The Gooier the Better!!

When it comes to carving pumpkins my girls actually think, the gooier the better! They like to get in there and get the hands all yucky and gooey, even Hannah wasn't shy when it came time to get all the GUTS out. This is almost just as exciting for them as it is to go trick-or treating, and Mike and I are enjoying carving pumpkins more because we now have two kids that can do it all by themselves. I forget how much fun Halloween is.

A great date night partner!!

I found myself a pretty SWEEEET date night partner, they willing went to a chick flick a musical "High School Musical 3" none-the-less and didn't even complain through the movie or after !!! We went to a nice dinner after and they even ordered off the child's menu! Who is my delightful new date night partner you may ask.......








Little Miss Emily, while everybody else had plans... Emily and I spent the night together!!































It was great to spend the night with Emily we both had a great time and enjoyed getting a little one-on-one time.

Fall Festival

On Friday we had a fall festival at our church, Jodell and her mom Judy did an amazing job with it, it felt like were where at our own little professional carnival they had MANY different games and a lot of cool prizes and also arts and crafts. My kids really enjoyed themselves! Of course for the adults there was YUMMY food and YUMMY desserts so we all walked away happy. After all that they ended it off with trunk- or -treating. When we got home and Mike saw all their candy he said, " Great you got enough candy, now we don't have to go trick-or treating," but the girls didn't think that comment was very funny. There working really hard at eating it all up so they can get more on Halloween( I bet the dentists just love this time of year!!!)





One out of about ten of trying to get Hannah to smile for the camera.





























Rebbecca, Hannah, Emily, and Karsyn.















Emily fishing for a prize.

Visitors!!

Over the weekend we had visitors, Michelle, Paul and their kids were here over the MEA weekend. About six months ago they moved back to Utah and have been trying to sell their home ever since, but with the crappy housing market the haven't had any luck! So a couple of weeks ago they had an offer for renting their house out for 18 months, and so they took that, which I think is a great idea because who knows maybe in that period of time the market will be a little bit better. So they came back to finish collecting all their furniture. It was great to see them all again and hopefully it will help us endure till summertime when we can see the rest of our family!

















While the girls where out here there was a five stake church dance, which Ashley and her cousins were excited about! They moved away before Ashley and AnnaLee turned 14 so they didn't get the chance to go to one together yet, so it worked out great!

















Madisyn, Emily, and Mckenzie had made a little fort, they tied blankets to Madisyn bed posts and all three slept on the twin bed. As you can tell it was a little squishy, but they didn't care they were just happy to be back together.

So like always, as happy as I am to get visitors I'm equally sad when its time for them to leave, but we had a great visit and I am thankful for that!

Leaves, Leaves, and more Leaves!

I love all the trees that Minnesota has, and we were fortunate to find a new house, but also have at least seven mature trees in our yard.Its about this time of year when I'm not liking them so much, when their dropping all their leaves, I swear it seems like hourly!!! I'll get the yard all clean up and the next day it looks as if I was never out there.

So on this particular day I saw Madisyn and her girl friends out there raking up all the leaves, I thought ooh how nice!!!! Little did I know they had something else in mind with the leaves.....
















































I guess at least someone is enjoying all the fallen leaves!!

Dinner Time Blues?

I have the Dinner Time Blues! Everyday I'm struggling to come up with something to make for dinner that's going to please all six of us, I don't necessarily mind cooking, its just coming up with something to make. So lately I've been on the lookout for some new recipes or ideas, and I've come up with a few that I would like to share just in case anyone else is stuck with the Dinner Time Blues like me!


My family loves Lo Mien, but all the recipes I've come across take a lot of ingredients and time so I don't make it very often, but the other day I was shopping for ingredients for egg rolls and came across this package of Yakisoba Stir Fry Noodles teriyaki, I then just added a 1/2 bag of frozen sugar snap stir fry vegetables and 15 min later.... we had Lo Mien it was really easy and really good! I found the noodles in the produce section right next to the egg roll wrappers, they are fresh noodles that are already cooked.


My next recipe came from Serena its Mexican Lasagna it was really good and all my kids loved it. I haven't prepared it myself yet, but when Serena made it it was awesome.The recipe is:

1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 cups of cubed cooked chicken
3 cans(10 ounces each) enchilada sauce
2 eggs
1 carton(15 ounces)ricotta cheese(i think she used cottage cheese)
12 no-cook lasagna noodles
4 cups(16 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend

In a large skillet, cook onion and garlic in oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in chicken and enchilada sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the eggs, ricotta cheese and cilantro. Spread 3/4 cup chicken mixture into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles, 2/3 cup ricotta mixture, 3/4 cup chicken mixture and 1 cup shredded cheese. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, sauce and shredded cheese. Cover and bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover; bake 10-15 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Yield: 10-12 servings.

Thanks Serena I needed a good recipe!

My last is an idea that as work for me in the last week. Each member takes a turn planning a meal, and the idea is that they also help prepare it... so far we have just done the planning part, but I know the fun part is being able to help cook it, I'll work on that part! The kids love this idea and are really excited for their day.

If anyone has a favorite recipe I would love it if you would share it with me! Thanks.

Its times like this that make me want to pack up and go back to Utah, but then...

Madisyn in front of her family tree.












Maddy had Grandparents Day at school and since all of her grandparents are in Utah I asked her if it were O.K. if I were her grandparent for the day. So I showed up at her school at lunch time and she was waiting at the front door for me just like all the other kids waiting for their grandparents too. Then we headed into the lunch room and after looking all around at all the other kids with their grandparents I started to get teary eyed ( which isn't hard for me!) and couldn't help but feel so guilty for taking these experiences away from my children. It took me back to my childhood memory when my grandparents came for grandparents day and what a special day it was for me, and felt guilty that she wouldn't have the same memory. So I then asked her "Well me being her is almost as good as a grandparent right?" She then, just kindly smiled. After lunch we then moved into the classroom where all the children took part in a play. They then all got up and each read letters about the grandparents it was such a sweet thing to watch, I again got teary eyed at watching all the grandparents faces as each of there grandchildren proudly got up and read about how amazing their grandparent was. It was just so cool to see so much love in a room. Of course Maddy wrote a amazing letter about her grandparents as well. As sad as I was for Maddy, I couldn't help but feel so blessed to have been able to share this experience with her. It was a wonderful day and hopefully it will be a great memory for her.

Star Of The Day

Emily was The Star Of The Day in her class so she got to bring a poster to school with her pictures and paper to tell all about her self, one special item she got to show-in-tell, a letter written to her, from her family that she had read to her by her teacher, and her favorite book read to the class by her mom, and then to top it all off recess and lunch with her parents! I was so excited for her when she told me of her special day that was coming up and all it entitled for her, I remember as kid how exciting that day was. I think its a great way to help build confidence and positive self esteem in children.


Emily and Hannah with Emily's girlfriends the triplets!















Emily was the girl to be around at recess or (maybe it was a certain cute two year older!)





























Hannah had a pretty fun day too!