Long time....No blog!

yes, yes, yes...its been a while. Please forgive me. I've been in a funk, with lots to blog about, but no time, or just plain lack of motivation. We finished our loft...pictures to come. I have been loving having my house back to normal privacy, without workers coming and going, banging away, tracking dirt all over. Its heaven to wake up with an extra room in the house. I'm very proud of Mark for getting it done in a timely fashion...just about two weeks and that's all folks!!

On to other news....we are having a boy...or a girl. I've had two ultrasounds, one telling us its a boy, and the other a girl! I'm 18 weeks now and so hopefully next ultrasound will give us the final verdict and the baby will cooperate!!! I'm anxious as ever to get the nursery set up, now that we have an empty room upstairs just waiting for a newborn to fill it up. I've been sleeping like a rock lately, and I'm grateful for all the wonderful and fabulous sleep I'm getting. It really makes a huge difference in how my day goes.

And on to more good news, I've gotten the green light to play tennis and do whatever!! So I've played twice already and its been SO FUN to pick my racquet back up. Oh how I've missed hitting the tennis ball. It's such a tension reliever too. I'm a much happier mommy and wife when I can do my little hobbies. And speaking of hobbies, I even got ALL my scrapbooking stuff out again and went to a girls night out and scrapped the entire time. I forgot how much I really enjoyed scrapbooking was reminded why I even got into it.

homecoming

So, my baby sister had homecoming on Saturday. My mom was a saint and fed all 24 teenie boppers at her house for part of their date before heading off to the dance in 2 stretch limos and to go to some fun places on the strip for more pictures. I guess you can never get enough pictures on such a fun, big night!

There were three round tables set up with majestic candles as the center piece.

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Cousins playing on the trampoline on the other side of the house while dinner was being served!

The buffet line

Bryanna with her Aunt Jamie

Jamie was asked by Nelson to homecoming this year. They had tons of fun!

Now everyone was looking at the camera!

Brooke & Jamie with their dates. These girls have been BFF's for 11 years now!

All packed into the limo!

Today while we were over for Sunday dinner, I was wanting to get the scoop on how the night went with such a fun, big group, but Jamie was sacked out on the couch! After the night was over, some girlfriends stayed over and chatted past 2am! So from what I heard, they all had a clean, wholesome fun time, with a jolly load of pictures to remember every moment!

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

While I was up in the middle of the night last night, I ran across this delicious Halloween Treat to get my mind off my headache and inability to sleep (it plagues me while I'm pregnant). I just couldn't resist making it today, and while Bryanna was in preschool it was an easy jaunt to the grocery store. I got this recipe off of Your Home Based Mom blog. I am not a big candy corn fan (don't like jelly beans or anything sugary like that), but my husband and kids could eat candy corn like it was popcorn. So this is for them!

They love to help whenever they get a chance (or when I'm feeling light hearted and Martha Stewartish), so we pulled out the aprons and went to the kitchen!

Can you see the ladder in the room behind the kids? Well, we have started yet another project and I will post all about it when we finish next week. We like to live under construction if you haven't noticed

Candy Corn Cookie Bark

~14 whole Oreos, broken up. I used the Halloween ones with the orange filling but regular will work fine
~1 1/2 C pretzels, broken into pieces. I used the small stick pretzels
~1 lb. white chocolate, almond bark or melts found in the bulk food section
~1 C candy corn
~brown and orange colored sprinkles

Cover a large cookie sheet with wax paper. Spread broken cookies, pretzels and about 3/4 C of the candy corn onto the waxed paper. Place white chocolate in a container and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir and then microwave for another 30 seconds until melted and smooth. White chocolate melts faster and burns easier than chocolate.

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookie mixture, spreading with spatula if needed to coat evenly. Sprinkle remaining candy corn and colored sprinkles over the chocolate while it is still wet. Do not let it harden. Place cookie tray into refrigerator until set and firm. Remove and gently break bark into small pieces. Store in air tight container.

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SOCCER!

Soccer camp started yesterday for Bryanna. She and Mark went to the store and picked out all the soccer gear she needed. I think Mark had more fun than Bryanna did because he played on a club team all growing up and in high school. One year, his club team took State in California, which is a big deal. California is huge....and there is lots of talent in the Golden State, so it just shows how great of a team he was on as a teenager.

Maddox very much wanted to be in with all the kids, but he was able to kick his sister's pink ball around and kill some time!

It's great to see her running around, burning some energy off, having fun and practicing a new skill.

Another way maddox killed some time was picking up my camera and telling everyone to say, "cheese!" Oh well, maybe I shouldn't let him play with my camera, but he really does love it, and knows how to turn it on and off.
I thought he took a pretty cool one (not the one of me) but the one below, its out of focus, but the sky turned out neat that day!

Gilcrease Orchard

We went to a pumpkin patch as a field trip for Bryanna's preschool. It was really fun for the kids. Running and looking for the perfect pumpkin kept them busy. It was really dusty and the field was full of soft sand....so it made for a horrible dusty day. But, it was fun for the kids and nice to see that pumpkins actually can grow in the desert!

I think it's comical to see a farm with palm trees in the back ground.

Grace & Bryanna make for a dynamic duo...one minute they are loving each other, the next they are fighting. They make me laugh. There were three preschool classes from our neighborhood that came along, so although Bryanna and Grace aren't in the same class this year, we still got to car pool and hang out with everyone!!

Bryanna picked out the most perfectly round pumpkin I've ever seen!

Miss Marci and Bryanna's class. It was a fun outing way the heck across town.

SLC

We stopped off Temple Square on our way home from ID for a break. There is something magical about this temple. Maybe its the fact that it took 40+ years to build, and back in the day, such an enormous, beautiful, majestic temple cost so much time and money of the early Saints. I thank them so much for all they had to sacrifice to construct such a place. It's gorgeous, and my little Bryanna wanted so very much to go inside, and one day she will!

Do you like the little miss poser?



And again....posing....she's a crack up!
Do you think we got enough pictures of the temple? It's just captivating, and I couldn't stop pulling out the camera at every angle. Not every Temple of the church is this gorgeous to the point where it looks fabulous on all sides. So, there you go, from the North, East and South!!

I-D-A-H-O

We went digging for some Idaho potatoes. It was fun to see what they looked like in the ground. All dirty and funny looking! Our fingers got really muddy though, but the kids had a blast!

Sunday we headed over to Mark's oldest sister's house for dinner. I wasn't the best photographer documenting all the people we saw on this trip, but here is what we got from her house!
Rachel is helping Maddox on the drums, he was LOVING it! And of course, Rock-Star nephew Seth on his guitar!
Bryanna found a new boyfriend....Chris (who is Haley's boyfriend...sorry Haley, Bryanna forms crushes fast!! :) And Reagan in the pink...she was sooooooo great and played with the kids til they were worn out and exhausted!

On Monday, we woke up to................SNOW!! The first thing Bryanna asked, "Mom, can I eat the snow?" It was so funny...she was having a hay-day with it. I'm glad we don't have to live in it. It was great to see everyone and get the pleasure of witnessing the first bit of snow. It was a blast. Thanks Steph for letting us stay with you and letting the kids eat all your snacks!!

Japan Mission Reunion

The kids and I heading into the reunion

Me, Tim Hahn, Steve Jones, Jeff Tomitich

Hahn choro, Jones choro, Thacker shimai, Tomitich choro

Me & Sis. Larkins
Pres. Larkins and David St. Julien
Pres & Me

It was SOOOOOOOOOO good to see those that came. It was surprising how many people I actually remembered and how we could talk just like it was yesterday. I'm so glad I went and was able to catch up with everyone. President and Sis. Larkins had it catered with the best japanese food! It was so great of them to do that for all those that came. I didn't get nearly all the pictures of everyone that I wanted, mostly because we were talking so much I forgot to pull my camera out til it was time to go!

To those of you who didn't go....well, Sis & President Larkins are going to for sure have a reunion in Salt Lake City next October. They want to get the word out so everyone has as much time to prepare and save and plan to come!! It would be wonderful to see you all again!

I think the sweetest thing of all was hearing the next day in a conference session that the church announced to build a temple in Japan, Sapporo!! It's truly a miracle. I always hoped for this day to come, but never knew how close the members of Hokkaido were to getting one. I am so touched by this I just can't be thankful enough for this miracle. I hope to get over there to see the dedication of the Japan, Sapporo Temple in the near future. It's simply amazing.

Snow White $10 off Coupon!!!

Click Here to get your $10 off coupon. It came out today!! The best deal is at Walmart for around $20 and Target is a little more. I LOVE to get a good deal on everything. If you're like us, this would make a great Christmas/Birthday present for any little kid!

I found this out from a friend, so thanks for passing on the info!!

this weekend

....is General Conference for my church. I'm going to Salt Lake City for my Japan, Sapporo Mission reunion. It can be awkward after 9 years of not seeing people you were serving with in a strange, foreign place, with hard, cold weather and the language was just as brutal. But with the help of angels, it became quite a fun and adventurous time, no matter the conditions. It will be fun to see those who know exactly what I'm talking about!

Then we are headed up to Idaho Falls to visit and stay with family. We are also anticipating digging for leftover potatoes in the fields, unless we already missed it, which I'm hoping we didn't. I also think my kids are expecting mounds of snow, but I hope there won't be any mounds yet.

I LOVE the first weekend of October, for all the wonderful messages from the leaders of the church and for a time of reflection on what life is all about. It will be a good weekend (with lots of driving, but still good!)

So a change of subject, I am getting a little desperate. I have ANTS living under my foundation...or something like that. These little buggers keep peering through all the tiniest of cracks in my kitchen island. I have had them, on and off, for almost 10 months now. I think I've gotten rid of them. I have tried almost everything. I say almost, because if I tried absolutely everything in the entire universe, they would be goners by now.

So I'm throwing this out to you, my readers, ANYBODY....what else can I do to get rid of these stupid pests??????????? Just to let you know what I have tried....I have fumigated (only a few weeks ago actually) I have sprayed til I can't stand the smell anymore. I have set out bait to take back to their nest (that one failed miserably). I have called a pest control company and they sprayed everywhere I have already sprayed, and they came back, with a vengeance. It is the most irritating, annoying and frustrating to no end thing that has ever happened.

THEN, to be even more irritating, more annoying and more frustrating, a few days ago, I found a few stragglers coming up through the drain of my master bathroom shower......UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I see them, I just wash 'em down and after a few washings, I haven't seem them....yet.

Please help. I need some expertise advice, and not just from someone who sprays the stuff. I need to KNOW what to do to kill off the nest, destroy it forever and ever!!!!!!!!

I would be truly and grateful for all your tips and advice. Thank you for helping. I'll let you know how and when I finally free myself of these critters.