Rivalry Saturday

Saturday was a big day around here. First and foremost was Ashley's baptism. It also happened to be rivalry Saturday for us. That is right, the big BYU vs. Utah game. This year it was particularly a big deal as both teams have been ranked well and had good seasons. The University of Utah was one of 3 undefeated teams going into Saturday's game, and a win against BYU would ensure them a BCS game. Let's face it though, statistically it was the U's turn to win anyway. Trust me, I follow these things.

Trent's dad and mom and sister Katie were visiting and, of course, really wanted to see the game. Not being in Utah but in Virginia, we couldn't find the game anywhere. However, Jon (Trent's dad) suggested that perhaps we could do the Mountain Sports Network as a pay for the day thing since we have Directv. I looked into it, and though we couldn't do it for the day, we could get it for the month as part of the sports package. The fee wasn't bad (only 2 dollars more than a movie ticket), and it was worth it for the fun family time we had. Jon and LeOra brought Trent and I University of Utah shirts for the occasion, and they had BYU shirts. Katie remained neutral. We really should have gotten her a Weber State shirt just for the fun of it.

It didn't take long before the kids got into it. Jon remained neutral, but Ashley put on a red shirt inside out and backward and make the letters Utah to tape on her shirt. Dave Christensen, the 2nd Counsellor in our Bishopric, joined us. After learning at Ashley's baptism that we were getting the game and in HD no less, he could hardly help it. We loved having him. It made it all the more fun. He came in a superman shirt (red and blue) and claimed to be neutral, but we weren't even half way through the first quarter before it was clear he was rooting for BYU. He even convinced Sami who ran around the house shouting, "go Cougars!" So, she put on one of Trent's Coast Guard blue t-shirts, and Ashley kindly made the letters BYU to tape on the front.

It was a good game and stayed close until the end of the 3rd quarter. What it also was was a lot of fun. As a bonus, the University of Utah won 48 to 24. What a great day. Can't wait to see what BCS game they get.

Fans of all types and sizes

Our neutral observers

A so-called but not really so neutral observer :)

Getting into the fun

My Jon took this picture of the t.v. Note the score and the various levels of excitement in the crowd.

Update: Predictions at the moment have the University of Utah playing in the Sugar Bowl. How great is that?

Ashley's Baptism

This past Saturday, Ashley was baptized. What a great day it turned out to be. Trent's parents and his youngest sister, Katie came out for it, and we've had a great visit.

Ashley's baptism was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. because when I called to schedule the building, there was another baptism from another ward scheduled for that morning. Afternoon was fine by me, but as we got closer to the day, I grew increasingly concerned about the water in the font. It takes at least 2 hours to fill it. Anyhow, I told as many people as I could think of to help insure that the plug was not pulled from the earlier baptism. Still, when we couldn't get a hold of anyone that morning, I vowed to be there at least an hour early. The girls packed up and left to do a quick bit of shopping and then got to the church just before noon. The boys were there by quarter after, and it was a good thing. Sure enough, there was no water in the font. In addition to that, we were locked out from getting to the font and to the dressing room. Katie, brilliant of course, checked the doors through both bathrooms and as luck would have it, the door between the men's bathroom and men's dressing room was still unlocked. Hooray! Katie and I read the directions and started the font, but we were now looking at 2:00. Trent and his dad saved the day though. Without a moment's hesitation, Trent (who had brought his lock pick set), opened the door to the girls' dressing room and then hooked up a hose from the janitor's closet into the font. His dad filled some large buckets, and we transported that way until the hose was going. The font was filled right on time. Everything else went off without a hitch. Being a typical event for our family, though, we had to have our moment of funny. Ours came when Ashley came out of the water and Jon stood up and put his hands out in front of him and proclaimed, "It's alive!" Too funny. Ashley did get her "California style baptism" complete with a few snacks and kids sitting on the floor eating them and then playing around for a few moments while the grown ups talked.

Trent and Ashley all ready to go

Our Primary President, and my friend, Mandy Carroll, fixed my camera for me so that every shot I take will stop having that halo glare. It is sad that I didn't even know what I did to the settings to get it that way and therefore had no idea how to fix it. Did I mention that Mandy is an extremely talented photographer? Anyhow, through testing the camera, we got this cute shot of Katie leading the music. We actually used a cd player. I wondered in retrospect if we should have thought of something like that during my baptism at which my good friend Katie Iverson played for over an hour.

Ashley with Grandma LeOra and Grandpa Jon after the baptism.

Wait! We can't forget Katie.

Here we all are braving the cold (except Katie who took the picture but also braved the cold).

Happy Birthday Ashley

Ashley turned 8 on Wednesday. She has been so excited that it was hard not to be excited with her for this birthday. As soon as she woke up, she wanted to open her presents. What? Your kids don't go immediately to opening presents in their pajamas?

She really does read the cards. She got The Nightmare Before Christmas on DVD and before she even realized what it was, Jon was jumping and calling out, "I want that!"

Raggedy Andy! Now Raggedy Anne isn't a loner. Sometimes I wonder how that girl fits in her bed with all the stuffed animals she piles on.

Later in the day I took treats in for her class. She didn't want cupcakes this year, because she, "ALWAYS has cupcakes." After a few ideas, we settled on baking brownie batter in ice cream cones and then frosting them with stabilized whipped cream. The entire time I was making them, I worried about transporting them. Obviously the idea was not completely thought out. I did manage to get them to school with virtually no disaster, which was amazing. The rain on the whipped cream as I was running into the school wasn't such a good thing, but it didn't wreck anything. Ashley was very happy with it, so that was that.

Saturday was party day. Originally, we were going to have a Spiderwick birthday party, but Ashley changed her mind. Then, we were going to go to the orchard. It is a good thing we settled on a small party at home. It poured on and off all day long. I had ordered some journal projects back when it was a Spiderwick party to use as field guides, so the girls made journals and girled them up.

Then, they played Hullabaloo and had a great time.

Time for cake and presents.



Now we just have to finish getting over this sickness and prepare for our visit from Grandma and Grandpa Warner and Aunt Katie for Ashley's baptism on the 22nd. Sami was sick on Tuesday and a bit on Wednesday morning. We thought it was done with that. Saturday, Trent started feeling ill and stayed locked in our room for the duration of the party as a result. Saturday evening Jon got sick. Ashley decided to join the group on the way home from church today. I hope everyone gets better as fast as Sami and Jon, who is already feeling better, did. I really don't like it when everyone is sick.

It's That Time Again

This past Saturday, Trent started tackling the monumental task of cleaning up the leaves. I kind of like it personally. They are everywhere, and I like that. We rake up huge piles that the kids can bury themselves in. I love that. It is a lot of work though. This Saturday, he just did the back deck and the cleaned off the roof. We have 5 bags full. It isn't that we have an enormous yard or anything. There are just trees everywhere, and this year they have all dropped their leaves nearly simultaneously. We haven't even started the front yard. Maybe I should figure out how to use the blower and do it for him. Hmmmmmmmmmm. Here are a few pictures of our fun.

A Complaint

I'd like to issue a general complaint about Heroes. Up until now, Heroes has been awesome. I had faith they would pull last season through, and right before the writer's strike they delivered. This season has been bad, and this past week was down right AWFUL! Why oh why does it seem to be that when something on t.v. is exciting and enjoyable, it either gets cancelled, or the writers manage to make what you loved about it unrecognizable. Sigh.

Apple Crisp

I was looking to make apple crisp last Sunday. We had some granny smith apples from the orchard that I needed to use up, and as Trent needed to get to work on his paper revisions, apple crisp was faster than pie. I came to find that I don't have an apple crisp recipe, so I went looking online. There are a lot of good ones out there. Many have oats and nuts and lots of good stuff. I wanted the basic thing with basic ingredients being that is what I had on hand. I found this one, and it is excellent! I love that the bottom is just apples. The top is sweet enough without needing to add extra to the apples. It is exactly the traditional apple crisp you think of. If you need a really basic and simple recipe for this fall, give this one a try.

Official and Official-ish Celebrations

As of Nov. 1, Trent was officially a Lieutenant Commander. So, to celebrate, we took off for a drive to Shenandoah to see all the leaves. With the Domestic Operations Course over, it seemed like a little R&R was in order. It was probably a week past peak, but we still thought it was absolutely beautiful.

Friday was Trent's actual promotion ceremony. Colonel Block did an awesome job summing up what a great person Trent is. I was impressed. Colonel Block also noted that with Trent's promotion, he has now promoted someone from every branch of the armed services. I had my camera, but there were no real picture taking opportunities I am afraid. Since I helped pin on his new shoulder boards, I couldn't take those pictures. There was a video, and we will have it. I doubt I will post it to the blog though. It is too long. Anyhow, the picture below was taken afterward in our front yard. I either had to crouch or take my boots off. The heels made it so that my head got cut off in the shot. Kind of funny at the time.

How out of it am I?

This is how out of it I apparently am today. When I picked up Jon and Ashley at the bus stop, we had to wait, because Jon had taken off one of his shoes on the bus. The shoe in his hand did not match the shoe on his foot. Furthermore, they were both left shoes. The natural thought of the bus driver was that he had switched shoes with someone. A quick look in the closet proves that no, in fact, I put two different shoes (both left shoes) on my son this morning and sent him to school that way. No wonder he took the one off. It is too small. That would explain why we had a hard time getting it on this morning. What is wrong with me?

Warner Spooks

Halloween has come and gone. We love Halloween around our house. It sure was busy this week with preparations and class parties and the LCS hot dog sale and all of the rest, but we had a great time. My favorite part of Halloween in more recent years has been answering the door for the trick-or-treaters. In the last few years, my kids have made their joy in getting dressed up and trick-or-treating the very best part. This year, they were all into it, and that made it even better.

Thursday night, we had an activity night and trunk or treat at the church. The Young Men, Young Women, and Primary were each in charge of some aspect of the evening. Being in the Primary Presidency, that meant I had some work to do. We, the Primary, did an old school fish pond activity. Crissy, our secretary, built an enclosure rather than just a curtain. Sister Dudley, who bought the prizes, sat inside and put the prizes on the fishing poles. For Jon, that was tied with the maze for the best part of the evening. He got a slinky and had to deal with his little sister asking him to "share" (which in Sami's world means hand it over) at regular intervals. Sami got sidewalk chalk, which has created hours of amusement and a very well decorated driveway at our house. The Young Men did a maze. They did it with cardboard boxes, which they lined with glow sticks. There were 3 entrances/exits, and the kids had a blast doing it over and over again to find as many different ways around as they could. Crissy's husband is the Young Men's President, and really the two of them made the night. Mandy, our Primary President, wanted to dress up but didn't want to be alone, so I was a good sport and dressed up this year as............................

Minnie Mouse. It was fun, and the kids loved it that I dressed up. I didn't have time to glue on my big fake eye lashes but oh well.

Yesterday we finally got everyone in their costumes and out the door. Sami was so excited this year. She had been waiting a long time for trick-or-treating, and it was obvious. I was glad that I am an old school mom who prefers walking the neighborhood and trick-or-treating, because the kids had a wonderful time. Right up until the end, Samantha ran the whole time from house to house. In between she would remark that she wanted to do more trick-or-treating. Ashley met up with one of her friends from 1st grade, and they stayed together the rest of the night. I remember how fun it was when it was just Tony and I or when I was older and went with my friends. I was glad she had that even if she still had her parents along.

Our clown. Turns out the big incentive behind choosing to be a clown was the shoes. She was very disappointed when we couldn't find any left at the Halloween store. Still, she was cute and had a great time.

Our princess

Jack Skellington aka the Pumpkin King. He was quite pleased with himself when he frightened a little girl out in the neighborhood. His costume isn't terribly scary, so I thought it was funny.

In action

After trick or treating, we drove down the road a little to a house that gets all decked out for Halloween. My kids call it the spooky house. Sami got a little too scared. Fortunately, there was someone in the driveway area with treats for the kids who didn't want to go all the way up to the porch.

After we got home and cleaned up, Ashley combined her stash from two nights into one.

Princess Samantha, new prize in hand, decided she'd had enough and fell asleep with Daddy.