Happy Birthday Kenzie Girl!

It has been 2 years...

and we finally have some snow at our house!

We love it!!!!

We want some more of it.

Building snowmen used to be a pretty intense event.

We didn't go so much for looks as we did height.

Snowman building involved a ladder at our house.

The taller the better.

Here, we are just glad to have enough snow to make a snowman.

This one wasn't even as tall as Cayleb.

Put we were so glad to finally use our snowman kit again.

Notice the green grass in the back of the pic.

It took most of our front yard snow to make him come to "life".

Note - the whole community pretty much shut down.

No school for 2 days. Weird. Still seems crazy to us.

Catching snow.

The magic of the seasons.

Randy pulling the kids down the road on their sled.
The 4-wheelers won't start again.

Why do we store those things again?

Cayleb with his friend that moved away to Idaho and came back for a visit.

Serious sledding going on here!

Thanksgiving

Randy's cousin Bryan invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.

We shared this holiday with them last year too!

They also invited the Hertogh family over for their first Thanksgiving dinner.

They are from the Netherlands like my dad.

It was so fun to talk with them however, I wish my dad would have taught us more Dutch growing up!

Table setting was beautiful!

Makenzy making new friends.
Ava. Twins??? Sally or Jane? I just don't have the eye to tell them apart! Makenzy.

Appetizers!

The pie goddess lives down the street from me.

She also goes by the name of Christine.

This year I implored her to help teach me the fine art of pie making.

Homemade pies sing out Thanksgiving feat almost as loudly as the turkey.

But of course more sweetly.

However, the weather intervened.

Snow. School cancelled for 2 days.

All 8 kids home.

And, by necessity, in the kitchen some of that time.

Not the best recipe for trying to have girl time chatting and making pies.

So it was postponed.

I slumped back into my old pie habits and bought some Marie Callender pies that I

was deceptively thinking about passing off as my own.

Then husband to Mrs. Pie Goddess and daughter knocked on my door and pulled from their sled, yes an actual sled pulled down our snow packed street,

3 beautiful red boxes containing pie goddess "loveness" and "yumminess".

Smooth, velvety, chocolate cream.

Lickety, clean, lemon cream.

And an extra dash of genuine thoughtfulness,

Pecan pie.

My favorite.

Mrs. Pie Goddess figured she was already making several pies, what was a few more.

Thank you Pie Goddess Friend!!!

You are amazing.

Can't wait for our next cooking class!

Witches Night Out

A little WNO

Witches Night Out

Food and Gabbing

Some of the "witches" flew in a little later, so another group photo.

The writing on the mirror

Randy wakes up earlier than the rest of us.

According to him, way earlier.

5 a.m.

I used to wake up with him.

That ended a long time ago.

So our mornings together rarely start with a kiss goodbye.

I love him.

But I love my sleep too (Kenzie still doesn't sleep through the night!)

Instead I get notes.

Placed on the kitchen table.

Left on the island.

Written on a bathroom mirror.

Sometimes they are just for me.

Sometimes they are for all of us.

Today the kid's bathroom mirror reads,

"Always be a first rate version of yourself

instead of a second rate version of someone else."

Judy Garland

As always, makes me think.

Thanks Hun!

Gearing up for Basketball

Madalyn has decided she wants to play team basketball this year.

Randy is so pumped.

He has been shooting a lot with her.

Kenzie watching sister play.
Notice that blue sky.
I really like the color blue!

Pumpkin Tortialla's

I recently bought a pack of fresh tortillas, found in the refrigerated section of Costco,

and have totally loved them. They are so easy and versatile.

Just drop in heated pan, cook for 30 sec., flip and cook again. No oil. Comes out warm.

So one afternoon Cayleb, Kenzie and I decided to make pumpkins. Cute. But the cut out eyes and mouth didn't work as well when we used them as powdered sugar crepes.

Still yummy. Just messy.

Pumpkin Bread

Our easy way to add a little holiday flair to school lunches.

Pre-School Halloween Party

The group!
Our monster cupcakes. This was my first time making these. Turned out cute.

Practicing trick-or-treating at a few houses.

Momma Witch and Lil Girl Princess.

Making Witch Stew.

The kids were totally into making our stew of gummy worms, gummy frogs, eyes, fingernails (sliced almonds), bat juice (soda), and skeleton bones (pretzels). We "cooked" it up on the stove.

It had to simmer while we went out trick-or-treating. When we came back it was ready to eat.

Magically another pot with real yummy food magically appeared on the stove.

Halloween Pumpkins

This year Makenzy used cookie cutters to cut her pumpkin.

We used a rubber mallet to hammer them in.

It worked out really well, since little ones and knives don't mix as well as pumpkin and spice.

Cayleb's, Cayden's, Madalyn's pumpkins.

Family Halloween Pumpkin Patch Day

Corn maze.

This baby pig, and all its sisters and brothers, were only hours old.

Born only hours before we got to the farm.

Hay jumping.

8th grade art homework....

Isn't it funny how somethings are hard to get rid of.

One was my 8th grade self portrait.

Painted when I was 14 years old.

I kept it for years.

I worked really hard on it.

I used my 7th grade picture as my template.

The assignment was to paint a self portrait and have it reflect your heritage.

Therefore, windmills in the background.

Mine ended up looking like mini mills popping out of my head.

A couple of years ago, in one of my ongoing spats to get organized, I decided to take pictures of artwork, trophies, etc. and then get rid of them.

Seriously, it is weird to have your elementary Reflections trophies on a shelf.

People we must move on.

So I did.

I came across this picture of the picture, as I was, of course, trying to get organized.

On another organization spat.

I still like it.

Windmills and all.

It isn't that it is so art worthy but more the fact that it represented

something I worked hard on.

That I tried my best.

And was happy with the results.

How to feel that way with everything I do would definitely be mastering the art of living.

Something worth holding onto.

Scared Silly Eggs

My mom sent up this cute Halloween magazine.

Of course, tons of fabulous ideas.

So Sunday we made up a couple plates of "Jolly Roger" scared silly, skeleton eggs.

Of course the kids literally "ate it up."

Next time, I need to remember sliced pimentos, not diced pimentos.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Big, fat, short, tall, squarish, roundish, we've been to lots of them, and this one close by the mall.

All sorts of pumpkin patches that is.

Today, we went to Mosby Brother's Farms Pumpkin Field with Makenzy's preschool class.

I purchased, corn, pumpkins, Halloween themed candy and hay ride.

Tacked on 3 bosc pears.

Makenzy and friend had a few complimentary bites,

prior to my realizing what the little girls were up to.

Preschool Class. Six

Big Brother/Sister Helpers. Two.

Mom helper. One.

Not pictured. 4 other mom helpers. 2 baby brothers and 1 baby sister.

Love this display behind us. Cayleb is loving his candy stick wedged in between his cheeks.


Tag spot. Lunch spot. Resting spot.
Out little tots are really getting into preschool.
Thanks ladies so much for jumping in with me and doing our preschool co-op.

Tina is a thinker. Halloween shaped pretzels for the hay ride.
The day was beautiful.
Blue skies. Sun. Crisp autumn air.

Rain starts tomorrow.
Wish I could say, "boo" and make it go away.

Student BBQ

Can't see them all.

Piano is playing.

Elder Kato is sitting up the door singing.

A few in the backyard playing b-ball.

Having the "Meyer's Way" group over for a little bbq.

Can see their awesome personalities.

Can see their respect for Randy.

Can see their testimonies.

Love having all of you over.

Meyers Way.

U-Dub students.

YSA.

Married couples.

Your energy and commitment to full, gospel oriented lives always

infuses me with admiration for the "rising generation".

Third generation...

Cheerleader.

Grandma Brusik. Jordan.

Me. Hillcrest.

Makayla. Tahoma.

(Aunt Nikki. Alta.)

And surprisingly a lot of the cheers are still the same 40 years later.

"Who rocks the house?"

Just about every jr. high and high school across America.

Since my photo is "no good", I'll identify. She is the one in the middle with her poms up.

And "yeah" we definitely think cheer leading is a sport.

There is a lot of time put into it.

In my opinion, every kid, every adult needs some hobby or some activity outside school, work, or family. Parental biases aside, which of course I have, she really is good.

She's good because she loves cheering.

Just for fun, I pulled out my old cheer leading outfit and poms.

Original cost $350.

1 outfit we kept.

1 stayed at school.

Sixteen years later my sweater uniform has found its home in the Halloween costume box.

When I hold it up, I think it fits.

In the far corner of my closet, is my wedding dress.

I think it fits too.

Weird, but they stand as my measuring stick of how much my body has

changed since having kids. And my love of sweets. And my quasi exercising. And my erratic healthy eating habits.

I think they fit.

Makayla. Cheer leading.

They fit.

Conference Weekend

I didn't grow up having to watch conference on Saturdays. A session on Sunday was the accepted minimum.

My mom usually watched Saturday sessions while folding clothes. Just hearing the Mormon Tab choir blaring from the t.v. turned to an unusually high volume, bugged me. Little did I know my future mother in law was belting it out in the alto section at the time. A guilty feeling penetrated our home on Saturday mornings. We knew we should be watching. We knew it was important. We knew mom wanted us to be in there with her. But she didn't want to force it. She wanted it to come to us on our own. She was a convert and I think felt that because she didn't grow up having to watch it, it wasn't fair to force us to. Perhaps hoping that the "light of Christ" would eventually draw us in to listen.

And where was Dad? At work. At his second job. Little did I know, he most likely had conference tuned in on his patrol car radio.

But in my mind, and I'll take liberty to include my siblings, conference weekend was a welcomed holiday from church. A break. A vacation. A bummer it only came twice a year.

So I've carried this guilty-negative association with Conference for a long time.

When I got married it started to change. When I had kids it changed even more.

Now I really need the counsel.

This Saturday and Sunday......

Makayla traced my face with a pen cap and gave me a back rub for the duration of 3 General Conference speakers. That's about 45 min. Cayden gave me another 7 for a bet about homework that I won with him and another 5 for making him hot chocolate.

Makayla said it was payback for all the times in the morning I've tickled her back to wake her up for school or have helped her with homework. Primarily geometry. I am a pretty lousy math tutor.

She is learning to speak Teen, luckily not as well as some other teens, and I still speak Momincharge. Fortunately we speak the same language most of the time.

The talks were great. As always, great messages. Randy, quoting someone else, said that following a great talk there are three things you should do:

1 - recognize what you are doing that is right and KEEP DOING IT.
2 - recognize what you should stop doing and STOP.
3 - recognize what you should start doing and START.

So we will keep having lots of special treats like bowls of m & m's, cream puffs, licorice, cookies, and big delicious Pancake House breakfasts etc. We will keep conference bingo, coloring pictures of apostles, lots of Friend magazines to fill in and cut up, church coloring pages etc. Keep back tickling in the mix. I need to stop staying up late at night so I am not tired during the day. I need to start keeping a journal of my feelings and thoughts about conference talks. So I am starting.

Because a few of you asked....

Yes, the big fire in Utah is exactly where our property is.

Good thing there is no house on it right now.

If we were there......

It would be empty.

It is in the 1st forced evacuation zone.

We'd probably be staying at Grandpa and Grandma's.

The kids would think it was pretty cool to miss school.

A nervous tension and discussion would consume the night until

more clear reports came in the morning.

And it kind of did.

Phone calls, search on the internet for information.

Randy's family in Herriman is o.k.

The wind was blowing it the other way.

We'll get reports later today.

But we are here.

Safely soaked in rain.

On Public Display

Madalyn's artwork was chosen to be part of the art collection on display at the District offices. Woohoo our young artist!

She has been vested in developing her artistic talent starting at the age of 2.
It started on the side of our new piano.

Lucky me, private "gallery stroll" with the artist.
I am betting on getting the first print edition personally signed.

This Be Yur Warnin Shot

Seafair pirates are landing here soon. Storming Alki Beach they be searchin for their loot. Or kicking of the regions biggest summer festival - Seafair.

We got our loot - bags of taffy, pirate hats, and light up pirate swords. Perfect for the upcoming torchlight parade.

We, along with thousands of others, waited for the pirates to come.

It was our first time going to see the pirates land, so we wanted the best view.

Best spot. A few inches in ankle deep water.

Then the tide came in.

But we were assured the pirates were almost here.

We waited.

It got up to our ankles.

We waited.

It rose up to our shins.

We waited.

Oh, my it was up to our thigh.

(Remind anyone of Shel Silverstein's poem Boa Constrictor?)

Kind of felt that way too.
Cayleb and Kenzie were hoisted up on our hips to avoid further submersion.

But we ended up front row. Or front wave. Whatever you call it.

Either way, it was the best water spot.

Guy in the left corner, taking pictures for the Seattle Times.

Other guy filming for local news channels.

It was fun. For the 5-10 seconds the pirates splashed past us up to shore.

Swashbuckling and "argh", "arghing".

ARRRRR me little maties and I thought.

That was a long, wet wait for a short show.

Entertaining and fun but....

Next year we be tradin in our sea legs for dry land.

All the local mateys movin their booties back to shore.

Biggest turn out evah! About 60,000 people.

This little crab was moving along too.

With flip flops in hand and kiddos on hip, we were all hoping the live crabs

didn't feed on pinky toes.

Afterward, we took a tour on the ships.

I just finished reading Flags of Our Fathers, about the invasion of Iwo Jima, a book I got for my WWII know just about everything dad. With that framework, I could almost envision the boat packed with young men heading into the thick of one of wars bloodiest conflicts. Definitely a perspective setting moment.

Because of young men and women like that then and now, my family can smile and tour the boat. Thanks armed forces families!

Randy muscled into Pegasus Pizza for the cheesiest pizza. Absolutely hit the spot.

Afterward, Randy, Makayla, and Cayden put on their helmets and went off scootering and running down the Alki Boulevard. Stopped to watch the University of Washington high jump team compete on the beach.

Meanwhile, the other kids got an all day pass to jump on the blow-up toys. We just had a round of being in the 90's, so the lower 80's for today felt better but still hot. Sounds so wimpy. Especially to my sister in Phoenix. However, when you don't have air-conditioning anything over 80 is too hot!

After awhile Madalyn was done, but she was a trooper and kept going with Makenzy to help her out. I love my "big sister helpers".

On the way back, Cayden spotted his dream car!

Randy said he would help out with the gas. I'll chip in too.