Friday, October 31, 2008

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Good thing I like Pumpkin Pie!!!





I can't believe I almost forgot to add this picture in with our October festivities! I was volunteered by several people to be in the pie eating contest at our ward party last week. It was awesome! I've never stuffed my face in a pie before, but when have I ever had the excuse! My girls thought it was pretty silly.

P is for Pumpkin Puree!

Today was the day we have been anticipating all month. My cousin Danina gave me the crazy idea that I could cook an actual pumpkin to make goodies with. Who knew! From the moment she mentioned the concept, it has been my goal and today we attempted and succeeded. We brought in a couple pumpkins from the porch and baked and baked and ate some pretty delicious pumpkin bread this afternoon. I'm gonna' add this to the "you have to try this at least once" list for you all. Just make sure you do it on a day that you have nothing else to do and when you can keep your oven on all morning. It made for a fun project and now we have a lot of pumpkin puree in our freezer for more pumpkin goodies to come!



October!

October has been a month filled with food and friends; does it get any better. My girls and I have been having a blast together doing all the things little girls and moms do and love to have play-dates with lots of our little buddies. Here are a few snapshots of the things we've been up to.




A trip to the zoo with Gabby



Crawling buddies Julia and Allie








Making cookies at our "October party"



Allie and Ethan




Family Night with the Luke's



And, of course, my "little fancies." This is what they usually look like at any given moment. Kind of looks like a "what's wrong with this picture?" image to me. (i.e. upside-down glasses, miss-matched shoes...) Sure love these girls!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Back in business!

WAHOO!!! I can't believe it! I discovered today that I do actually have a cord that enabled me to download the pictures from my camera! Hooray! (Now maybe I can get a "real" birthday present.) I've been so anxious to post these pictures of Allie on her half-birthday (yes, we even ate a cupcake in her honor -but no, we did not actually make them for the occasion). I also have a variety of pictures from other events throughout the month of October which I may try to post soon. For now...here's more of Allie playing around in her crib being so proud to sit up.

shundiin photography





Many of you have commented on the new photos on my blog and while I wish I had the skills to take such beautiful photos myself, these are the work of Adam's sweet cousin Rachel. She has a gift in my opinion and does amazing things with light! We were so excited to have her do a photo shoot for our family while we were up in Utah this summer and wish we could take advantage of her talents more often. (I think I'd be bugging her ALL the time about pictures if were there!)

Any of you who do live in the Salt Lake area or just want to browse her website and check out some beautiful portraits, take a look at her webpage at www.shundiinphotography.com (Sorry, I can't get my link button to work so you'll have to type in the address yourself.) Seriously, even if you don't live in Utah, these pictures are just fun to look at. My favorite is the one of her daughter as Tinkerbell -so sweet! Rachel has two darling children whom my kids love to play with. She is an awesome mom and a very hard worker. Thanks for the pictures Rachel! We love you!

Monday, October 13, 2008

The Stats are in!




Allie had her six month check-up today and she weighed 17.4 lbs and is 26 in length. (Which is about 75% in both respects.) The doctor also discovered she has her first tooth. She what a good baby she is...we didn't even know!

Friday, October 10, 2008

This afternoon as I was reading in the Book of Mormon, I came across this passage: "And it came to pass that I did speak unto my people, and did urge them with great energy, that they would stand boldly before the Lamanites and fight for their wives, and their children, and their houses, and their homes. And my words did arouse them somewhat to vigor, insomuch that they did not flee from before the Lamanites, but did stand with boldness against them." This is from Mormon 2: 23-24 when Mormon is leading the Nephite armies against the Lamanites. This is what it made me think of...



I thought of Moroni's Title of Liberty and I thought of Proposition 8. "And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it -In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children -and he fastened it upon the end of a pole." (Alma 46:12) I have such a pole in my front yard signifying and publicly displaying my belief in the sanctity of marriage as God intended it to be; between a man and a woman. With 24 days to go until the elections, I feel nervousness about the society I live in and the places it my go if more of us don't "stand boldly" before our friends and neighbors.

I liked the message I found in this article on the internet by Darla Isackson stating the following: “We hold our freedom to choose most dearly above all else--and so does God. God allows his children to commit all manner of wickedness rather than trample on their right to choose. Each individual has as part of his or her very soul, a love of personal liberty that many have been willing to die for. Perhaps our most important job is to remind our children that the words on Moroni's Title of Liberty began with God and religion, then freedom--that we maintain true freedom only to the extent that we love God and live his laws.”

With my freedom to choose, I will choose to follow my God and follow His laws. "Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

For more information, please take a moment to look at the following link:

www.preservingmarriage.org

(For those of you who are unfamiliar with Proposition 8; it is the proposition on California's ballot that is needed to restore the definition of marriage to that of "Only between a man and a woman." As it stands today in CA, same-sex marriage is legal and recognized the same as marriage between man and woman and our children will be taught this in our public schools tomorrow if we don't do something about it today.)

Happy Half-Birthday, Allie!




Allie is six months old today! I can hardly believe it. As a gift, she has earned herself a baby gate as she has learned to army crawl and is getting into all sorts of trouble. She also sits up on her own now and really seems to feel like she's part of the "big girl club" now because of just that. I took some VERY cute pictures of her today, but you will have to wait to see them since I haven't replaced my memory card adapter just yet. (Good thing my birthday is coming up next month.:) Keep checking in...notes on Allie's six month check-up will be coming up next week; Aubrey gave her a pretty thorough exam with the play dr. kit this morning, but all she told me was that "something's wrong with her head." Allie was a good sport through it all, as she almost always is.