Halloween party at dance

Last night was Taylor's Halloween party at dance. It was not much of a party, because they still need to practice their dance (for the show in December) but they get to come in their Halloween costumes and pass out candy. She had a lot of fun and tons of candy. Who needs trick-or-treating when there are so many parties to go to? Taylor began to worry for a moment that that there wouldn't be trick-or treating, since I commented on how much candy she already has. No worries, the kids will still go out on Friday to get their "load" of candy.

Are you a VAMPIRE?

You Could Definitely Be a Vampire

Immortality, staying pretty forever, not having to get a job... you could definitely eat some flesh for these things. It's not that you're a murderer by nature. In fact, you're probably the furthest thing from it. However, if you woke up a vampire, you'd certainly be able to adapt and enjoy your new lifestyle. There might not be much better than living forever, even if it means giving up your soul. What you would like best about being a vampire: Being a total outsider What you would like least about being a vampire: Other vampires

Could You Be a Vampire?

My Vampire name plus Twilight pictures

My Vampire Name:
The Great Archives determine you to have gone by the identity: Anne Flanders
Known in some parts of the world as: Her of Gypsies
The Great Archives Record: A traveller of travellers, of good humour but dangerous.



Just wanted to share so random Twilight pictures from the movie. Enjoy!

HSM3!

So today, being Saturday, we each have our chores to get done around the house. I promised the girls if they could get the TV room and their bedroom cleaned in a timely matter and with little to know fighting we would go see the much anticipated movie. Well, I really can't say much for the timely matter let alone the lack of fighting. But they did work really hard when they weren't fighting or playing instead of cleaning.Once the work was done I decided to reward them and take them to High School Musical 3. They were really excited! First we all went to lunch at the mall when everyone could pick whatever, then we went to the dollar store to pick up some snacks for the movie. John dropped us girls off and from what I hear the boys came home ate their treats and played video games.
Now the movie, if you haven't seen it is 100 minutes in length, which isn't to bad. The movie itself was pretty good. The first outbreak of song didn't bother me until "Gabrielle" stands up in the crowd and she and "Troy" start singing together and my first thought was, man I hope it gets better (it does). Next thought, this should have been on TV (but then Disney wouldn't make as much money). All in all it was good and by the end you kinda forget the cheesy parts.
At first Katie kept saying, "this is weird". I think because it was different and a bit bigger production. By 30 minutes in the girls were so into it. I kept looking over at them to see their reactions, and they were mesmerized. When the movie was over Katie wanted to go buy the movie. I had to remind her that it just came to theaters and would be awhile before it hit DVD. She was bummed out about it at first, then I offered to take then to Target and see how much the soundtrack was. John laughed when I told him, but complied by taking us there. As luck would have it they had the CD on sale for 9.99 instead of 13.99. They were ecstatic to say the least.
Since the CD player in our car is broken (I have the Keane CD stuck in there, I think my car loves it because it won't eject it, and loves to play it over and over..)so they had to wait to until we got home. Boy were they excited! We listened to it the minute we got home, then had to load it on the computer so they could load it on their mp3 players! I bet I know what CD they will want to listen to for the next while when they go to bed!
So my take is this: The kids will love it, should have been on Disney Channel (although we all know that wouldn't have made them as much mula)and if you go to a matinee movie I would say it was worth the price.

Yummy recipes

Admittedly these aren't my recipes, but were posted by women in my ward and I thought I too would pass them along to share. Thanks Nicole for the Mint Brownie recipe(this is a BYU official recipe.)She had these brownie when attending BYU back in the day and always wonder why she had such headaches going to student counsil meetings. She found it was the brownie/sugar overload! Brook has a good recipe similar to the Pain au Chocolat. In hers you use pie dough and as yummy yummy as hers is I really liked Cami's recipe since it was more of an individual size portions and goes a little further with a bit more work. Cami spent her mission in France and this is a variety of one of her favorite treats. Thanks for the recipe Cami! Other good varieties to the Pain au Chocolat is instead of chocolate you can add fruit, butter and cinnamon, practically anything that sound good to you. ENJOY!

BYU MINT BROWNIES
MAKES ONE 9-BY-13 PAN OF BROWNIES
PREP AND COOK: 90 min.
COOL: 1 hr.
1 c. margarine
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)
MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring
1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.
2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.
3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Pain au Chocolat (french for Chocolate Bread)
1-2 pkgs. Pillsbury Dough croissants (depends on the size of your family)
1 bag milk chocolate chips (semi-sweet will work, but not as tasty)
Optional:confectioners sugar to sprinkle on top,and drops of butter to add with the chocolate chips before rolling up (to help melt the chocolate chips better)
1 large egg beaten and blended with 1 tablespoon water (for glaze)
Directions:
1. Open and unroll the croissants onto a cookie sheet.
2. Place a small amount of the chocolate chips on the larger end of the triangle, and a tad bit of butter
3. Starting at the large end, roll up your croissants like you normally would. (Your chocolate chips may start to fall out, so go slowly and just push them back in.)
4. Curve your croissants into a half moon shape.
5. If you want to use the egg glaze just brush it over the tops of your croissants prior to baking
6. Follow the baking instructions on the Pillsbury Dough pkg.
7. Let them cool for a few minutes, but make sure you serve them warm.
And there you have it. Pain Au Chocolate with an American twist. There are some more authentic and elegant recipes online, but this is quick and easy, and like I said before, kid friendly. Well I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
BON APPETIT everyone!!!!

Ward Halloween Party

Today was our ward Halloween party, and being on the activity committee I must admit I wasn't exactly excited for it. We as a committee had to change the date twice and the time three times, and being UEA weekend we really weren't sure how many families would be in town to come. To top it off I had two sick kids, Katie and Ben both woke up in the night throwing up. It really couldn't have happened at a more inconvenient time (but with kids, you'd think I'd remember that they rarely do things when it's convenient). I do think that this just maybe the 24 hour kind thank goodness. John and I were suppose to be at the ward at 10:30 this morning to get things set up. Ethan had slept over to a friends last night but was told to be home by 10:30am. He finally got home just after 11:00. We rushed to the church got everything set up, came back home to grab the chili we made and get everyone in their costumes. Ben was feeling much better but Katie wasn't and didn't want to be home alone so we dragged her along with the promise she would get to close to anyone and she wasn't required to eat anything. The party went off without a hitch and more people came that we had thought. Everyone dined on chili, chicken noodle soup, creamy potato soup, and corn bread. We had cooking decorating for the kids mainly, a fishing pond full of prizes, a costume parade and trunk or treat. I think it really turned out good. It took about an hour or so to get it all cleaned up after and thanks to the few who stayed to help clean up. We love any kind of help we can get! Our next party is the Christmas party and scheduled for December 6th where we are thinking of doing a breakfast.

Volcano Eruption Day

So yesterday was the day for the 5th grade volcano eruptions. The entire 5th grade participated which consists of four classes. They had two kids from each class come up to the table to set up and erupt at a time. Good think we were outside however because the kids used vinegar to help in the eruptions and boy did it smell, well like strong vinegar. It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. John was even able to come and see (which was a huge surprise). As you can see I realized later that I needed to turn my camera and I did, but since the video editting doesn't let me change the direction its kinda bumpy, so sorry about the bumpiness. :)

Kindergarten Fieldtrip

I had the rare opportunity to go on a field trip with Taylor's class. It was a walking field trip to the fire station. I was able to bring Ben along so it worked out perfectly. Even though the fire station is pretty close to the school it was a long walk especially for the kindergartners. We had many that lagged behind most of the time. Thankfully we had MANY volunteers for this field trip. That helped a lot. While we were having the field trip a call came into the station and and firemen needed to leave. Usually that would end the field trip but luckily one of the dads that came along was a fireman. He didn't work at that station house but was able to continue the "tour" of a fire truck. The kids had fun and were very tired walking back to the school.

Volcano Project

The fifth graders have been given the project of building a volcano and having it erupt. I was always hoping that this wasn't anything that my kids would have to do, however here we are having to do it and is worth 50 points and will be graded on creativity. I must admit it made me think of that episode of the Brady Bunch where I think it was Peter who had to build an erupting volcano (that dates me now, huh?). After changing his mind at least a dozen times, Ethan decided to build his out of salt dough. We ended up having to triple the recipe to get it big enough. We made two batches of brown and one of green and with the idea from Cathy we added a scent to the dough,we made it mint. Ethan's job was to get it all "built" while I was gone to dance with Miss Taylor. I stopped at Zims crafts (for those who like Zims they are closing their store as of Nov. 1st)to pick up some miniatures to add to the mountain side of his project. I got him some houses, people (they are kinda giant size, but I know Ethan and he would love to see all the people get covered in lava), and a bunch of animals. Thankfully, Ethan did have it all done before I got home. Tomorrow is the day to make to volcanoes erupt. Should be good and I hope it all works out and I'll hopefully have some pictures of video of the days events.

Vote to save our FAMILIES!

I was shocked to hear what had happened to this family. I too would have been outraged had this happen to us. I firmly believe that marriage is between a man and woman and marriage should only be reconized in that respect. I am sorry if that offends anyone, but I know without doubt that it is what our Lord intended.

One Flaw in Women

I read this story and thought how true... So I thought I would share it with everyone.

One Flaw in Women

By the time the Lord made woman, He was into his sixth day of working overtime. An angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so much time on this one?" And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic, have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable and able to run on diet coke and leftovers, have a lap that can hold four children at one time, have a kiss that can cure anything?from a scraped knee to a broken heart -and she will do everything with only two hands." The angel was astounded at the requirements. "Only two hands!? No way! And that's just on the standard model? That's too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish." "But I won't, " the Lord protested. "I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can work 18 hour days." The angel moved closer and touched the woman. "But you have made her so soft, Lord." "She is soft," the Lord agreed, "but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish." "Will she be able to think?", asked the angel. The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason and negotiate." The angel then noticed something, and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one." "That's not a leak," the Lord corrected, "that's a tear!" "What's the tear for?" the angel asked. The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love, her loneliness, her grief and her pride." The angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything! Woman is truly amazing." And she is! Women have strengths that amaze men. They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up to injustice. They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without so their family can have. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding. Their hearts break when a friend dies. They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart. Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you. The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning. They bring joy, hope and love. They have compassion and ideals. They give moral support to their family and friends. Women have vital things to say and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE TINY FLAW IN WOMEN, IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

Pumpkin Patch

So, today was our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. J&J Gardens has an annual free hayride and they take you to their pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkins off the vine. Ethan chose to play at his friends house and not to come with us, so Kate was able to bring her friend Lexi along.

Ben was a bit nervous on the hayride, but was all warmed up by the time we reached the pumpkin patch. We have only one rule for the pumpkin patch, and that is you can only pick a pumpkin that you yourself can carry. Mom and Dad cannot carry six pumpkins at once and keep kids in toe too. The kids seemed to find their pumpkins quite quickly. John the pumpkin king was on his yearly quest to find the perfect pumpkin for whatever design he has planned out to carve this year. He really enjoys creating his master piece every year. We sometimes make him carve ours too, after we have picked which design we like. I usually get the job of gutting the poor pumpkins, then I roast the seeds. Yummy.

We had lots of fun until it started pouring rain on us. Luckily by that time we were on the hayride back to the parking lot to head to our car.

HSM3!

High School Musical 3 opens in 23 days and counting if you are Katie and Taylor. My girls just love those movies, and after seeing (or hearing them when I'm lucky to get away) the first two over a zillion times, of course they are doing a count down to the third movie. Katie keeps begging me to take her opening weekend. She has it all worked out in her mind that we will go, invite a friend or two (ahhh whatever...), go to dinner if we go opening night or go to lunch if we go Saturday then off to the movie. To say she is excited for it would be an understatement. Now more than likely we will take them at some point, but opening weekend? Only if I am insane!