I am grateful for a nothing week.  No one got sick.  No one stayed home.  No one had any doctor appointments or huge drama going on.  Kids still convinced me that the oldest ones needed to stay up to watch Studio C with their Mom on Monday nights, remembering the rule that any TV on school nights requires serious cuddling with mom.

Girls each had a birthday party to go to which they loved.  Girls had their piano recital where they both did awesome and powered through both of them having a "my finger slipped" situation. Spencer decided to cut his hair short and spike it and grew a half inch.  Allison also grew half an inch which was cause for great excitement around here.

Spencer gave a talk at church.  As I listened to him give a talk that he had written by himself without any parental help it was a good reminder to me that he has grown a lot in the last few years.  My favorite part was that he started by saying, "I was asked to talk for 5 minutes about service today.  Lets take a few moments, perhaps bow our heads and close our eyes and just think about that for a few minutes".  Long pause while he looks at the clock for awhile.  Funniest part for me though was watching him try to stay awake on the stand.  He had forgotten to take his bi-polar medication the night before (yes I did remind him but apparently TV sucked out some brain cells last night).  So he had to take them this morning.  On the stand he was trying so hard to keep his eyes open.  After sacrament he headed home and took a 4 hour nap, woke up to come lay by the fire and is out again.  Poor kid. 

Taylor has been happy all week.  He has a new favorite sound - snorting.  He has been fighting off a stuffy nose.  One night kids were getting him to laugh with snorting sounds and Taylor snorted while laughing.  That set him off big time, face turning red, unable to breathe, it was awesome.



Saturday night Jeremy and I got to do some Christmas shopping and watch Catching Fire.  We were late getting our tickets for that night because I didn't want to pay the online fees.  So my cheapness caught up with me and instead of sitting next to each other we were right behind each other.  When a monkey thing jumps out during the movie and I jump and whack the lady next to me I decided that wasn't the smartest idea.

But this week it was just wonderful to enjoy normal, everyday life and be grateful for normality.

Allison is growing up.  This week we were able to attend her Young Women in Excellence program.  It is amazing to me all that she is becoming.  Saturday morning she woke me up bright and early in the snow to drive her and a friend up to Draper as our temple was closed to do baptisms for the dead.  And then combined with that feeling of love and pride I have in her is that feeling of exasperation as she gives me grief that I made meat loaf for dinner or watching her trying to boss around Robyn.


Robyn has been the crafter this week.  She has been learning about the Civil War in school and we got to make a puppet at home together.  She wanted to make a puppet of a woman soldier and found the story of a woman who dressed up as a man so she could fight, named Frances Clayton.  She was pretty pleased with herself.  We have resorted to pushups for tattling in our house.  Robyn should have some amazing triceps in a few weeks.


Spencer found out this week what happens when you work with a partner on school project and they don't do their half of the assignment.  Not a happy experience.  So he has been working away this week at getting on top of things there.  He got to help two families move this week along with Jeremy and Allison.  I love when he can go do active service as he is happy to do it, it tires him out and he feels good about himself.  Jeremy said that watching the teachers move things though is a case of constant re-directing their attention to the job at hand.  They are willing but easily distracted.  Robyn helped me Saturday morning to clean one of the moving families' houses.  She was busy singing "A spoonful of sugar" and working away.  That lasted for 15 minutes and then she spent 45 minutes pretending to be a dog until it was time to go.  Baby steps.

Spencer had a piano recital this week.  He was feeling pretty cocky about how well he did until the boy after him played John Schmidt's Waterfall at high velocity.  Helped keep his feet on the ground.



Saturday I got to have my annual Christmas shopping day with my friends.  And once again I forgot to take pictures.  But we caught up on each others' kids and families, ate cheesecake, oohed and awed at all the fancy stores and had a great time spending time together.  I realized that we have known each other now for 15 years.  There is a bond of having little kids all together that just stays with you.  And Jeremy and kids enjoyed a day of eating leftovers, watching TV and hanging out.

I have done exhaustive testing to find my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  There are so many opinions out there as to what is the best cookie but for me this is it.  Super soft and almost cake-like with a touch of salt and keeps great in a freezer or a secretive sugar stash.  I found this recipe at: http://www.averiecooks.com.

As we just finished a meal where half of it was considered inedible by the under 13 crowd in my house, I relish those opportunities when everyone likes dinner for that evening.  This is one of those recipes.  I like to serve these baked tacos with Grill Side Garden Salad on top, which of course my daughters conveniently leave off but you could also top with just sour cream, salsa, tomatoes or anything else that sounds good.


2 lbs ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 can 15oz refried beans
1 5 ounce can tomato sauce
3 Tbsp taco seasoning
2 c shredded Cheddar/Monterrey jack cheese
20 Hard Taco Shells

1. Brown the ground beef and chopped onion, then drain.
2. Stir in the refried beans, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning.
3. Put a big spoonful of bean mixture into each shell and stand them upright in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
4. Sprinkle cheese over the bean mixture in each taco shell.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Top with Grill Side Garden Salad or other favorite taco toppings.

Yesterday I woke up with the strange realization that there was nothing I really had to do that day besides take care of our kids!  It was a beautiful fall day so I decided to play for the day.  I took Allison and Spencer up to the temple only to find that it was ward assignments right then for the baptistry.  So we regrouped and went to Kneaders for french toast, cleaned the office (seeing Spencer scrub toilets in a tie just made me smile) and then we went back to the temple.  Allison has been doing baptisms for the dead right after school once a week the last little bit when she realized that there is no one there at 2:30.  By 3:30 it can be a two hour wait.  She does not like waiting.  I am working on getting Spencer so eager to go, so I have resorted to incentives like french toast (I refuse to call it bribery).

Then after kids realized that because it was such a nice day I wouldn't allow electronics on till it got dark, they decided going for a hike was a great idea.  Now if you look at the photo of Allison and me, you would think it was all happiness and sunshine on our hike.  The hike was gorgeous.  Robyn stayed home to play with Jeremy and Taylor so it was just big kids.  However Allison decided to grump the entire way...'i don't want to be here.  I'm done, I'm not going any further, I'm only here because you made me, my ankle is twisted, I would never ever choose to hike on a Saturday"  On the other hand sometimes photos tell the truth as Spencer and his friend had a blast.  When we got almost to the 2 mile overlook of the waterfalls Allison refused to go any further.  Spencer and Brenner decided to go to the falls and be back in 5 minutes.  30 minutes later I was a little worried so I made Allison hike 5 more minutes to the overlook to find that Spencer and Brenner had gone an extra mile, literally to go touch the falls and were sitting happily on a rock over there eating a granola bar.  So Allison very unhappily sat on the overlook to await their return.  When we got home Allison finally muttered, "thanks for putting up with me today" as she got out of the car.  Spencer assured her that when he was 12 he hated hiking and was slow and grumpy the whole way (that really is understating things on his part).  So maybe it is an age thing.  But is is hard to see my beautiful always happy little girl try on these teenage grumps.

This week Allison had an unhappy dentist visit.  She had to have two teeth pulled with one of them having roots wrapped around the adult tooth that required slow and careful separation and picking.  So she almost has no molars in right now and is back in a retainer.  She is not enjoying having to mush all her food.  She thinks this is a good excuse to give up vegetables for the duration and is enjoying apple sauce, pear sauce and any other smooshy food she can think of.  Its a good excuse for ice cream though.  Thursday night Allison and her friend Evelyn came to scout Roundtable with me.  Robyn had bragged about how fun it was going with me during the summer.  After the opening exercises, Allison leaned over and asked when it got fun because so far it was pretty boring and she didn't think it could get any more boring.  Her friend Evelyn said I bet it could!  But then it turned into cub scout stuff and they got to do the skit for everyone, and the opening ceremony idea and play the demonstration game and then we snuck out to grab ice cream cones.  So she is planning on going back next month!

Jeremy has been working hard this week trying to catch up on projects.  Last night after being tied to his computer all day he took a break and we got to grab a manly dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then watch our high school girls volleyball team win the state championship.  I wish one of our kids liked sports because Jeremy sure enjoys cheering on volleyball.  It was a very impressive game.

Today Taylor is home sick.  He has been doing really well lately and is enjoying his twice a week massages.  But this week right after I showered him, he just started throwing up and looking green and pale.  Taylor being nauseous is just a pathetic site as you will ever see.  He instantly becomes this super pale stick figure with no energy or ability to hold himself up.  Hopefully he will get over this quickly.

Friday night I got to enjoy a girls night while Spencer and Jeremy enjoyed a testosterone filled night of watching Wolverine.  I on the other hand got to go see Austenland which I loved.  I had great company with me and I just laughed through the whole thing.  I am sure I enjoyed it in part so much because I have seen all the Pride and Prejudice movies and read all the knock-off books.  But it has made me smile all weekend long.  This week it seems like I have spent a lot of time sitting in front of a computer playing catch up on things.  I am amazed at how much paperwork stuff can pile up although Jeremy points out that most of it is due to my calling or school volunteer work so I choose to do most of it.  But having a mostly empty in box is a great feeling.  Now I am sure it will just fill up again.

This was a week of Halloween where I wish I was a more creative person who had mad stage make-up skills.  I love our neighborhood at Halloween, all the fun personalities come out and it is a great place to be.

Monday we went to Taylor's school for their annual Halloween carnival.  It is truly a sugar fest.  The amount of candy our kids earn or baked goods they buy is astounding.  But they left with bulging pockets and smiling faces.  Throw in a Halloween party for Robyn and a few other activities, school parties etc and it was a celebration week.  Somehow Spencer had the mistaken notion that using flour, vaseline and cocoa powder I could create realistic gore for him and his friend for Halloween.  Halloween morning the pressure was on as Spencer and his friend waited for miracles to occur and the girls also wanted face make-up on.  Along with lunches, breakfast and getting out the door.  We survived and no one cried - I will take that as a huge accomplishment.  By the end of the day Spencer and his friend Conner looked more shiny as the vaseline melted and the girls had smeared things so we had a repeat session that afternoon. At the school parade Allison had been a bit down as no one recognized her costume, so Halloween night she dug out some old dance costume to look a bit more "jelly-fish" like.


Wednesday I attempted to paint a backdrop and Thursday Jeremy set it up with lights in our drive way and took pictures of all the kids coming by.  I bought 160 fruit snacks and when they were gone, we closed everything down and turned off our lights.  I made guts (stuffed pumpkin) and bones (breadsticks) again but kids pretty much existed on candy anyway that night.  It is the first time that I haven't gone trick or treating or even really answered the door.  Spencer took Robyn treating for awhile and then came inside to watch Halloween movies with his friend while Robyn continued going with her friend's dad.  Allison went with a friend and checked in periodically.  It felt a little strange not to be wandering the streets!  It is a pretty family friendly area with neighbors doing hot chocolate and doughnuts, and haunted houses.  It is a fun time and people have some pretty amazing costumes.

Friday night we had our nieces Kayla and Bryn come over with Kayla staying overnight while Spencer went with Garion and his parents to see the Saratov approach.  I was a very mean person making all little people stay downstairs while Jeremy and I hosted a game night party upstairs.  Not many games were played as really we just enjoyed eating treats and sitting around talking.  Allison and her friend took any little kids off downstairs where they reigned as babysitters.  I love to just sit and visit with neighbors and as the weather gets colder (we had SNOW today) that doesn't happen as often.

Saturday Spencer had a pow-wow at BYU where he plated a penny with silver in the chemistry merit badge and thinks that the science teachers are BYU are pretty amazing.  We had a freak day of warmth where I got to go for a bike ride and work in the yard a bit.  Jeremy after spending the morning at D.I. volunteering came back and helped the girls wash the car.  Robyn was in a swimsuit and she and Allison were sneakily soaking each other constantly.

And then Jeremy and I had a real old fashioned date of dinner and a movie.  I don't need that every weekend but sometimes it is so nice to not be doing a family activity or church activity and just have a frivolous evening.  We watched Gravity in 3-D which was really amazing visually to see.

Today is one of my favorite days of the year.  An extra hour of sleep.  Robyn was in tears because she thought the extra hour of sleep was for every night for the rest of the year!  Of course she had a tough day where she decided to try everything she could all morning to start a fight of some sorts.  She also fasted completely and without complaint so I am sure that contributed to the grumpiness.  And then we went to Jason's house for dinner and miraculously she became a happy little girl again.  There are times when I think I am really really messing up our kids and then there are times like this morning.  I had yet to meet Robyn and later decided Allison and Spencer had just let her borrow their bad habits for the day as I came downstairs to find Allison indexing and Spencer working on Duty to God AND they were letting me sleep in.  I needed to write that down so I remember those moments do exist!

My friend Brenda convinced me to try running after the sun comes up.  It has been wonderful to actually see the world around us and not carry flashlights.

Halloween came upon us quickly this year.  So we have been packing in our fall activities.  Sunday we made our annual pumpkin face cookies and kids delivered some to teachers and home teaching families.

Monday night Jeremy met us at our local nursery as we picked out pumpkins.

And today we carved them.  With numerous "rest stops" by Spencer and Robyn to relearn the adage if you can't say something nice then at least be QUIET.


To help calm their troubled artistic souls I took everyone for a walk up on the canal trail before dinner.  We walked a half mile total and I wondered if anyone else's nice family strolls look like ours.  Rocky pooped 4 times and peed 10 times.  Allison flipped off of her skateboard.  Robyn whined the entire time, loudly and constantly about how this was not a fun walk, there wasn't anything pretty about it, she thought I was going to take her to a place with a park yada yada.  Good thing the view was beautiful and Spencer and Allison kept good attitudes...and Robyn went to bed as quickly as I could get her after dinner.

I think she was a bit tired because yesterday she played hard.  We met up with Kelly and cousins to play at Cornbelly's a local corn maze, fall playground type of place.  Best part was that it was only the three little girls so we did all the little kid stuff for as long as they wanted.  The house full of corn kernels, like a huge indoor sandbox, they played in for 45 minutes straight while Kelly and I just got to sit and visit.  It was very fun and nice to just have some Robyn time.  She got to go on giant slides, race go carts, go through some really creepy haunted houses, climb all over playgrounds, watch the piggies race and go on a hay ride.


At night Jeremy and the three big kids along with Jason and Garion met us for dinner and to play a little.  Then Taylor, Robyn and I headed home to clean the office and go to bed while the big kids enjoyed all the haunted attractions.  I had a major case of repentance again.  I had left a cooler on the counter with tickets and the counsel to pack a dinner and meet us at 5:30.  When Jeremy stopped working at 5 and came up kids were ready to go.  Then they looked in the cooler and said, "where's the food?!"  They had just assumed I would have something planned and made ahead for them.  Luckily Robyn and I had packed our own dinner but I was just shaking my head.  Then when I got home I learned that Jeremy had stopped on the way home from working since 5:30 that morning on a photo shoot to get me cheesecake and then had helped Melissa clean up a blow-out of Taylor's that had clogged up a bathroom sink due to clean-up efforts.  It involved taking the sink apart through nauseating conditions.  Allison had helped.  Spencer is still on my head shaking list but the others were more than redeemed.  Serves me right for ever getting upset at family.  You think by now I would have learned.

I spent most of the time this week trying to get our yard ready for winter.  There is a chance of snow this week so I am feeling the pressure.  I took a huge truckload to the dump yesterday.  But besides that the rest of the week was pretty normal.

I got to go with Taylor's class on a field trip to see a play.  Going somewhere with 7 wheelchairs and an autistic child is a totally different experience.  I get to go in every Monday

Taylor is doing much better this week so our prayers were answered...in a really disgusting, lots of laundry and cleaning kind of way.  But he is happy and chipper.  And our house smells like Lysol and air freshner.

We have made a list of songs about sunshine to play in the morning.  Our little sunshine has been needing the boost lately to get over the morning grumps.  It cracks me up to hear her the rest of the day singing "sunshine, rainbows and lollipops".  She definitely keeps life interesting.  Robyn got to go with me to pack meeting and kept herself entertained with my phone.  She seems to young to have discovered selfies.

After school kids have their different activities and routines down:
Robyn finds the nearest comic book:

Spencer makes an enormous smoothie:


And Allison jumps straight into practicing in the often vain hope that a friend will be able to play:


Jeremy has had a couple of photo shoots this week and then a huge backlog of photo work to accomplish.  So he has been burning the candle at both ends.  I am not used to having him get up with me at 5:30 but he has been doing it.  And not to steal Mimi's thunder but here are two of my favorites from visiting them:


I realized that there were two memories from fall break I forgot to share.  One is on the way home when they were watching a movie and Robyn yelled to Spencer, "Head, move" in her best So I married an ax murderer voice.  Cracks me up everytime.  The other was during our last night there.  Allison woke up with a sick stomach and after throwing everything up and cleaning up, she laid down in the hallway by our bedroom as it was next the bathroom to try to sleep a little.  I was laying in bed for awhile trying to get back to sleep and then I heard her little voice praying softly that she would feel better and could get to sleep.  Jeremy asked me the next day if I had heard Allison praying and when I told him I had, he said "I knew it!  I could just feel the gooiness emanating from your side of the bed".  Its one of those moments where you are grateful that your child knows how to pray because if they know that they can learn everything else they need to know.