Pies!

I'm not much of a pie maker. My idea of making a pie is cruising down the frozen food aisle at Fry's and picking out a nice Sara Lee pie to bake in my oven. However, since one of the prizes for our PTSA membership drive was a homemade pie I thought it would be a little deceiving to try to pass off a Sara Lee pie as my own. Seriously, I was secretly hoping Bryan would come to my rescue by offering to make the pies, but no such luck. He's a little busy these days. So one night, after putting my little family to bed and carefully watching a pie making episode or two on television, I set out to try my hand at pie making. And here are the results. What do you think? I have to say I'm so excited they turned out!!! Don't they look good enough to eat?! I sure do hope they taste good!

Veteran's Day Weekend

These photos were taken earlier in the month and I forgot to post them until now. Oops!



For Veteran's Day the boys had a little break from school so we decided to have a little fun. We took a quick camping trip. Don't the boys look proud of the fire they helped Dad build? Personally, I thought the fire pits at the campsite were fabulous!!!



Happy little campers waking up.

Unfortunately, Aimee had to get back for a rehearsal so we weren't able to spend too much time at the camp ground. Because of all the cool things we didn't get a chance to see, Aimee & the kids took a day trip back to the area with the B family. The kids ran all over the place trying to accumulate all 18 punches on their treasure map. They visited the two gift shops, the museum, the petting zoo, dressed up in period clothing, they panned for gold, took a hike, explored a butterfly garden, and saw the entrance to the bat cave. Of course, if you ask Jared what he remembers most, he'll tell you all about the bees that tried to join our picnic!! Good times!!!

It's show time!

The world premier of a new dramatic oratorio,

Bethlehem has arrived.

The show is Friday, November 30th &

Saturday, December 1st at 7:30pm

at the East Stake Center.

We hope to see you there!!!

Hmmm...Delicious?

Did I mention we were a Star Wars loving family? Not only do we love watching the movies, dressing and acting like Jedi but also chewing on the action figures!!

Watch Out!!!

Today our little Sara surprised us all. She pulled herself up into a standing position using our living room trunk. Daniel's immediate reaction was "Now we can take her rock climbing!!" Doesn't she look proud of herself?

Veteran's Day

One of the things I love about Daniel's school is the way they celebrate Veteran's Day. It's wonderful that our children are encourage to recognize and express gratitude for the service given by the members of the military. The wonderful freedoms which we enjoy did not come without a price. How grateful I am for the freedom of religion. Thank you to the men & women of the military and to their wonderful families!!

Here's a excerpt from our local paper.

*** Elementary School celebrated Veterans Day Friday by inviting local veterans to a ceremony at *** Park, ***.
Teachers and staff led about 700 students to the park, where they sang patriotic songs and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
"These kids need to know what it's all about," said Luther Robinson, a veteran whose grandson Justin Lund is a fifth-grader at ***.
Robinson, 82, said it is a "great tribute to the school and educational system" that *** is teaching students "how many people it took to give them what they have today."
The school honored Robinson and 14 other veterans by calling their names and pinning ribbons on them.
Additionally, 13 students received ribbons for veterans among their family or friends who could not be at the ceremony.
"It makes you feel good that they appreciate what we do and recognize us like this," said Jeff Pinsonneault, one of the veterans who received a ribbon.
Pinsonneault, 47, has been in the Air Force for 27 years and returned from Afghanistan in January. His twins, Miles and Madison, are first-graders at ***.
Another veteran, Jamie Harwick, said it shows how much the school supports the military. Harwick, 31, has been in the Air Force for 11 years and returned from Turkey in April. He has two children at *** — first-grader Rebecca and kindergartner Kailyn.
It was the second time that ***, ***, held a Veterans Day celebration, said Kelly Pinkerton, student achievement teacher.
But it was the first time the school invited veterans to the event. "This year, we wanted to get community members involved," she said.

Our Little Soccer Player

Our little guy had a fabulous soccer season. Check him out!! Thanks Z's Mom for taking these great action shots of the kids!

A Loving Brother

Aren't big brothers wonderful?!

Wednesday evenings are always a little trickier to get everyone to bed in a timely manner. We were running a little behind schedule and little brother was still not feeling great. So, Daniel decided to read to Jared while I finished getting Sara ready for bed. What wonderful children!!!

Star Wars

There's something terribly comforting about Star Wars. Whenever someone is sick in our family that's what we watch. This week little brother has had a cold and spent most of his time wrapped in his blankie, drinking orange juice, and watching Star Wars.

Halloween Fun

We love Halloween!!

Isn't Sara a cute pink panther?!

Jared & Sara with members of their music class.
Jared thought it was too hot to wear his costume.
Of course, it was hot!!! It was an 80+ day!!!



Jared's "perfect spot" at the Marshall's Annual Halloween Party was next to the food table and in front of the fountain (where a movie was being projected).



Ready to terrorize the neighborhood.



Hey! Where's my candy??

She Crawls!!!

It was Oct. 27, 2007 when our little girl, 8 months old, crawled for the first time. We had just gotten home from the Open House at Dad's work and the Evans family was over for dinner. Check her out, isn't she cute?

The Unfortunate Chicken Dinner Incident

Not too long ago I had an unfortunate incident with a chicken dinner....I dropped it. The issue isn't really that I dropped it, but the location of where it fell. The wonderfully yummy chicken breast in its deliciously steaming hot creamy sauce toppled out of the pan and came to rest unceremoniously on my left foot!! After the intial shock and surging pain, I quickly lathered my foot in aloe vera gel in hopes of finding some relief. It didn't help much!! By this time, my foot was bright red with small patches of white appearing. Augh!!! Later that evening, my friend Janei asked what had happened. I quickly recapped the "unfortunate chicken dinner incident" and she then zoomed to her home and emerged with a 4 oz bottle of a wonderful pain relieving gel called Burn Free. I smeared it all over the burns in a nice thick layer (per Janei's instructions) and after a little while it felt fabulous!!! In fact, we've used this little gel in the weeks since "the unfortunate chicken dinner incident" and have had equally wonderful results each time. Thanks Janei!!!!

Children's Museum

How is it children can go to the same place over and over again and still have a wonderful time? That's exactly how our little ones feel about our local children's museum. Take a look...

Our little firefighter.

It's always good to review fire safety.

Our little police officer.

She's just thrilled to have been invited!!!

What was I thinking?

Do you ever have those moments when you wonder, "What was I thinking?" Well, tonight was my moment of wonder.

As my little family lay sleeping so peacefully in their nice cozy beds, I found myself in the garage practicing. Why was I practicing at 10'30 at night? That's a very good question!!! I wish I had a very good answer but I don't.

Here's the story...not too long ago, a friend told me about an orchestra that was being put together to perform a brand new oratorio composed by a grad student at our local university. Wow! What a cool experience not to mention a great opportunity to dust off that old violin and put all those years of music lessons from my youth to good use. Augh!! What was I thinking?!? It's been 17 years since I've played with an orchestra. (No, that was not a typo, I really meant to write 17 years!) What was I thinking? Oh well, it looks like I have a lot of late nights in the garage ahead of me. Wish me luck!!

Camping Trip

I don't know what it is about camping

but our little family just LOVES it!!!

Our little guy was up early and eager for a morning hike.

Our little girl, already an experienced camper,

is looking forward to her first hike!!

Yikes! What's that?!?

I realize that I'm not the best photographer, but if you look closely you'll see a spider web, an unlucky grasshopper, and a spider looking forward to a tasty lunch.

Happy campers, all is well.

Whew! That was exhausting!! ;-)

Trip to El Paso

For the second week of the fall break, the kids & I went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Flores. We spent some time visiting with Grandma Emilia at the senior center where she likes to hang out.

Grandma Emilia meets her great-granddaughter for the first time.

Great-grandma & great-granddaughter were quite taken with each other.

Our little girl enjoys all the attention she gets from her Uncle J.

My momma's older brother was also in town and met our kids for the first time.

Our little girl with her Grandma Flores & her Tío Abuelo Henry.

Grandma Flores, our little girl, my Uncle Henry, our adorable little boys. What!?! Uh-oh! There are our canine tendencies showing through.

Trip to San Diego

During the fall break from school we took a nice little vacation to San Diego, CA. We had a wonderful time at Legoland but it's hard to tell who had more fun, Dad or the boys! We also enjoyed visiting the Maritime Museum, Balboa Park, the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center, the San Diego Temple, and of course, the beach.

Roses

As a little girl, I have wonderful and fond memories of Grandma Sara's and Grandma Emilia's roses. Needless to say that when we purchased our home, one of the first things we did was designate a corner of the yard to be a rose garden.

Just the other day, Dad took our little girl outside to show her "our rose garden". What a tender moment!! Don't they make a beautiful pair?

test post

This is it!! We are finally joining the 21st century and look forward to sharing our family's wackiness with others.....