"Son Donates Kidney to Dad"

Doesn't that just give you chills to even read?  

So many of you have wondered how my dad and brother are doing that I thought I would post a little blurb on the latest...

Yesterday Dec. 30 was the day of the surgery. It really happened this time!

It was a long day for everyone.  My brother and my dad had to be at the hospital at 9:00 a.m. They took Matt back at 11:00 and got him started.  Me, my sister Sonnet, and my brother Ryan headed over to the hospital around 11:30 and were able to see my dad right before they took him back.  He really was in good spirits and didn't seem nervous at all! All he could talk about was how cute his doctor was! (That's just my dad!) So, we all spent the day in the waiting room with my mom and Matt's wife Angie.  There were lots of laughs, and tears while we were waiting.  I'm just glad we could be there with them to pass the time.  My brother Rhett joined us later, and my brother Mike couldn't come until the next day because of work.  The doctors were great about keeping us updated on their conditions.  As soon as we heard that Matt's kidney was out and they were putting it in my dad... we were all just like "WOW this is really happening!  The surgery for Matt took a little bit longer than expected.  He had 2 arteries connected on each end of the kidney (most people only have 1) that made it harder to remove.  We were all anxious during this time to hear how he was doing. Matt's doctor came out and told us he was done and was doing fine, and that he would be in the recovery room for a couple of hours before we could see him.  By 5:30 my dad's doctor came out and said they were DONE and that my dad was doing great, and that we would be able to see him in about an hour.  We decided to leave the hospital for a change of scenery and went to Mimi's Cafe for dinner.  We went back to the hospital and were able to see Matt, but were still waiting on my dad.  We went in his room and visited for a bit, but he was still really sleepy from the anesthesia.  He was able to talk but couldn't keep his eyes open.  It wasn't until this time that I realized what a sacrifice this was for my brother to give his kidney to my dad.  I didn't realize how hard it was going to be on him.  The recovery time for the donor is a lot longer than for the recipient. Once my brother decided to donate his kidney, he never looked back.  Not even after all the tests they had to run on him to make sure he was a match.  I respect him for this decision he made to help prolong my dads life.  

My dad didn't get out of recovery until about 9:30.  He was having a hard time breathing and his blood pressure and oxygen levels were low.  They had to get him to where he was stable before they would let him come up to his room.  The nurse had called and talked to my mom, so we were all anxiously waiting for him to arrive.  They both just kept wanting ice chips, and you couldn't give them fast enough! We were relieved that they were both in their rooms and were through the initial part.  We left the hospital about 11 and called it a night, hoping they could both get some rest!

What a miracle! They are both doing really well today. I just got back from the hospital tonight from seeing them and they are both up and WALKING already! The new kidney in my dad is working wonderful, it is just amazing!  I don't have any pictures, because my brother requested that no pictures would be taken of him!  Oh well, it is the memories that we will have to remember right! 

 This is truly a Christmas we will never forget! It has been so great having the family all together, and spending time together.  That is what it is all about!  We have truly seen the greatest "gift" ever!

Thank you for showing your concern, and pray for a quick recovery for both of them! :o)

I Love You All!!!

Yesterday when I went to the mailbox, I didn't have ONE christmas card! It was the first day in a couple of weeks, that I hadn't gotten at least one!  I was a little sad, but today made up for it!  We were leaving to run some errands today, and I realized I hadn't gotten the mail yet, so as I was pulling out of the driveway I decided to "drive" by my mailbox.  Hence the big snowstorm we had yesterday I wasn't thinking about the big snowbanks on the sides of the roads... we got 12 in. in one day! My kids were in heaven, they were outside playing in it all morning, until I made them come in and get ready for our family party we had that night.  So, I drove up to the mailbox, just like I always do, but didn't even make it that far! I totally got stuck right in front of our house! I felt like an idiot!  After spinning my tires for 15 min. and flipping snow everywhere and getting NOWHERE, my neighbor had to come and TOW me out with his truck!  Yes, I said TOW! He and Zach tried pushing a few times, and he could see I wasn't going anywhere, so he said he would go get his tow rope and be right over! I felt so stupid, but I was so glad he was there to help us!  Would've been a funny picture but...

So, when I finally got my mail (which Zach had to climb through the snowbank to get) and brought it to me, I got 15 Christmas cards today! I was so happy, it was so fun to hear from you all! Me and the kids had so much fun looking at all the pictures, and reading about your lives! So, I had to take a picture of all the envelopes cuz I am a dork!  Thank you for making my day!

Merry Christmas!

7 things I love about my 7 year old!

Today my little girl turned 7! Zach and I went into her room to wake her up and sang Happy Birthday to her! I had blown up balloons last night and put them all over her floor, but after she woke up and saw them Zach decided it would be fun to cover her with them in her bed!
We had church at 9:00 so there was no time for Brinley's favorite birthday breakfast before, so we had it when we got home! They sang to her in Primary and she loved that it was her birthday today! She had waited to open her presents until after church so she would have more time.  Zach could have never done this, you would think it is Christmas morning the day of his birthday, and he is up at 6 ready to open his presents! He has been this way since he was little!

Brinley even let me take pictures of her in her new dress that my mom gave her for her birthday before we opened presents!  She was so cute and thankful after every present she opened she would come over and give Morgan or I a hug and say "thank you".

My kids favorite thing for breakfast is Puff pancakes, and they always choose this, whenever I give them a choice... especially for birthdays!  

Brinley also decided it would be fun to make homemade pizzas for dinner, so at her request I got out my BOSCH and made some pizza dough! I have decided that this is alot of work, and that's why I don't do it very often! But it is so yummy, and if I would do it more, then it wouldn't be such a chore! I felt like I spent all afternoon in the kitchen! So, while the  dough was rising I read Brinley her new books she got for her birthday.  I got her the American Girl Kit series of books, and I loved them just as much as she did! We snuggled on the couch for a good hour and read, it was so fun! 

I talked her into letting me make her a cake this year! She wanted a Littlest Pet Shop cake, so I told her I would buy her the little figurines to put on top, and she was happy! She is my chocolate girl, so we did a chocolate cake with the yummy chocolate frosting recipe that is on the Hershey's cocoa box.  It turned out cute, and was way easy!

My sister came over this afternoon and brought Brinley a scrapbook kit for her birthday, Needless to say she had never done it before because I haven't scrap booked for so long! She loved it! I got out some pictures I had developed and she used some of them, and did about 3 pages by herself! No one even showed her what to do! It was so cute, she was so into it!

After cake and ice cream, and singing Happy Birthday for the 10th time today ( I think we sang to her all day long) we watched Home Alone with the kids! They were laughing their heads off! They had never seen it before, and it had been awhile since I had seen it, it was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid!  

It was a fun day! Thanks for letting us spend the day with you sissy we love you! 

Here are a few more pictures from the day..
I loved this picture of Zach and Brinley!
My sister with the kiddos! And Boston picking his nose! ha ha!
Brinley with her cake!
Zach, Brinley, and Boston

Brinley in her new birthday dress! Thanks Grandma Udy!

7 things I love about my 7 year old!

1. She is beautiful!

2. She is a friend to everybody!

3. She is a good sister to her two brothers!

4. She is goofy (especially when it is time for bed!)

5. She loves school!

6. She likes to clean!

7. She is my princess, and she makes me smile!

I love you Brin! Happy Birthday sis!

Let the Celebration begin!!!

So, Brinley decided last night that we were going to start celebrating her birthday this morning instead of on her real birthday because it is on a Sunday! Pretty smart girl, she knows that she can get 2 days of fun and celebrate all weekend long! :o)

We started by waking up this morning (bright and early) I swear my kids can never wake up for school, but for some reason on the weekend they wake up at 7:30 just fine!  Morgan had to work this morning, so my sister and I took the kids to McDonalds for breakfast and took them to go see BOLT! We had already seen it, but my sister hadn't, so we willingly went and saw it again! SUPER cute movie!  When we came out of the movie at noon there was a blizzard outside! It had been snowing the whole time we were inside the nice warm theatre (yeah right, when is the last time you sat in a WARM theatre?) And it was dang cold outside, the wind was blowing like crazy!  My sister needed to finish her Christmas shopping, so we went our seperate ways.  My friend Jessica and her family were supposed to be moving into their new house this weekend, and since it was snowing, we thought we would stop by and see if they were still going to be able to move their stuff over.  Sure enough, they were moving! I think Jess is so ready to get in her house, she was moving, SNOW or not!  So, the kids ran around while I helped her clean for a bit until Morgan got off work.  Brinley had decided she wanted to go to Jump on It! So, we took the kids this afternoon, and had a blast! I jumped with them the whole time, and man did I get my workout in! I don't think it even phases the kids, but after an hour I was ready to quit!  Then we went to Brinley's favorite place to eat... Tepanaki.  So, yummy! I don't know what she likes better, the food or the entertainment! She has been counting down the days to her birthday just for her special yummy dinner here! They sang Happy Birthday to her, and brought her out some ice cream with chocolate and whip cream, her favorite! She was grinning from ear to ear the whole time! Of course I didn't have my camera with me, so I don't have any pictures from today, but I have the memories, and that's all that matters right?

She wasn't very excited that her birthday was on a Sunday, I think just knowing that we couldn't go out and do anything on that day.  But I think she will enjoy getting to be home, and hey they will get to sing to her in Primary!

I just got done blowing up balloons to put in her room, and wrapping presents, and I am very tired... so I will post some pictures from tomorrow for sure!  I can't believe my little girl is turning 7!

Getting the mail has never been so fun!

K, I feel like a slacker, I haven't even taken the time to blog since Thanksgiving! And here we are almost 2 weeks from Christmas!  I LOVE this time of year! Every day this week I have literally ran to my mailbox to see who is going to send us a Christmas card next! I have gotten at least 2 or 3 every day, so please don't let me down! Keep 'em comin! :o)  It is so much fun to hear from everyone! I didn't get our Christmas stuff out before we left for Arizona for Thanksgiving, so the day after we got home, I made many trips up and down the stairs bringing all my Christmas stuff up! I've decided it is alot of work!  The kids and I put the tree together, well it was mostly Zach! I think he could have put the whole thing together himself!  I will have to add some pictures from Thanksgiving later.  We had a great time!  I was so set on getting my cards out that I opted not to do a letter this year! I have done one ever since I can remember, but I had to let it slide this time! And anyway, with my blog I feel like I have been catching you all up on what has been happening in our lives!

Brinley's birthday is on Sunday, I can't believe my little girl is going to be 7!  I will for sure do a post for that!  Happy hustle and bustle to ya'll!

SuNdAy!

I love the weekends, but I mostly love Sunday because we get to sit around all day just being together doing whatever we want, which means we usually don't have to go anywhere! The only thing I really have to worry about is what to make for dinner, and I usually worry about that on Sat. So I would have to say that on Sundays I don't have to worry about much! I also have a Sunday free calling right now, being in scouts, so that is extra nice too! I just love my kiddos! They do the cutest things! Oh, and my other favorite thing about Sunday is that we are always guaranteed to eat dinner together, which during the week doesn't always happen.  Today at dinner the kids were being so silly! Brinley started by laughing at something and couldn't stop! She had tears running down her face she was laughing so hard! Well this resulted in all of us laughing, we just couldn't help it! It is always good to laugh for no reason at all! Needless to say I didn't get any pictures!

After we got home from church Brinley went upstairs to change, and I couldn't figure out what was taking her so long.  She came down and was so excited for me to come up to her room.  To my surprise, this is what I saw! She had made her bed (without me even asking her to) and put all of her favorite animals on it! What a cutie!

Last week I rearranged the couches in the living room and Boston has been loving playing behind them.  Zach taught him that it's a good hiding spot.  So, after lunch today he ASKED me if he could take a nap back there! I said "Sure you can!" so we got him a blanket and pillow from my bed and within 5 minutes he was asleep! It is unusual for my kids to just fall asleep by themselves, I always have to lay by them... so this was a rarity at our house!

BYU v.s. UTAH

Saturday we went to Morgan's boss's house in Kaysville  for the "BIG" game.  That there is no need to talk about!!! Morgans other friend who is a manager also, lives close by and was there with his family too.  We don't get up there very much, but when we do we always have a great time!  These guys are so good to Morgan, he is lucky to be able to work with such great guys! There were a total of 13 kids, now that's pure entertainment right there! Thanks Skip and Tracy for all the yummy food and for hosting the get together, we had a great time! They really didn't watch the game cuddling on the couch like this! I made them sit together for their picture which they were real happy about!

Cameron, Boston, and Easton

The girls were busy all night writing up their cheers! They were so cute! They would take forever writing them, and then come perform them when they were done! They didn't know which team they were cheering for!

The boys being crazy cheering for BYU!

Brinley eating!

Peace dude!

All the kids...minus the 2 oldest ones! Aren't they so cute?

The 3 princess's! They all are the only girls in their families, with a bunch of boys!

Morgan's surgery...

Friday morning Morgan had surgery on his ankle.  He has had a cyst on it that has been bothering him for quite awhile, and after seeing his foot doctor and trying different things, they both decided that to cut it out would be the best thing to do.  It wasn't until during the surgery that he realized that underneath the cyst he had a bone spur, which he also removed! Morgan has been feeling great, you wouldn't even know that he had anything done... but I'm sure that's just the tough guy in him! He is supposed to keep it elevated and goes back to the doctor on Monday for his follow up appt.  He thought this would be a good time to have it done where he had time off for Thanksgiving.  We are heading to Arizona on Tuesday to go to his parents house.Me and Boston went up to the hospital after I got the kids off to school.  He was so happy to see his daddy! Morgan woke up even before the surgery was over, and was asking if he was done yet. He was ready to go home.  I expected him to still be asleep laying on the bed when I got there, but no he was up sitting in the chair and was ready to walk out the door!  I really think that he was just afraid I was going to take pictures of him sleeping!  He wasn't real excited that I had the camera there!
This is the lovely boot that he gets to wear until the doc says he can take it off!

Family Pics!

Here is a sneak peak of a few of our pictures we had taken last weekend! I still haven't decided which one I'm going to use for Christmas cards... so you may be seeing these again! These were taken up at the amphitheater by the Mt. Timpinogas temple in A.F. The kids were so good, I thought they turned out so cute! Family Pics are a lot of work, but WORTH it!

Poinsettias and Jazz!

Monday afternoon Morgan had to run up to Layton to pick up 40 Poinsettia plants for work! There was a nursery up there that gave them a good deal, and you know Morgan, he would drive clear across the state for a good deal! When he got home the kids were so excited to help him carry them all in the house. Brinley and Boston surrounded themselves in the plants, it was so cute! My sister was over giving the kids piano lessons and was going on a date to the Jazz game afterwards. We thought that sounded like fun too, so at 6:00 decided to go! Morgan got on KSL and found tickets, so we decided to take the kids. They had so much fun, and of course always love getting treats while we are there! I think we spent more on treats than we did the tickets! Ha ha! After the game was over (the Jazz won! Way to go Jazz!) Zach wanted to walk down close to the court, he thought it would be awesome to sit down there that close for the game. Well, Jeff Hornacek was there and there were about 20 people waiting in line to get their picture with him. So, of course the kids wanted to get their picture with him! Of course he was before their time... he was one of their best players when Morgan and I were dating! But it was still fun to see him!

MiLeY cYrUs!!!

My brother and his family moved to Nashville Tennessee this last July. Their little joke has been that they were going to run into Miley Cyrus sometime! Well, tonight they were at Wal-Mart and they saw her just as she was checking out! She was with her mom. People left her alone for the most part, but as she was leaving there were a few people that were asking to get their pictures with her. So, my niece Laney was dying! She is 8 and she was so excited that she was shaking! Her little brother Tyson has been infatuated with her since he was 3! Too funny! So, they got to get their picture with her! How fun! That is better than front row seats at her concert if you ask me!!! This picture was taken with my sis n law's phone! Way to go Steph!
(Notice her mom in the background... and the Wal-Mart sign) :o)

ThE WeEkEnD!!!

We were so ready for the weekend! I had told the kids they could have some friends over Friday night to have a late night since we didn't have to be anywhere the next morning. They had alot of fun. Morgan brought home pizza and we just hung out, the kids played and later we watched the new Indiana Jones movie! It is so good!
Saturday was our first Saturday in a long time that we haven't attended some kind of a sporting event! Can I just tell you how nice it was! We actually got to lay in bed after we woke up cuz we didn't have anywhere to be! And then I made homemade pancakes for my family! They are so yummy! I felt like it was Christmas morning or something! Oh, wait we don't get to lay in bed on Christmas morning! It was actually a really nice day, and after we got done eating Morgan told me that it would probably be one of our last Sat. with good weather... so without me even asking or begging or pleading, what does my husband decide to do? He went downstairs and got the box of Christmas lights and put them up on the house for me!!! Whoa! He must be wanting something, is all I can say! :o) Because that is the first time in our whole marriage that I haven't had to beg for a month for him to put them up! So, thanks honey! They look great!
I have been debating whether or not to perm Brinley's hair...well, I decided to do it! She was so excited to have "CURLS"! And she looks so stinkin cute with them! It only took me like an hour to roll it, she did so good! We just used my kitchen sink, which I'm sure wasn't any fun for her, but she didn't complain! My house still has the beautiful aroma of "perm". Which I think Scentsy is coming out with their new fragrance this month! The boys loved it when they walked in the house! :o) Needless to say her hair still smells like it, and probably will for a couple of weeks! Anyone who hasn't had the chance to have a perm is missin out! When I was little and hair clear down to my waist, my mom would take me and my sister to the beauty college to get our hair permed at the beginning of the school year! They would even use BLUE rods, yeah, the tiny ones that you perm little old grandma's hair with! I swear those are going to come back into style someday!!! You just wait!
Later that afternoon Zach had his end of the season football party at Boondocks. I just had Morgan take him, and they had alot of fun! Of course I don't have any pictures, because I wasn't there! I took the kids to Toys R Us and we got to go window shopping for Christmas! Wow, I can't believe it is that time already! My kids haven't even asked for anything, that's why I had to take them, so I could get an idea of what they wanted!
Yesterday we were watching Kung Fu Panda with the kids and we were laughing our butts off! It is so funny! I had never seen it before, Morgan had taken the kids when I was at Girls Camp in June, so I missed out.
But, I loved the old Turtle Master Dragon Warrior! He was great, he said something in the movie that I seriously had to stop and write down! He was talking to Po and said "Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, But today is a gift, that is why it is called present". I had heard something like that before, so there you go, there is your quote for the day! I love good quotes! Hence "My favorite quotes" on the side! :o)
Here are a few pics of Brinley's new do!


Rollers in the front...

and back!

Getting rinsed out in the sink!

Got Curls?

The final product!

WeDnEsDaY!

So, it has been a long day!!! It all started this morning when my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m to go workout! I know, it sounds insane... I haven't said much about this Fitness Boot Camp that I have been doing for the last 6 weeks, but I'm almost done with it, so I won't go into any details. Well, this morning I decided to take Zach with me! (Yes, at 5 a.m.) He has been so interested in what I have been doing every morning since the day I started! He has been so excited and always asks me how my workout was! He has told me he wanted to come with me before, so I thought I would let him come once just for him to see what I really go through every day! :o) A couple of my other friends that go, decided to bring their boys too. They all loved it, and they did SO awesome!!! Zach wants to keep coming with me, but I don't think I am going to pay for him to. He doesn't have all the fat rolls that I do to work off! We had to partner off for a few things, and let's just say that these boys kicked our butts! (I didn't bring my 10 yr. old boy to show me up, that's for sure!) I was amazed at how tough these boys were! Afterwards we went and did some cardio on the treadmills and they got to shoot some hoops! So, they were happy about that! It was so much fun to have Zach there with me, I loved that he wanted to come! When we left the house this morning and we were driving up Main Street (that is usually packed with cars) Zach said to me, "Wow there aren't a whole lot of people up this early are there?" "I think it's because there aren't any stores open this early!"
As we started driving on the freeway it started hailing and the wind was blowing really hard. It would stop for a minute and then start up again. Well, when we came out of the building an hour and a half later there was a good 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was coming down like crazy! We all ran out to our cars as fast as we could to get out of the snow. It took us forever to get home like 25 mins. just from Thanksgiving Point! I was driving like 10 mph cuz the roads were so bad! I will never forget this particular morning driving home with my son in the early morning during this terrible storm and just chatting about life! He has been learning about weather in school, and he was perplexed about why the hail was coming and going like it was... He said to me "Mom, I haven't got that far yet". I had to think about it for a minute, and then I realized that he meant he hadn't learned about that yet! I started laughing, and told him "Well, it sounds like a good thing to ask your teacher about, cuz you know your mom doesn't know that answer!" He just laughed and said "Yeah"!
So, when we got home it was time for him to get ready for school. Morgan came out and we were just talking in the living room, and then Brinley and Boston woke up, they were so excited to see the snow outside! I opened up the door (so they could get the whole effect) and Boston just yelled "Holy Crappers"! That's a word he made up by himself! I think this was the first morning that we all actually ate breakfast together before everyone headed off to school and work!  
So, my life/habits have changed a little since getting up early every morning... as most of you know I am a total NIGHT person!!! That is MY time to unwind after my kids go to bed, and usually would end up way into the night. Well, that would result in not wanting to get out of bed in the morning, and I had gotten into a bad habit of this. Getting up early has gotten me to go to bed early and thus makes us a little happy family in the morning before everyone heads their different directions... which my husband absolutely LOVES! If anything good has come out of this Boot Camp, this would be it! Not that I have lost a whopping 3 pds. in the last 6 weeks! Go figure!
So, this morning I was really feeling on top of things! I had cleaned the kitchen (unloaded and loaded the dishwasher) which I despise, done 2 loads of laundry (washed and folded) showered and got ready all by 9:30 a.m.! Wow, we had time to kill until Boston went to Gymnastics at 11! I had the T.V. on listening to all the "news" about our new President this morning and I was trying to explain to Boston that we had a new President and was trying to teach him his name (Yeah, I know you would have liked to be a part of that conversation) but he just giggled every time I said it! My sister called and he answered the phone and the first thing he said to her was "What do you think about Obama?" She was just laughing, and I told her that I had been teaching him his name all morning! Too funny!
Well, after Gymnastics me and my friend Jess took the kids and went to lunch at Paradise Cafe! I told her I had never eaten there before, and I think she felt bad for me! :o) Chloe and Boston are so cute together, and were so excited to eat lunch together! Boston calls her his girlfriend! So, that was fun, but I am still full! The food is so yummy there!
Then it was time to go get the kids from school... and after that I always feel like things are so hectic with homework and everything! This has been the first week that Zach hasn't had practice for anything, and it has felt kinda like we are on vacation or something! It has been so nice! We will have about a month off until basketball starts! What a nice little needed break!
So, after dinner, baths, and bedtime I am ready to hit the sack! And do it all again tomorrow! :o)

HaLlOwEeN '08

This is "Grandma Z"... on Monday Zach told me that he wanted to dress up as a Grandma, he had said all along that he didn't want to dress up and was just going to be a football player. So all week long I went scrounging around for parts of his costume...and this was the result! I thought he made a pretty cute grandma! :o)


This was Boston by the end of the night... we had a LONG day and he ended up falling asleep in his costume. He got to come to the school with me to help with the kids Halloween parties, and had lots of fun! He loved being in his costume ALL day! He had been wearing it around all week long, but whenever it was time to go somewhere I would make him take it off. So, on this day when he got to wear it, everywhere we would go he would say "I get to go in my costume?" He was so excited! I took him to lunch after we were done at the school, and he thought it was pretty cool that all the other kids were in there costumes too! We walked around to every house in our ward for trick or treating... we had never done that before. Our ward didn't do a trunk-or-treat this year. We were all tired by the end of the night and I actually ended up carrying Boston. That was fun, I'd already had my workout for the day.


Here are the kids in their costumes.


My sister Sonnet dressed up as Batgirl with Brinley, she thought it was so fun! Sonnet is definitely the "fun" one when it comes to stuff like this!


Sonnet always comes trick or treating with my kids on Halloween, just on our street, this is them before they went out. We didn't even end up doing our whole street (we left that for last) the kids decided they had enough candy, so my sister took us to this way cool house in American Fork. They had a Haunted House set up in their yard, and many, many, other things! The kids thought it was way cool! This is when Boston fell asleep, when we were on our way home.
It was a fun day, but I'm always glad when it's over!!!

DiNnEr In A PuMpKiN!

I got this recipe and idea from my friend Jill in St. George! She is the cutest thing ever and so on top of things! She is one of those who decorates and celebrates EVERY holiday! One year they had us over for dinner on Halloween and this is what they had! It is so fun and the kids LOVE dishing their food out of a pumpkin! So, for those of you who are interested...

Dinner In A Pumpkin-

1 Tbsp. butter
1 pd. ground beef (I use chicken) COOKED
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup chopped celery
1 can mushrooms (I leave these out because my kids or husband don't like them!)
1 can cream of chicken
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
3 cups of uncooked rice

Combine all ingredients and put inside a cleaned out, (really good, this is what your food is going to be in!) washed pumpkin!!! Put the pumpkin in your oven to bake at 350 for 1 hour!
ENJOY!

Thanks Jill, for sharing this recipe! We love it!

PuMpKiN CaRvInG!

Last night we carved our pumpkins! I don't know why as parents (well, at least I do) put this off for as long as we can... Oh, I know, because it is the messiest thing ever! The kids love it though, so that's why we do it! The kids did really good this year! We usually print off patterns from the computer, but Zach always likes to make his own, and he does a dang good job! Brinley did a little more independent carving this year, so that was nice, and Boston won't even touch the inside because he can't stand to have his hands dirty! Funny little guy! We made him put his hand inside one of the pumpkins so he could "feel" it, and he started crying... so mom has to help him with that part! He was so excited all day long and couldn't wait to carve pumpkins! I even got him to eat all of his dinner! The kids love to roast the pumpkin seeds and eat them, so I spent forever rinsing all the gunk off of them so we can eat them! Sounds like a good after school snack to me! We had to save a pumpkin so we can do our "dinner in a pumpkin" on Halloween day! My kids love this, and it is a lot of fun! I will post the recipe later...


Brinley and her pumpkin!


Boston and his "BOO" pumpkin!


Zach and his masterpiece!


This was Bostons face if he even got the slightest bit of pumpkin guts on his hand!


The kids with their carving creations! :o)

I got this book at Costco a couple of weeks ago... it is SO cute, and my kids loved it! At the end of each story it talks about each habit and what you can do to help your kids. I don't know if they have it there anymore, but just thought I would share, since it was so good!


Brinley and Boston fell asleep on the way home from the movie the other night, and when they came in they just crashed on the bean bag! They were out!


This is baby Murphy... isn't he so cute!


This is Boston doing a silly face at Zach's football game!


Me and Boston at Zach's game!

I got to watch my friends baby Murphy last Friday, and I had had him when I went to pick up the kids from school. They were so excited! We came home and the kids just played and played with him! Brinley wanted to feed him his bottle, and I just loved her face in this picture! He is such a happy baby, and was SO fun to have around! It was kinda funny though, cuz when Boston woke up from his nap and I was holding the baby, he got really jealous! Uh-oh, what would he ever do if we ever had another one? Spoiled little thing!


The first grade went on a field trip to Cornbelly's last week, and I got to go with Brinley's class! We had a lot of fun! It was a long day, and I think the kids were ready to go home by the end of it! They got to go on a hayride and pick out a pumpkin, I thought it was so cute, that Brinley picked out the smallest one they had! So, I told her she could get more than one since it was so little! We got to eat lunch there, and watch the pig races, the kids liked that alot! Thanks to my friend Jessica for watching Boston for me! He always has fun at her house with all the boys!






This is my brother Matt reading to Boston when he was here for a couple of days! He is such a goof, and was so cute with my kids, they just loved him! One night he sat there and read books to Boston over and over, Boston loved it!