Happy Thanksgiving Tomorrow

Here's a fun Thanksgiving poem that a friend in Slovenija emailed to me. I wanted to share it with all of you:

'TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING, BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP

I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS, I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.

THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED - THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE.

BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.

TOSSING AND TURNING IN ANTICIPATION,

THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.

SO I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR.

AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,

'TILL ALL OF A SUDDEN I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.

I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING FLOATING INTO THE SKY

WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.

BUT I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES

HAPPY EATING TO ALL, PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY, MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP,

MAY YOUR POTATOES AND GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.

MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS, MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE

MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Manicure Monday

Liz had to get off work early today so she wouldn’t have overtime, and since I’m her ride I had to get off early, too.  Shucks!  I really needed to get my nails done, so we went together and also got pedicures.

I can’t remember the last time I got a pedicure, and it was fabulous.  The massaging chairs made the experience even better.

We opted to do the deluxe pedicure, which included a sea salt scrub on our legs, a mud type treatment on our feet wrapped in hot towels, and the best was when they rubbed our legs w/ lotion and hot rocks.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

Liz kept everyone laughing w/ her normal funny self.  We were in the total lap of luxury w/ our deluxe pedicures and Sonic drinks.  I felt like a pampered princess.

Here’s the final product.  Pretty fierce and fabulous if you ask me.

Tonight after we got home, we went out and checked the mail and there was a surprise package in there from my WONDERFUL cousin, Jennifer.  She sent these adorable gloves to Autumn, and Autumn had a blast trying to put them on and get all the right fingers in the right holes.

She sent me this cut notepad w/ the SWEETEST letter written on about 15 pages of it.  I have always had a close and special bond w/ her ever since she babysat Lexie & I when we were tiny and lived in the castle house in SLC.  I remember that she let me have an entire HALF of a Totino’s pizza.  I thought that was the most amazing and wonderful thing ever!  It was better than Christmas Day.  I’ve always looked up to her and thought the world of her.  Her gift and note meant so much to me.  LOVE YOU, JENNIFER!

Autumn saw that I had my fingernails and toenails done, and she wanted to have hers done, too.  So, I busted out the nail clippers (that’s our bargain…if she wants me to paint them, then I get to cut them first).  It works as a great way for me to cut her nails.  She is so good and holds still while I paint them and then she blows on them to get them dry.

Here we are showing off our beee-utiful nails.  She’s such a diva and I adore that about her.  She’s a girl after my own heart.

We watched Dancing With the Stars (I hope Donny Osmond wins) and I let Autumn have a little York peppermint patty after dinner.  She somehow manages to get it all over her mouth.  But look at that precious smile…who couldn’t love a face like that?

Courtney Is Here!

It was a typical Sunday today…watching cartoons in the morning, getting ready, going to church, coming home, eating lunch, taking a nap, etc.  After we woke up from naps, we went over to Mom & Dad’s house b/c Mom had made a big pot roast w/ carrots and potatoes and gravy for dinner.  It was absolutely delectable.  Courtney also flew in today to visit for the Thanksgiving week.  It’s cute to see Nate & Courtney together…ah, young love.

Autumn loves having Courtney here b/c she gets to wear her high heels and play dress up.  I don’t know how Autumn manages to walk in those super high heels, but she does great and she walks around like she’s the most awesome thing since sliced bread.

I wanted to try out my zoom lens and it works great.  These pictures were taken from the other side of the room.  Autumn & Courtney were sitting on the floor drinking some hot chocolate out of their pink straws.

I absolutely LOVE these two pictures of Autumn & Courtney just enjoying their chocolate milk and laughing.

Talk about pure and complete joy and contentment.

Autumn’s such a cute little bug.  She loves to laugh and have a good time.  Her little mannerisms make her so endearing and loveable.

Unexpected Surprises

This morning it was nice and cloudy but warm outside, so I took Autumn to the park to try out my new camera w/ different settings.  The first thing she saw when we got there was this little fish and she kept saying, “Nemo! Nemo!”  I wish my camera had more bokeh.  I had it on the lowest # for aperture (which is only 5.8).  But, I still got some cute pics of Autumn and she had a blast running around.

The playground was too wet to play on very much, so we walked over to the duck pond to say hi to the ducks.  I thought this picture was so serene and calming.

There was a man and his son sitting on a bench by the pond and they had a big bag of bread that they shared w/ Autumn & I so we could feed the ducks.  It was a nice unexpected surprise.  Autumn loved it and could have stayed there all day.

We went over to Mom & Dad’s house so Autumn could see Dad before he left for work (that was the only way I could bribe her to leave the park…was to tell her we were going to go see Papa).  Nick has the flu, so I practiced using my camera settings on him since he was just laying there.  He was a good sport about it.

We spent the afternoon watching football (go BYU) and made some yummy spaghetti.  Autumn watched Mulan at least 2 times and had fun covering up her babies w/ dish towels.

I got some angry texts today from someone in my past accusing me of something I did not do.  It was a unwanted and unexpected surprise.  Autumn wanted to eat a fortune cookie we had in a bowl and guess what the fortune inside was?  It fit the situation perfectly!  Who cares what this person thinks I did or didn’t do, b/c I know the truth and that’s all that matters.

Autumn refused to take a nap this afternoon, but once Dad got her to sit still for two seconds, she was OUT!  I ran to Hobby Lobby while she was asleep to get a few things for some Christmas gifts, but they didn’t have what I needed.  I am glad I didn’t try and take Autumn to the store w/ me, b/c the place was PACKED due to a lot of 50% off sales.

We spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and spending time together as a family.  I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is next week…where has this year gone?  I love this time of the year and I’ve been naughty and already started listening to Christmas music b/c it makes me so happy.  I hope everyone else had a nice and relaxing Saturday.

We Love You, Pioneer Woman

Today at work I told Liz about the Pioneer Woman blog, which I rediscovered.  I have known about her blog for a while but haven’t been to it recently.  But I discovered her AWESOME posts about photography.  They were INCREDIBLY helpful.  Anyways, Liz got into the posts about cooking and decided that she wanted to make the enchiladas.  She had Liberty buy the ingredients and then said she wanted to come over and cook tonight.  So, they brought Lola over and we got to work making the enchiladas.  This is such a cute family picture (minus the big butcher knife that looks like Liberty is holding up to Lola…he was just cutting up olives.)

When Autumn wasn’t trying to “help” us in the kitchen, she kept herself entertained by putting stickers into this book and Lola wanted to come over and “help” her.  It was cute to see them play together.

Liz also told Nate to come over and eat w/ us.  We had a great little assembly line going on to make the enchiladas.  Everyone was in on making dinner, which made it a lot of fun.  Like Mom always says…many hands make light work.

Once we had the enchiladas in the oven, we worked on setting the table.  Liberty put Lola in Liz’s hoodie and she was SOOO cute!

We were laughing b/c Autumn’s diaper was so water logged and saggy but she didn’t seem to mind and had fun running around and helping us set the table and check on the food.

The enchiladas were really tasty, but they were too much work.  It wasn’t bad b/c 4 of us were doing it together, but if I had to do all that on my own it would not have worked.  After we ate, we played Catch Phrase and laughed off all the calories we just ate.  The way Liz was explaining stuff was HILARIOUS!  It was such a fun evening and we definitely need to do stuff like this more often.

New Moon

Tonight we went and saw the 12:05 showing of New Moon.  Last year we were sneaky and went and saw another movie while waiting for Twilight to start so we didn’t have to wait out in the cold.  This year, they let everyone into the theater at 8:30 so we didn’t have to wait outside.  Dad came over and watched Autumn so Mom & I could go and save seats.  We were able to score 7 seats all together on the back row.  I thought it was going to take forever to get to midnight, but the time actually went by really fast.  I brought my laptop and just blogged for a while.  Then when Mary and the others got there we just talked and the time flew by.  Here we are eating a ton of popcorn and drinking a huge amount of Dr. Pepper to make ourselves stay awake.

This is us after the movie (yes, Ashley’s husband was brave and came with her).  I thought the movie was really good and I am totally for team Jacob.  When he took off his shirt I was one of the first people to start clapping and saying, “YEAH!”  When Edward took of his shirt I was thinking, “Eww.  Put your shirt back on.”  But, the movie was still good and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I didn’t climb into bed until 3:00 am, but it was definitely worth it.  I had such a good time and loved being there w/ Mom & Diana & Karri & Mary & Ashley & Jordan.  GOOD TIMES!

Also, I was thrilled to find out the next movie comes out in June instead of having to wait a whole year for the next one.

Crescent Rolls Galore

Tonight for dinner I decided to try something fun that I saw online.  Autumn of course wanted to be up on the counter (in her normal attire of just a diaper and t-shirt) to help.

We made these mummy hotdogs.  Ours didn’t turn out quite like the pictures I saw online, but that’s ok b/c we had fun making them together.  Autumn kept rolling the ball up in a dough and trying to cover them completely up.

They ended up looking just fine and tasting great.  Note to self: wait until they cool down a little bit to put the mustard eyes b/c otherwise it just melts right off.  EWW.

While those were in the oven we got our cream cheese sopapillas ready.  I was taking a picture of our mummy dogs when all of a sudden this can of crescent rolls that was sitting on the counter just exploded and scared the crap out of me!  I let out a scream and ended it scared Autumn.  Some of the dough went flying across the kitchen and landed on the cabinet!

After we made our cream cheese sopapillas and had them baking away in the oven, we put on some Christmas music and danced around the kitchen and living room.  Autumn was standing on the counter and was shaking her hips so cute.  But she got all shy when I got the camera out.  She’s a good little dancer and we had fun enjoying the good food we had made.  I think I had more crescent roll dough tonight (3 cans worth) than I’ve had in the past 3 years combined.  But both the mummy dogs and cream cheese sopapillas were extremely tasty.

2 (8oz) pkgs of cream cheese
2 pkg of cresent rolls
1 & 1/2 C sugar (divided into 1 c. and 1/2c.)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick margarine or butter
Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a sprayed 9x13 pan with one package of crescent rolls.
Mix cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla. Spread on top of rolls.
Cover that with the other pkg of crescent rolls.
Melt butter & mix with the other 1/2 C sugar. Pour on top and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers. This also tastes good cold (so the recipe says but I haven't tried it yet, lol). This recipe may also be halved and baked in an 8x8 pan. Enjoy!

Settin’ The Table

Tonight we went over to Mom & Dad’s house b/c they had gone and got Autumn from daycare after they went and saw the new 3D Christmas Carol.  Mom said it is NOT for children and it is really scary and she wouldn’t even take a 12 year old to see it, so it’s definitely not one I will take Autumn to see.  Anyways, Autumn helped me set the table tonight and you would have thought I had told her it was Christmas morning.  She was SO EXCITED to help me set the table.  I showed her were the fork and knife and spoon went and she did a great job.  I hope she’ll always be so happy about the little things, b/c those are really the things that count the most in life.

This is what we had for dinner…mini meatloafs, green bean casserole and yams.  It was so super scrumptious and all I can say is that we are SPOILED ROTTEN!  It was so nice to sit down as a family (we missed you Lex & Jon & Andrew) and just enjoy a nice meal together.  It made me so excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas when we get to be all together as a family and eat good food and play games and just create memories.

The One Where Autumn Talks

Tonight we were over at Mom & Dad's for dinner. I've been trying to get Autumn to use the toliet lately, but it hasn't been working out too well. I was helping Mom get dinner ready when I heard Autumn grunting and saw her face and knew she was trying to poop. I picked her up and ran her into the bathroom so she could try to go in the toliet instead of in her diaper. Well, she didn't want to so we ended up being in there for 10 minutes, which seemed like forever. While she was sitting on the toliet, Dad came home from work. He stuck his head in the door just to see how we were doing in there and Autumn said, "Get out! Get out my face, Papa!" Dad and I just looked at each other and said, "Did she just say what we think she said?" Sure enough she had, b/c she said it again.

We busted up laughing, b/c Autumn usually doesn't say full sentences. And, I have NO IDEA where she picked up that phrase. I've never said that in front of her, so I'm guessing she heard it at daycare. It was just hilarious how clear she said it and out of nowhere! Her other new word that she started saying tonight was, "Never." When I look back on Autumn's life and if I had to pick a day that she really started talking I guess today would be the day.

Lola & Visiting Teaching & Jewelry

Today at work Liberty brought Lola in so everyone could see her.  It gave me a chance to try out my new camera.  Lola is so tiny (she only weighs 2 lbs 2 oz) and had fun running around the office.

She got held and loved on by everyone in the office.  We’ve decided Liz should bring her into work everyday and Lola can be our work mascot.

She was tuckered out from all the fun and spent a long time just resting on Mary’s lap.  She’s so adorable and it makes me want a puppy now.

After work, Mom called and said she wanted to go out to dinner, so we met her at Napoli’s.  The guy that owns it came over and talked to us for a while b/c he knows us b/c we’ve been going there for years.  The food is incredible and I was glad we had some leftovers so I can eat them for lunch tomorrow.
  Mom came over to the house so she could watch Autumn for me while I went to my visiting teaching group.  This time we had to meet kind of late (8 pm) b/c some of the women had to be late due to their kids’ football games.  We met at Cheesecake Factory and had a great time.  I got the white berry cheesecake and it was good, but definitely not $8 worth of good!!!  The avocado eggrolls were AH-MAZING though!  Zulema is so sweet and humble and naturally beautiful.  Stephanie is a total kick in the pants and had us laughing the whole night.

Karri brought her niece, Ashley, and it was fun to have her there.  She said we reminded her of the Housewives of Atlanta and said we could be the Housewives of Dallas b/c we were so fun and crazy.  Karri is just awesome and it’s always a party wherever she goes.  She is so good to Autumn & I and I appreciate her friendship so much.  We decided to take a silly picture (that’s why Karri has straws coming out of her nose and I have whip cream on my nose).

Rachael is a ball of energy.  She just had knee surgery yesterday and the same day was up and walking all around Target!  She showed up late b/c she had just been to a jewelry party that a lady in our ward was having.  She showed us some of the stuff she had bought and I knew I had to go to this party and get some for presents (or myself).

Here’s just a tiny sample of what was available.  All of the jewelry was gorgeous and so unique.  I love that the necklace on the right matches the quit little tin that it came in.  If you want to buy some for gifts (or for yourself) you can visit Amy’s etsy shop HERE.

I got home kind of late (THANK YOU SO MUCH MOM FOR WATCHING AUTUMN FOR ME).  Nate was there b/c we wanted to watch the second video of Underworld since it had to be back to Blockbuster tomorrow.  It’s usually rated R, but we fast forwarded through all the naughty parts so it could be PG-13.  Now all I need to do is watch the third movie (which is really the first one chronologically w/ the storyline).  I was SOOOO tired and am not used to staying up until midnight, but it was worth it and it was fun to spend some time w/ Nick & Nate.  Today was a super fun day.

Yummy Veggies & A New Camera

On nights when I’m burned out from working all day, I’ll come home and want to make something fast and easy yet healthy.  So, my new “go to” meal is a frozen bag of veggies that I steam and then a box of chicken flavored rice.  I am so glad that Autumn loves to eat her veggies and hope the rotten kids at school (when she’s older) won’t make her not want to eat her veggies by saying, “Eww.  That’s gross.  How can you like eating that?”  I hope she’ll ignore them and always like eating veggies.

She must have been tired and worn out tonight too, b/c she decided to just use her fingers instead of her fork.  She would pick up a veggie w/ her finger and put her head back and feed it to herself.  She reminded me of a baby bird.  A very CUTE baby bird at that!

If you’ll notice, the quality of my pictures improved thanks to the new camera I bought.  I got a Canon Rebel XS and it came w/ a second macro lens.  I am so excited to start trying it out and taking tons of pictures.  I sat and read the whole manual from start to finish.  It was a big investment but was one of those things that I’ve been researching for a long time and it’s something I will get good use out of.  It’s my Happy Birthday/Happy Thanksgiving/Merry Christmas/Happy New Year etc. present.  I decided to get it now so I can use it for family Christmas pictures that we always take during Thanksgiving when we’re all together.  If you know of any great websites on how to take awesome pictures just let me know!

New Puppy

This morning when I woke up Autumn said, “I missed you Mama.”  It completely melted my heart and even made me cry a little bit.  She’s such a love bug.  She loved being able to wear this dress and her cute red headband.  She kept twirling around like she was a princess.  Today was the Primary Program and I got teary eyed a few times thinking how Autumn will be up there before I know it.  And I can’t help but feel the Spirit when those sweet and innocent children say simple but powerful gospel truths and it really gets me when they sing.

They were short handed in nursery today, so I helped out for a little bit.  Autumn did not like sharing me w/ the other kids and stayed right on my lap or by my side.  But then when it was snack time I was able to sneak away b/c I had to go lead the music in Relief Society.  The lesson was on Joseph Smith so for the practice hymn I played Vocal Point’s accapela version of Praise To The Man.  It is amazing.

After church we came home and had lunch and then took a nap.  When we both woke up, we made cherry chip cake w/ cream cheese frosting.  Autumn is such a good little helper in the kitchen.  While it was baking we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one w/ Johnny Depp) b/c it was on TV.  During a commercial I flipped over to another channel and Autumn said, “Thank you, Mama.”  I guess she didn’t like it and Johnny Depp scared her.  She was all about watching Hannah Montana instead.  When I put it on “Nah Nah” as she calls it she looked up at me w/ the sweetest little face and said, “Dank do, Mama.”  She brings so much joy into my life.

Liz & Liberty came over to show us their new puppy they got yesterday.  She’s a little shizu named Lola.  She is absolutely adorable and liked playing w/ the tassels on the rug in the living room.  It made me want a cute little puppy, especially b/c Autumn loved Lola so much and was so excited to have her visit.

Aww…what a cute family picture.  Autumn was helping me take this picture and had her finger over part of the flash (that’s why it’s dark on Liz’s side of the pic).  I am so glad that Liz & Liberty live close and that they come over to visit us.

Single Adult Conference

Autumn got up this morning and wanted to be a little cuddle bug while we watched cartoons.  We had breakfast w/ Dad when he woke up and then I left Autumn at Mom & Dad’s house all day while I went to the Single Adult Conference w/ Christine.  We were late getting there, but we sat in on a class that had started and it was about finances.  It was a great class and I learned a lot.  After the class it was lunch time, and they had sandwiches and chips and fruit salad.  After lunch we went to a class on dating which was excellent and then after that we went to a class on music & the arts.  The guy teaching it is a door salesmen and he was talking about how anyone can be creative.  He started writing lyrics one day and Janice Kapp Perry is a family friend and so she put music to his lyrics.  He gave us a copy of a hymn he wrote 10 days ago w/ music done by her and had us sing it.  It was INCREDIBLE!

Anyways, the classes were all uplifting and informative and wonderful, but as soon as the classes were over we left.  I was by far the youngest one there and most people were in their 60’s.  A guy was talking to us and telling us back in 1979 (the year I was born!!!) he was going to BYU and he is the one that added the, “rah rah rah rah rah” at the end of the BYU fight song.  It was then I realized I did not belong there.  Christine and I were talking and we want to start a group for younger single adults in the DFW area, b/c there were only about 3 guys there that were our age.  We know there are other single adults our age, but they don’t want to go to activities like that b/c it’s mostly older people.  It was funny that in the dating class there was this 90 year old woman sitting in the front row.  She was so adorable and sweet but I was thinking, “Honey, when are you ever going to date?”  I was glad I went, but probably won’t be going to another one unless it’s just for the classes.

Steve (Curt’s brother) lives close to the church we were at, so we drove over to his house and crashed on his couch until it was time to go back to the church for the dinner and dance part of the conference.  Christine and I ended up taking a little snooze on the couch and love seat while watching Mrs. Doubtfire.  Steve & Pete (also Curt’s brother) were supposed to be at the conference, but they had been to one before and knew everyone was a lot older.  So, we all decided to skip out on the dinner/dance and just go do our own thing.  We went to Texas Roadhouse, which was super tasty.

Then we went rented The Proposal from a Redbox and went back to Steve’s house to watch it.  I got to have the love seat all to myself and I am IN LOVE w/ this sofa set.  The love seat was huge (I could lay out and fit my whole 6’1” body on it) and it was out of this world comfy.  I kept telling Steve I was going to come steal his sofa set while he was gone to church.  I usually don’t like couches w/ lots of pillows but this was definitely an exception.  I just melted right down into it and wanted to stay there forever.  It was a fun day and evening, but I missed my little Autumn Bottom and it was hard to be away from her all day.

Friday The 13th

Even though it was Friday the 13th, it ended up being a good day.  Dad came over this morning and brought Autumn a doughnut (left over from Seminary).  She was so excited and even wanted to take the empty box in the car w/ us on the way to daycare.

At work I went and got some drinks and pizza to tell the girls in the office thank you for doing such a great job dealing w/ all of the many changes we’ve had at work in the past few weeks and for putting up w/ me and my stressed out self.  It was really nice and relaxing and we even got in some training.

After work we went over to Mom & Dad’s to share the left over pizza w/ them.  Mom had made a big pan of chicken divan (chicken w/ this amazing gravy and broccoli w/ stuffing on top).  Autumn had fun playing w/ Nate b/c she would chase him around the living room and he would chase her back.  She wanted him to lay down on the floor so she could cover him up w/ a blanket but instead he did push ups w/ her on his back.

Jordan came over to give Nate a haircut and then to get one from him.  Nate and I were talking about Twilight earlier b/c he didn’t know what it was and I was telling him the shortened version of what Twilight is about.  He told me about Underworld, and it sounded so good that we had Jordan stop and rent it at Blockbuster before he came over.  We started watching it and Autumn was in the room, but when it got violent and they started shooting (like 3 minutes into the movie), I turned it off and tried to get Autumn to go into Mom’s room to watch Mulan, but Autumn did NOT want to!  She wanted to stay and watch the vampires and werewolves fighting!  I was shocked b/c I thought it would be too scary for her.  But, I didn’t let her watch it even though she wanted to b/c I don’t want to scar her for life.  She eventually went in Mom’s room when I bribed her w/ a bah bah.

It was a good movie, and what was even better was watching it w/ Nate b/c he would tell us what was going on.  Otherwise, I would have been super confused.  I’m excited to watch the other two videos in the trilogy.  And in less than a week I will be watching the midnight showing of New Moon.  I am TOTALLY team Jacob!

Chocolate Cookies & Surprise Visitors

Tonight Autumn & I spent the evening at home just watching TV and relaxing.  I was in the kitchen doing dishes and walked into the living room to se this…Autumn chillin’ on the couch watching TV while eating crackers out of this zip lock bag she found in the pantry.  What a kid.  She wanted me to make sure I got a picture of her red painted toe nails…she is so proud of them and was THRILLED when I painted them a few days ago.

Since we were just at home watching TV, I decided to be the Baking Babes and make some cookies.  It’s a recipe from Paula Dean.  The cookies were good, but not something I’ll make all the time.  They were really messy to roll into little balls.  While my hands were covered in dough and powdered sugar, the doorbell rang.  I thought it was Liz & Liberty b/c I had told them to come over if they wanted to.  Since I couldn’t move the blinds (b/c I had dough all over my hands) to peek out the window and see who it was, I just yelled out, “Who is it?”  It was the Bishopric and they stopped in just to say hi.  They said they would have called ahead but my phone number wasn’t in the ward directory.  It was so nice to have them here and Autumn acted all shy at first and wouldn’t even look at them.  They would ask her a question and every time the answer was, “No!”  But, she warmed up by the end of the visit and loved being able to put the cookies we had made on a plate to share w/ them.  It made me feel so special and important and loved to have them stop in and say hi and just check on us.

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Mumu Mama

Tonight after work/school we dropped off Liz at her house and then came over to Mom & Dad’s.  Dad had called me and said to come over to eat b/c Mom had made some stuffed peppers (from the garden).  They were super tasty and so were the mashed potatoes and gravy she had made also.  After eating, it was time for Nate to go to class.  He came out wearing this and Mom told him there was no way he was going to class looking like that and to go change b/c he looked horrible and she wouldn’t claim him as her own looking like that.  He laughed and lovingly said, “You’re one to talk Mumu Lady.”

We all started laughing so hard that our sides hurt.  She went to hug him and instead pretended to knee him right where it counts.  That just made us laugh even harder.  I love my family so much and cherish the fun little moments like this that we share all the time.

Wild Woman

Tonight after we went and got Autumn, Liz & I wanted to go to Bath & Body Works to take advantage of the buy 3 get 3 free (and then I had my $10 off coupon).  And already they’ve changed the deal so now it’s only buy 3 get 2 free!  Autumn was being a little stinker when we got her from daycare, so we stopped at McDonald’s first to get her something to eat and drink so she wouldn’t be so cranky.  She insisted on taking her french fries into the store, and I didn’t mind since they kept her happy and occupied.  While I was checking out, she rearranged and lined up all of the lotion bottles at the check out counter.  She was NOT happy when it was time to go b/c she wanted to stay and move the bottles of lotion around.  Maybe she can work there when she’s older.

When we got home I gave her a bath and then we just relaxed and watched some TV.  During the commercial breaks, she wanted to get up and dance (we do that sometimes, especially when we’re watching dancing shows).  She was running around the formal living room and kept swinging her hair around b/c it was wet from taking a bath.  I thought this was a cool picture of her long hair flying all over.

She went to bed at 8:00 and Nick stayed there w/ her  while I went to a Provident Living group our Relief Society just started.  We learned about how to use coupons to save money and also some great ides on inexpensive Christmas gifts.  The couponing was interesting, and I’ve heard about it (especially when I lived in Utah).  But, I’ve never really gotten into it b/c it’s kind of like a part time to full time job (depending on how into it you are).  The lady that taught the class last night said all of her kids are in school now so she has a lot more time to spend on it and even has a big binder she takes w/ her to the store that is full of her coupons.  I would love to have the time to do more couponing, but in the meantime I’ll just do what little I have time for now.  I did get some great ideas for Christmas gifts this year and I am almost all done w/ my Christmas shopping!  GO ME!

Just One Degree

This morning I wanted to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather, so Autumn & I went on a walk around the duck ponds. While we were walking, a fire truck and ambulance came to one of the homes on the street, but I don’t know why. Autumn was just excited to see the fire truck and waved to the firemen. She found these little “magic wands” on the ground that she wanted to carry around while we walked.

She was walking slow, and I wanted to get in a little bit of a work out, so I tricked her into chasing me w/ the wands by pretending they tickled me when she touched me w/ them. She was all about running after me, which made us both laugh and we got in a better work out all in one.

After our walk, we came home and got cleaned up. I bought this dress for Autumn in January when it was on clearance and she looks adorable in it. But, she looks even cuter wearing her pink cowboy boots w/it. Dad came over at church to say hi and he was wearing his cowboy boots, so we just had to get a picture of them in their boots together.

Papa & Autumn

She is such a little princess and I LOVE IT!

She wanted to help me cook some breakfast, so I put my apron on her to keep her dress clean. She thought that was pretty fun and I thought for a minute she might want to wear the apron to church instead of the dress. She was pretty good at church today and Liz & Liberty sat by us, which was fun. After church, we both came home and took a nice (and much needed) nap.

After our naps, we got ready to head over to Mom & Dad’s. While we were getting ready, Christine called and asked if I wanted to go to a single adult’s fireside tonight. I said sure and got dressed in church clothes. I went and dropped Autumn off at Mom & Dad’s and headed over to Christine’s so we could drive over together.

The fireside was absolutely incredible and even life changing. Robin Jacks was the speaker and she told us about some of the trials she has had in her life. She hit rock bottom and realized she could either fall apart or hold onto her faith and the Gospel. She started to focus on the 6 Be’s of President Hinckley. Then she told us about the positive impact we can have on people. She said that little things can make such a big difference. She was telling us that water boils at 211 degrees and at 212 degrees it turns into steam and how important that one degree is, especially back in the day when trains and other things ran on steam.

She had us put all of our chairs in a circle and then she asked us to go around and share what we have done to be that one degree of difference in someone’s life. A few older gentlemen got up and shared how they were widowers and how they had cared for their wives when they were diagnosed w/ cancer. It was incredibly touching. Then another woman got up and shared how she cared for her father while he was in the hospital. Another lady shared how she helped a co-worker pay for some medicine she really needed but couldn’t afford.

At first I wished they would just say something short and then sit down, b/c some of them talked for a long time. But, then I realized that they needed to share their stories. I was on the verge of tears quite a few times, b/c I could feel the Spirit so strongly. It just reiterated to me what I posted about earlier and how everyone we meet is dealing w/ a trial in their life and how a little kindness and something small can go a long way.

She made these cute Thanksgiving cards for all of us to take home so we can write a thank you note to someone or just a “hi, how ya doing” note to brighten someone’s day. After the fireside, I went to get Autumn at Mom & Dad’s. I walked in the house and Autumn came RUNNING over to me and gave me a big huge hug around the neck. I hugged her back and told her I love her and that I missed her. She said, “I missed you too, Mommy.” She’s never said that before and it brought tears to my eyes, b/c it was so sweet and touched my heart and soul.

Sweets & Sunglass Sistas

Tonight Autumn & I wanted to dust off our aprons and turn into Baking Babes.  We made some of Kristin’s pumpkin pie bars (I did them right this time and remembered to reserve one cup of the cake mix to put on top).  Autumn is the best helper ever when it comes to licking the batter off the whisk.

But that’s not her only baking talent.  She is also really good at stirring and smiling when I tell her to.  I love baking w/ her b/c she makes it so fun.  For example, when I brought out the eggs and broke them open she got so excited and kept yelling, “Wegs! Wegs!”

While we waited for the pumpkin pie bars to bake, we watched some TV and Autumn found some sunglasses that she insisted on wearing around.  I love this picture of her, b/c it’s like she’s thinking, “Dear me.  I seem to have misplaced my glasses.  I wonder where they could be?”  I love that she put them up on her head like I do all the time.

We are the Sunglass Sistas tonight along w/ the Baking Babes…an awesome combination.

Good Deals

This morning I woke up to this…Autumn came in wearing this hat from when she was 6 months old. It’s too small for her head, but she was working the look and making it look “fierce.”

I cleaned the house and then we both got cleaned up (Autumn even dressed herself while I was getting ready). We went over to the church to help out w/ the big service project we were doing. It’s been 25 years since the first LDS chapel was built in our city and in order to celebrate, we all did service projects today. For the youth and adults they had clean up projects around the city, and for the little kids they had them decorate boxes so when the food pantry gives food to needy families it will be festive. Autumn helped me color the pictures and then tape them onto the boxes.

She was so proud of the box we decorated and didn’t want to go home! She kept wanting to put leaves on our box. I hope she’ll always have the desire to serve others.

After that, we headed over to Bath & Body Works. She was a good helper and carried the bag around for me (it was a trick of mine to keep her from touching things she shouldn’t). However, she couldn’t resist looking at these cute winter boots. I have a feeling I’m going to be in big trouble when she gets older and is going to want new shoes all the time.

K, I have to share this deal w/ you. I got all six of these lotions for only $20. B&B has a special going on now where you can buy 3 and get 3 free, and then I also had a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase. Usually they are $10.50 each! I LOVE finding a good deal, and this is the website where you can get the $10 off coupon. I am going to use these as Christmas gifts for Autumn’s teachers and others. The new Twilight Woods smells SOOOOOO GOOOOD!!!

After that we headed over to Garden Ridge to get a Christmas tree, b/c I got an ad in the mail and their trees were 1/2 off. I really debated between getting the yellow or orange tree (NOT). I got a 6 ft $15 tree! I know it’s not the highest quality, but who cares? It’s going to work out great for Autumn & I.

Inside the shopping center were these cool murals on the walls. Autumn especially liked the eagle one.

This one reminded me of southern Utah.

I was looking at some cheap (99 cents) jewelry (see picture below) in one of the shops and Autumn went and climbed up on these rocks in the middle of the shopping center. She looked so cute just sitting there next to this big orange flower just chillaxin’ while I shopped.

I got all of this awesome jewelry for just 99 cents each. Talk about a great deal! I’ve realized I’m addicted to jewelry. Some women have to have lots of bags, some have to have lots of shoes, some have to have lots of clothes…I have to have lots of jewelry.

On the way out the door she spotted this Flintstone's purple dinosaur and wanted to sit on it. I didn’t have any quarters for her to ride it, but she still had fun just sitting there. We stopped at Taco Cabana and got some Cabana Bowls for lunch and took them over to Mom & Dad’s house. We hung out there and watched the BYU game (GO COUGS) and just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon.

After a fun afternoon, Liz & Liberty came over to watch Autumn for me while I went to the opening night hockey game w/ Mom & Dad & Nick. We got to be in the box and they had all of this awesome food. I especially liked the red, white and blue chips (team colors).

While I was walking down the hall, I saw this guy and asked him if he was the mascot and if I could get a picture w/ him. He laughed and said he wasn’t the mascot but that I could get a picture w/ him. Come to find out, I guess he’s one of the developers of not only the property the events center sits on, but the whole new mall area in the city! Whoops…I called him a mascot. Oh, well at least he was really nice about it and was a friendly guy.

Here’s some of the kids in Dad & Britt’s seminary class that were in the box w/ us. It was a lot of fun yelling and enjoying the game (especially b/c a few good fights broke out).

Nick was especially excited when the dessert cart came around (it doesn’t look like it, but this piece of cake was HUGE). His favorite part of the night, though, was when he got a cheerleader’s signature.

Here we are enjoying the game. Too bad we lost 4 to 1. It was still great to be there and a HUGE THANK YOU to Liz & Liberty for watching Autumn for me.

Britt asked me if the pictures I was taking were going on my blog and I told him yes, so he had me take this picture of him & Dad. They are such great friends and I’m so glad they have each other. Another HUGE THANK YOU to Britt for the tickets and helping us to have such a memorable evening.

Today was full of great deals and good times.