Star Wars Mania

In case you didn't already know, Brandon is OBSESSED with Star Wars. It is all he talks about, thinks about, draws about, I think it's been absorbed through his skin. He tried talking both Grandpa's into being Luke Skywalker with him for Halloween and wants to buy them each their own Star Wars toy for Christmas. The first thing he wants to do when he gets up in the morning is look up star war pictures on the computer and, if he's really lucky, a video or two as well (he's got a sucker for a dad!). You can pretty much guess what the last thing he wants to do before bed each night as well. When we go to the library, the ONLY books we check out are , yup, you guessed it, Star Wars. I'm sure if we gave him the option, he would sign up for the Jedi Training Academy and learn the ways of the force. (We just won't tell him about it.) We had no idea that a couple of classic movies would result in such obsessive-compulsive behavior from our 4 year old. I think we'll hold off a little while longer before introducing Indiana Jones to a young impressionable mind.

A recent conversation (if you can even call it that since it's pretty one-sided) took place on Wally's way to work this morning.

"If Darth Vader comes to our house, I'll shoot a dart at him," Brandon says.

To which Wally replies, "If Darth Vader comes to our house, you need to fight him with your lightsaber."

"But my lightsaber is just a toy."

"If Darth Vader comes to fight you, your toy lightsaber will turn into a real lightsaber."

"Oho! Then I will have to take him outside to fight him?"

Pause. He has to think about this for a little bit.

"If I fight Darth Vader, then I will turn into Luke Skywalker. Then I will start doing flips over him like in The Return of the Jedi and I'll just keep doing flips. Then I will flip so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sooo, far that I will be in Pennsylvania and turn back into Brandon again. Then Darth Vader will find me and I will turn back into Luke Skywalker and flip over him so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, sooo, far back home."

Silence.

"So, did you beat him?"

"Yep." he says with a shrug of the shoulders.



What do you say to that?

Gobble, gobble

There's nothing like a great turkey, with all the trimmings, and fun people to celebrate with. My sister's family came down from Seattle to be with us which was especially exciting for me since I haven't spent Thanksgiving with anyone in my family for about 6 years. Wally's sister and her family also came down from Idaho to play games with us the night before Thanksgiving. We had lot of fun and decided to bake the pies Kelsie helped me make for everyone that night. We all enjoyed some good homemade apple, pumpkin, and chocolate velvet pies and played an exciting game of Killer Bunnies.

We started our holiday morning participating in our family's 3rd annual Turkey Trot 1-mile fun run. We were lucky enough to talk Ben and Whitney into running with us. As we all got ready to go, Brandon insisted on wearing his boots during the run and was a little put out when we told him there was no room in the stroller for him. It was a cold morning, but once the race started we were able to stay warm. I pushed Caleb and my niece, Lydia, in the double jogger while Kelsie ran with me and Brandon ran (more like walked) with Wally. Kelsie and I finished in14:49 while Brandon and Wally crossed the finish line at 24:41. We were proud of our kids for running and finishing the race. Kelsie mostly enjoyed the race and Brandon informed us that he does not want to do that again, ever (maybe the boots had something to do with it?). We'll see how he feels about it next year.

Upon returning home from the big race, the major cooking operations began. We marinated our turkey overnight in a salt-water solution (1 c salt and 1/2 c brown sugar per 1 gallon of water) and then stuffed it with fruit (apples, oranges, pears, and limes), an onion, and some garlic. We then seared it for half an hour in a 550-degree oven with a homemade tin-foil hat, and then let it cook at 350 for the next 3 hours. In the meantime we set to work mashing potatoes, making candied yams, roasting green beans, cooking the rolls and stuffing, and finishing off with a nice crisp mandarin salad. (Nothing says Thanksgiving like a mandarin salad.) When everything was ready, we all sat down and enjoyed the ever popular Thanksgiving dinner. All the food turned out great, especially the turkey, if I do say so myself. We went around the table and said what we were thankful for, stuffed our faces and our bellies, and then retired to the couch for a long winter's....oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The rest of our weekend was pretty quiet. Whitney and I braved "black friday" shopping and were able to get a couple good deals. Here's a tip: I will forever and ever shop at Target if I ever shop on black friday again. They had plenty of their great deals there when we went at 9 a.m. which proves that you DO NOT need to get up at insane hours of the morning to get the deal. I was so happy about that, I even let one of those nice people in a red shirt know. Also, there was NO LINE when we went to the check out. We just walked up and paid and walked out. It can't get any better than that.

OK, 1 more tip: check online. We found some some deals online that were just as good as going to the store, except we didn't have to get up early or wait in line for 45 minutes.

Wally and Ben took Kelsie and Brandon out shooting rockets (one apparently blew up which made the excursion that much more exciting) and we enjoyed kicking off the holiday season with music and movies.


We also made this cool "Thanksgiving Garland" out of tissue paper and glue. I got the idea from a friend's friend's blog and thought we would try it out. (It's a lot like making a pinata. Kendra, this should make you proud.) It was super fun to make and maybe next year we'll add what we're thankful for around it.

Has it been 9 months already?

It's funny how 9 months seems like such a LONG time when I'm pregnant, and then fly by so fast now that our baby is 9 months old. Caleb is now crawling all over the place, pulling himself up on his feet and can't figure out how to get back down. He is mostly eating regular food now and loves to chase balls. He is now weighing 17 pounds, 8 ounces and is 27 inches long. He looks pretty small for his age, but is actually pretty solid. He even got his first real bump on his head after hitting it on a piece of furniture. He's such a happy little guy and so much fun to have around!

My New Favorite Song

Click HERE to see the video.

Trick or Treat!

Once a year, I get a very strong desire to make my kids' Halloween costumes. We have a lot of fun planning together, picking out the fabric, and anticipating the final product. This year we had Hannah Montana, Luke Skywalker, and a pirate. The costumes all turned out good (after a lot of phone calls to Grandma and fixing some boots that were sewn on backwards) and we had so much fun dressing up, going to parties, and trick-or-treating. Wally and I even dressed us as Luke and Lorelai from the Gilmore Girls for the ward party (a little tribute to our show!).

Instead of dressing up at school, Kelsie had crazy hair day and went to school with two braids that stuck out like Pippi Longstocking. After school, we went to the Uptown Center and tricked-or-treated to our hearts content. Needless to say, we came home with their bags about half full of candy and still had our trunk-or-treat party to go to. We headed on over the the church parking lot where we had an endless line of Halloween hopefuls expecting candy. By the time we handed out our last pieces of candy, Kelsie and Brandon came back to the car with their bags overflowing. We came home and Wally took Kelsie and Brandon around the neighborhood (I know, like we really needed more candy, but hey, it's Halloween after all!) By the time 8:00 came around, Brandon was bouncing off the walls, and Kelsie was asking to eat more candy. It was time for bed so we said good night and good bye to the ghosts and goblins and treats of Halloween.

Kelsie takes her role as rock star very serious.













This Jedi's definitely got the force!












Caleb's ready to sail the seven seas!