Making Candy!!!

James' dad makes candy every holiday season and we love getting it, I have always wanted to try making some but have never attempted to. Until this year, while at my friend Sarah's house she showed me how she melts chocolate and dips different things. So I asked if I could borrow her fun pampered chef pot so I could try making candy with the kids. She said yes and gave me some melting chocolate also.(Thank You Sarah) So on one of the afternoons this past week that the kids have been home "snowed in" we made simple trail mix clusters. They have been a huge hit around here and I have determined I need one of these pots! We are experimenting with all kinds of things we can dip in chocolate. It has been very fun!


The kids making their own pieces of candy!

Olivia getting just the right amount for a piece of candy.

Will not caring how big the pieces are!

*Also a side note we are going onto a week of snow storms and school was cancelled all week and just got a call church is canceled for the 2nd Sunday in a row tomorrow.*

Snowy Day In Oregon!

When we moved to Oregon we thought we were leaving the snow behind us, but obviously we were wrong! We are enjoying a quiet day at home, we got a call that church was cancelled today. We had heard that when it does snow it is a big deal here and people get very worried about the snow. But the difference with this snow is we are not going to get above freezing all week so the ice under the snow is going to be awful. Part of our ward is up in the hills so church was cancelled so they didn't have to try to get down an icy hill to get to church. We let the kids go out for a little bit and Madalynn loved it, she wanted to be wherever Olivia & Will were. We didn't have snow boots for her so she wore her tennis shoes and they got solid ice on the bottom then snow packed. I have never seen shoes do that, when she came in the house she was slipping all over the floor in the kitchen like she was ice skating.(if you click on the picture for a close up I think you can see her shoes)


Madalynn all bundled up and loving the snow!


All 3 of them playing in the front yard.

Reindeer Dust!

Expecting a visit from Santa?
Here is a recipe I have found.
It is a special reindeer food
You sprinkle on the ground.
The oatmeal is for energy,
The sparkles are for flight,
So sprinkle the reindeer food
On Christmas Eve night!
All of Santa's reindeer
Love this healthy snack,
Next year Santa and his reindeer
Surely will be back!

My mother-in-law sent this cute poem and reindeer food for the kids to sprinkle on the ground on Christmas Eve night. I think it is such a cute idea I had to pass it along!

The World Today

Today I had an experience that I never thought I would have. I have been thinking about our country today and everything that is going on and feeling very sad about it, later on I was reading a friends blog and saw pictures of the protests that are going on around the temples. This made me a little upset at how they are acting and treating our religion and the members, so I decided to close the website and try to think of better things such as what a wonderful thing our temples are and be thankful for having them. Then late this afternoon James, the kids, and I went to the store to grab something for dinner, James just ran in and the kids and I stayed in the car. As we pulled up in front of us there was a group of 10 - 12 teenagers/ young adults some were smoking and others were acting not very appropriately so was a little uneasy to begin with. I opened my window to get some air and could hear them talking, around this time I heard them discover our license plates were from Utah. A couple of them came up to the front of our car and held up a book and started to mockingly read from it, I heard them say Alma so I looked up to see that he held The Book Of Mormon. I could tell he was trying to get a reaction from me and this bothered me but what scared me was he was inching towards my open window. I proceeded to close my window and try to ignore them, at this point I hadn't shown really any interest I was trying to get them to stop focusing on me. It is the first time I felt scared that something might happen and praying that nothing would happen and for James to get back to the car. James was soon back and they said some stuff to him but he ignored them and we were on our way. But I was left thinking was this connected to everything going on in CA? It is a very unsettling time right now and I am sad for those who feel they need to act the way they do.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Happy Birthday to my 9 year old! This is the 3rd time I have tried to leave this post for some reason the pictures will not go in the order I want them to and it is just frustrating me so I am leaving them all jumbled. Olivia ended up having a birthday week (almost) We started on Saturday Nov. 1st by going to Chuck E. Cheese the kids had tons of fun and Olivia loved opening her presents! Then we had a movie night at home and we had so much fun as a family. Then Sunday Nov. 2nd ( her actual birthday) we went to church and she was excited for her teachers to say Happy Birthday, we then came home and had her favorite dinner, homemade maccaroni & cheese. Then we sang Happy Birthday and ate birthday cake. Then on Tuesday Nov. 4th we took a treat to school for her and her class, and then we went to Chevy's for dinner that night. Chevy's was so good, we waited until Tuesday because kids eat free and Olivia got a coupon for a free meal in the mail so all the kids were free. So that ended her birthday activities but she is so excited to be 9!

Olivia and the doll she got from us, Grandpa &
Grandmother Chadwick gave her a scooter to go
with the doll. Will & Madalynn gave her Connect 4
and Grandpa & Grandma Hanson gave her a
Hannah Montana shirt(which she was so excited about).

Her and the sombrero she got from Chevy's.

Olivia & her friend from school Angela.

Super Family!!!!!

We loved doing the theme costumes last year so this year the kids were a Super Family, Superman and 2 Super Girls. Everyone loved the costumes and the kids had so much fun.
We went to a shopping center to trick or treat, then to our ward party then back to our neighborhood for some more candy! We had a very busy night and we were all tired by the end, even Madalynn was exhausted. She walked almost the whole night at the end daddy carried her from house to house but she would insist on getting her pumpkin and walking to the door for her candy, she was very cute about it.


All 3 Supers!

Our Super Girls!

Our very own Superman!

At the shopping center getting candy.

We have so much candy we will most likely throw some away.

Will's Hair

On Halloween we went trick or treating to a shopping center and it was very crowded but very fun! Will's hair got the most comments, they kept asking is that a wig or his real hair? Of course it is his real hair we sprayed black, which he loved it to go with his costume and we think it really made the costume.

Close up of the black haired Will.

This was in the tub that night trying to get it out, I am not sure if you can see it but there are black drops of water on the shower wall behind him.

This is James washing his hair it took 5 washes that night to get it all out, and 1 more the next morning just to make sure. The whole tub was so black we were all laughing at how much black there was.