Pumpkin, Meet Saw.

We had a fun Halloween this year. Logan was super shy when it came to trick or treating, but he was so excited that it was finally Halloween! He helped us carve pumpkins... kind of. James has gotten it in his head that he can no longer carve pumpkins the normal way. He needs to use his saw. He literally didn't use a knife once!
Lizzy was a witch (no costume change needed, but we put her in a dress and put a pointy hat on her head anyway) and Logan was Buzz.

I needed a picture of these two together. The unstoppable duo of Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody! Woody is really Logan's favorite friend, Coleman.

The video is a small glimpse of James feeling all manly.

One of Jame's cousins commented that he doesn't understand why James is so dang skinny, what with all my baking going on. I wish I had the answer, but honestly, I'm trying to fatten him up!

I have a brother that is even skinner than James is. Years ago, my brother and I made a bet. I win the bet when my brother is 70 and he has a gut. I lose if he is still as skinny as ever. There is money on the line, so every time I see him, I offer him as much junk food as I can. It still hasn't made a dent in that belly of his. Oh well.

Happy Halloween!

Service

I wish I could share my story in it's entirity, but that would be totoally innapropriate. I just want to say that service is more important than any of us have any grasp of.

I was feeling down on myself yesterday, for what I knew to be very selfish reasons. At one point during the day I did something that needed to be done. What I didn't realize is that my actions were an act of service for more than one person. The thanks and gratitude I received lifted my spirits more than anything else in the world could have. Moral of the story? Serving others makes you happy.

Christ's life was one of service. I hope that I can make my life more like his.

BOO!

Did he scare you?

I love this season for so many reasons! One of them is the infinite amount of fun, festive treats I could bake! Unfortunately, my sugar supply is feeling low, so I haven't made as many fun treats as I would have liked to this October. I do have one more up my sleeve, so stay tuned.

If you're curious about my little ghosts, they are cooked meringue. (It took 2 1/2 hours to slow cook these babies!) After their stint in the sauna, I dipped them in chocolate and toasted coconut. Despite the long time to cook, they were super easy. Fool proof. And, my kids love them! Too bad I didn't make them for the kids. :) Oh well.

Making an Effort

It always makes me sad when I don't have somebodies blog to read. It seems to me that all of my friends are on similar blogging schedules, so I have 5 new updates to read one day, and then nothing for a week. Maybe I'm just too nosey, but I really do love reading people's blogs. So, I can't very well be sad when I haven't blogged lately, can I? I have no new funny stories to share, but I do have cute pictures of my kids!

We spend a lot of Saturdays at my mom's house, and all of these were taken there, two weeks ago.
Lizzy and Logan always get ice cream at Grandma's house. And apparently spaghetti sauce stains too.

Logan took this picture of me. I guess that's what I look like from his perspective.

I took this while balancing precariously on the swing and Lizzy on my lap. I've been looking at baby pictures of myself lately, and shockingly enough, my nose used to look like Lizzy's! I guess I've turned into more of a witch since then.

Always a must activity at Grandma's house: reading books. This particular book is of the prophets. Logan likes naming all the different prophets. James wants Logan to memorize the presidents of the United States next.

My cute angel!

Just kickin' it on the swings.

To my knowledge, this is the first time Logan has ever climbed a tree, so I had to document it!

Grandma is giving Logan a ride on the swings. I'm quite certain this wasn't comfortable for her. She just loves Logan that much.

Hopefully I'll have better anecdotes for you in the near future. In the mean time, settle with this. :)

p.s These picture are really making me miss the warm weather.

End in Sight

Our prophets have been counseling for a long time to get our food storage in order. We'll be the first to admit that we've been slow to get started. But, this year is different for us. We had already decided that we wanted to spend our Christmas money (we have generous parents) on food storage. Not even a month later, James' mom gave each of her kids their Christmas early. Money to spend ONLY on food storage. She even made little notebooks for each of our families that says how much we need to buy of everything. Very nice. We've taken inventory on everything we have, and we're proud to have a whole year on some things, 6 months on many things, and only 3 months on just a few things.
Logan is showing off all the food we bought with our Christmas money.

All of this food storage talk got me thinking one night. I told James that while the thought of Christs' return to the earth is very exciting, quite frankly, I'm scared to have to live through all of the turmoil that has been prophesied. Through the course of our discussion, we decided that, while James would rather be here for the second coming, he'll be in heaven with me when the time comes if that's what I would prefer. But, we still don't want to miss the big event! So, I'll be either one of the trumpet playing angels, or one of the singing ones. (I still can't decide.) And James will be charging forward, valiantly (and oh so handsomely) with sword in one hand, and the title of liberty in the other hand.

Tell me, do all married couples have discussions like this?