Finally, Friday

Our house is becoming quite the gallery. I love my priceless collections...

This is a recent family portrait by Heidi. I am fascinated when she writes our names in perfect mirror image, although kindergarten is making that more rare.

Last Monday we cut up egg cartons for crafts.

The first thing we made were these witches...

This one is James', hanging in the front window.

This one is Heidi's on the inside of the front door

And here's Addie's...
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Today we had preschool at our house.
Here are the kids having snack time.

The girls

The boys

The yummy food

A few weeks ago, Kim made these "triangles" with the kids--I love them!

Today we used the rest of the egg carton to make pumpkins (color=orange) and spiders (number=8)...too much fun! Now I am off to read in Heidi's kindergarten class...even more fun! Smell ya later!

***

I am back from kindergarten...love that place, love my Heidi Lynners! I noticed EC Prophet's funeral on the front page of the local paper (some of you may not know that our ranch is only a few miles north of the CUT compound, and our town is only about 30 miles north). I thought you might be interested in some local news, so read up HERE on Elizabeth Clare Prophet & the Church Universal & Triumphant. I love living in Montana, land of the free, home of the brave, haven of the manifesto-writing crazies...it's awesome to live in a place that truly believes in different strokes for different folks...a place where stockpiling food & weapons is normal.

Just Sayin'...

Loved Ones, this invitation will be coming in the mail to many of you next week and we hope you will come (but we'll forgive you if you don't). I just wanted to let our AZ peeps know (like Aunt Lisaree, maybe Stephanie L.) that allegiantair.com is selling Mesa-to-Billings tickets for $39.99 right now. So, ya know, maybe it's time for you to come to Montana....just sayin'...

10pm update: btw, all cousins are invited to sing "I Am A Child of God" in the service, so practice and join in!

Long Time Ago When We Was Fab

I got this stupid jingle in my head, so I logged on to youtube to see if they had the Mountain Dew commercial from 1986 with Lance Mountain and Tony Hawk and they totally did. I recorded this ad on one of my TV tapes back in HS because I had met Tony at a skate shop opening and he told us he had shot this commercial so I was watching for it. I loved it...and now it looks so sadly dated. And it's so sad how starved for sk8 footage (& skaters) we were...sigh...

Rainy Days & Mondays

Here are a few photos of the kids. We took a walk this morning , but it got pretty cold and windy.

On Friday, we said good bye to Peter.

He is touring National Parks for a few weeks, then returning to Prague.

Today during our walk, the girls spotted a black cat...
ooo, how Halloween-ish!

We had fun playing at the playground until it got a little too windy.

***

The other day I finished reading THIS book, Beloved Emma, a birthday gift from my mother-in-law. I thought it was going to be kind of a coffe table book, but when I sat down to read it, I ate it up in 2 days. It's a narrative biography of the life of Emma Smith and it has changed my attitude about a lot of things, especially the way I measure my faith. And how just plain weak I am, when I consider the things that shake me or cause me to murmur. Um, yeah...this story shut me right on up. I tend to give myself excuses for when I get into a funk, when I withdraw, putting my light under a bushel, then sitting down on top of the bushel and pouting. When I don't want to serve, I just want to curl up in a fetal position and whine. Emma had a thousand reasons to be depressed, anxious, faithless... but she gave what God asked her to give without question. Now that I am a wife and mother, I find her story almost unbearable to read--it makes me heartsick. The image of her as a graceful old woman, climbing the stairs of the Homestead to sit in her rocker and watch the sun set over the Mississippi River with tears streaming down her face just breaks my heart. What a life. What a woman. I can't wait to thank her.

Fall Break Friday

Today so far...we've made pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies and 3 doz chocolate chippers. After a pasta lunch, Addie served tea & cookies, and now we are off to read halloween stories and take a nap (since they went to bed at 9 and got up at 6, missing 3 hours of sleep, and it shows!)... Tea Party (Peach Crystal Light and sugar cookies)
Addie and James are so cute...

it's warm out (50 degrees) so Heidi is tormenting the neighbor dogs.

There's mama in the kitchen (wearing my England apron today)

...and our tollhouse nummies...we'll eat them in honor of

DEAR COUSIN AUTUMN'S 29th (again) BIRTHDAY
(hope it's a wonderful day--we're so glad you were born, Autumn!)

***

We're aslo celebrating the Bozeman Stake Preparedness Fair,

which is tomorrow at the stake center form 10-2 with free lunch and lots of info.

You get lots of good info, and afterward, I get my husband back! YAY!

Real Quick

I am singing "Bring on the Dancing Horses" in my head because one of the kids was messing with the dash of the van and stuck in the Pretty In Pink Soundtrack, so when I had to go on a run (grandma Melin was here) to get Triaminic meltaway strips for Addie-with-a-cold, Echo & the Bunnymen serenaded me.

Richard is gone to an insurance conference in Great Falls, so it's just me and the children til Tuesday night. It's going to be a very busy few days, so I thought I would post tonight in a moment of silence (the kids all crashed by 7:30, except Addie, who crashed after said strips were administered and Emergen-C was chuggged). Tomorrow I have my nieces all day and Tuesday I am cooking up some food then taking the kids over to Helena (arriving around 3-4pm) to see Auntie Laura and help her get ready for her big surgery on Wednesday. Rich is going to meet me in Helena and bring the kids back home, and I am going to stay the night and make sure that Laura is okay on Wednesday (and do what ever I can to help--??). I have to be back for Thursday morning because the kids have a 5-day fall break, so I guess I can catch up blogging then.

All is well with us. I feel like a true Montanan because I am happy to be hunkered down, bundled up, cozy in my home while it's freezing outside. I just love it (until about January 2nd, then I will be hatin' it). Here are some recent pictures Rich took with his cell phone:

Last Saturday 10/03 we biked to the drugstore soda fountain between conference sessions...YUM!
My Sweetie Boyz

We picked our apples before the big freeze...

Yeehaaa!

Rich & James

Grandma & Addie

Addie in a tree James on a ladder

(on a hill...precarious...)

Gracias, Amiga!

Today is Heidi's Grandma Date, so it's just me & Ad this afternoon (James is engrossed in watching Monsters, Inc on my ipod). We were so excited to come home from school and find a package on our porch (in the snow). We were even more excited when it turned out to be Serendipity's FRRROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE MIX, a bday gift from Lisa M. Andersen (that's "M for Marvelous")...It really is delightful, and it only takes 1/2 c of milk to make this big glass, which is great news for the lactose intolerant.
A happy addition to my pantry's baking shelf (which may as well be the chocolate shelf).

It's a big hit!

Thanks, again, Lis...your gifts are always unique and thoughtful!

What's So Special About Wednesday?

I'll tell you what...

1. It's the 17th anniversary of the day I went into the MTC--10.07.92--and it's a Wednesday again. So if I were in UT Valley, I would take James and go over to the MTC and watch the new kids get dork dots and the crying--I love the crying.

2. It's the last day my Grandparents are in Utah, so I hope they are livin' it up in style...maybe lunch at a sweet li'l bistro...

3. Steph is going to be on Oprah! YOU MUST WATCH OPRAH on 10/7 (SET YOUR DVRs) even if you loathe her (and I'll admit to needing TUMS to get through some shows) and see the magnificent Clark and Nielson families share their testimonies!

Here's my hubs SHAKIN' THE TREE...and then I remembered the Peter Gabriel song...wow, life is full of happy coincidences. I'm shakin' some trees, too.

Shake the Tree! from MelinFamily on Vimeo.

oops--the code is broken--I'll be back with the actual clip when vimeo gets crackin'.
4:40--link still not ready, but here's something even BETTER (I made it last night as cupcakes and it was FAB--try 1 stick of butter + 1/2 c applesauce= less fat, more yum) :

Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Glaze (directions follow)
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

1 Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.

3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

4 Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

5 Drizzle glaze over cake.

Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Snowy Birthday Song from MelinFamily on Vimeo.

Happy Sabbath Thought...

I made this last night...one of my favorite Nibley quotes with one of my favorite pictures.