Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Oh yum!!!! A friend of mine put this recipe on facebook a while back and I finally made them today. If you like pumpkin at all, you will love these. I ate like 6 or 7 of them today. I kept saying, "ok, this is last one", and then I would walk by them in the kitchen and eat another one.

1/2 c softened butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger (I actually used cloves--I like cloves better with pumpkin)
Cinnamon Sugar for dipping

Mix in order. Mixture is very sticky. Drop balls into cinnamon sugar and then to pan. Flatten a little with the palm of your hand. Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes.

(I put in chocolate chips in half of the batter and baked them without the cinnamon sugar. Very yummy too!)

Enjoy the taste of Autumn!

The Fall Fairy

Oh how I LOVE Autumn! The leaves, the pumpkins, the hayrides, the spicy-sweet smell of cinnamon and fresh apples and the crisp-cool weather are a few of the things I enjoy about fall. I love it so much that I have created a new holiday. A few years ago I decided that September 23 (the first day of fall) is Fall Fairy Day. Every year the harbinger of the new season, The Fall Fairy, comes and leaves a special fall treat for the kids with a personal note for them. It's simple and easy and the kids love it! Of course, for me, any reason is a good reason to make every day special.

Back To School

I always have such mixed feelings about my kids going back to school. I have so much fun in the summer playing with them! Although it is, at times, exceedingly difficult I still really, really love being with all of my kids. Things I love about back to school: 1. Buying new clothes for the kids. (I really love this part!) 2. Settling back into a schedule with regular bedtimes. 3. Dan giving the kids a father's blessing to start the new year. 4. Having a calmer atmosphere at home during the day. 5. Being able to go where I want, when I want without the kids coming, or complaining about me being gone too long. Things I am reticent to leave behind with summer: 1. Being with my kids most of the day. 2. The exploring of parks, farms, fish hatcherys, rose gardens, waterfalls, swimming pools,and dollar movies. 3. Hiking, biking and going for walks all together.

Dumb or Fun?

I've done a lot of dumb things in my life, i.e., dumpster-diving for Monopoly game pieces at McDonald's, dropping an entire plate of food down some lady's dress when I worked for BYU Catering, and crashing/flipping my 10-speed over the hood of a moving car. That being said, I have never regretted doing something so much as when I jumped off Dorena Drop this summer.
The Drop is a 40-50 foot cliff that falls into Dorena Lake. It looks awe-inspiring from the bottom and terrifying from the top. Nevertheless I persevered and decided to take the plunge. The first 2 seconds were amazing, but then on the 3rd second everything went wrong. As the wind shear forced my pencil formation into a sitting formation I braced myself for the pain, exquisite, earth-shattering P-A-I-N!!!!!!! Words cannot describe the torment that went through my body when I hit the cement-like water. I actually bruised/broke my coccyx! And I have been living with that pain for 5 weeks now! Fortunately, this last week the malady is finally beginning to abate and I am starting to feel like a normal person again.
Will I ever do it again you ask? The sad thing is, I just might. I guess that shows just how dumb I am.

All in a Day's Work

So there have been 9 kids in my house for the better part of the day today and I have applied Band-Aids of every size and variety to almost all of them. I have soothed their dramatic souls and cheered up their sad faces. I have whipped my head around to "Mom", "Aunt",and "Lori" so many times that I'm dizzy. The highlight of the day was when my mom and I took 7 of them down to EWEB to run through the fountain saying, "Let's just get a little wet" and then watching them COMPLETELY soak themselves without any towels to dry off with. The low point was when we got back and everyone was fighting over who got to get in the tub first. Then when the boys (both age 10) finally got their turn they just sat there, totally naked, with all their toys in a DRY tub and screamed for me to come turn it on and then off again. Come on boys...REALLY? You're 10. I'm pretty sure you can turn it on and then off again. Why is it that everyone needs me to orchestrate all of the minutia in the day? ...UGG!

So then Savannah has to have a sleepover and I reluctantly agree. The girls have spent the evening cackling at the top of their lungs and coming up with strange ideas to take revenge on their 7th grade homework assignments. Dan and I took Daphne for a ride to get a bit of a break and Savannah calls to ask if it's okay if they start a fire to burn all of their old math assaignments. I'm thinking, umm, please don't tell me you've started a fire in my absence. I tell her that I'm just wayyyyyy too tired to help them make a bonfire at 10pm,...maybe tomorrow.

Have you ever?

~Have you ever noticed that freshly folded laundry clothes stay really warm, and sometimes even several hours later, when you reach into the laundry basket you could swear that there is lingering warm feeling?

~Have you felt that tingling, bubbly feeling in the back of your neck which preceeds a grumbling in your tummy?

~Have you ever noticed how wonderful sun-warmed pine needles smell, reminding you of care-free summers spent camping in the woods?

~Have you ever spent the day lounging in the back yard watching your kids laughing as they run through the sprinklers while reading a really good book?

~Have you ever noticed how pure and sweet your toddler's breath smells right when she wakes up from her nap?

I know this is really random, but it's just what I was thinking about today. How about you?

Things I wish my husband knew...

After 17 years of marriage (this month), heaven bless him for being so patient with me, but there are still a few things I wish my husband knew.

1. If you soak a dish for 20 minutes and it doesn't get any less crusty I doubt that another 24 hours in cold, slimy water is going to get it much cleaner.

2. When you put a brand-new dress on a toddler you need to check inside for the attached diaper cover and detach it from the dress before getting the toddler dressed and taking her to church.

3.When you wipe down the table you must actually scrub at the dirty spots. A cursory "running a wash cloth over the table" just doesn't do the job. It just gets crustier and stickier until you put some elbow grease into it and scrub it all off.

4. A fairy doesn't come make the bed every day. If it's made it's because I
made it. Maybe you could do it every so often.

5. Pizza is not that amazing.

6. In conjunction with # 4, the blinds don’t pull themselves up and down morning and night. People can see inside your house at night when your lights are on and your blinds are up.

7. A two year old needs someone to brush her teeth for her. A seven year old also needs help every once in a while. They don’t have the dexterity to do it all by themselves until they are at least 8.

Now I have to say that my husband is getting better at some of these things, and at least he tries. Thanks for 17 fabulous years!