Chocolate Enrichment Night

It's been a crazy busy week, but I had to come on here and post about our fun enrichment last week.

Here's the invite that Glenda made-

We wanted to focus on building relationships. We played a game called Fast Friends- which is basically like speed dating. We had a topic and spent a few minutes discussing it before one side of the table moved on to the next person.

We asked everyone to bring a chocolate dessert and a recipe, which we made into a small little book.

Some of the yummy goodies.



Handouts that we could bring to the ladies we visit teach.



I shared this recipe.

5 minute Chocolate Cake in a Cup

4 T. flour
4 T. Sugar
2 T. unsweetened cocoa
1 egg
3 T. milk
3 T. oil
3 T. chocolate chips
splash of vanilla or other flavoring
optional toppings: whipped cream, powdered sugar or ice cream

Add all of dry ingredients in a mug and mix well. Next mix in the egg. Stir in milk, flavoring, and oil. After all combined fold in chocolate chips. Don’t have chips- try a broken candy bar. Nuke on high for 3 minutes in a 1000w microwave- increase time for lower wattages. It will start to crown over the top of the mug- don’t panic it will go back down. Remove and if desired add additional toppings. Enjoy!

Of course, I had to try it out first at home.

It was pretty, good, especially for a quick craving. In my opinion though, it did taste better after sitting for a little while.

And with a little vanilla ice cream.

November Decorations

Ok, I'll admit, I am ready to get my Christmas stuff out. I have started my shopping, I even tried unsuccessfully to find the radio station that starts playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. But tradition holds that we put our tree and decor up the Sunday or Monday after Thanksgiving and so I will be patient.

Even though I am excited for the Christmas season to get started, I don't want waste a perfectly good excuse to decorate for a holiday. Plus, I really do think that Thanksgiving is a very cool holiday. The world would be a much better place if we remembered to be more grateful for our blessings.

So for the record, here are my November decorations.

My entry way shelf. I still would like to find some mini multicolored corn for the little basket.


On top of the entertainment center.


This vintage treasure used to be my Grandma Olson's. She used to read us a book we loved about squirrels who needed to learn some manners and so this little squirrel is precious to me.


The two sets of pilgrims are new this year and I really love them both. They remind me of the gratitude I have for those who came to this country searching for religious freedom. Plus, my old set was ceramic and Mr. Pilgrim's head was not going to be glued on an 11th time.

Return with Honor

Ok, cheesy title but so true. Troy's niece Stephanie returned home last night after serving as a missionary on Temple Square for the past 18 months. She is such a wonderful person- we are all so thrilled to have her back home.

Here are the signs we made. Yes, we know they aren't in order. Everyone is holding their own sign and all the little kids happened to have made the welcome part. Plus, it isn't an easy task to get 23 people turned around at the last minute. We took up most of the walkway and attracted a lot of attention. One person even wondered if a nun was coming home.

It was a joyous reunion with lots of happy tears.

Even Genna burst into tears after giving Stephanie a hug. She didn't quite know why she was crying, but that was ok, we understood.

A few odds & ends

I spent yesterday Christmas shopping with Tami & Cheryl. We had so much fun and I actually got a lot checked off my list. It was a chilly day here in Nebraska and so these are our attempts at a picture in the car. As you can see, it's hard to take pictures when you are laughing so hard.

Troy and Jameson had to bundle up for today's Husker game.

Genna wished she could go and help usher too!

I fixed the link from Justin's myspace page.

My BIL just opened his massage business in Utah County- if you know anyone in the area needing a massage, check his blog out!

New

dawn

(I promise I won't start every post with a sunrise picture)

glasses

haircuts


puzzle started

yummy bread recipe with homemade apple butter

way of eating pudding(during our service FHE)

idea that I think I am going to do for Genna's birthday treats at school- she'll love helping me make them.
cool music up at my nephew's myspace page (link fixed)

This morning

Started out beautifully...

and it got even better. Troy had to run up to Lincoln and asked me to go a long for the ride.

he even bought me breakfast, lol! That is his brother Shane's mini Book of Mormon sitting there, isn't it cute?

We made sure and voted.

It was so nice to have long lines to wait in.


I also noticed the leaves on our tree turned yellow this year- most years they just turn brown and fall off.


Hope you had a wonderful morning too! Don't forget to vote!

Wonderful Weekend

Here is a reflection of the wonderful weekend we've had, seen through Jameson's eyes, since these are all pictures from his camera.


You never would have believed that Saturday was the first of November in Nebraska- it was sunny & 70 degrees. We took the opportunity to get some things done outside and made it a family work day. Now the kids weren't overly thrilled at first, but I think in the end we all had a fun time. Now the garden and all the flower beds have been cleared and leaves tilled in.


Look at Mo- he is getting so big. He has gained more than 3 pounds since we got him. He is such a fun puppy and we love him dearly! We're so glad that he has finally figured out that this is his home. While we worked on Saturday, he just played happily in the yard along side us. We were worried because before we would be playing with him and he would take off down the street to where he knew his mom and siblings were.


This weekend was our Stake Conference up in Lincoln. We had an amazing adult session on Saturday night which was all about the temple. Afterwards, we went out with Troy's family to Texas Roadhouse. Sunday's session was equally as wonderful. Such good reminders of how we can do a little more and strive to be better each day. Tonight we were on the road again, traveling up to Troy's sister's house in LaVista. We made welcome home signs because Stephanie gets back next week from her mission. I'll take pictures at the airport of the cool signs we all made. We had dinner together and just enjoyed one another's company tonight.


After Stake Conference today we came home and had breakfast for lunch. Troy made us pancakes and sausage. I was so excited to try out my new cute little OJ glasses. I look at these glasses every time I go to an antique store. My grandma has similar glasses and I just love the size and colors of them. But I could never bring myself to pay the $3-5 per glass price at those stores. Friday, I was shopping at our little thrift store here in town and found 2 sets of 3 for 50¢ a set. The sad thing is that we realized we're not big orange juice drinkers. Connor commented that he thought of the show Fear Factor and just downed his whole glass at once. Maybe next time, I'll have to buy citrus punch.




This is Jameson's halloween candy. He was thrilled with the full sized hershey bars(his favorite). Speaking of candy- you should go read the story of the Candy Bomber from WWII. It is really touching. Here is Cocoa's cool FHE lesson based on this story.


Jameson's trumpet and a few of the songs he is working on for their Veteran's Day concert at school. I'm so grateful for music in my life. This weekend I listened to a lot of great music- at Stake Conference and here at home on the computer. Hopefully Made with Glue and Love doesn't think I am blog stalking her- it's just she has the Mamma Mia soundtrack on her playlist, so I've been hanging out quite a bit at her site.


With Election Day and Veteran's Day fast approaching, I looked at these pictures from a flag burning ceremony we attended, with gratitude in my heart for this great country we live in. I believe our founding fathers were inspired men. I am so thankful to those who serve to keep our country free. I pray that on Tuesday that good men and women will be elected to run our country.




Add finally these pictures are just funny to me. Here is Jameson eating his first atomic fire ball! Thanks Cheryl for taking them.


I hope your weekend was wonderful as well!