How to cook a turkey!

How do you cook a turkey??

Olivia:
"Get the turkey from the store and take it home.
Add some pepper, bacon, salt, and sticks.
Cook it in the oven for 48 hours.
Then add some pizza and chicken.
Give it to Grandma and me."

Cole:

"First we buy a turkey from the turkey store.

 Take the turkey home and add some ingredients like: salt, pepper, oil, sugar and some roast beef.

Cook the turkey in the oven for 2 hours and then put it on plates.

Give it to my brother."

Ethan:
"Go to your favorite store and buy a turkey.
Take it home and add some magic dust, sparkles, oatmeal, rice, milk, and soy sauce.
Cook it rotisserie style over an open fire pit, like the cavemen did.
Cook it for 28 minutes and then add some sugar and 2 bottles of soy sauce.
Then cut up the turkey and give to Milo."

The kids did this in school and I thought the answers were cute.  We are in full turkey mood around here.  For FHE we did our thankful trees.  Ethan got angry when I told him he had to stop because he just kept writing.  The things he came up with were so cute (paper, metal, shelter, worker men, chair).  He even said he was thankful for his brother :)  Cole was also thankful for lots of things including the couch, sun, bears, dogs, and his family, and Olivia is thankful for her family, plants, trees, food, and the treasure chest (our family Friday treat box).

Birthday Dinner

Shawn LOVES sushi.  If he could choose any meal for his birthday dinner that would be it.  The kids have no interest in it and while I will eat it, it isn't my favorite.  But this kind of Sushi we all ate for dinner tonight.

It is actually just cupcakes, frosting, coconut, fruit roll-up and gummy bears.  I made it for Shawn's birthday cake.  Aren't I so clever??

On a side note, this afternoon Liv and I went for a walk on some trails.  I set my camera up on my bag and we set the self-time and took a few pictures.  Here are the results.

I saved the best for last. Here is Liv striking a pose.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Happy Birthday to my wonderful Husband!!  Your amazing, wonderful, loving, and so much more.

Random

I'm feeling kinda random right now so here are a few random things as of late.

Will someone please tell me children about daylight savings.  They continue to get up around 5:30 EVERY morning.  They just don't get it.

I took Ethan running with me the other night.  He begged and begged so I let him come.  All he wanted to do was race.  He didn't understand the concept of jogging at all.  But I was really impressed because he kept up and actually was ahead most of the time.  He made me laugh because he was such a chatterbox and just wanted to talk when all I really wanted to do was listen to my music and run.  But it was fun to have some company and I will definetly do it again.

A few weeks ago was kids Primary Program in church.  It was my favorite Sunday for a few reasons 

1.  Two out of my three children sat on the stand and I didn't have to keep telling them to be quiet the whole time.  

2.  This was the first primary program in 7 years that I haven't been in Primary, so I was actually able to watch the whole program comfortably in my seat.

The boys both did great and memorized their parts perfectly!

Saturday was nice and we spend some time at the park.  My boys are crazy.  And my daughter is crazy too.  Oh Well!

My Christmas shopping is almost completely done.  I just need to finish up a few projects that I am working on (new blankets for the kids, a teepee, and some headbands and jewlery for Liv).  I'm kind of a random crafter and sometimes I go a little crazy.  Lately I've been crazy.  I had some extra fabric from our rice bags and I decided to make Liv a pair of pajama pants.  I didn't have a pattern, I just winged it because that is the way I sew.  It takes too long to follow a pattern (my mom is probably dying right now).  I remember my mom patiently trying to teach me to sew when I was younger.  My mom is a great seamstress and perfect with all her lines and pleats and stuff.  It used to drive me nuts, I just didn't have the patience for it.  But, the pants turned out great.  Liv loves them and they fit.  I just need to get some fabric to add a little ruffle around the bottom and they will be perfect.  The boys want pajama pants next, but Shawn requested that I NOT make him a pair.  Rude :)

A little while ago Shawn took off a day of work.  We dropped the boys off at school and then Liv at preschool and it was just the two of us.  I made him come for a walk with me and on our way home we stopped at this cute little spice shop.  It is just down the street from our house.  They had the most amazing exotic spices and they are so much cheaper than store spices.  We bought a few and walked home.  I felt like an old retired couple, it was fun :)  They gave us some mulling spices and candided ginger for free and I brought it home and made the kids try it.  They did NOT like it.  They have some amazing vanilla bean sugar that I can't wait to go back and get.

Last night was hair cut night.  I've always cut my kids hair, mostly because I am too cheap to pay for someone else to do it.  Shawn makes fun of me because the way I learned to cut hair was by watching you tube tutorials (and a few tips from friends).  Seriously.  You Tube comes in pretty handy around here and saves me some money.

This is my street.  This is the way we take care of their leaves in Wisconsin.

I'm not kidding, you could hide a car in these piles.

That is all the random things I have in my head right now so I'll stop.

Rice Bags

Living in Las Vegas the past three years has poorly prepared our bodies for this upcoming winter in Milwaukee.  It's only November and we are cold, very cold.  I wanted to do something fun to help us prepare for the cold winter nights.  So I let the kids choose some fabric and we made rice bags to heat up and put in their beds at night.  The kids had fun sewing, and I even made Shawn sew a little.  He actually did pretty good and didn't need much help from me thanks to his TLC class in Jr. High.

After our sewing we jumped in the hot tub for a late night swim.

Lastly, here is two minutes of Liv' dancing.  Anytime there is music she dances and laughs.  It really is so cute to see so I thought I would record it this morning.  It looks like there might be a future in dancing for her :)

6 sisters, 1 brother, & a nephew

It has been a while since we've gone home to Utah, so this trip was very much needed.  Lots of new people recently added to my family(6 new sisters, 1 new brother, and 1 new nephew, but I'll get to that later).

We seem to be a black cloud while traveling and all things that can go wrong will.  This trip was no exception.  It started out with getting all our flights cancelled.  The airlines told us they could get us as far as Minnesota, but weren't sure after that.  Our second option was to drive down to Chicago and fly out of O'hare Airport the next morning.  We took that option and after spending about 5 hours sleeping in a hotel got up and caught the early morning flight to Utah.

The kids were so excited to see everyone (grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, friends).  It was cute when their cousins Brandon and Isaac came because my boys took off running and jumped into their arms.  It seriously was one of those scenes you would see in a movie.  I got to catch up with an old High School friend that I hadn't seen for years and take their pictures, and we saw a few of Shawn's buddies also.  And the other important person we spent time with was Milo.  To say my kids love him would be an understatement.  Here is Cole with Milo.

Ethan would get up every morning and feed milo and take him for walks, give him treats, teach him tricks. Ethan had a few dollars left that he earned and all he wanted to spend it on was a new bone for Milo.  Thanks Mike for sharing your dog with us.  We will take him anytime!!

Uncle Mike taught the boys how to shoot arrows, something Ethan has been dying to do for a while.

Cole was the quiver guy and responsible for handing out the arrows.

We went trick-or-treating while we were home.  I packed all the weapons and costumes and hoped that airport security didn't take all the ninja swords and knifes.  The kids had so much fun running from house to house.  We made sure to hit the nice homes by my moms that give king size candy bars and of course the traditional donut house.

My husband thinks he is funny and likes to pull the dumbest faces in pictures.

It was pouring rain and by the end the kids were soaking wet and freezing.

Actually, the real reason we went home to Utah and defiantly the highlight of the trip was because my mom got remarried.  I now have a wonderful step-dad and 6 step-sisters and 1 step-brother, and twenty something step-nieces and nephews.    

We couldn't be happier for my mom and Dave and are so excited to get to know all of our new family members.  The kids had fun at the open house and I saw sooo many old family and friends.  I don't think I sat down the whole night.  Ethan had a fun time going crazy with all his new cousins.

Cole had fun at the deseret bar

Liv just stood there and looked pretty, until she was so tired and totally crashed on the couch.


I was also hoping to meet my twin sisters new baby, but he decided to wait until the day after I left to be born.  I am still a little mad at my new nephew Jake, maybe I'll forgive him when he's 8.

(picture courtesy of Kev and Jam's phone)

We've been gone

Just got back from a quick little trip to Utah.  Lot's of pictures, little sleep, and lots of candy.  It was a great trip. I'll get more pictures up tomorrow after the kids go to school, but here is one for now of Ethan relaxing on Grandma's deck with the newest Lego magazine.