Halloween Morning

Last night just before bed, Andy decided that he wanted to dress up for Halloween. He had his Grandfather's cane, which he recently inherited, and suddenly decided it would be fun to go to work as Dr House. The costume was pulled together quickly, but I love how it turned out!

The boys and I spent the morning down at Corda (Grandpa Derrick's work) where they had a fun time warming up for trick or treating. Peter had no idea what was going on, but by the end of it he had a pretty tight grip on his bag, and was pretty excited to realize that people were just handing him candy left and right.

School Party

Ammon had a halloween party at school yesterday and Peter and I were able to join them. When we got there, the children were gathering for a class picture. It was fun to see all the cute costumes.

The class divided into groups and had different activities that they got to do. Ammon started with the cookie decorating and Peter decided to participate as well. I was there serving the "witches brew" (apple juice on dry ice) to the children while they ate their cookies. From the cookie decorating station, Ammon went to the halloween story time and then to the game area.

In addition to the group activities, each student got pulled aside and was able to get their face painted. Ammon asked to have his face painted like a frog. It was a fun way to spend the day before Halloween!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Ammon has been anxiously waiting for the day of carving pumpkins. We had told him that we would carve them the Monday before Halloween. That worked out well because that day he went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch and got another pumpkin! He was so excited about carving the pumpkins and got really mad when I told him we were going to wait until Daddy got home from work. He ended up waiting, though, and Daddy and Ammon started the night by working together on the small pumpkin.

When they were done, Ammon and I went to work on the big one! It was a lot of fun to work with him. The pumpkin was deep and he worked hard to get out the seeds and guts. We got it done, though, and Ammon and I both had turns cutting various parts of the face into the pumpkin. I was pleased with how our jack-o-lantern came out.

I was even more pleased with the fun time we had together making these fun halloween memories. Ammon was so proud of his creation that he immediately called Grandma and Grandpa Shadel to come see. The next day he also invited his teacher to come see it. What a cute boy he is!

Cookie Decorating

Thanks to Krista joining our family a few years ago, we have a new tradition of decorating cookies at various times of the year. Rebecca and Carolyn have that artistic flair and really get into it, and it is just lots of yummy fun for the rest of us. Krista had scheduled a time for us to all come to her house just before Halloween to enjoy this fun activity, but when Rebecca came home for fall break, we spontaneously moved up the activity so that she could join us. It's been a few weeks now, but if I remember correctly, we decorated pumpkins and witches and maybe another thing or two. I can still taste the frosting - Krista is such an amazing cook!

Recipe Tag

The tag is to post two recipes. First tell a family favorite dinner. Second share a holiday or special occasion dish. (I hope you are OK with my interpretation of your tag, Tiffany!)

Kara, Krista and Amanda I tag you! (Katy, you're off the hook this time unless you want to do it...)

Salisbury Steak

1 lb hamburger

1 beaten egg

1 cup bread crumbs

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp saltdash pepper

2 Tbs catsup

2 Tbs water

Form into patties. Cook covered with 1 can cream of mushroom soup.

Sweet Potato Souffle

6 sweet potatoes

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup melted butter

1 cup chopped pecans

1. In a large stockpot, cover sweet potatoes with 1 inch of water; boil for 20 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain, allow to cool and remove skins.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease or butter one 9X13 casserole dish.

3. Place potatoes in a mixing bowl and with an electric mixer, beat on low speed until potatoes begin to break up. Increase speed to medium high and blend until smooth.

4. Reduce speed to low and add sugar, milk, butter, vanilla, eggs and salt. Mix well.

5. Allow any potato 'fibers' to remain on the beater and remove. Pour sweet potato mixture into the casserole dish.

6. Prepare the topping in a small bowl by whisking together the brown sugar, flour, butter and pecans. Sprinkle mixture over potato mixture and bake for 40 minutes.

I've Been Robbed!

I am a person who doesn't have much jewelry simply because I loose it faster than I buy it. I'd like to have some, but I've never had enough to make it worth having a good place to keep it. Recently Andy decided to buy me a jewelry box. Along with the box he got me a necklace or two and some earings. These are all the Wal-Mart specials - nothing expensive by any stretch of the imagination - just a start at making my jewelry box not a black whole of nothingness. Then, last weekend, my mother-in-law gave me a lot of jewelry that used to belong to her mother. This filled my box the brim! I have rings and earrings and necklaces like I never have had before. It has been fun to accesorize each day with something new. Yesterday, in preparing for church, Ammon was involved in helping me pick what pieces of jewelry I should wear. "Is this one stylish?" he would ask. It was fun for him to take such a cute little interest in what I was wearing. We finished getting ready, went to church, and thought nothing else of the jewelry box until last night when I was getting ready for bed. I took off my earings and went to put them in the jewelry box. It was empty!

Andy and I stared at the empty box in shock. Of course we immediataly knew that Ammon was the culprit. But where did he take everything? There was no trail -no pieces anywhere that we could see. It had all literally vanished! The boys were already sleeping so Andy and I started to look everywhere we could imagine a 4 year old boy might stow a treasure. We finally gave up and decided we would talk to Ammon in the morning. As we knelt by our bed to say our prayers, Andy suddenly caught a glimpse of something. There, under our bed, were all the items that belonged in the jewelry box. It made us laugh! How blessed we are to be parents, enjoying the crazy and zany things our children do.

Proposition 8

California Proposition 8

Please take a moment to watch this video. Although I am not a California resident and will not be voting on this proposition, I have many family members who have been actively campaigning for this proposition to pass. I am proud of their efforts and support them 100% I believe that the result of this campaign will effect all of us. If you are a California resident please vote yes on this proposition. If you know someone who is in CA, please encourage them to vote this way. This is not an issue of hate or intolerance. This is about standing up for our beliefs and morals and letting our voices be heard in societal issues.

Halloween Preview

Tradition

I believe that this is the third year in a row that we have gone to the Pumpkin Patch with Grandma Peggy. Ammon remembered it from last year and was excited to do it again.

Peter had a good time wandering around the pumpkins.

Ammon helped Peter carry his pumpkin to the wheelbarrow. The outing wasn't nearly as long as I expected because Ammon basically found his pumpkin the moment we arrived. We tried to convince him to look around more, but he was in love with the one he found. I'll have to get a good picture of him with it - maybe when we carve it into a jack-o-lantern.

Tagged Again

1. I was tagged by Kara
2. I don't know if I can think of 7 random and/or weird facts about myself... I am just too normal I guess. ;-)
3. I looks like I have exactly 7 friend/family links on my blog here, but one of them is Kara who tagged me so I can't tag her back.

Katy
Krista
Rebecca
Amanda
Tiffany
Kat
and... I now have the chance to add Ariane to my list. She will be my 7th tag!
Ariane

OK. Trying a little harder on my list of 7 things about myself:

1. I like math. Yes, you heard me. I like it. I am trying to get back into school this January so I got an old text book from my sister and have been brushing up on my skills. It's been fun!

2. Speaking of school, most people who have known me post-mission have not realized that I want to be a Computer Science major. I didn't think it would be the best education for someone who wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and use education only as a fall-back. The computer industry just changes so quickly that I figured my education would be outdated before I used it. So most people (including my husband and my in-laws) have always known me to want to get an accounting degree. But recently, in looking at going back to school, I realized that if I am going to do it, I want it to be the degree I really REALLY want. So CS it is!

3. I enjoy walking/hiking. For the majority of our married life, Andy and/or I have worked weekends and evenings. We haven't had a lot of "activity" time. But truth be told, I always with we would get out more, and I love taking opportunities to just walk around the neighborhoods even if I can't get out to the mountains or somewhere more interesting.

4. I love love. I spend a lot of time wishing I were better at expressing my feelings to so many people in my life that I love and admire. This is especially true of all four of my parents (mine and Andy's) and our siblings, but also so many friends and even just aquaintances. I love how different everyone is and what great examples I find from your lives. I suspect that many of you feel the same way which is why blogs are so fun for us!

5. My own personal catch-phrase in life is, "Don't argue with me when I'm right." I think it should be inscribed on my tomb when I die. Andy is the one who gets to hear this statement the most...

6. My favorite time of the year is the holiday season (I consider the holiday season to be from October 12-December 31). I love the activities and concerts and fresh snow and family gatherings and fun baking and yummy food. It is also the hardest time of year for me as it is packed with opportunities to reflect on and evaluate life and where I am at. It is a season where opposition plays it's heaviest role for me. But I get excited every year when I think of all the fun Christmas plays and concerts and the things to do all season long for various birthdays and events in my life

7. I am NOT a reader. This is weired because I started out life as a total bookworm. As I child, I read and read and read and read. But as a missionary I didn't have the leisure time to read simply for the pleasure of it, and I never picked the habbit back up since I've gotten home. Part of the problem is that I am an obsessive reader. I cannot do anything until I have finished the book I am in. So it is hard to hold a job, get decent sleep, take care of kids, study or do anything else that I have needed to do post-mission once I start a book.

Sad News

I had already uploaded these pictures and just hadn't finalized the post, when we discovered that Jitters, the rabbit has died.
She has been a good pet. Although she belonged to my brother David, she lived at my parents house and my mom adores her.
She was pretty and soft and was learning to be a great friend to the kids. They loved watching her hop around and she would often approach them and let them pet her.
I haven't told Ammon yet, and I am worried about his reaction. The other bunny that lived here died a month ago and Ammon had a very personally anguished response to it.

Pain and grief are such raw emotions. The only solace I can find for such intense and difficult feelings is the strength of the Lord.

I am amazed with what goes on in our little world every day - the burdens that people are called on to bare. The things that give us each a choice to either draw closer to God or turn further away from him. Yesterday I also found out that a woman from my ward in West Jordan passed away suddenly of a heart attack. I hurt for her family and the unexpected loss they now face. When I was in the ward, she taught our Relief Society lesson once a month. It is so odd to me to realize how suddenly and drastically life can change.

My cousin introduced me to a blog that is written by a mother of 4 young daughters. The baby of the group, born just a week before Peter, died last summer. I am strengthened by her journey through the pain and loss as she demonstrates her faith in and love for our Savior. I knew a woman like that in Yuma - she had lost her 18 year old son to a deadly car accident. He was her only child and the loss was great. I met her almost a year later and she was still working through the tragedy of it all. But my introduction to her was observing her at church as, from the podium she shared her testimony of Jesus Christ. Never had I heard a more eloquent or faith-filled testimony than hers.

I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. For an understanding of what our purpose is here in the world in the midst of all of these difficult and heartwrenching experiences. I know the God loves us and is aware of each one of us and every little detail of our lives. He knows the pains in our hearts and is available to help us grow into them. He can teach us and we can find solace in Him.

Tagged

I was tagged by my sister Katy. I am supposed to look in my picture files and post the fourth picture in the fourth folder, tell a little about it, then tag three people to do the same.

This is it. Ammon enjoying the heat in our back yard in Yuma. Quite a change from the snow we had today back in Utah! I am not sure how I feel about having spent the four hottest months of the year in AZ and being back in UT just in time for it to get this cold!

I guess next weekend is supposed to be warmer again, though, and I'll confess that there is something fun and festive about the chill in the air and the beatiful white blanket of fresh snow. In my mind the holiday season is always officially kicked off by my sisters birthday (today). My brother has a birthday just three days later, then it is Halloween, Thanksgiving, my birthday, another brothers birthday, and Christmas! When I am not being overly bitter about it, I have to admit that the snow today was timed perfectly to kick off the best part of 2008!

I tag Tiffany, Kara and Rebecca!

Finally!

Peter is 18 months old today (great day as it is also my sisters birthday) and so he is officially in nursery at church now! I was really worried about him because he is so much more of a clingy child than Ammon was and I have done way less to prepare him for nursery, but it actually went really well. He was in there for the full two hours! Andy dropped him off, which I think helped the transition go a little bit smoother. The couple who is in charge of the nursery were great and I guess as long as the wife stayed near him, Peter was fine!

And the big celebration of today is that Peter is officially weaned! I have been setting goals to have him not nursing by (insert date here) so many times that I really started to think none of them would ever happen. The 18 month mark was really my last straw. But a couple of weeks ago I switched him to mornings and nights only, and then a week or so ago he stopped completely. It has left me feeling sometimes clueless when he is tired and hungry and I would normally just start nursing him, but usually I can hug him or find him some real food and he calms right down. The first week was pure torture with the tantrums and meltdowns, but already those are just a memory of the past. Yay - success at last!

Apple Pie

Last week at Ammon's school, they had apple day. They wore apple colored clothes, picked apples from the orchard in the back, and talked about all of the fun things you can do with apples. Ammon was inspired. He came home determined to make apple pie with his six little apples he had picked.

We waited a couple of days until Daddy got here. Ammon and Daddy are great baking buddies. Andy got here after Ammon had already gone to bed, but Ammon woke up at 4:00 AM to find his Daddy here and immediately launched into an explanation about them needing to make apple pie. We finally convinced Ammon to go back to bed and that we would do it right after school the next morning.

I just love the way Ammon adores Andy. They make a great team and had lots of fun in the baking process.

Grandma Peggy is an experienced apple pie maker since it is Grandpa Derrick's favorite kind of pie. She provided the recipe and also suggested that Ammon use his own mini pie-tin so that he could have his special pie made strictly with his hand-picked apples. Ammon was delighted with this plan and that is what he did.

After it had cooled off a bit, Ammon took his first bite. As you can see, it got a thumbs up!

Circus

A couple of weeks ago Andy's parents took Ammon, Peter and me to the Circus. The boys were really excited and we got ready nice and early and then waited on the curb for Grandma and Grandpa to come pick us up.

We didn't realize that we would get out own circus act right here on the street while we waited. Our neighbor Nathan did some fun bike tricks while we waited and watched.

The circus itself was a lot of fun. Ammon seemed to really enjoy the whole thing. Peter was pretty good, but when intermission came and he saw that there was a way to leave, he kept wanting to go out and roam the halls rather than watch the stunts. However, when the Elephants came in he was completely enthralled and just kept pointing, grinning and jabbering about it. Watching Peter watch the Elephants was probably my favorite part. I also really liked the motercycle stunts.

Trampoline Fun

The boys just love playing on the trampoline. To my surprise, it is actually Peter who spend smore time there. He lets himself outside, down the back stairs and climbs onto the trampoline all on his own. There have been many times in the past several weeks where I hear his little voice calling out to me in his baby grunts and cries. I have learned to immediately check the trampoline because although he knows how to climb on, he has not yet attempted getting himself off of it. The weather in the Salt Lake area has been heavenly these past few weeks. It has been great to enjoy the great outdoors.

Speaking of enjoying it here, we have made the decision to move back to Utah. We are still determining where we will be living. My parents are spending the month in Hawaii so we are at there house at least for that long. Other than that, things are still in the air, but a little at a time we are getting re-established. Ammon is back in the pre-school he went to last year and is thrilled with it. We LOVE South Jordan Montessori which is run by Carol Hansen. It is a wonderful school (and last I heard she still has two openings in the morning class so if you have a 3 or 4 year old that is looking for a great place to learn, you should look into it!)