30 Days of Thanksgiving #1

What a gorgeous fall day! I was able to go up hiking with AngelFish and LSOC. It was so beautiful! Today I'm thankful that my health has improved enough that I could climb a mountain and not die! That is a major accomplishment! I am also thankful for such a beautiful world. We took so many pictures - these are the highlights...


I'm trying to decide which of these last two is my favorite...any thoughts?

Happy Halloween!

These are some of my favorite pictures from past Halloweens. My Dad was the Bishop when these pictures were taken. The top two are my parents dressed up for a Ward Halloween party on a Saturday night. It's hard to tell in the picture, but my Dad has a mohawk. A lot of people don't know that he wears a toupee - a lot of ward members didn't know that. He took one of his old hairpieces and cut it to be a mohawk. Then he showed up at the party with his head shaved on the top with a mohawk. Everyone was shocked! So many people asked him what he was going to do for Church the next day. Of course, he then showed up for Church with a full head of hair! This was Halloween of 1987.

The bottom picture is of my Dad being The Count from Sesame Street. For years he would show up to work - as an accountant - as The Count, complete with the purple face. I guess I really learned to love dress-ups from my Dad! This picture was 1988.

I Support Proposition 8

My sister recently posted a link to a really great article about Proposition 8 (Thanks, AngelFish!). "Disagree But Don't Be Unkind" is written by Orson Scott Card and he is able to express a lot of my views so eloquently. I especially like what he says about tolerance - that it isn't an absence of disagreement - that is uniformity. Tolerance is disagreeing politely and still treating each other with respect and love.

I believe that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan..." (see "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"). My Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has issued a statement in support of Proposition 8, which I fully support.

Easiest Ever Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, I was cleaning my room last week (I know, my family was shocked, too) and I found a recipe my amazing cousin, Stacy, gave me during the summer. The recipe was for these delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that she brought to a shower we attended. After reading the recipe, I thought that I was remembering the cookies wrong - a recipe this easy couldn't possibly produce the wonderful cookies I was remembering. I decided I had to test it. I discovered that there was nothing wrong with my memory (that was also a shock...my memory is notoriously lacking!) - these cookies are delicious!

2 spice cake mixes (just the dry mix - not the egg or oil or anything)
1 large can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling - just pumpkin)
1 bag chocolate chips
That's it. Seriously!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix cake mix and pumpkin. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop spoonfulls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes (Mine actually had to bake for 16-18). Enjoy! Just as an added bonus - Stacy informed me that these cookies are only 1 point per cookie on the Weight Watchers plan. We got three dozen big cookies out of this recipe - I'm sure we could have gotten four dozen with regular size cookies.

LSOC enjoyed an evening of amazing music and delicious cookie making tonight. We decided that we needed to add a step in honor of his job at the Church Office Building - they put an orange icing on their pumpkin chocolate chip cookies - so we mixed up powdered sugar and orange juice and drizzled it over the top. I'm sure that adds another point or two to the cookie - but it tasted so good! Don't get too excited, though - the icing recipe wasn't the best - I'm sure there are better options out there - but it was good enough for us :)

It's Time to Play the Music

Apparently I have multiple personalities! My only regret is that I'm not at all like Pepe. He's the BEST!!

You Scored as Rowlf the Dog You are one easy-going dude! You are mellow and outgoing, and are great with little kids and animals. People love you! Kermit the Frog 100% Rowlf the Dog 100% Sam the Eagle 100% Miss Piggy 100% The Great Gonzo 100% Fozzie Bear 100% Robin the Frog 75% Statler and Waldorf 50% The Swedish Chef 50% Sweetums 50% Rizzo the Rat 50% Janice 50% Pepe 0% Animal 0%

Beautiful Handmade Jewelry

One of my cousins designs and sells beautiful handmade jewelry. She is having a contest right now to give away something from her etsy shop (your choice!) I'm hoping to get her Thankful necklace. Head over to her site - RHBDesigns - to enter. Good Luck!

Further Proof that My Family is Insane

This is how we spent our Sunday evening.

We were playing with my Dad's new cellphone. (His old one went through the wash. We discovered that cellphones have absolutely no amphibious tendencies...)

After we tired of checking out the phone's new features...we headed downstairs to watch old home movies. Five years ago we spent the first couple of weeks of October watching old home movies and laughing our heads off while we sat in my Grandpa's hospice room waiting for his body to release him from this mortal life. It was a hard, sad time. But we were together and that's what counts most. It's nice to have some good final memories of spending time with Grandpa.

The highlights of last night included a five-year-old Tergaso receiving a shopping center toy for Christmas. As she rang up AngelFish's purchases, she made this very sage announcement in the toy's microphone: "Attention shoppers. If you don't have any money, please put it back. Thank you." We were also treated to a fantastic fashion show and dance video. Nothing says haute couture like a hot pink and black striped skirt paired with flourescent green and blue t-shirts or three pairs of socks layered - pink, black and yellow! However, the music selection was a timeless classic - "Pop! Goes the World" by Men Without Hats. We should have known then that LSOC was destined for great things - what three-year-old picks up choreography that fast?!

On a slightly more serious note (and in an effort to continue my randomness...) I have to post some pictures of RussianJoy - isn't he adorable?He is chewing on a rubber frog. He has good taste!