This Face...

This face...keeps me going!

Happy Halloween!

Hope you have a great night!
P.S.
It's raining here!

Halloween Fun!

So we did it, we made popcorn balls! My Mom use to make these for Halloween when we were younger. So I had to try it. Well the first batch I burnt. Yep, lucky I have my brother. He always saves the day or should I say my cooking/baking mess-ups.
The recipe said to make sure the sugar syrup hit the hard crack stage. One recipe said soft crack stage. So I picked the soft crack stage.
Well it was our first time and the next batch turned out fine.
You definitely have to wait for it to cool before you start to form the balls. The kids had a blast getting their hands into it.

Popcorn Balls
6-12 cups popped popcorn
3 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup and 2 tablespoons water
1 cup and 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 stick of butter (no substitutes)
1 teaspoons salt
Place popcorn in a large bowl; set aside. In a heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, corn syrup, butter and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue cooking, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 270 degrees F (soft-crack stage).
Remove from the heat. Pour over popcorn; stir until evenly coated. When cool enough to handle, quickly shape into balls.

Here's some pics of the night.

Kenny's Turn!

Kenny's B-day is tomorrow! He'll be the big "13"! He's been waiting for awhile to hit the "actual" teens!
My baby is "13", no way!
He was born 15 minutes before Halloween. The doctor told me if I want a Halloween baby to hold out. I said "No, way, no Halloween baby for me"! I pushed and pushed and got him out before midnight! Whoo!
Man, it's horrible be the first one, I should know. Your parents test everything out on you. You teach them how to hold and care for a little one. I only dropped Kenny a few times! LOL! With each one it got easier. I wish I would have had more patience with Kenny. He was such a sweet baby! He is a huge help to be as an older sibling. Yes, at times I feel bad for asking him to help with everything (I was once there, too) but I know I can count on him to get the job done.
Hey, everyone has their place in the family!
I am so proud of his growth, maturity, spiritually and personality. You've made me proud!
Well here are my photos of my first born.
Happy early Birthday, Kenny!

Blogging Boo!

Now, this is how the Blogging Boo will work. Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "Boo-ed". Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (picture) and tell them to "Boo" their friends. Then, put the picture in your side bar so everyone knows that you've already been "Boo-ed" and to send the pic to someone else. So, are you scared yet!!?? BOO!!
Check your comments to see if you've been Boo-ed!

Harvest Festival

We just had our Harvest Festival at church. The kids had a blast and Christina really enjoyed the games!

Happy Birthday Son!

I just had to do a quick shout out to my son. I love his craziness, imagination, generous love, helpfulness and for choosing me as his mother. He can drive me crazy most of the time but it's worth it. To hear and see him daily is a pleasure of mine! I only hope that he hears half of what I'm trying to teach him so that he can grow up to be a well-rounded, loving man to some lucky girl one day!
I love you, Mateo!

High School Musical 3

I'm going to see HSM 3 tonight! I can't wait! My girlfriend is coming into town and she's the only one crazy enough to go with me.
I'm off!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Well every year I have to entice the adults to help carve pumpkins. I don't know why they don't like it. It's tradition, we must carve pumpkins.
And every year I forget how much work it is.
Every year those pumpkin carving knives, break!
Every year I have to hear complaining;
"I don't like the smell"
"This is too messy"
"This is too much work"
What a bunch of babies! Even though I must confess, half way through it I get pretty tired of pumpkins guts being everywhere.
I just keep reminding myself and others that we are building wonderful memories that they will cherish for years!
I must say I love my hubby for putting up with everything I ask him to do. He honestly hates carving pumpkins and he's our #1 pumpkin worker. I also had his help with putting up the spiderwebs out front before we started the pumpkin fun.
He'd rather been watching the world series (baseball).
Thanks, Honey!
Today I will be roasting pumpkin seeds and making a birthday cake! Yep, it's my son Mateo's birthday tomorrow. We've got a busy day planned for him to help celebrate his 11th birthday! I'll post all about it tomorrow.

New Project

So my Grandma has been asking me to make some bows for her store in Utah. I finally sat down and began. here's what I did this afternoon. I'm trying to decide if the flowers look good on the bow or without. What do you think? I'm sure it will be fine either way. Next I'm going to do curly corkscrew bows. Post those soon.
Note: it is so hard to get two to look a like.

I'm a nice blogger!

Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious

You're an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends. People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support. You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone. You have a great eye for design - and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Tag your it!

Well this is the oddest tag I've seen, but I'll play! I just got tagged from my new blogger friend Stacey, check out her blog.
So here it is grab the nearest book. Open the book to page 56. Find the fifth sentence. Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST. Tag three other people to do the same.
Wow believe this or not, but the book I grabbed is Raising Positive Kids In A Negative World, funny thing is it has no 56 page so I'll go with 57.

Some people are especially negative. There probably is more confusion about motivation and positive thinking than almost any other subject in our society. A study done several years ago at Harvard revealed that 85 percent of the reason people get jobs and get ahead in those jobs is because of their attitudes. The conclusion and evidence is overwhelming that parents who want to prepare their children for life will teach them how to develop a winning attitude as a way of life. Motivation and positive thinking are not things you turn on and off and use for special circumstances and events in your life. It is a way of thinking, doing, and being that brings incredible benefits to you and your family.

So I have been meaning to read this book for awhile. I'll have to get to it soon.
Okay I tag
Hopkins House
Burger Six
Weaver Family Blog

Some Great Lessons

Today was stake conference and there were some amazing women with great messages. The first sister talked about how as mothers we are normally invisible to our families. I'm sure most of us feel like they don't even notice half of the things we do for them. Our job can sometimes be very tiring, non-stop and feel un-rewarding. I know we've all had those moments of despair, thinking that our children haven't heard a thing we've said.
Then one day a friend gave her a book of cathedrals. It had stories of people that had worked on them. A lot of time, effort and pride went into the building of these gorgeous buildings. One man was asked, "why did you put so much time and dedication into these buildings when one day no one will know what you did, will it even matter?"
He said, "because God sees!"
She then realized that our children are like the cathedrals. We are putting much un-seen effort, time and pride into the raising of our children. And if no one else notices, God does.
Good enough for me!
The second sister was a tear jerker. She lost her husband 8 months ago. She originally planned to not be at stake conference, but the Lord had other plans. She had a message for us (my family and maybe others). She talked about in the loss of a loved one she/we didn't know how we would move on. The sorrow can sometimes be overwhelming. She talked about how we are not just human beings but spirit beings also. It is our human side that is in mourning but our spirit side is rejoicing for our loss ones. She said we should not be sad because our loved ones have ended their journey on earth. They have learned all that they needed to know and have been called back home. She said that in her husbands last days he was studying the scriptures, listening to the prophets and spending time with his family. That sounded a lot like my Mom. This talk was very healing!
These messages were well received and much needed.

Happy Birthday Bro!

Today we're having a birthday dinner for one of my brothers. So I made some sweet treats! Scotcheroos, they're fabulous! There so easy to make too. Thanks Ande for the great recipe!

Scotcheroos
1 cup karo syrup
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
Melt together, then add 6 cups of rice krispies. Place in dish.
1 cup of chocolate chips
1 cup of butterschotch chips
Melt together, then poor over rice krispies. Let cool.
Yummy!

Ken took some pics while I was cooking.

A Day of Fun!

We had an eventful day yesterday! It began with a baptism that I spoke at. I was so nervous. Don't know why, well normally I talk to 8, 12 year old girls. Plus the spirit was so strong there. It was such a pleasure, though to speak at Jessica's baptism. She has come so far. She wanted a new life for her and her son and she found it.
After the baptism we took off to the pumpkin patch. Get this, not just one, we went to 3! It was crazy! Well we went looking for the biggest maze. It took 3 to find it. by then we were hot, tired and hungry! We saw a lot of pumpkins!
We took a lot of pics, so I made a slideshow. Enjoy!

Accident Pictures

It Never Ends!

So I get a call from hubby today and he's in the ER, huh? Yes, ER! He injured himself again. Yesterday it wasn't so bad but today he needed 3 stitches!
Then, yes there's more, I pick up Mateo from school and he has a been stung by a bee! What the heck is going on!

On to better news. Everywhere I turn I see a quote on faith. I've never said I had a faith problem. Don't know why they're jumping out at me. Maybe I'm just being reminded of how strong I am (my faith). Maybe.

Quote:
Faith is like the sun,
As you walk toward it,
it casts a shadow of our
burdens behind us.

Wide Awake and Sore!

Yeah, I've been wide awake since 6:30am. Don't know why, haven't done this in awhile. My body is also so sore from workout yesterday. Did I mention I'm back to my regular workouts. Man, she worked us hard yesterday, running, weights. I'm beat! It's all worth it though. Did you know when you lift weights (a good weight lifting workout) you burn calories for 24 hours? Oh, yeah! Just a 30 minute routine of cardio will help you for 2-4 hours. When I really want to lose a large amount of weight I use to workout twice a day, about 3-4 times a week. I eventually found that running was my friend. I hate running, though. It tires me out so quick, but it is a fat burner!
I've been trying to get my injured pics up but for some reason it won't load them. I'm so mad!
I'm not sure if I'm going to put Christina in panties today. I was a little frustrated yesterday. It's seems like she's not even trying. Agh!
Well guess I should start my day.

Faith

I found this quote today and it was fitting;

Faith in God
includes faith
in his timing

It's all about timing, I guess. That's what I'm suppose to be learning. I also needed a reminder of how steadfast and immovable I could be during this trying time. Today marks one month that our sweet Mother left this world. If someone would have told me that in 5 years you'll lose your Mom. I would have never believed them. I have to continually remind myself that she is no longer in pain. That's what gets me through this. Nobody knows better than my family how she suffered these last few years.
It was said in her eulogy that she never complained or blamed anyone for her illness. That is true because she had faith in our Heavenly Father. We also have an understanding that we will never be given anything we can not handle.
That is so true.
I knew in the beginning of the illness I (and my family) would need every bit of faith to help us through this.
It (illness) was never a burden on us. Yes, there were tough moments but we got through them. We had to adjust a bit, but life was the same.

We had our Mom with us.
We spent time with her.
We enjoyed every moment we had.
We loved her just the same or more!

I'm so worried of forgetting;
your face
smile,
laugh,
love.
How do I keep from forgetting?

Accident, Accident, Accidents!

So let's start with Kenny, he came home yesterday with a sprained arm. During PE he played volleyball, yep the good ol' volleyball injury! He got his hand/finger caught in the net while trying to set (not spike, no child of mine will be spiking).

Then today Mateo was riding his skateboard and he fell, flat on his face. All I heard was crying at the door and I found him bleeding on the doorstep.

"Are you joking!"
"we've got a family photo coming up."

Oh wait, "Are you okay?"

Next, Christina had 2 accidents standing 2 feet from the potty chair. I had it! I put the diaper back on her.
*The band aid was just to copy her brother.

Finally, Ken came home saying he had an "owie" too.
"Are you serious!" He cut himself at work.

My goodness, what is it with my accident-prone family?
(the upload isn't working, I'll post pics later)