Pumpkin Heaven

If I were a pumpkin, this is where I would want to end up when I die. I mean, really, what are your other options?

Michael Jackson wanna be...

The infamous Trucker Chick...

Death By Electrocution?

No thanks! THIS is where I'd want to end up. You can call them Pumpkin Pie Bars, or Pumpkin Cobbler, or even Upside-down Pumpkin Pie. I think I'm just going to call them..

Pumpkin Heaven:

4 eggs
3 cups canned pumpkin
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups evaporated milk
1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup melted butter

Directions:
Mix the first eight ingredients together in the order given. Pour the mixture into an ungreased 9x13 pan.
Mix dry cake batter with melted butter until crumbly and top pumpkin mixture evenly.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes. Cover with foil if it begins to brown too quickly, I usually start checking on mine around 60 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Enjoy!

GoNgA!

Defined : A super smokin' hot deal, that leaves you with a BIG GRIN on your face, a spring in your step and a song in your heart.

I love my Black Clogs. I have had them for 3 years and I think I've about loved them TO DEATH. The poor things have done their duty. To this end, I have been shopping around the last few weeks to find a suitable replacement. This is no easy task for a Size 11 wearing woman! I used to be a 10, which was manageable, at least I could still look for shoes at most stores. However after my first 2 kids, I landed at 11 and such is my fate. No shopping at the mall stores like Mervyn's or Penneys.

Then along came DSW. My friends, this place is shoe heaven. Alot of their shoes are stocked up to Size 11, like Rocket Dog, Guess, Privo, Clarks, Born, Steve Madden, you get the idea. They also send coupons for new store openings, if you haven't made a purchase in the last month, and even when you DO purchase and earn reward points.

It just so happens that I found the perfect shoe, while I had 3 coupons in hand. DSW will take up to 3 at a time. If you're interested in which shoe, see here. They are the comfiest shoes I think I have ever worn, and cute to boot!

And to make it even better, they were priced for $49.99, retail on them is closer to $90. After my coupons for $10 off, then $20 off, and one more $15 off.....I paid a whopping $5.29 for these shoes. Now, that is a gonga! I just had to share my glee!

'Twas the week before Halloween

...the kids were fresh out of the bath....well, two of them anyway

...one was soaking some more!

When what should we hear, but a ghostly rap...on the door.

We ran to the door with hair wet, but clean.

To find who was waiting, to visit us, keen.

Not a soul was there, not even a mouse.

A ghost had descended on the doorstep of our house.

Bags of treats he did leave,

five, one for each to receive.

Sweet treats lay inside to chase away gloom.

Savannah promply stashed hers in her room!

48 hours we have to return the sweet favor,

or another spooking might be ours to savor.

Might not be a bad idea :)

Beading Night

Every month, the ladies in my neighborhood get together to play. The toy of choice is beads! I learned how to make little girl bracelets when I was pregnant with Sydney...I made the girls matching ones so that Savi could give Syd one when she was born, and they could have "sister bracelets". Since then, I've accumulated the tools of the trade and it's become one of my favorite hobbies. With a toddler around it seems I don't get as much time in with beading as I would like, so it's nice to have one evening set aside here and there. There are quite a few mediums you can work with so I'm always learning from my beading girls new techniques and shamelessly stealing all their great ideas! Plus, it's just fun to catch up with each other and get peoples' opinions on what your project of the month is.
This month, I hosted. We meet from 9pm til whenever...usually about midnight. Savi was excited that I was having a party after they would be in bed, and wanted to leave a welcome sign for them. Isn't she adorable?

Here are the projects I completed last night! Selfishly, they are both for me. That is not usually the case though, I use a lot of my creations for gifts! I also made a pair of earrings to match a necklace I made last time, and repaired a necklace I broke a few weeks ago. All in all, a productive night! We had a new beading Mom :) join us last night who makes flower hair clips for her girls. She sews 5-6 little beads in the center of each silk flower before attaching it to a clippie. They are ADORABLE! I see another shameless steal in my near future.

Yearbook Yourself!

My friend Charisse, who I don't see enough of, emailed me this link a few weeks back and I finally spent a few minutes checking it out. It is great fun! It has a span from 1950-2000 with a popular hair/clothes style from each 2 year period, and you can superimpose your face to see what you might have looked like as a highschooler during that time. The top pic is of me in 1960, the next in 1966...I think I look alot like my Mom did in the 70's after she bobbed her hair - except it was brown of course!
I looked at the one from the year I graduated, 1994, and I don't know if that was really what was happening then....at least not for me. But take it for what it is, a fun way to see yourself a little differently. I had a few good laughs!

http://www.yearbookyourself.com

Fall Weekend Review

It was like the 1st week of summer, all over again! (minus the trip to Cali to see cousins) The kids had a plan for each day, and I, the nice Mommy, obliged them. It was nice to get out and play with all 3, since lately errands, homework, etc don't leave much time for the outings we used to enjoy.

Thursday we went to The Living Planet Aquarium, where the stars of the show are the Manta Rays that you can pet. They had a new Octopus that was so spell-binding, I could've watched all day. Also a fun bio-center where you could touch stars, horseshoe crabs and other weird looking creatures. We spent 2-3 hours checking stuff out, they even had a play area that looked like a coral reef with tunnels and enclosed aquariums throughout that Sydney ran her little diaper off in! I'm glad I paid $33 for an annual pass, instead of $20 for the one day visit. I have a feeling it'll get a lot of use.

Friday we went and saw Kung Fu Panda at the dollar theater. Mom EVEN bought popcorn, something we try to tell the kids we don't have to do every time we see a movie, so it's a real treat. We smuggled in some capri suns and candies too. Bad Mommy, I know, but who wants to pay $3 for a bag of Skittles? Robbery, I tell you. We loved the flick, nice lesson about believeing in yourself.

Saturday we went as a family to a 3D Funhouse - 1st time in Utah!! OK, this left us feeling seriously ripped off. We paid $20 for a family pass to tour 2 tents filled with glowy paint and phosphroescent bubbles that made our skin itch. They didn't even use the paints right. With the 3D glasses on, the monster's bellies were concave and belts stuck out at you and such... Oh, and part of it was caved in, we had to practically crawl through on section of it....I don't think that was by design. The kids thought it was great, 5 minutes later when we were done, but Dad and Mom felt conned. Oh well, lesson learned. When the sign at the front says boldly, NO REFUNDS, you should be suspicious!

Yesterday, we went to the Scarecrow Festival. This is an annual fair put on by the Westridge Academy, a program for troubled teens. All the proceeds go to the program, and they have their students working all the booths. SO FUN! Tons of bouncy houses and slides and obstacle courses, face painting, pony rides, entertainment, clowns, really bad live music and all the like. We played for 4 hours and came home happy and pooped! I even got a little burned, it was such a beautiful day. The kids loved their face paint. The pics are after we got home, they'd played and had sno cones and everything so the paint is about done...but they still thought they looked awesome, and that's what's important!!

The house feels especially peaceful today....I wonder why? No I don't - it's because they're back in school. Hope you survived as well as we did! Next week - Halloween Candy Hangover!!

My Unspectacular Quirks

I have been tagged by Kasey, my sister and one of the best friends a girl could ask for.

Here are the rules:
"MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"
1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 following bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

My 6 Unspectacular Quirks:

1. I enjoy driving at night, in the dark. I don't know why, it just seems like everything is more peaceful or something.
2. I love running errands, even with my kids. I think I just like to get out of the house 1x per day. I know some people who schedule all their errands on 1 day per week. I couldn't hang with that.
3. I have to be in the mood to do housework. When I am, I can wipe all my to-dos out in about 3 hours. When I'm not....well, I just wait till I'm in the mood. :)
4. I like to rough-house with my kids. When I was pregnant the last time I really missed it....and they did too, especially Gunnar. We love to roll around on the floor and tickle and wrestle and giggle.
5. People think it's SO HARD on me when Chris travels...it's really not. Like anything that happens on a regular basis, you develop a routine and there's comfort in that. Of course we miss him, but it's not like we're struggling. (OH, by the way - he hasn't traveled nearly as much this year than any of the previous 9!)
6. I have to wind down for at least 30-60 minutes after my kids go to bed. Even if it's doing the dishes that I left in the sink after dinner, folding some laundry or reading a book. I NEED quiet time or I can't fall asleep. My brain won't turn off if I just lay down before puttering.

And now I tag:

1. Angeline
2. Lisa
3. Kari
4. Liz
5. Lenice
6. Shelley