My civic duty

This is me in bed last night at 10:30 voting. I love the mail in ballot! But here's the funny thing. I totally screwed up when I was voting for president. I'll be honest here. I'm not a democrat. So although it pains me considerably to vote for McCain, my friends, that was my plan. Until I realize that the circle I was coloring in was not for McCain, but for some dude in the constitution party, Chuck something or other. I don't even know what the constitution party is. But "Chuck" something or other now has my endorsement. The only thing that made me sad about it is that I like Sarah Palin. Maybe not for VP this year, but I would vote for her in the future. Oh well, who am I kidding. Like it really matters in Utah. It's got to be the reddest state (or is it blue?). One thing that was very satisfying was not voting for Governer Huntsman. I can't stand him. I couldn't vote for the democratic candidate, he wears a bow tie, so I just left it blank. Take that Governor Huntsman! I guess I need to be more careful voting. I tried to vote for Warren Sapp on Dancing with the Stars and I accidentally voted for Toni Braxton. Twice. Ooops.

Town home for sale

Tonight we carved pumpkins. It was the usual fun. Matt, however, has reached a new level of silliness and he was going all out tonight. He finished his pumpking which he wanted to look happy and not scary and jumping around says, "I wish I could live inside it." It is now 9:50. Both Jerry and I have gotten after him several times tonight to go to sleep, he's gotten himself several drinks, gone to the bathroom and woken both Kate and Sara up. He just might get his wish!

Matt wrote "Happy Halloween" on the side.

I offered to get Jerry his own pumpkin, but he

chose to help Kate create this.

We had to steal a candle from our neighbors because

I could only find one. Abby heard us and came out

and started panicking because her pumpkin was

missing the candle. I tried to sneak it back in, but

Kate told her. Oops.

I Am a Child of God... our $10,000 moment

Today was Matt's primary program. If you don't belong to the LDS church this is the one Sunday a year you need to attend. Once a year, the primary children do a program of speaking parts and songs during Sacrament meeting. It is the best Sunday each year for most people. The kids always have a special spirit and there is usually something that happens that brings a chuckle. I remember one Sunday we happened to be with my sister when it was her son's program and as a 4 year old we watched him spend the time looking through his telescope that he'd made out of a piece of paper. It was very cute and we have laughed about that since. Matt has been practicing his speaking part and had it memorized and was more than ready for the program. The first song the children sang was I Am a Child of God. I was helping display posters and so I was on the opposite side of the chapel when I realized that the child who was yelling the words to the song was my son! He had told me this morning that he was going to sing loudly... I had no idea! After the first song he gave his part. He climbed up on the stool so he could reach his microphone and said (loudly and clearly), "My name is Matt. I am thankful for my family and I am a child of God." And then he jumped down from the stool with a bang. For the remainder of the program (I couldn't see Matt from where I was sitting) I heard him above all the other children. Someone told me afterwards that there was a vein in his neck that was popping out because he was straining so hard! Of course, many people were laughing, but I have to say (and other people confirmed this) that he wasn't yelling to be obnoxious or the star of the show, but it was really with the utmost sincerity from his heart. Although it was funny, it was also kind of neat to hear him so enthusiastic about the gospel. It was a great program. Three children who lost their mom 1 1/2 years ago sang a song called If The Savior Stood Beside Me. It was a very tender moment. I was very proud of Matt and I can't wait for Kate to join him next year. Good job sweetheart. And way to learn those songs!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Last year we tried this recipe and it was really fun for a fall recipe. This year Matt and Kate were very excited about having dinner in a pumpkin. But they were a little disappointed when they didn't get to eat it from the pumpkin. Oh well. It still was fun and the kids both had seconds. They even ate the pumpkin!

Dinner in a pumpkin:

1 small-med pumpkin

1 onion chopped

1 lb ground beef

2 T soy sauce

2 T brown sugar

1 small can sliced mushrooms

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 c. cooked rice

1 8oz can drained, sliced water chestnuts

Cut off top of pumpkin and remove seeds and strings. Preheat oven to 350

In large, skillet, saute beef and onion, drain. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms and soup. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts and simmer 10 minutes.

Spoon into pumpkin, replace lid. Place on baking sheet and cook for 1 hour or until pumpkin is tender.

To serve: Scoop out casserole. For veggie- scoop out cooked pumpkin.

A visit from the tooth fairy

Yesterday evening I came up from the basement and Matt came in from the backyard and holds out his hand. In it was his tooth. He said, "Kayce (our neighbor) said she'd give me a dollar if I let her pull my tooth." I didn't know what to say. I mean I was excited for him because we've been wiggling this tooth for a while now, but it was my first child, first loose tooth and I couldn't believe I wasn't there for the pulling. I kind of stumbled through some excitement and stepped outside with him when Kayce handed him a dollar and said, "Oh, did he ask your permission?" I said no. She said, "Oh, I thought he did. Is it ok? I'd be so sad if someone had pulled Abby's tooth." I was like, well duh. Why didn't you think of that before you pulled something out that can't be stuck back in. I just had it planned a little differently in my head. You know like with dental floss, around the kitchen table, the whole family watching, joking about how we could tie the floss to the door, car, brick, etc and slam, drive, throw it. Just like old times. And we had a babysitter coming that night, was she going to help him put it under his pillow? But I was strangely proud of Matt for caring more about an extra dollar than any possible pain or blood. And last night at 2 in the morning I was awoken by, "Mom... Mom... I just woke up and looked under my pillow and the tooth fairy came and she left me 2 dollars!" He was awake for the next 45 minutes because he was so excited. And by the way, how much does the tooth fairy leave at your house? I thought a dollar was good, but Abby got 2 dollars and told Matt all about it and he kept talking about how the tooth fairy was going to leave him 2 dollars. What could we do? Tell him the truth and that his mom is cheap! :)

Scarecrow Festival

I'm still getting used to this whole blogging thing and the fact that it requires me to carry my camera with me at all times. I mean, really, who wants to just read a post when pictures make it much more fun. That being said, I forgot my camera today. And it was a really fun day. A perfect picture day. And not just for blogging. But such is life and so I will try my best to paint a picture with words of our fun today. It was Matt's last day off track (we decided weekends don't count) so I wanted to do something fun. And the weather was bootiful (ha ha) so we went to the scarecrow festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was a lot of fun. Here are the fun things we did:

1. Inflatable slides and jumping things galore.

2. Every Halloween carnival game you can think of.

3. Cotton Candy for the first time.

4. A haunted maze that Matt thought was fun, Kate not so much.

5. More inflatable slides and jumping things.

6. Jumping things again.

7. A train ride.

And here are the not so fun moments:

1. Waiting 40 minutes for that train ride.

2. The bungee trampoline line being at least an hour and a half. We didn't wait and Kate was very sad.

3. Older kids going crazy on the inflatable slides and obstacle courses making Kate cry so I had to get after them.

4. Matt and Kate bonking heads on one slide.

5. And my favorite... Kate trying to climb up one ladder but getting no where. Matt hanging on for dear life to the rope on the side of the ladder, but getting knocked down by Kate who is still sliding down but trying so hard to climb up it. And me yelling just come down, just come down. But they can't hear me because there are people EVERYWHERE! But they finally heard me and came down. It was a really funny scene, after we got everyone cheered up.

It was a great day. I was proud of Matt who hasn't loved inflatable slides and jumping things, but he's grown up so much and is learning to try new things. Kate just needs to grow a couple of inches and she'll be all over those things all by herself. It was really fun, if I just had a couple of pictures to post...

Dracula and the scary maze

Today, the most dreaded thing happened. Matt came into the bathroom where I was finishing getting ready and said, "Mom, I'm bored." We've made it almost 3 weeks without that phrase. Luckily, the weather is good and we had somewhere to go. A nursery close by has some Halloween things every fall so we headed there. The kids went through a Halloween maze, played some games (ring toss, etc.) and picked out a pumpkin to paint at home. And I brought home 15 tulip bulbs. It ended up as a successful day.

Having combined the judges scores...

Recognize that line? It's from Dancing with the Stars. They say it like 20 times a night. I loved it last season. I thought Kristi Yamaguchi and Jason Taylor were good and entertaining. This year is just ok. Which leads me to the question... which star would you want to see on the show? My first pick would be Tony Hawk the professional skateboarder. And they also need a gymnast on. Of course I would pick Mary Lou Retton. If you don't know why then you need to go back and read my first post! Also for anyone who watches it, look at Susan Lucci's neck. Ok, first of all she's anorexic, look at how big her head is for her body. Then her face has fewer wrinkles than mine, but then her neck is totally wrinkly. It's so distracting. I can't watch her now. I hope Warren Sapp wins, or maybe Brooke Burke because she has 4 kids. We shall see!

First snow

We had our first snow last night. Woo hoo!! The kids were so excited about it. After we ate dinner they could not wait to go outside and build a snowman.

First step: The Clothes

Second step: Realizing this was all the snow they could get

Third step: Trying to build a snowman out of bouncy balls and then just resorting to eating it!

License and registration, please

Friday night our church had a ward activity. It was a drive in movie and the kids were supposed to make cars out of cardboard boxes. Matt had a lot of fun with it all week. Unfortunately, there was a death in our ward and she was the Grandma of about 3/4 of the children in our ward so not many people were able to attend. I sensed a little disappointment from Matt that none of his friends were there, but look how great his car is!

The wisdom of children

The other night Jerry was going around with the youth from our church to collect donations for Pennies by the Inch, a fundraiser for Primary Children's Medical Center. I told Matt and Kate what he was doing and asked if they wanted to donate some of their money. Kate's money is easy come, easy go so she brought me her money jar and moved on to more interesting stuff. Matt has been saving for a lego helicopter for a couple of months and he has 6 dollars left to earn. He asked if he were to give money if he would still have just 6 dollars to earn and I said no and explained it to him and told him again about the hospital and what the money is used for. He went in his room and came back and handed me 4 quarters and said, "First I just got out three quarters but then I decided to change my mind and I got another quarter out." I said, "Matt that makes my heart so happy, how does it make you feel?" And with a huge grin he said, "It makes my heart feel really happy." I know he's not unique and that children are always doing sensitive things like this. It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon: "whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God" (3 Nephi 9:22) If we could all be so wise...

You do see what I see!

I had my appt. today and it went really well. I took the visual field test and my vision is still completely normal. It's a panicky test. You are supposed to look at a yellow dot in the middle of the screen and then anytime you see a tiny blinking light, some bright, some dim, you click a button. I totally had the jimmy thumb. The lights right on the edge of your visual field are really hard to see. When I finished, the tech said, "you did that really fast. A few times I've had an old person start taking the test and fall asleep in the middle." So funny. Anyway, my laser scan improved. What started this whole ordeal is that my optice nerve is abnormal. At each of my last appointments it had continued to worsen ever so slightly. But this time it improved to the point of my first scan, still abnormal, but not more so. Which is good news. The doctor said that because it is a living tissue it could have readings within a range, like blood pressure. So I still have to have scans so that we can continue to see where the range is, but (drum roll please...) I only have to go back every year instead of 6 months!! It was very encouraging, however he did confirm my feelings about my last appointment. He said he'd written himself a note that if my scan was even a tiny bit worse to start me on eye drops, which is the treatment for glaucoma. So, for now I feel ok. I'll still be checking my peripheral vision, and I definitely won't forget to schedule my appointment for next year, but I do feel a little relief. I wonder if I should have asked him about medicinal marijuana. I guess I'll have to move back to Colorado for that! :)

A bewitching scavenger hunt

Every halloween season Gardner village decorates with witches. They are very creative and a lot of fun to see. Of course, it's even more fun when they provide a witch scavenger hunt and whoever finds all the witches can get a chocolate chip cookie for 25 cents!

Thanks Katie, Peyton and Lincoln for a fun day!

Do you see what I see?

One of my reasons for starting a blog was to document things as they were happening in the moment. I love my scrapbooks, but they are forever behind and I'm ok with that as long as I can also document in the present. That being said, this post is for me to express some of my feelings. Feel free to stop reading, it's nothing exciting. But, if you continue, let me explain... Two years ago I went to the eye doctor for a routine exam so I could order more contacts. The doctor, who had horrible chairside manner, told me I had one of the three signs of glaucoma and wanted more testing. A little panicked I went to an ophthamologist and was relieved when he thought I was crazy for saying I needed more tests, but then thrown for another loop when he agreed with that doctor and wanted even more tests. So now every 6 months I have laser scans done on my eyes and they are compared each time to previous tests. And I have a vision test to see if I have lost any peripheral vision yet. So tomorrow is my appointment. I am constantly checking my peripheral vision, but ever since I got the babysitting arranged and I had to acknowledge that it was time to check my vision, I have had anxiety. I always do right before. What if tomorrow is the day I find out I have a disease that can leave me blind? I really think I'm ok this time. Like I said, I always check my peripheral vision. When I'm driving, when I'm standing in line, when I'm laying in bed... So, I think it will just be a normal exam. He dilates my eyes which I really hate. I can't see anything close up, but I can see far away with my glasses. It's nauseating. All in all it makes for a bad day, but then I'll be off the hook for 6 more months. Here's hoping you see what I see.

One for the storybooks

Kate and I have a game we play where she puts something in her shirt and I have to guess what it is. So today I came out of my bedroom and she was playing with Sara and the pretend food at her kitchen and she was playing with something in her pants, down her leg. So I laughingly said, "Oh did you put something in your pants, ha ha, what could it be?" I was trying to help her get it out and I pulled the elastic at her ankles and into my hand plopped a little deerlike piece of poop! I screamed, "What is it? Is it poop? It's poop! I just touched poop!" I was so disgusted. Luckily, even though I dropped it and ran to get toilet paper I managed to dispose of it before Sara got it and put it in her mouth. Wouldn't that have been SOOO gross. Ugh. I asked Kate if she knew that was poop and she just kind of smiled. That girl is so silly. She was up so much last night. She woke Sara up and Sara was so happy and ready to play. What a knucklehead! All in all it was a funny scene as I'm screaming I touched poop and Jerry was laughing in Matt's room. If I hadn't been laughing Kate would have been in serious trouble but she managed to escape yet again!

Temple Quarry Trail

This is one of my favorite places to come to. It is a nice easy stroll on a paved trail in a circle with lots of rocks to climb. I would come here more often except for that totally irrational fear of snakes. My nephew saw one here that he said was "hecka long". Luckily I didn't see it or might never have come back. I always hope at this time of year they are hibernating already. We didn't see any, but we had a great time walking around and climbing.

Matt loves to hike, Kate we're working on.

Can you believe I let Matt hold her with her history of falling!

At one point Kate's hands were on the top bar and her feet on the next bar. Yikes!

Not a great picture except that I love to see them doing "kid stuff". They are walking on only the black lines. Moments like these help me enjoy their childhood!

Not on the trail (obviously) but this is what Sara does now. I've always dreaded a climber, but I think I've got one.

And this is how it usually ends. Note that all of the picture is blurry except for one hand that was holding her on. Crazy girl.

The answer please

The answer to my movie line question is... Happy Gilmore. Congrats to those who guessed right. The scene is the orderly talking to Happy's grandma when she checks into the retirement center. The rest goes like this...
Gma, "May I trouble you for a nice glass of warm milk? It always helps me sleep better."
Orderly, "You can trouble me for a nice warm glass of shut the hell up. Now you will go to sleep or I will put you to sleep. Check out the tag, you're in my world now Grandma."
Just writing that makes me laugh and brings me back to my days at Ricks College and my roommates Janelle, Taryn and Katherine. Such fun!
Now, does anyone know how to delete this poll off??!