happenings...

The snow is here...

at least the kids like it.


Keslie hit her 6 month mark.




Is she not the cutest, happiest, baldest girl you have ever seen?

Brooklyn loves being twins with Keslie...

...and Tallan is still a monkey!

Brooklyn's Observation

"Mom, every time I see you come down the stairs you are throwing away a diaper"

Is it over yet?

Okay, I know you are all probably shocked that this is my 2nd post in a week, but I'm really trying to spend less time baking and a few more minutes with the blogging thing.

What a crazy week this has been though! I'm so ready for Halloween to be over and we haven't even gone Trick or Treating yet! It's been one party after another and the good news is that we got more than our moneys worth in costume usage this year.

Brooklyn's friends and neighbors, Chayce and CharlySyd, Brooklyn, and Kate at the Primary Halloween party

Here's what Tallan thought about his chicken costume...




...he's a much happier monkey!


One of the best things about not working is that I get to do things with my kids that I missed out on before like helping at Brooklyn's preschool Halloween party.
decorating sugar cookies
Dry Ice Root Beer




Let's not forget about little Keslie! She is almost 6 months old already and I really can't believe it! She is a little lazy, if you ask my opinion. She is perfectly content for now just laying around watching her big sister and brother play as long as they don't get to close to her. Kind of like how most kids are with dogs. It's all fun and games until they start running right towards you! She is just adorable though and such a good natured and happy baby.
Happy Halloween!

Hello Friends, are you still there?

Does anyone even come by my blog anymore to see if we are still alive and kickin'? I bet everyone has given up on my completely! No time for family blogging at all anymore around here. My food blog is off and running and I have a hard enough time keeping up with it, but it's been so much fun! My neighbors have all really appreciated the treats they keep getting everytime I show up on their porches. So, real quick in hopes that someday I will be able to look back and laugh at my crazy life, here is what we have been up to...

A trip to Cornbelly's with the Youngers. The cornmaze this year was shaped like David Archuletta and while I think he's great and all, it took us FOREVER to get out of the dumb maze and they played only his songs the whole time! I was never happier to get out. The kids were hungry and tired and we lost all daylight so the last picture was just a guess as I really couldn't see anything!

It's a really good thing they had this speed limit sign in the parking lot. I'm sure it was easy for cars to keep to it!
Trying to keep the kids busy with Oobleck while I made a really good dinner one night. (Check out the Lemon Chicken on my food blog) I know, I totally encouraged this mess, but it still didn't prepare me for what was to come next. Let me just say that Tallan took things to the extreme.

Tallan has been giving me a run for my money lately and instead of having it stress me out every day, I've decided to try and laugh at all the trouble he has been getting into and focus on the positive instead. Here are a few pictures of some of the small events in the past month.

pink fingernail polish on the back of my bathroom door and all over the floor. could have been worse...at least it wasn't on our cabinets!

popcorn all over the floor and couch. could have been worse...at least it wasn't red punch!

this is my really cute Halloween bowl that I have had ever since Tim and I got married. tallan and brooklyn have broken it open twice already with 3 pounds of candy all over the place. it was a good project for them to sort it all for me to put back in though. could have been worse...at least they didn't eat all of the candy after it spilled out because it's a few years old!

the mojawk wasn't actually tallan's doing. tim shaved his head like that. tallan has tim's hair in that no matter how much product i use, I can't get it to follow commands so it just does it's own thing, but on this day, while Tallan was supposed to be asleep in his room, he put desitin all over his hair for the 2nd time that day. that stuff just doesn't wash out very easily. could have been worse...since his hair is already white, people couldn't really tell it was a greasy mess until he went outside and had bugs stuck in it. that's a true story and at least now we found something that will hold his hair in place!


this is the view from the loft upstairs looking down at the front door. tallan thinks it's absolutely hilarious to drop toys down. i don't think it's too funny when i have to carry them all back up to the playroom. could have been worse... no one was actually standing there this time when he was dropping toys down and at least he hasn't tried to jump down yet either!this is just a small taste of my daily fun with Tallan. I don't even want to get in to some of the other activities he has been doing lately!
now before you all go and judge me for neglecting Tallan, wondering where the heck I was all these times he was getting into trouble, let me just say that he is one quick kid, and I have 2 others that I have to take care of too. Those of you with little boys will know that it's not my fault!


We had some fun visitors this month and took a trip to Gardner Village to see the witches with my mom and sister and her kids, my grandma, a couple of aunts and some cousins too.

Other than that, you'll have to read on my food blog to see how busy it's been in our house. I will post about our fun week of non stop Halloween fun soon too! I hope you all get more treats than tricks like I do!

Brownie Week and a Giveaway

It's an exciting week on my food blog, Satisfying My Sweet Tooth! It's brownie week where I'll be featuring a new brownie every day and believe me, they are amazing! I'll also be doing my first ever giveaway. Leave a comment on Monday's brownie post by Friday, October 10 at 11:59pm and I'll announce the winner Monday, the 13th on my blog. Your comment must include what your dream brownie would be and the winner gets this awesome cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. Don't forget to come back everyday and see the brownie of the day and again the following Monday to see if you have won! (Anonymous comments will not be included in the drawing)

I LOVE this cookbook. It has SO many good recipes!
Good luck!

All in a Week's Work

September is always a busy month for us, and this one was no exception. Among all of the craziness at our house, we have almost missed the leaves changing colors around here. One thing I do love about living in Utah is that we do get to experience every season. The mountains look like they are on fire right now with the red and orange trees. So beautiful! But, where did summer go? It seems like it just got here and now it's fall already! Why is winter the loooongest season ever??? Okay, before I start complaining too much since winter isn't even here yet...back to our week!

Fancy was full force at our house when Brooklyn had a Fancy Nancy birthday party to celebrate turning 5 last Saturday! We had 8 other little girls from church, preschool, and the neighborhood over to make wands and crowns, hit at a Fancy Nancy pinata, and blow out candles on Brooklyn's crown cake! Wow! Everyone had a great time and Brooklyn said it was the best party ever, which made me smile, but that was a lot of girls though! Tim left towards the end to go to the BYU game but luckily Steph was there to help me out or I don't know what I would have done! Tim felt bad later and took me to Spoon Me! He can leave anytime he wants as long as that is how he makes up for it!









Monday, Tim and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! I'm getting old! I have a 5 year old (plus two more) and have been married now for 7 years! Don't be jealous girls, but Tim planned the ultimate romantic getaway. He actually won a party at Noah's, which is a way cool reception hall type of place, for us and 5 other couples to watch Monday Night Football. I know, what better way to celebrate our anniversary than with football and Tim's closest guy friends. I can't even tell you who played because the boys sat on the sofa and watched the game while the girls sat around the bar area and did some girl talk. But hey, the kids were with Grandma and Grandpa, and The Pie donated pizza and drinks for the event. We even got free t-shirts! Tim always has been good with gifts! Happy anniversary, babe! You are the greatest and I love you!

Tuesday was Brooklyn's actual birthday so we went with The Haws Family to the new Frozen Yogurt Junction. It's a little place with do it yourself frozen yogurt and toppings and then you pay by the ounce. Genius idea, if you ask me! I can load up with whatever I want and give the kids just a little bit without paying for a whole size. I'm pretty sure the owner wanted to kick us out though. Wouldn't you if some irresponsible parents chit chatted the night away while their 7 kids destroyed the place??? Happy Birthday my little princess! I can't believe you are 5 already! What a sweet and beautiful little girl you are growing up to be. I love you!

This is one of the many reasons why I love Brooklyn: here are some pictures of the treasure hunt she sent me on a few weeks ago. Just imagine her little mind going as she put this together. It took her forever to do, and even longer to clean up! She was so excited about it though. She is this creative little girl who is a little OCD when it comes to coloring in the lines. She literally spends hours every day coloring and is a really good artist for her age. She is a brilliant little girl who loves life. She is such a good big sister and loves her grandmas like crazy.

The treasure hunt started in the loft...

...it went all the way down the stairs...

...and all the way to the front door...

...and this is the treasure box at the end of the trail...yes, she did paint and decorate this herself!

And look at my treasure! The letter "I" and some little hair clips!

Wednesday was bitter-sweet. The Halls came down, which was SO exciting for us, but they just came to clean out the rest of their stuff from their house, which was SO sad for us. All the more official that they really aren't coming back like we had been hoping. It was great to spend the day with them while we helped them get everything loaded into their trailer to take back to Idaho and we were greatly rewarded with a trip up to Spoon Me later that night. Can't get enough of that stuff!

Oh yeah, here are some pictures of my cute Keslie-Boo and her war wounds. Brooklyn accidently dropped her this week. I was unloading the dishwasher and she was holding her on the couch when I heard a BIG thud. I still don't know exactly what happened, but Brooklyn said her hands slipped and she felt awful. Poor girls!

They still love each other though!

Thanks for sticking around through that never-ending post!

And don't forget to check out my first Daring Bakers Challenge on my food blog:

Satisfying My Sweet Tooth