Thanksgiving

This year, we decided to do Thanksgiving by ourselves. At first I was kind of bummed that we wouldnt be doing it with any friends or family... then as I thought more about it I got excited. I was doing the whole thing all by myself. I could do it however I wanted and if I mess it up? Eh it was just us anyway! I could make a new recipe here or there, I could leave something off the menu I didnt want to make... the sky was the limit! Haha

Anyhow, I bugged my friend Ann a lot about how to brine a Turkey. Colton brined our Turkey last year and it was tasty. Then this year my favorite food blogger Mel posted a brine recipe (pretty much the same as Alton Brown's which is what Colton used) so I just knew this was my year to BRINE! I left off the candied ginger. I dont really like ginger much but also, it was ridiculous to spend that much money on something I would never use again. Ann had the other obscure ingredients on hand and she shared with me so I could avoid buying the other expensive stuff.

Also, I tried a new recipe of make ahead Buttermilk rolls (another Mel recipe) Maylee and I made the dough on Tuesday to sit in the fridge until Thursday.

On top of our "on our own" Thanksgiving, Ty and I were talking late one night. He couldn't sleep... he decided he wanted to try and earn more money since he can't sell water bottles at the jogging trails in the winter time. He said he wanted to sell cookies. I asked what the occasion would be and if he knew how to make cookies (trying to get him to ask me to help him) He said he didn't know... so then he said lets make something YUMMY to sell to people. I asked him what he thought was yummy. He said Cinnamon Rolls. I asked if he knew how to make cinnamon rolls. He said, "No... but I can make cinnamon toast! Lets sell Cinnamon Toast to people on Thanksgiving morning!" I told him I wasn't sure that would be a hot seller, but that Cinnamon Rolls might be... especially GIANT ones. So the following day, Ty told his plan to Matt. He told him he would sell Giant Cinnamon Rolls to people on Thanksgiving morning since most parents forget to feed their kids that morning anyway.

I put his message on Facebook and on Instragram. (I was told later I should have made it more obvious that this was Ty's endeavor in Vancouver because quite a few people mixed up what was going on like that they were going to be sold in Medford or that I was the one selling the Cinnamon Rolls) Regardless, the orders began rolling in. I asked people who text me for an order to actually CALL Ty. Ty was out in the garage vaccuming out the cars to pay for the ingredients for the cinnamon rolls. We werent going to let him do this all at our expense, if he is going to learn business... so he negotiated a goods price of 5 dollars. We didnt put a cap on the orders, or a minimum either. So it was a gamble, but it paid off because he received SEVEN orders! He ended up getting a steal of a price on his ingredients. I told him I would donate my time and gas to help him deliver. Whenever anyone would call he would say "Cinnamon Rolls by Ty can I take your order?" He was so cute sitting at the counter pencil in hand and writing down his orders. He got 4 right away then the other 3 trickled in.

Wednesday he didn't have school, so the afternoon we started making the cinnamon rolls. As we worked on the dough, I told him all the steps that needed to happen. Including waking him up at 4 am  to pull the rolls out to raise to make our 8 am delivery window. He said "No, you cant wake me up in the middle of the night." I told him he could pay me to do it, then he agreed to do it (with me).

Wednesday night I forgot that Matt had an activity with the youth, so I was counting on him to get all the kids to bed and out of my space so I could buckle down and really prep for the following day. So when he came down in his basketball clothes ready to leave I was a little bit of a crazy lady on him. I reigned it in a little and ignored my children enough to get the turkey in the brine. I put the rest of the kids to bed and finished the Chocolate Cream Pie and finished up the rest of the Cinnamon Rolls that Ty couldn't do since it would be too late and he needed to wake up early.

The next morning I woke him up. It took some cajoling, but he woke to take out the rolls. He went back to bed and I woke him up to help me bake the last batch. I was up for an hour before him baking and prepping. When I woke him again at 6:45 it was harder to get him up. He did wake and get dressed though. We made the icing, he wrote out the cards with their names and we loaded up all the girls and off we went. Matt had Elders Quorum football to play, so it was just the kids and me on deliveries. Hind sight says it would have been better if matt went on deliveries, since he is much better at directions and driving than I. Of course, we started off a little rocky, since we couldn't find the missionaries apartment. Someone anonymously bought one for them. After 15 extra minutes we got it to them and delivered the rest and got home by 8:45. Ty did it by himself walking to each door thanking and wishing every home a Happy Thanksgiving. He even got a tip from one of his friends. He was very happy and worked hard for his money.

When we got home, Ty and the girls vegged out and watched "Arthur's Christmas" while I prepped and cooked up the rest of the meal.

The Turkey I was the most worried about, since i'd never done it this way before. But I am pleased to say it was perfectly delicious. In fact, it was so good Matt told a friend later in the day that it was the best Thanksgiving meal he has ever eaten, which he repeated to me later and I was happy. I have been in a baking/cooking anything slump lately and it rebuilt my confidence to know I could in fact, make a good meal. Ty asked if we could have this for dinner at least once a week. Maylee ate her weight in turkey and mashed potatoes and Emma said it was the best dinner ever. Gracie gobbled it all up as usual.

A funny conversation did happen while we were eating. Ty said, " I know how to spell duck." We said, "How?" he replied "D U C K" we said, "Good!" Then Emma says, "I know how to spell fork!" We said, "Wow, Really?" She said, "Yes, just get a pencil and write it." We all laughed so hard at her. That girl is always funny with out knowing it.

I know Gracie's hair bow looks silly, but I al determined to getting her used to wearing one for when her hair gets longer. That's the trick, you gotta force them when they are young.

After dinner (which was at 1 pm not dinner time) Matt and I cleaned up and we took wonderful glorious naps. I woke at 4:30 in just enough time to whip up the cream for the pies and have pie for dinner. We had the Pumpkin and the Chocolate Cream Pie. Originally, Matt said he didn't like Chocolate pie, but judging by the amount he ate of both i'd wager to guess he does like it.

 Everyone loved the pies for dinner, then we zipped off to the church to meet the Anderson's there to run the kids before bed. They all played while Ann and I chatted. Then we came home, put the kids to bed and watched Jurrasic World. It really was a lovely day. We are so thankful for good friends and family who make our lives better. We are thankful for our home, for our cars, for our jobs and most importantly for the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, so that we can become more like him each day to hopefully one day return to live with him and Heavenly Father once again.

Halloween?

What? I missed Halloween?

To prep for Halloween the week before hand we carved pumpkins and made Carmel apples at the Anderson's house. 

Here are all the kiddos in their adorable Halloween glory.

Ty was inspired by The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and decided to make his very own ghost costume. When trick or Treating he was told many times how great his costume was. He even ended the night with 2 king size candy bars in his bucket. Not sure if his costume had anything to do with it, however none of his sister had those candy bars in their buckets and they hit all the same doors.

Maylee decided to be the peasant version of Cinderella. Thankfully we all ready had those in our dress ups thanks to Aunt Zan. She was adorable as ever. It rained though on Halloween and I think she was the most miserable.

Emma decided to be a fairy princess. A few weeks before Halloween a friend of mine gave me some fairy party supplies and the dress and flower crown were in the bag. Emma LOVES a good fluffy floofy girly girl dress so when I suggested it it was readily agreed upon.

Grace had no choice, I just dressed her up in Maylee's once used Little Red Riding Hood Costume. She was just a doll.

Like I mentioned before, the day of it was raining. So we went to the local high school where they have trick or treating inside a few of their buildings, just walking in got us all soaked. Later that night we went out around the block. The girls BARELY made it then Ty and I went on to one last house. This house in our neighborhood goes all out. They have all sorts of gruesome and macabre things hanging around thier house. Ty told me he wasn't scared... then when it came down to it, it wouldn't knock. Haha he was SO scared he even wrote about it at school the next day.

The kids had enough candy to last them far too long. We went to the dentist a few days previous to Halloween. Ty needs 4 sealants and Maylee needs SEVEN fillings, including a crown. Needless to say the older two have my enamel and candy is not in supply at our home any more. I encourage the girls to basically walk around with a little flosser now too. Sheesh.

However, it was still a Happy Halloween.

Mom Fail with #2

I think I have mentioned it before, but our darling #2 child is very... physical. As in, her love language is physical touch. She wants to be cuddled, tickled, play with her hair, scratch her back, kisses and hugs are her favorite things. A close second is time. She loves one on one time. She wants to please and does extra chores, like vacuuming the living room even though the vacuum is bigger than her, just so I can be done with my stuff sooner to be with her while her sisters are napping.

Two weeks ago, I kept getting this feeling every night that I needed to crawl in to bed with Maylee and snuggle with her before bed. Since she is so physical, (for example, if you scratch her back for a minute she will cry herself to sleep that you didn't do it longer) I have a hard time with it. I want to cuddle her on my terms, which is a far shorter length of time than what she would like. It is easier for me to give love to my other three because a minute for a back scratch is just fine. It's not that I don't love my girl, because I ADORE my girl, it's just the way she likes to be loved that is difficult. Anyhow, I got this impression every single night 2 weeks ago. Either I would forget, or I would be exhausted and just beg them all to go to sleep before I blow a fuse, or I just plain ignored the feeling.

Last week, I paid for it... she was a middle child on a mission to be noticed.

Let me back up, at the beginning of November she got gum in her hair. We successfully got it out with peanut butter and I told her that she was no longer able to chew gum this month and that we would try again in December. She loves to feel grown up and I think gum to her makes her look and feel older? Anyhow, a week later she was chewing more gum. I didn't know how she got it, I asked her and she said from the trash can. (Yeah not the first time she has fished things out of the trash) I told her that is not okay, that it's actually quite gross and that she now needed to wait another week before she can have gum again. Last week I was in the shower. I had hidden a pack of gum up high. I found a bunch of bowls lying around when I got out and asked Emma why the bowls? Emma said Maylee wanted more gum. WHA??? So I asked Maylee, did you find my gum? She said no I didn't take any. I checked the gum, 2/3 of it was gone. I asked Maylee where my gum was... she said she didn't know. I pressed again, Maylee you need to tell the truth where is the gum. She said, okay i'll show you. She brought me upstairs to show me about 8 pieces of gum chewed and stuck to the wall underneath her Doc McStuffin's poster on the wall. It was all different flavors of gum so she had been doing it for some time. I ripped the poster down, and ripped it up. I pulled all the gum off. As I was throwing the poster and chewed gum away I noticed more wrapped unchewed gum hidden. I found about 2-3 packs worth of gum hidden. I thankfully was calm on the surface, RAGING underneath though. We were late for picking up Ty from school so we went to get him and got home. I spoke with Matt and decided she needed to clean the wall and stay in her room the rest of the night except for dinner and FHE. I asked her again for any other hidden stashes of gum. She assured me their weren't any more stashes. (My big issue with this, is if she continues to steal and lie about it, what will she be hiding in her room in 12 years and lying about??? It can be WAY worse than gum.) We outlawed gum for the forseeable future and if she decides to steal it and chew it again, she knows the consequences will be severe (we dont know what they will be, but I don't even want to think of that) We talked A LOT about lying and stealing that day. how it is NOT okay and that others will REALLY not appreciate those habits.

Then next morning, she convinced her older brother to watch shows in the morning before school even though he knows not to do it. She said I would say it's okay and sat back to watch brother get in trouble, not her, she didn't do it. Also that morning, she convinced little sister to get up with her at 4 am to play downstairs while everyone else was sleeping. Dad caught them playing and was none to pleased especially since he didn't ever go back to sleep. No shows were able to be watched that game as well as no iPad time. I had a talk with Ty about the ole "If someone told you it was okay to jump off a cliff would you do it?" talk... I talked to Maylee about convincing others to do things that were wrong.

Anyway, these are just a few of the myriad of ways that Maylee acted out this week so far.

You know what? It's partly, maybe mostly, my fault. The Holy Spirit was prompting me ALL.WEEK the week previous to give her extra attention. I knew she needed it and I ignored it, then I paid the price.

In my classes at University of Utah the major I had was fairly small and I had the same amazing teacher for a lot of my classes. She pounded into our brains every singe class period that "The kids who need love the most will ask for it in the most unloving ways"

So, since her lashing out I have doubled down my efforts to love appreciate, cuddle, tickle, compliment and generally lavish her with my time and love. She has been HAPPY and HELPFUL and just wonderful since.

I am re-committed to listening to the spirit as well. These things may or may not have been avoided, but I know the spirit was trying to help me the whole time. I swear sometimes I am so dense it seems that God has to smack me in the face before i'll listen.

The rest of Utah picture dump

We stayed at the Wu's and enjoyed our time with family. 

Suzanne, Taylor, Maddy, and Colton

These boys, luckily they don't live next to one another, things would get crazy. 

We went to the Provo Rec Center. Loads of fun. Grandpa took care of sleeping Gracie. 

That night we went to the BYU game. Big thanks to Pam and Braden for watching the kids and Linda and Tay for letting us borrow their tickets and Casey and Braxton for letting us have the tickets that Linda and Ray said they could have. ;) 

The Cougars won, it was a good night. 

Ty lost his second tooth at the Wi's he was so excited. 

We went to the pumpkin patch. Even though it was dumping rain, it was a blast. 

It was a fantastic week. We LOVED seeing all our Utah family. P.s. Maddy and Colton told us they were pregnant. I pretty much mauled Maddy I was so excited. Then I kinda teared up a little. I am so happy for them!