Pumpkin Picking

We had a fun Saturday!  We were going to go to the free pumpkin patch, but the line was a mile long in the sun and it was 75 degrees out and we were hot!  I know, all you Arizona people can stop laughing now.  On our way to get some money to go to the other pumpkin patch, we were distracted by Chik-fil-A.  It was yummy too!  We were at the mall eating when I decided since we were so close to Macy's, perhaps I could just take a look.  They happen to have some professional make-up artists there doing Halloween face painting for free.  Well, of course we had to do it.  The kids looked great.  As usual, nothing can go too smoothly or the planets might fall off their rotations.
Alan and the boys were playing video games at Game Stop while Sarah and I were waiting in the line to get a Lady Bug painted on her cute little face.  Sarah has been working on her two loose front teeth for a while now and hasn't wanted any help.  On Saturday her right front tooth was just barely hanging in there.  Grandma Leanne showed up with a giant bag of caramel corn which Sarah jumped right into.  Her first bite pulled that tooth right out of her mouth.  Most kids are happy when their teeth finally come out but she looked a bit horrified.  It may have been all of the blood.  There was more than usual for a loose tooth.  I think she nicked her gums with the popcorn.  Anyway, we were trying to get her mouth to stop bleeding when the boys and Alan showed up, just in time.  Sarah got a glazed look on her face and went all green.  I asked her if she was alright and she was sort of non responsive.  I looked over at Alan and had him pick her up just before she went a little limp.  She didn't completely pass out, but was on her way.  We learned that Sarah has a hard time seeing her own blood yesterday.  That is good to know for the future.

After Sarah's little episode, she was ready to get her face painted.  Daniel had already had his done and Jacob was getting worked on.  He had asked to look like a dinosaur had scratched his face.  Well, he didn't realize that the guy doing his make-up did the make-up for the injured people in the mock disaster drills the government holds from time to time.  He was really good and it looked real!  Jacob saw himself in the mirror and he started turning green and got light headed.  Apparently, he and Sarah suffer from the same affliction.  We had him sit down with his head between his knees until he could get up and go outside for some air.  It took some time for him to get used to the gore on his face.   It looks pretty cool, eh?

After the kids were done almost fainting from their fake injuries-well Sarah's tooth was real-we went to the pumpkin patch.

On the hayride of course!

The mountains look great.

Sarah picked a cute little one.

Daniel picked one as big as him.  Jacob has big muscles now so he helped his little bro.

Alan was nice enough to pick mine up for me.  He has big muscles too!

Farmer John and his little woman.

Disruptions

I love how your going along in life and everything is fine and then bam!, a train wreck.  The thing about a train wreck is you get to survive, but are severely maimed.  So, there is a constant supply of new normal to get used to.
My computer finally croaked.  I went to turn it on and the on button just fell into the computer.  Thankfully we had just gotten a little extra money and were making plans for it but something always breaks when a little extra money comes our way so we weren't terribly surprised.  I took the computer down to the computer store, bought another one and have been working just about everyday for the last week on reloading all of our software programs so we can use the new computer.  I hate doing this.  I am pretty sure all of my files are a complete loss.  My pictures are gone too.  I have them backed up but haven't gotten to that disk yet.  and am pretty sure they aren't all there.  The funnest part so far has been trying to get my checkbook to balance after reloading it.  Yesterday it said we had a negative $2300 balance.  Today I think we are up $4000.  I miss paper and writing and doing things slower and more deliberate.  I think that is why I enjoy cooking so much.  I don't want a 30 minute meal.  They don't taste that great.  I want something that took effort and love to create.  I am pretty sure the checkbook will finally balance out tomorrow.  That will be good.
Jacob was thrilled about getting a new computer.  The funny thing is, my kids have only recently discovered the computer has a few games loaded onto it, specifically Solitaire.  They are addicted and ask all the time now if they can play.  These are the same kids that spent the last year earning money to buy a Wii.  We could have avoided all of the anguish associated with their having to wait so long if I would have shown them Solitaire earlier. However, they learned a great lesson about saving up for something you want.
Jacob asked if he could have what was left over from the computer merge.  I had the computer guys save what they could from the old one and combine it with the new one to make one super computer.  The new one is so fast and great.  I gave Jacob the old computer but I should have saved it for Christmas.  He plays with it everyday.  It is great.  He has computer innerds all over his desk and is constantly coming out of his room to show me another part he has taken out.  I am tempted to go to the DI for Christmas and buy some other computer things and let him take those apart too.
Sarah's two front teeth are ready to come out and she looks all snaggle toothed.  The one tooth is barely hanging on and Daniel can hardly control himself.  He really wants to grab her head and rip it out.  They have both been home sick today.  Daniel really is sick.  He has a cold, but the school made me come and get him and I had to get him tested for the piggy flu.  He's clear thankfully.  Sarah on the other hand, has a sympathy cold and will be going back to school tomorrow.  It is amazing how fast you can get used to your kids being gone during the day.  I got a lot done but I need some separation now.  Alan will rescue me!

It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time.....

Sarah and her friend Ashely helped me to make some luminaries out of our #10 cans.  They have been sitting in my kitchen forever and I finally came up with a way to use them.  I posted the entire project on my other website if you are interested in the finished product.  It was pretty fun and gave me something to do with the kids one day.  

 

You actually have to prepare for seasons here so Alan got up on our roof to repair some shingles before the snow comes.  It is pretty scary up there.  We have a heck of pitch to our roof and so I kept watch in case he fell.  You know, so I could watch him fall. I am not sure what watching helped with because if he did fall off the roof, I wouldn't exactly be able to help him other than calling the ambulance.

 
Alan brought home this huge net last year and it has been up on the trees and then taken down a few times.  The boys decided it was time to put it up again only this time they made it look like a giant spider web.  It is strung between two trees in our backyard and has become quite the attraction for other kids in the neighborhood.  We had a whole crew show up last Sunday asking if they could play while we were inside watching conference.  It was cute.  I said no of course.
I figured they will leave it up until it snows.  Is it just me or do my kids look absolutely huge?!

We are all gearing up for the leaves to fall from the trees again.  I'll post pictures when its time.  The leaf raking at our house is epic!

Out of School....Again!

I think my kids spend more time out of school than in it.  They are off again for a 4 day weekend.  Apparently, they were overworked in the two weeks they were back in school.  I can't take it anymore.  My entire schedule has been so messed up this year.  I have been getting some stuff done, but I really need them to go back for longer than 2 weeks for this house to get really cleaned up.  I don't think I have mopped the kitchen floor for a month.  It is starting to get pretty bad.  I have been wiping small areas with a washcloth and it just doesn't do the trick.
I have been having fun creating my new blog.  I can't wait to publish it into a book.  I will finally have one resource to look at with all of those tips and recipes and cleaning hints that I try to remember but always forget until I find the little scrap of paper I wrote it on 6 months ago.
So if you have any good tips for life, let me know and I will add it to the blog/book.  Check out expandingfrosting.blogspot.com and let me know what you think.  The more comments the better!

General Relief Society Conference

I was able to get tickets again this year to attend the annual Women's Broadcast on Temple Square.  The Conference Center is always amazing to visit because it is such an extraordinary building.  This year I went with Leanne, Andrea, and Bekka.  Getting there isn't always easy but we all manage to make it.  It seems to be an exercise in the lessons of the 10 virgins.  I always wonder whether we are among the prepared or not as we are rushing to get where we are supposed to be.
Leanne and I left the house at 3:30 this year in hopes on not rushing.  We didn't have too much trouble with traffic but had to park about 1 mile away from the conference center.  We learned our lesson last year and wore sensible shoes this year but I was still plagued with blisters.  I decided I just need to wear my tennis shoes next year.  It took us about 20 minutes to walk from the car to the Lion House for dinner.  Unfortuately, we still had to rush through dinner to make it over to our seats in time.
Andrea and Bekka were having their own adventure on the freeway trying to get through traffic caused by an accident.  Leanne and I hurried over to the center and ended up giving Andrea and Bekka's tickets to one of the ushers so that we could go in and get seats for all of us.  Our seats were awesome!  We were right down in the front on the right side.  Happily, Andrea and Bekka made it just in time with 3 minutes to spare.  President Monson walked in and the entire room went silent immediately.  I cannot describe the feeling of joy we had being in the presence of the prophet and the first presidency.  They are such kind and wonderful men.  President Monson waved to the choir and all of them waved back in unison.
It was especially exciting for me to go because the choir was comprised of sisters from northern Davis County including sisters from our ward.  They sounded so beautiful.  I felt lifted up to heaven when they sang.  When the congregation sang with them it was like hearing the angels.  It is impossible to describe the heavenly sound that came from almost 20,000 voices.  It was sublime.
I have so much grattitude for my Savior for the leaders we have in the church.  These people love us and love Him.  They have testimonies of the work and want to help people to have joy in their lives.  It is such a blessing to be part of the Relief Sociey organization.  I am so thankful for the gospel in my life and the opportunity I have to be part of such an amazing organization.  So much good comes from it.  I fell renewed in spirit and can't beleive we live close enough to be able to attend these events in person.
As the leaders were leaving, President Monson, President Uchdorf and President Eyring all looked to the audience and waved goodbye and all the sisters waved back.  It was wonderful.

Wiiiiiiiiii

The kids finally did it!  After saving their pennies for an entire year, they were able to purchase their coveted Wii gaming system.  It has been better than Christmas around here and Alan and I didn't even have to do anything.  I forced the kids to search for the best possible price online We found it but they had to wait another week after getting their money together to have it shipped.  Dell was running a sale-yea!- so naturally I had to take advantage of it.  I was sure Jacob was going to come unglued at the lack of instant gratification.  But, it arrived today, as promised on the shipping estimate.  They can't wait to check every little thing out on it and it should take them several weeks to get bored with the games that came with the unit before they insist on spending more of their hard earned cash. 
I warned them about the money pit they were climbing into.  But, they happily dove in and are on their way to owning everything Wii.  They have already earmarked their current lawn mowing earnings for another controller thingy.  I can't remember what it is called.  I am wondering when they will figure out how hard they have to work to earn their money only to give it all away in one lump sum.  Probably not for a while. 
I am so proud of my kids.  What an accomplishment.  I love seeing them so excited about it too.  They did it all themselves. 
I must sign off now.  My head is filling with snot and I am pretty sure my fragile little cells are being destroyed by some nasty speck that has gotten stuck up my nose.  I think my sinuses are going to explode if they get much fuller.  What a wonderful mechanism for our bodies.  Trap the germs in mucus and then force the body to leak it out to eradicate the little creatures.  What an exciting adventure.  I can't smell or taste or hear anything and I sound like a fog horn.  I guess I'll just have to stay in my jammies and play the Wii!

The latest......

Sarah turned 7 last week and we had to get pretty creative at our house for her birthday.  Times are tight for us all and Sarah was terribly worried about her "family party" not being very exciting this year.  We decided many years ago that only one of the kids could have a big friend party at one time.  So they are all on a three year rotation.  It was Sarah's turn for the family party this year and so we started planning.  We decided to have a Willy Wonka party and it ended up being so fun.  There is a chocolate factory in Salt Lake we toured with Andrea and her kids.  After eating chocolates and learning all about chocolate and watching the cool lady dip the chocolates, we came back to the house for the rest of the festivities.   The kids stayed up and watched Willy Wonka at the end of the party.  It was a pretty fun afternoon!

Sarah requested a Strawberry cake with white frosting. This was sooooooo sweet it was hard to eat.  It turned out cute but the rest is going in the garbage.  Wow!  It gives me a headache just thinking about its monumental sweetness.  It was fun to get back to my cake decorating roots. 

Since we were having a Willy Wonka party, there must be candy!  I found all these Wonka candies at the store and with the miracle of computers, made Wonka Bar wrappers!  It was so fun!  I forgot to add the golden ticket though.  Oh well, they all ate them pretty fast anyway.  

Make a wish!  Hannah got a glitter water ball like the one in Sarah's hand a few months ago and Sarah has been asking for one ever since.  Her brothers got her one finally for her.  She carries it everywhere now. 

We were all so sick of candy by the time Sarah blew out her candles, we didn't even eat the cake.  Everyone went outside and ate some apples from the tree.  I don't think we had cake till the day after.  Too much candy!  Sarah had a fun birthday and I can't believe she is 7 now.  I say that every year the kids get older.  I feel like I have such a short amount of time with them until they grow up and do their own things. 

Alan and the boys along with Leanne attended the temple dedication of the Oquirrah Mountain Temple a few weeks ago.  Sarah wasn't old enough to go yet so I stayed home with her.  What a wonderful thing to have another temple in this world.  Kent and Nick live a stone's throw from the temple and went to the dedication personally.  We were fortunate enough to have it broadcast to our stake center.  One of the talks I have heard recently mentioned if we could see into the spirit world and realize how many people are waiting to have their work done for them, we would be at the temple every spare moment we had.  We have had a wonderful temple attending summer and this was a great way to end the season.  It is amazing to live so close to so many temples.  We feel so blessed!