Hair Cut

Abbie and I had fun emailing Dad this single picture at work last Friday. She's been wanting to grow her hair out to donate it, but to get 10 1/2 inches of extra hair on a little girl is so much. So I was happy to trim it a little shorter. And it looks so cute.
Of course a new haircut calls for a few pictures and I've been dying to go up Hobble Creek and take some so we had a combined effort. It wasn't cold as long as you were in the sun, but that didn't make for great pictures, so we had a little complaining. Throwing rocks in the creek helped fixed the sadness. Click on the picture below to see it better. It was quite pretty up there. Last week we were all excited to see Grandpa Fry. We had dinner with him at Grandma's. Abbie had a blast sitting with him on the couch reading books. They read it normally the first few times and then Abbie would race her finger along the words and Grandpa tried to keep up....faster and faster. There was quite a bit of laugher involved. Grandpa also met us at daddy's work for lunch on Monday and after we ate we played Duck, Duck, Bruce.

Mark and Jessie have kept up their Friday night sleepovers in Jessie's bed. It's always a surprise how they'll be sleeping when I go to cover them up.

While Ken and were at the temple Grandma helped Spencer put training wheels on the little bike we have. He is so excited about it. We have to keep reminding him that his feet can peddle without him looking at them so he can watch where he's going. Abbie is his biggest cheerleader and helper when he runs onto the grass and gets stuck.

A couple of weeks ago Jessie and a friend made a poster for their store at school. They had all the stuff ready for kids to make their own bookmark with a thumbprint creation on it. I thought it was a great idea, but I'm also the mom. Jessie was such a trooper because I convinced to her to sell them at a higher price and they didn't sell too many, but I guess all the kids kind of had that problem because most of the kids had quite a bit of the "money" they had earned left over. I'm not sure what they were saving it for. That's ok though, now when the kids need a craft to do I have something all ready to go.

The First Snow

These pictures are from the 4th and 5th of November. We came home from running errands and it had started snowing. Spencer copied Abbie which made for a great photo.

On the 5th we woke up to snow on the ground. The kids were more than excited. After breakfast I bundled them up and sent them out to play. Before I could get dressed for the day they were back in begging for my participation in the fun. So I put on some sweats and a hoodie, grabbed a pair of gloves and stared a snowball fight with them in the back yard. It was tons of fun. Abbie kept trying to sneak up on me to throw her snowballs and Spencer wanted me to throw snowballs into a bucket he found instead of at him. Once most of the snow in the backyard was tromped on they made a few snow angels in the front and we went inside for hot chocolate. Actually only they had hot chocolate, I was plenty hot from chasing them all over the yard.

Apple Juice

A few Saturday's ago some friends in the ward let us borrow their apple press to juice all our apples left on the tree in the backyard.

The kids were super helpers and unlike last year when we ended up finishing in the dark we did it first thing Saturday morning.

Mark dropping the apples in so they get chopped up.

Spencer held the lid closed so the apples didn't jump back out the top.
Jessie loves her cowboy hat.
After the apples are chopped we scrapped then into this little contraption and squeezed the juice out with a car jack. We ended up with 5 gallons of juice! This year I figured out how to strain it better and the juice turned out beautifully clear and tastes like you are drinking an apple.

Mark had so much fun helping do apples that he spent the whole afternoon over helping the friends we borrowed this from. He's such a good boy.

Sunday when Ken and the kids walked home from choir the sun was just starting to set and really lighting things up. Ken ran in to try and grab a few pictures before it was too late.

Our funny sleeper was at it again. Why do we have huge beds when they can fit on a single pillow?

Sweet Pea Soup

I first had this at the Chef's Table at one of Ken's work meetings and immediately came home to find a recipe for it.

2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 1/2 cups water
16 oz. bag frozen peas
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 1/2 tsp. salt (you may need a little more)
1/4 tsp. pepper

1 cup cream

In a large pot saute onion in butter about 5 minutes. Add water, peas, potatoes and seasonings. Simmer about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Scoop soup into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Return to pot. Stir in cream and reheat, but do not boil.

This soup is not quite filling enough to have on it's own. Last night I fried a little chicken and made biscuits to go along with it. If you like it a little thinner leave out one of the potatoes.

Halloween For Us

Halloween started out with the school parade. Abbie and Spencer were excited to wear their costumes to the parade. Before we left Spencer told Abbie, "If they say: Is that a chicken? I'll say bock-bock-bock." Then after the parade he was so disappointed that no one asked him if he was a chicken. I did remind him that one of the mom's there pointed him out to her little girl.

When the kids got home from school we woke Spencer up from his very short nap and went over to Grandma's house for the party to begin. Scott and Steph's family also came over and all the kids decorated cookies together.
This is Spencer's cookie. It has three decorations because now he is three. He was very proud of them. Jennie was sitting next to him and he passed her some decorations and then asked how old she was. "Then I should give you 11 for your cookie." She thought that was funny.

Mark used sprinkles for hair and freckles on his pumpkin cookie.

After cookies we did some thumb printing on scratch pads.

Steph showed up about then and started a little chess competition and is the reining champ from the evening. This is a chess board Brian made in woodshop. The kids enjoyed seeing it.

Scott and Steph left for their other family activity and Jessie helped set the table for us. You can see the little candle holders Abbie helped me make a week ago. They looked way cool lit. All the little eyes in them glowed.

Our menu consisted of: old spider webs (lettuce), batwing casserole (tamale pie), roasted bones (homemade baked french fries), ogre nectar (sour cream), and goblin sauce (salsa). We also had apple juice with dry ice to drink and Spencer was quite impressed with the "spicy drink."

Following dinner we had a treasure hunt and at each of the clues we found pieces for our games. The first game was using straws to get papers into a bowl. Ken and Randy's team won.

Our next set of clues led us to mannequin heads and we each got a chance to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes." This was the funniest thing I had ever done. It was fun for everyone. Ken, Mark and Grandma were the first victims.

Me, Jessie and Steph trying to find our ears!

Spencer and Abbie. Spencer was a little top heavy with the jacket and head on so we had to hold him up to keep from tipping.

You would be surprised how hot it gets with your head stuffed inside a hoodie. Abbie was glad to get a breath of fresh air.

Grandpa and Randy were the last to go until Mark and Abbie wanted to do it again. Grandpa cheated a little and didn't actually try and find his "eyes, ears, mouth and nose." Spencer loved Grandma and Randy's pumpkin.

Our next clue led us back to our house and we played a little cat and mouse game, only our mice were ghosts. I think the best part of this game was the each person got to draw their own ghost face. Abbie drew a bald ghost to be like Grandpa and got rather attached to it so when I was cleaning up the next day and had to throw it away there were a few tears.

Grandma caught some ghosts.

Poor Spencer was quite exhausted by now (remember short nap). He was bawling every time his ghost got caught and finally decided that if it was behind his back no one could catch it there. And really I wasn't laughing to be mean, tired kid reasoning is just kind of funny. Our last game was similar to Hi-Ho-Cherry-o. Abbie helped me color all the game boards that morning and boy was I glad to have help. I love coloring with crayons but three hours of coloring sure gets old. So I saved the game boards to laminate for next year -- not making that game again!

After the party Grandpa, Grandma and Steph stayed for scriptures and prayers. See how reverent everyone is.....

Abbie started the leg hugging when Grandpa got up to leave and the other kids followed suit. Isn't it great to be LOVED!

And so goes another Halloween. It was great to be with family and I hope my kids remember all the fun they had. In case you were wondering Spencer was a chicken and Abbie was a butterfly, but I didn't get a good picture in their costumes. Spencer's came off when we decorated cookies and Abbie's didn't last much longer than that.

Cream Cheese Potato Soup

1 cup chopped celery
1/2 large onion, chopped
8 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 chicken bouillon
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. thyme (the secret ingredient)

1 can evaporated milk
8 oz. cream cheese

1/4 cup flour
milk

In a large pot boil celery, onions and potatoes in just enough water to cover them. Cook 10 to 15 minutes or until veggies are tender. Do NOT drain but mash slightly with a potato masher in the pot. Add bouillon, salt, pepper and thyme.

In a medium pot pour in half the evaporated milk. Cut the cream cheese into chucks or cubes the best you can. Add to milk and stir over medium heat until the cream cheese melts and is mostly smooth.

In a bowl or a tall glass pour the other half of the evaporated milk and add the flour. Use a small electric mixer with a whisk attachment to combine the milk and flour until it is all the way smooth. Add milk/flour mixture to the milk/cheese mixture and continue stirring until it starts to bubble. Let bubble for one minute.

Stir milk mixture into potatoes. If it is too thick for you add a little milk until it reaches desired thickness.

My family loves this recipe. It makes a ton, but is excellent for leftovers. (We always end up adding more salt in our individual bowls.)

HOPE YOU ENJOY!

Albino Turtles

Ok, these pictures loaded backwards, so we'll just have to go with the flow.

Ken teaches on Wednesday nights and so I thought it would be fun to do something with the kids so we wouldn't miss him. I read about the Hot Springs up Spanish Fork Canyon and decided that could be a lot of fun. But to make a long story short, I wasn't quite ready to go when the kids got home from school and so instead of hiking to the hot springs we decided to drive up and make sure we knew where it was and look around.

Unfortunately us for the trail was WAY farther away than I had thought. To make up for the long drive the kids got out and threw rocks into the river and I took a few pictures on the fence built around the parking lot. We may try this hike sometime, but I think we'll wait for Ken to go with us. Mark was being a baboon and beating his chest for this picture.

I got to go take pictures of my friend's baby. It was so much fun and he was so cute. Near the end of the visit the kids had a leaf fight that lasted over 20 minutes. It was great to be outside and be running around, too bad it was time to go home and fix dinner. Later that evening my friend came over and we put together an announcement for her little guy. I can't believe that we stayed up until 11 working on it, but it sure was fun.

I really wanted my family to focus on how blessed we are so for FHE I made a thankful tree. (I'm in charge of sharing time this month and so our primary got one too.) At each meal the kids have been adding something they are thankful for on that day. I'm really encouraging them to be specific and it's been a lot of fun to do together. The kids also think that standing on the table to tape their leaf up is pretty fun too.

I just can't get over how beautiful fall is. Here is our pear tree in the backyard. I just love that is leaves are green, yellow, red and purple. It makes me happy each time I look out the window.

This is a great story. Jessie was helping Spencer out of the bath, but he really wanted his dad. Instead of getting frustrated (which is something I'm really working on with Spencer) she thought up a fun thing for him to do. She got down a white towel and told him he could be a rare albino turtle. He thought that was just a cool idea and let her wrap him up. Of course, then Abbie also wanted to be an albino turtle. I told them I'd take a picture and so Jessie joined in the fun. I never knew albino turtles were so cute. The only down side was that it was so much fun being an albino turtle that the next thing we had to convince Spencer of was getting dressed.