My favorite Halloween

I'm not sure I can pin one of these down. I agree with Julie that Halloween is so much more fun with kids! Now that my kids are a little older and understand that they can really get a lot of candy with a little bit of effort they REALLY love Halloween! I can't hardly remember Halloween as a kid. I mean I remember going and having fun. I was usually a baby once I hit my teenage years. I didn't think that scary was all that cute. I remember that old elephant costume that we used to have. I remember the clown costume that mom made Brody. It was so cute that I asked her to make one for Cedar a few years ago. The kids still wear it. I remember one from when I was in elementary school that I had said something to my teacher about the pumpkin stew that mom makes in a pumpkin and somehow I had volunteered her to make it for the whole class. Unfortunately I didn't realize that's what I did and I can't remember exactly but I remember that no one realized my mistake until that day in school where none of the kids had lunches and I had no stew to share. Maybe mom can give a better story of what happened, but whatever it is I am sure that I am TOTALLY innocent! By the way mom, will you post that recipe? So, what is my favorite? Probably last year watching the kids eyes bulged as they got 17 lbs of candy. I think that it was then that they really GOT Halloween. I too will post some Halloween Pict's sometime this weekend. These are from last year!

Happy Birthday Aspen!

Eight years ago at 3:03 pm a little miracle was brought into our family. She has beautiful steel blue eyes, an amazing brain and a very kind heart. I can't imagine my life with out her. She keeps me on my toes, makes me laugh, gives me loves, helps all she can, and like the true artist that she is, everything she sees has beauty and she helps me see it too.

I love you Aspen!

I like my birthdays

every one.

Each brings

a greater

joy to me.

But I can't wait

until I'm eight,

For then I'll be

baptized you see.

We have been having a lot of fun with grandma and grandpa here! We went for a bike ride and walk at Panther Creek State Park. As we were heading to the car at the end a deer ran right in front of Olive who was riding her bike. That was something you don't see every day. I have seen them run in front of a car (even seen one up really close...ahem...) but in front of a little girl on her bike! Pretty cool!

The fifth annual Pumpkin carving party with all of our Japanese friends was a success. We always have fun carving and eating and enjoying each other. It was a first and a last time. First time for Mrs. Kawasaki to ever carve a pumpkin and a last time for the Ebina's to be there. They are going home to Japan the first of the year.

The ward Trunk or Treat and chili cookoff was a success. Even though it rained, we went from classroom door to classroom door and everyone still ended up with full treat bags. The kids just keep going until all of the candy is gone. This year, Aspen made costumes for her and Olive. She was so proud of herself and she did a great job. Maybe I have a designer on my hands!

A warning and a teacher

First, a warning...

Some of you know that last week I had shingles. Yes, I know, that is usually a treat that dear grandma's and grandpa's get, right??? WRONG! And to prove my point I give you exhibit #2. Introducing my dear little sister Liz. She just called after getting out of the doctor with her own diagnosis of shingles. I live half way across the continent from her so even if I could have given it to her I didn't. It's just a little weird. The lady that does music for our primary had it 3 weeks ago, then I get it, now Liz has it and she said her sister in law (or was it cousin in law???) has it too. I don't know, but I would definitely be on the look out for a blistery rash on one side of your tummy and feeling sick, weird with no fever a few days before that. Stress is one of the things that can bring this baby out of hiding, so, like they say, "Don't worry, be happy!"

On to a teacher that has influenced my life.

Again, there are many. I will highlight one. When I was in High School my English teacher Ms. B. (I don't even remember her full last name. Brinkerhoff maybe?) She was the only teacher that I couldn't "float" my way through class with. Her assignments were hard and for the first time I was not just regurgitating answer es but thinking and forming opinions. It was more than "what does this teacher want me to say." and more of "How many ways can I think about this?" I think that so often we teach what to think, that we forget to teach how to think. Ms. B helped me as I began that difficult journey of the "real world" and all of the many things it would give me to think about.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

My Week. A photo essay in reverse.

It's done. The last piece of trim went on today.

Decorated and furnished by Aspen, Cedar and Olive.

Nervous breakdown that almost happened.


We survived.

It FINALLY came out!

Haircut time.

So silly!

Entertainment for Jonathon and the kids while I went to my primary meeting.

A little bit of heaven

My storm is almost over. The hurricane of house renovation though not complete, the worst, deadlined part is over. Aspen's birthday party was a success though we were almost late to our own party due to a football game that went late. I feel like the weight is almost all off my shoulder, and things are feeling great! Today, after the party, when things had settled down we all sat down and played "Pass." It's the kids new favorite game and a cross between UNO and 21. Aspen is very good at it, Cedar has trouble holding all of the cards, and Olive prefers to play with all of her cards face up on the ground. But there we were, playing and Olive is being Olive and she gets a good card and says something like, "Oh, that is GOOD! That is really GOOD!" and she puts it in her pile, and then she puts the card down that Aspen needs and everyone is laughing because she really is cute. Then Aspen and Cedar say silly things and all I can do is look at Jonathon and think what a crazy, wonderful little family we have. Heaven.

Favorite recipe

I sit here at my computer with boxes surrounding me, dinner dishes still on the table, a big hole in my newley floored bathroom where the toilet should be, beautiful new carpet that desperately needs to be vacuumed and what am I doing? Blogging... I'm glad I have my priorities straight!

Did you catch that? My carpet is in!!! WooHoo! I will blog about that when I can take pictures I am not embarrassed to let the entire cyber world see. So on to this weeks Journal Jar question.

What is my favorite food and recipee.

That is truely tough. When I was living at home it was lasagna. I have been living in a house where we don't eat the quantity of cheese that I used to, so although I still love lasagna, if I made it my husband couldn't eat it, my son would stink for a week, my youngest would be in the hospital with croup and my oldest would refuse to eat it because it has sauce in it. So, this question has me rethinking favorites.

The truest answer is that I love dessert the best. I will second Julie and say cholcolate. I will however let her keep the dark and I will go for the milk chocolate. Whatever it is as long as it has chunks of real chocolat in it I am game!

I also love a good soup. I made some the other day and even though I know this and should never have done it I put the rice in with the soup. My advice, when you make soup that you want to put a grain like rice in, have 2 containers, one for the soup, one for the grain and then dish them up together. Rice continues to absorb water. So now I don't have leftover soup, I have leftover soggy casserole.

I also love a good chicken caesar salad. I love Olive garden salad. I love poppy seed dressing on any cheap (or expensive) salad.

I love just about anything that I don't have to cook or clean up.

I could post a lot of recipe's, but I thought I would post this because it is sooooooooooooo easy and a total crowd pleaser.

Better than _(fill in the blank)_ cake

1. Bake a regular old Chocolate Cake Mix according to the directions
2. When it comes out of the oven and is still hot pour 1/2 bottle of Carmel or Butterscotch ice cream topping and 1/2 can Sweetened Condensed Milk over the top. Take a fork and spread it around and poke holes in the top of the cake so this very high calorie stuff seeps into the cake. Do this until it is all absorbed.
3. Cool in the pan.
4. Frost with one tub of Cool Whip.
5. Take several Score bars and break them up with a hammer or rolling pin or by throwing them against the wall. Then sprinkle them on top.
6. Cut, share a piece with some one and then save the rest for yourself. That way you can honestly say that you didn't eat it all by yourself!

Update

The carpet is being put in as I type! (Everyone jump up and down and do the happy dance with me!) I have wanted to do all of this updating to our house since we moved in, so when the opportunity came, I jumped! We are on the down hill side now and it feels great! The funny thing about fixing up your house is that once you get started it's hard to stop. I look around my house and say, "Oh, I need to get to that too." Or, "That would look great if I ...." After the carpet comes the trim in the basement. I still need to paint the living room (Never, Ever use flat paint in a room that you go in more than 2 times a year!) and re paint the bathrooms. Then comes all of the extras. It is so strange walking around our upstairs. If you have ever been to our house you would remember the squeeeeks. It probably would have been great if we had a wayward teenager that we wanted to keep track of, but since I'm sure my kids would never dream of doing anything wrong, we went ahead and fixed the floor. It's so quiet it's almost scary. Here are a few pictures of what we have been doing when we haven't been working on the house.

Olive jumping.

I got Cedar the "Bob Books" set. They are all phonetic and short. Perfect for him. He really loves it because he can read all by himself. Cute little guy slept with them the first few days after he got them. We found this little guy on the swing set. I have never seen a live stick bug that wasn't behind glass.

Jonathon and the kids playing flag football between General Conference sessions on Saturday.

Cedar playing flag football

The girls with a friend "watching" the game.

"Name a book you love and why"

I have been a slacker this week, the carpet will be here Tuesday and we are doing the last minute stuff.... But, excuses is not the name of this post, so on to book talk!

I will agree with Julie that naming just one book is almost impossible. I too will also skip the assumed primary answer of the Book of Mormon and the rest of the scriptures. If you don't know that about me then I'm doing something wrong.

I will give just about any book that you put in front of my face a chance. Most I will even read through before I decide if it was worth my time. There are, however, a few books that I come back to often. The ones that have a permanent place on my bookshelves and life. A few of them are...

For me

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I don't think that I need to say anything about this one. It has survived the years and even though I can practically recite parts of it I still get hung up in the suspense of Lizzy and Darcy's lives. Anything by Jane Austen will do. She is a wonderful writer. Though I will admit that the first time I read Pride and Prejudice it took about five times longer than my usual time for a book of equal length. It's hard to get in to the way her books are written and the period expressions and descriptions.

The Harry Potter series is one that really I can read over and over. They are like old friends or your favorite pair of jeans.

I love the Twilight series...

The Chronicles of Narnia is one of those that is great, stays interesting, starts to waver at the end and then BLOWS YOU AWAY with the ending. I read them just like that. I kept thinking that I was hating the last book. I almost hated it till the very end and then, well, I loved it. After reading all of them (more than a few times) I decided that C.S. Lewis is missing book 8. I really do believe there needed to be a book 8 but I won't tell you why unless you've read all of them and know what I am talking about. I think that just about the meanest thing you can do to a person is spoil the end of a book. I will say of this series that as I read it I thought to myself, "I can't wait to read this to Cedar when he is old enough."

I love Madeline L'Engle. All of her books are great, but my favorite is A Wrinkle in Time.

I love the stories that Shannon Hale writes. Princess Academy, Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets.

For the kids

Alpha Phonics is my favorite "learn to read" book.

Izza Trapani is one of my favorite illistrators and creators of wonderful plays on nursery rhymes.

There are so many more, but my time is up because Olive's video is over. Mommy is needed. I'm back on duty!

More updates and pictures to come. Maybe before the carpet, but that's a big maybe....

p.s.
We just bought tickets to come out there (Utah) for Christmas. We get in Wed Dec 17th around 7:00pm and leave Wed. Dec 31 at 5:00pm. Yea!

Traditions

I don't think anyone could call me the slacker blogger (lately anyway) but to show support and to keep everyone else blogging I will participate.

Emily already went through many of them so I'll post some different ones, though I'll second all the ones that she posted, as well as Girls weekend from Julie's post.

When we went to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's we would stop at the "Big Rock Candy Mountain." I just tried to post a picture, but I don't know how to take an image off of another web site and post it on mine. You can check it out here though. http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/candymtn.htm

Another one that I remember is the day after Thanksgiving sock sales. My mom, Grandma Loveridge and sometimes my sisters and I would get up really early and wait for the stores to open (Open, open, open) and we would grab our carts, rush over to the socks and madly start throwing socks into our basket. We would go through what we got later, for now, it was more important to get our hands on them before they were gone. They don't do sock sales like that anymore, but I still get up early and go shopping. It's not the same with out the rest of the crew, but most of the time, the tradition still lives on. Maybe this year...

With my family we have several. One that the kids really love is that Jonathon makes crepes with strawberries on Saturdays. Some days he has meetings or is just too tired, but we have them a lot and the kids love it!

Another one that we love is Halloween. We invite all of our Japanese friends over and have pizza and carve pumpkins. They don't have Halloween in Japan so it's fun to see the first time someone carves a pumpkin.



One that just got started that I hope to carry on I got from Allison's blog. Aspen turns eight in a few weeks and will get baptized. My mom got her a beautiful new dress and I wanted to take some pictures of her in it. It needed to be special, just her and I so I took her out of school while Olive and Cedar were still in school and we went up to the butterfly garden and took pictures. I am no Allison photographer, and I will probably take her to Sears or something for some back up images, but hopefully this tradition will help my children feel how important they are to me and what a milestone in their life that they are reaching. Here are a few peeks at the pictures we took. I will post more in the next few days.