First Snow

NOOOOOO!!!!  

That was my reaction when I saw the weather forecast with snow in it.  And, still hoping the forecast would be wrong, that was my reaction when the snow actually started falling.

I don't know when I became such a scrooge.  Maybe it has something to do with being spoiled by the weather in LA. Maybe it's because our car doesn't want to start and has a really hard time going.  Maybe I can't stand getting out of a warm shower to freeze to death.  Or that we can't spend hours playing at the park.  Or biking.  Or there could be a lot of reasons.  But, I don't love the cold weather that comes with snow.

The girls have a different reaction than I.  It started snowing while we were at church.  They were ecstatic the entire drive home.  They stood mesmerized at the window watching it fall, begging to go play in it.  Once we got the snow clothes out they were thrilled to go play in it. All .025" of it. 

I grudgingly went out to snap a few shots of the first snow fall.  And you know what?  The excitement was a little contagious.  There really is something a little magical about watching it come down from the sky.  I decided I should be less of a scrooge. 

That being said....I'm still happy the weather forecast is sunny and in the 50's for the week!!

Thankful Turkey

In random order...here's what we had on our eyeless Turkey this year!

family walks on nice sunny days

a nice house (by sofia)

a hard working Husband

trick-or-treating

school (by Hannah)

bikes and trails to ride on

BROWNIES!!  

friends

Monsters Inc. (by Hannah)

pumpkins

opportunities to learn and grow

food

a husband/father to take care of us when we are sick

the gospel

a patient and understanding wife

Cassie (by Hannah and Sofia)

doing hard things

health

family w/ lots of quirks and having lots of fun together

family pictures

insurance

a heater

the car-it is still running, if fits all of us, and it has cheap insurance

tooth (a lost tooth)

opportunity to give talks and get them over with

a job with steady income

cheap rent

2 beautiful girls and one crazy son

hope

Thanksgiving

This is what it looks like when you need to make mashed potatoes for 25+ people and you only have small pots.  

It takes all 3 pots you own and boiling 2 batches of potatoes to get them all cooked.  Luckily, we just bought the large one a few weeks ago......made the job much easier.

James is teaching international students and most of them have never experienced Thanksgiving - many of them didn't even know what the holiday was.  So, we invited a bunch over to experience it. Luckily the neighboring apartment was open and James' school director let us use it - there's no way we would have fit into our place.

I probably should have been a little nervous about feeding almost 30 people, considering it's been a long time since I've made a lot of the traditional food, we have a minimum of cooking utensils, and almost no serving stuff.  But, I wasn't too concerned.

They've never experienced this, chances are good they won't like lots of it even if it is made excellently, and they don't know any better, so why stress?

It did take quite a bit of thought getting the logistics worked out.  The joys of a small kitchen and very few pans.  :D 

The heating element broke in our oven.  Luckily we noticed it as we were putting the Turkey in.  It's a good thing we had a key for the neighboring apartment...the Turkey and rolls would never have baked in time.

Here we are with most of the students that came for dinner.  The students were from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Brazil.

A Little Scary

James and the girls were having a little too much fun with the google eyes.  Creepy isn't it?

Halloween

Several months ago the girls started talking about Halloween. (yeah...we must not have much to talk about!!!) Hannah really wanted to be a princess. There is nothing wrong with that, but for some reason I really wanted to avoid a commercialized costume that every other kid will have. Maybe it's because I'm too cheap to buy the store costumes and to lazy to make my own!!!!  Anyway, I didn't force the issue, just offered a few other ideas and both of the girls were hooked with poodle skirts. Something about twirling skirts sounded appealing to them.  So....they decided to be 50's girls.  Naturally Hannah chose yellow and Sofia chose purple.

They had lots of fun twirling in the skirts!!

I thought of doing the 50's theme for the entire family, but ended up not doing it.  TJ went as our little monster....with clean teeth!

We had fun carving pumpkins.  The girls really got into it this year. They each got their own pumpkin and really enjoyed seeing them lit up.

She's Flying

Sofia had a trike.  She didn't really like it and didn't seem to want to make it work.  That all changed the day Hannah got a bigger bike.  Sofia inherited Hannah's old bike.  She was pretty excited for the upgrade.  That day she miraculously learned how to pedal and is now officially a biker.  And pretty darn fast.  For the size of her legs, she really does fly down the bike path.

Of course the fairy wings make everything better.

A Much Needed Visit

Last weekend we went to Oklahoma City to visit friends and go to the temple!!!  It was exactly what we needed.  It was fun to meet up with friends again......to remember what it's like to have friends.  :D And it was soo unbelievably nice to go to the temple together.  

Here's the cute family we stayed with.  Our girls had fun playing with Julia and it was fun to meet Miriam.  Thanks for arranging it Lauren!!

Success

In Turkey we pretty much lived off of a 72 hour kit.  At least it felt that way.  Moving here we had no food at all.  It's a rather large task to build a pantry from nothing.  And pretty pricey.  But it was kind of fun to stock up on things like wheat, a wheat grinder, oats, etc.... (this is how I know I'm officially old and boring).  Anyway, we now have a decent amount of pantry items on hand.  Time to learn to can....daunting.

I have had a pressure cooker for about 2 years and now I have officially used my pressure cooker and canned something for the first time. 

We made applesauce....and you don't actually need o use the pressure cooker for that, but since we only have small pots I used the pressure cooker as our pot.  Worked out pretty well.

Doesn't make sense to go to the work of making it for such a small batch, but I wanted to make sure we tested it out before making lots.

There's something rewarding about doing something on your own.  It's so satisfying each time you open the cupboard.

Sadly, there's no where nearby that can test the type of pressure cooker we have.  I've found some suggestions online for testing the pressure on your own, but haven't ventured into that world yet...I suppose that's next on the list.

My Own Etsy Shop

I haven't posted on here or done anything lately....except sew, sew, and sew some more.  Today I opened up my own etsy shop, Simpledayz. After hours and hours of work I have exactly 1 item to sell (well, actually 6 of the same item).

Here's the culprit:  a quiet book.

I know, I know....not the best photos.  But I'm tired and I don't care right now!!

For any of you that have ever made one or anything similar you know they are insanely monotonous and time consuming to make.  A few years ago I made one for our girls and when I finally finished it I loved it.  BUT I vowed I would never make another one again.

So, why would I make one now?

Because I've been thinking of ways I can contribute financially to our family.  I've been thinking about it for a while, but haven't come up with any realistic ideas....not with the 3 little ones around at least.  Until one day I was sitting in church and the idea of making and selling quiet books came to me.

I tried not to think about it.  I didn't want to make them.  I didn't like the idea of the time consuming project.  The risk of no one buying them.  The risk of failure. And did I mention how time consuming they are to make?

But the idea wouldn't go away.  So, I begin purchasing supplies, brainstorming pages, making patterns, and finally sewing....then sewing some more.  A few weeks later and lots of hours at the sewing table (aka dining table, play dough, and paint table) I have several finished.

So, today I created a shop and listed an item for sale.  The shop is simple - okay, it's beyond simple.  It's plain and needs work, but it's going to have to work for today.

I'm glad the sewing is done for now.  I'm glad I've ventured onto it.  It's nice to know I can accomplish something.  And...if none of them sell, I've got some great gifts!

Summer Snippets

I haven't taken a picture since we got unpacked here.  We've been here 6 weeks now, so I figured I should probably break out the camera and document life.

I actually got the camera out, but never quite got around to taking any pictures.  I did, however decide to post some random shots I got of the summer.

Having fun with cousins.

 Here Sofia is playing the 'sleeping' princess until Ellie wakes her up.

 I'm pretty sure that dress and fairy wings were worn about every day!

 We spent some time camping with cousins

 Who knew little helpers could make the painting project so much easier?!

Surviving the Ogden temple open house on my own.

Once we did get moved it was a week until we got our stuff.  The girls were pretty excited.  Actually, so was I.  Some of this stuff has been in storage for 7 years!!!

This box contains everything we own.  And you know what?  For not having a lot, we kind of have a lot.

The girls were pretty excited to play with 'new' toys.