13 days of Halloween

This week started our '13 days to Halloween' celebration. For each day of the week, I made a tag to place on our Halloween tree with a coordinating activity to do for that day. We made fall place mats out of dried leaves, cheesecloth ghosts (by the way, I think everyone in Utah had this craft in mind because cheesecloth was EXTREMELY hard to find. Finally after 9 stores, I found some), Halloween sugar cookies, did fall yard work, went for a fall walk, and went to Thanksgiving point's Barnyard boo. The kids had a lot of fun with the activities, especially the barnyard boo. Jackson got to ride a pony twice, we went for a hayride, made Halloween crafts, played Halloween games, and Jackson had his face painted. It was fun. Zoey loved the animals and was squealing with delight at the ponies (she got to ride one too)! Here are some of the pictures we took to document our week of fun. Stay tuned to what we have in store for next week, as we anticipate the grand finale of going trick-or-treating!

Hunger Games

I love to read, a pastime and hobby I have just recently allowed to make time for. After the Twilight Saga, I needed something to fill my head, and I read a lot of books that I liked and continued to keep reading, finding "the next one" to keep me entertained. I have read maybe 15 books this summer, but nothing has captured me like the Twilight Series did--until I got my hands on the new series by Suzanne Collins called The Hunger Games!

My only warning is to not start the book until you are ready to drop your duties for a day or two, let go of house cleaning, mothering, personal hygiene (just kidding), and conversation--because once you start you won't want to stop! It's that good. I LOVED it!!

The only prob is the third book in the series doesn't come out until Fall of 2010...so I have to wait a year to get my next fix.

Fall Festival

Yesterday was the Gray family fall festival. It's an all day event we do each year, packed full of activities. We had a lot of fun but went home exhausted! We went to bed by 8:30! We started off by canning applesauce. I really liked this, but it took a lot longer than we had planned and my feet ached for a break. In all, we bottled around 60 jars. Brian and I took home 24. The kitchen smelled like apples! Everybody had the chance to help, even Jackson and Zoey. Grandpa held Zoey, while she picked up on apple at a time to get washed in the sink....since that process took too long, she got ousted by Jackson, who had more fun throwing the apples in the sink to see how much of a mess he could make!

After lunch, naps, and a game of football for the guys, the kids hunted for party favors in a hay stack. We tried to be organized about it at first, but it ended up turning into a free-for-all. The loved it! My mom went overboard on surprises, but what are grandma's for-right? I love this picture of Jackson throwing the hay everywhere!

After all of that fun, we had our Halloween inspired meal: Meal in a pumpkin, lady fingers, witches brew, spider web dip and fall chips. It was fun to put together as well as eat! And wait! The day wasn't over yet! There's still more. After dinner, we dressed up in costumes, had a pinata, fortune telling, and other fun games. I didn't get all the pictures of everyone dressed up like I wanted, but my mom was a witch, my dad was a Sultan, Addy was Tinkerbell, Jackson was a dragon, Zoey was a turtle, Jordan and Taraleigh were Fred and Daphne from Scooby-doo, Liliane was a fairy, Carissa and Braxton, Chloe and Parker were candies: Blow-pop, M&M, peeps, and a tootsie roll, and Whitney and Rusty dressed as an old couple! Did you catch all of that? If I didn't name someone, it's because they didn't dress up (Brian and I included).

1-2-3.....Cook-off!

We had two spectacular weekends in a row. Last weekend was our 4th annual dutch oven cook-off. It was by far our best year yet. The food was amazing! Definitely gourmet cuisine that would surprise any cook--especially when coming from a dutch oven! We only had one winner this year...Christina and Paul Homolik, who made 'Calico Chicken'. Runners-ups were Bob Barne's Udon Soup (the chicken meatballs were delicious!) and Sam and Julie's ooy-gooey cinnamon rolls. Also on the buffet were two different Currey dishes (both really yummy!), dutch oven potatoes, baked beans, chorizo chicken, and a raspberry cobbler. It was hard to eliminate it down to just one winner! Thanks to all the cooks for the great meal! And a big thanks to all who come every year and support such a fun event!

Motherhood

Yesterday, we were at the Library for story time. The library is decorated for Halloween right now, and on one of the bookshelves there is a bear that had been wrapped in cloth to look like a mummy. Jackson was looking at it for a while and asked, "what's that?" I said, "I mummy bear" He waited a minute than asked, "Where's the daddy bear?" The librarian, who was decorating another shelf behind us, and I just started to laugh- so cute!

On another note, There is a new movie coming out called Motherhood, (though I don't think it's one I'll go see on the big screen) and the main character "Eliza" represents frazzled mothers in the thick of all the craziness that surrounds raising kids. In the movie she is trying to finish an essay for a local magazine contest. Parenting Magazine interviewed Uma Thurman, who plays Eliza, and picked up on the idea of the movie and so they are holding their own essay contest. I decided to enter. In 300 words or less I had to write an essay on "What Motherhood means to me" and send in a picture that went with my essay's theme. I'm not too concerned about the prize, and my essay may not be "award winning", but when I started to think about how I would respond to that essay, the words just started to come. SO I wrote them down, and before I knew it I had an essay. SO why not? I'm sending it in!

Brian edited it for me, he's great at that. Taraleigh took the picture of my kids wearing my grad cap. Cute huh?

Here it is:

Motherhood is the ultimate teaching experience. I am not talking about teaching babies how to walk and talk, the 1-2-3’s and A-B-C’s. I am not talking about potty training toddlers, teaching them to avoid strangers, and look both ways before crossing the street. And I am not even talking about teaching kids how to behave politely, exercise proper etiquette, or how to make good life choices. Although these are all important things to teach our children, they are inherent with motherhood. It’s part of the job. The teaching experience I am referring to is regarding what I have learned from my children about myself and what I can become. This teaching experience has taught me more than any formal educational experience, and that is a bold statement considering the ‘teachers’ are toddlers. These teachers have taught me the finer virtues and attributes of life that just can’t be learned in the library. When all is said and done, should someone speak praise of me, it will be because of who I was, not what I knew. And who I am will be a compilation of what my children have taught me: how to love more deeply, show patience, understanding, forgiveness, and how to work hard. Have I mastered any of these? Of course not. The role of motherhood is teaching me new things everyday (and sometimes at night). This course does not have a final exam, rather daily quizzes. Parents with children will have experiences of their own to know what I am talking about. Could we learn these life-changing attributes another way? Maybe; but it would take a lot longer to finish that course. Ultimately, motherhood means that I can become a better person than who I was before...and all because the teachers are toddlers!

Family Pictures

It's fall...we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take pictures of the leaves...and family too! Of course it was hard to get everyone looking at the camera. Here are a few favorites.

(Thanks Ben)

First Steps Video

As promised....

Cooking in the Canyon

We host a dutch oven cook-off each year around the fall. A couple of weekends ago, we took a Sunday afternoon to practice our dutch-oven recipe in the canyon. We had a lot of fun. We made chorizo stuffed chicken breasts and corn bread. The fall leaves were beautiful. The kids were so excited to be outside.

Here's a story we'll want to remember. Let me begin by saying we didn't prompt or help Jackson in anyway. He just started praying and his prayer went like this: "Heavenly Father, thanks for the food, thanks thee for the mountains, thanks thee for the dirt, and mommy, and daddy and Zoey....amen" I love children's prayers, ,they are so simple, yet so sincere. When we left the canyon, Jackson said "I love you mountains!'

When we got home, we bathed and got the kids ready for bed. It had gotten dark outside (as it does so early now) and Jackson noticed and said, "It's dark outside!' I said, " Yes it is... you know what that means!" I was thinking along the lines of going to bed, but he said, "Yes! It's time to turn on the light!" We laughed so hard....he doesn't realize how cute he is!

Friendship week

Our ward is doing an activity called friendship week. Each family has been assigned to anonymously leave gifts for another family in the ward to build friendship with a family they might not know well.

We decided to leave "Get to know us" hints each night along with a gift that explains who we are, leading up to the night when we reveal ourselves. Jackson has enjoyed the doorbell-ditching part! It has been fun coming up with these clues. I've put them to rhyme. Since the family doesn't have access to this blog, I'll share a few (without worrying about our cover getting blown):

Day 1 (left with a can of peaches and cobbler recipe):

The week of Friendship has just begun,
And we hope you’ll enjoy our gifts of fun.

You may ask, “Who treats us so well?”
But that is our secret and we’ll not tell!

We’ll give you clues as to who we are,
The first one is -- we don’t live far!

Another clue, in this poem we will sneak,
To help you guess by the end of the week.

We like to camp and Dutch-oven cook,
We’ll share a favorite recipe from our family cook book.

And so we leave you with this gift and rhyme,
And hope your family has a good time!

Enjoy!



Day 2 (left with Smoke Signals Marinade and fajita/tortilla recipes):

Although we now claim Utah our home,
Once on the plains of Texas we roamed.

If you’ve ever traveled to the heart of the South,
You’ll know what South’ners like to put in their mouth!

Preparing good meat is nothing short of an art,
So for today’s gift we leave you our part.

Fajitas are one thing that we love to eat,
This marinade is something that just can’t be beat!

You may look for this jar in stores near and far,
But it can only be found where they fly the Lone Star.

We hope you enjoy this gift and our poem,
As we leave behind something of us in your home


Day 3 (left with ice cream from BYU creamery):

We have many reasons to like BYU,
Our majors were health and History too.

It hasn’t been long since we were students with books,
Now they collect dust in corners and nooks.

You’ve heard of the saying, “To thine own self be true,’
And that’s why we’re loyal to the white and the blue.

Yes, we’re fans of the cougars, through and through
And to the athletes who play for BYU.

We might stay at home and watch the game on a screen,
Enjoying a nice big bowl of ice cream.

Have you narrowed it down to a half dozen families at best?
If this clue doesn’t help you, just wait for the rest!



Day 4 (Given with a pumkin from our garden and carving set)
One of us is blessed with a truly ‘green thumb,’
While the other is learning just how it’s done.

We’ve grown all sorts of vegetables in our garden,
This year, we even grew pumpkins for carvin’

This one has not been long off the vine,
You can use it to carve a face that is fine!

It wouldn’t be fun to leave you without treats,
So please enjoy carving while these candies you eat!

You may have noticed that for us food’s at the heart,
If you haven’t tried guessing, it’s time that you start!

Day 5 (Given with a book)
We’re one of those families, who like to read,
Some feels it’s a pleasure, others think it’s a need.

From science, to fiction, and children’s books,
A few pages in, you’ll find us hooked!

Of course our scriptures always find time,
To teach us of Christ and keep our lives in line.

Although this book doesn’t come with a reason,
We’ll hope you’ll enjoy it in the upcoming season.

Day 6 (given with cupcakes)
We hope you haven’t figured us out yet,
So we’ll give you some dates you won’t want to forget J

We were married in August of 2004,
And hope to enjoy many years more!

Our birthdays are dates that are easy to remember,
The boys’ are in May and girls’ in November!

On each special occasion we like to make
Our very own version of the cup cake!

With these clues we leave you our treat for tonight,
There’s plenty for all—no need to fight!

Day 7( given with star cookie cutters)
Our daughter is still too young to talk,
Just this week she attempted to walk!

Our boy is active as ever can be,
Appropriate for his age, he’s just under three!

The man of the house works in Lindon, not far,
You might see him in his red truck- not driving a car!

She cooks and she cleans and gets the kids dressed,
All on less than a full-night’s sleep at best! J

Have any clue yet as to who we are?
If you have—you’re a real shining star!

The family who has us has been very generous. They have shared fun family traditions, which is great for us. Since we are a young family, we don't have many traditions of our own yet. So it has been neat to see their family traditions that we may want to implement in our home too. We have no idea who they are!

Big News!!

Zoey took her first steps today!! I will have to get this on video and share. It is so cute how wobbly her chubby legs are. I noticed she was making a change this weekend, when she seemed to want to walk holding on to our fingers rather than crawl. I thought it was coming any day, and sure enough, it was today!!

The first steps were a little scary for her, but Jackson and I were encouraging her to come to us, and she giggled nervously while she ventured out on her own. Then she just wanted to keep practicing all day! Every time I turned around she was standing on her own on the middle of the room trying to take a step.

I'm so proud! Yea for Zoey!