prep day

I'm not talking about a missionary prep day here, I'm talking about the day before Thanksgiving, prep day. I was inspired by the Pioneer Woman and by Patsy who had Thanksgiving early this year for her missionary and decided to brine our turkey this year. Ann had never cooked a turkey before and since she was the hostess this year, she was open to my ideas. :) So, I spent most of Wednesday at Ann's house which Ethan loved and experimented with the brining technique which I have to say went very well. Except, it took for-stinkin'-ever for the brine to cool enough to soak the turkey in it. Also, I did not read PW's blog until the night before so I missed out on the William Sonoma spices and brining bags, they don't have that kind of thing at Dick's Market. So, I looked on line and found a recipe for brine that I used, by the way, I LOVE recipezaar.com, if you've never tried it, you should, so good. The brining bag ended up being one of those XL Ziploc bags that advertise being able to hold sleeping bags and more...coincidentally, they also hold an 18 pound turkey with 1.5 gallons of brine. Who knew? While I was at Ann's house helping with Bob (we named the turkey after having spent so much time with him), Allie was here at our house with Apey making the famous chicken salad log that we love so much. Apey brought this recipe with her into our family and it's so good it quickly became a tradition. Apey was travelling to CA later that night so she helped Allie make them ahead of time and then brought her up to Ann's on her way home. Then, a special treat, Grandma came over to make a few pies and Allie was thrilled to cook with Grandma, she is an excellent teacher, Sammy loved it too. At the end of the day, Ann fed us dinner, Rich came over after work and grandma and grandpa stayed to eat too, it was a fun little "stretch" dinner to get ready for the big turkey day. I told Ann that I hate to eat and run but now I had to go home and prepare the things that I was supposed to bring to dinner. My favorite Thanksgiving dish is sweet potato casserole, oh my praline goodness, mmmm. The prailine part isn't featured in this picture, but you add it to the top and bake it all up, so good! I also made stuffed mushrooms, mmmm. This is the yummy sausage filling...I'm hungry for this food all over again! I took many pictures of the process because I have been inspired by pioneer woman and think that I may start my own wende the mom cooks blog so my kids can look up recipes when they're grown and see the action in pictures. What do you think? Thanksgiving's comin'! Yee-ha!

i've been tagged!

I was tagged by my cutie sister-in-law Lisa and I've never done this before, but it sounds fun, so here we go! Here are the rules:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags other people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I love the written word, I love to read everything, books, magazines etc. I also have a book of great quotes that I keep close by for scrapbooking and card making. I also print them out and hang them all over the house. I really love having favorites printed in vinyl and hanging them around the house, my only dilema is to not have "over kill" and so I'm currently trying to select my favorite handful and this is a hard job. One of my favorite quotes ever is: Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same...Pearl S. Buck, who also just happens to be one of my favorite authors. I think I love this quote so much because it totally sums up my mothering, but I think I'm a little bit of both, kissing and scolding, and she's right, it's love either way.

2. I love having a clean house with everything put in it's spot but it takes a backseat on a regular basis to playing with Ethan, volunteering, homework, webelos, and life in general. I've tried over the last year, of people wanting to tour our new home, to let go of the feeling of dread when I see clutter. We live here after all, it's supposed to be a little cluttered right?

3. I began scrapbooking because I love photography and I thought it was a great way to showcase some of my favorite photographs. Ironically enough, I became a much better photographer from scrapbooking because I quickly learned that a page can only be as great as the photograph. I wish I had more time for scrapbooking, it's very theraputic for me, I think that's why I love to blog so much!

4. I love hearing my kids practicing their instraments, even if it is like pulling teeth to get them to practice in the first place! The other day I heard Taylor playing a Jack Johnson song and I thought someone left iTunes running! I was so excited when I realized it was him, all these years of $60 a month for guitar lessons are finally starting to pay off! Allie and Spencer are great pianists, I love listening to their progress and am always amazed and how great they are. Most of my spiritual experiences in life have been through music, it's a wonderful channel for the spirit to communicate to me.

5. I can mud! I didn't know this was a skill that I posessed until we bought this old house that has needed tons of work, including mudding in almost every room! Some rooms have needed it more than others but after about six rooms now, I am a highly skilled mudder! It's kind of fun too. Imagine that.

6. If it is not written down, then I can't remember it. I have been known to shout from the shower to the kids to write something on the grocery list, because I know that if I wait until after the shower, it will be gone from my memory. I have a great memory for memories though, I will tell a story about something I remember from when I was little and my mom will say, "wow, you were like two or three when that happened!" To be honest, I'll take the memories over the grocery list!

Ok, that's six, that was kind of hard! I'm going to tag Patsy, Kayleen and that's it, I don't really know anyone else who hasn't already been tagged recently!

homecoming

We have been counting down the days to something very special around here. Tonight we finally welcomed home Grandma and Grandpa from their mission in Africa. It has been a long 18 months, longer it seems than their other two missions and it was an exciting time for all of us. There was a long line at the door, grand kids came sworming, but only after Ann got her hugs in first out in the driveway! :) P.S. my pictures are terrible because I realized later I was in the wrong mode, but at least they're something.They look a little thinner but no worse for the wear and we are certainly glad to have them back! Thanksgiving will be especially fun this year, we are looking forward to spending the day with them. Welcome home mom and dad!

life plan

The other morning Spencer and I were talking about his upcoming opportunity to earn some money by taking care of Goldie while Phil and Lauri are out of town for Thanksgiving. We were discussing tithing and how much was required of him to put in the bank and how much he would have left over for spending money. He was thinking about things for a minute and then said to me, "I'm going to pay my tithing, and then put the rest in the bank. After I save enough money for my mission and for college and to live the rest of my life, I'm going to buy a wii". Rich and I started cracking up immediately, he was just so matter-of-fact about being able to save as much money as he would need for the rest of his life before he bought a wii. Rich told him that he was sure about $100 would cover it. :)

newest tradition

So starts the time of year for family traditions. Well, we have traditions all year long, but the next few months seem to be jam-packed with them. Last year Allie and I attended the Clytie Adams production of the Nutcracker at Weber State University. Chloe and Blair danced in it last year and so we went to cheer for them and ended up having a most wonderful time! The whole time I was thinking how fun it would be to start a girls tradition of going to the Nutcracker with Grammy and all the girls. I proposed the idea and all were in, so this year began the newest tradition. We also took the opportunity to take mother/daughter pictures which everyone loved except Makenna but we still got her to smile.We had a wonderful time, the dancing was phenomenal as usual and hearing a live orchestra is always a treat. It was so cute to see Allie sitting in the middle of the two littlest girls explaining what was happening as the different dancers took their turns on stage. Last year that was the role that I played with her, but this year she was all grown up and made it her job. After the ballet we were all starving, most of us ditched breakfast to get there on time and our tummies were rumbling. We ate at one of our favorite places, Mimi's Cafe, if you haven't tried it, you definitely should. Their corn chowder served in a cute croc with a doile and a honey bran muffin, mmmmm, so good. The girls were just so cute, except Allie who was done having her picture taken. What a great day!

the chocolate is in!

Yes, yes, I'm still alive! Blogging took a back seat to the chaos this week, luckily I have a few minutes this evening to try to get caught up. Thursday morning started with the some of the best bed head I have ever seen courtesy of Spencer! He and Taylor are obsessed lately with growing their hair out a little, ok, a lot, it's driving me crazy but I'm trying to pick my battles. Spencer went to bed with wet hair Wednesday night and woke up to this! Even wetting it didn't calm it down enough, I told him those are the breaks when you grow your hair too long! Unfortunately it didn't seem to detour him too much. Ethan was off to Ann's to play while Patsy and I sorted the Sally Foster order that came to school today...Luckily, we got some of our favorite sixth grade girls to help us out and Patsy and I were done with enough time to grab some Firehouse salads for lunch. We forgot to take a picture, we were in a huge hurry, next time. I really am blessed to have the opportunity to volunteer, it makes my life crazy some days, but it's worth it, I love being at my kids' schools and feeling like I contribute. Allie's school especially feels like home to me and I'm going to be sad to leave it at the end of this year.

bitter sweet

Although as mothers we are particularly proud of our missionary sons, sending them away from home for two years is a bitter sweet experience. Today was Brian's farewell and let me just say, that I didn't cry that much at my own brothers' farewells (sorry, love you guys). It was a very emotional day, and also a very spiritual one. During Brian's talk the spirit was so strong and I was grateful for the rejuvenation to my soul. I just kept thinking of Patsy and if I were her, how I would be feeling (proud and sad) and then Brian said, as he started to cry, "I just can't talk and look at my mom". He is such an awesome kid, seriously, a total ham, he is going to have the best time and other missionaries are going to wish for him as a companion becuase he will make the work fun! I can't wait to see some of the pictures he sends home, he is also a wonderful photographer.People in Chile will feel of his love and spirit and testimony and be drawn to his message of the truthfulness of the gospel. Afterwards, Patsy's house was hopping with sooo many well-wishers, which doesn't surprise me because I'm sure Brian has an army of friends who love him, he's just that kind of person that everyone wants to call friend. These were only some of the shoes piled by the door...I had my camera out so I could help Patsy take pictures, I knew she would be too overwhelmed. I had to take pictures of these to DIE for brownies made my Linda the caterer who everyone loves.Is there a better dessert than brownies? Lovely, gooey brownies and it didn't hurt that they were three inches thick, oh my chocolate goodness! My second favorite treat are lemon bars, these were the best I've ever tasted and I will be asking Patsy for the recipe as soon as her life calms down. It's hard to imagine that I had any room left over for a sandwich and salad, but I stuffed it all in and it was worth it. YUM! At the end, Patsy hugged me and told me she loved me, I was so touched. We have known each other for years, but this last little while we have grown so close and I value her friendship so much. I will be thinking about her on Wednesday around 11am while they're taking Brian to the MTC. Bitter sweet.

paint, photographs and a wet smelly dog

Why do the weekends have to go by so quickly? Seriously, sometimes you just need a little more down time but rarely get it. Yesterday was positively beautiful fall weather, perhaps the most beautiful day we've had so far. I LOVE FALL! Although I spent the morning doing some of this (again)...But later in the day, I also got to take some family pictures for one my favorite people in the whole world. (I kind of like her family too :) ).Her family was cooperative, but the dog...not so much. When I took close ups of the kids, Phil wanted a few close ups of Goldie. I laughed but complied, I swear he loves that dog more than any human. When we baby sit her for them, he always calls to check to see how she's doing, Lauri says he doesn't call to check on her when he's away on business, case and point. He was excited to let her jump in water at the end of the shoot and also very interested in some action shots, so I also took these. I have to say that as fun as it was to see her dive and then shake, it was NOT fun to smell her in the car for the drive home peeeewwww! Yuck. It was a fun afternoon spent with our favorite friends, even though everybody (and their dog) was there getting pictures done. Everyone must have known that the weather was going to turn, I am booked for shoots for the next two weeks, I hope the nice weather comes back in time for OUR family photos!

seemingly ugly apples contd.

You may remember my post about seemingly ugly apples that my sister-in-laws and I are working on...I still can't reveal too many details because this person may be reading my blog, but I spent the day at Ann's again with Jenny and we transformed the seemingly ugly apples into obviously darling ones! I'm so excited about how dang cute this project is turning out, especially because we've kind of improvised as we've gone along and the finished product wasn't necessarily our original plan. I love that kind of project, when it turns out cuter than you even pictured! As usual the cousins, all boys, made Ethan feel right at home and enjoyed playing together all day long. We decided we need to have some kind of a craft day each week so we can hang out because play group just isn't enough. I have so enjoyed hanging with my sister-in-laws through this project and play group days, we have a lot of laughs about everything under the sun, today's topic was hillarious testimony meeting stories. :) I know you know a few, email them to me since my blog has a bug and the posting isn't working. I would love to hear them. It's so nice to finally have sisters, I have waited so long for them and am trying to enjoy every minute of hanging out. While making apples with mod podge is fun, it really is, hanging with the girls is way more fun, I would take a craft project that I didn't even like just for a girls' afternoon. Love those gals!

queen of domesticity

Tonight was Allie's first Evening of Excellence now that she is a Beehive, we were both very excited and although the program was kind of lame, it was fun to see the girls' projects displayed. Allie has been working on this darling embroidery project which turned out so cute, especially for her first one.
Cute Aunt Jenny gave her a lesson over the summer and then a last minute french knot lesson yesterday and it was ready! I know Allie is my daughter, so I'm biased but she is really one of those people who things comes naturally to her and she is just so talented. Those kind of people made me sick in highschool when I was trying to figure out what I was good at. Come to think of it, it still gets under my skin just a little. Allie especially seems to excell at domestic skills like cooking and sewing and she is Ethan's favorite, even over me. Not to mention whata beautiful dancer she is, she's getting great on the piano and even her photographs win blue ribbons. I'm so glad to have a daughter and even though I have to send her away to other sister-in-laws to learn her sewing and needlepoint skills, I enjoy watching her grow and develop her talents and give her every bit of encouragement that I can. I am shocked sometimes when I see her because she is so grown up, tonight at church was one of those times. I'm just so proud of her.