What the crap.. October, seriously?

Is anyone else in shock that it's October! I found myself blog stalking today and thinking, why hasn't [blank] updated yet?! And look at me it's been a whole month since I wrote that completely useless and uninteresting blog about fall...

We went to fair like 100 years ago..

The hypnotist tried, but couldn't but me all the way under.. my mom says it's because I have control issues. Oh well.Chandler and Benson tried to share our stroller for all of about 30 seconds. lol.

I made two cakes in one weekend, I don't recommend it. The pink and green one is my first attempt and a full size cake. I always make litttle one's like Teresa's undreneath. It was scary, but turned about better than I had imagined.

PS: if you're going to use that marshmallow fondant recipe follow it carefully. Teresa's cake was a ***** to work with.

Chandler went fishing with the men..
They didn't catch anything, but it was about the experience, right? Besides then brother Chezic gave us some fish last week. :-)

Our program came and went and it was fabulous(?). It's hard to know how the kids are actually doing while I'm up there with them. lol. I'm told it was fabulous. We're getting ready for Halloween, I'm going to the fabric store today to find some stuff for chandler's costume.
We've been discussing Christmas plans, and I've started our shopping.. so far Adam has the coolest present. In primary we are seriously discussing January's new classes.

I can't believe it, it feels like the year is OVER.

Autumn

I wore a sweater today and Sunday.

I love Fall. This morning I stood in the back yard and smelled the air for at least 3 minutes. I hope the Perkes couldn't see.. I am sure it looked weird. Then I went inside and smelled the crayons.

I thought about getting new clothes and tennis shoes. Clothes that sat in my dresser for weeks because I wasn't allowed to wear them until the first day of school. Walking into that classroom, that smells like construction paper and glue sticks in my new clothes. Close your eyes, can't you smell it? Can you smell new binders, paper, hot pencil sharpeners, erasers, whiteboard markers, sweaters, backpacks, and new socks?

It makes me feel excitement even tho I'm not actually returning to the school supplies this year.

Does it make you want to go outside and smell the air? (be careful, your neighbors might look at you weird). It smells like fall.. crisp, fresh... makes me want to bake an apple with cinnamon and sugar, then go buy Halloween costumes.

It makes me want to cry because I am happy, and I love this time of year, and I cry all the time at everything. It makes me want to cry because life is moving and I can't seems to enjoy everything as much as I would like because it's just too fast. It makes me want to cry because our primary program is next Sunday and that makes me panic.

So if you haven't done it yet, go buy a new sweater, and some crayons, and go stand in the back yard and smell fall. And if you're like me cry. God gives us these few short weeks in September before the rain (or snow, or fires) comes when everything is perfect, and everything smells perfect.

I have been crafting a little...

If you've never worked with fondant, you should, it's fun. I learned alot for next time. But more importantly, I made this fondant myself. It's marshmallow fondant. I had everything I needed for it in my pantry, no glycerine or other chemicals needed. Also, I was told (I didn't actually eat any of the cake) that it tastes better than regular fondant. Oh, PS: yes, it's supposed to be all crooked like that. It leaned a little more to the right than I would have liked, but like I said, 'next time'.

No, these aren't some kind of hint, or announcement. Everyone I know seems to be having babies. Emali got a few and there are a few going other places. ;-) They're just applicae (sp?), and then I had to hand stitch them all.. Took like a 100 years (probably 1-2 hours each), but it was totally worth it!

This one I did a few weeks after the others. Not the best picture, but you get the idea. Super cute. When I have a girl, she is wearing this home from the hospital. It was actually just tulle left over from Chelsea's baby shower. :-) I love Pottery barn....
Not because I would spend $26 on a pillow, but because I get their catalog and and it's full of things I can just copy with your sewing machine. $10, 5 old pillows, 5 new pillows! I really don't think these pictures do it justice, but you can come see them if you'de like.
Okay, gardening isn't really 'crafty', but it fits in the same category in my mind: "things I try to do". Julie and I are reaping the fruits and veggies of our labors. More exciting than these veggies is.. our pumpkins (and one cantelope) have started growing!! They're little tiny things, all 3 or 4 of them, but we are very excited. We bough "compition size". They're supposed to get up to 200 pounds or something crazy. I will be extremely happy if we get two that are big enough to carve. However, we have a slug problem. They get on our plants and make them whither. Have you seen the little withered pumpkin, julie? Any suggestions on how to keep the slugs out of our garden? Besides moving away from the mid west ;-)

Now I really want to make another cake. Who needs a cake?

PSS: if you think I stole the collage thing from you, I did. I have been trying not to use it (because I don't want to look like a copy cat.. yes, I am six at heart), but there just wasn't a better way this time! So, yes I stole it from all of you who use it on your blog. Thanks.

Ummm... Pictures

I don't have anything clever to say. We had our family pictures taken, and here are some of them. Hope you had a wonderful weekend!










Um.. please take a moment to check out my hair..


k bye.

Do you digg?

If you don't you should...
Thanks Adam for the hours, and hours of wasted time...


digg.com

A week late

Well my week of cleaning was great! How was yours?

Throwdown Thursday Returns

I have now had a few people ask me about Throwdown Thursday.. and I have felt reasonably disappointing with myself (don't feel guilty if you asked me, I don't feel that bad). Basically here's what happened. I was supposed to eat my fruits and veggies (the recommended amount) everyday for a week. I failed :-( and I was too ashamed to announce to the whole world that I suck.

Did anyone do it, btw. I know it was like 90 years ago, but maybe it changed your life.

Anyway, maybe someday I will try that goal again, but today I have a new goal. It is actually something we try to do regularly, but why not try it for a week strait (with a twist). So here's the goal, ready? yay!


Every night before we go to bed, Brandon and I are going to make sure the house entire is clean.

I know.. 'are you crazy?!' But it's not so bad. I don't mean we need to scrub the toilets or mop the floor. All it means is that the toys are put away, the dishes are done, clothes are picked up.. ect. Basically that the house is in order. The twist is that it's the whole house. We have always tried to do just the living room and kitchen, but why not just make sure I put my blow dier away too.

I have found on days when we are successful at cleaning up downstairs before we go to bed, I wake up and am in a much better mood when I go down there. No one wants to wake up to a large pile of stinky dishes anyway.

I am open to advice on how to keep your home clean with out making it such a chore too! One thing we do that makes it a little more manageable is called "15 minutes" (I know we're creative). Just take 15 minutes and clean as much as you can as fast as you can. You'll be suprised to see how much you two get done. Plus Chandler thinks it's hillarious to watch us run around.

Who's with me?!

See you next Thursday. :-)