Love Thy Neighbor

Mike & Dejah came over after church for dinner and stayed for raucous fun. Mike "supervised" Emma making his chocolate chip cookie recipe. Oh, so yummy. How could you not love neighbors that will wrestle with your kids like this? They take all sorts of abuse and keep coming back for more. I love my neighbors!

Ward Family Feud

Last week our fantastic ward activities committee planned a fun game night. Our neighbor/friend/committee member asked Har if he would head up putting together a big ole Family Feud board. He, Papa & Mike Kellerman took a whole day, but the end product totally rocked!Watching family members compete against each other...is it a reflection of their home life?
Dedan, our fantastic host Garrison, and KarlieWarning: If you take pictures of yourself with my camera it will show up on my blog.

Pizza Night

I love making pizza at home. The kids love putting their own toppings on the pizzas, literally watching it bake, and enjoying the food they made themselves. I've experimented with store bought crusts (pre-made dough at Trader Joe's is the best), but I wanted to learn to make it myself. Conveniently, a sister in our ward recently taught a pizza making class in her home (Thanks, Valerie)!

With a little forethought (you've got to make the dough the night before), pizza night was family fun, delicious and pretty easy...and I'm hoping it will get easier as the rest of my family learns to roll out/toss the dough so I'm not doing all the work.

Thanks to Aunt Kay who was visiting for taking all the pictures...except I didn't get any pictures of her during the short visit - dang it! (Pesto mushroom pizza - my fave. Nobody else will eat it either)

Sick Kid

This morning Nash woke up feeling icky. Then he puked. Then he puked again...and again...it went on for a couple of hours. But somehow...I think he's feeling better now. This is a different kind of sick.

We won!

Better than trick-or-treating click here to see how we won these delicious cupcakes from my friend, Allison. Do you think Dedan was hungry?

(She threatened that I'd better not blog this picture but... we already ate the cupcakes. Love you!)

3 Projects & A Baptism

Project 1

This week Har and Papa had to rip up 30% of the kitchen counter tiles because ants were living in the broken grout {Gross}. Of course they had to re-lay said tiles once the problem was fixed. Papa stayed up all night Friday to finish in time for all our Saturday afternoon guests. Thanks, Papa!!!

Project 2

Dedan got a K-Nex toy for his birthday from Grandpa Santa - similar to legos but way more parts plus this one has a motor. Har & I took turns helping him over a couple of days but it got finished in time to be the moving centerpiece at his party on Saturday.

Project 3

This was the first knitting piece I finished (I'm still working on a cabled scarf for myself): a white & silver tie for Dedan to wear on his baptism day. There were many late night knitting sessions in order to finish it in time, but my handsome boy was worth every minute of it.

DEDAN'S BAPTISM!

My fantastic 8-year old chose to get baptized. The sentence alone brings tears to my eyes. Partly, because several times during the weeks before his baptism I gave him an out "If you 'hate' church then you shouldn't get baptized", "You know, bud, this is your choice", "The Bishop wants to interview you for baptism. Would you like to go talk to him?" Maybe that sounds strange to my fellow church members, but I needed Dedan to know he wasn't doing this to please me or Har, but he was doing it for himself. We had a talk about what it means to get baptized, what it means to receive the Holy Ghost, and how important those decisions are. My boy decided for himself.

See his proud parents (Har & I aren't normally ones to be all matchy, but we dressed separately and Dedan even picked out Har's shamrock tie. At least it isn't super obvious,right?).

The day was a whirlwind of wonderful. The morning was spent in preparation for the after party (is was quite a party). Our Vista guests arrived early (good traffic - yippee!), so we all got to the stake center in plenty of time (because I padded the time frame when speaking to those in my immediate household), took some pictures, and staked out our seats.

They ask the families to participate (of course) for the services, but I refused to speak since I could barely choke out the words to my talk when Emma was baptized 4 years ago. Emma stepped up and volunteered to sing When I Am Baptized. She called her two BFFs, Caitlyn & Amber, and asked them to sing with her. They did a beautiful job of representing our family. Here's my handsome, freshly baptized boy with his super amazing handmade tie standing in front of his own illustration of his baptism which he drew earlier this year.

I {heart} Dedan.

Congratulations, son!

Nash meets Dr. Chris

Nash in the chair at his first dentist appointment. He was a GREAT patient. Side note: 3 kids, no cavities! That was a first for us.

Luau at the Retirement Home

My Great Aunt Joan lives in an assisted living facility. Every once in a while they host some fun activities and invite the resident's family. We like hanging out with Aunt Joan so we jumped at this chance.

Of course, once we got there the cantankerous ole broad didn't want to go to dinner or see the show. My charming mother got her to at least come to the dining room with us.

There we found some yummy island inspired dishes, and YES Nash is standing in front of a roasted pig. Pretty cool. I ate some of him....the pig, not Nash.

After we ate, had a short visit, and watched the kids make friends, Aunt Joan was ready to go back to her room. I tried to entice her with the promise of half naked men dancing for her. No go. She went back to her room. Probably good, because I was wrong about the half naked men.

When we reported back to Aunt Joan the following video is the only reason she was sad she went back to her room early.

Tween milestone, part two

It's possible that in my first year of junior high I wasn't very confident and my base of friends was quite limited. It's also possible that the D.J. at our first dance was my gym teacher. The combination of these things would explain the lameness of my experience.

As soon as the girls got in the car they were raving about the dance, "IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!" Apparently they had not only a D.J. with excellent music but also some inflatable activity dealios. They danced. They sang. They jumped. They hurdled inflatable obstacles. They ate Skittles. They claim they didn't find any new cute boys (hmmmm). And they didn't even have ugly boys ask them to dance.

How could they not have fun? Yes, I might be a little jealous.

Tween milestone, part one

I remember my first junior high dance. It was right after school - like put your stuff in your locker and go to the gym. I think it cost $2. That's about all I remember. That and...it was lame.

Perhaps, this is why I was ok with Emma going to her first dance. Her first dance. I swear it was five seconds ago that I got her all dressed up in a cute little denim dress for her first day in the nursery. I picked Emma and her friend, Amber, up from school so they'd have less time on the bus and more time to primp. They primped...a little. We stopped at Albertsons so they could buy a treat and headed up the hill.

I turned the volume down on Taylor Swift and asked the girls the most important question they needed to consider as they entered their first dance. "What do you say when someone you don't know asks you to dance?" I wanted to say "someone ugly" but I figured that answer'd be an automatic: NO!

Luckily, Amber is the right kind of influence on Emma. They both hesitated a little and then Amber said, "Say yes?"

The conversation ensued and we discussed that always say: Yes. It's important to kind to everyone even at a dance. We can say, "Is it ok if my friend dances with us?" if we're uncomfortable. Or if they're "bumping and grinding" (the girls words, not mine - ack!) we can politely excuse ourselves.

The next question, "What if they ask you to go behind the building over there and make out?" was answered quickly with a loud and resounding: NO!!! Thank heavens.

I'm picking them up in half an hour...

Read the book...

Don't be fooled by his tough guy exterior. My brother, James, is a big ol' softy. Whenever I see him he hugs me so tight I can't breath. He was the one who called me to tell me when my grandpa died unexpectedly and I think trying to comfort him on the phone was the only thing that kept me from waking up the neighbors with my sorrowful wailing. And when he plays with his sweet baby girl, Riley, everyone in the room will smile and laugh. Glad we got a few days with you two. 143!

Great to be 8!

Happy Birthday, my beautiful boy!Things I love about Dedan:

~ He has the best sense of humor...even when the rest of us are serious.~ I always know what he wants to eat: chicken, french fries & chocolate milk...even at the Olive Garden. (Thanks, Grandpa, for a great dinner!)

~ The boy can tell a story.

~ He can be a very patient, loving, fun big brother to Nash.

~ He is always trying to improve his skills. This week it's doing wheelies on his bike.

~ He can fall asleep anywhere.

~ He is a great snuggler.

~ He makes friends everywhere he goes.

~ We have a neighbor we call "The Cranky Lady" and he is always suggesting nice things we can do for her....maybe I should listen.

143, Son!