Halloween

I've never been a real fan of Halloween (it's definitely not my favorite holiday - kids walking around begging for candy!! - not my thing), although I've done the appropriate things - made sure the kids had costumes, went to their Halloween parades, helped at the school parties, had the candy ready for trick or treaters, decorated the house with a few decorations (nothing to the extent some people go to!), etc. I've been amazed in the past as to how creative some people can be when it comes to making their own costumes out of what they have on hand. So, when Brian came up with his costume I wasn't quite sure what to think. Creative - yes! Funny - yes! You decide for yourself! (Just to let you know - he had no takers!!)

The girls came over later with their kids and it was fun to see how excited they were for Halloween. They all looked so cute! Even Todd and Krysta got into the spirit of things by dressing up. The Disney store (with their good sales from time to time) or E-Bay seem to be favorites for them to shop for costumes.

Witch-a-palooza!

For this month's football moms get-together. We went to Gardner Village in Salt Lake for their dinner theater "Witch-a-palooza". Everyone (except Sue) dressed up, but I have to admit, I didn't dress up nearly as much as the other 5. What an example they were to me to really get into the spirit of things. We had such a delightful time!

There were some other groups of women that dressed up so we weren't the only ones to draw attention to ourselves. We got there early enough to make a stop beforehand at Sweet Afton's - for sample of fudge. Course we couldn't stop with a sample - we all bought the flavors we though were the best!! I was able to make mine last until the next day, but I was wishing I'd bought even more than I had!! We also went into another store just to look around.

Witch-a-palooza was a musical "love" story between a witch Esmerelda and a warlock Weston. Much of the music they sang was adapted to the story but was familiar to me (music from the 70's). The dinner was a chicken breast with gravy, rice, veggies, and pumpkin-spice cake for dessert. It was very tasty.

I love the different adventures and places we go to on our monthly get-togethers and I dearly love these women. They are an inspiration and wonderful friends.

Nifty Nifty Look Who's Fifty!!

Krysta's mother-in-law turned 50 this weekend and Krysta and Cindy's girls planned a surprise party for her. The plan was for Clare (her husband) to take her out for a nice dinner while everyone arrived at the house. He took her to the BYU creamery afterwards and then let Krsyat know they were on their way home. Krysta went down to the corner to be the "lookout" and let the others at the house know when they were coming. Since Clare drives "conservatively" Krysta had plenty of time to arrive back at the house and join the others. Jaime peeked out the window to let us know when they were in the driveway. The lights were turned down and everyone hushed and waited. When she walked in the door, we all yelled surprise as the lights were turned back on. Cindy does NOT like surprises, so she wasn't real pleased when she walked into a house full of people there to celebrate with her!! However, I think in the end she enjoyed visiting with all the wellwishers - family, friends, neighbors and ward members. She loves M&M's - and I mean LOVES them, so many of the gifts she received were M&M's so she has at least a month's worth!!! Happy Birthday Cindy! You look great!

Bishop Wives Breakfast

Twice a year the stake presidency wives put on a breakfast for the wives of the bishops in the stake. This morning was the second one for this year and it was the first one prepared by the wives of the new stake presidency. We were able to meet the 2 new bishop wives also. It is a great time to get together and "compare notes" and to learn that some of the things you experience as a bishop's wife others also feel. The food was yummy, the company was great, and when we left we were given more "spiritual food" to add to the binders we'd been given several breakfasts ago. They have talks in them that the stake presidency wives feel are good ones to "feed our souls".

Region Champs

We've gone to the PG Vikings football games this fall (only missed one) to support a team that became near and dear to our hearts while our son played for PG. Except for the first game when they lost to Timpview by a score of 10-6 this team has been undefeated and are the sole Region Champs for this year. This makes the 3rd year in a row they are region champs. (Our boys were the first ones to win the region championship with their win over Spanish Fork in 2006. They went on to play in the semi-finals at Rice-Eccles Stadium up at the U of U that year.)

Congratulations to this year's team for your hard work and dedication. Keep it up so that we can cheer you on at state!! Playoffs start this Friday, October 31 at 3:00 here in PG against Brighton.

I've Been Tagged!

This is all new to me - I didn't know what it meant to be "tagged". I had to have Missy explain it to me. So - here goes:
"I've Been Tagged" 3 Favorite Last Purchases:
A. 2004 Toyota Camry - nicest car we've ever owned!
B. Trampoline for the grandkids
C. KitchenAid mixer - have wanted one FOREVER - finally got it about a year ago
3 Fears:
A. Losing My Family
B. Mice and heights
C. My computer and/or phone service not working when I sign in to work JetBlue and I'll have to go to Salt Lake to work!
3 Favorite Movies:
A. Gone With the Wind
B. Out of Africa
C. Ever After
3 Facts about me:
A. I love good showtunes.
B. I was the Utah state winner in a national quilt contest sponsored by Good Housekeeping and Land's End, and also made another award-winning quilted wallhanging that traveled the country for a year.
C. I don't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
3 Things I haven't done:
A. Climbed to the top of Timp - only to the saddle twice.
B. Been to Nova Scotia - but we'll be there next summer to pick up Mitch!!
C. Gotten all my pictures into scrapbooks (I'm working on this though.)
3 Things I can't Live without:
A. My husband and family
B. My true friends
C. My camera!!
3 Things on today's list:
A. Write Mitch
B. Iron Dave's shirts
C. Make Bread and Breadsticks
3 Favorite Dishes:
A. Los Hermanos chips and salsa
B. Homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken
C. Grilled burgers with fresh corn on the cob and fresh home-grown tomatoes! MMMM good!
3 Places I have lived:
A. Pleasant Grove, UT
B. Provo, UT - in a 3 bedroom apartment while Dave was in school.
C. Brainerd, Minnesota
3 Favorite T.V. Shows:
A. NCIS
B. CSI (NY and Las Vegas ones)
C. 24
3 Places I have traveled:
A. Western Caribbean
B. New York
C. Florida
3 Favorite Desserts:
A. Homemade French Silk pie (with whipped cream on it of course!)
B. Brownies, ice cream, homemade hot fudge (favorite ice cream is Love Potion #31 - Baskin Robbins but I love Mint Chocolate Chip too)
C. White chocolate/rasberry cheesecake from Cheescake Factory
3 Things I would buy if money wasn't an issue:
A. At least 10 acres (more if possible) on a lake like my mom's so we could build our dream house and a place like "the Barn" - room for lots of family, inside basketball court, playhouses, hill for slip-'n-slide, trout pond and zipline, open space for volleyball, frisbee, football, tennis court, and anything else we wanted to add (little mini-golf area maybe), etc.
B. A fantastic vacation every year with my family (Amen Suzanne - I'm with you there)
C. I'd pay off the kids' school loans or make it possible they could go to college and not worry about money. They could just concentrate on their studies.
3 Wishes:
A. Live a long, healthy, happy life with my good husband, travel together, and serve a mission together someday.
B. Find missing ancestors and make sure their work gets done; visit the areas of the world they came from too.
C. Enjoy my children and grandchildren and be a good example to them. I'd also like to incorporate into my life the example of others in doing unique things and making special memories with both my children and grandchildren.
3 People I Tag: (this will be hard since there aren't very many people on my blog list!)
A.Terry M
B.Tonya B
C.Krysta K

Daddy Daughter Date

Dave has been real busy with bishop responsibilities and taking care of others' needs. Brie needed some time with her dad, and Saturday night they went on a Daddy Daughter date. They went to Jack and Jill's bowling, to dinner at Rib City, and to Tralfaga to play mini-golf and Dance Dance Revolution. Brie said he beat her bowling and in mini-golf but she "kicked his butt" in Dance Dance Revolution!! They had a blast together!

My Little Pizza Helpers

After taking the bread class with the football moms I went and purchased the ingredients on Wednesday and made breadsticks Thursday to go with broccoli/cheese soup and made a loaf of bread too. Friday we decided to have pizza so Kelbee and Raimee helped me make the pizza. What good little helpers they are!

Breadmaking with the Football Moms

We have 2 activities planned for this month. The first was to learn how to make bread from Jeannie Dayton and her daughter Mindy Spencer at Jeannie's home. It's a recipe that is made without eggs or milk and we were shown how to make not only bread but breadsticks, cream cheese-filled braids, pizza, among other things. It's really quite easy and I was impressed as to the many different things we can do with that recipe. After being instructed how to do it we then had a chance to use some of the dough and make our own item. I chose to attempt a cream cheese-filled braid. It didn't look as beautiful as the one Jeannie and Mindy made, but after I get the swing of things I'll bet it'll look close. In the meantime, I will enjoy the great taste!

Sundance Moonlight Ride

Last month we went to Sundance with the Cardon's from our ward and experienced for the first time the moonlight ride up the chairlift. We had the opportunity to do it again this month so we went and enjoyed the view. We'd had clouds earlier in the day and I thought (and momentarily hoped!) that tonight might be cancelled. OK, humor me - the temperature when we got up there was like 33 degrees and since I don't like the cold like I did when I was younger, I wasn't real crazy about riding that lift! However, we dressed warm - winter jacket, mittens, hat, and blanket - and it was actually a pleasant ride. The new snow on Timp really showed up in the moonlight and the view of the mountains and all the surroundings is breathtaking. If you've never taken the opportunity to do this, make a mental note to do it next year because it really is worth the trip and the time.

First Snow

The weatherman had predicted snow but I was hoping he was wrong! We got our first snow in the valley Sunday, October 12. There's really nothing as beautiful as fresh-fallen snow, except when it comes WAY too early in the year!! By the time we got out of church at noon it was gone, so I was glad I'd recorded that it actually had snowed.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away!

Even though Dave had a feeling to drive his car to the Spanish Fork/PG football game Friday night I convinced him to drive the new car. We parked on the street to avoid someone "bumping" into us in the parking lot and denting the car. That way we'd be on top of things and whatever Dave was feeling could be avoided. Ha! I should have listened to his little voice that was trying to tell him to take his car. When we got to the car after the game there were no dents - oh no, just a HUGE scratch that ran across the front hood. We were quite upset when we first saw it - had only had the car about 4½ hours, and we couldn't figure out why someone would deliberately do this to someone's car they didn't even know. However, after having some time to cool down and think about it, and as Jeff pointed out to us - it looks like someone slid across the front (as teenagers are known to do things without having to have a reason!!) and either had a zipper or brush or belt buckle that scraped it. Doubt we'll ever know who did it or why and as we talked about it - we're pretty sure our kids have done something or things just as stupid without even thinking of the consequences. Nothing we can really do about it but get it fixed.

So, I took it to a couple of places to get estimates. We're thinking we'll spend about $200 or so on a new paint job. Guess again - unless we're living back about 25 years or so! The 2 estimates - one is for $403, the other is $768. Holy cow - we about croaked. Is it wrong to hope the same thing happens at some time in the future to the person that did this!!

Guess the Lord didn't want me getting too attached to the car. Too late - I love how it drives! Plus - it has a CD player in it and I can listen to my showtunes whenever I want and however loud I want!! Besides - I can't see the blemish when I'm in the car! Kind of reminds me of life - we all know people that have a "blemish" of some kind - physical handicap, mental handicap, etc. but we love them anyway. I know I need to get this one fixed because otherwise it will rust, etc but I kind of like having that reminder that I need to love all people no matter what their circumstances in life.

Proud owner of "new to us" car

We sold the van Monday September 29 to a young couple about to have their third baby. We'd thought about doing this for awhile when gas prices started to soar. We figured that if we bought something with better gas mileage we'd be able to take part of the gas savings and put towards the payment on a smaller vehicle. With only 2 kids left at home and one of them with his own car, we really don't need to have a van anymore. We started looking around for a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. We took a couple of trips to Salt Lake to test drive different cars and we looked at several in the local area (learned a couple of lessons on the way too)! I looked online at KSL.com and AutoTrader and found numerous possibilites. We signed up for CarFax for a month of unlimited car checks and I bet I put at least in 50 VIN's - found good information and a few surprises also. We narrowed it down to 2 cars - one a 2005 Camry with 68,000 miles on it, one a 2004 Camry with 70,000 miles. The deciding factor for me - besides the smooth ride and almost no road noise - the moon roof on the 2004!!
So, Friday afternoon, October 10 we became the proud owners of a new-to-us 2004 Toyota Camry. The color was listed as aluminum/silver but the color that best describes it is "gunmetal".

In Her Own Little World

Brylee kept herself occupied after dinner while we visited some. She was very happy in her own little world playing with (what better toy for a 1 year old) a butter knife and her drink!!

Girl's Night Out

It's become a tradition for us to go to dinner together the Saturday night of General Conference while the guys are at the priesthood session. We go to Los Hermanos and fill up on their chips and salsa and then are too full to eat the food we've ordered!! We've done this for several years now and we miss Tonya every time it rolls around but we're looking forward to her and the kids joining us at this time next year. Brad will be done with school and they'll be settled somewhere closer. This year Krysta's sister-in-law Rudy joined us as all the womenfolk in her family were gone.

They said it wouldn't hurt!!

Brie gave blood for the first time today. There was a blood drive at the stake center and we both signed up for it. I'm a fast bleeder they tell me (4 minutes 19 seconds - the fastest of the day thus far was 4 minutes 9 seconds) so I was done before she was which gave me the perfect opportunity to take pictures of her. They told her not to move her arm after they'd marked her vein, but she forgot and moved it. They had to poke her in the other arm and Mr. Worker was not impressed! In fact, she said, he was kind of mean and rude after that. She was SO excited to be able to wear the wrap on both arms for the next 5 hours. As you can see, she thought it did hurt even though everyone had told her it wouldn't! All I can say is - good for you Brie, thanks for helping someone else by giving your blood today. I know you can't wait until the next time!!

Brian's New Car

One night quite a while ago Brian drove our Nissan Sentra to Wendover. He put oil in the car but somehow forgot to put the oil cap back on and the engine seized up on his way back home. He paid for a new engine and has been driving that car ever since. He's been trying to get it registered but the check engine light keeps coming back on before he could get it to pass safety and emissions. Before he left for Galveston to help with the cleanup of Hurricane Ike he took the car to the dealership to get it fixed once and for all. The bill came to $602. Brie drove it home and the check engine light came back on. The following Sunday we went to Kelbee's Primary program in Lehi and afterwards went to the car to return home. The battery was dead. After a jumpstart from a kind bishopric member we were on our way home. When Brian returned he took the car back in to get fixed - AGAIN. This time it burned up a $500 part and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. He decided not to put any more money into the car. So, he bought himself his first car - a Chevy HHR. He and his friend Adam had rented one in the spring of 2007 and driven out to Ohio and New York before heading to Puerto Rico for the summer. He really liked it then and that was one of the deciding factors as to which car he'd buy. He's very proud of this purchase.