Halloween FUN!

The first thing out of Carissa's mouth this morning was, "Is it Halloween today?". So of course once I told her yes, she wanted to go trick-or-treating that very instant! Funny thing is, is that by the time it was ready to get ready (which involved washing the hair and doing it) she wasn't so keen on going and was asking if she could just stay home. Well I fought her to take the bath, and do the hair, and then as soon as the costume was on, she was ready to GO!

Problem was it was only 4:30....so the waiting began........AGAIN!

Decided since it was "Happy TinkerBell DAy" that it was only appropriate to bust out the new Tinkerbell movie! So that kept her happy until it was over, but it still wasn't quite dark yet. (Which is a really cute little movie and done really well!)

Once it was finally time to go. She caught on REALLY quick! So fast that I couldn't even keep up with her! She was cutting across lawns like the big kids do just to get there faster! (Sorry about that guys!)

Here she is running to the next house with her loot!

Here is Andrew! I'm going to title this one "Third House"! See.....he's already busting into her candy!

Check out that cute Tinkerbell back there! I decided that since all the pictures were blurry of her running around, that I should keep the one that looks like I did it on purpose (which I did!)

This one summs up the constant running. Look at my neighbor Mary, who was being so cute and trying to talk to Carissa about her costume. (Carissa took a baby sign class from her, so they are buds) and look at her, she just wants to get going....no time for chit chat Miss Mary! (this one really makes me laugh)

Then when we got home, we brought one of her friends and her brother home with us. The kids pulled up chairs in front of the TV and watched a Strawberry Shortcake movie while they tried to sneak the candy! She was so cute looking at all the candy. She pulled out a box of "dots" and promptly told us, "I don't like these, take them away"! Then she ate way more than she should have (so have I!) but I think she had a great time.

Bats & Cobwebs......yummy!

I found this recipe from Martha Stewart a few years back. And it has become a favorite, any time of the year, but especially at Halloween! This is not one of those "low fat" ones. This one is full of yummy cheese, and gooy-ness! This is what you'll need.

1 box of bow tie pasta

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced (or a bit more if you're trying to keep the vampire's away! )

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes in puree

1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes (can buy the seasoned, but I usually add my own)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil (unless you have fresh around)

1/8 teaspoon sugar

salt

1 pound of chicken breasts, diced (or you can use canned chicken-that's the way Kelle likes it)

(Martha's recipe originally called for chicken sausages........um....no thanks!)

8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes (I usually just use the whole dang 16 ounce...cause it just makes it goo-ier!)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese ( I REALLY like to use the shredded, but you can use grated if that's all you have)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain; set aside. Meanwhile, while the water boils, cook your chicken, season to taste. (I like to use a salt-free all purpose seasoning and some pepper) Set cooked chicken aside.

2. Meanwhile, in the same large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add garlic, cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add tomatoes, oregano, basil, and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer; cook, stirring and breaking up tomatoes until slightly thickened, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt.

3. Add pasta, chicken, and HALF of the mozzarella; toss to combine. Transfer to a 9x11 pan. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake until bubbly and top is lightly browned 10-15 minutes.

**Just remember that if you make this ahead of time (like I did tonight), when you bake it, just put some foil over the top and cook it a bit longer. Then remove foil and put the rest of the cheese on. That way you won't get the blobs of cheese that aren't quite melty enough to make cobwebs, but the tips of the pasta were starting to burn! OOPSIE! **

The magic happens when you dish it out and the cheese sticks to the noodles. Really hard to capture that on film, so you'll just have to make it and see for yourself!

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!
You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You're firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things.


Well I've got my tickets to the November 21st showing! I'm super excited! I just hope it does the book justice!

Go take the quiz!

"Stinker-Bell"

I was so excited when Carissa started learning about Fairies, and really learning about TinkerBell. She loves to rewind the opening of the disney movies just so she can see Tinkerbell fly by! (OK, maybe not so cute OVER & OVER again) But when I saw this little green fairy costume, I bought it hoping that she would be willing to wear it. Well she kept talking about wanting to dress up as Ariel, so I rushed around trying to find an Ariel that would fit her. When I finally found one, I brought it home, showed it to her, and she promptly told me she was dressing up as TinkerBell! (if she had just told me that to begin with, I could have saved myself some stress AND a whole lot of GAS!!!!!)

So last Friday was our ward Halloween party. Got her all dressed up. Got the TinkerBell hair thing going on! She looked adorable! Took her out to the porch to get some pictures........and she gave me MAJOR attitude! So I thought it was only appropriate that I scrap it! (maybe someday she'll learn, that if it gets captured....it's gonna get scrapped!)

So here she is with the PERFECT TinkerBell impersonation! If only she'd been folding her arms or putting them on her hips like she's been doing lately! But hey, at least I got pictures of her face this time!

Proof.....

that she's not a MONSTER ALL of the time!

She was eating a snack at the table, went and got her blanket, pushed the chairs together, and before I knew it, she was got quieter and quieter. When I finally went over to check on her, she was totally asleep! Enough that I moved the whole table out of the way so I could take the pictures! And she didn't wiggle at all when my camera was inches from her face, and clicking away!

And since sleeping on chairs in not an everyday occurance here, I thought I would explain that for the past 17 days she has been going nap-free! It's something that I fought for a VERY long time (I'm still fighting to keep her in the crib though! I see NO good at her coming out of that little cage!) mostly because I thought I "needed" the "me" time in the afternoon. But since she was not falling asleep until almost 11:00 EVERY night, I decided to try it for a few days and see how she did. Well she has been doing fabulous. Sleeping almost 12 hours, and going to bed by 8:30-9! Which is such a relief! It was really hard on the big people of the house, cause if we wanted to start a movie we had to wait until she was in bed....so we were frequently starting movies at 10:30 at night! That means we were ALL getting to bed too late! So now she is going to bed pretty early, which is definitely my preference, and I enjoy my evening/night time as much as I enjoyed my afternoon time! Now with daylight savings time coming up, we're hoping it will be an easier transition this time!

But now that she is awake, she has continued her "job". My sweet sister describes it as "dump & Distribute". Which basically means she emptys one bucket of toys into another empty bucket. Then fills up the one she just emptied out. It is a tiring "job" and she does it non-stop all day long! And of course she has a non-stop commentary to go with the D&D! But how can I complain about the imagination she has going on here! It just tickles me silly!

Didn't I learn my lesson yet?

Apparently NOT! I thought getting pictures the other day would help me to feel that I didn't "NEED" any more for awhile! But with the holidays upon us, I just couldn't resist going to see the witches at Gardner Village! Plus I knew that the weather was going to get cold, and then I would NEVER get down there. However, Carissa had NO interest in the witches, OR the benches OR the haystacks OR the pumpkins OR the little photo op places! Whose child is this anyway??? (Not MINE, I love the halloween stuff). So the majority of the time was spent chasing after her, or screaming at her to get out of the street. She's just oblivious to "danger". And then there was a little boy that kept screaming and chasing her yelling "Tinkerbell, come BACK"! She was a bit freaked out by the crazy boy, and I eventually had to talk to the boy! I was just terrified she'd run off and I wouldn't be able to find her at all! But we ended up having a great time and I'm always amazed at the amount of work they put into decorating down there!

So here are what we saw the majority of the time.....running away! I'll spare you the 90+ pictures of this happening, and just show my 2 favs!

This was a backward glance at the crazy boy! Most of the time she just ran away and ignored my pleas to come back!

Here are some that I actually like! It's just a shame I have to shoot over 250 shots to get 6 that I love!

Family Pictures

We finally got around to doing a family picture! The last one we did, Carissa was not even a year old yet! So it was definitely overdue! We went to Memory Grove in Salt Lake and about 10 minutes after getting there discovered that there weren't any potties! Sooooo, Carissa got her first lesson in "camping style"!

I was really surprised that Carissa was going to be happy and not run from the camera right away. But I was wrong! About 20 minutes in, she decided she was finished! And the worst part was that Andrew hadn't even gotten there yet! Yikes! So the ones that we have with him in it, we were literally fighting with her to just hold still! Thanks Jen for working with her! I tryed to warn you that she was difficult! (And now you know I wasn't kidding!) And for the record, we now all know that bribes don't work with her either!

So here are some of my favorites! I'm sure you'll be seeing them alot in the future!

Look at the eyelashes on this girl!!!! Wowza!

Here's proof that she smiled in one picture! Actually I think this was the very FIRST frame that was shot....and then it went downhill from there! But isn't she adorable? Easy to forget when she turns into such a MONSTER!

We were trying anything to get her to hold still! I just love this one cause she is laughing, and that makes me happy! (Especially because after this one, we heard ALOT of "no's"!)

So there you have it! And now it will be another 2 years before we do this again! At least until Carissa can manage to not run off in a busy park! I'm sure there were some bridal shots that had a streaking 3 year old running through the frame! Sorry to those photographers and brides!

Another first for me

I'm really ashamed to admit this. But I have lived in Utah for 9 years and not once have I really gone downtown to just take pictures of the temple. I've gone for the lights and to conference, but this is the first time I've really taken pictures of it. Sad huh?

Well after our family portrait shoot the other night, Jen and I went to take pictures of the temple. This one is my favorite one from my first batch. She convinced me to try and shoot in RAW, but now I need a converter to look at the pictures. So I had to settle for one of my JPG shots. I messed with it a bunch of different ways, and thought I would get opinions on which one you guys like.

Thanks Jen for taking me! (Well I guess technically, I took you since I drove!) It was so much fun! And the bakery was deeeeli-sh! I'll have to go back for the yummy turkey again! So much easier to take pictures of a building than a screaming-fighting-stubborn-bribes don't work for- 3 year old! I think I'll take more pictures of things! I think it's official...I've got the photog bug!


This one just has a few retouches

This one has some awesome photo overlays from Cat Scraps

Here is the same overlays but in Black & White

Different arrangement of overlays



And this one has a few more textures and blending modes. Kinda gives it a canvas feel!

So which treatment is your favorite? I'd love to hear. Then when I get the rest of my pictures, I will share them as well!

Everyone's invited!

As some of you know I am a HUGE fan of Jessica Sprague, and the classes that she has taught! Well she has announced that there will be a new class offered next month that will be amazing! For one it's FREE! That's right. FREE! So if you've ever wanted to try out digital scrapping, just to see if you'd like it. Now's your chance! This class is not just about scrapping, but also about the stories that you can tell. Whether you want to have better journaling on your layouts, or just write better in your personal journals, this class will teach you tools to get results that you may be lacking in your writing. And even though I just took the Type+Writer class, I still plan on taking this class as well! She's just so amazing, I can't imagine missing any classes! (Yah, she's THAT good!!)

So here's the information on it. Hope to "see" you all in the class!

(click on the link above to go to her site, then you can register from there!)

Registration opens on Monday!

Random Fun-Ness!

We went to Nikelle's last volleyball game of the "season" (it was only 5 weeks for us!) tonight. We got there in plenty of time, so in order to entertain Carissa, we walked the halls of the school. In doing so, I saw a pretty common high school scene that is pretty normal for most, but at Paradigm, they don't have the lockers installed. Someday maybe when the school is "finished" they will eventually get them in, but for now....nada! So I thought it would be fun to take a shot of the line of lockers! Just trying to think outside the box when it comes to taking pictures of things other than people!

The girls did really well. They lost to the first team (which was the home team), and then they won both the sets for the second team. They always play better for the second team, like the first one is just a "warm-up"

Then when the game was over we were walking out to the van to head home, when we see this GLORIOUS VW bus! Not only is it pimped out, but it is BLUE! And one of the girls' nicknames is "Smurf", so we had to stop and take pictures of the BUS! And then I got carried away! But who can resist the 1962 VW Bus???? (NOT ME!) My kiddo's call them "hippie-vans"!

So here is the back end of the van.....YUP....the crazy guy is selling this beauty!!!!

And I was just messing around with this one, but really LOVE how it turned out! HOw's that for "ARTsy"?

And anyone who has a "Vote for Nathan Petrelli" sticker in the back window has got to be my new BFF! (Anyone who doesn't watch "Heroes" won't have a clue what that means!)

I may have to do a search to see if I can find one of these.....seriously cool for the die-hard "heroes" fan! Guess I find myself in the "see-it-gotta-have-it" category!

Are you KIDDING me?????

That's about ALL I can say about October 11th! SOooooo NOT ready for winter yet! I was practically in tears looking for winter shoes....and then I had to wear SOCKS! Whaaaaa-aaaaaa!

Fun idea

Just thought I would put up a few pictures from a fun reception I went with Nikelle to. We got an invite from her first Oakcrest councelor, and of course she wanted to go. Because this gal is such a "fun" person, they had a "celebratory carnival"! I was a bit concerned about how this was going to work with the cold weather, but I needn't have worried. They moved it inside and everyone had a great time! They even had a big blow-up bouncy house inside the cultural hall at the church!

It was a fun little "carnival" with the works: cotton candy, popcorn, cupcakes (with little pinwheels...so cute!) snow-cones (yup, even though it was FREEZING!) and yummy treats! It was really a fun little time! Nikelle even got her face painted!

But the highlight was the "balloon ARTIST"! This wasn't your ordinary balloon-animal-maker guy. He was extrodinary! (AND......he had the coolest PURPLE shoes to go with his TUX & top HAT!!) I've NEVER seen anything quite like it. He told us that he made over 300 different things, including 7 different princesses! We saw him make a sumo wrestler, a ballerina (on point ), horses, giraffes, dragons, sunflowers, and crowns. So Nikelle tried to throw him off and asked for a penguin.....but of course he could do it! And isn't it the cutest one EVER!

Then of course we had to get the Ariel one to bring home for Carissa! Wish I had some pictures of her playing with it when we brought it home, but she had just gotten out of the bath, and wanted to "swim" with her in the living room. (this is of course before the pj's got on! which explains the no picture!)

So here's a picture of Nikelle with her councelor from her first year.

Then her second councelor got there and they got to catch up for a bit.

So fun to meet some of these special gals that work with the Oakcrest program! They are all so special! Nikelle will always have fond memories of those camps!

Volleyball

Since starting high school, Nikelle has joined the volleyball team. She enjoys playing and is working hard on her serving. I was lucky enough to go to her game last friday to see her in action. She loves to be in the center front position where she can talk smack to the other team's

center. I thought it just looked so cool with the two of them talking right before the serve!

Then I snapped this picture at the end of the first set of games (they lost...bummer). We have a team of about 15 girls, all at different skill levels. Some are just starting to play this year for the first time (Nikelle) and others have several years experience, which is nice cause this is the first year Paradigm has had a girls volleyball team. They mostly play other private/charter schools, so we travel quite a bit. The closest game is in Eagle Mountain, and the farthest one is in Price.

The Announcement(s)!

Well the "announcement" that you're all anticipating, (well like 5 of you!) and the one that I seem to be having a hard time admitting to myself! I am currently living in two different worlds. The teenage world.....and the toddler world. Sometimes they just co-habitate, and sometimes the universe aligns both worlds and I have two ginormous events happening simultaneously. This is one of those times.

I'll start with the "toddler" world. I've had a whole week to think about this and get this post put together, and I just don't seem to be able to put into words exactly how I feel about it! Everyone knows and accepts that their kids grow up.....eventually. After all, I have 2 older kids that have "grown up", so I should be able to grasp this concept. But I have been in total denial with my little "baby"growing up!

I had made the appropriate arrangements to get her into preschool, and got her on a waiting list. (Just at one school. After all I'm in denial right?) When I never heard back from the teacher, I just assumed that I wouldn't have to deal with it until next year. But then 3 weeks after school began, she called and told me that a space had opened up. Of course I was interested! But was I "ready" to send this little stubborn, and very outspoken little 3 year old off to "school"??? I decided to try it, with the understanding that if she isn't ready, then I'll be able to pull her out. She has now been to "school" 3 times and yesterday was better than the last time, and that was better than the first time. So I definitely have some hope that she will someday be able to go to school without me. The bad news is that I haven't left her there. Just haven't been brave enough. She always comes looking for me, and I fear not being there, and she has a melt-down.

The other reason I have neglected this post (and this is a stupid, but valid reason!) is that she was so uncooperative on the first (and second, and third) day of preschool, that I didn't get one good picture. She wouldn't stand still, wouldn't look at me, wouldn't do anything but run away. So these are the best of the first morning. After all, even though the pictures are lousy, they completely explain her right here, right now! Hopefully it will get better, but for now, I just have blurry pictures to show for her "first day of school" experience! And someday when she's looking at the pictures, I will be able to explain to her how STUBBORN she was on the first day of school, (Payback....yup!) and have the proof of it!!

(Should I tell her now or later that the binky has to stay in the backpack?)


Here she is showing Andrew the project that they worked on in school. She was pretty proud of the pictures that she picked out.


I did get some cute pictures the day we went to the store and picked out her backpack. And she also picked out an umbrella, and I could just envision all the cute pictures to be taken (assuming she will cooperate!) so of course I had to get it! Isn't it adorable?


She had already decided that Tinkerbell needed to sleep in the pocket of the new backpack!





Look at the cute little "attitude" in these two shots!! Just makes me smile!

My second world is the oldest. He took his road test for his license tonight!

Waiting (patiently :) for the tester to come out!

Andrew was the one that had the privilege of taking him for his test, and I made him come all the way to get the little camera, and wouldn't you know it, he didn't get a shot of him holding his new (temporary) license. But he did remember when they got to the school to pick up Nikelle from volleyball practice. Not the same, but I guess it will do. He did manage to get a picture with the road tester gal, cause she used to work up in the building he works in now. Thanks hon, but I don't think I NEED a picture of the tester! But nice try!

And here's the official document to show he is "legal"! It was really weird not having to take him to work tonight. He got quite the lecture about the rules, and hopefully won't screw it up in the first 24 hours!

I'm gonna miss hauling him around everywhere. Over the past couple of years, he and I have spent more time in the car than I think I ever was with my parents. And I actually have come to enjoy our conversations. And even his ROCK music! (I've even downloaded some of our favorites on my iPod!) It will seem weird to not have to pick him up from school (but a HUGE blessing) and have that time to talk to them about school and homework and other things. Just doesn't seem that this day is really finally here. I've known it's been coming for awhile now, but I'm in denial that I can actually have a "teenage driver"!

So the universe can return to normal. I guess the next biggest universal clash won't happen for me until 2010. That's when he'll graduate from high school and Carissa will start Kindergarten that fall. Seems like a joke when you think of it like that!