Holiday Place Settings

I got this cute idea from Martha only I changed it a little. Since I have hundreds of sucker quaking aspen trees in my yard now, as well as some beautiful big blue spruces, I used those branches instead of pine branches and little blue spruce sprigs instead of pine sprigs. I also tied various ribbon around the branches rather than using berries, and I distressed both the white inner paper as well as the brown outer paper for a more rustic look.

I had run out of time so I wasn't going to do them this year, but I figured, why not :) To do 21 of them beginning to end, it took about an hour.

Happy Halloween-ing!

I have been a major slacker in terms of halloween preparedness this year, but I thought I'd share a few things we have done in years past to make this time of year fun:

• On years when I'm good, the kids each grow their own pumpkins to carve.


• On other years (which has pretty much been every year for the last 3 years) we go to a pumpkin patch...or the store :)... and they each pick out a pumpkin.


• I love to gather berries for my Christmas tree, and right now is the perfect time to do it before the frost hits to badly. I am partial to rosehips, so I pack the kids and we all go gathering rosehips and fall leaves for our table.


• My kids always pick out their costumes...with an occassional nudge from me if it's too difficult :) Some of my favorites of years' past have been Clark Kent turning into Superman, Princess Leia, Anakin Skywaker (padawan), Elmo, Harry Potter, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Flower Fairy, Woody rides a horse, Ben 10, and Shadeau dressed up as University of Utah Cheerleader. Good times :)


• Last year, I had my kids each invite 4 friends for a halloween party. They all dressed up, and we painted pumpkins, played Halloween Twister, played pin the wart on the witch, and watched Pooh's Heffalump Halloween. We also played a name that goo game (you put random things in little paper bags, and they have to touch it and guess what it is.) Little kid parties are my absolute favorite!


• The Monday night before Halloween, we carve pumpkins. I have been collecting the little carving tools and templates for different designs for a few years, so we usually invite another family to join us. It is one of kids' all-time favorite things to do :)


• Halloween night, I make Dinner in a pumpkin (more like paella in a pumpkin) and hot apple cider. It's the one time of year I can get Zerin to touch something that touches a vegetable :)


• Bryan has an aunt in a nursing home, so we always make it a point to go trick-or-treating there before hitting the rest of the neighborhoods. Most nursing homes and assisted living centers have some sort of trick-or-treating for a couple of hours on halloween. The kids love how everyone there thinks they are the cutest thing ever, and there are usually at least 2 or three residents that try to give the kids their entire bowl of candy :)


• Halloween also marks the day before I consider it legal to start listening to Christmas music 24-7. I decorate for Thanksmas November 1st (last year, being over 7 months pregnant...I didn't get it done until the 15th...this year, since we are supposed to be moving during that time, it probably won't get done until we're moved...but next year!)

FHE goes undercover...

In my weekly quandry about what to do for Family Home Evening, I decided to resort to my tried and true back up plan...service. We picked our target the night before, along with forming our plan of "attack."

The kids that were old enough to cut, cut out construction paper hearts, and everyone helped color them. Bryan's job was coming up with some kind of candy bar jingle for our poster...as usual, he didn't disappoint :)

In the early morning hours of the dawn, the two older kids and I snuck over to our intended target, armed with construction paper hearts and a candy bar poster. They were half-asleep when we first got there, but when a light in the house turned on...the adrenaline kicked in and wow. I wish I could get them to straighten their rooms that quickly :)

Grandparent Time

We are very fortunate and live close to both my mother and Bryan's parents, so my kids have lots of opportunities to be with their grandparents. I thought I would take just a minute to share some of my favorite grandparent moments.

• We got tickets to the BYU Ballroom team performance, so Bryan's mom took Liah. Liah got all dressed up, and was SO excited to be big enough to go to something so grown up with Grandma all by herself. They both loved the dancing...Liah can still be caught practicing her irish step dancing in the privacy of her bedroom :)
• My mom took Zerin on a special overnight trip to visit my brother. They stayed in a hotel, ate at McDonald's and went and saw a movie on the way home. Zerin thought he was the coolest kid ever!
• Bryan's dad is a master at involving the kids in whatever he is doing. Yesterday, he had this huge bucket of pencils and pens. Next thing I know, all three of my kids were huddled around him with their little papers testing the pens...having contests to see whose pens worked. Genius!
• My grandmother is a master homemaker. When I would visit her house, I would just cross my fingers that she would involve me in some project or meal preparation. I always felt so special to know that she would share her "trade secrets" with me.
• I recently went to a funeral of a woman who had lived a beautiful life. Something that stuck out to me from the different talks was that each of her children and grandchildren felt like they were her favorites. It wasn't something that was spoken, but rather something that she showed in the big moments and the little moments. They each felt it...awesome.
• One grandma I know of invites all of the kids old enough to spend the night over to her house for a monthly sleepover. They watch movies, eat treats, play games, etc. So cute!!!
• My other grandmother always wrote me letters. I was not as good at writing her, but her letters arrived like clockwork. Sometimes the weather was all she wrote about, but I have kept them all (seriously...since I was little). They are precious to me.

Laugh.

This is a simple one.

Laugh.

Laugh at your kids' stupid, pointless, yet nonetheless hilarious jokes. That makes them feel special. Zerin told me he feels powerful when he can make me smile.

The Most Awesome Scripture Study Book Ever!

So, I love this book so much, I'm actually posting about it on both my blogs. It is called Adventures with the Word of God: Making Scripture Study Exciting for the Entire Family by Rebecca Irvine. This book is so awesome, seriously! I read it today while I was waiting for my van to be fixed, and I cannot wait to start using it for our family scripture study. It's a study guide of sorts for family scripture study. Except instead of reading a book cover to cover, you have a different theme each month (ie. Family Proclamation, Missionary Work, Charity, Testimonies, etc.). But she splits each theme up to have a scripture a day to discuss and talk about...I love that because my kids are still pretty young so actually reading from the scriptures tends to lose everyone but Zerin...and even him sometimes, so this is just awesome. The ideas are so cute and fun and seem simple and managable to implement. It takes some preparation...but I should be preparing for scripture study anyway, so why not throw a little cutting and coloring in for good measure, ey?! I am not doing it justice, so go check it out from the library. You won't be disappointed!

Things to help you remember....

One thing Bryan and I have really wanted is to have things in our home that stand as constant reminders of Christ. So, for our new home, we went through, room by room, and picked out artwork and things and themes for each room to help set that tone in our home. I think art is a powerful tool to teach different principles in different layers...like a parable.

Living Room (Time and Eternity Room):

Over our piano (don't have that yet either) I want to put this picture of the Bountiful Temple. On opposite walls, we are going to put 2 framed mirrors that will face each other. We'll have a sepia wedding picture on another wall, and over our door I am going to put in vinyl letters "Remember...." Helaman 5:6. On our biggest wall, that will be my clock wall, and I will have all sorts of clocks, big and small kind of scattered. Then, between the 2 windows, I'll have this picture of Christ.

Kitchen (Sacred Grove/Pioneer Room):

There is really only 1 wall in here that I can use between the window and what will be our new french door, so we are going to put Greg's Olsen's rendition of the Sacred Grove there. Then I will decorate with antique kitchen items.

Dining Room (Gratitude/Prayer)

This room may very well end up being my favorite :) We are going to put Brian Kreshisnik's painting "Ten Lepars Healed" on one wall, and on the opposite wall in vinyl letters, have Alma 37:37 37 "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for bgood; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the cmorning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

Family Room (Family)

On one wall, I am going to make a picture family tree like my aunt did. I may use wedding couple pictures instead of individual pictures, I am not yet sure.

In Zerin's room (Heroes)

I love this pic "Come Forth" by Walter Rane. Captain Moroni is so awesome, isn't he? In each of my kids' rooms they will have a temple pic...they can pick their favorite one...Zerin's favorite changes from week to week so we'll see what it is when we come around to buying it :) On another wall, I'll have Alma 48:17 " 17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

In Liah's room (Real Princesses/Learning)

I'm a bit of a Walter Rane fan I suppose, but Liah will have "Add to your faith" by him on one wall. A temple picture on another wall, and the Young Women's theme in vinyl letters on another wall.

Main Bathroom (6 B's)

I am going to use vinyl letters and write the 6 b's by President Hinckley around the room. Then, I will have a 4 original artwork pieces by my kids (or more if I have more kids). These will be hung on a curtain rod and suspended by ribbon on one wall. The pictures will be of one of the 6 b's.