Halloween 2008

The Princess and her frog Prince...

We had so much fun trick-or-treating this year. I don't ever remember a year where you could wear flip flops trick or treating! Michal and Kaitlyn loved going house to house and after we left each house Kaitlyn would ask me if we could go to another house.

Michael is learning how to walk... in his frog costume!

Really Yummy Chili

This chili is SOOOOO good! I had it at my sister's house several months ago and it was amazing. I needed a chili recipe for our ward halloween party (I've never made chili before this) and so I got the recipe. It has a sweet & hot flavor to it. My sister made it last year for her ward's Halloween party and one the chili cookoff and I won an award this year!! I'm not taking any of the credit...it's just the recipe is amazing! Anyway, in celebration of Halloween & Fall...here's a good recipe.

LION HOUSE CHILI

1 pound diced lean beef (I just use ground beef)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 teasponn crushed red pepepr flakes
1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic, or 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon crushed black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cans (8 ounces each) diced tomatoes
1 can (4 ounces) diced green chilies
4 cups canned kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups tomato soup
1 cup tomato juice
1 cup brown sugar
Sour cream
Cheese, grated
Onion, finely chopped

Preheat large heavy skillet or Dutch oven. Brown beef, bell peppers, onion, and spices together in canola oil. When beef is browned, add remaining ingredients and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occassionally. Garnish with dollop of sour cream, grated cheese, and finely chopped onion. Serves 8 to 10.

Scrapbook of Disneyland...Almost Finished!

I've been working FOREVER (at least it feels like it) to get this Disneyland book finished. I'm just about there...

The Walk of "Fame" or "Shame"???

Well, after checking the mailbox everyday for almost two weeks, the letter Kami and I have been waiting for came today. We were so excited to open the letter marked from The Jazz! We opened it, read it a paragraph at a time and it read:

Dear Participant:

Thank you for your participation in the National Anthem auditions for the Utah Jazz. Your talent and effor thelped make this a successful tryout.

Due to the number of people who auditioned and the limited number of Jazz games, we were not able to select as many performers as we would have liked. Unfortunately, you were not selected to perform the anthem during the 2008-2009 season.

Thank you again for your participation in teh audition. We will keep your contact information on file, in case of future openings.

Sincerely,

Chantay Davies

Director of Game Operations and Promotions

OH MAN!!! Well, thanks for everyone's encouragement. It would've been a lot of fun to have all our friends and family at a Jazz game together. Plus, I was REALLY looking forward to some amazing, free tickets (at least I would hope they would do that for whoever is singing the National Anthem). We had fun doing it anyway. Thanks Kami--you're awesome!

D.I. Newspaper Article

http://deseretnews.com/cn/view/1,1721,505006899,00.html

Last week I was really excited to go to the Grand Opening of our new D.I. store in Layton. My sister, Lori, who used to work at D.I., told me that grand openings are a huge deal. They have workers go to other D.I. stores and keep the "good stuff" for the grand opening. I had a list written out of things I wanted to get there (you never know what you'll find, though). When I drove up to the new store it was INSANE. I got there right when it opened and there were people that had been standing in line to get in! The entire parking lot was full, so I drove back to the old D.I. (which is right next to it) and it was almost full--I parked there. People were even parking across the street at Sam's Club. It was seriously crazy how many people were there! I was lucky enough to get a shopping cart and I managed to fill it up! I bought toys for the kids for Christmas, a bunch of children's books (not like I really needed those-but I just can't resist), 2 really cute Sunday dresses for Kaitlyn, and 8 skirts for me! I know, I kind of felt stupid buying 8 skirts. But I got all 8 for about the same price as 1 new skirt! During my 2 hour stay at the new D.I., I was looking through the clothes when out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy taking a picture of me. It kind of scared me at first, but then I realized he was a reporter. So now I'm in the Church News! And yes, I know my name is spelled wrong. Heidi Perry...I even spelled it out for him and tried my best to enunciate the "T" in Terry. I'm going to have to start saying "T as in Tiger".

Gardner Village Witches

We enjoyed a visit to Gardner Village last night with Brett & Allison's family. My niece, Melanie wanted to go there for her birthday to see all the fun witches they have out at this time of year. I love Gardner Village any time of year but it's really fun right now with all the pumpkins, straw, corn husks, and of course the silly life size witches.

A Small Moment of Fame!

Yesterday my friend Kami and I tried out to sing the National Anthem at a Jazz game. So here is our small moment in fame when we ended up on the news! We actually thought we were going to be on channel 4 news because a guy interviewed us on camera as we were leaving, but thankfully that embarrassing moment didn't end up being televised. We were #28 to try out and only stayed to listen up to #45. There were a lot of soloists that showed up to try out, several mens quartets, a family, a few kids, including a 3 year old! We were suprisingly the only women's duet, and the only ones wearing Jazz jerseys! Well, who knows if we'll make it or not (they let us know by mail), but it was fun to practice and try out anyway!

Click on this link if you want to check out the short news story:

http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=89D6555A88B2A6B231D37B043758D60C?contentId=7672206&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. The tractor pulled us out to the pumpkin patch where we each got to pick our own pumpkins! I couldn't resist taking some more pictures when we got back to our house.

Go Jazz!!

It's fall...and that means pumpkins, changing leaves, crisp air, hot cocoa, football, and Jazz basketball! I REALLY love watching football (especially BYU games...why can't they be on normal TV? rrrrr), and watching the Jazz play. My friend Kami is the sweetest person on the planet and took me to a Jazz game! We had so much fun and it was AWESOME to be close enough that we could see all the players faces, and could even hear what they were saying! Thanks so much, Kami--that was a blast!!

Picture Taking Adventure

Last week I wanted to get some Fall pictures taken around Michael's 1st birthday. Let's just say it ended up being a "practice round" because we did a lot more hiking than picture taking. I got great directions from a friend on how to get there, but got a little lost (it was totally my fault). By the time we found the location where I wanted to have our pictures taken my hair was totally out of control (bad enough that I just put in a ponytail) and it was way too dark. Not to mention the difficulty of getting a 1 and 2 year old to smile and look at the camera at the same time. But now I know what to expect, and most of all--where to go! Suprisingly, we still got some really great shots--Thanks for sharing your skills, your camera, and your time, Ricky!!

And this one is just classic...

Measuring Up--Michael at Age 1

At age 1, Michael...

Weighs 18 lbs. 13 oz. (4%)

Measures 28.5 inches (10%)

Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do...

Kaitlyn LOVES to sing. She pretty much is singing all day long. Her favorite song right now is "Doe, A Deer A Female Deer" from the Sound of Music.

Yard Work

Steve worked really hard to get our main flower bed looking good again. We ended up taking out all the aspen trees, which we loved, but they were sending up more starters than we could handle. We were really sad that one of our pine trees died, but we had to take that out too. Then we tilled everything else under. I knew it was a bad sign when while we were undertaking this project several neighbors mentioned how pretty our large rocks were and asked when/where we got them. I guess with all the vine ground cover, weeds, grass, and aspen starters, the rocks we had had there since we moved in were hidden!

I think it turned out really nice, though. We made it more mounded, planted a choke cherry tree, riverside pine, and an amur flame maple tree, along with a fake river bed and some stepping stones. We are also going to get a big flat rock to make a little bridge. Hopefully it will be less maintenance and we can keep it looking the way it does now!

BEFORE (well...kind of during the process)

AFTER

Michael Turns 1!!!

I can't believe Michael is a year old! This year went by SO fast. He actually took his first step just two nights ago! He's not really walking yet, but he likes to try if someone is standing in front of him. He is a little climber, and loves to go up the stairs as fast he can. He is such a pleasant and good-natured little guy.

My parents, Natalie, and Jon came over for a little birthday party for Michael. We had dinner and ate way too much pasta, then Michael opened his presents (with a lot of help from Kaitlyn). My mom gave Michael a Thomas the Train, and he didn't want anything to do with the other presents after that!

We made a frog cake and Michael was a lot of fun to watch eat his cake. He poked at it for quite a while, then started licking the frosting, then finally started picking it up in the handfuls. After a while he had frosting in his nose, on his hair, and just everywhere!

Michael 12 months

Michael's size at 12 months:
Height: 28.5 inches
Weight: 18 lbs. 13 oz.

Michael's 1st Birthday Cake!

We had a lot of fun watching Michael eat his birthday cake. It took him a while to figure out what was going on, but he ended up being pretty entertaining and messy!

New Salt Lake Temple Background on Family Tree Poster

I don't mean to beat a dead horse if you've already heard about this, but I'm offering a really low price on my family history posters right now. I'm just trying to advertise by word of mouth (or blog). Here is an example of a new family tree poster I just finished. I think the picture of the Salt Lake Temple is pretty cool! Click on the little picture of the poster on the left side of my blog for more info or just go to http://familytreeposters.blogspot.com/