6 Month Anniversary of Halloween

As a kid, my mom always joked that I had two speeds: ON and OFF. Either I ran around doing everything ... or I did nothing at all. I guess that should explain why I never blogged about Halloween (OFF). But, hey, my Halloween activity switch was definitely ON!

Farnsworth Farms
What can be better than a pumpkin patch, a hayride, homemade apple cider, homemade apple cider donuts, and a twilight outdoor showing of Charlie Brown's "The Great Pumpkin"? Nothing, that's what. (Hey, yeah, remember when Sam actually shaved? I forget that's what he used to look like.)

Witch Scavenger Hunt
Gardener Village is awesome - especially the scavenger hunts for witches at Halloween! If you haven't noticed, the Smiths are our favorite friends to do stuff with. :)

Halloween River Cruise
Follow a dark (and decorated) trail through the woods, enter a riverboat filled with creepy music, ride past one hundred lit jack-o-lanterns, and then get attacked by a pirate. Yeah. This was definitely a fun way to spice up the holiday!

I forgot my camera, so I got these pictures off the internet. Just FYI.

Trick-or-Treating
Apparently I was ON for 2009's Halloween costumes, but this last year ... costumes? What is costumes? I do not know what that word means! (It's a quote. Have you read The Happy Hockey Family? If not, look it up at the library. Then look up the sequel. It's one of our favorite children's books of all time. But beware: you may need to read it near the restroom, because you just might laugh so hard that ... you know.)

Anyway, this year we borrowed a princess costume from Seara's cousin, and had the boys pick costumes from my mom's costume box (no joke) 10 minutes before we went trick-or-treating. And frankly, I waaaaaay preferred it.

Head Shots

Playing a game where uncle Liam hides, and when they find him, he scares the daylights out of them...
Seara: He's invisible!
Elijah: He's so hidey we can't find him!
Enoch: Yeah! Like a candy bah!

__________________________________________________________

A few months ago, just as we finished getting ready for bed, Sam and I kneeled down for our nightly couple prayer. It was Sam's turn. He began the prayer like normal, nothing out of the ordinary. But then, out of nowhere, he uttered, "Please bless JAY-nae."

I opened my eyes and pulled back in shock. "Excuse me, who on earth is JAY-nae?? Or did you suddenly forget how to pronounce my name!?" He chuckled (how offensive!), and I let it go.

I brushed it off as a one-time thing, but couple months later he did it again. JAY-nae!! I'm starting to wonder if I should be concerned...

the ricks diaries

If the video doesn't show up, click HERE to see it.

Just found out that since Sam works at the Art Institute, I can take free videography classes. Woohoo! It would be nice to actually know what I'm doing instead of making it up all the time. :)

A Thousand Words

Our stake president is married to President Faust's daughter, which makes him all the more formidable to folks like me. But, he's a dear friend to my parents, so he knows and seems to like my little family. Well, a few weeks ago we had ward conference*.  The stake president sat contentedly on the stand, watching as people filed in.  He looked down to our row, saw my dad, and smiled.  As his eyes moved down the row, he smiled greetings to my mom, to Liam, to me, and to my kids.  Then he hit Sam, and his face changed. The friendly smile morphed into perplexed concern. He was worried. You could see it on his face.

Unfortunately, this is not an usual reaction to Sam's recent "homeless" look.  I keep telling him he should just wear a skull cap.  He says that would be sacrilegious.  I shrug. Whatever.

After letting the stake president worry for a couple weeks (not intentionally), I finally emailed him an explanation and an on-set picture.  This was his reply:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Now I understand Janae.  Sam might put a lot of concern to rest if he would wear “this garb” to church.  But then again… he might create more concern if he were to wear “this garb” to church! :) He looks great!

President Smith

So, if you too are worried that Sam has fallen off the face of the earth, delved into deep depression, or gone completely rebellious, you are mistaken.  He has simply converted to Judaism.  Here are your thousand words:

This is my favorite picture.  All these 1st century AD Jews on laptops and smartphones. :)

*Our congregations are called wards.  Several congregations (usually 6-10) together make up a stake.  For ward conference our stake leaders visit and do various lessons and training meetings. Although the stake president's last name is Smith, he is in no way related to my family.  Well, except maybe through Adam and Noah.

Traitor

I was nine the very first time I got cold. We had recently moved to Utah, and I went trick-or-treating longer than I should have gone. When I finally got home, I dropped my loot, laid on the couch, and cried for an hour. I had never felt pain like that before.

See, for the first ten years of my life we lived in the tropics. In Puerto Rico the record cold temperature is 60 degrees. It's never once been in the 50s since they started recording. Never. The average temp the entire year is in the 80s. Same for the Dominican Republic. In Ecuador it does get into the 50s late at night, but the average temp throughout the year is in the 60s and 70s. Honestly, how could you expect a child who grew up like that to EVER like snow and cold?! You can't. And I don't.

But I have a confession to make: I'm a traitor to all my fellow cold-haters. My parents have a cabin east of Heber, and guess what?

I prefer the cabin in the winter time.

I know. Despicable. But there is something so appealing about coming in from snow shoeing or sledding, and cozying up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate! Plus, you've never sled until you've done it on slick cabin roads, down steeps hills, for half a mile. You just keep going and going. It's like you're flying!

Yup, I'm a traitor to my kind. I'm starting to like snow.

Adventures with Stripped Tires

Three weeks ago today...

(If you can't see the whole map, click it and it should open up in a new window.)

ps. Easter is in less than four weeks, so if you wanted to make the wooden Easter eggs we did last year, you can buy the eggs here.  Good luck and let me know how it goes!

On a December Day

Random picture, not quite in focus, but still cute.

My day started off fairly normal.  So when I realized that I had some free time, I decided that it was finally the day to head down to BYU (not quite an hour away) to do a couple errands.  For the last five months I had kept an extra pair of undies and pants in my purse for Enoch, but he had never once had an accident outside the home, so I finally decided it was time to take them out. Off we went!

To make the trip fun for the kids, I called my friend Caroline, and she and her son Alex joined us for lunch at JDawgs (heaven!) and bowling at the Games Center before my errands. The kids were having fun and I was super pleased with myself for being such an awesome mom. [Insert back pat and smug smile.] And then--just as we were ending our bowling game--Enoch did the unthinkable.  Something none of my kids have ever done outside the home.  The perfect Murphy's law twist to my pride.  He messed. his. pants.  AHHH!  Right after I took the change of clothes out of my purse!  Talk about dramatic irony. So I did the only thing I could think of doing: I removed his pants and undies, wrapped them in a plastic bag, and borrowed a too-small diaper from my friend just as she was leaving.

Now I had a decision to make:  Do I call it a day and take the kids home?  Or do I insist on doing my errands?  I took a long look at Enoch: his poofy down winter coat, tiny diaper, bare legs, socks, and shoes. He looked really goofy. "Well, I don't care." I thought. "I came a long way, and blast it all, I'm doing what I came for." So off we went, walking at least half a mile through the busiest parts of campus, doing my errands.

You know, when you have three children with you on a university campus, people watch you curiously. But when you have three children on campus in the middle of winter, and one is wearing a huge coat, a tiny diaper, and no pants, people downright STARE.

But hey, the old adage says "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service."  It says nothing about pants. :)

Please, Not the Burn Unit!

At 4:45 pm, right on schedule, I started thinking about what to make for dinner.  Then WHACK! it hit me...

My mom bought corned beef and cabbage...St. Patrick's Day...I was supposed to make it for dinner...Oh dang...It surely takes several hours to cook....[look it up]...Yup. Three...Great, I'll only have dinner ready two hours late...How can I speed this up?...Microwave? Really hot oven?...Nah, it'll be tough...Maybe we could have St. Patrick's dinner on the 18th?...No one will care, right? Right??... Wrong...Blast................THAT'S IT!  Pressure cooker!...Janae, [yes, I talk to myself in the third person inside my head] you've never used a pressure cooker before, and you have a tendency to burn yourself at least every other day. This is probably not a good idea...


But I did it anyway.  Me + pressure cooker + no idea what I'm doing = DANGER.  Here's hoping I don't end up in the emergency room tonight.




ps. Just got a text from Sam.  BYU is doing their own New Testament movie in conjunction with the ones the church is doing, and since Sam already had a beard, he figured he'd join in.  Here he is in costume: