Blog Pause

This is a picture of where I wish I could be right now.

This is an incredibly busy week for me so I won't be able to blog until Monday. I try to faithfully blog everyday, but I am afraid it's impossible this week.

Don't give up on me - I will see you back on Monday!

Busy Day

I am baking pies like crazy today. I will be back blogging on Monday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crunching the Caterpillars

The broccoli in my garden is growing beautifully. So beautifully in fact, that a family of caterpillars decided to make their home there. Just look at what they did!

I go and hunt for the nasty little boogers every morning.

And this is what I do to them!

Here's my gingerbread house completed.

I used Golden Grahams for the shingles.

I made the cat out of gum paste and painted him with food coloring.


The shovels are made out of pretzels and licorice. The cobblestone is Necco wafers. The grass is coconut with green food coloring.
The storekeeper is outlined in chocolate and I used the flood technique to color him in. The bean and egg sign on the windows I made out of royal icing and let it dry, then stuck them up. The veggies were the most fun. I used colored fondant and for the stems, I used cilantro from my garden. The potatoes are gum paste rolled in cocoa powder.

The billboard on the side I used the flood technique again and piped the Lee sign in chocolate. I had a really hard time trying to pipe the rest of the words so I gave up and wrote it with an edible marker.

Now you all know, I have a problem.

What did I get myself into?

I will let you see the finished product tomorrow. I actually stayed up late and finished it, except I need some red hots to finish it off. I went to every store in town trying to find some. Then Jeff comes home and says he has a whole bunch at his office. AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

Tis The Season

Can you guess what kind of gingerbread house I am making this year?

I will keep you posted on my progress!

Poor Doggy

My girls tried to give Rusty a "Princess Leia" makeover.

Sometimes being a dog is ruff!

This will make you smile

Here's a clip from Britains version of America's Got Talent. I just love the look on the judges faces. Enjoy!

Hypothyroidism

For the last 4 years I have struggled with hypothyroidism. I have constantly been looking for the 'magic' cure. I have held the belief that somewhere out there, there is a way to return me to my old self. But all the different avenues I have taken, I have still yet to find my cure. I still have hypothyroidism.

I have come to a point where I need to ask myself, "what if I can't be cured?" what if, no matter how bad I want it, I can never go back. What if this is as good as it gets and I have to move forward?

I have met people along the way who I never knew struggled with their health. They suffer quietly and continue on with a smile on their face. How I admire those people. I love that they keep moving forward and play with the hand that is dealt them.

It has made me realize that I might need to refocus my efforts on being healed versus being cured. I read an article recently that spelled out the difference.
Being healed means,

• Accepting myself as I am, even loving myself as I am, with whatever limitations I currently have, without giving up hope that I can improve - in both mind and body
• Refusing to live in the past, and refusing to worry about the future, but instead, living for now, enjoying this time, now
• Learning how to value myself for what's really important, my spirit, my kindness, how I live my life, instead of focusing on the superficialities such as weight changes, thinning hair, a sick thyroid, not having enough energy to be everything to everyone, and other imperfections
• And, above all, finding within the cloud of disease, the silver lining, the positive effects that thyroid disease has had on my life. If you think about it, there have to be some good things that have come from it. Empathy for others. Compassion at a deeper level. Dear friends I have had to rely on. It's helped me focus on my family and things that are important.

Ups and downs in health may always be there throughout our life, but there's one thing that no pill or endocrinologist or herb can change, and that's how we choose to live our lives, and whether our health controls us, or vice versa.

The Bacon Number

It's been said that Hollywood revolves around Kevin Bacon. Meaning that almost every actor in Hollywood is somehow connected to Kevin Bacon. So someone developed this fun little game called the Oracles of Kevin Bacon. (Warning, this is a total waste of time, but I thought it was funny.)

The concept is simple. The way to link an actor with Bacon in this game is to:
Pick any film actor in history.
Link the actor you've chosen to Bacon via the films they've shared with other actors until you end up with Kevin Bacon himself.
Here is an example, using Elvis Presley:
Elvis Presley was in Change of Habit (1969) with Edward Asner
Edward Asner was in JFK (1991) with Kevin Bacon
Therefore Elvis Presley has a Bacon Number of 2.

Think of an actor and enter his name here to find the Bacon Number.

What actors did you think of? Everyone I thought of had a Bacon number of 1 or 2. I am stumped. Maybe he really is the center of the Hollywood universe.

Movie Stars

Jeff's mom is in charge of putting together a video for the 80th anniversary of the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Jeff and I got to pose for some photos.

In the video, the picture below of early temple goers will morph into a picture of present temple goers.

What a stud, leaning up against the car!

Dan in Real Life

I loved this movie. Steve Carell was great. I kept waiting for him to do something very "Michael Scott", but he didn't. Has anyone else seen this?

The Rose Cake

I just finished course 1 in cake decorating. Our final cake was the rose cake. Don't look to close, but I am pretty happy with it.

The Yummiest Soup

My sister-in-law gave me this soup recipe a few years ago and it has become a family favorite. The name sounds gross and it has Velveeta cheese in it - but seriously, this is the best soup. Be brave and try it. I promise your family will ask for seconds.

Cheeseburger Soup

• 1/2-1lb ground beef (I use ground turkey)
• 1 small onion finely chopped (I use a food processor for all the chopping)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped carrots
• 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups peeled, diced potatoes (I dice them small)
• 2 TB cornstarch mixed with a little water
• 8 oz Velveeta American cheese (If you want you can use shredded cheddar)
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Prepare all your ingredients before you start. Brown the beef or turkey, drain the fat, and set aside. In your soup pot, saute onions, celery, carrots, basil, and parsley in a little olive oil. Once they soften, add chicken broth, potatoes, and beef or turkey. Bring to a boil then cover, reduce the heat and simmer for a good 20 minutes. (I like it when the potatoes are really soft)

While stirring add the cornstarch mixture until soup thickens. Turn heat to low and add the cheese (make sure you cut it up or it takes forever to melt), milk, salt, and pepper. When the cheese is melted, remove from heat and add the sour cream.

Serve and enjoy.

Halloween Madness

Halloween was crazy for me. I got home from science camp at 1pm. I threw my bags in the house and immediately started putting together our haunted house.

Somehow we pulled it all together and had a great time! Our friends even brought their popcorn and cotton candy machine and passed out the goodies to those waiting to go in the haunted house.

The real bummer is that I was in such a rush to get it together, that I didn't take any pictures. Luckily I was able to steal a few from my friend Meredith!

Jeff played the crazy witch doctor. He bought a wireless microphone this year. It was so funny to listened to him torment all the neighbor kids with his booming scary voice. I was the bush in the corner that jumped out at you.

Sammi got to ham it up as the wicked witch!

Our friend Shane, (in the mask) was a hit with all the Asian ladies!

Back from Camp

I survived 3 days of chaperoning 11 year olds at science camp. I have never heard so much giggling in my entire life. (Well maybe when I went to 6th grade camp)

Here's Sammi panning for gold. Gotta love the camping hair-do!

I sure love this kid!