Seneca Lake

We had the best time up at Seneca Lake with some friends last weekend. Seneca Lake is one of the Finger Lakes in NY and the church owns property and cabins next to it. It's actually the second deepest lake in the US and they test submarines in it!It's about an hour and 45 minutes away and is also where they have girls camp. Crescent's husband, Dave, headed up all the plans and we were going to stay in one of the cabins that sleeps 16 people. The wives saw through what could have been a disasterous night of the kids all waking each other up all night and Crescent figured out that there was also a house you could rent. We decided it would be well worth the money. Boy were we right!

Friday rolled around and it was a horrible, stormy, rainy day. I still have anxiety when it comes to road trips, so Trav was kind and kept it around 70 mph. Even so, in the pouring rain, our car would suddenly start to rock as though it were fishtailing. The first time it happened, I kid you not, it felt like my heart stopped while my legs simultaneously went numb and the rest of my body got hot and tingly. He tried to assure me it was the road. I knew it wasn't. That continued to happen at least 7 or 8 other times. Thanks to a protective Heavenly Father, we arrived safetly. (Now we just need to get our car checked out. Any ideas what the problem could be?!)

I didn't know what to expect when we pulled up to the house, but it certainly wasn't this! The house was huge, with five bedrooms and three bathrooms. ChaChing!

We picked up some pizzas in town for dinner then put the little kids down to bed so the games could begin!

I guess Megan loves ice even more than yours truly. Since the freezer didn't have any, she resorted to "ice cups" (water frozen in a cup). Here is Bron showing off his ice cup now :)

We started out tame with Loaded Questions, then got a bit more rambunctious with Spoons. (not spooning, the game spoons - although spooning was brought up :)Then Brad introduced us to the best game EVER-
NINJA!
So, you stand in a circle, bow, then strike a ninja pose. You are frozen in that pose unless someone tries to "attack" you. Then you can move to avoid the attack, but are stuck in the resulting pose. One person starts by trying to hit someone's hands. If you get your hand hit, you're out. If the person misses. They have to stay in the pose they ended in and then it's the next person's turn to "attack". Don't know if that made sense, but watch the video to get an idea of how it works.

We were still learning, so everyone is pretty slow in the video, but after we got the hang of it, it moved faster and was seriously so much fun!


There were a few shocking poses. This looks bad, but no, Trav did not slap Crescent. (Dave took care of that for him - just a few mishaps :)Sometime you got stuck on the floor if you dove for someone's hand. Bron enjoyed the floor.

We must have played Ninja for over an hour. We got so hot and sweaty we actually opened the windows to the freezingness that was outdoors! After that we figured there wasn't going to be another time that we had a whole huge house without fragile decorations all to ourselves. That's right, it was Hide and Seek time! Can you picture it? Lights off. Grown adults acting like children. Running amuk. It was hysterical. We played different versions like Sardines and Murder in the Dark. By about 1:30am, it was time for a ghost story. Serioulsy. Dave actually had a pretty good one. Bron snuck out and tried to scare us by jumping out and screaming. Nice try Bron :) We talked until 2:30am then decided to call it a night.

The kiddos woke up nice and early and we shared a big pancake breakfast. We took a walk down to the lake and I was more than amazed to see this:

Since when can you see through lake water?! Oh, right, I'm just used to the polluted nastiness that is Saguaro or Canyon Lake. Haha.

Well what comes next is something I'm going to claim bragging rights to for a long time! On October 3 in New York, we went.... WAKEBOARDING!

Crazy? Yes, most definitely. The thing was- after a cold and rainy day the day before, we were duped into thinking the sun meant warm times on the lake. Warm times to us is 67 degrees. The church had a ski boat they rented to us for $20 an hour. We just couldn't turn it down.

Here is our trusty driver, Brad. (Notice Jen has on a ski jacket.)

Dave went first with a full wetsuit on and claimed it wasn't too bad. Then Jen was next but her wet suit didn't have sleeves. This is what she looked like each time we circled to pick her back up after falling.

And here is my crazy husband. We haven't been wakeboarding in years and he gets out there and starts jumping and ....throwing back flips. Seriously, this guy = nutso. No tower, but he tried anyway.

And then I come along. I screamed when my body hit the water. And kept screaming. I've never been immersed in water that cold before! ICY. (I looked it up later and the water was around 65degrees.) I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get up, but that wasn't a problem after all. Although, I'll admit that right after I got up all I could think was "AHHHHHHHHH, SCAAAAAAAARY!!!!!". I put on quite the show by sitting behind the boat, just holding on. That was plenty of fun for me!

Here is the whole gang before we headed home. Thanks for a great time Marchants!!! We would do it again in a heartbeat! (Next time with the Shaws! We missed you Rach and Doug!)

Happy Yom Kippur (pronounced "kipper!")

Ok, maybe it's "Yom Kippour", but it's way more fun to say "Kipper"! :) And if you're wondering why I'm saying it at all, it's because UB likes to give it's students a day off on Jewish holidays. Thus, last Monday Trav had a little break! We thought it would be fun to have one last BBQ, but woke up to awful, horrible, nasty weather. Just a preview for what's in store, I'm sure.
So this little monkey got bundled up while we ran a few errands.

And after much deep contemplation, I decided we should do the BBQ anyway! So my very obliging husband grilled in the garage. I felt terrible. It was freezing outside, but of course he didn't complain. He's too sweet to me.

We invited a few friends over and ate in the basement. The kids had fun playing....

While the adults visited (and did some dancing to Miley Cyrus :)

When I uploaded my pictures I couldn't remember why I took this one. Then I looked in the background. I think that's Ryan's impersonation of a periscope, haha.

You may have noticed a few fun toys in our basement, and that's because last Saturday we hit up some AWESOME

GARAGE SALES!!

I grew up with some biased opinions of garage sales. Mostly that they're white trashy. (I believe that's thanks to my mother, haha) But then some friends helped open my eyes to the true beautifulness of a good yard sale. And last weekend we found the mother load at a block sale. Trav even scored a grilled hot dog (WAY better marketing than those dinky cups of lemonade!)

I was having a great time. By the time we left I could tell I was on one of those "shopper's highs" I've heard so much about.

And here is the loot! Complete with a Johnny Jumper, basketball hoop, slide, and tuby thing. (It's amazing how much fun kids have with a tube!) And all for under $35! A friggin' steal if you ask me. :) Especially since the slide alone is in the $40 range if bought new. And after we had a Clorox and Lysol party, my germ phobias were satisfied. Hopefully now, we're fairly well stocked with fun for Collin through the winter. Sigh.... winter. :(

I am DISGUSTED!!

Just about every morning I wake up and turn on the Today Show. It's usually pretty entertaining and I get the 411 on what's going on in the world. Occasionally I'm annoyed- even outraged- at the latest stories. In fact, there was a story about a 24 year old girl who went missing outside of an LA Sheriffs Office last week that absolutely sent me off my rocker and I even spouted off an email, being incensed as I was (not about her missing, but about her ridiculous parents)- seriously it was infuriating.

But on to the latest blood boiler. Have you heard the latest about funny man David Letterman? Apparently he had several affairs with women who work on his show and was blackmailed about 3 weeks ago by a guy who threatened to go public with the info via a book and movie, if Letterman didn't pay him 2 million. The guy is now in jail for extortion, but David decided to share the story with his viewers last night on his show so that no one could use the info against him again. Now for the part that ticked me off. I watched the clip of his show and realized that instead of acting remorseful for what he did, he made it out to be a big joke! He had everyone laughing and even CLAPPING when he admitted to the "creepy" things he had done. Some might argue that the audience really thought it was a joke, but after viewing it, I think it was quite obvious that he was telling the truth. But I'm so disgusted with David Letterman for 1- being a horrible person and having the affairs but 2- even more so for treating it so lightly!!! Even the dirty politicians who are caught in these situations at least APOLOGIZE for their actions (admittedly maybe not sincerely). Letterman completely villified the man who blackmailed him (yes, that man WAS in the wrong), but basically got himself off the hook. UGH! And then on the Today Show, Al Roker was interviewing a few editors in chief of online magazines who seemed very supportive of Letterman, even claiming this might do him MORE good than bad with his ratings and popularity!! Lets remember people, David didn't come clean on his own!!!!! He was "forced" to because of this blackmailer. If the blackmailer hadn't come along, this nastiness would stayed hidden, tucked in the closet of David's "creepiness".

What is the world coming too????!!!!!

I am {beyond} grossed out and infuriated by the evilness of the world we live in.

Sunday Fun-Day!

Last Sunday I decided I was sick of cooking, so instead of slaving away at dinner, I bribed the missionaries to come over and cook us something in exchange for a date with my younger sister!! (Whatta ya think Marcie?! :) Haha, no if you can actually believe it, Elder McKee begged ME to let him come over and cook up some shrimp fried rice. (Not that Marcie's name didn't come up, wink wink) This guy is a character and not bad company at all. I'm sure the ladies back at BYU Idaho didn't mind his English accent either. So here he is demonstrating his mad kitchen skills.

 

Collin seemed pretty entertained by all the excitement brewing. (Or mabye just nervous... ???)

We got a little visit from the Shaws during cooking time. Here's a little peek at Gavin all snuggled into his "Hot Sling". Does anyone else own one of these? I just learned about them and they seem to be all the rage. Apparently I could attach Collin to my hip using one of these things which would save me from a lot of hysterical crying throughout the day. Collin, not me. He starts shrieking the second I'm out of his eyesight. The problem-o... they are about $40 bucks. So the babe may just have to suffer from separation anxiety while I get my chores done.

Back to dinner.... the rice was actually pretty good. I had my doubts. I felt like I should contribute something, so I made homemade cookie dough. As I was scooping out the dough, I snagged a pre-cooked spoonful, then figured I should offer some to the missionaries. They both claimed to have NEVER tasted cookie dough!!! Is it just me, or is that unAmerican? So I forced a spoonful on each of them. Elder McKee's comment- "It tastes like uncooked food". Riiiiiight. A few minutes later I go to grab something out of the freezer and this is what I found.

A spoonful of cookie dough just chillin' on the shelf! I snatched it out of there and shook it at him, demanding to know why he didn't finish it! After berating me for moving it (apparently it took him SO long to get it JUST RIGHT on the shelf) he said he wanted to freeze it and see if it tasted like the icecream stuff. Did I mention he's a character?

Needless to say, it was a fun night with the missionaries. And just in case our families are wondering what else we do on Sunday nights since we can't visit "Grandma's house", we..... get our Scrabble on! Travis whooped me good on this game, and I'll never let him forget it since he say's I ALWAYS win :) Not a bad way to spend and hour and twenty two minutes (just a guess), but I think we both agree we'd trade it in a heartbeat to watch our crazy nieces and nephews run around at Grandma's house for even one minute.

Becker Farms

It's that time of year again... pumpkin patch time! The Cardon's invited us to go with them to Becker Farms and we had a blast. Trav and I have gone to pumpkin festival's for the past two years- childless. We felt cool. So even though Collin had no idea all the fun that was going on, we certainly appreciated his company. :)

We could smell homemade donuts the minute we got there, so we started the day off right with a little deep fried dough covered in sugar and cinnamon. Filled my oil quota for the year, just like the onion blossom did at last year's festival. Hmmm, I sense a pattern.

Next we were off to the pig races! Can you all say, Soooouuuueeeee!

We let Collin test out a slide, but we didn't think he was really able to take full advantage of all the toys so.....

.....WE gave one a whirl! This was one of those ideas that sounded best in my head. We got more momentum on that aluminum than I expected, and I feared for my ankles as we quickly neared the bottom. So I lifted up my legs, and the ole bum took one for the team!

Luckily, there was a rotted fruit that helped cushion my fall. I got to walk around the rest of the afternoon looking like I didn't make it to the bathroom in time!

Awww, my widdle piggy.

The whole gang! Minus Trav, but you can see his knee on the right side. :)

We ventured into the corn maze... that was more like a corn path than maze.

Even still, the men took a wrong turn at one point, so us women had to take charge and get our troops out of there.

We were victorious!

(And apparently a little hungry, hehe)

I was way bummed when it started raining, which ruined the hay ride we were waiting to get on. But.... at least the Haunted House was covered and available!! Our hubby's watched the kids while Tiff and I braved the goblins. Tiff is not being silly by the way, this pic is EXACTLY how it all went down! She clung to my arm til the very end while I tried to be brave and forge ahead! We both screamed a few times at nothing and then pushed our way out of the claustrophobic "birthing tunnel". Haha, and I'll have to give her the credit for going first through that. I thought I was going to suffocate!

We couldn't leave until I got my very first candied apple. I had barely gotten the wrapper off before Collin was leaning towards it, mouth wide open. And apparently Trav just wanted to eat Collin's ear :)

Well, just one taste can't hurt..... :)

We had such a great time. Thanks again Cardons! Even though it was a bit of a drive, I would definitely go back to this festival over the Clarence one. Much cheaper, less crowded, and "quaint". It was such a beautiful FaLL day. Here we come HoLiDaYs!!

(By the way, on the drive to the farm, Miley Cyrus's new song "Party in the USA" came on the radio and got stuck in all our heads. So throughout the day, we would all randomly start singin' Party in the U.S.A! That song now personifies this day to me :)

An Inconvenient Post

(mostly because it's the LONGEST one ever, sorry)

You know those days when you just feel like everything is going your way? Today has been one of those days. Actually, make that the whole week. It's not like anything remarkable has happened, I just consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to spend my days with my cutie pie and then get to see my other cutie pie at the end of the day. I love pushing Collin in the stroller around the peaceful neighborhood in the beautiful weather. I love nap time when I get to exercise. I love being able to clean, read, blog, grocery shop, and cook dinner. I'm so grateful that Travis works so hard at school and at studying so that he can do well and someday provide a living for us. Everyone is healthy. Everyone is happy. Everything is just goin' my way! :) (knock on wood, right?)

I was feeling especially blessed, while walking around BJ's this afternoon. I think a large portion of that was due to the fact that I had been craving a really cheesy pizza this morning and lo and behold, BJ's had the cheesiest of pizzas waiting for me as I checked out. I swear I heard angelic music and saw a glow encircling the pizza booth. I don't normally eat the pepperoni's (not worth the calories-that's the constant debate I have with food- is it worth the calories?!) But today I was feeling indulgent. It was divine. Collin preferred his napkin. That's his latest fettish. Paper. Could be a paper towel, receipt, or an actual sheet of paper. Since he doesn't have teeth, I let him gum on it until it gets soggy. I've only had to go down his throat with my fingers once. Oops. Gotta watch those kids, they're fast!

And maybe you've noticed what I purchased at BJ's on the table and in the cart. The next two editions in what is quickly becoming my "Glenn Beck" collection. I bought his newest "Arguing with Idiots" and "Common Sense". I tried to request Common Sense from the library, but even though it's #1 on NY Times Bestseller list, the NY Erie County library has but one copy. Count it. ONE. They have mulitple copies of the most obscure titles ever written, but when it comes to a conservatively written scrutiny of big government, just one. When I found out I was at the bottom of a list of 41 people, I decided NOT to wait 3 1/2 years, and just buy the thing myself. Darn liberal New York. I'm feeling the butterflies from the beginning of my post start to fly away :)

And now for my lengthy review of his book I just finished, An Inconvenient Book. It's quite thick, and I thought it would take me at least a couple weeks to get through, but no, I couldn't put it down. Three days later and I'm itchin' for more. 1- because it was hilarious 2- because I felt I was actually learning something and 3- did I mention it was hilarious? It consists of 21 individual chapters covering everything from minimum wage, to online dating. There were the serious topics and then the completely trivial, written to make you laugh topics. I felt like I finally learned a few things about global warming, radical Islam (can you say scary!) and our oil dependence (boy do I have a truck load of questions for my dad!). One chapter title made me laugh out loud- "The Income Gap: The Rich Get Richer, Good for Them". Haha. Sorry, but I thought that was funny.

There was one chapter I just couldn't read though. Child Molesters: A Fiery Solution. He started reviewing a certain molester who became a killer, John Evander Couey. I had never heard of him before. I wish I could go back in time to when I didn't know him. Reading about what he did made me physically ill. I had to put the book down. All I could think was, please let the Second Coming come now! Despicable, reprehensible don't even come close to describing his atrocities. After finishing the book, I did go back and read what Glenn's "solution" was. Molest a child, go to prison for LIFE. I agree. It makes me think of Jaycee Dugard. The sicko who kidnapped her wasn't a first time offender. He should have been in jail. Should have.

There was also a chapter on body image. Not exactly one of his "serious politcal" topics, but important nonetheless. It was the only chapter where I actually underlined something. "Yes, the magazines, the ads, the plastic surgery- it's all part of the problem, but each time you try to squeeze your fat fanny into a pair of size four True Religion jeans, your daughters learn to pray at the same altar." It struck a chord with me. Maybe that's because I have the most unmaterialistic mom in the world and I've been far from living up to her example.

Still reading? Then you must be either Travis, Jenni, my mother-in-law, or my mom :) I don't even think Shelley or Leah (just because I'm talking about a book) would have kept with this monster post! I just have so much to say!!!

Next up- "You Can't Say That! The Politics of Correctness". Maybe I loved this chapter because as a teacher I felt like being PC was my arch enemy. For example, no more saying, "Please sit Indian style". No, no, it's now, "Sit criss cross applesauce!" :):):) Ugh. It kills me having to tip toe around ethnic phrases. Should we say "African Americans" or "black". I saw a woman on the news spouting off that she wasn't an "African American" she was just "American". Okaaaaaaay. Whatever. I was teaching social studies and the book referenced "black" people. A white girl raised her hand and asked with horror on her face, "Why did the book call them black?" I happened to have a couple of black students in my class, so I asked one boy, "is that offensive to you?" With confusion on his face, he shook his head. Being PC is the reason Christmas trees got yanked out of some school's front offices and why I had to ask fellow teachers if they thought it would ok for me to put a witch decoration in my classroom during Halloween. I was advised to stick with pumkins. No faces on them though. It's also much more PC to use muti colored pens when grading instead of the evil "red" pen. Because if a child got a paper back with red all over it, it would be too hard on him. Sorry, but really, why all the hoops?! If you know me, I really never want to offend someone. I never want to make someone feel bad about themself, but maybe that's why we should all take a lesson in choosing to not be offended. I know, I know, the pot calling the kettle black. But hey, I'll make it my goal if you make it yours! Despite my personal exasperation, Beck proposes political correctness to be the demise of Western culture. "Proponents of PC defend it under the guise of diversity. It's an effective argument, because no one wants to be called a racist or perceived as intolerant; we all want to be "inclusive." But in my experience, "diversity" does more to exclude diverse opinions that anythingn else."

Chapter 13- Gratuities: I've Reached My TIPPING Point. I SO AGREE with this chapter. Again, maybe it's because of the whole teachers don't get tipped thing (unless you count those adorable, but useless, painted coffee mugs you get at Christmas). He makes such a good point though. You go to a restaurant, let's use Olive Garden as an example, and and pay at least 5x the cost for your chicken alfredo. And then, since the restaurant only pays their waiters a couple bucks an hour, YOU are required to pay a generous tip (regardless of how good your service was), effectually paying Olive Garden's employees on top of the food you just consumed. WHERE IS THE LOGIC?? That aside, tips should be given BASED on how well your service was, but if you got crappy service and consequently left a 10% tip, YOU'RE suddenly the bad guy. Enter guilt. It seems that expecting a tip is the norm and the minute you start expecting a tip, you stop trying to earn it. Oh man, I could go on. But really, I'm not bitter. Can ya tell?!

And lastly, probably my favorite chapter- "Parenting: The Case for Abstinence". I giggled through this entire part! He basically facetiously suggests that in order to have children, you should have to be interviewed and given a "permit" of sorts. You have to do that to drive a car or own a gun, so why not for the most important decision of all? Why? Because...." Bad parents and the dysfunctional kids they raise are everyone's problem, especially when they become serial killers, nitwit socialites (think Paris Hilton), or the watier who never brings lemon for my Coke Zero even though I've asked 12 times." Then my favorite part (I know it's long, but it's worth reading). He proposes that the Department of Parenting would actually give you a taste of parenting before you even conceive the baby. Here's how it works. "A DOP agent would come by, wake you up at 2 in the morning and keep you awake until 4. Then he'd let you sleep for an hour before waking you again and keeping you up until it's too late to go back to sleep. Then he'd yell all morning, take a nap, and -just as you were starting to doze off- he'd wake you up, start shrieking again, and not tell you why." BAHAHAHAHA! I died laughing. Maybe since it wasn't so long ago that I lived that. Also, just picturing a grown man coming to your house and doing that is just hilarious to me. Then he suggests some questions for the interview. "How much time can you devote to raising your child? Do you chew with your mouth open? Do you plan on giving your child a stupid name? Will you let your child roam the restaurant or insist he or she stay seated? Why is the sky blue?Why? Why? Why?"

Ok, I think I'm done. Quite possibly the longest post ever, but hopefully you thought worth your time. Beck is brash, outspoken and even rude, but I honestly think he makes a lot of sense. However if you are liberal or anti-capitalism, might not be the book for you! :) Now, I need to go capture those butterfly feelings I was talking about earlier :)

I am AWESOME!

Allow me to explain.

It's a quiet Sunday evening. Trav has three upcoming tests and left to go study at Doug's house. I settled down into my cozy couch with a chocolate shake and watched Pride and Prejudice. (The newest one that's two hours. Excellent by the way) Movie ends, I make my hubby's lunch, then head to the office to check my email and the blog before heading to bed. Then something catches my eye. It's on the ceiling. It's dark and appears to be a bug. Upon closer examination, it's a CENTIPEDE!!! Major shudder courses through my body. I thought I had avoided these monsters all summer! I personally sprayed the whole house in May and have since only seen two DEAD ones. And then this little bugger comes along.

Most people know, I'm a bug-a-phob. I don't say this lightly. It's a serious disorder. I put Hitler, rapists, and bugs all in the same category. They are all just as dangerous to me. Seriously.

So of course I've been tormented my whole life because of it. Anytime someone finds a cockroach, spider, what have you- it's gets picked up and thrown at ME! I never found it amusing. Scratch amusing. It makes me so MAD! I mean it's not FAIR! I can't just pick up someone else's worse nightmare and throw it back at THEM!

I have a few personal anecdotes if you will indulge me. Poor Trav is going to hate that I'm sharing this story but it just always comes to mind. We were at a mutual activity (I believe), hanging out by the pool, when Travis finds a cricket. Who do you think he throws it at? I scream. Insect lands in my mouth. After much shrieking, sputtering, and trying to wash my mouth out with pool water, I have never forgotten. I don't fault Travis because I think we were like thirteen. And honestly, what teenage boy wouldn't torment an easily hysterical teenage girl? The fact is, to this day when he kills a bug at our house, I'm always a bit skittish that he's going to toss it my way. He's always very offended by this, but my gosh, OLD HABITS DIE HARD. I'm talking about my wariness habit, not his habit of harrassing girls with bugs.

Next story (this post has the potential of being VERY LONG). I'm doing an internship at an elementary school in a first grade classroom. It was only my second time being there when the kids discovered a dead cockroach under a table. The teacher selected one of the eager boys to pick it up and throw it away. I'm watching from a distance seriously thinking to myself, "How, nice, this kid doesn't know A THING about me! I don't have to be scared of him throwing it at me". Oh, I was so wrong. I didn't even finish my thought, when I saw the light bulb in his mischievous head go on. He turned to me, with carcass in hand, and started to chase me with it!! I instinctively screamed (yes I screamed), and turned to run. The kid busted into laughter as the teacher looked at me quizzically. I was SO embarrassed. (little twirp) But might I ask.... How did he know???!!!

So, back to tonight. I see evil centipede. I call Trav. He gives me a variety of ways to kill it. I'm secretly wishing he'll just drop everything he's doing and come home and kill it for me. I tell him I can do it and hang up. I proceed to hyperventilate for several minutes before calling him back. I CAN'T DO IT!! He gives me a big pep talk and I hang up. People, I spent 20 minutes staring at that darn thing, trying to muster up the courage to JUST KILL IT! I fidgeted, made high pitched squeaking noises, had to control my breathing..... I almost sprayed our Home Defense poison on it, but knew that would just leave dripping chemicals on our ceiling. FINALLY, I got the sponge mop and just smeared the nasty thing. May I repeat, I AM AWESOME!! I haven't been that proud of myself in a long time. That stupid thing was my Everest. I would have sooner gotten an epideral (also a scary thing to me) and pushed out another baby before doing that again. Think I'm being melodramtic? I'm truly not. I told you it was a serious disorder. I called Trav back to tell him about my trimuph. It took me about 5 minutes to stop shaking. Then I had to share with all of you! :) (Oh, and OF COURSE, I had to take a picture!)

I considered taking an "after" picture of his guts smeared across our popcorn ceiling, but decided to spare you all. Also, this picture doesn't do it justice, it was way bigger than it looks and of course, straight from the devil himself.

Young Womens

I was recently moved around in the YW organization in our ward... again. I've served in the Young Womens ever since I've been married and I've figured that in 26 years of life, I've spent 9 of them in YW! Woo hoo! I really do enjoy serving there, but it's a bit more time consuming than my coveted "door greeter" calling. I hope I'm a good leader, but the girls in our group are definitely faced with so many more trials than I ever grew up with. I don't know if I can relate to what's going on in their lives very well (I think my biggest concern at 16 was how to meet N'SYNC in person), but I truly do love them and it's been a lot of fun getting to know their crazy personalities (reference Hunter in the pink).

We said goodbye to two leaders this week at out "Back to School" BBQ night for mutual. Tiffany and Britta will be missed!

I made a "goodbye" cake (you can kinda see it in the background) and the only reason I reference it, is that it was my first attempt at a layered cake. I even made some homemade pineapple filling for between the layers. I got positive comments until I brought some leftovers home for Trav to eat. He started to dig in until he disdainfully asked, "What's this yellow goo?" Always happy to please :)

(In his defense, he still tried it and ended up eating half the plate of leftovers)As tradition, we played "flour tag". Everyone gets a nylon sock with flour in the bottom and you basically run around trying to smack as many people as possible. It was all fun and games til Tiff got everyone to gang up and attack me. I got coated. :) That night while I was brushing my teeth I noticed my roots had suddenly gone really gray and ashy looking. What the heck! I truly panicked for at least 15 seconds til my good 'ole short term memory kicked in. I'm going to be the worst senile person ever.

In other news... I finally finished reading Pride and Prejudice! I ended up liking it pretty well. Since it's written in the old English type of language, I felt like every sentence was a riddle meant to obsure even the simplest of meanings. And I found myself wanting to say things like "Indeed, that fellow has spoken most favorably in want of redress for the handsome sum of a scandalous employment!" in my everyday language. Basically gibberish disguised in fancy words. Now I can't wait to watch the 6 hour movie!

So the weather has turned.

Leaves are changing.

I woke up to our house chilling in the low 60's. Brrr!

Collin was in need of long sleevs and warm pants, so off to Carter's we went. I found this onsie and had to have it.

I think this pic is hilarious. I imaging him yelling at those stinkin' girls to back off!

Rachel finally had her baby on Friday. I'm beside myself with happiness for her and Doug. And I'm a tad baby hungry. He's just so little! Then I remembered how happy I am to be sleeping more than four hours in a row. I think I'll wait :)

Sweet Gavin is beyond adorable. Collin had been waiting on pins and needles for his new friend!

And lastly.... Collin's first tast of real food! Well, rice cereal anyway. The first bite....

Not so sure about this stuff. (He actually gagged several times) They should make chocolate rice cereal or something!

Dad got to do the honors. I was on camera patrol.

HOYYYY!

*** This is completely unrelated, but I had to add this. This morning when I was driving Trav to school, we passed an empy dirt lot that had some dead, yellowed weeds growing on the outer edge and Trav perked up and exclaimed, "Hey, that looks like Arizona!!" Bahahaha! I had to laugh because he said it in a very positive, "awww home" sort of voice. We sure do love our desert heritage. :)