Trick or Treat Overload!!!

Have A Fun Filled Weekend!!!

From the whimsical blue fairies of Orem Way!

Pumpkin Patch

One of the things I love about having elementary school aged children is getting to be the room mom for their classes and throw all the parties and go on field trips. Abby and I went on a fun adventure to "Pumpkinland" today and it was a blast! What a great way to kick off the Halloween weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Recipe of The Week

Note to readers: This recipe tastes best if and only if real slober and severed hands are mixed in with all ingredients. I was lucky enough to have both on hand.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 C Shortening
2 C Sugar
2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
1 (15 oz.) Can Pumpkin
4 C Flour
1 1/2 t Baking Soda
1 1/2 t Baking Powder
1 t Salt
1 t Cinnamon
1 Pinch Nutmeg
2 C Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease Cookie Sheets. In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla and pumpkin until well blended. Combing all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir the dry mixture slowly into the pumpkin mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes until edges begin to brown. Allow to cool before serving.

It's Been One "Thrilling" Week

Yes, I'm back...finally.
It's been one heck of a week.
Filled with lots of baking, steroid injections (I'll explain later) , no sleep, costume parties, tons of work, a nightmare trip to the pediatrician and an anniversary celebration.
I may start resembling one of my zombie friends soon.
Go HERE to learn more about them and their AWESOME SHOW!

Flashback Friday

One Year Ago...
One AWESOME time in NYC
Celebrating Our 10 Year Anniversary.
This year we're shipping the kids off and spending a quiet weekend home ALONE.

Sweet Blessing

What a special day to celebrate the blessing of Jack Wells Richmond.
Jack's mom was the first friend I met when I moved to Utah.
We've taught each other how to be strong women and have shared life's ups and downs these past 11 years.
We were sort of shoe ins to be friends so to speak. Our hubbys are bffs.
It's been hard watching her want a baby and try so hard over many years to become a mom,
all the while I was having babies and raising my family.
I spent last night laying on the floor blowing raspberries and giving kisses and baby talk to my Jack.
I've never seen his mom or his dad happier. Their home just feels so complete.
He is truly a blessing to everyone around him.
I'm thankful for the bond I share with him and the bond he has given Shannon and I.
I love them all so much.

Who Knew?

That School Lunch Could Be This Fun

The Skinny...

Note: Do not be fooled by the title of this post, it in fact is NOT SKINNY.

So, I mentioned that I have been doing physical therapy for about 6 weeks and am on a first name basis with my therapist. In mid-August I just woke up one day with the worst lower back and leg pain that I have ever felt in my life! This was a couple of days after discovering that my problem foot had a stress fracture in the outer part of the foot. This was created by nearly a year of altering my gait to compensate for the injury and pain caused by my surgery back in December 09'. Working in the "biz" gives me an advantage here and I made a phone call to a really good friend of mine who made a phone call to a good friend of his and I had an immediate appointment to see this guy. He's amazing and his treatments have helped to address years of chronic pain that I have experienced off and on since having my first child. I'll spare you all the gory details but he started doing something called Graston Treatments (read about it HERE)...
Immediately I regained lost mobility in my foot and left hip area and much of my pain disappeared. It's worth mentioning that it's not for sissies though!
Things were going great, except the pain in my lower back became absolutely unbearable!
So, without further ado I spent Wednesday Morning in an MRI Machine.
I spent Friday looking at scans dissecting my spine and listening to specialists say things to me like this doozy:

"You must think you are driving a 2010 Corvette, but you're model is really getting outdated. Honey, in reality you are driving a 1976 Mustang."

This comment followed him informing me that I will never be able to run anything but a mile or two the rest of my life. So you see, he was trying to be funny but I felt like sort of sick and sad for a moment.
It seems I have this stinky condition. Many people actually suffer from it (I'm just a little younger than all of them wink, wink). It's nothing I did that caused it. Both my parents have it, so I can thank them for my worn out genes :)
The real problem is that my L5 Vertebra is bulging and ruptured, pushing on the outer nerves that run down my legs. That explains why I have achenes and numbness that comes and goes there. It also explains the unbearable pain, sleeplessness, inability to sit or stand, and general craziness (I'm blaming that on it too).
The Solution?
Not Surgery....We all agreed on that during my many appointments.
Oh, I'm sure you could find many surgeons line up to take a crack at this one.
Not for me....YET anyway.
So, I'll be heading to the hospital on Wednesday for a nerve root injection that will hopefully address the pain and calm things down a bit in there, for awhile atleast.
It sounds scary, but it's really sort of like an epidural.
Only this time I won't get a cute little present to take home with me.
Our little family has had a basket full of medical challenges these past couple of years.
I for one will be looking forward to putting this latest "adventure" behind me soon.
And hope that is going to be all for a long time...even forever would be nice.
So, cross your fingers for me. Maybe even say a prayer.
I need to be able to be the busy bee that I am.

Have A Relaxing Weekend!

Thursday's Thought

"Within you is a Great Oak. Just be the tree God made you to be."
~Max Lucado

I held back tears the entire time I read this book to my children at bedtime last night. You should read it and don't hold back your tears if you don't want to.
I know that within each of us is a Great Oak.

My Kids Are Weird....

But in a good way, a great way actually.
Their favorite foods are things like:
grilled salmon, hummus, asparagus, cous cous, and the list goes on and on.
That's what you get when their mom is a "foodie" who loves to cook.
Isaac and I took a late night trip to the supermarket for milk last Saturday.
He begged and begged me to spend his allowance on this:
(And I am TOTALLY Serious HERE)

$15.00 later, this is what we got. I didn't make him spend all his money, I chipped in some of my own allowance. We had a great time experimenting and tasting some exotic fruits.

Star Fruit, one of their favorites. Crisp and Fruity and they LOVED the shape of course.

This is a Dragon fruit, the most interesting and beautiful by far. It reminded me of a kiwi and tasted like nothing really. And it was the most expensive. I won't elaborate any more on that because you'll think I'm crazy. I think that I am crazy.

They loved eating the Pomegrante Seeds.

This is a cactus fruit. Very beautiful and tasty but made me a little nervous. One drop of this and your clothes are ruined. We also tried an Asian pear (Ethan's fav) and a Mango (my fav).
It was a fun little experiment that made for some beautiful pictures.