I took the plunge

I got the H1N1 shot. I really wasn't sure about it but I was volunteering at the clinic they were running here and a lot of people said I should have it. I was really leaning on the side of doing it and so I decided, why not? I wasn't going to have it but then I talked to my sister and I changed my mind. Tanner will be getting it as well. I talked to the kidney specialist (nephroligist) and they strongly recommend him getting it so we will be going tomorrow to have it done. He is NOT good at shots. When he had his vaccinations last year, it took 2 of us to hold him down still. And he's strong so it's not that easy to that. Some people may think that it's ridiculous that he throws a tantrum (so I've been told) at 5 years old to get a needle, but he's just a kid still so I do not attempt to make any excuses or justifications for the way he is. I compare it to when my Dad died. People brought over copious amounts of casseroles and for years and years I could not stand to eat casseroles. It wasn't until I was married that I could willingly eat them. It's a bad memory that's associated with them. I'm totally fine with them now. I don't make them too often but I do like certain ones more than others.

We had a really great Halloween. Matt handed out the candy and sent Tanner and I out and told us not to come back until our pillow case was half full. We did end up being out for about 2 1/2 hours but our pillow case was only about 1/3 full. Tanner was having fun and it was a nice night so we just kept going.

Lots has been going on and we are having a great time as the weather is fairly good still.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C butter, softened
3/4 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 C all purpose flour
1 C quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon (I use more like 1 1/2...we love cinnamon)
1 C cooked or canned pumpkin

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars

beat egg and vanilla into butter/sugar mixture

in a seperate bowl combine flour, oats, baking soda and cinnamon

stir into creamed mixture, alternately with pumpkin

fold in chocolate chips

drop by the Tablespoon fulls onto greased sheets (or if you're using the pampered chef cookie sheets, you don't have to grease them)

Bake at 350 for 12-13 minutes

A great day

Yesterday was a great day! Do you ever have those perfect days where everything just go great and there's nothing, at the end of the day, that you can think of that you didn't like? I love those days. Even Tanner was so good and obedient. A funny story about him...okay more like a conversation:

Matt: You did great today at skating buddy!

Tanner: Yeah! (this is a VERY typical response. He doesn't really say thank you unless you prompt him to)

M: pretty soon you'll be skating better than me.

T: Yeah...pause....and swimming too





Matt got pretty good at swimming this summer, but Tanner is better than him. We all had a good laugh about that.

Matt is home now as the season ended on Monday. I told him it was nice to have him home and he said "we'll see if you think that in 4 days". It can drive me batty to have him home but recently, I actually really enjoy it.

I was looking at where I was in my scripture reading this morning...I am WAY behind. I really wanted to read the Book of Mormon and the Old Testament this year but I am only in Numbers 21 and in 2 Nephi 18. I guess I feel like I've been able to get more out of my studies than just reading it and not really pondering it and thinking about what I'm reading. When I finish, the next time I read them I'm going to keep a scripture journal and write any thoughts or questions I have on them. I try to do something new each time when I read the scriptures. I'm just reading about Moses and when his brother Aaron died. I just love learning about the things in the Old Testament. I never really fully appreciated learning about them when I was a teenager. I think as we grow, we learn to appreciate them a lot more because we can apply them in our lives more easily. We have more life experience and have experienced more trials.

We had a great Stake Conference this last weekend. I was able to go to the Adult session and Matt went to the Sunday session. Tanner had been sick all week and I am a little paranoid of him getting the H1N1 so I kept him home. If I could, I would keep him home this week too...but we can't all live in a bubble. Anyways, Matt and I took turns going. The theme was "Lord, I would follow Thee". We had a great talk on how we need to ultimately rely heavily on the Lord because he is the one constant in our lives. It was a really good talk. I wish they would publish the conferences in a newsletter so we could re-read them. You can only write notes so fast and you usually miss stuff.

Well, I think that's it for now. Tanner and I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. I'll put the recipe up later. They are most excellent.

What to say, what to say...

I haven't had a super eventful or exciting life the last week and a bit. Tanner was home sick all last week. He had a really high fever and I finally took him to the Doctor and he said it was just something viral. A lot of it is going around right now so I kept him home. I am REALLY busy making Christmas cards for the Christmas craft and bake sale on December 5th. I want to have 150 cards and I'm at 54 right now. I'm duplicating now. That's much quicker than coming up with 150 different cards. So that's time consuming. Then after that I get to assemble my 54 cards for our family and friends. I decided to something super easy that I could cut out and assemble later so it won't take too long to do that.

There's a movie that we rented at the Library that I have to strongly recommend to people. It's called Forever Strong. It's a really good movie. It's rated 14A but there was no swearing or sex. I think it had to do with thematic things. There's a scene in it where the kids are at a party and there's alcohol but to me, that isn't a reason to rate a movie 14A. It was really inspiring and it's based on a Rugby team in Highland, Utah.

Halloween is this week and I'm not really that excited. I don't know why. I should try to get more excited so Tanner gets more excited about it.


(This is him on Halloween night)




(We went as a Pioneer family to our ward family Halloween party)


I'm more excited for Christmas. I can NOT wait to give all my gifts to my family and few friends I buy for.

I bought one of those gifts today. I bought tickets to the "So You Think You Can Dance Canada" tour in Calgary!!! I called up my friend this morning at 7AM and told her the good news! So December 2nd we're off to Calgary to enjoy a fun night. We have reasonably good tickets. It's 7th row in the lower section (not floor). It's going to be so much fun!


(Us on the big night!)

Well, not much else is new. Have a great day!

Equally yoked

Yesterday as I was making a special Halloween treat for Tanner I tipped over the bread machine container, which was filled with water, and it spilt all over the counter. My first thought was "if Matt had done the dishes (because it was his turn to do them), this wouldn't have happened". Then I remembered something I heard from someone about how it is the woman's job/responsibility to look after the house because the men go out to work. This doesn't sit well with me because I think that to be equally yoked, as we are told to be, means, at least to me, that everyone shares in all responsibilities. I do most of the cooking, for example, but Matt does know how to cook and likes to cook when he has the chance to. But I would never expect Matt to do certain things because I did other specific jobs (I hope that makes sense). I know Matt works full time outside of the home but I don't think that's a reason to come home and not help out with dishes or parenting (and I am in NO WAY saying that Matt does that, this is just an example) or cleaning up. I think it's stereotyping when a man is expected to only do certain things and a woman is expected to do only certain things.

I did end up cleaning the mess and did the dishes (which I don't mind doing most of the time) but it was just something I thought about as I was making these treats for Tanner and wondered what it means to everybody else to be equally yoked with your spouse.

RSS Feed

Can anyone help me to get an RSS feed on my blog? How do I do it?

And the winner is....

Congratulations Lahni, you are the winner of some really yummy Raspberry Jam, homemade cards and your choice of peaches, pears OR applesauce. I couldn't figure out how to get the page from random.org onto my blog so I'm sorry : (

Just e-mail me your address and I'll mail it up to you.

Thanks everyone for your comments and sharing your favorite posts so far.

Hymns

Can anyone explain to me why there are only AMERICAN hymns in the church hymn books. Why isn't O Canada in it (it gets glued in). This is a bit confusing to me. Why shouldn't every country have their national anthem in the hymn book? Do all countries even sing their national anthem on the specified day? Hmmmm....wondering....

OH! 1 more post and I've reached 250! WOW!!!! That's a lot in 14 months. I will close my contest on Thursday and there will be a winner on Friday so if you haven't entered please feel free to do so now.

Where do you stand?

I came across this song that says everything I feel right now. It's a song by Lisa Stonehocker and it's called Where you stand.

There's a quiet whispering deep in your heart
It's a voice that reminds you who you really are
You were faithful to Father
You worship The Son
You rejoiced in the plan that allowed you to come to this earth
To learn and achieve
Now is the time to stand up for what you believe

Do you remember the promise you made back then?
How you longed for the chance to show Faith in Him
Now that you're here and you're finding your voice
Your living the plan and you're making the choice
Where you stand

You knew there'd be moments when you walked alone
The darkness and trials you'd face on your own
You knew there'd be times when the choice was unclear
And you need Him to quiet your doubts and your fears
To give comfort and show you the way
Now is moment to say:

Do you remember the promise you made back then?
How you longed for the chance to show Faith in Him
Now that you're here and you're raising your voice
You're living the plan and your making the choice
Where you stand.

A give away!

I have officially been a blogger for over a year. I feel like I want to give something away. Maybe some of my homemade raspberry jam and some homemade salsa. If this interests you (or even if it doesn't) tell me what your favorite/most memorable post has been. Make sure you check out some of my first posts to refresh your memories. I will do a draw in the next 10 days-2 weeks. I might even throw in a few of my cards.