house and our good friends Scott and Brittany came over. The boys played rock band and Brittany and I talked. I unfortunately didn't get any pictures but we had a lot of fun! Just thought I would let y'all know what we have been up to.