Wendy's Chili Recipe

The recipe for the chili I had to make for the ward Halloween party is the Wendy's chili recipe. I've been eating every day since the party, because there was so much leftover. It's really good! Here's the link to find the recipe:

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipedetail.asp?sessionid=&login=yes&id=103&agree=yes

Cool Video

Our friend Morris made a really cool movie for a BYU-Idaho film festival thing. I loved it! Go check it out on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z74XL7vn9_4

Ward Halloween Party

We went to the ward Halloween party last night. We have a big ward (just under 600), so the activites committee planned for 300. I volunteered to make chili. They gave us the recipe and told us to triple it. (All the ingredients were provided.) I didn't have a big enough pot, so I ended up putting it in the pressure cooker/canner pot. The pot probably weighed 30 pounds.

I don't like to dress up for Halloween, but I did buy some tatoo sleeves at JoAnn's when we were in Utah. I went to the party dressed as an "American Badass."

Pre-Halloween Events

Last week we had a few preliminary Halloween activities. It gives us good practice for the big day. When we were in Utah, Jane let us have first dibs at the Halloween costumes she has made over the years. She makes the best costumes and we have borrowed them since the girls were 2 and 4 years old. This year Lauren is a "corpse bride" and Emma is a vampire. The pictures below, show our "rough draft" efforts. We're going to go all out on Halloween, but we were kind of conservative for the pre-activities.
Lauren was invited to a "Hogwarts" themed Halloween party at a friend's house. The kids were supposed to dress up like Harry Potter characters, or whatever they wanted. We fell into the "whatever we wanted" category. We have tried really hard to like Harry Potter. We read the first Harry Potter book, listened to the audio CDs of the first book, and watched the first and second movies, but for some reason we can't get into it.
(Yes, Jane made this cute dress!)
Saturday night Landon's school (I guess it's my school now too) had their annual Halloween carnival/dinner. We went early enough so we could get through everything before it got unbearably crowded. This year they added a hay ride. Everything was pretty fun.
Emma's hallway, at the middle school, is having a contest for pumpkin decorating. They aren't allowed to carve the pumpkins though, only paint them. We painted Emma's to look like a baseball. (She didn't even know what a baseball looked like until we printed a picture off the internet.)

Happy Birthday To Me...

Yesterday was my 38th birthday! I enjoyed my birthday because I've learned over the years that the best birthdays are the ones where I get to do what I want to do. I brought birthday treats for the 62 kids I help everyday at Kennedy (Halloween candy). I had to pick up Emma at 12:15pm because of parent/teacher conferences, so I took her out for lunch at Applebees. I wanted Papa Murphy's pizza for dinner and cupcakes from the Cupcake Cafe for dessert, so Emma and I took care of that while we were out. The only presents I asked for was chocolate and magazines (got both, plus a Walmart giftcard!). I received several phone calls, got cards from Nanny (grateful that I still have a grandma who sends me cards and money at my age) and my parents with a little money to offset the cost of my extravagant birthday wishes. It was a perfect day.

Emma's parent/teacher conference was fun. Her teacher (Mrs. Lauritsen) told us that she appreciates Emma in her classroom because Emma is the only kid in the class who gets the jokes. Apparently the other 33 kids just stare blankly at her when she "entertains" the students. She said that Emma is the only who is smiling or giggling at what she says. I told Emma about that comment, and Emma agreed. She said, "all the kids my age laugh at really dumb stuff. I like to laugh at things that are really funny." Emma and I decided that she has an advanced sense of humor due to her witty mom and teasing dad. Emma received almost all A's (got a B in spelling).

Bike Ride to Victor

I rode my bike from Driggs to Victor yesterday. I've always wanted to ride on this bike path, and yesterday was beautiful, so we went for it. I thought it would be so beautiful riding along the west side of the Tetons with all the leaves changing, but in the end, I had mixed feelings about the whole experience. The beginning of the bike path was shady, but that was the last of the shade. I ended up biking 6.6 miles, got a sunburn on my neck and felt a little disillusioned. Not as fun as it looked. We stopped at a little hamburger place in Driggs for lunch. Lauren felt like she was still little enough to ride a mechanical horse. Kind of embarrassing for the rest of us.Landon took a 60 second walk before the girls and I saddled up on our bikes. I managed to catch this event on camera.This is the first 2 seconds of our ride. The fat girl on the left is yours truly; the 2 little ones begged to leave the path and ride in the truck by mile 2. Landon drove the truck and checked in on me periodically during my journey.

I'm Making a Quilt

When we were visiting the Lukes in Spanish Fork, Jane gave me 25 quilt blocks she had made! She made enough for a quilt for herself, and decided to give me the extra blocks she wasn't going to use. She copied off the directions for me and sent me on my way. I don't know why Jane likes to give me stuff, but I'm always happy to take it.
I've never made a quilt before, but I wanted to take advantage of all the work Jane had already done, so I went to JoAnn's today and bought the rest of the fabric I'd need. The size is a short twin, so it's pretty big. I'm planning to use it in the living room when we need an extra blanket on the couch. The blocks are Christmas-themed, so whenever I get it done, we'll use it through the winter. I'm excited and a little nervous to take on a new project like this, since I've never done it before. Landon helped me choose the coordinating fabrics...I had a hard time committing to anything. I did the sashing today (that's the blue lines in between the blocks). The red fabric will eventually be a 6 inch border around the whole thing.This is an up-close view of the red border and the fabric I'll use for the binding.This is the fabric I'll use for the back. It's kind of tan/brown with snowflakes.

Emma's Haircut

Because we stayed home from Yellowstone, Emma and Landon went to get their hair cut. Emma decided to get it all cut off! This is called a "tapered bob." These pictures aren't great, because I took them just before she went to bed tonight. When it's styled, it's really cute. She loves it.

Cancelled Trip to Yellowstone

We made an attempt to go to Yellowstone on Friday. By the time we got to Island Park we were in a blizzard, so we spent the day at home.

This is the only wildlife we were able to see...

Lauren didn't want to go to Yellowstone anyway, so she was really happy we decided to turn around. This is Lauren with her Nintendo DS, her DVD player, pillow and blanket, and coloring supplies. She really hates long car trips, but because she belongs to us, she has to deal with it.

Harvest Break Trip to Utah

The girls and I spent a long weekend in Utah for the beginning of Harvest Break. We left Friday morning and ate lunch with Kristen and Oliviana, then drove to Spanish Fork to spend Friday and Saturday night with the Lukes.

Before we arrived, the girls (especially Lauren and Ashley) had spent quite a lot of time on the phone planning the fun they were going to have together. In the video you'll see the list Ashley and Lauren compiled before we arrived. Jane and I spent the entire time talking, talking, talking. I consider the time I spend with Jane cheaper and more effective than therapy. She took me to Salt Lake for lunch at the Bohemian Grill (Czech restaurant) for a birthday gift. We had a very Czech meal together and loved every minute of it.

We spent Sunday and Monday with Kristen's family. We just hung out, watched some conference, went to Jump On It and University Mall in Orem, and ate some good food Kristen made for us. It was pretty low-key and relaxing.

We drove home Tuesday and were so happy to be home with Dad. Landon was lonely and missed us a lot, but he got some much-needed studying done. We missed him a lot too. For the first 24 hours after we got home, he couldn't sit on the couch without one or all of us right on top of him. None of us does well with separation.

OK, so the song I chose to go along with this video is called "Fat-Bottomed Girls" by Queen. I just like it. It really sums up the girls in our family, and it was a girls-only weekend so I went with it. Enjoy.

Rock Climbing

Lauren has been participating in rock climbing through the city of Rexburg recreation department. It's held at a local store called "Sticks and Stones." They sell bikes, snowboards and equipment that goes with those sports. The class is run by a college student who acts just like you would imagine a rock climbing, snow boarding, biking guy to act. At the first "class," I asked if they were going to teach the kids anything. The guy said, "No, we'll just let them climb around. If we tried to teach them something, they wouldn't listen anyway." I wanted to drop the class and try another activity, but Lauren loved climbing around and playing, so we're just going with the flow. As long as she breaks a sweat, I feel like a purpose is accomplished.

The rock climbing area is covered with rubber soles from shoes to cushion the floor when the climbers jump or fall off the wall.
Lauren gets about this far on her own. When she is attached to a rope she can climb quite a bit farther up. She is really nervous about jumping down. Other kids climb way up and jump down with no problem at all.