Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to get on and quickly tell you all HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Though it does seem a little silly since it's no longer Thanksgiving for some of you already, and the rest of you probably won't read this today. Oh well. But I am thankful for many things this year. Here a (very) short list:

Loving Husband
Energetic Children
Chubby Babies
Reynolds Turkey Bags
Plenty to eat
A warm, soft bed
Family all over the world (I'm not thankful that they are spread all over - they just happen to be:)
Friends that don't just leave a mark, but continually shape me for the better
Christmas trips made possible by generous parents
My creativity
That I can actually see the light at the end of my schooling tunnel (June 2010, baby!)

Really, I could go on forever, but I have kiddos being rowdy when they are supposed to be "trying" to sleep. Needless to say, I'm very grateful for the many blessings that I have in my life. And I'm sure there are things that I am blessed with that I'm not even aware of. I hope that you, too, are feeling grateful for the many good things in your life, whatever they may be.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Wanted: Good Home for Pumpkin Ravioli

Don't you love it when you spend time writing a great blog entry and then seconds before you hit the publish button is just disappears? I don't know why this happens to me - this is the third time. And in my complete astonishment that all my painstaking writing is gone, the autosave takes that moment to save a completely blank post, so I can't even go back and work on the last part that was saved. At least the title is still there...

That's what has happened tonight. And frankly, I don't care to write it all again at the moment. I'm tired. I want to do a crossword, have some cocoa, and go to bed. So for now you'll all just have to wonder what I wrote about. Hope I don't keep any of you up with all that wondering. Maybe I'll tell you tomorrow.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's been pretty rainy here the last few days. In fact, that's all it did on Saturday - I wish I had taken a picture of it, it was so gloomy and gray all day, I don't think the sun even peeked through once. And although it was a little chilly (I'm sure it was like 65 or something) and the kiddos had to stay inside all day, it also made for a perfect crafting day! I feel like I've been neglecting my craftiness lately, so this was a nice break from the norm. And it was handy since I have a ton of crafty things to get done.


First up on the list, there's a craft fair at the elementary school on Nov 29th that I decided to sign up for - hoping to drum up some scrapbooking business, I would REALLY like to get back into the CTMH groove. So I've been working on a few things for that, mostly gift card cards (they hold the gift card inside them) and scrapbook page kits. Plus I cleaned out and organized all my old displays and will be selling those items that I won't be using again because either the stamp set or the paper has been retired. It's a pretty good assortment of stuff. And the table was only $25, so I figure I can't lose out. So if you're in Laie on the 29th, come check it out. It's in the elementary cafe from 9am-2pm.
**Edit: I received a call this afternoon (11/24) that the craft fair was cancelled due to lack of interest. However in talking to my friend Ashley I found out that there is another crafty-type dealy in Kahuku, that I'm now delighted I can attend (it sounded cooler anyway). So that's a few things I can cross off my list for now!**


On top of that little project, this year I decided that I would try to make our Christmas gifts. Not to save money (as one my think, because really, I think it will be a wash) but mostly as a good excuse to make stuff. And it's working. I have figured out gifts for all but 2 people on my list (ahem, Mike and Eric), but I'm working on ideas for them - guys are a little harder, the gals were all super easy. And while I don't want to give away too much I did take a few sneak peek photos to share what I've been up to the last couple of weeks whenever I have a few minutes to spare.


You'll just have to guess which things are for which person and what they may end up being.....


I know you're all looking forward to lentils in your stockings:)








Now I'm off to prowl the web for some cute Christmas flannel for PJs....

I've Been Tagged

So my friend Liz decided to tag me (again). But this time I broke the rules. She tagged me for the 6 interesting things about yourself thingy, but since I did that not too long ago, I decided to copy another post of hers. And it was a lot of fun. So fun in fact that I'm going to break my usual rule of not passing on tags and actually pass this one on. So here it is:

Concept:

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. http://www.flickr.com/search/

2. Using only the first page, pick an image.

3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php (choose four columns and three rows, also choose individual URL's)

Questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your nickname.

So, I'm tagging Elise, Tonia, Ami, Kerry, Aunt Lynn, and Larisa (who doesn't post often enough, so I'm giving you a reason to).

Photo Credits:
1. Lisa Original, 2. I love cherrios....., 3. 39 more days, 4. Green velvet, 5. Orlando Bloom, 6. Sweet as cinnamon, 7. Designed by shadow, 8. cheesecake for Lianna!, 9. ..Precious Things.., 10. 2 months + 26 days, 11. 54/365 - Pick Your Battles, 12. Babe

HELP - Stephenie, are you out there?

OK, I have a TON of things to blog about this week, but I don't have time! I will try to get on this weekend for full updates. But in the mean time, I promised my hubby that I would post this plea on my blog for him:

In an effort to get his 13-14 yr. old Sunday School students more involved in reading their Book of Mormon he made a promise to them, that he may not be able to keep. For this reason, he is asking for help. You see, at the time of said promise the final book in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series has just come out. I'm sure you've heard of it, a little book called, Breaking Dawn. Cameron was very frustrated by the fact that most of these teenagers could manage to read the 750 pages of Breaking Dawn in about 4 days, but they couldn't manage to read the few pages of chapters in the Book of Mormon that were assigned for the week. In an instant he had an epiphany and told his class that if they would read the Book of Mormon, in its entirety before Christmas, he would give them a copy of Breaking Dawn. Not just any copy, but a signed copy. And not just any signature, Stephenie Meyer's. Now this is a great thought and has been an excellent motivator for at least one student, but unfortunately Cameron didn't do any research before this moment of "inspiration" and it turns out there were very few book signings for this book. So a signed copy of Breaking Dawn is VERY hard to come by. In fact they are going for about $200 on Ebay. So this is where the plea for help comes in - if anyone knows Stephenie (or anyone close to her) and could somehow help us get into contact with her, that would be fabulous. We're willing to do whatever it takes (even if we do end up buying one online) to fulfill his promise, but we're really hoping that we can plead our case and Stephenie will take mercy on us.

So, long story short:

Know a vampire author? Save us a buck!

Overheard in the Cafeteria this morning

Little friend: Wow, you're baby is getting really big.
Isaac: Yeah, so are you mom.
Mommy (ignoring the implications of the previous statement): Mommies don't grow bigger, they just get more gray hairs.
Isaac: You don't have that many gray hairs.
Mommy: The correct reply to that was 'Mommy, you don't have any gray hairs'.
Abby: Well, your hair is mostly brown.
Mommy: Again, the correct reply was 'Mommy, you don't have any gray hairs'.
Abby and Isaac just look away and go back to eating their breakfast.

So I Married a Vampire?

As a lot of you probably know my children get their teeth in really early. Isaac still holds the record for cutting his first tooth at 10 weeks. Seriously. Abby and Danielle weren't that early, but they both had at least 2 teeth sticking out by 4 months. Well, Juliana seems to be more of an average baby and she got her first two at about 5 1/2 months. But since then there hasn't been any hint of more coming. Don't get me wrong, they are terribly cute teeth, but I've kind of wondered when the rest would follow. I can wonder no more. I spotted these 2 beauties just this morning - one is actually through the gums, the other will be very quickly. Notice my lovely arrows....



Kind of seems like an unusual place for her 3rd and 4th teeth to appear.... And as far as I know both Cameron and I are human. But for some reason this is how I totally picture poor Juliana when those teeth are showing:



Cameron's thinking about calling her Renesme now..... I'm thinking that's a little much, but at least she has the looks to pull it off. (If only she could grow some copper ringlets now.....)

Just a little note

I'm sure I could blog about something fun and exciting, but I'm not going to. I'm tired. And I just want to sit down and watch a little TV (we got more channels through BYU cable now!). So I'm just going to answer a question that inquiring minds (at least some) want to know. I get my cute blog backgrounds from a fabulous website called "the Cutest Blog on the Block". They have tons of choices and it's so easy to do. Just browse through the background section, click on one you like and then follow the super easy directions.

OK, time to veg. 'Night.

A Little Elbow Grease and Some Fun in the Sun

Today was such an amazingly productive day. And it was really a lot of fun. The morning was spent sorting out, organizing, and cleaning a good portion of the apartment - Thanks Lor! It's so much easier and a lot more fun when you have a friend to do it with. I can't believe how much we got acomplished just while the kids were at school this morning. And then when everyone was home and homework completed we headed out to the beach.

We just went down to Temple Beach, as we wanted to be able to walk there. The waves were just perfect - fun to play in, but didn't scare my children to death. (Come on, we've leaved here a year and a half and they're still scare of the waves! What are we doing wrong?) The weather was perfect and a good time was had be all. Especially Lorelei and her son who had just found out that it was freezing rain back home while they were frolicking on the hot sand. So I thought I'd share a few pics of the day for your viewing pleasure.

This first one is the coolest picture of a snail I've ever seen. Lor's son was given the assignment of emailing a pic to his 4th grade class each day that he is missing school while he's here. This was the one that he sent today. He went out this morning and promptly found 3 fat snails in a small palm tree and was absolutely thrilled. Just wait until he sees some the of the massive ones around here - but for now this was plenty of excitement for him.

This I had to include, because although you can't really see it, Abby is actually holding a sand crab. Am I sure this is a picture of my daughter? Why yes, I am - I was there, but I still have a hard time believing it. And she looks so calm and everything. Crazy.

And this is my favorite shot of the day. Easy to see why - she's a cutie.

We ended this day with a night of fun and friends at my ward's Enrichment night. And I told my friend Liz that I would blog about it, but I have since decided to use the project I started as a Christmas present, so I can no longer reveal the the crafty adventures of the evening without spoiling a surprise for someone - sorry Liz. But I will say that we had KILLER pumpkin soup, made by Liz herself, as part of the refreshments and as soon as I get my little hands on that recipe I will be posting it. The lemon bars were dang tasty, too - so ditto on that one. Now you have lots of yumminess to look forward to.

Oh, one last thing. Per my Auntie's request, I have added a "follower" gadget over here on the right side of the page. So now you, too, can be a follower of Lisa (and the rest of the Petersons) at only a click of a mouse. Why wait - do it now. You know you want to. Do it. Hurry up, I'm waiting.......

Speaking of muffins...

So my friend, Lorelei, who wrote The Big Cook cookbook is coming out to visit this week. And we've been discussing and planning our very own session of big cooking to stock my freezer full of meals (now that I have a big one again) while she is here. And in the midst of all this she asked me if I had a muffin recipe the family liked because we could mix up and freeze that, too. And while I don't make muffins all that often, ok, like never, it got me thinking about a recipe that I saw on A Feathered Nest a while back and actually tried because it sounded so good. And they were good - except for the bottoms, they got burnt since I still hadn't totally figured out my oven in this apartment. So as my train of thought moved along, I thought I would give it another go. Plus I have a really busy, stressed out friend who tends to not eat when she's stressed, so I figured she could use a nutritous breakfast tomorrow, and I had another friend's plate that I needed to return (and I hate to return dishes empty)....Anyhow, long thought track made short, I made muffins tonight. And this time I changed up the original recipe a bit and came up with something fabulous - not that it wasn't before, but I like them even better now. So I figured I'd share. Here it is, for the lack of a better title:

Yummy Muffins

1 1/2 c sugar
1 c apple sauce (or oil)
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c grated apple
1 (large) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 c dried cranberries
and then whatever else you want to add
Mix that all together and then add:
2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder

put in the muffin tins - I use cupcake wrappers so I don't really have to wash the pans (lol) and bake at 350 for 10-20 min. Really, I don't know how long it would take in anyone else's oven, but I think I finally got my figured out this time and it took about 15 min. For me the recipe yeilded 29 muffins, filling the cups almost to the top. I know, wierd number.

Oh, and I threw in about 3/4 c of quick oats this time - I think that made them better, so I can't forget to tell you that part!

OK, I'm going to go now. I have to get kiddos in bed and all sort of other stuff, like wash dishes (yah - can you tell I'm excited?) and whatever else I find along the way to bed.

Hope you all have a happy Monday and a great week!