Happy Halloween!!



Today has been a flurry of activities. Reilly had to take her costume to school so that she could change into it after lunch...so I was up early getting that all ready. Then Kameron got to wear his costume to school so all morning he kept asking me..."Is it time yet"? ..."Is it time"?? This year Reilly was an Arabian Princess, Kameron was Mr. Fantastic (dyed black hair and all), and Ailey was a ballerina. FINALLY he got to put his costume on and Ailey put her's on as well and we were off to school. I dropped him off with all his little buddies...quite a group of superheroes...what did moms do for boy's costumes before the padded muscle superhero costumes? After I dropped off Kameron I raced to pick up Tyler from work and we hurried to get back to the Elementary school before 1:30 pm when the costume parade was to begin. Tyler and I had barely gotten into Kameron's classroom before Reilly came blowing in demanding that I HURRY up to her room because all the other mother volunteers were already there. Tyler and I had decided to split things up this year...He and Ailey would stay with Kameron in his class and I would go with Reilly.


Both kids had fantastic parties with games, face painting, and lots of food. Even Ailey participated and got her face painted. In Reilly's class they had a caramel popcorn/M&Ms/pretzel/gummi worm mix...(I brought the caramel popcorn)...they also had hot apple cider, pumpkin pie tarts, and bloody fingers (little smokies with a tiny bit of tortilla to look like a bandage and ketchup)...quite a hit with the kids. They had darling gift bags and fun yet disgusting games...like the spaghetti marble game. The kids had to take off their shoes and socks and put their feet in pans of spaghetti aka "bloody guts" and pick out the marbles with their toes. It was revolting to watch...guess who was the first to volunteer...OF COURSE Reilly!! I was helping with the "find the candy in a bunch of whipped cream without your hands race". It was a great party and so was Kameron's...in his class they also had several stations with games and arts and crafts. Tyler was laughing because Kameron has a little admirer named Lindsay who spent her time rubbing Kameron's back while he was coloring... SCARY! Then all the kids got to participate in the Halloween parade so Kameron came through Reilly's class and Reilly got to go through Kameron's class. This was so much fun to watch and to see all the kids from Church in their cute costumes.


What a change from the kids old elementary!! At the old school Halloween was banned...they couldn't even say the word "Halloween" or they had to go to "think time" (a kind of time-out). They were not allowed to have any kind of party or wear any costumes. Anything with a pumpkin or any other symbol of Halloween was confiscated. A friend of Reilly's had her birthday the week before Halloween and brought cupcakes with the pumpkin picks in them and the pumpkins were confiscated. Crazy! The school's explanation for this was that they didn't want to offend members of Wicca or any other religion...so the only holiday this school celebrated was Valentine's Day. Very sad! I am so glad that we transferred the kids to a school where the whole afternoon is spent in costumes...teachers and all...and having a fun time!! They're KIDS for heaven's sake!


It was funny because last night, as I was up to my ears in caramel popcorn and pumpkin guts, the volunteer coordinator from the kids' old school called...I guess I am still on the volunteer list...Tyler and I were laughing thinking maybe this other school was actually going to have a Halloween party of some kind...but no...she was calling for me to help with the Pacific Science Van. You should have seen the poor kids walking home from this school today...no costumes...no treats...as Reilly and Kameron were scarfing down treats...in costume...waving to friends.



It seemed like we hadn't been home long before it was time to put the costumes back on...get hair and make-up done (even Ailey had blush and a little mascara on...which she LOVED)...take some pictures and we were off to the church for Trunk-or-Treat.

Trunk-or-Treat was fun but BITTER cold! It is supposed to be 14 degrees tonight!! Ailey did the rounds and then she was DONE! We left a bit early and drove the kids around so they could trick-or-treat for awhile. They came home with quite a haul!

This morning I was watching the Today show and they were doing a segment on "Haunted Hotels" and they were showing pictures that people had taken in some of these supposed "haunted" places and talking about the "orbs" in the pictures...which are weird circles of light that appear in pictures... the orbs are supposedly ghosts/energy...and the guy was talking on and on about these "orbs". I watched on HORRIFIED!! Check out the picture I took in my living room on Sunday night while we were watching "Over the Hedge"...FREAKY!!!

Dining Diva Photos

There was a problem with the blogger site yesterday and I wasn't able to post the pictures... But they are posted now in the text of the Dining Divas Blog.

Dining Divas

Tonight we went to a dinner party at the Bowen's...they had it at the Adirondak Lodge...which is very nice. Our ward has started doing monthly dinner parties. People sign up to be hosts/hostesses and there is a monthly dinner party theme. Ours tonight was "Appetizers"...and then the hosts invite several couples or families to attend. The Bowen's dinner party was a family dinner party which was great because we didn't have to find a babysitter. It was a lot of fun!! The food was great and so was the company. I brought Hot Artichoke Dip with tortilla chips and Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce. I needed an excuse to make such delicious yet fattening food.


This has made me think back with such regret on the now defunct Dining Divas ( here anyway). Dining Divas is a cooking club that was started in Salt Lake about 6 years ago. My sister, Stacey, was an original member. It is a fantastic group of women who meet once a month for dinner...hence the Dining Divas. The Diva of the month picks a theme and then sends out lavish (usually hand-crafted) invitations and assignments. This group is such a tight bunch that when my sister, Kelley, wanted to join she had to be on the waiting list for 2 years and could only sub until someone moved away.

When Kelley moved here we decided to start a our own chapter of Dining Divas...several girls have started a Houston Chapter, a Palouse Chapter and I think there is one more but I can't remember where... Anyway, Kelley thought that this would be a great way to meet friends. So Dining Divas began... The original group included: Kelley, me, Meghan (Kelley's friend from SLC who moved up here with her), our cousin Tania who had just moved back to town, two sisters: Stephanie and Erica, Amy, Kassie, Rebecca, and Jolene. We were off to a great start. Each woman was unique and interesting. We had many great dinners: our Dining Divas kick-off of appetizers and beverages (Kelley was the Diva), Thai night, April in Paris (I was the Diva), a goddess night, Spain, Dinner at the Lake, Summer Harvest, Carribbean, "What moves you", "Iron Chef", Mediterranian, Breakfast at Tiffany's (Kelley was the Diva), Fire and Ice (I was the Diva) and and two "dining-out" at restaurant dinners. We all had assignments at the dinners: Diva, appetizer, vegetarian appetizer, soup, salad, entree, vegetarian entree, dessert, beverage and alcoholic beverage.

Our group began as ten women...most of whom didn't know each other but who had a love of cooking and great food. We wanted to challenge ourselves and expand our culinary horizions. The women ranged in age from 23-36. We had a yoga instructor, hospital registrar, Lands Council Director, masseuse, bartender, secretary, bridal shop manager, graphic designer, computer specialist, and a stay-at-home mom. There were four moms. Our group also consisted of 3 vegetarians and one conservative married mormon (hum...I wonder who that was). I was excited to be out of my comfort-zone and my little "box" and meeting women who I maybe wouldn't have had the opportunity to form friendships with...famous last words!

Here are a few picture from some of our gatherings...

At first our dinners went well as we were all in the "getting to know you" phase. But after we got to know each other we realized that there were a few strong personalities that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. We had two women who used the dinners to tell us all their latest graphic "sexploits". These two women also would cancel at the last minute without finding subs...usually when they had entree. The final straw was at our "What moves you dinner"...the Diva had hired a flamenco dancer to teach us some moves and these two sat talking loudly through the performance and being extremely rude to our invited guest. Several of the women approached me and Kelley about kicking these two out of the group... which we eventually did.

We then restructured...we were now a group of eight...a much more comfortable number. We restructured our dinner assignments to: Diva, appetizer, soup, salad, entree, side dish, dessert and beverage. We decide to become more community-minded...doing service work etc. We had interest from the Mary Jane's Farm Magazine's editors (who my sisters and I met and told them about our cooking group)...about a potential article on cooking clubs. They offered to let us tour their test kitchen and cook with them (a little Dining Divas Field trip). We wanted to have guest speakers...local chefs etc. But things took another bad turn...


Even with the exit of Meghan and Jolene...we were left with two vegetarians... (I have nothing against vegetarians...I am a 95% vegetarian and my three kids are vegetarians ) and several hard-core "granola" types. We eventually stopped having meat dishes all together, we could only use organic foods...if you used anything from a regular grocery store or....heaven forbid...Costco you were berated. So as the group had stopped being fun, creativity was out the door, and we couldn't extricate a particularly unpleasant woman from our group...Kelley and I ended it after a little over a year.

Kelley and I still mourn this little club. We miss the entertaining, cooking and friendship aspect of it all...it's too bad that it didn't work out. It's a great concept and with the "right" group of women it is a lot of fun...the SLC, Palouse, and Houston chapters are still going strong...so I guess I will stay inside my little "box" (for now)...it's cozy in here!!

My Guilty Pleasure

Blogging...reading other people's blogs...has seriously become my guilty pleasure. I guess I am some what of a snoop by nature. I have always had a great curiosity about other people...how they live, how they decorate, what they cook, how they parent... This blogging is really giving me quite a "fix"! But it has also been a fun way to stay in touch with family and friends...and I have learned SO MUCH more about friends by reading their blogs. What a bunch of incredible women. I am inspired every day.

I have posted a picture of two of my sisters, Stacey and Kelley, also well known snoops! Don't deny it you two!! My sister, Jordin, isn't a snoop, so I have kindly not included her picture! :) As kids, Stacey, Kelley, and I used to rummage through our grandparents cupboards, closets, and drawers etc. looking for some kind of treasure. (I think we read one to many books on finding "long-lost" diaries in attics or something). Our grandpa used to even hide little treats for us to find...he kept his top drawer stocked with licorice and gum! He also used to have a metal detector (the coolest thing EVER)...for years I begged Santa for one (which I never got)...so sure I would unearth priceless jewelry.

At our other grandparents house...on a lake...we would spend hours diving off our floating mats in our goggles looking for treasures on the bottom of the lake. We found alot of old pop cans. One time on a ski trip when we were little we stalked some poor guy all around Grand Targhee Ski Resort writing down his every move in a little notebook. We called it "Project of Weird Man". More like weird girls!

So thanks for my "fix"! It's one of my favorite parts of the day! Yay Carolyn...I am so glad you started a blog ...and thanks for listening to me vent today!! (Naomi you need to start one) Oh--and Kariann brought the most FABULOUS soup to our Stake YW's meeting tonight...I am still thinking about it hours later...email me the recipe, PLEASE!

Kristin, Kelley, Stacey and Ailey

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

The weather was GORGEOUS this weekend and so we decided to take a trip to the pumpkin patch. There is an area near us where there are a bunch of u-pick farms. It is beautiful up on a bluff overlooking pine-covered hills and little valleys. We love to go up there and pick fruit. In October they have a Fall Festival with all kinds of things going on...great food and fun activities.

This year we went to a different farm to get our pumpkins. My sister, Kelley, had been up there the week before and recommended this particular farm. The kids had a BLAST. There was a pumpkin catapult, a maze, 2 large pumpkins patches, miniature ponies and lots of good food.

Ailey was old enough this year to really enjoy it. She was trudging around with Reilly and Kameron inspecting all the pumpkins to find just the "right" one. We also went and picked apples. We had a great time!

The Kids at the Pumpkin Patch.

Reilly and the "Maturation Class"...Part I

This could be a sensitive blog...if you are squeamish about "feminine issues" don't read.

At Reilly's school, in fourth grade, they begin going to "human growth and development class"(called by Reilly and her friends "human gross and embarrassment")...this class in the early 80's was called "maturation". My particular class occurred one afternoon a year and your mom was supposed to come with you. This class is now a series of classes and parents aren't invited. This class has had QUITE an impact on Reilly and has thus become the major topic of conversation around our house.

Here is one I overheard this morning:

Reilly: Kameron, you know it's almost my birthday.
Kam: Yeah...it's almost my birthday too...so what.
Reilly: This is going to be a very special birthday for me this year.
Kam: Why?
Reilly: I am going to be a teenager this year.
Kam: No your not...you're going to be ten.
Reilly: That's a teenager.
Kam: No it's not.
Reilly: Yes it is.
Kam: No it's not.
Reilly: Well...it's almost a teenager.
Kam: No it's not.
Reilly: Well...it's a pre-teen then.
Kam: (no response)
Reilly: Listen Kameron...you are going to have to be a lot more sensitive to my emotions.
Because I am going to be going through some changes and I am going to be starting
my period and you are really going to have to be more sensitive to me and my emotions.
Kam: (no response)
Reilly: I get to join a very special club.
Kam: What club?
Reilly: The club of womanhood.
Kam: MOM!!! Make Reilly stop talking about her period.

Reilly and the Maturation Class...Part II

Reilly had the misfortune of attending the class on HIV/AIDS the same day she went to get her flu shot.

Reilly: I REALLY hope that nurse used a clean needle.
Me: She did.
Reilly: But how do you know? You didn't ask her.
Me: Because I know.
Reilly: I think you would be a little more concerned. HIV is a very serious disease.
Me: Yes it is...but you are fine.
Reilly: Well...I guess we will find out in 5 to 7 years.

Reilly and the "Maturation Class"...Part III

Reilly: We learned today in human gross and embarrassment that your period can start at age
8.
Me: Really...that seems young.
Reilly: I am 9 almost 10.
Me: Yes you are.
Reilly: So my period could hit me anytime.
Me: I'm sure it won't happen for awhile.
Reilly: I think I need some supplies...just in case.
Me: I think you're ok.
Reilly: I think you should get me some supplies...I want to be prepared. At school they have
some supplies in case anyone needs them.
Me: Great.
Reilly: It could seriously strike me at any time. I know a lot of places have machines where you can buy things for a dime if you need them. Maybe I should always carry a dime. Can I have
a dime?
Me: No.
Reilly: I would keep it in my pocket and if I didn't have a pocket I could carry it in my shoe...but
what if I didn't have a pocket and I was wearing flip-flops and my period started?
Me: Well...then I guess that would be tragic.
Reilly: So can I have a dime?
Me: No.
Reilly: YOU ARE SO MEAN!!!

Thanks for bearing with me on this blog!! I needed an outlet!!

Forget Soccer Moms...make way for Ballet Moms

Ballet, Ballet, Ballet. Our family's life is scheduled around ballet. If we aren't at home, chances are, we are at ballet, going to ballet, or coming home from ballet. Tomorrow is Friday and that is exciting because ballet is done for the week. This is Reilly's 7th year. It's hard to believe she has been dancing that long. The dance studio feels like our second home. We've been coming to this particular dance studio since Kameron was 10 months old. Ailey and Kameron have friends that they meet up with there...Kameron hangs out with quite a little posse of ballet brothers. They play for hours while waiting for their sisters.

The number of ballet moms who stay for the entire class is dwindling. I am one of the few remaining holdouts. Reilly loves the studio...the older girls bring their dinners to the studio. They do their homework and eat their dinners all while stretching in between classes. Reilly can't wait until she is old enough to do it too. Her birthday is next month and all she wants is to attend a ballet workshop that they are holding. This year the stress level has increased dramatically. She is in regular ballet 2 days a week and pre-point one day a week. Once they are in pre-point they can start auditioning for certain things now. Two weeks ago the Nutcracker auditions were held in our town. Reilly's instructors really wanted her to audition. They felt that it would be great practice for her. Apparently most girls don't make it the first year they audition and Reilly was no different. Tears were shed but nothing a vanilla frosty couldn't cure. :) She came out of that experience even more determined and dedicated. Ballet isn't just a fun little hobby anymore...this year we are on a whole different level.

I don't know where she gets her talent...certainly NOT from me. I took ballet briefly as a kid and then quit. Then in college my best friend, Tiffany, and I took two very SAD semesters of it. I had it in my mind that I was an untapped talent...uh...no. We were HORRIBLE. But we did get a lot of mileage with the boys from donning our dance wear and telling people we were off to ballet at BYU. :) Anything to impress the boys!

I like Taffy...

Wow! I am officially blogging! I have to thank my friends, Lucy and Andrea, from book club for getting me excited about all this...they are extraordinary bloggers. It has been fun to try something new. I came home from book club very excited about blogs and blogging. I told my husband, Tyler, that I wanted my own blog. He chuckled and said "ok". For the next day or two I kept talking about my blog and he kept laughing. Finally, I was getting mad and so I ask him what was so funny about me starting a blog and he said that he found it "rather comical". By now I was fuming...what's so "comical" about it? Tyler said, "Well, its not really your world is it?" So I thought I would show him!! My world!! Really! Computer Geek! Anyone should be able to figure this out! And I have sadly learned that...it isn't my world. So this blog exists today due to the efforts of my LOVING husband! Thanks Ty!

Tyler and I have a joke between us...once a LONG time ago...we were watching David Letterman and he was doing viewer mail. Some guy...let's call him John Jones...had written in that he felt like David Letterman only talked about himself and wouldn't he like to know more about his viewers. Well, Dave took that letter and ran with it. He did this hilarious bit called "101 Dull Details of John Jones" and then he began listing various dull details about this supposed person...such as "wool makes me itchy" and "I like taffy" etc. Well, Tyler and I found this extremely amusing and to this day when we,as a couple, are talking to an obvious narcissist...we have several that we are related too :) ... one of us will usually snidely say to the other "I like taffy" or "wool makes me itchy" in the middle of the conversation OR we might ask each other... "So how was it talking to ------" and we will reply with "It was 101 dull details of------).

So here is the start of my 101, or probably more, Dull Details... ;)