#6 Favorite Memory From Fall 2008

#6 Halloween!

The best treat we got this Halloween was having both grandmas and grandpas with us this year!! (They actually came for Sarah's baptism, which happened to be the next day.)

Dad got lots of laughs when he put on his costume shortly after arriving! We had a fabulous dinner (if I do say so myself) of "skinned monster toes" (pigs in a blanket), brains (mini meatloaves), "monster jaws" (acorn squash), and more gruesome treats. I made lots of comfort foods and assigned Sarah to think of good Halloween names for each dish. She did an awesome job! The girls got a special treat this year - trick or treating with grandma and daddy! The weather was so warm and thankfully dry, the girls went farther than they've ever gone before and came home with more candy than they'll ever need.

Angela changed her mind at the last minute and put on a witch's hat to match her sisters for trick or treating. Luckily, I bought an extra at the dollar store. Notice even in her Halloween costume, Natalie insists on rolling up her pants.

This pumpkin Sarah carved (all by herself), was the largest of our "non-rotted" pumpkins that survived.

This was our new decoration for this year. Natalie and Angela helped make the spider, it turned out pretty cute.

This itty bitty pumpkin stood about 5 inches high. (o:

Angela dressed up as Twilight this year! After I put on her nose and whiskers she was ready to role play. She pointed to the litter box and asked, "Now I go potty in there?" Wow - she really wanted to get into her role. Yikes!

Scary, I know. This was my costume for the adult Halloween party I went to - costumes were mandatory. It was fun to attend the adult party. Some of the other costumes were really good - including a Frankenstein that was about 10 feet tall! He won all the votes for the best costume.

#5 Favorite Memory From Fall 2008

#5 Going to the Local Pumpkin Patches

In Oregon, we are blessed with an abundance of farms in all directions. There are several pumpkin patches to choose from each fall. This year, we visited 3 of them.

As a family, we went to the pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island. We went on a hay ride, the girls got pulled around the farm on a little cow train made out of barrels and we spent lots of time hiking around looking for the perfect pumpkins. Sarah was especially picky. These were the biggest pumpkins we brought home this year and unfortunately, before Halloween, two of them rotted before we could carve them! We have bad luck with pumpkins every year! Last year, we had the lovely pranksters come and smash our pumpkins the day after we got them.

Angela's preschool group went to Lakeview Farms. This one is a big hit for little kids. Rather than a tractor hay ride, you ride on a little train to the pumpkin patch one way and across a "lake" via boat to get back. (Or vice versa) The lake has dragons and a shark that come out of the water for extra thrills. Natalie HATES these so it was good she wasn't there. Angela had a great time with Rylan and Tyler running around the little maze and jumping off the haystacks.

The very next day, Natalie's class had a field trip to Plumper Pumpkin Patch. Their great big slides were a hit for the girls. The kids also got to see lots of animals, including some baby calves. It was a gorgeous day and we came home with two more cute, little pumpkins.

#4 Favorite Memory From Fall 2008

#4 Sarah's Mystery Birthday Party

Sarah chose the theme of a Mystery Party for her friend birthday party this year. We made some fun "secret code" invitations that were a big hit. Thank goodness for the seemingly pointless "WingDings" fonts. (o:

We had the girls come in disguise just to be on the safe side. (o: When they arrived they got to decorate a mask. Then we had a mystery to solve. I wrote a little mystery about a diamond heist at a Halloween party hosted by the wealthy Madame Kate. There were six suspects all whose mug shots were posted on the wall so the detectives could narrow down the actual criminal. I was not prepared for just how into the mystery the girls would get! As they started earning clues after challenges (like the game where you have a tray of random things and take two away and they have to figure out which ones are missing.) - the girls started theorizing away. They got so into sharing their ideas, "Well, maybe Larry set up Martha by putting the witch's hat in the library...", "Betty's lipstick was not on the straw of the cup - unless she wiped it off first...", they went on and on and on so much that we had to cut out some of the activities and barely had time for cake and presents! They LOVED it! We had lots of fun. For the cake - each girl got a cupcake with a mystery ingredient they had to figure out. Some had M&Ms, some had marshmallows, etc. It was a great time, but as always, it was nice to be done and get everything cleaned up and put away! Our craft supplies from the masks were especially "fun" to clean up.

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A friend sent this to me this week - thanks Mel! I thought it was so cute I had to share... Now on to the top ten.

#3 Favorite Memory From Fall 2008

Our newest addition to the family... Twilight.

No, we're not having a baby, oh, how I wish...

but we did get to bring home a bundle of joy that requires no diaper changes and she's pretty cute! Her name is Twilight and she has brought a lot of joy and laughs to our home. Read below how in the world we ended up with this kitty cat.

Twilight at approximately 6 weeks old.
This picture cracks me up - if I had time I'd Photoshop a bubble that says, "Help!" coming out of the kitty's mouth. Oh how little Angela adores the kitty. Oh how terrified we are when we see her swinging the kitty around by her front paws for a game. Yikes! Angela has spent quite a bit of time in time out since Twilight has come home with us. Most of the time, though, Angela is very careful and sweet like the picture below...

Natalie has always been our little "mama" - caring for babies, animals (small ones that aren't too scary) and even bugs and worms. It was no surprise that Natalie has become the most attached to Twilight. She carries her gently around like a newborn. The cutest part is that Twilight loves her so much back, that she lets Natalie carry her like an infant over her shoulder or laying on her back in Natalie's arms. They are quite the pair. Natalie finds the kitty as soon as she gets home from school. She holds her for most of her time at home. When she's doing her homework, the kitty is in her lap. When she eats her snack, the kitty is in her lap. Natalie is head over heels with Twilight.

Sarah will feel bad for not having a picture with Twilight too - I will have to get one later. She is very attached to Twilight too and often argues with Natalie that she is hogging. She's right. Sarah is the one who came up with Twilight's name and is a great guardian over our kitty when Angela is around. (o: She loves to have Twilight take naps on her lap while she is watching SpongeBob or whatever on TV. I think that would be Sarah's definition of heaven. And she is so proud when Twilight purrs while she is holding her because she knows that means Twilight loves her back.

So how did we end up with this little furry friend? That is a great question. I never would have believed that we'd have a cat if you told me three weeks ago. It was a very spontaneous decision and luckily, it has been one that we haven't regretted for a minute.

So back in August, we seriously considered getting a dog. The kids are getting old enough that we felt like we might be able to handle it. We researched in books on breeds and looked through pet care manuals and websites. After lots of research we picked a breed we liked - Border Terrier - and found a breeder in Portland. We knew that we didn't want a puppy - as cute as they are, I wasn't up for the house training. We lucked out because the breeder was retiring a mama dog right when we inquired about house trained dogs. We filled out a very in depth application (with references too!) and within a few days we had an appointment set up to come and meet Hope. We saw pictures of her on the website and thought she was perfect.

About a half hour before we were going to leave on the Saturday of our appointment, the lady called and informed us that someone just came and bought the dog. We were so sad. It took a few days to get over it, the girls were so disappointed, but I think it was a blessing in disguise. The more I talked to people and told them what we almost did, the more people (who were mostly dog-owners themselves) said, "Don't do it! They are so much work." We always planned on trying to find another dog after the Hope incident, but the more people I talked to and the busier life got when school started, the more glad I was that it didn't work out.

Fast forward to the kids' school Fall Festival. We had a fabulous time at this event. I helped a bit with it, as a member of the Booster Club and the girls were great sports to play in the gym while I set up with several other ladies. The girls got to "test out" some of the carnival games beforehand and couldn't wait to come back for more! We had a great time - I did a shift at the snack bar, we ate a healthy dinner of hot dogs, chips and soda with candy for dessert. The girls tried dunking their teachers in the dunk tank, got tattoos (Natalie wanted hers on her forehead - of course) and we tried out the inflatable obstacle course. We were doing everything to spend our tickets by the end of the night - Joe** (my secret husband for those of you who haven't read my entry a few weeks ago) went a little overboard on ticket purchases. (o: When the last ticket was almost spent, the girls noticed a "Free Kittens" sign. They ran over and asked if they could hold one. This dad who put up the sign was ingenious. His cat had kittens and he needed to get rid of them. So who better to dangle them in front of than elementary kids with parents somewhere in tow. The reason why the girls didn't see the sign before was because there were so many little kids waiting to hold the kitties and then begging their parents, "Can we have one, PLEASE!"

When we went over, there were two, maybe three kitties left. I thought it was cute to see the girls hold them, but didn't think much else about it until Joe** started up. "Let's get one! C'mon it'll be fun! Look how cute they are." Oh boy, it's one thing to have the kids doing it, but now I was completely outnumbered. After lots of secretive talking between the two adult members of the family, I finally conceded thinking that a cat was probably better for us and less maintenance than a dog. So we did it!

But we didn't tell the girls. I headed to the car with the girls while Joe** picked the black kitten with white paws. He hid the kitty in his jacket and we drove home like normal. We had to cover up a few "meows", but I have to admit, it was pretty fun being so sneaky. When we got home Joe** told the girls he needed to empty out his pockets because we brought home so much stuff. He went through everything and then said, "What's this?" and pulled out the kitty. The girls were so excited. Sarah said she knew what was going on when she saw daddy being so suspicious at the school. I could tell she suspected something because she had a funny grin the whole ride home.

We have since purchased a few kitty essentials - litter, litter boxes, a food bowl and kitty chow and we are full fledged cat owners. Who knew? Twilight fits in with our family perfectly (I almost did a cheesy "purr" pun, but resisted) and despite the girls fighting over her and the times she tries to walk on my laptop when I'm typing - things have been great with our little kitty. I saved the best picture for last - it says more than words could about why I have loved having her in our home...

Now this is a look of pure joy...

#2 Favorite Memories From Fall Cont.

SARAH TURNED 8!!

What a cutie! My baby is 8 years old now. She is getting so grown up! For her birthday this year she got a new mattress! Wahoo - just what every 8 year old dreams of. But there was something extra special about getting a mattress. This new mattress meant that we could set up her own bed in her own room!! This was HUGE for Sarah. It was time, for all of us, for Sarah to switch with Angela. Angela moved from her toddler bed to the bottom bunk. Her toddler bed was really the crib without the front - sniff sniff - I was sad to take this down after 8 years of being occupied. Then Natalie moved up to the top bunk. It was quite the switch-a-roo and things still aren't exactly in order the way I want, but at least every one's clothes are in the right rooms now! Sarah has been so excited to stay up and read by her "shabby sheek" lamp light (which she bought with birthday money from family - Thanks!) and be more independent. For her birthday, daddy and I also got her a Wii Pet Cat game (kind of a foreshadowing, but we didn't know it for the next in our top ten) and an alarm clock. That may sound even more lame than a mattress, but Sarah has been asking for one since last year. It has made getting her up in the morning soooo much better.

Supposedly, Sarah said her room would be super clean because she would only have to clean up after herself. She had a point - Natalie and Angela make quite a mess in the big bedroom during the day when she's at school and she got stuck helping clean it a lot. However, I think she's starting to notice that, hey, she is kind of messy too!

On Sarah's actual birthday, Angela and I surprised her at school with a SpongeBob balloon during math. She was excited and said everyone wished her happy birthday after that wherever she went. She also picked her favorite dinner - pancakes and we ate Aunt Shanna's yummy chocolate angel food cake for dessert. (Well, I made it, but it was Aunt Shanna's recipe - too bad Aunt Shanna couldn't come from D.C. to make it!)

It was a more low key birthday, but we had plenty of excitement the following week with her friend party and baptism! More on that to come...

Top Ten Things About Fall 2008

In order to help me catch up on my BLOG slacking this fall, I am doing a "Top 10" to recap and get back up to date... Here are some of our families favorite memories from the last two months...

In no particular order of importance/favorites...

#1 was BACK TO SCHOOL

Even though I was sad to see the girls go back - I'm one of those weird moms that likes having the kids home. That's not to say they don't drive me crazy at times, but I really miss them after our long, lazy days of summer together.

Angela was so excited to begin preschool this year in our Smart Cookies co-op with 5 other moms. She didn't really know any of the other children before, but that didn't bother her. She LOVES preschool and can't wait for Wednesday each week. Thursdays are our field trip days and those are a close second in her book. Angela loves to show us her work and do "homework". She is turning out to be a lot like Natalie was in preschool. She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the art projects and spends lots of time decorating and coloring her work pages and projects. (o:

My little Natalie started Kindergarten this year. Even two months later it makes me a little sad. Don't get me wrong, I love Kindergarten and I'm excited for her. All these little milestones just make me a little sad because it's one more step to growing up and leaving me. )o: I am way overly sensitive about this issue lately, I know.
The picture above was on Natalie's Kindergarten orientation day. She got to do a little scavenger hunt for things on the list she is studiously looking at. She also did an assessment for the beginning of the year. I sat eavesdropping at a nearby table as she went over letters and sounds with a Kindergarten teacher. By the end of the assessment, the Kindergarten teacher was regretting that Natalie was not in her class. She loved Natalie's sense of humor. For instance, one funny thing I overheard was when the teacher pointed to the letter "O". Natalie told her, "That's the letter "O" it says "ahhh" like "OOOOPERAHHH!"" Now when Natalie said the word "opera" she actually sang it, mouth WIDE open, in a very vibrato voice. The teacher and I were in hysterics and Natalie ate it all up. What a character. I wish I could have heard some of the other funny stuff she must have said to win over this teacher.

For Sarah, starting school was a little bit interesting this year. She had to start at a new school because of the boundary changes last winter. We attended an ice-cream social last spring, toured the school and also found out that her best friend Monica would get to be in her class. Whew! Those things all helped Sarah adapt and get over her fear of starting over. We were also thrilled to find out that she would have Mrs. Buckiewicz! The teachers at Jackson told me about her and how great she was. Plus, she is the wife of Sarah's P.E. teacher from Jackson, Mr. B - whom she loved. Somehow, having that connection really made her feel more at home. Mr. B. told Mrs. B. lots of good things about Sarah, so they had a "history" there from the start. So along with Sarah's awesome attitude and confidence in making new friends - these factors made for a very smooth transition. I love the picture above because it shows the genuine friendship Sarah has with Monica. They hugged as soon as they saw each other that first day. So adorable.

My big 2nd grader and Kindergartener! Sniff Sniff

I look tired - 6:45 is not my favorite time to wake up!

I love this picture of Natalie and her best buddy Lydia. Natalie looks so cute in the same dress Sarah wore on her first day of school. Only, because she's Natalie, she added jeans underneath for her fashion statement. Natalie's sense of style is very interesting, creative and frankly - weird, in my opinion. But I love the confidence she has to try interesting combinations and creativity. My only rules are that her clothes must be appropriate for the weather, modest and be appropriate for school (no leotards, swimming suits or dress ups - these often go on as soon as she's home). One of Natalie's latest trends that is driving me crazy is that she HAS to roll her pants up. She will not wear long pants down, she rolls them up to just below her knees as if she was going wading in the ocean. She has done this for about a month straight and I try so hard to bite my tongue and choose my battles. I've talked to her about it and tried telling her that it makes her legs cold and looks a little funny, but she insists that it is "cool" so I just let it go.

When we are organized enough to plan outfits ahead of time (this lasted for about two weeks), the girls like to choose their clothes for the next day and make "people" with them. They have underwear beneath the pants/skirt and everything! Angela set one up in her room too so she could be like her big sisters. (o:

10 and 0 Baby!!

I found this "poster" on google and had to add it!
LOVED the "Back in Black" theme in Rice Eccles Stadium Thursday night. Cool. Wish I could have been there!


Waahooo! I meant to write this Thursday night, but I had a huge headache from biting my nails and stressing out during the U of U game against TCU. The girls thought it was hilarious watching me cheer, groan and yell (for good and bad moments) during the game. Sarah lectured me, "It's just a game mom!" and Natalie followed with a, "Yeah, mom". They did not understand that in all the years of cheering for the Utes, (which has been probably since I was a fetus - because I think it is genetic in my family. (o: ) that this has been the most amazing season the U of U has ever had! It brings back warm memories of the year we had Urban Meyer coaching - when we went to the BCS Fiesta bowl and won. This season has been even more amazing, so far, and the game against TCU was a HUGE win for the Utes. We are now ranked at number 7 (BCS poles) in the nation and ready to break into yet another BCS bowl game! If we can just beat those pesky BYU Cougars who would LOVE to ruin the Utes perfect record. Trust me, I know because I live with one of them. Oohhh the BYU/U of U game could get ugly in our family this year! (o:

GO UTES!!! Yahooo!

Conferences, Concerts and Marathons in Clogs

Photos by Gérard Schachmès

Life has been crazy, but it has been good. We had a wonderful loooong weekend with Neville* home for five days in a row! We could definitely get used to that. When I finally got to the girls' "goal setting conferences" (parent/teacher/student conferences) - mentioned in the earlier post - they went very well. I loved meeting with their teachers and hearing about how great the girls are doing. I am very proud of them both.

I was especially happy to see that Natalie scored high on her assessment. This is so great because she was just starting to learn her letters a year ago. We did lots of reading lessons over the summer and she is doing awesome! It was fun for her to get that extra "good job" from her teacher. Natalie is so cute and only struggles with finishing tasks in a timely manner. She is such a carefree little spirit that she takes her sweet time on everything, even eating her lunch. So we set a goal to help light a fire under her a bit! (o: So to speak. She has already blossomed so much in just a few weeks at school.

Just a funny side note, speaking of her free-spirited nature... Natalie really struggled with losing things for the first couple weeks. In just one week, she left her coat on the bus, her headband at the reading corner and her socks in the play/pretend area at school. Her teacher sent home a note reminding us, as parents, to make sure we put names on all the kid's items, even socks. She was kidding, originally, about the socks. We had a good laugh when I asked her at Back to School night if she'd seen Natalie's socks. We did eventually get all these items back and Natalie has gotten better about not taking things off wherever she is and just leaving them in random places. (like she does at home!) I love my Natalie.

Sarah was so cute during her conferences. Her teacher just praised her the whole time and Sarah had this cute embarrassed smile and shy look the entire time. She really is a good girl and such a people pleaser like I was in school. I loved to be loved by my teachers. Yes, I was teacher's pet and liked it. (o: Annoying, I know. It was fun to see where Sarah was at in her reading assessments, I've been curious. She actually plateaued a bit at the fourth grade level. Not bad for a second grader. (o: She's made a goal to read some more challenging books so she can keep moving up. She already discovered a new series that she is excited about - Animorphs. They are about these kids that can "morph" into animals. She LOVES the one she is reading right now. I love to see her excited about reading.

As for other good things... I got to have a great girls night last week thanks to a couple good friends and husband. A while back we planned a double date with some friends who had tickets to see Celine Dion. Unfortunately, those friends had a business trip come up and couldn't come. They told us to use the tickets anyway. It would be just Melvin* and I. Then Angela got sick and having a babysitter care for her was not a good idea so Melvin* suggested that I go with a friend. Luckily, Tina was up for an adventure and we headed for a fun girls' night around 5:30 Thursday night. We had a lovely dinner at Pasta Pronto. It was fun to just sit and chat without interruption. We then had an hour and 20 minutes to drive downtown and find our seats. The drive took 2 hours from Tannesbourne! (usually a 30 minute drive) We got to downtown Portland in about 15 minutes and about a mile away from the exit we hit a parking lot. Portland traffic can be soooo irritating. I don't understand how it can get so bad, but it does. There are just not enough lanes on all the bridges around town and the price to expand must be too astronomical. ??? The roads are not well planned either. So we sat in the parking lot - we could see the Rose Garden arena from the car for a good hour. It was frustrating, but we still had fun joking about it and still talking the whole way.

We FINALLY got off the freeway and stuck the car in the first place we could find that didn't look too scary. Thank heavens Tina had some coins to stick in the meter! Then we sprinted. Oh how I wish I didn't wear clogs. My shins are still sore from the run in those dumb shoes. Tina and I work out at the gym often - running side by side on the treadmills. This was very similar except for we had to weave around people and my feet were dying in the shoes I was wearing! Other than that, we had fun jogging the whole way and laughing at how we made up for missing the gym that morning. We sat in our seats at 8:59 p.m. The concert started at 8:00. Thank heavens for opening acts. Who knows who it was, we didn't much care. We were in our seats literally one minute before Celine came out. And it was worth the insanity of getting there! What an amazing performer. That woman can SING! Plus she looks amazing and she can move in high heels like nobody's business. She puts on quite a show and every song was beautiful. I especially loved her duet with one of her backup singers and a number with this guy that played the violin so beautifully it made me want to cry. And she did her song, "The Prayer" with Andrea Bocelli (he wasn't really there - just a digital version of him) WOW - it was amazing. I think I held my breath through the whole song. And for one of the encores she came out singing one of my favorite Erasure songs "River Deep Mountain High". I LOVED it and couldn't help but sing along. What an amazing show - go Celine! You're a little kooky, but what AMAZING talent! WAHOO!

Okay, so at some point during this amazing concert the thought crossed both Tina's and my mind, "Do we know where we parked???" After the show we both asked this question aloud and neither of us knew the answer for sure. Whoa Nelly. We decided not to panic, but to look for familiar landmarks and relive those last crazy moments before our race into the concert. After walking around in circles until most of the crowds were gone, passing some unsavory characters in dark places and asking for directions from some more trustworthy-looking people, we FINALLY found the car and I wanted to kiss it! We had avoided riding the MAX because there are sometimes scary people on it. After our experience, that would be WAY safer and WAY easier than driving any day!! We treated ourselves to a Frostie at the Wendy's we parked next to - to celebrate that we didn't get mugged and that we found the car. I think I put a good mile and a half in my dumb clogs! Then Tina called her husband to help us navigate our way back to the freeway! How sad! But at least we were in a locked car with Frosties!! (o:

Thanks for the fun night Tina - the good, the bad and the ugly!! It's nice to have someone to laugh with when you're scared to death! (o: And thanks for the tickets Stacy - every bit of the night was worth the awesome show!! The whole night was unforgettable!

Pssst - Utah family and friends . . . Celine is coming to Salt Lake Nov. 21st - FYI!

LIFE goes on...

I love blogging, but it often takes a back seat when life gets crazy. Speaking of life, I had to pull together a huge real life LIFE game for our 40 or so young men and young women in our ward last week. It was a huge stress for me. More than it probably needed to be - I am still learning how to be "in charge" and lead big events like this, so I am not the most efficient. I'm sure it did not need to be so stressful, but the idea that was presented to me just a little over a month ago was a pretty tall order and I wanted to do my best.

The goal was for the youth to get some kind of picture of what finances are like when you are a grown up. Each youth was given a job/salary and family situation - single, married with kids, etc. They were also given a check register and had to travel throughout the church building to get insurance, visit a car lot, real estate, the Cornell Acres Mall (Cornell is the name of our ward), college, the bank and mom and dad's house. There were also random events people handing out car wrecks, medical emergencies, inheritance money and even babies! The concept was so huge and involved recruiting over 20 adults to play various roles, that not everything went the way I imagined. Some of the leaders did their own spin with their roles - for better and worse, some of the $$ amounts were way too generous (we had one youth buy a Ferrari with cash - not much learned in being thrifty there!) and we were shocked at how unfamiliar and difficult using the check registers was for most of the youth. This alone was a huge speed bump for the first 20 minutes of the game.

On the other hand, the church looked pretty cool - I like how our "mall" turned out. (We had a big screen TV/all kinds of electronics boxes, huge 5' tall American Eagle mall poster displays, lights, etc.) Several of the leaders who helped out went the extra mile making it really cool and fun. The real life insurance agent we asked to help "play" the insurance agent had an awesome idea for his pretend insurance agency, "AllSaints - You're in God's Hands" rather than Allstate - You're in Good Hands. I thought that was clever. The car salesmen were hilarious and dressed the part. Fat Matt and Skinny Jim played their parts so well I think they deserved an Academy award. And the kids really got into our Burger King crown gimmick. Whenever they purchased something that would be considered "cool" or keeping up with the Jones' - they got a Burger King hat. If they bought more "cool" stuff, they got "cool" stickers to put on the crowns. Some started thinking that's how you win. So they spent like crazy. Some were heard through the halls, "I am starting to think these crowns are not so good" another said back, "No they're good, they're definitely good." The salesmen at the mall were so good it was scary - they pushed those crowns on the kids and said all kinds of, if I may say, crap to get them to buy. (o: It was sometimes painful to listen to, but sooo real to life. One of the young women refused to go near one of the sales people and told him directly, "You scare me!" Smart girl! In fact, this same "salesman" told me later that the guys were way easier to suck into his gimmicks. Interesting.

So all in all, things were a little chaotic, not perfect, but I am confident that everyone - even the Ferrari guy - learned something about finances and spending. That was the goal. In the end, the kids were surprised to hear that the Burger King crowns were a trick and definitely not how to win. We emphasized that this is what the "world" would like us to believe. Everyone who played the game got a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Those who remembered to pay their 10% to tithing got a brownie, those who bought insurance before an emergency occurred got chocolate syrup and caramel (for several youth insurance was an afterthought when they got into a car wreck or had a baby), and those who were not carrying a brick (which they had to carry if they took out a loan for anything but a home or college) got toppings.

It was a fun night. Unfortunately, I was so burned out and so busy before it, that many things including blogging were neglected. And wouldn't you know - we have Young Women in Excellence night in just two weeks! That will be a cake walk compared to the LIFE game, but still...there's always something to plan!! I love it though - I am really enjoying my calling, the young women are FABULOUS and I love all the ladies I work with. So dependable and so much fun - a great combo!

Although my life felt consumed with this LIFE game, my real life continued and even felt like it was spinning out of control around me. Angela was sick the day before and the day of my big activity, the kids were out of school for parent teacher conferences, the house was progressively getting more and more out of order. (Will it ever be in order???) and getting meals on the table was ridiculously overwhelming. The night after my big activity, Angela's fever got so bad that around 4 a.m. Harry* made an emergency trip for Advil (to supplement the Tylenol) and I bathed her and gave her a Popsicle to try and break it. We found out the next day that she had Strep. I am so grateful that Harry* happened to have Wed., Thurs. and Fri off of work since he's been working shifts temporarily. He was a huge lifesaver and so supportive. He was even the one who made the appointment and took Angela to the doctor and got the medication.

Meanwhile that day, on Thursday, I was winding down from the crazy night before (LIFE game and being up with Angela) and busy forgetting to go to Sarah and Natalie's teacher conferences!! EEEK! Sarah's teacher called when we were 15 minutes late wondering if we were coming. We had already missed Natalie's by that time. I honestly cannot say how long it would have taken me to remember that I forgot if she hadn't called. It was 11:15 - Sarah and Natalie were in the tub, I'm pretty sure I was still in my pajamas and I had no car seats since Jays had taken Angela to the doctor in the van. That was sooo embarrassing. Luckily, I was forgiven after several "so sorry's" and a "this isn't like me". We were able to reschedule with both teachers. And HOORAY, I didn't forget the second time! I usually really look forward to those conferences, but I guess last week it just ended up being one more thing for my over saturated brain.

Why does it feel like all of my entries are like this lately?? Will life ever slow down?

Last Summer Fling

One of the very last days of summer, Tina invited us to go to a water park with her family. I had a bunch of stuff to get done, but sometimes there are more important things to do than just "get stuff done". So I put those boring things off and boy am I glad we did. What a wonderful afternoon we had! Thanks Tina! And I love looking back at these pictures - the girls had so much fun! The laundry and other things on my list eventually got done. I need to be better about doing this more often - life is short! Enjoy the ride!

State Fair Tradition

I'm still playing a little bit of catch up from my vacation from blogging! (o:

One of our autumn traditions every year is making the trip down to Salem for the State Fair. Most years I enter a picture or 2 or 3 in the photography contest. It's fun to go down and see them - this year I got one in the exhibit. It is the 2nd to the top picture of the chicken. I actually took it at the fair last year. I called it "Red, White and Blue Ribbon Chicken" kinda cheesy eh?

One of the first things we do every year is visit the animals - cows, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, llamas, chickens, rabbits, am I forgetting anything? It's fun for the kids to get up close to all these animals.. We watched a judging of goats and cows this year. We like to guess which ones will win, but we're not very good!

There are all kinds of colorful, strange and fun booths at the fair. This year we found one where you can make your own candle, layering colors of this waxy sand stuff. The girls had fun making the one Sarah is holding above. We often put it on the table and light it at dinnertime.
Eating horribly unhealthy food is another state fair tradition. Cotton candy, elephant ears (big, fried scones with lots of cinnamon sugar on top), and the like. However, we've never brought ourselves to try the fried candy bars. We do have some standards! (o: Anyone ever tried one?
The carnival games are so ridiculously expensive this is usually the only one we let the kids play. It is cheap and "everyone's a winner". They always have goofy prizes, but the girls think they are awesome. This year they were big, soft, pretend crayons. I don't know how we did it, but we avoided the carnival rides this year. They are also ridiculously expensive - like $12 to have all three girls ride on one dumb ride! Okay, this might sound a little rude, but I am always baffled by the following phenomenon. When you go to a fair, there is a certain "crowd" that is always drawn to these events. Interesting folks. Now not to be judgemental, but a lot of them don't look like they have very much money. I am always amazed that these are usually the people that are carrying around a bazillion ride tickets and going on all the rides. That has GOT to be expensive. We cringe at letting the girls ride ONE ride. It seems like such a waste. They could buy themselves some nice new clothes and a really nice haircut with that money. That's just one of the thoughts that run through my head every year. I guess we all have our priorities.
I LOVE this picture of Angela holding daddy's hand. So sweet.

I also just added the top picture - with Natalie and a cute Indian man that told some great stories to the kids at one exhibit. He was great! His wife made the most intricate and beautiful beaded clothing, like the things he is wearing.

A Young and Overwhelmed Manager

Sarah has a hard time being the oldest at times. Or maybe I should say, she has a hard time having little sisters. Yes, it is true, sometimes they are annoying. Who ever heard of annoying little sisters? (The key is to have them 15 years apart. My sister and I get along just fine and always have! (O: Good thinking mom!)

She gets stuck helping them clean their messes quite a bit. Which isn't fair, but I get stuck cleaning messes I don't make all the time too. Life's not fair. We all work together. Anyway, I asked her to be the overseer and example to clean hers and Natalie's room while I made dinner. She did a good job until the two younger girls started getting silly. I could hear squeals and screams from their room and then, stomping down the stairs. Sarah entered the kitchen exclaiming, "I can't work with these people!" I laughed out loud and agreed that they sounded difficult to manage. I let her off the hook and gave her a ticket for being a good sport and trying - and for making me laugh. (o:

A Hindu Experience

I am not particularly fond of this picture of myself, but I am modeling my new Hindu look. (o: After General Conference on Sunday, we went to BillyBob's* friends' home. He invited us to celebrate the Festival of 9 Nights. (I hope I remember all the details right - if not, I apologize, this was all new to me.) It was fun to talk with Satish and his wife for a while - I haven't seen them since they were first married when Angela was a baby. They are both from south India and had a traditional arranged marriage back at home. I love learning about other cultures, so it was fascinating to join them for this holiday they celebrate. . .

Here's a little synopsis I found on Google that explains better than I could, what the festival is. "Navratri is a festival of Hindus celebrated with devotion, love and fervour all over India. It is also called as Navratras. The mood of Navratri is very colourful & unique. It incorporates veneration along with commemoration by means of song and dance. Navratri basically means "Nine Nights" ("Nav" meaning nine and "Ratri" meaning nights). These nights are devoted to the reverence of Goddess Durga (Maa Durga) who exists in many forms and is the manifestation of the absolute energy that pervades the Universe. During these days and nights prayers are offered to Mother Goddess. For the devout these days are the sacrosanct for it is during these days when Goddess Durga takes a stock of her devotees and grants all blessings, removes ills and evils and ensures unproblematic life for her devotees."

One of the traditions during the festival, is to display small dolls and figurines that each family has collected over the years. The dolls are of different gods/goddesses and even set up scenes. Satish had a small set up that represented a village with crops, people, etc. Apparently, each family is supposed to add to their collection every year. It was neat to see the special room set aside for decorating with all of the figurines. Satish even made a staircase to put in the room to display each set of dolls. After we spend some time in the doll room, we got to enjoy some fabulous south Indian cuisine: samosas, which I've had before and love, and several other dishes that were totally new. I was so shocked and proud of Sarah and Natalie for trying several of the foods and even both having favorites! Yeah. That was a big step, especially for Sarah. At the end, I was offered a small dish that contained a red powder (a spice, but the name has left me) to put on my forehead. Satish said the women are always offered this when they enter a home during Navratri. (They travel from house to house to see each others doll displays.) The girls thought it was funny, but luckily didn't say so until we got to the car. They were so good and I think found it very interesting too. They especially liked the part when Satish gave them gifts to take home.

One of the things I didn't realize before was how much Hindus treasure life in every form - thus the vegetarianism. They make these beautiful "pictures"/designs using rice flour of different colors on the ground. The purpose is to feed and sustain even the ants. And I learned that these festivals and celebrations (apparently, Hindus have a LOT of them) are meant to strengthen communities and keep them interacting with one another. Even the tradition of buying a doll or dolls to add every year is to give those who make them continuing business. It is a very community driven religion, which I think is great. Something Mormons have in common. (o: I had a fun time and Satish was so nice, and I think excited, to share so much about his religion. We had a great time and when he sends me a picture he took of the girls with his display, I'll post it. I didn't bring my camera in at the last minute, just in case it was offensive to photograph their decorations.