I spy a clown!

One of the best things about having an artist for a mom is that we had the best Halloween costumes. She was so great at Halloween.

I wish you could see my costume in this picture. I was a can-can girl. I had the most beautiful dress with tons of tulle under the skirt that you could see when it was pinned up to my hip. I got to wear lots of make-up and false eyelashes!

The Campbell's Witches Brew can is genius and is my favorite costume ever and I have always wanted to make one of those but none of my kids have ever wanted it. I have tried and tried to talk them into it but nope. (Sara seems just as enthusiastic.) Another costume she made that was so clever was a Rubick's Cube the year they were so popular.

The clown outfit that Josh is wearing in the first picture was later worn by younger brothers and sisters (Salem above) and then Robin. Pauly refused to wear it. Now it belongs to another siblings' family. I'm not sure who has it now. Happy Halloween!

Pick a punch line . . .

Gloria gets to dress up for school on Wednesday but it is NOT for Halloween.

The kids and faculty are dressing up and will be doing a little parade and it will be on October 31st and there will be pumpkins and jack o' lanterns all over the hallways and we are going to have extra treats in the classrooms. The note sent home however, clearly states that they are NOT celebrating Halloween.

~I'm glad they said that because I was going to bring my neighbor's cat for the sacrifice.


~I'm glad they told us, I would hate for Gloria to be involved in a scary event like political correctness.


~I feel so blessed that Gloria is going to that school; I think it is very important to scrub society of anything that anyone might disagree with. That way we can all smile on the outside but dislike each other on the inside.

~They are supposed to dress like a character from a book, I think I'm going to dress Gloria like Dumbledore.

~I think I should send the principal an apple with a razor hidden in it. (That's Steve Urquhart's, by the way)

1,2,3 O'clock 4 O'clock Rock!

Today was 50's day at Dan's school.

Rockin' C Ranch

Last week Daniel's school took the entire 5th grade to a ranch for a 3 day 2 night camp out. They stayed in cabins, and fished and rode horses and built a raft and paddled across the lake and collected bugs and fed baby cows and gathered eggs and did a zip line 50 feet up and ran and swam and it was great!



Our only complaint was that all the kids had to wear life jackets in the water even if, like Dan, they were great swimmers. I guess it is understandable, with 200 kids out there at different swimming levels.

I went out everyday to help chaperon. It was fun to watch Dan with his friends. We both loved it.

That's another check in the "so glad we moved

here" column.

In the last picture, Dan is branding a piece of wood with the Rockin' C brand.

Gemuse, Obst und Blumen

I miss going to the farmer's markets in Germany. They always had lovely produce but my favorite part of the market was the flowers. All year long they had gorgeous flowers and they were super cheap. For about $5.00 I could get 3 bundles (10 stuck) of tulips or iris or gerbera daisies plus greenery. I was so lucky, fresh flowers any time.

A custom with flowers, in Germany at least, is that you carry flowers upside down if they are for you or your home. You carry them right side up if you are giving them so someone else. I love that.

Yummy!

So I made chili the other day. It smelled great and looked really pretty and I had let it simmer most of the afternoon. It was about time for dinner and as I stirred the chili I saw something black. !#$%$% I burned it!! Wait . . . no it's not burned . . . What is that? Oh sick! A big fly! How long has he been simmering in there?!!

I fished him out and then I had a decision to make, should I serve it to the family or should I throw it away? Do I serve it and tell them or not tell them and just hope nobody recognizes fly flavor?



Nobody recognized it.

Pumpkins

I love pumpkins. If I had to pick a favorite thing about this time of year, it would be pumpkins. I love that they are cheap and pretty and different shapes and sizes, so they are easy to decorate with. I am always sad to see them go after Thanksgiving.

When Gloria and I went to the pumpkin farm two weeks ago, I learned two new things about pumpkins. First, if you want pumpkins for Halloween, you need to plant them on the 4th of July. (I love easy to remember things like that.)

And second, the best tool to carve a pumpkin with is a sheet rock saw.

Happy Birthday Becky and James!!

What a great looking family! We love you all.

The stars and night, really are big and bright

Growing up, I never thought I'd ever live in Texas, but here we are. I like it here mostly. Here are a few of the reasons I like Texas and a few ways it could improve itself.

Why I like Texas:

The wildflowers, in the spring, are breathtaking.

Texans have the grace and manners that the Deep South claims to have, without the condescending attitude or the creepiness of the Deep South.

People go to church and really try to live their beliefs.

I like the small towns and how close knit the people are. I love that on game days everyone wears a t-shirt supporting the high school football team.

I like that there are 4 temples here in Texas. We are only 1 and 1/2 hours from the Dallas Temple. That is closest we've been to a temple since we left Salt Lake City.

I think it is funny that people call me "sugar" "darlin'" and "baby".

Ways that Texas could improve itself:

Some residents are a little too proud of Texas. This cracks us up.

At school the kids say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag and then to the Texas flag. I like Texas but pledge allegiance to Texas??

There is an appalling lack of mountains in Texas. I think they should really consider getting a few.

102 degrees in August, accompanied by 90% humidity, followed immediately by $350 electric bills.

Overall, the pros far outweigh the cons though and we are happy to call Texas our home. We may even get ourselves a bumper sticker so that everyone will know.

Movies I watched while I was sick last week . . .

Pride and Prejudice ~ The Mormon version

Family Man ~ I love Nicolas Cage’s speech at the airport . . . (sigh)

The Quiet Man ~ I watched this at least once a month while Paul was in Iraq.

Surf’s Up ~Netflix~ I imagine we will be owning this one.

Finding Nemo ~Can you tell when the kids were home?~ I rarely get tired of Pixar

Friday Night Lights ~ We own this one but I hadn’t seen it yet. I really liked it.

Evan Almighty ~ It wasn’t Bruce Almighty, but it was great for the kids.

Band of Brothers ~ Two episodes with Little Paul ~ Big Paul won’t watch war movies anymore.

Can I mark off "parents" if they said, "mothers and fathers"? No

6 or 7 years ago I made up these bingo sheets for General Conference just to keep kids busy so Paul and I could listen. It has become one of our favorite traditions. We have 7 different versions of this paper; this is the first year we didn't have to have one with pictures. I probably don't have to explain the rest but we mark off each square as that word is said. The words of songs count but prayers don't.

Nobody wants the paper that says "Spirit of Elijah". In all the years we have been doing this "Spirit of Elijah" was said only once and it was in a prayer. I think next time I might do it with scripture mastery scriptures.

Does your face hurt?

There was another tropical depression in the Gulf last week and Pauly's football team had a bye so the two Pauls went surfing. The waves were fantastic and they had a great time. They even shot the Flagship Pier! BUT they forgot the sunscreen. OUCH! They used sunscreen the 2nd day but it was too late. They both blistered and all weekend they have looked like they have some kind of disease. It hasn't been pretty. I think Pauly was hoping I wouldn't make him go to school today.

General Conference

General Conference is this weekend. I love conference. It is the only time that I am truly homesick for Utah and Salt Lake.

Which is better?

Yesterday, as Gloria and I were returning from a kindergarten trip to a pumpkin patch she said thoughtfully and with love in her voice, "Mom, I really think having a mom is better than being squished."

I'm still not sure what that means.

Real Beauty

I love Dove products. We started using Dove soap when Daniel was about 2 years old. It helped his very dry skin. Their product line has grown since then and now we use their shampoo/conditioner, their Day Wear moisturizer, their deodorant as well as their soap. I also really like the shapes of their bottles. I have used their stuff for years but I became a true blue customer when they started their "Real Beauty" campaign a year or two ago.

I love their commercials. I found this one on http://www.sk-rt.com/

As the mother of 3 daughters, this makes me want to scream in frustration and cheer at the same time.

Viva Las Vegas

Robin and I just got back from such a fun and relaxing girl's weekend.

Paul’s mom planned and organized the whole thing and it was perfect. The invitation to this trip included Gloria’s daughters and daughters in law as well as Kaydee and Robin, her two teenaged granddaughters. We stayed at the beautiful Paris Hotel. (Where, just like the real Paris, I did not get a crepe.) We were going the whole time, we dressed up and went to Phantom of the Opera and we shopped and ate yummy food and laughed and made jokes about male strippers and caught up on everyone’s family news and watched the prancing waters and saw the inspiring autumn displays at the Bellagio and had so much fun!


I loved seeing everyone and hearing about what they are doing. I loved that everyone is busy with their growing families; some sisters came late because of when school let out, others left early because of the Primary Program the next day at church.

I can't wait until we get to do it again.