Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! For turkey day we had just our fam, my parents, and my brother Clint and his wife Michelle. I made way too much food, but it's nice to have leftovers. I tried to get all the cooking done the day before so basically it was just the turkey left. My mom made the pumpkin pies and gravy. I'm not much of a gravy person, I never have much luck. Even last year after getting explicit instructions from Chase's uncle Ken who makes the best gravy ever, I was not able to pull it off. This year I brined the turkey again and had a turkey battle in the process. The turkey was about 19 lbs. and was still a little frozen in the middle. The neck was frozen stuck as well as the bag of giblets frozen in the butt cavity. I pried and pulled and chizzeled for a very long time. I think everything turned out ok. We had a pretty fun and relaxing day. It just went by way too fast. Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures to commemorate the occasion.

My Thankful List...
-My fabulous husband who works hard, doesn't give up, reminds me of what is really important, makes my day when I am down, loves me in spite of myself, brings me joy and laughter especially when I need it, has a seemingly unending amount of patience when I don't, and is an excellent, loving, and fun dad for our kids.
-My sweet, silly kids who keep me going especially when things are tough, give me hugs and kisses when I most need them, make me smile, and keep me laughing.
-My parents for putting up with us and letting us stay in their basement after Chase got laid off and being loving, caring parents and grandparents.
-My other parents(in-laws) for helping us after Chase got laid off and being the best in-laws ever. I don't understand those stories about bad in-laws. I am also thankful for their unconditional love and ability to be extraordinary parents and grandparents.
-My siblings for keeping it real : ) . I enjoy developing different relationships now that we are all in different stages of our lives. I love the friendships and fun we have been able to share together.
-Other in-laws...my siblings' spouses, Chase's siblings and their spouses who are just as much part of the famiily and bring friendship and joy to our family.
-Friends that are kind, listen, helpful, thoughtful, and non-judgemental.
-My job and my husband's job even though they're both only part time, they are both a blessing.

-Good health. Any time no one is ill in my family is a good time and one to be thankful for because you never know how long that's going to last.
-Freedom and for the men and women who fight to keep it. I am thankful to live in a country with so many gifts and blessings that others can only dream of.
-The gospel for blessing my life as well as my family.
-Autumn leaves and Fall weather
-Naps are rare, but wonderful
-Music
-Yummy food! I could probably fill up the whole page with a list of favorites, but that would only make me hungry and at 2:45 am while at work, that's not a good thing. Now I want to go home and bust out the apple pie, I'm so bad.
-Funny shows and movies that let me escape into a world of laughter for a while to forget things that are bringing me down. Also, good books that do the same.
-This blog that lets me capture memorable moments as my journal, since I'm too lazy/busy(there's a fine line I guess) to scrapbook my kids'/ family's memories or keep a journal anymore.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cam's Wrestling Meet

Cam starting out in one of the rounds.
I've put a video up at the end of the post that Chase took at Cam's first meet. It's kind of long, even I didn't finish watching it, but you get the idea of what he does. He also didn't seem to be laughing and giggling like he was doing in the meet I went to. It's really cute though, because you can hear the girls (even Emery) cheering Cam on as he wrestles.


This picture makes me laugh. Cam really wasn't being mean like he looks in this picture. That's just the face he'd make sometimes when he'd start. The boy looks terrified, especially since I couldn't fix the lack of eye pigment, my camera stinks, especially in low light. The kid was mostly upset that he couldn't get out of some of the holds. It's probably too young of an age to have them wrestle and declare a "winner" and "loser", some of the kids got really upset.


Cam laughing and having fun during his match. I know this isn't the best picture. I have a crappy camera, and they'd move too fast before my camera would go off, so you get blurry cut off heads.

Cam won both of his matches today at his wrestling meet! Chase took him to his last meet which was the first one for the season and he lost both of the matches, one which was narrowly lost. Tonight I took Cam to his second meet and he won both matches, yeah! The mom of one of the boys Cam wrestled came up to me and was telling me how much she liked watching Cam wrestle. He kept giggling and laughing, and was really fun to watch.

Also, I was really proud of Cam for his excellent sportsmanship at only 5 yrs. old. The first boy who lost became upset and was really sad, so Cam tried to make him feel better. He told the boy that he did a really good job, that he almost beat him, and that he was a good wrestler. That was my favorite part of the whole night that he wasn't just happy about winning, but that he cared enough about the other boy's feelings.

Cam kind of takes after his dad as a kid and is tall and skinny, so we were wondering about him wrestling. When they match his weight up right, he usually does well, if he gets paired up with someone like "the thug" as Chase has affectionately named another boy who wrestles with Cam, he doesn't fare as well. Cam has been catching on and doing well and after tonight I thought he'd change his mind about quiting, but he still says he wants to quit and become an Irish step dancer with the girls. I asked him why, and he said it's just too long and a lot of hard work. I told him, that dancing took work, too. I think the wrestling has been a little too much for him because the coach is a little overkill with it. The coach is also the coach for the Junior High and High school and is trying to train up little wrestling prodigies I think. We have 3 practices a week for 1 hr. 15 min. Cam gets a little burned out from it I think. We'll see I guess, whatever makes him happy.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, I'm finally putting my chocolate chip cookie recipe on here for everyone who has been asking for it. Actually, I should use the word "my" loosely. I got the recipe from my sister-in-law Brie. I will be forever grateful to her for giving me the yummiest chocolate chip cookie recipe ever. My cookies always turn out, unless I'm getting used to a new oven like when I first tried to bake them at my mom's house. So, make sure you monitor your cookies the first time you bake them, your temp. or time might need to be adjusted accordingly. With my mom's oven, it's a lot hotter, so I lower the temp. a little, rotate the cookies half-way through and switch oven racks, and cook for a little less time. But then again, I might just be a little anal about my cookies. Here's the recipe everyone, so happy baking! : )

1 lb. salted butter, softened (if you use unsalted, add 1/2 t. salt)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 T. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
6 c. flour
2 c. chocolate chips (Brie, and I will sometimes blend 1/2 milk choc. & 1/2 semi-sweet)

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Place tablespoons of dough on cookie sheets. Bake 9-11 min. at 375 degrees.

*This recipe makes a lot of cookies (about 50), so you might want to freeze some of the dough if you're not planning on eating all of them. I usually only make them when I have a bunch of people to share them with, or I will eat way too many.

I took a picture of one of the kids eating a cookie and then they all wanted one, so you get to enjoy 4 pictures of my kids stuffing cookies into their mouths.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everybody! This is one of my most favorite times of the year! Bailey dressed up as a Vampire Gypsy (I think she wanted to be both, but couldn't decide so she combined the two), Addie was a Bat, Cam was a Firefighter, and Emery was a Bunch of Grapes. I ended up borrowing a friend's Bee costume at the last minute and Chase improvised a costume while trick or treating. We discovered that Emery's "grapes" were blocking her vision, so we removed two of them and Chase pinned them to his bum. He then said he was a bunch of picked over grapes. Chase and I were originally going to dress up as Siamese twins, but I never got around to going to the D.I. for a shirt big enough to fit us both, oh well, maybe next year.

We had a "spooky" dinner with punch with hands, eyeballs, gouhlish grins, veggie dip with fingers poking out, mummy dogs, and spinach dip (which wasn't so spooky). I didn't have time for the pumpkin cheese ball, but again, maybe next year. Brie (Chase's sister) and Dave (Brie's fiance) joined us for dinner and trick or treating. I was worried about how Emery would handle trick or treating, but she absolutely loved it and she had a blast. Emery caught on very quickly and would run to the next house with the kids making excited noises while bouncing along and then say "Twick or Tweat!" After she got candy she would say "Ganks, Gank You!", "Goodbye, See ya later!" At one point when Emery's bag was so filled it was too heavy for her, she told us she was done. We headed back towards the house and Chase asked her if she wanted some candy. Emery replied, "Yes, of course!". She is the funniest 2 year old, she is so different from the other kids at that same age. After we got back from trick or treating we watched a movie, X-Men Wolverine. The kids, except Bailey, watched Alvin and the Chipmunks downstairs (not as scary). We hope your night was filled with frightful fun and that your Halloween was a spooktacular one!
Emery trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Beautiful Brie improvising as a tree for her costume.

Dave and Brie, what a cute couple : )

Chase with his two grapes on his bum.

Two bunches of grapes : )

A spooky house all decorated crazy complete with animatronics, sounds, moving ghosts, and frankensteins, etc. Addie and Cam refused to go to this house. We asked Emery if she wanted to go, but she politely told us "No thanks." She changed her mind when she saw Bailey going up and went with her.

Trick or Treating

Spooky house.

My little bunch of grapes.

She's the cutest bunch of grapes, maybe that's why I included so many pictures.

Emery enjoying her bloody eyeball, mmmmmm!

My mom wearing the Halloween apron she just made. Emery is scared of it ever since she came to look at it after it was finished and I hit the ghost from behind with my hand and yelled "Boo!" at her. I guess that wasn't very nice, but it was pretty funny.

Addie looking like a mean vampire bat with her green teeth and red eyes. I finally had a picture where I didn't need to fix the red eye, it goes perfectly with her costume.

Addie, Brie, and Dave.

Bailey and the gross punch bowl.

Hands in the punch bowl.

Eyeballs on a fork, yum!

Gastly, Ghoulish Grins

Finger Dip

Mummy Dogs

Yummy, Yummy!

Cam, Bailey, Addie

Bailey, the Vampire Gypsy with her crystal ball.

Addie, the flying vampire bat.

Cam, my brave little firefighter.

Pumpkin Carving

For family night this week we finally carved our pumpkins. The kids were so excited and what started out as kind of a crazy activity turned out to be pretty fun. The kids designed and drew their faces on the pumpkins and Chase and I did all the cutting. All the kids had to put some work in digging out all the pumpkin seeds. Emery just drew on her pumpkin for obvious reasons and ended up getting marker all over herself. Chase took all the pumpkin seeds and baked them. They were really good and reminded me of just really crunchy popcorn. I am not finished with my pumpkin creation yet, so I will finish it, even though it's after Halloween and post some pics later. It has been a crazy week. The kids loved their pumpkins and we had a really fun time together.