Weekend Wrap Up

I know this is shocking, but I didn't take any pictures on Sunday or on Monday! I am starting to get a cold and haven't been feeling super well, so I'm out of my norm. Sunday was church and I forgot to set my alarm, so Autumn & I woke up late and made it to church a little bit late. There were a few people that said they missed seeing us sitting in our usual spot, which was nice to know that people are looking out for us.

I was getting tired of my class of 9 year olds never bringing their scriptures to class, so I told them if everyone brought their scriptures for 5 weeks straight, then I would bring them all a treat. Wouldn't you know, every single one of them brought their scriptures this Sunday and even a few of the boys that are usually loud and obnixous volunteered to read! Who knew a little bribery could go such a long way? They decided that they each want a pack of gum, which is small price to pay for participation.

After church, our home teachers came over for a little bit and we talked about temples and then Autumn & I went over to Mom & Dad's. Mom had made a roast w/ carrots and potatoes and gravy and it was SUPER good. The weather was GORGEOUS, so we opened the back door to let in some cool air since it was cooler outside than it was inside, but then flies were coming in b/c they smelled our good food so we had to shut the door and just open the windows.

Lexie & Jon had to leave to got back home, so we said good bye to them and just spent the rest of the day watching football, I read the kindle, and kept Autumn entertained in Mom & Dad's room by putting on movies she requested. It was fun having Lexie & Andrew here for a little bit and wish they all could have stayed longer.

Mom got this dress for Autumn for Christmas at Costco the other day and wanted her to try it on just to make sure it fits.  Autumn thought she was HOT STUFF and loved twirling around in it and then pretended like she was a bell and was swinging it from side to side and saying, “Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong.”  SO CUTE!

Nothing special happened yesterday. Just work & school and then we went over to Mom & Dad's for dinner and had Sunday dinner left overs. Mom had rented Diary of Wimpy Kid and we watched that, but I didn't care for it. Instead, I got up half way through it and made some killer pumpkin bars that I found on Gina's blog b/c we needed a fall-type treat to go along w/ the beginning of fall-type weather. I don't think I've posted the recipe before, so here it is. They are DEFINITELY delicious and worth making.

Killer Pumpkin Bars

Note: These are cake-like and moist in texture rather than firmer, denser or with a crust and topping like other bar-type desserts.

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks), room temp.
2 cups canned pumpkin (one 15-oz. can)
4 eggs, room temp.
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. each cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 15 X 10 1/2 X 1 pan.

Sift flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together; set aside. Cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
Spread mixture into pan.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until cake springs back when touched or toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Icing:
3 oz. cream cheese, room temp.
1 stick butter, room temp.
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat together until smooth..

I make this icing ALL the time for cupcakes or cakes or anything that calls for icing b/c it's so easy and so dang good! After watching our movie, we flipped back and forth between Monday night football & Dancing With The Stars. Finally at 9:00 I took Autumn home and put her to bed. I wasn't quite tired yet, so I flipped on the TV and ended up watching Hoarders on A&E. It was CRAZY! I watching Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC but this one on A&E was MUCH WORSE.

There was this one lady that had so much stuff in her house that they found DEAD BABY CATS w/ their umbilical cords still attached in her house!!! They had to literally shovel her belongings into Hazmat bags and burn them b/c her belongings were too toxic to just throw into the dump b/c of all the cat feces! You can watch it HERE, but I'm warning you it's graphic (they show the dead/squished cats).

Then there they showed a lady that lived in Utah and the background behind her looked really familiar. I recognized it as the apartments that surrounded the house that looks like a castle that we used to live in! I hurried up and called Mom and told her she had to flip to that channel and tell me if those were the castle apartments and sure enough, they were! Small world, huh?

Anyways, while I was watching how horrible those living conditions were I decided that I couldn't ignore the two piles of clean clothes I had on a chair in the corner of my room and folded them all and put them away and tidied up my room. I felt so much better going to sleep w/ a clean room. I hope I can get over this cold before my trip to Slovenija!