Happy Halloween!

Pictures coming soon!

Preschool Princess

Tues, Oct. 29 Aliza had a Halloween party at preschool and also a Halloween party at dance. All of the parents came to the library to see the kids parade around in their costumes. I love the stage that Aliza is in. Everything is so magical. She'll say things like "mom, you're a princess and daddy's your prince, but where's my prince? I need to find him." She actually was going to be Cinderella for Halloween, but I have no idea where the costume is. Luckily, we own every princess costume that Disney has created so we had plenty more to choose from.


Here's Aliza with all of her stash of candy she scored. Each child in preschool brought a treat for each friend in the class.

One of her friends in her class brought this. I loved the little poem attached to the sour gecko candy. Some one's mom is an overachiever. I just gave Aliza Halloween nerds to share with the class.

And I'll have plenty more Halloween pictures to post later. Alex, Ashley & Abbey will be in a parade today (Thurs) at their school. I better get back to working. I have a huge quarterly tax return deadline tomorrow, Oct. 31st.

Weigh In Wednesday

Here's the official results: I lost 1.2 lbs since last Wednesday. Small loss, but since I did absolutely no exercising this past week, due to a bad cold that the kids & I had, I'll gladly take it!

This week I'm going to kick it in high gear & start running again. I really do love running, especially to some good tunes. I just found out about a 6k "Cold Turkey" race on Thanksgiving day, 9 am at the Capitol in SLC that I'm going to run. What a great way to start Thanksgiving! Then I really can enjoy all of my mom's homemade dressing and cranberry sauce to my heart's content, guilt free!
I found out about this race on Tiburon's blog (a random girl whose blog I stalk) See all of the useful information I'm finding on blogs. Any other runners out there care to join us? Michelle (hint, hint) this means you! So far, I know my friend Kristy is coming. Wooo hooo! Click here for more info about the race.

While I'm on the subject of Michelle (my great sister-in-law), I have to publicly congratulate her on running her 1st marathon last weekend in Oregon. I'm so proud of her! It's been a major goal of hers. She kept the secret from us until after the race (she said just in case she chickened out at the last minute!) My brother cheered her on and said he'll never run one after watching the runners who were seriously hurting at mile 22. One runner left in an ambulance at mile 24. Poor guy! Too get so close to the finish line!

Michelle came to my old ward to visit her sister about 7 years ago. I taught the Relief Society lesson that day and had the feeling that I should go talk to her after the lesson and see if she wanted to go out with my brother, Joe. I felt a little weird going to a random stranger and asking her this, but she was game for the idea. They went on their first date in Oct 2001 and married April 2002, so yes I keep taking credit for hooking them up and yes, Michelle, you can name your 1st daughter after me. Then again we have the same name, so it wouldn't be too hard to do. Thanks for being such a great aunt & sister-in-law, Michelle!


Here's a picture of my brother, Joe (who everyone thinks is Jason's brother-they really do look more alike than Joe & I do!) and sweet sister-in-law, Michelle and their cute son Aaron!

Funny Headliners

Wait! I think I know this guy!

Typical thing a kid would say about their brother/sister:

Too funny!

Thanks for the laughs, Uncle Lee!

Investment Tips

Courtesy of my Uncle Lee, enjoy the following:

Investment tips for 2008

With all the turmoil in the market today and the collapse of Lehman Bros and Acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America this might be some good advice. For any of you with any money left, be aware of the next expected mergers so that you can get in on the ground floor and make some BIG bucks. Watch for these consolidations later on this year:

1. Hale Business Systems, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Fuller Brush, and W R. Grace Co. will merge and become: Hale, Mary, Fuller, Grace.

2. Polygram Records, Warner Bros., and Zesta Crackers join forces and become: Poly, Warner Cracker.

3. 3M will merge with Goodyear and become: MMMGood.

4. Zippo Manufacturing, Audi Motors, Dofasco, and Dakota Mining will merge and become: ZipAudiDoDa.

5. FedEx is expected to join its competitor, UPS, and become: FedUP.

6. Fairchild Electronics and Honeywell Computers will become: Fairwell Honeychild.

7. Grey Poupon and Docker Pants are expected to become: PouponPants.

8. Knotts Berry Farm and the National Organization of Women will become: Knott NOW!

Great Giveaways

Check out this blog! They're having tons of giveaways this week. They also have free blog layouts, if you're ready for a change.

I love all of their LDS buttons. I just added one to my sidebar. Click here to read a talk given by Elder Ballard about the importance of sharing our beliefs on our blogs.

How to lose a tooth by Ashley

Last night (Sunday) Ashley found the secret to pulling teeth. She took one of her small hair elastics and wrapped it around a loose tooth and pulled it out. It worked so well that she decided to do the same trick to pull a 2nd loose tooth out. I was a little disappointed since I love pulling the kids teeth out. Nothing better than getting my fingernail underneath the tooth and giving it a good yank. I'm really serious (even though it sounds quite sarcastic).

So we tried the same trick on Alex, but he wasn't going for it. He has so many loose molars and a few adult molars growing next to the loose baby molars. Maybe I've blocked out part of my childhood, but I honestly don't remember loosing molars. I remember loosing my front teeth, but the molars?

Here's Ashley's cute note to the tooth fairy. She's constantly writing lists & notes. I guess the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She's definately my daughter!

BUNKO (Girl's Night Out at my house)

Last Thursday, I hosted BUNKO at my house. There are 12 of us in our group that meet monthly and have a great time playing bunko. I've been in this group 5 years now and I always look forward to bunko night. We each take a turn hosting. When it's your turn, you make the dinner and pick out the prizes. Bunko is a dice game that you play with teams of 2 and keep track of your points. A bunko is rolling 3 6's.

Here's Stephanie, Kim & Jessie (all great friends & neighbors):

7 of the 12 of us: Stephanie, Donna, Jessie, Angie, Janene, me & Stephanie. Kristy took this picture before everyone left. Someone said, "Since when do we take pictures at bunko?" That's what happens when you have a blog, I guess. I'm finding myself taking so many pictures.

Here's the prizes I picked out. A friend of mine sells rustic home decor. She's clearancing out her inventory so I was able to pick out these great prizes. We have $60 to spend (each person pays $5 each).

I found these cute napkins & plates at Target.

Just a picture taken before everyone came and the action began. This is what happens when you don't read the owner's manual of your new camera like Jason does. A few of these pictures are out of focus because I had the setting on "panoramic" instead of "auto."

And I won "biggest loser" of the night for having the least amount of wins, so I won the cute LOVE letters.

Thanks Missy, my sister-in-law, who truly is an amazing cook, for sharing the recipe to this delicious pumpkin trifle. It was a HUGE hit with everyone and I had so many requests for the recipe. Once again, this is another picture out of focus, but if you have a trifle dish & you want a dessert with amazing flavor, try this one. Also, you can just make the pumpkin bread, it really is so good! I also made my garlic chicken farfalle (see recipe below), breadsticks, salad, apples with carmel dip (carmel, sour cream & heath bar pieces), and we had sodas (rootbeer & fanta orange-halloween colors) in a black witch cauldron.

Grand Champion Pumpkin Bread
From “Farm Journal’s Complete Home Baking Book”

3 1/3 cups sifted flour
2/3 cups cooking oil
4 tsp. pumpkin spice
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 (1-lb) can mashed pumpkin (2 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup water
1 ½ tsp salt
2 2/3 cup sugar

Sift together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

Beat together sugar and oil in bowl until light and fluffy, using electric mixer at high speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin.

Add dry ingredients alternately with water to sugar mixture, beating well after each addition, using electric mixer at low speed. Pour batter into 2 greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pans.

Bake in 325 degree oven for 55 minutes, or until cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on racks. Makes 2 loaves.

Whipped Topping
Whip 2 pints heavy whipping cream until it stiffens. (I whip mine in my Kitchen Aid mixer and I really whip it a long time on a high speed. I make it a bit stiffer then you would usually do it if was just going to be a topping.)
Gradually add 1 ½ cups brown sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla.

**This recipe will make enough for one trifle dish- plus you will probably have some left over.

For 2 trifle dishes, I use 3 pints of heavy whipping cream, 2 ¼ cups brown sugar 1 ½ tsp vanilla.

Pumpkin Trifle
Cut one loaf of the pumpkin bread into cubes. Place half of the bread in the bottom of the trifle dish. Next drizzle caramel sauce (I used Smuckers caramel topping for ice cream) over the pumpkin bread. Next sprinkle Heath toffee bits (the Heath brand are chocolate and toffee pieces) over the bread and caramel. Spread a generous layer of the whipped topping over the pumpkin bread. Repeat all of the above for the second layer.
The pumpkin bread and the whipped topping can easily be made a day or two ahead and then just assemble the trifle right before you serve it.

Ava, our little stair climber

Ava has been climbing our flight of stairs for about 2 months now. She loves to go upstairs and explore in the kid's rooms. I'm constantly carrying her down the stairs. Here's just a few cute pictures of her going up.

Meet Dora the Explorer's biggest fan

A few months ago, Aliza spotted the Dora’s Dance Along Musical Adventure box on a toy aisle from about 50 feet away at Kohl's. She loves to sing, dance and shake it with the video. She even knows all the words to each song.

Aliza loves to watch episodes of Dora the Explorer while cuddling with her Dora pillow. In fact, Aliza falls asleep every night while watching an episode of Dora the Explorer that we tape daily on our DVR.

Aliza felt left out watching her older siblings play computer games. So I put her on nickjr.com and now she goes all over the site and loves to sing Dora songs with NickJr Radio.

The only bad thing about Aliza being such a huge Dora fan is she is quickly learning many Spanish words. Spanish is mine & Jason's "code" language. We both served LDS missions and spoke Spanish. When we don't want the kids to know what we're talking about, we speak Spanish. Aliza says, "Buenas Noches" each night. When she walks up the stairs, she says "arriba" and when she walks down the stairs, she says, "abajo." We love Aliza.

Jason & Michelle making a baby!

Volkswagen has a new minivan and they have an ad campaign about making a baby. I found this idea on another blog and decided to try it. You can upload photos of a mom and dad and see what their baby will look like.

Of course, Jason & I have already had 5 little ones of our own and have a pretty good idea of what our babies look like. Most people say our kids look exactly the same as babies. In fact, I truly feel like my life is like the movie "Groundhog Day" and that I keep waking up to the same baby over and over.

So what does Volkswagen think Jason & Michelle's baby should look like? Here's a picture of our computer generated baby after I uploaded a picture of Jason & me:

And to compare to one of our own babies, here's a recent picture of our newest addition, Ava, at almost 11 months.

What do you think? See any resemblance?

If you wanna check it out and play for yourself, click here to visit Volkswagen's site.

It's Payback Time!

Ashley, my oldest daughter, who is now 9 1/2 years old and in 4th grade, called me panicked from school today. She said, "Mom, I left my book at home and we're having a reading marathon and I need you to bring me my book, Mia, on my nightstand, NOW!" I hadn't showered yet and had no makeup on. I'll be the first to admit I looked a little scary. I've had a bad cold the entire week and feel like I've been hit by a freight train after hosting bunko at my house last night, but regardless, I said to her, "Meet me in the office."

So I jump in the car, go in the office and sure enough she's not there! So I walk to her classroom and all of the kids in her class were quietly reading. I tiptoe in and quietly hand her the book. Ashley looked mortified and whispered to me, "Mom, your hair!" Then, when she came home from school the first thing she said to me, "Mom why didn't you do to your hair," I quickly told her, "How about saying thanks for bringing the book to you?"

There's also been a ton of friend and boy drama. One of her good friends Hannah had a boy pass her a note saying, "If you'll be my girlfriend, I'll buy you 2 hamburgers." She told him "no" and then he told Ashley that Hannah broke his heart! I was dying laughing!

I really didn't think there would be so much drama in elementary school. I know I was embarrassed of my own mom and it was mostly if she took us to Kmart for school clothes shopping, but I don't remember it being until Junior High! I'm sure my mom is reading this and thinking, "It's Payback Time!"

Witch Fingers-a yummy Halloween treat

These witch fingers (made by neighbor & friend, Jessie) look so real that you almost don't want to eat one, but they really are quite tasty. And my kids love anything with peanut butter in them.

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

4 cups creamy peanut butter
2 lbs powdered sugar
almond slices
1 lb margarine
straight pretzels
red cake gel

Melt peanut butter and margarine. Add powdered sugar. Knead until smooth. Mold finger shape around pretzel. Attach almond for nail and red cake gel for blood. Use the back edge of spoon to make moon shapes knuckle marks.

*The pretzel gives it the effect of biting into the bone of the finger.

Thanks Jessie, (pictured above as a sassy witch), for sharing the recipe! Her witch fingers (also pictured above) won her one of Amy's coveted Halloween aprons at the Girl's Night Out-Witch Party that we went to! I'm so jealous!

Weigh In Wednesday

I just weighed myself and I'm only 0.4 lbs less than last week. I was hoping for more of a loss, but at least it's not a gain!

We have this amazing digital scale that tracks your % body fat, calorie intake to maintain your current weight, and displays your "real age" based on your weight and current % of body fat. You program into the scale your height and true age. It's pretty interesting to see the #'s (and no, I'm not brave enough to disclose my true #'s!)

One of my favorite fall TV shows is "Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders:Making the Team" on CMT. They want each Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader to have their body fat % to be between 11-17%. No wonder they have such amazing, rockin' hard bodies that I can aspire to one day have! Maybe ignorance is bliss and it's time to ditch the scale that displays my % body fat!

Here's to hoping for better #'s for next week!

Weekend Update-BORING!

This picture of Aliza sums up how we spent our weekend-sleeping & in front of the computer. We found Aliza deep asleep on the family computer Saturday night. My kids take after me in that they can fall asleep anytime & anywhere! No sleep insomnia or deprivation going on at our house!

I had great intentions of taking the kids somewhere fun for "fall recess." Instead we just did stuff around the house. Now I'm just hoping they don't have to write a school paper on what they did for fall recess. . . nothing!

Alex, Ashley & Abbey spent tons of time on the computer looking for the perfect Halloween costume. Alex is begging me to be Bigfoot for Halloween. Too bad the perfect costume he found is a mere $400, yea, I don't think so. He thinks it would be hilarious to run through the mountains dressed up as Bigfoot. Yea, hilarious until you're shot! Maybe he is more like my younger brother, Jared than I thought. Those of you that know my family know that my brother is obsessed with Bigfoot. I think the girls will most likely be asian princesses. We found a super cute costume that includes a kimono, obi, hairpiece and parasol. I've been trying to talk Alex into being a sumo wrestler or ninja to match their costumes. We'll see.

Aliza found a few new games on barbie.com. She's loving the new Barbie movie, "Barbie & the Diamond Castle." As for me, I cranked out tons of quarterly payroll & sales tax returns. They're all due October 31st. I'm trying to get them done soon so I'm not spending Halloween night answering the doors to trick-or-treaters and cranking out the tax returns.

Alex gave a great talk in Primary yesterday. I can't believe he just has a mere 3 months left of Primary.

Jason took the girls on a fun 4-wheeler ride on the mountains east of our house. He also installed new lights on the front of our house, which to his credit look great.

And that's about all for this post, BORING!

Thankful Thursday

More random things I'm thankful for this week:

1. Getting this new purse in the mail that my thoughtful sister Melissa bought for me on the crazy Canal Street of NYC. Thanks again, Melissa! LOVE it!
2. A client of mine sent me a $25 gift certificate to Olive Garden, one of my favorite restaurants, to say thanks for helping them with their taxes! So thoughtful!

3. Being able to go to Relief Society on Sunday! Thank again, Amber, for offering to stay in Nursery so I could hear one of my all time favorite RS teachers, Kris teach. She taught an amazing lesson on families and giving our children boundaries & love. One of my favorite parts was her suggestion to tell our children each night before they go to bed one thing we love about them. I started doing this and the kids have responded really well to it. In fact, I forgot last night & Alex quickly reminded me, "Mom, remember. . . What's one thing that you love about me." I'm so grateful that our church teaches us so much about parenting!

4. I survived the October 15th tax filing deadline! I really need to enjoy these next 3 months before the chaos starts again in January!

5. 2 new payroll accounts. Our best way to increase our business has always been through word of mouth/referrals. Luckily, even with this tough economy, our small business clients have remained in business. I'm grateful to be able to work out of my home, even though it's crazy at times. So many days I'm locking myself in the kitchen pantry so that clients don't hear the screaming kids in the background!

Weigh In Wednesday

I'm officially declaring every Wednesday as "Weigh In Wednesday" for my day to weigh in & record my weekly pounds lost (hopefully not gained!).

Now that I'm officially done having kids, hopefully 5 counts as "multiplying & replenishing the earth!," I'm wanting to lose my extra weight for once & for all. I'm SO tired of people asking me if I'm pregnant when I'm not. Luckily, this year it's only happened once. However, in 2006, let's just say it was about 10-12 times. . . depressing!

So, here's my official news: Waaaaa Hooooooo! I've lost 3 lbs since last Wednesday. Yes, I know compared to the Biggest Loser contestants, it doesn't sound like much, but it's still 3 lbs closer to my goal! I've now lost 7.2 lbs total in 2008. And, I have 14.8 lbs to hit my goal!

I found this picture on google. It's pretty nasty, but look at this picture of just 1 pound of fat! When I picture 3 of these disappearing from my body, I'm just thrilled!

Great Giveaways

So, I'm taking a break from working on some tax returns, to announce 3 new giveaways! Don't forget to enter all of these (Melissa, this means you!):

Mindi is giving a Cherella purse, "Turkey seasonal," & $25 restaurant gift certificate. Click here to enter!

Vanessa is giving away 4 prizes: Stamped Cards, $15 gift certificate to Coldstone, Salt City Candle or Glass Pumpkin with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Click here to enter!

Misty is giving away a scentsy Cornicopia warmer with scent of choice. Click here to enter.

Yes, I personally don't know any of these girls, but they have great blogs, so check them out!

As I was typing this, I just looked down at the floor and noticed that Ava was sticking her finger in my electric pencil sharpener. Thank goodness it wasn't plugged in! Reason #363 why I'll never be nominated as Mother of the Year! And yes, it 12:36 am and she's still not asleep! She's had way too many naps today!

Stimulus Payments-It's Not Too Late!

If you haven't yet filed your 2007 tax return to get your stimulus payment, you still have time to do so. But you must file by Oct. 15th, to get your payment this year! I'm right in the middle of finishing up some tax returns for a few clients that filed extensions this year. It's going to be a late night!

Snowy Sunday

The kids were so surprised to wake up Sunday morning and see so much snow! Then again, I was too, since I never watch the news or the Weather Channel. I had no idea snow was in the forecast. My 4 girls right before church.

Ashley & Abbey in new church dresses. We found these cute dresses at Target.

After I gave Aliza & Ava a bath, Ava crawled with her hooded bath towel still on over to Aliza & Abbey's room. She LOVES this Cinderella vanity.

The great thing about having 4 girls in a row. . . the hand-me-downs. I love this dressy coat that Abbey used to wear. Aliza loves it, too.

Abbey made snowmen from first thing in the morning . . . .

and continued to make snowmen until late at night. She made 3 cute snowmen for our front yard, all by herself! She kept begging her brother & sisters to come help her!