Happy Haunting!

My family is so funny! We carved pumpkins last night. The kids drew their faces and then the carving began. Not too much concern yet.

Then it's time to get all the guts out. Eeeww! See Isaac's face?! The boys went and got gloves so they wouldn't have to touch the guts. It took them much longer to clean out their pumpkins than it took Ruthie. She just reached in a scraped!

Then we put candles in and sat on the front steps for a picture. This picture of Sam is hilarious!

Happy Halloween.

And may all your candy be sweet!

Flashback Friday

So this is still Jennie. But I'm writing as if I were Daniel. But I'm still me. Understand? You'll get it. Don't worry. Here we go.

Hi, this is Daniel. I am Jennie's man. I am her adorer. I am her fixer. I am her fun provider. I am the one who makes her crazy. I am Handsome, but you must understand...I must be to counteract my dear, sweet, wonderful, fantastic wife's beauty and grace. She really is the reason for my being. The reason for getting up in the morning. The reason I work so hard. My wife is incredible.

Here I am on Halloween many years ago. You know, I am coming up on 40 in a matter of months. So this picture really seems old. Ancient. Cryptic.

I am Lurch.
Because I was the tallest of all my friends. The other guys rounded out the other Adam's Family characters. There were some girls, too. But they weren't Jennie. So I didn't pay attention.

Do you want to guess at how old I was in the picture? Come on. Do it. Think about it and I will tell you at the end of this super post. Then you have to say in the comments how old you think I am in the picture. After you revive yourself, of course.

We went to The Bay in Salt Lake. Do you know it? Wait. Do you remember it? My wife went there once. She wasn't impressed. But then again, I wasn't there to impress her!

We went to The Bay often. To pick up chicks. Jennie asked me how many of us actually got dates (heck, I'd even go for a fake phone number) out of our picking up. None of us. But my friends all thought they were cool. I just went along for the ride. They were really dumb. But I did dance with cute chicks. But they just weren't Jennie. What can I say?

We went to The Bay for Halloween dressed as the Adam's Family. Aren't we clever? Today I went to work in jeans and a shirt Jennie bought me that she says I look hot in. Maybe I'll get lucky. Hee hee.

I won't be going to The Bay this year. It closed down a long time ago. Did I mention I'll be 40 soon?

Okay. What you've been waiting for. In the picture I wasn't 14. I know I look it. I was about 25. And I still had hair.

Make A Meal.

I know. Another one. I can hardly believe it myself. But Halloween is in 2 days and this is just awesome for such an occasion!

If you have these. Oh, and 2 eggs and a handful of cheese...

You can make

Ghouls In The Graveyard.
Make 2 boxes of Mac n Cheese as you normally would. Then add 2 beaten eggs and 8 oz Mozzarella cheese. Mix it up and drop it all in a baking dish lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.
While the mac is cooking, slice some hot dogs crosswise in half. Before putting the Mac N Cheese in the oven, set the ghouls in.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let it cool for 5 minutes then use mustard for the eyes and mouths.
Enjoy!

And for your Thursday morning viewing pleasure...

My cute kids!

Make A Meal.

"Most Requested" Chili

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

1 large can tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can tomato puree

2 (15 oz) cans beans, drained

3 Tblsp Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 cup water

3 cloves garlic, minded or pressed

1 beef bouillon cube

1 tsp crushed red pepper

2 bay leaves

1 Tblsp chili powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp thyme leaves

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp dry basil

Shredded cheddar cheese

Sour cream

Crumble beef into a 5-6 quart pot over medium heat. Stir to break up until browned. Add onion and cook until soft. Stir in tomatoes and their liquid, tomato puree, beans, well, just put everything else in except the cheese and sour cream.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer. Stir it every once in a while. It needs a couple of hours for the flavors to blend and not taste raw.

When it's ready, remove bay leaves and put some yummy chili in a bowl, add cheese and sour cream.

(I doubled the recipe the night before, set it in the fridge in the crock pot and heated it in the crock pot for several hours (while we were at church). I used chili beans, black beans and pinto beans.)

YUMMY!!

Gag Me With A Spoon.

Only worse. Seriously. I take 4 vitamins in the morning. It really shouldn't be that bad. But the C vitamin is a killer.

I mean, look at it!!

(Warning: Items in the picture may seem smaller than they actually are!)

Killer!

Yesterday I sprayed water all over my face and hair as I gagged on it.

Then I started to puke in the sink.

Today it just caught along the sides of my throat.

I gagged.

I didn't puke.

Luckily.

But I can't take it!

Should it really be this difficult to take a simple vitamin?

Wait, did I say simple? Have you seen it? It's ginormous! It's a killer.

With all the gagging I do every morning, I had better not get sick!

Have a nice day!

I Know You Can Do This.

When I was 12, I was in the hospital for 5 days after being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I had to learn to give myself shots, test my blood and learn how to stay healthy. It was tough. I cried a lot. I didn't like that I had to keep giving myself shots. It hurt.

One day, my dad came by himself to visit me. I was really struggling and was crying. My dad sat next to my bed and said something that I have thought of as a great life lesson. With tears in his eyes, he said, “Jennie, I wish I could take this from you and do it myself. If I could do it for you, I would. But Heavenly Father knows you can do this. He knows you will be a stronger person because of it. He knows you will grow and be able to help others because of this experience. I love you. You can do this.”

We sat and cried. It really wasn't what I thought I needed then. I really would have liked for him to just take it from me. But as I have grown and matured and had some super duper struggles, I have come to appreciate what he told me that day. Especially right now.

Daniel and I have been struggling with the adoptions. We have been waiting for what seems a lifetime for our family to grow again. I find myself falling apart at the seams at the most inconvenient times. It's like I have no control over my emotions. And it's difficult to explain to other people the sting of having empty arms.

Daniel and I have been praying and fasting and going to the temple a lot lately with adoption on our minds. We know we need to do more for our cause. We have to advocate for ourselves. We have to do what would normally be extremely uncomfortable for us. And we are okay with that. It's been amazing to receive the guidance we need to move forward. We know we can do it!

We will be sharing some of those things with you. We will be asking for your help. We will be anxiously engaged in finding our birthmom and completing our family.

When things seem to be at their worst. When we think we just can't do it anymore, help comes. I can hear my Heavenly Father saying, “Jennie, I wish I could take this from you and do it myself. If I could do it for you, I would. But I know you can do this. I know you will be a stronger person because of it. I know you will grow and be able to help others because of this experience. I love you. I know you can do this.”

I can. We can. We will. I have Daniel behind me, pushing and loving and never stopping his amazing care of me and our kids. I have the Lord behind me, pushing me, loving me and never stopping His amazing care of me and my family. We are in good hands. One scripture I found last week is now on my wall next to my bed. I read it several times every day.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessings the Father hath in his own hands and prepared for you;

And ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The Kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours.
And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this earth shall be added unto [you], even an hundred fold, yea, more.”

Doctrine & Covenants 78:17-19

Daniel and I have seen blessings come in droves. I know we will continue to see blessings come. We will eventually have our sweet baby (or babies!) in our arms.

We are blessed.

A Day In The Life.

Monday...I got my necklace. This represents a lot to me. I will go into detail at a later time!

Tuesday...I love when my kids get all artistic. This is called "Pot on Top"
Wednesday...Isaac entered the Pinewood Derby. This is the 2009 car. It has raced all over the world, thus the many numbers and comments from other world class drivers who just couldn't keep up. His car came in 2nd in the timed race. He also won a certificate for "Most Golden Car". Obviously.

Thursday...Sam invited me to go to war. I was the bad guys at the top. Sam was the good guys. His soldiers spelled USA. My bad guys got creamed.

Friday...I love going to the temple with Daniel. I also love my boots. This was my first boot wear of the season. My feet hurt.

Daniel and I have been getting lots of help from the Lord in our advocating of adoption. I'll get to that later.

Saturday...Baby shower then pictures. Crissy took lots and we finally got them all. This is one of my very favorites. Well, except for the "Hey" picture!

Sunday...Stake Conference. What a great meeting. The closing song got me all emotional. Then the thing stopped. The video and sound (it was being broadcast) kept going berserk. But we still enjoyed the message and spirit.

I just love my family!

Have a fantastic week!

A Picture.

My friend Crissy took us to a local location to take some fall photos. We have some stuff coming up and need some pictures and wanted to give Crissy a chance to...get to know us. Or something. This is my favorite of the 1/4 of the pics I could copy from the disk. We are working on the other 3/4 of them. It just says it all.
I look like I'm saying, "Hey!" Stop. Smile. Knock it off. Listen. Don't do that. Or something. Isaac is smiley. Ruthie is trying really hard. Sam actually looks good. Daniel is saying something too. But I just love my face. I feel like that's my face a lot. I will share more pics later!!

Crissy is awesome. If you want to see more of some recent photos she's done, go to her blog!

Thanks Crissy!

A Crummy Commercial.

"Mom!! You have to see this!"

"Look, it will organize all your stuff from your wallet!"

"It's so amazing. It will make your brownies already cut up!"

"WOW! You can make even better cakes if you get it!"

"Mom, your whites will be even brighter. You have to use that stuff!"

"You can dry everything with it!"

"You don't have to use a knife to cut stuff anymore!"

"Mom, you really need that toothpaste dispenser."

"If you get the toothpaste dispenser, we won't make any more messes in the bathroom!"

"Mom."

"MOM."

"MOMMMM!!!"

"MOM!! YOU HAVE TO GET THAT!"

My kids have been brainwashed by commercials. You know, the shamwow, the slapshot, the thingy that you put in the brownies when you bake them so they come out as brownie pieces, the cake pans that will change your life, the this, the that, etc. Do you feel my pain? One of my sweet dears even asked me why we don't see Billy Mayes on commercials so much anymore. You're kidding. Right?!

I think they should make commercials of children obeying with exactness when it comes to room cleaning, laundry folding, politeness, manners, hair combing, window washing, ironing, dishes doing, fridge cleaning, floor polishing, bed making, mom and dad worshipping...am I really asking so much?

I didn't think so.

Since my kids already did all their chores today without much complaining, I guess I shouldn't ask for too much.

After all, it's all just a crummy commercial.

Fall Giveaway!

Jen is at it again!

Go to her blog and see what I mean.

You could win one.

So could I.

Which is why I'm rooting for ME!!

No offense!

So go here and enter!

What Super Power Will You Use Today?

This morning, we were sitting eating breakfast and I told my kids that today they needed to use their super powers for good. Not that they use them for evil, mind you. But they were all awake at 6:20 this morning. A mom's gotta survive. Isaac and Sam both looked up with little smiles from their breakfast. Ruthie said, "What?! What super powers?" So I explained. Super Smile. Super Kindness. Super Helping. Super Service. Super whatever! Got it? So I asked each of my kids which super power they were going to use for "good" today.

Isaac is using Super Kindness. Which I can totally get. He is a kind kid. He loves to help others. He will go far with his super power!

Sam will also be using Super Kindness today. Sam is a squishy love bug. When he is kind, look out. He will kill with kindness. But in a good way!
Ruthie originally wanted to use her Super Smile. Then she switched to Super Kindness, too. She loves her brothers and wants to be like them. In this case, I will let her. Although I think her Super Smile will take the cake!

What Super Power will you use today?

A Day In The Life.

Monday...We aren't sure how long this Pepsi was actually in the freezer. Apparently it was too long. But my ice maker is now very clean!

Tuesday...Here is a Wolf from Isaac's field trip on Friday. He wore out the camera and the batteries with all the pictures he took. Tuesday was poncho making day.
Wednesday...I took the boys to get seasonal flu shots while Ruthie went to a birthday party. Sam thought it was pretty funny that the nurse put the bandaid on and completely missed the shot site.

Thursday...Ruthie went to get the seasonal flu mist. She still has a fever. We may just go back to the shot for her. Isaac got to go on a field trip to a dairy farm. I wish I was in fourth grade again. This was also the day I was duped into feeling very stricken for a family of a 6 year old boy. Since the boy was found in a box in the garage attic, many things have come to light and the police are getting ready to press criminal charges against the parents. Oh the webs we weave for a little TV time!

Friday...I no longer wish I was in 4th grade. I went on a field trip with Isaac (the second of the week) to the State Capitol building and the U of U Museum of Natural History. We had tons of fun. We were exhausted by the time we got home. I tried to get Ike to stand next to the Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. One was 4 inches long and about 2 inches wide. Way too big for a cockroach. I wasn't surprised that he would only stand next to the case with the dead roaches. I also got my new camera. It's a Fuji Finepix S1500. I don't know how that rates in the camera world, but I love it!

Saturday...Another visit to the emergency room. This time to get stitches out. Didn't hurt and his lip looks great. He also looks awesome with chocolate pudding pop on his mouth. I missed his smile while the stitches were in and now try to catch him laughing and smiling just so I can enjoy it. These last 2 pictures were taken with the new camera!

Sunday...I found myself wearing this green shirt to church. I don't like this shirt, but didn't really "have anything else to wear". To which Daniel would say, "You have a closet full of clothes!!" I don't like the shapes right around the biggest part of my belly. (baby making was a fattening experience!) But I got 3 really nice (and even genuine) compliments on the shirt today. Go figure. Maybe I won't put it in the DI pile yet. We are also getting closer to the Primary Program. The kids sound awesome when they sing and I am getting all the talks and testimonies back from kids. I just love my calling!!

Hope your week is awesomely terrific!

My Momma Heartstrings...

Have officially had a workout!! Did you see the mylar balloon in Colorado that was said to have a 6 year old boy in it flying around a couple of counties?? Did you? I sat and watched. I cried. I prayed. I held my heart with my hands. Because of a 6 year old boy!

The balloon just came down after 2 hours of flight. With a 6 year old boy in it! Good Heavenly Days! My momma hearstrings were on fire. But wait! The boy isn't in it. My heartstrings are still stretched a mile long because they don't know where the little boy is now.

I am continuing to watch, hoping they will get information that the little boy is hiding somewhere because he's scared that he let the balloon go. My goodness gracious sakes alive. So there is a search on for this little boy. Where is he? Did he fall out of the balloon? Is he hiding? Is he hurt? My momma heart can't take it!

What would you do if your child got into a 20 foot mylar balloon with helium in it and flew away? What would you do if your child was missing after thinking he was in a helium balloon in the air for 2 hours?

According to what I felt over the last little while, I would probably keel over and not ever get up again.

I hope the boy is in a friend's house under a bed or in a closet. Hiding.

I will go get my kids in an hour from school. I will hug each of them. And be grateful they aren't in a mylar balloon 8000 feet in the air. Or missing.


P.S. The boy has been found safe and sound in a box above the garage where he was hiding. Thank goodness!

*_*

While we were putting scriptures away last night, I saw Isaac's Sunday notebook. I saw all these things on it and thought they were math equations. They were all in a line like this:

=P*-*>=CQ_QXD=D>_><_<>=>x_x

Don't they look like some math equation? Wow. 4th grade is getting hard!

They are faces. I don't get the faces people put on messages. I think they're silly. And I usually have to crank my neck to the side to make them out. It hurts. But Isaac was just doodling them while he was bored. I had to ask him what each of them was.

=P Eyes and tongue hanging out of a mouth

*-* Starry eyes/Zombie

>=C Angry eyes

Q_Q Eyes popping out of one's head

XD Happy with sunglasses

= D Just happy

>_> Looking that way

<_< Looking the other way

>=> Happy eyes

x_x Dead eyes

You may already recognize some or all of these faces. I just thought there was brilliance in eqations. I think he's pretty funny. And extremely intelligent.

But I'm just his mom who doesn't get the faces.

She Loves It!

When she came in the house after school, she saw it! "Oh mom, You made it!" Yep, I'm awesome!

And the other side.
She wanted to know if she could keep it next to her bed at night. Then if she gets cold she can just put it on.
It feels like a blankie!

I Am Soooo Awesome!

I can sew a straight line and apparently I can even sew in a circle! I found this cute cute cute (2 cutes for being reversible and 1 cute for overall cuteness) poncho on a cute cute CUTE blog (2 cutes for all the FHE and cooking stuff and 1 extra big cute because she's about ready to have her 8th child!!!). I showed it to Ruthie and we went to get fabric. The first fabric she saw was the flowery one...it's the same used on the blog.

Then we found the striped and had to have that! It was sew easy that I think I'll use the other 2 fabrics we chose to make a second poncho. I can't wait till Ruthie sees it after school!!!
I just wanted to share it with you first!
See? I'm just so awesome!

A Day In The Life.

Monday...Sam was in charge of the FHE treat. He wanted something spooky. We got this lovely spider cake and did a scripture study review/treasure hunt. The cake was the treasure at the end. Guess how many people had black teeth when FHE was done?

Tuesday...We were all outside and then saw this V of geese flying over us. They were honking, too. I am wondering why they were going North. I thought they were supposed to fly South for the winter.
Wednesday...Sam wrapped his shirt around the chair and did his homework. At least he did his homework.

Thursday...Isaac needed some teeth pulled because the adult teeth were coming in at an odd angle. He has a fear of...doctors! So he has to be sedated. The other two watched movies while we waited for him to wake up. He was sore for a while. But it was nothing compared to Saturday!

Friday...Welcome to our "patch". We grew all our pumpkins this year. It's one of the fun parts of Fall!

Saturday...And here is what I warned was coming. Isaac came flying into the family room and tripped and the red table went right through his lip. Daniel took him to the Urgent Care, but Isaac has this fear... So they had him take Isaac to the Emergency Room to get the stitches in. He got 9 total. 6 on the outside and 3 on the inside. That night as we had a movie night, he leaned over to me and said, "This is just not my weekend!" Poor guy!

Sunday...We love playing Dominoes. It's easy and everyone loves it. We woke up this morning to the kids setting up a line. It accidently got knocked down too soon. Bummer!

I hope your weekend is better than Isaac's and that you have a terrific week!

Coming Soon...

The Emergency Room Visit And 9 Stitches Later...........

Cute Quips.

I love following Isaac into his room while he builds with his Legos so I can talk to him. The best conversations happen when I go in and just lay on Sam's bed and ask him about his day. He will start with a simple answer like...good, bad, okay, dumb, I hate my teacher, I don't think I need to go to school anymore, I made a new friend, why do we have fingernails, why do I have to clean my room everyday. With his answer I start asking more specific questions and we usually have a really great conversation.

Yesterday I went in and asked about his day and then what he did at recess. He said he and some other kids played four square. His friend got bullied out of the game. Isaac was still in the game. He said he walked out of the game (there was a line of other kids wanting to get in to the game, so I didn't push the "don't walk out of a game in the middle of it" discussion)so he could go help his friend.

Here is what he said...
"So he walked out into the field and when I got to him he was crying a little. So I told him, there are some good games and there are some bad games. You just have to choose the good games."

His friend said he was a really good friend to come and talk to him and cheer him up.

I love the advice Isaac gave his friend. Yes, there are good games and bad games. Good friends and bad friends. Good choices and bad choices. I love that he knows this and will advise his friend to choose the good ones!

My heart is full.

Make A Meal.

If you find you have an abundance of these...

You can make yummy eats!

This is called

APPLE CRUMBLE

First you need apples. Enough for 5-6 cups of apple slices. Put those yummy slices in the bottom of a baking dish. Dot the apples with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or brown sugar. I do both.

Make the crumble part with 2 cups of flour and 1 stick (8oz) butter. Mix that together until it resembles bread crumbs. Add 2 cups sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix it up and put it over the apples with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Don't let it cool too long before you serve it. While it's warm, top it with vanilla ice cream or a spoon full of whipped cream.

You won't be disappointed!

A Day In The Life.

Monday...We started the week with the new game coming in the mail for Isaac and Sam. They spent their own hard earned money and then planned and researched which game to buy. They had fun finally playing their game!

Tuesday...I noticed one day that a small person wrote a name on the inside of the van door. It wasn't hard to guess who did it!
Wednesday...Sam brought home a science magazine from school. As I looked through it I found a recipe for slime. So we got all the ingredients out and made slime. So much fun!

Thursday...A quick hook up after the heavy feeling and the kids were playing the Wii in the car. We won't do it again because it made Ruthie car sick! We also watched the 2 original Witch Mountain movies for a Movie Matinee Day.

Friday...Lunch with my friend Leanne. Then off to girls' night. My 3 sisters, mom and Meme (grandma) met at Mimi's for dinner. One sister in law met us later and another was sick and we missed her greatly. Katie and I spent the night at my mom's so we could stay up late and watch movies and talk. We stayed up until 3 am just talking. We never did watch our movie.

Saturday...As my mom and Katie and I were out shopping, my mom got a phone call from my dad that Meme had been in a car accident. Boy, was she. By the time I grabbed my camera to document the whole thing, Meme was feeling less shaken and smiling. And just for future reference, the shopping trip had the girls locked and loaded properly again!

Sunday...General Conference. Lovely! We all sat and laid to watch. I always print a packet of activities relating to conference for the kids. Ruthie and Sam enjoyed theirs.

Have a terrific week!