Happy Birthday Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn wanted to have a kitty party.  We made kitty headbands and collars.
The kids played cat, cat, dog and name that cat.  They also had to follow a big
mixed up yarn to find a mouse at the end.
I made her a cute kitty cake - just like Jenessa had for one of her birthday parties.

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Mom,

Let me first get the BYU Utah game out of the way so I don't have to talk about it ever again. That was stupid I can't believe we lost that way so I feel so bad for you guys and all BYU fans. Ugh I really want to throw up when I actually think about it. I guess I'm just glad I'm here instead of there.

Ok now on to things that are actually important....

I'm glad you had a good Thanksgiving. Sorry the Turkey wasn't done til a little later ha ha. But Hey I'm sure it still tasted really good. On Thanksgiving I had to eat three whole thanksgiving dinners. I should sound more grateful but it was pretty hard! I've never eaten that much food in my life! We ate with the Perez Family, and with Helda, and with Rene y Ahorra. They we actually all really good. But when I got home I thought I was going to die. Elder Garrido almost died too I think ha ha he acutally ate more than me and he's such a little guy! (Sorry we always give him crap for his height). We spent most the night and next day in the bathroom...sorry tmi but I'm just saying...The food was all actually really good though. Even though it was a little weird to eat rice on thanksgiving.

So the Perez family accepted Tithing and word of wisdom and stuff so they're good to go on this Sunday! I'm so excited for them! It's been so fun to see how happy they always are now. You can see a difference in their eyes by the way they shine. it's really cool!

Sorry i'm trying to think about what to say but i'm so distracted by the BYU game...

Oh you asked about packages. OK well what is supposed to happen is that we get mail from the mission office every friday. But the mission office is run by senior missionaries, who as nice and great as they are, are also somewhat inept. So sometimes we go two weeks without mail. But still send a package because I haven't really got one from anyone since I got to Houston except the greenie one you sent. ha ha

I only have four minutes left to write.

Sorry this email has been short and not funny at all...

oh no three minutes left..

Oh yeah ok so we bought Pirate Ross a shirt for his birthday. We haven't found him yet though so I'll let you know what he thinks about it next week.

OK i really need to go now.

I love you so much mom! Tell the rest of the family I love them too!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Soutas

Grandpa Bob is the best chef

Kathy had gorgeous centerpieces

The Kids Table is always the most fun

We are still getting tons of snow and its still really cold.  Today it has snowed nonstop again   --everything is cold and snowy and it makes me just want to stay indoors.  I really need to get a little Christmas Shopping done.      

I was  wondering how long does it take you to get a package from the mission home?  If I send it and the mission home receives it within say 5 to 7 days - how long after that would it take for you to get it?  Is there a certain day of the week that the zone leaders would pick it up and then how long would that take to get to you.  I'm just trying to find the best way to get some Christmas goodies to you so that they are still somewhat fresh!

We are especially praying for you this week and for the Perez Family.  It will be so awesome for them to be baptized.  What a wonderful experience that will be!

I believe you said they will be baptized on Sunday the 5th.  Will you get a lot of members from the ward to come and support them?  Do you have the baptisms at the Stake Center like we do here?

Kaitlyn's birthday is  on Saturday the 4th.  She has her little creative mind going a million miles an hour and she's doing all the planning for her party so I'll let you know how that goes on Saturday.

It was fun to hear about your new companion, Elder Garrido.  I know that it will help you tons to have him always speaking spanish  you will learn so much faster, so don't feel discouraged :)

I'm sorry about the Menudo--that sounds so disgusting - I don't know how you were able to eat it.  Dad says he ate something similar in Korea   I'm just so glad it's not me, I couldn't do it!

This weekend went by fast the day after thanksgiving we went to a couple of Tyler's bball games and he also had one on Saturday.   Dad and I went to the Temple on Saturday to do some initiatories. 

 Today Dad spoke in Sacrament Meeting about tithing.

He gave an overview of how the early Saints received the Law, during a very difficult time for them economically, yet they still obeyed and kept it.

It's hard to believe that there are so many MEMBERS that don't pay tithing because they say they can't afford to - when really they can't afford Not To

He also said that Missionaries - like you - are teaching investigators and before they can be baptized they must commit to pay tithing.  He asked in his talk, to consider if they would qualify even to be baptized - since they can't seem to live the law now!    Dad just told me he attached his talk for you - I thought he did a great job on it

Of course Saturday was the crazy BYU football game.  I screamed at the end - it was so frustrating!!

Tomorrow (today when you read this)  Grandma is coming to stay at our house so that Grandpa can go to work this week.  She is improving each day and is doing great from her surgery.  

Well its almost 11:30 pm so I better get to bed.   Our prayers are with you and Elder Garrido and the Perez familia.  We are also praying for you to find more investigators.  I'm so thankful for you and the wonderful missionary you are.  Work hard, pray hard and be happy.

Love you   Mom

Dear Jordan/Elder Soutas

¡Buenos Días! ¿Como te ha ido el día? Por aquí todo bien.  I hope you had a good day on Thanksgiving.  

Our thanksgiving was similar to most years.    I spent the morning getting rolls ready to make then we went up to Kathy's & Matts.  The men and kids went to see the movie "Megamind" while we got the rest of the meal ready.  I don't know much about the movie - the kids said it was OK but nothing too great I guess.  The only problem of the day is that grandpa didn't get the turkey into the oven early enough so we didn't have dinner until about 6:30 pm

but it was still a nice day.

Giving Thanks

Dear Mom,

Wow I can't believe it snowed that much! I sure do miss the snow. It's still 55 degress here. The Holidays just won't be the same without snow!

So it's all good news about the Perez Family. They accepted the word of wisdom. We're teaching tithing this week and they'll definately be baptized on the fifth I'm not even worried about it!

Well I got a new companion! His name is Elder Garrido. He's awesome I love him! He's from Salt Lake City. Actually from Rose Park like where dad lived when he was little. His parents are from Guatemala so he's very good at spanish. He kind of makes me feel stupid because he's so much better than me but i'm grateful because I know he'll help me get so much better! It's kind of funny becase he's really short so I went from way tall Elder Bunch to way short Elder Garrido.  He actually had to go home becasue he tore his ACL and MCL but he was out for 14 months before that. But now he's back and finishing up the last ten months of his mission. Sometimes I kind of feel like the senior companion because I inheirited the area and he has kind of forgotten a lot of stuff because he was out for five months. But we're still doing really good. We've found some new people to teach that we're really excited about. We'll talk with them this week so I'll let you know how it goes. It's pretty cool though when the spirit whispers, "Go talk to them" and then you go over and they've already talked to the missionaries before but they moved so lost contact and they invite you over. That actually happened to me a couple times this week.

Wow I was sad to hear about Grandma. I hope she is doing ok! I feel bad that I never had any idea.i'm glad to hear that it seems like she'll be ok. I'll be sure to write her and pray for her.
I'm so excited to hear Tyler made the basketball team! You're right I think he definately owes me and ben all the credit for making him tough ha ha.

Well I'm going to miss you guys a lot on Thanksgiving. It's going to be tough to be away for sure. I think we'll go over to the Perez family's. and then over to Helda's too. It'll be fun but not the same...I hope you all have fun though.  I'm so grateful for you mom and all you do! I'm grateful for dad and all the time he takes to be bishop and provide! I'm grateful for our whole family! I'm grateful for Ashlee! I'm grateful for my companion and for my investigators and for the members here. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord. I'm so grateful for our Heavenly Father and for answered prayers and that he sent his son Jesus Christ. I'm eternally grateful to Jesus for allowing me to live again and have eternal life through his atonement. i'm grateful for the guidance of the spirit and for the Book of Mormon and for the prophet! and lots more stuff but I don't have time to write it all down.

Oh ok one funny story. So on Saturday we went over to the Familia Favela. They are amazing and she made us homemade Gorditas...oh they are soooo good. Then we went over to the Familia Perez. They always make us eat even if we've already eaten. And Josefa (oh yeah she went to church too) is a good cook so usually I'm ok with it. But this time we had Menudo...for those of you who don't know what Menudo is it's Cow Stomach Soup. It's so disgusting. It smells literally like sewer water and has a texture you would not believe...so gross. I had to pray to be able to eat it. Literally i prayed to be able to eat it. I couldn't offend them when they were so close to baptism ha ha. Oh my it was so disgusting I cant' even put it into words!

Well everything is going well for me. Pray for me taht I'll be able to improve at Spanish though. Ha ha I'm kinda depressed about how far behind I am with Elder Garrido I kinda get left out of lessons now because I can't keep up. But I know I'll get better.

I'm having so much fun with Elder Garrido though! He and I are already great friends and time flies so much faster when you have a good companion!

Well that's about it. Oh and I found out that Pirate Ross's really name is Rosondo Garcia so I was pretty happy about that.

Well I better get going. I love you so much mom! Tell the family I love them too! I'm so grateful this Thanksgiving time but I'll definately miss you!

Pray for me and I'll do the same!

 

!Que le vaya bien!

 

Con Amor,

Elder Soutas

On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:39 AM, wrote:

Dear Jordan/Elder Soutas

 

Happy Thanksgiving Week!  I'm so thankful for you and that you are serving a mission.

 

Today we woke up to 12" of snow.  It was beautiful but there was a ton of it.  All of the Priesthood Boys got out and shoveled everyone in the neighborhood's driveways so that they could make it to church.   There were a lot of trees that fell down and so they were all blocking the road in the neighborhood on South pointe Drive, so they had to get them all cleared out so that the cars could get through - kind of a crazy morning.    It actually snowed more here than in the mountains.  Only 8" at Brighton.   I was still enjoying some nice warm fall days but I guess it's going to be pretty cold this week --30 degrees

 

How are things with the Perez family this week?  We are still praying for them every day.  Was Josefa able to come to church?  Have you been teaching them any more discussions?

We will also pray that you can find some new investigators.

 

So who is your new companion?  Tell us a little bit about him...

 

This week Grandma Elaine had surgery   She didn't want to worry you about it before hand so we decided to wait until everything was over with a positive result - and it is!  The surgery went really well.  She was actually diagnosed with cancer of the uterus, but the surgeon was able to get everything removed and so it went really well.  Grandma's been sick having some chemotherapy and she will still have to have a little bit more, but the outlook is very good for her ---so pray for her but don't let it worry you -  How blessed we are to have the miracle of modern medicine.  Definitely something I'm thankful for this year!

 

Anyway, because of that I spent a lot of the week at the hospital with her...I can relate to a lot of what she is going through with her surgery because it was a similar experience with my surgery recovery.   By the way I feel completely better from my kidney surgery and I don't have any problems at all.  I am so thankful Heavenly Father has blessed us to get through these trials and has helped us and comforted us completely.  The downside this week is that Grandma probably won't feel up

to travelling for thanksgiving.  We are going to go to Kathy's for dinner so I will probably just have to bring a plate of food to her.

What do you think you will be doing?  Will you be able to go to a member's home?  I hope you will get to have a little bit of turkey :)

 

Well good news for Tyler - He made the SOJO Basketball team!!   I'm happy for him     As a parent it's hard to have one child have a success that the other's didn't -like you and Ben --You both should have made it too!  He was blessed to have you and Ben teach him so young and that definitely was an advantage  so he owes you a lot of credit for his success. 

 

Jake left for the MTC this week.  I'm sure it was a difficult week for Ashlee and her family.  As soon as they get that first letter this week they will feel a lot better!   I'm sure Ashlee will tell you all about it.

 

I also was in charge of helping the youth at the cannery for mutual on Wednesday.  We got a lot of canning done for members of the ward and delivered it to them.

 

I'll let Dad tell you all the sports news in his letter

 

We will be thinking of you a lot this week and of course praying for you.  As a missionary, you are making the most of Thanksgiving - By GIVING your life to serving our Heavenly Father and teaching the gospel.  

 I am so thankful for our family-for each of you children.   I am so thankful for Dad - He is the best and a wonderful husband and father.  I am so thankful for the restored gospel, for a living prophet to guide us, for the scriptures to teach us.  I'm so thankful for the Holy Ghost to guide us.  I'm so thankful for our loving Father who sent his son, our Savior to provide us a way to return back to him through Christs' atoning sacrifice.  I am so thankful for temples and that our family will be able to be together forever.  I am truly the most blessed mom in the world!

 

I love you with all of my heart     Be happy and have a great week

 

love  Mom

Silly Kiddos

After Savanna visited Brycen, Ty and Tommy decided they wanted to dress up too.

Fall Friday

It's the Friday before Thanksgiving - so since I know these favorite fall days of mine will soon be gone I made some yummy oatmeal cookies.  They were two-in-one.  After I made the cookie dough,
I divided it.  In one bowl I stirred in Guittard Chocolate Chips and Butterscotch Chips to make oatmeal Scotcheroos.
The other bowl I stirred in leftover fresh cranberries and white chocolate chips.  They turned out to be my favorite.  The tart cranberries with the sweet, white chocolate is just perfect for my tastebuds!

I got the recipe from Melanie over at My Kitchen Cafe

Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Printable Version

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 3/4 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips
Cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add Baking soda, powder, and salt and mix. Add flour, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes

I also went to the Temple this morning and did initiatory and then I went to the hospital to visit Mom.  She is doing OK considering her difficult surgery on Tuesday. 

Kaitlyn is such a character!  This afternoon she has dressed up as "Savanna", a made-up neighbor girl and she is visiting us and charming us with her Southern Drawl Accent.  Brycen and Ty Geddes are playing right along ....   I asked Brycen who left their cookie on the counter and he said, "That's Savanna's"

Meet Savanna:

Yes That's grandma Lynne's old old wig....  and Chris' old pair of glasses

Baked Potato Soup

Here's a yummy soup I made

I got the recipe from Our Best Bites

Baked Potato Soup


2 Tbs butter
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C flour
4 1/2 C low-fat or skim milk
1 14oz can chicken broth
4 medium baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds) baked*
2 C grated cheddar (or sharp cheddar) cheese, divided
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 C  light sour cream, divided
1/2 C chopped green onions, divided
8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided

*don't have time to bake potatoes in the oven?  Just pierce them with a fork a few times and then pop them in the microwave.  Cook in 5 minute intervals until a knife easily pierces through them.  It usually takes 5-10 minutes.  To bake in the oven, pierce each potato with a fork and place directly on oven rack.  Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.






Melt butter in a stock pot over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds until fragrant.  Add flour to pan.  Slowly add milk a little at a time while whisking constantly to eliminate lumps.  Whisk until smooth and then add chicken broth.  Bring soup just to a simmer and heat until thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes.

Once soup is thickened, turn heat down to medium-low.  Cut potatoes in half length-wise and use a spoon to scoop out potato flesh into the pot.  Use a wooden spoon to smash potatoes, breaking up large clumps.  Add 1 1/2 C grated cheese and salt and pepper and stir until cheese is melted.  Remove pan from heat and stir in 3/4 C sour cream, 1/4 C green onions, and 4 strips of the crumbled bacon.  Add additional salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls and top with each serving with the remaining sour cream, onions,
cheese, and bacon
 

 

Happy Fall! 

Basket Ball Ty

Today we were so excited for Tyler--He made the SOJO Basketball team--
a difficutlt feat we know because of so much competition.
We give a lot of the credit to 2 older brothers to show him the way and teach
him how to play since he was 4 years old

Mom's Surgery

Today I spent in St Mark's Hospital waiting room with Beckie and Dad waiting and waiting for
my mom to come out of surgery.  She had  a hysterectomy for her endomitrial cancer.
She finally got to her room around 8 pm.  So I was only able to visit with her for a few minutes

Missionary, Temple & Blessings

 

Hola Familia

Hmmm I'm never really sure where to start. But this week was really good and bad too haha.

Bad news first. I was soooo sick this week. I ate at Hermana Moreno's house and that's never good news with her house that smells like cat pee. And the food isn't too good either, obviously because I got really bad food poisoning! I threw up so many times that night I literally didn't sleep at all. And then the next day were exchanges so I still had to get up and work. I was so tired and still felt sick ugh It was a miracle I made it. The worst part is that we eat at her house every thursday. I don't know how I'm going to eat there again...wish me luck...

The good news is still the Perez family! We haven't taught them Word of Wisdom or tithing yet but they learned about it at a fireside last night and they seemed fine. I was so nervous during the fireside because the speaker kept going on and on about how Mormons keep the word of wisdom and then he said we don't watch TV on sundays. I was just dreading what the Perez family was thinking! I wanted to say, "Hey I watch TV on sunday!" But after they seemed fine. It's almost like they're willing to do whatever it takes. One cool thing is that the mom, Josefa hasn't come to church yet because she is always working. But her boss recently changed her schedule so that she doesn't work Sundays anymore! So we look on target for the fifth of december still!

Oh more good news! I'm not getting transfered! However, Elder Bunch is. I feel bad because he can't see the Perez family get baptized! But he was a good trainer. A little change will be nice though I'm not going to lie.

Rene and Ahorra and Hector are all doing good. However all still need divorces. It's kinda funny praying for people to get divorced ha ha. But they'll all be baptized as soon as that happens. Hopefully in one more transfer.

One thing we have a problem with is that we don't have a lot more legit investigators. We need to pray that we can find more people who have been prepared to hear the gospel.

That's so cool how Ben is from Manasseh too like dad. that's wierd that we're all different. I wonder how that affects future events and responsibilities. But anyways that's so cool!

That's cool about the temple story! i've always wanted to just walk around the temple. I tried once but got in trouble. That's cool that dad saw Ashlee's parents and Jake. That's crazy that he's leaving! I feel so bad for Ashlee! She always tells me how hard it's going to be for her for Jake to leave. But I know she'll be ok because she's such a tough girl! That's too bad she's sick though! It's kinda funny we were sick the same week though I thought ha ha
Thats a bummer that Ty got cut from basketball. But wow he made it so far! He'll make the freshman team for sure! I'm jealous of his skillzz.

It sounds like Kaitlyn and Brycen are having fun too! Tell them I miss playing with them!

I'm excited to hear that Jenessa is taking voice lessons. she's such a good singer already!

I just miss you all so much! But don't worry I'm still having lots of fun here!

Oh more good news. I might actually get some Texas BBQ today becasue we're going out so i'm going to try to talk my district into it.

Well that's about it this week. I'll let you know about my new companion next week!

Love you all! Miss you.

Love,

Elder Soutas.

Dear Jordan/Elder Soutas

¿Cómo estas?  I hope you are feeling good this week  We received your pictures this week and it was fun to look at them.

I will send you another picture of the family when I get one.  The one I sent was the only copy I had of that one because the photographer

makes you buy all the copies and doesn't give access to the digital.

How is the Perez famiy doing?  I have been praying for them each day.  Especially that they will accept the lessons you 

give them on tithing and the word of wisdom  

How are your other investigators doing? 

Today was a special day for Ben   he received his patriarchal blessing from Pres. Skouby.   The most interesting part was before the blessing.

President Skouby just wanted to talk for a few minutes before he started.  He said he felt prompted to ask Dad and me if either of us were of tribe of manasseh

He actually thought maybe it would be me, but Dad said he was.  he also asked if anyone else in family or Dad's family was Manasseh and Dad said no

After the blessing, President Skouby said he knew that Ben was Manasseh as soon as he sat down and that asking us just confirmed it to him

So I told Dad  now he has a friend..in Manasseh  I told them that you were of mixed blood but primarily Ephraim.

Let's see...I think everything I tell you about, Dad has already wrote about  but another really cool thing that happened this week is that we went to the SL temple with Grandma Elaine and Gpa Allen to do some sealings of family names.  We got there late because Dad had been delayed at his office so we went into the sealing room and they were almost finished with all of the family names.  There were 6 daughters to seal to parents, so Dad and I were the parents and Beckie was the daughter.   And then that was it --the session was over.   It was only like 10 minutes the shortest temple experience ever.  Except then the sealer left us in the room and we were able to all just stay and quietly talk which we thought was unusual to be left in the temple without any worker with us.  Then we all decided we wanted to go into the celestial room.  They let us do that since we were dressed appropriately.  We all just sat in the beautiful celestial room. 

 Then Dad decided to start wandering the temple halls   He wanted to find the Holy of Holies - he never did, but he found the room where James E Talmage wrote "Jesus the Christ" and  Beckie showed us the hallway where President Smith told his granddaughter Allie that he had seen Jesus

(Beckie knew about it because she had taken a tour of the Temple with her student ward when she was at the U)

Anyway it was really cool to just kind of walk around the SL temple and look in some of the rooms

Then while I was getting dressed  -Dad saw Ashlee's parents and Jake.  They were just coming to the temple.  he got to talk with them for a few minutes.  I feel bad that I didn't get to see them.  They did say that Ashlee has been sick this week.  So I texted her later.  She said she is starting to feel better.

It will also be a difficult week for her and the family since Jake is leaving on Wednesday for his mission.  So we are praying for her

               

 Kaitlyn, Brycen and Tyler have all been sick this week with colds too.  As Dad told you Tyler had a tough week when he got cut from BBall tryouts.  He did very well though.  He made it through the first 2 cuts and there were only 8 - freshmen left.  We will see how tryouts for SOJO go they are this week

Kaitlyn had a primary activity days service project and they made dinner for Bro lowell and Sis June Sorenson  So they took it to them and stayed and played games with them. That was a good experience for her.

Brycen went to classic skating for Collin Crow's birthday.  I don't think he did too well at skating but he still had fun   Jenessa has started taking voice lessons from Hope Shulsen so she is practicing for a Christmas recital where she will sing at a rest home.  She is doing a duet with Lizzie.

          Ben went on his date with Emily Christensen to Bingham Ball.  She is such a pretty girl.  Ben looked
          so handsome too!

         

Last night Dad and I went out with the Thomas' for dinner   We went to  Ruby River.  Now whenever we go to a Steak Place - I think of you in Texas

Well that's our week recap    

We pray everything is going well as  you serve.  I know Heavenly Father will watch over you as you testify of our Savior.  I am so thankful for Him and for his loving and infinite atonement.

We love you Forever

Mom & Dad

Chocolate Soup

Last night we went to Kelly and Bev's for dinner.  They asked me to bring hot fudge sauce, so I thought I would post the recipe here.  I got the recipe from Your Home Based Mom one of my fav blogs.
This is sooo good and chocolatey I really really could eat a bowl of this!


Mom’s Hot Fudge Sauce
2 C chocolate chips (your choice – dark, semi sweet or milk)
1 can  (1 1/3 C) evaporated milk
1/2 C butter
2 C powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Melt chips, butter, milk and powdered sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Cook for 4 minutes – stirring constantly.  Take off heat and allow to thicken.  Add vanilla

Letter to Jordan

Thought I'd recap my week here with my letter to Jordan

 

 

Dear Jordan/Elder Soutas

 

Hola, How has your week gone?

How did things go for the Perez familia?  I have been praying for them all week.  I pray the Holy Ghost will testify to them

and that they will desire to be baptized.   

 

I actually hope you don't get transferred yet..it seems like you haven't been there long enough be transferred yet and you are having some great investigators. 

 

Love your pirate ross stories, they are so funny.

 

So are you feeling any better?  Is it the same type of cough like in the MTC?  and do you still have an inhaler? or do you need another one?

I have to admit I don't even know how long the medicine would last in an inhaler and how often you would need to get one.

 

Here's what happened this week

Monday - got ready for Tyler's birthday and made chocolate cake and tried to track down the pair of shoes he wanted.  Finally, I just went home and picked him up and took him to pick out a pair--so much easier

We went to Olive Garden for dinner so that was nice.

 

Tues - Not much to report just housework, grocery shopping

Wed - same -  I really do keep busy its just all boring stuff

 

Had Parent Teacher conferences for Brycen and Kaitlyn  and they are both doing great.  I do have to say I have such smart kids you all are so amazingly smart!

 

This week the moment that stands out for me is when I was feeling tired and lazy and didn't really want to do anything.  It was on Thursday

Anyway, I decided to get going and get the house cleaned and try to make it to the temple.  I kind of set a deadline for myself that I needed to leave for the temple by 12:30 so that I could be back in time for the kids to be out of school.  Well I made the deadline and at the recommend desk, the brother said "Welcome to The House of Peace".   That just really had a profound affect on my mood and I really have felt so much peace this week since then. 

We also performed the "Joseph" musical on Thursday night and 2 times on Saturday night for the Stake.  It actually was a lot of fun.  Now Kaitlyn really wants to be in a 'real' play, so I'll have to check out that possibility.

I'll let Dad and the boys fill you in on all of the sports!  You'll be happier this week  :)

 

Dad bore his testimony on Fast meeting today since he was conducting.  He told of his experience of being sick last week and then praying and feeling better just in time for his meetings and then getting sick again just after his last appointment.

When Dad gets home in a few minutes we are going to Kelly's for dinner.  We haven't been there since August but time flies.  I can't believe how fast the Holdiays are coming.  do you think you will be going to Michelle and Brent's for Thanksgiving dinner?  If you don't get permission for that, what do you think you will do that day?

 

Ben is also getting his Patriarchal Blessing next Sunday.  President Skoube will be giving his blessing.  I'm really looking forward to that.

 

Thank you so much for your wonderful service as a missionary and for following the example of our Savior.  It is a wonderful blessing to have a missionary son.  We love you so much.   Have a happy week.

 

Mom & Dad

Joseph and The amazing Technicolor Dream Coat

Jenessa, Kaitlyn and I had a lot of fun in our Ward's mini musical version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.


Jenessa was in a short dance number, where they danced with ribbons.  Kaitlyn and I were in the Choir.


We hung out most of the night in the "green room" and had sandwiches and snacks.  I made some yummy chocolate chip cookies and 7 layer taco dip.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Cook’s Illustrated
Makes about 30 cookies

2 1/8 c bleached all-purpose flour (about 10.5 oz)
1/2 t table salt
1/2 t baking soda
12 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (I don’t use unsalted butter because I never buy it – salted butter works just fine in this recipe when I use it!)
1 c brown sugar (7 oz)
1/2 c sugar (3.5 oz)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 t vanilla
1-2 c chocolate chips (I use a full 12 oz. package of semisweet chips)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
Form dough into balls (I use my handy-dandy cookie scoop –
Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes – these cookies really do need longer baking time than most average cookie dough recipes). Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

Happy 15th Birthday Tyler

Today was Tyler's real birthday.--we celebrated a little early last week at the cousin's halloween party.
I made a yummy chocolate cake and then went shopping to try and find him some new shoes.  The store didn't have the shoes he wanted so after going to 4 more stores, I just came home and took Tyler with me to the mall to pick out some of his own.   I also got him a new indoor Basketball.  Ok I never realized how expensive leather basketballs can be.  I dropped $60 in nothing flat!




We went to Olive Garden for Tyler's birthday dinner.  We like to let the kids choose where they want to go on their birthday.  He ordered the tour of Italy, so that he could have lasagne, chicken parmesean and Fettucine Alfredo.

Back to The House for Dessert

The BEST Chocolate Cake
1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 C sour cream
1 C canola oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 C milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 C semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bow mix together all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips.  Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into a buttered and floured cake pan.  I used two 9-inch pie pans.
For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the cake box as a guide and add about 10 minutes to that. Check for doneness using a tooth pick.)
Buttercream Frosting
1 C butter
4 C powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 C heavy whipping cream
In a mixer cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. and then beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.

Happy 15th Birthday Tyler

Happy Halloween

BOO!
Halloween has arrived and with it a rainy, drizzly day.

I made some yummy carmel and chocolate apples and Brycen carved a pumpkin.
My favorite apple is the "apple pie"-- caramel, white chocolate and sugar and cinnamon coating. Yum!
This morning we had a practice for "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat"
Our ward is putting on a musical number to perform next week.  Jenessa is dancing with some
of the other young women doing a ribbon dance with colorful ribbons.  Kaitlyn and I are in the
ensemble choir and we hold up colorful paper flowers.
Chris hasn't felt well today - he has chills and aching.  I hope he's OK!
Thanks to some neighbor's - Mike and Todd the kids still went trick or treating. 
Kaitlyn went in the baby costume and Brycen was a Jedi. 
Jenessa also went as a "Nerd" with her friend Alexis.
Everyone was home by 9:30 with all of their candy and then Ben decided to go over to a friends house, so now I'm up till Midnight watching Food Network - They are decorating spooky gingerbread houses.

Frightful Friday

Our elementary school Halloween Parade was this morning.  I went early to get a good seat.  It's so fun to see all of the creative costumes and cute kids.  Brycen wore his Jedi costume and Kaitlyn changed from her ghost costume to a Baby PJ costume.  I was out buying footie pajamas last night.  I think she was just tired of painting her face with Big Black circles on her eyes.  She was a ghost for the family party and ward carnival but she really enjoyed being a baby again!
I came home and Jenessa called from the school.  She was scared because she was having trouble with her vision. We decided she is having migrain headaches.  I get strange wavy lights in my vision when I have a migraine.  So she must take after me.
I went back to the school to help with Kaitlyn's class Halloween party.  They had some fun games.  They filled a plastic pumkin with rice and then halloween objects.  The kids had to feel around in the rice and write down what they thought it was.  They also played a musical candy walk game.  If they land on a number that is called when the music stops they get a candy from the bowl.  Each number also has a "different way" to walk around the circle...for example skip, jump, jump on 1 foot, crawl, mummy walk.  It was fun


Chris and I went to the temple to do some initiatory.  After I came home and made halloween chili and breadsticks.   Now Jenessa is baby sitting for the Shulsens and Tyler is at the Rec Center.  The rest of the fam is downstairs watching "Ghostbusters'.  Although Brycen is a little scared.     We really miss Jordan.