Gingerbread Houses

On Saturday my family got together and did gingerbread houses. We do it every year after Thanksgiving. It is a little chaotic but a lot of fun. In past years my houses have caved in on me and been a total frustration but this year I was patient and let the frosting set for a while before putting the candy on. Last year I blame on defective frosting. This year was finally a success!

I think the kids enjoy eating the candy more than anything. I think maybe next year I will just make gingerbread people and they can decorate them and eat. Needless to say our house is now lacking all the candy. At one point it looked pretty cute. But I guess eating it is what it is all about.


The finished village or as my sister said gingerbread "track housing". That made me laugh.

Here is all the grandkids minus Marci's. If you look closely at the roof you will see an elf who happened to be peeking in on the kids. He has visited in the past. I think most of the kids have been good this year and will get a visit from Santa.

O Christmas Tree

Last Friday night we ventured out to pick a Christmas tree. I sometimes miss the good ol' days of hiking around Kanosh looking for a Christmas tree to cut down. Maybe someday I will tell the story of the great Christmas tree hunt of '96 when Lorin and I were engaged. Let's just say that venturing out to the Fred Parker Christmas tree lot is a lot more convenient and safe. Hiking to Cove Fort in 2 ft. of snow is not fun.

Lorin has the great honor, yes honor, of getting our tree home and cutting what needs cut and sticking the tree in the stand. Sometimes he will even put the star on. This year our star broke so we are lacking a star.
Here we are in front of the tree we picked. We have to choose one that that is somewhat skinny but we found the perfect one that was more full at the top than some years. The tree was $37 dollars. We had exactly $32 dollars. The man was kind enough to give it to us anyway. I considered it a blessing. These days small blessings are huge to me!

I have the wonderful job of putting the lights on the tree and I have to admit I do a pretty good job. It was a Christmas miracle when I just needed one more string of lights. I had three strings left which would only light half the way. I thought for sure I was going to have to make some adjustments or buy more lights which I couldn't do. So I grabbed one of the strings and the first bulb I wiggled seemed to be the one causing the problem. So I replaced that bulb and finished putting up the lights. I know kinda corny but I was thankful. The kids got to put up the ornaments. We only broke two this year.

Deck the Halls

This is my sister Shelly's house. This picture does not do it justice. I didn't stand back far enough to take a full shot and Cassidy tripped on a cord and deflated one of the blown up things. Anyway they do a great job every year they have even won awards. Ryan has put his life on the line hanging these lights in the past. =) So if you want to drive past their house just let me know and I will give you their address. You won't be disappointed.

Last Day of Horse Riding

Last Monday Cassidy had her last day of horse riding for the year. Alison took her on a trail ride up to the "P". Cassidy was so excited to report to Lorin that she had seen some deer while up there. Riding horses has truly been a wonderful thing for Cassidy. Hopefully we will be able to afford to have Cassidy do it again in the spring. Winter is hard on Cassidy so hopefully horse riding has helped strengthen her over all so we can get through it.

Love that smile!!!!!Alison has been an angel in Cassidy's life. She does a great service for children with special needs. We have truly been blessed to have found her.

Football and Family

As Saturday was the big BYU vs. UofU game we thought we would have a little get together with some of Lorin's family that could come. We enjoyed homemade pizza thanks to my sweet sis. in law Kim who helped me. We won't even discuss the batch of pizza dough I had to throw away. Well the game didn't turn out too well. Ok let's be honest it was a disaster but the company was good.

Saturday marked 7 years since Lorin's Mom's passing and 3 months since Keith's passing. I am sure that they were aware of us getting together as a family and remembering them. Maybe they were even able to get in on some of the fun. We know how much Keith enjoyed sports. Things will never quite be the same without them. Get out a tissue and read Natalies post on the subject here http://natalieshumway.blogspot.com/2008/11/7-years3-months.html. Very sweet! We are so grateful to belong to such a strong, faithful family.
This is what was on the wall just inside our door as well as various signs around the house and outside which I discovered as we left for church the following morning. Megan is such a party person. Gotta love her!

Megan's Dance Recital

Here are some pictures from Megan's dance recital on the 13th. The class was a lot of fun for her. She learned a lot and she did a great job. Since the class was at the fitness center it was just for a couple months. There is no pressure and it is just for fun which I think is great. It was well worth the $60. It amazes me that I have children who are not scared to do things like I have always been. Megan is quiet like me sometimes but she doesn't stress about things. She doesn't seem to get too nervous and just does what she wants to do. I remember once asking her if she was nervous to do an oral report in front of her class and she replied "Why would I be? They are all my friends." Someday Megan will be a great entrepreneur as she is always trying to think of businesses where she can make money. She will go far. We are so proud of all our kids. They are amazing!

Dancing King

One of Logan's new favorite pastimes is to get out every single cd that we own and listen to bits and pieces of each disc. I never knew he would enjoy old '80s and '90s country music so well. His favorite at the moment is Bryan White. If only he could put them all away when he is done. I caught him dancing in this picture. What a cute little pill! Putting away the discs reminds me of an earlier day when Megan would get out the cds and break all the cases in the process. So maybe that is why Logan won't put them away. It is a pain to put broken cases back together.

Halloween

Every October one of the things our kids love to do is go past this house in our neighborhood that is all decked out for Halloween with all sorts of scary figures. Personally it doesn't appeal to me at all but the kids like to see it. I end up driving by the "Halloween House", even when I don't want to, about 50 times a day dropping off and picking up the kids, running errands ect. Occasionally the guy actually dresses up as one of his figures and stands outside to scare people. Kinda creapy.

Logan and I attended the girl's Halloween parade at school. Megan was a cute pioneer.

Cassidy made a cute witch! Her aide was a cute angel.

Logan got pretty bored watching all the kids and wanted to leave. As we were leaving he got pretty mad and didn't want to go to the van. Apperently he wanted to go outside to see the real parade. He didn't realize that watching the kids was the parade.

I tried to be creative this Halloween with ideas from various people. For dinner I made these cute hot dog mummies and soup in pumpkin shaped bread bowls as well as orange crush to drink. The kids freaked out at the two tiny dots of mustard for the eyes and almost wouldn't eat the mummies because of it. Ugh can't they just appreciate that I was trying to be fun. I can still remember one Halloween when my Mom cooked some soup in an actual pumpkin. I thought it was so cool. I probably didn't appreciate the work she went to as much as I should have but now I do.

And they are off!

Old pros. Trick or Treat!! Hope you all had a great Halloween! Now we can focus on the holidays that I love the best!

Family Halloween Party

We had a fun time on the 25th celebrating Dad's birthday and having a Halloween party. We had dinner eating various kinds of soups. Then the kids had a doughnut eating contest, fished in the fish pond for prizes and then went trick-or-treating to all the doors downstairs. It is a fun tradition every year. The kids were dressed up but my camera batteries were dead before I got a picture.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!

We love you!

Thanks for your example and all that you do for us!

You are the best!

And if all of you didn't know Dad's birthday kicks off the holiday season so Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Good Citizen Award

Logan gets the good citizen award today or at least a good boy award. He was in the front yard and came running in with something in his hand and talking in a rather loud, perturbed voice. He says "Mom someone threw this hamburger wrapper on the ground and that's glittering!" I chuckled to myself but didn't correct him because I thought it was so cute. I thanked him for picking up the wrapper and throwing it away. My preschool lesson about littering wasn't a complete waste after all. Did I just make a pun?

Another note Cassidy finally got an aide at school for 4 hours a day. They were able to get the same aide as last year which is wonderful. Thank you everyone for your prayers in Cassidy's behalf. Sorry Dad I have to post this because I think it is so funny. I called to tell my parents the good news on Wed. Dad answered the phone and I thought it would be nice to tell him the good news so that he doesn't always feel like I just call to talk to Mom because I like to talk to him too. Anyway he forgot to tell mom. So after their prayers (I don't know if it was that night or the next day) and mom praying for Cassidy to get an aide to help her. Dad says "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you". I thought it was hilarious.

Where did the last month go?

Ok so I fell off the blogging earth for a few weeks. Lately it seems like I can't even keep my dishes done let alone blog. So for my own sake I am going to do one eternal post to catch up. Are you ready for this? No? Either am I.
Cassidy's Birthday Oct. 19

Cassidy is 7 years old. Cannot believe it. Her smile brightens our lives. She is an example to all of us. Can't imagine life without her. She had a birthday party on the 18th with some of her cousins. They played games and decorated cookies. Megan helped organize all of the games and helped out a lot. I think they had a good time. (Sorry about all the fuzzy pictures. I dropped my camera the other day and it isn't working right.)

Dinner at the mall. Fire drill anyone? Oct. 18th.

After Cassidy's birthday party Natalie (who had brought Joanna's kids to the party) and I realized it was dinner time so decided to take the kids to Chick-Fil-A. Everything was going rather smoothly. The line wasn't very long. The kids were well behaved and ate. Natalie and I had fun talking. The kids finished eating and had to go play on this car you see in the picture of Logan and Wesley. Well as you can see right above the car on the wall is a fire alarm. Why would you place a fire alarm within a child's reach right by a toy car? Just as I was starting to clean up and get ready to go. This really loud alarm starts going off and I realize that Cassidy has just pulled the fire alarm. As you may know I hate undo attention brought upon myself so I am sure my face turned the brightest red you have ever seen. I really didn't know what to do. Of course I asked Cassidy "Why did you pull that?!!!" She was so scared she ran out of the mall. I tried pulling the alarm back down but it wouldn't budge. I know stupid but I was desperate. Eventually an employee came over and Natalie told him that a child pulled it. So it was turned off rather quickly and we were able to track Cassidy down just outside the doors. The fire trucks didn't come, thank goodness, and we left no questions asked. I was so afraid that the trucks would come and that I would be charged a million dollars for a false alarm. We had a good laugh. And years from now we will tease Cassidy about the time she evacuated the whole mall. (Well a few people exited but actually most people just ignored it but we can pretend.)
Canning Salsa

My sister Jilleen wanted to learn how to make salsa. So we spent all last Mon. and some of Fri. canning salsa. It was hard work but I am glad she motivated me to do it because we enjoy eating it.

On Friday I took Cassidy to her nephrology appt. Her kidneys are plugging away at a steady 30% function. The doctor was very happy with the results of her blood test. He said it looked really good except, of course, her overall kidney function which we know will not get any better. I was so happy because this is the first appt. where there has not been something out of whack a little bit. Especially her potassium level and that was even good. So we don't have to add any meds. or change anything at this point. I am so happy about that. Keeping her diet in check has been a trial for me but it is keeping her potassium down and all the medications are doing their jobs. So we will keep doing what we are doing. Cassidy is doing amazingly well. The full day of school was a big adjustment for her and would wear her out but she has gotten used to it and is doing great. She qualified for some special ed. So she goes to resource for an hour a day. We are still waiting for word on the aide situation. It would still be really helpful to have someone there to help her for a couple hours during math and reading.

Scarecrow Festival Oct. 16

The kids were out of school on Thurs. and Fri. for fall break. So on Thurs. my sisters Debbie, Shelly, Jilleen and I took our kids to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. There was a lot of kids there. They had fun playing on the blown up slides. They each got to go on a pony ride and they got to sit inside the highway patrol helicopter. Megan tried out a pedal car. We got to see a magic show and eat popcorn and cotton candy. Megan said it was a lot of fun. Mostly I think they were just happy that I took them somewhere different. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was afraid to let Cassidy go on the blown up slides because I was afraid she would get trampled and hurt but Megan and the cousins were great to help her get around. She did fine.

A New Nephew Oct. 12th

My sister Marci gave birth to a boy on Oct. 12th. Congratulations to her and Tony. Chandler is a cutie.

A New Niece Oct. 13th

Lorin's sister Joanna gave birth to a girl on Oct. 13. Congratulations to her and George. We can't wait to meet Erica.

Joy School Halloween Parade

Last Tues. was Logan's Halloween parade for Joy School. He is dressed as a knight and as you can see he didn't really sing the cute witch song. What a cute group of kids.

Witch-A-Palooza Oct. 11

I had a fun girls day with my mom and sisters on Sat. Oct. 11. We went to Park City to eat lunch and to do some shopping. Then we went to Gardner Village for the Witch-A-Palooza dinner theater. It was a lot of fun. We missed having Marci with us. We will excuse her this time as she was busy giving birth.

I fit right in. I make a good witch most of the time. I have the best mom and sisters! Thanks for the fun day.

My Turn to Teach Joy School

Two weeks ago it was my week to teach Joy School at my house. It went pretty well for having 9 kids to keep entertained. This is a cute picture of them dancing to a song. I have to admit I was relieved when the week was over and I hope they learned something.

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

This was the scene when Lorin got home from hunting the first time. He is gone again for the next two days. The kids love him so much and can't get enough of him when he is home. I hope he has a great time hunting. Work will still be here when he gets back.

Well if you have made it to the end of this post without falling asleep or getting entirely bored then I am amazed. My mind is blank right now so nothing sounds very exciting or cute. My heart is heavy today as I just found out that my Aunt Karen (my mom's oldest sister) is not going to be with us for much longer. Our thoughts and prayers are with Uncle Russ and all their family. It is never easy to say goodbye to someone we love so dearly and who has influenced our lives for good.

Neurology Update

For those of you wondering I finally heard back from the neurologist about Cassidy's muscle biopsy. They said everything came back normal for what they could test for at Primary Children's so they will turn things over to the Dr. at Columbia University to see what, if any, tests he wants to do further. I have mixed emotions about the results. Part of me is relieved that they didn't find anything because it all just freaks me out. On the other hand it would be nice to know, for the future, what to expect. If there were something more that we could be doing to help Cassidy and the other families effected by, what seems to be, mitochondrial disease. There are too many kids with similar problems. We are so grateful that Cassidy is doing as well as she is.
I need to thank my sister Laura for the help and support she has given me through this process. She inspires and motivates me to press forward when it all seems to hard. She doesn't want anyone else in the family to have to go through what she continues to go through, the loss of a child without real answers. I wish I had some answers for her today.

Another note: Cassidy does not have an aide at school yet. The girl from the 504 committee that met with Lorin and Cassidy's teacher apperantly overstepped her bounds by saying that she would have an aide within one week. Everything still has to be approved by everyone on the committee and they wanted to wait until all of the special ed testing was done to see, I think, if they can get more funding that way. So it is still an ongoing joke. Cassidy had a pretty good fall at school today. She fell off the slide. She said somebody pushed her. It scared her pretty bad. Her teacher called me so I ran to the school to check on her and she seemed to be okay. She finished the school day and is fine. Thank goodness!!

Tis The Season

Well Lorin is gone to Kanosh to go hunting for the weekend. This is the time of year he loves the best and looks forward too. I am glad that he is able to take one day off work and spend the weekend doing something he loves. Lorin is so cute. When the weather starts to change he will breathe a little deeper and ask "can you smell that? It's the deer hunt." Neil (Lorin's bro.) pointed out to Kim (his wife) the other day, all excited of course, that the shadows were changing. For him that was exciting because it meant the deer hunt was quickly approaching but for her it meant that winter in Evanston is all to near. We love it that they are like little boys when it comes to hunting. So excited that they can't sleep the night before it starts.

This is the way my kitchen looks the day before the hunt. Actually this pales in comparison to some years. Logan was hoping he would go unnoticed and get loaded in the truck with everything else. He asked Lorin "When I am five can I go hunting with You?"

Headed out the door.
I had a particularly hard time letting Lorin leave this time around and this is only round one. I just love him so much and miss him so when he is gone. I know silly considering I don't see him all that much anyway. I love my sweet!

I was reminiscing today about when Lorin and I were dating and he left to go hunting. I didn't have a clue about how involved and serious hunting was. I remember calling his home in late afternoon and Natalie (Lorin's sis.) answered the phone and explained that he had gotten a deer and was on the mountain retreiving it. Well I thought "oh no big deal that shouldn't take long". I called back maybe a couple hours later and again Natalie answered the phone and explained that he still wasn't back. I can't remember when Lorin actually got back and called me but it was late. I am sure his whole family just thought "What does he see in this girl? She just doesn't get it." Well I still probably don't really get it but I now know that it takes more than a couple hours to get a deer off a mountain. I have to admit I really didn't know what I was in for but I wouldn't trade it for the world. Lorin has taught me to appreciate the world around me and I love him for that. I just didn't know how many hunts there were and that you had to scout the deer and elk out and in the spring find the sheds left behind. Before we had our kids I would sometimes go out hunting with Lorin (probably annoying to the brothers, sorry) and it is hard work. I remember climbing this hill that they were retreiving a deer on and I thought my lungs were going to collapse. I don't think I have been out on a hunt since then. Lorin got a nice deer last year and its head is still patiently waiting in our freezer. Lorin can't decide if it is big enough to mount. Maybe this hunt he will get "the big one" and we can have two deer heads in our freezer.=)=)

Lorin, Chris and Neil

I wanted to show a picture of Lorin in his younger years hunting but I don't have any. I am sure there is one out there somewhere. I do have this picture of Lorin, Neil, and Chris after a fishing trip. I don't know their ages but I think they are so cute. Fishing, well that is a whole other story.

Neil and Lorin